Swallowed Star: Copy God

The pitch-black 'Purgatory Hall' only revealed its open gates, the interior appearing as a void. Ye Yun stepped through the gates, as if experiencing a shift in spacetime, entering another dimension.

In the next instant, light suddenly illuminated the surroundings, and Ye Yun found himself in a grand hall. The hall was exceptionally clean and tidy, filled with a bright and airy atmosphere, forming a stark contrast with the dark exterior of the 'Purgatory Hall'.

Along both sides of the hall were neatly arranged bronze lamp posts, each topped with a dim red flame, quietly burning.

Seeing this, Ye Yun's pupils constricted involuntarily. Without needing to sense it, Ye Yun immediately recognized that the flame pulsed with the original universe's fire origin law, akin to the 'Purgatory Fire' law from the Purgatory Abyss!

"You seem surprised?"

A gentle voice echoed from the head of the hall. Ye Yun retracted his wandering gaze and looked towards the source of the voice.

A young man dressed in white was smiling at him. The man had handsome features and a tall stature, though somewhat slender. He held a folding fan in his hand, exuding an aura of utmost gentleness and freshness.

Had no one introduced him, Ye Yun might have even mistaken this man for a noble young master from Earth's Chinese history, with not a trace of a powerful expert's presence about him.

Regardless of his inner thoughts, Ye Yun bowed respectfully towards the man.

"Greetings, Purgatory King!"

The white-robed man tapped his left palm lightly with the folding fan in his right hand, slowly approaching Ye Yun. When he stood before Ye Yun, he softly said,

"Ye Yun, you haven't answered my question yet."

Regarding this Purgatory King, who had been famous for ages and whose lifespan was unknown, Ye Yun couldn't quite grasp his temperament. He could only reply softly,

"Replying to the Purgatory King, I am indeed somewhat surprised. The construction and environment within this hall differ greatly from the hall's exterior in style, exceeding my expectations."

Hearing this, the white-robed man chuckled lightly. With a 'swoosh', he opened the folding fan, fanning himself gently a couple of times, and looking into Ye Yun's eyes, he said,

"Ye Yun, you truly are an uninteresting person."

Although Ye Yun's demeanor was respectful, he wasn't flustered in the slightest. The instant he met the white-robed man's gaze, Ye Yun had already activated his Copying Eye. Through the Copying Eye's replication, he had gained a deep understanding of the white-robed man before him, and his mentality naturally relaxed.

The white-robed man was the controller of this 'Purgatory Hall'—the Purgatory King. Ye Yun simply hadn't expected that the Purgatory King, about whom external information was scarce and who was a powerful figure from ancient times, would actually possess such a personality.

Although the Purgatory King bore the name 'Purgatory', he was actually very gentle and had a lively personality, completely lacking the airs of a powerful expert or senior.

For him, 'Purgatory' was merely his external title and means of expression. In his heart, he preferred others to call him 'White-Robed Carefree King'.

Having discerned the Purgatory King's temperament, Ye Yun completely relaxed. He waved his hand, retrieving a hundred 'Abyss Stones' produced from the tenth level of the Purgatory Abyss, and said softly to the Purgatory King,

"Lord Purgatory King, these are the 'Abyss Stones' I obtained from the tenth level of the Purgatory Abyss. I ask that the Purgatory King examine them to verify the completion of my task!"

The Purgatory King merely glanced at the 'Abyss Stones' Ye Yun presented, then waved his hand and said,

"No need for such trouble, Ye Yun. The moment I saw you, I knew there wouldn't be any problem with your task! It's not easy for you to come all this way. Don't leave today; let's have a good chat!"

Ye Yun wasn't surprised by the Purgatory King's reaction. He knew that the Purgatory King had been guarding the great rift outside the Purgatory Abyss for countless years. In those long years, few people chose to accept tasks related to the Purgatory Abyss. Therefore, guarding the Purgatory Abyss was truly a tormenting chore for a lively person like the Purgatory King.

However, Ye Yun also understood that the reason the Purgatory King went against his own nature and remained here for so long was because he had no choice; he had to do so.

The Purgatory King was a core member of the Virtual Universe Company in its initial stages. Among the many geniuses of his generation in the Virtual Universe Company, he was one of the most outstanding. But that wasn't all. The Purgatory King's true rise to prominence began when he obtained the special lifeform, the 'Lesser Purgatory Abyss'.

When the Virtual Universe Company explored and developed the Original Secret Realm, they obtained the 'Lesser Purgatory Abyss' from this Purgatory Abyss. The first 'Lesser Purgatory Abyss' born from the Purgatory Abyss that Ye Yun saw during his consciousness connection with that consciousness entity was the one taken away by the Virtual Universe Company's experts at that time.

After obtaining this 'Lesser Purgatory Abyss', the Virtual Universe Company researched it and roughly understood its life structure and origins. Regarding how to utilize this special lifeform, the Virtual Universe Company's proposed solutions leaned towards seizing it or refining it into one's own clone.

However, there were too few within the human race who possessed the ability to create clones, and seizing a special lifeform that required countless years to mature was undoubtedly a difficult decision.

This treasure was called the 'Soul Devouring Orb', a natural treasure nurtured by the original universe. Its effect was very simple: after activation, it could devour everything from the target and completely integrate it into oneself, digesting it all into one's own being.

Although the 'Soul Devouring Orb' sounded like it had heaven-defying effects, its use was greatly restricted. First, it couldn't devour objects with a higher realm than oneself. Moreover, the devouring process was extremely dangerous; the target couldn't offer any resistance, or it would directly fail.

The consequences of failure were severe. Not only would the 'Soul Devouring Orb' and the target object be directly destroyed, but oneself would also suffer extremely serious injuries, ranging from severe injuries and a drop in realm to the risk of death!

However, with the help of the Virtual Universe Company, the Purgatory King made thorough preparations and ultimately, with some luck, the Purgatory King successfully devoured the 'Lesser Purgatory Abyss' completely. Furthermore, the fusion process was perfect, without any accidents.

After the successful fusion, the Purgatory King obtained the 'Lesser Purgatory Abyss''s inherent rules, naturally mastering the eight great 'Purgatory Laws'. Among them, the 'Purgatory Fire' law merged with his own cultivated original universe's fire origin law, causing their comprehension speeds to explode!

In less than ten thousand years, the Purgatory King had comprehended the original universe's fire origin law, successfully advancing to the Immortal realm, far ahead of his contemporary geniuses.

And after entering the Immortal realm, the Purgatory King was surprised to discover that the eight 'Purgatory Laws' inherent in the Purgatory Abyss could actually continue to be comprehended!

When the Purgatory King spent tens of thousands of years mastering all eight 'Purgatory Laws', his strength instantly reached the level of an invincible King!

The Purgatory King unleashed fierce attacks using the 'Purgatory Laws', accompanied by endless purgatory aura. This purgatory aura, like that in the Purgatory Abyss, possessed extreme infectiousness. Once infected by the purgatory aura and losing consciousness, one would transform into a 'Purgatory Beast' under the Purgatory King's command!

Because of this, in that era, the Purgatory King was momentarily unmatched, completely making a name for himself in the struggles with the various races of the original universe. The Purgatory King's name spread throughout the entire original universe.

Everyone thought that the Purgatory King would definitely be able to break through to the Universe Venerable realm in one go, and that becoming a Universe Master wasn't impossible either.

However, contrary to everyone's expectations, the Purgatory King's active era only lasted for tens of thousands of years. After that, the Purgatory King completely disappeared, vanishing from everyone's sight.

Let alone other races, even within the human race, Ye Yun and even Feather Shadow Venerable-level figures knew very little about the Purgatory King's information. The Purgatory King's legend was sealed in history due to the passage of time, and few knew about it now.

No one knew why the Purgatory King would do this. Within the human race, it was only known that the Purgatory King had voluntarily retreated to the bottom line, taking on the duty of guarding the Purgatory Abyss. This guard duty had lasted for a full hundreds of millions of years.

It wasn't until he truly met the Purgatory King in person that Ye Yun finally understood the reason.

It turned out that although the Purgatory King had devoured the 'Lesser Purgatory Abyss', fusing all of its characteristics, his entire being was equivalent to a miniature mobile Purgatory Abyss, greatly increasing his actual combat power.

But success can also lead to failure. When the Purgatory King cultivated to the peak of the Immortal level, his true combat power even comparable to the weakest Universe Venerable, he discovered that he couldn't break through to the Universe Venerable!

The eight great 'Purgatory Laws' did allow the Purgatory King's cultivation speed to increase dramatically before becoming a Universe Venerable, and his combat power increased significantly, but they also completely blocked the Purgatory King's path to further improvement.

The Purgatory King didn't know the reason, but in comprehending the laws of time origin and space origin, he had almost lost all his talent. He cultivated bitterly for many years without any progress. Without comprehending these two great origin laws, it was impossible to step into the realm of Universe Venerable.

This made the Purgatory King, who had always been famous as a genius, almost go crazy and collapse. The severance of the path upwards made him disheartened and gradually fade from everyone's sight.

But what the Purgatory King didn't expect was that this wasn't the worst of it. After hundreds of thousands of years of secluded cultivation, he discovered that the eight 'Purgatory Laws' he had mastered had actually begun to degenerate!

Although the degree of degeneration was very small, perhaps only a tiny bit every ten thousand years, the long-term accumulation would be enough to turn his efforts from his previous life into nothing!

Moreover, as these eight 'Purgatory Laws' degenerated, the Purgatory King found that his realm was also constantly regressing. Once all the degeneration was complete, he would even fall from the Immortal level and return to the World Lord level!

Given the Purgatory King's age, once he fell from the Immortal level, he would inevitably perish, his life force exhausted, and no one could save him.

It wasn't until the Purgatory King returned to the outside of the Purgatory Abyss in the Primordial Secret Realm that he finally felt the signs of his realm and 'Purgatory Laws,' which had been constantly declining year by year, beginning to reawaken and sprout, as if only by relying on the outside of the Purgatory Abyss could he stop the changes happening to him.

And it was precisely because of this that the Purgatory King had since remained outside the entrance crack of the Purgatory Abyss, serving as the guardian of the Purgatory Abyss. This stay lasted for hundreds of millions of years.

Knowing these experiences of the Purgatory King, Ye Yun couldn't help but sigh in admiration. The path to the rise of every top powerhouse was very exciting, but behind them all were hidden unknown hardships and difficulties.

The Purgatory King had experienced great ups and downs in his life, yet he was still able to maintain his current personality. It was truly not easy. Perhaps only the real Purgatory King himself understood, and others, including Ye Yun, could only see one aspect of him.

In this lonely life of hundreds of millions of years, the Purgatory King regained his spirits and didn't give up on himself. He guarded the entrance of the Purgatory Abyss and explored the Purgatory Abyss beneath him almost every period of time.

Relying on the peculiarity of his humanoid 'Purgatory Abyss,' the Purgatory King was like a fish in water in the Purgatory Abyss, as if he were strolling in his own backyard, without any pressure.

After years of exploration, the Purgatory King also had a general understanding of the changes that had occurred in himself.

The fully developed Purgatory Abyss was just a special lifeform at the Immortal level. It was because he noticed this that the Purgatory King finally understood the root cause.

Such special lifeforms like the Purgatory Abyss had a fatal flaw, which was that although reaching the Immortal realm was not difficult at all, because of the lack of the Law of Time Origin and the Law of Space Origin, it could not break through to become a Universe Venerable no matter how long it existed!

Although the role of the 'Spirit Devouring Pearl' was to use him as the main body to devour and fuse the characteristics belonging to the 'Lesser Purgatory Abyss,' his human self and the 'Lesser Purgatory Abyss' as a special lifeform were completely incomparable in terms of life gene level.

This led to the fact that although the fused Purgatory King was still a flesh-and-blood human lifeform, many of his characteristics were no different from the Purgatory Abyss.

The many characteristics of the Purgatory Abyss did allow the Purgatory King to advance rapidly in the early stages of cultivation, far ahead of the geniuses of the same era, but it also limited the Purgatory King's development, forever confining him below the Universe Venerable level, unable to complete the breakthrough in his lifetime.

And the reason why the mastery of the complete eight 'Purgatory Laws' would degenerate step by step was because these eight 'Purgatory Laws' were products born under the unique rules generated by the Purgatory Abyss. Once they left the environment of the Purgatory Abyss, they would be suppressed by the Primordial Universe.

After the Purgatory King fused with the 'Lesser Purgatory Abyss,' he devoured its characteristics, but he also lost the foundation of a special lifeform of the Primordial Universe class, which was the 'Universe'!

Without a special 'Universe' that formed its own world, relying solely on the special rules obtained through devouring, such as the eight 'Purgatory Laws' and the Purgatory aura, it was impossible to maintain them completely and permanently. Being constantly suppressed within the scope of the Primordial Universe would cause them to decline day by day.

Only by staying near the Purgatory Abyss and accepting the influence of the unique rules of the Purgatory Abyss could the degeneration occurring in the Purgatory King's body stop and maintain at the peak level of the Immortal level.

The Purgatory King and Ye Yun chatted for a full three days. Ye Yun completely understood the Purgatory King's feelings, so he didn't show any impatience and quietly listened to the Purgatory King's reminiscences of his past.

"The past is really nostalgic," the Purgatory King shook his head slightly, finally ending his outpouring. He gently pushed forward with the folding fan in his right hand, sending the hundred 'Abyss Stones' that Ye Yun had taken out back to Ye Yun's side.

Ye Yun didn't understand why, and he heard the Purgatory King smile slightly and say gently,

"I have already confirmed your mission completion status with the company. The 1 million points should be credited to your account in a while. As for these 100 'Abyss Stones,' keep them for yourself!"

Ye Yun didn't understand what the Purgatory King meant. Obviously, he was letting him keep the 'Abyss Stones' that he had 'hardly obtained.' As for the Virtual Universe Company, the Purgatory King would naturally help him hand in the share.

The Purgatory King guarded the Purgatory Abyss and had the authority and ability to enter it, so these 'Abyss Stones' were really nothing to him.

Ye Yun had spent three days with the Purgatory King and was no longer so restrained. He wasn't being pretentious and wasting the Purgatory King's kindness. He put away the hundred 'Abyss Stones' and said with a smile,

"Then thank you for the Purgatory King's kindness!"

The Purgatory King sighed slightly, slowly walked to Ye Yun's side, patted Ye Yun's shoulder, and said softly,

"Ye Yun, I don't want to explore your secrets, but you have mastered the 'Purgatory Laws' in the Purgatory Abyss. You can't see anything now, but when you cultivate to a higher realm, it will inevitably become a mountain that hinders your progress!

Even I have heard of your talent. It can be said that in the history of the entire human race, you can rank at the forefront with your talent!

So your future is very broad. I don't want you to lose your way because of some small benefits at the moment. You must look at everything from a long-term perspective!"

Ye Yun knew that the fact that he was studying and comprehending the eight 'Purgatory Laws' in the Purgatory Abyss must not be hidden from the Purgatory King, who had reached the peak in this path, so Ye Yun was not surprised at all when the Purgatory King pointed it out at this time.

It's not appropriate to talk deeply with someone you've just met. The Purgatory King and he had only met for the first time, but he gave such earnest advice. Ye Yun knew that the Purgatory King was completely for his own good. As a complete predecessor and a senior of the human race, he hoped that he would not go in the wrong direction and ruin his great future.

Ye Yun bowed slightly and said in a deep voice,

"Purgatory King, thank you for your advice and help. I will keep it in mind!"

The Purgatory King looked at Ye Yun in front of him and vaguely saw his own appearance when he was young, equally high-spirited and equally full of vigor and confidence.

In so many years, the Purgatory King had seen for the first time that someone was really able to comprehend and cultivate the unique 'Purgatory Laws' in the Purgatory Abyss. Although he didn't know how Ye Yun did it, it still made the Purgatory King feel novel and kind. This was also one of the reasons why the Purgatory King took such care of Ye Yun.

Having lived for so many years and experienced countless storms, how could the Purgatory King not see that Ye Yun had not given up on his inner persistence at this time and would definitely continue to comprehend and cultivate the 'Purgatory Laws'.

In fact, the Purgatory King also understood that the speed of cultivating and comprehending the 'Purgatory Laws' together with the original universe's origin laws of the same attribute was many times faster than normal. Once you had experienced it, few people could resist such temptation, just like himself when he was young.

It was just that the Purgatory King didn't know that Ye Yun had already learned from him the advantages and disadvantages of the 'Purgatory Laws,' but Ye Yun's own situation was completely different from his back then.

The Purgatory King completed the fusion of the characteristics of the Purgatory Abyss through the 'Spirit Devouring Pearl,' which was equivalent to only obtaining powerful power, but losing the most fundamental 'Universe' life characteristics.

But Ye Yun was different. What he valued most about the Purgatory Abyss was precisely the 'Universe' that the Purgatory King had lost.

The part of the stone tower fragment within the consciousness body that Ye Yun had obtained could spontaneously breed a unique 'Purgatory Abyss' clone. Once the clone took shape, Ye Yun could perfectly obtain the special Purgatory Abyss environment, and the 'Purgatory Laws' he had mastered would not be weakened at all.

The most important thing was that Ye Yun only regarded the 'Purgatory Abyss' as one of his clones, which did not affect the improvement of his main body at all, and would not have any disadvantages to his future realm improvement.

Moreover, Ye Yun felt that the reason why the Purgatory Abyss had such restrictions was likely because its own life genes were not perfect.

Ye Yun had the means to improve the level of life genes in his hands. He vaguely had a premonition in his heart that when the level of life genes of the Purgatory Abyss was raised again, coupled with the positive benefits brought by the improvement of his main body in the future, perhaps the Purgatory Abyss could break through the shackles and reach a higher realm!

All of this belonged to Ye Yun's own secrets, and he naturally would not tell the Purgatory King in detail, but Ye Yun also kept the Purgatory King's concern and care for him in his heart.

'When I have more research in the future, I may be able to help the Purgatory King. Maybe another top powerhouse can be born in my human race because of this.'

The Purgatory King in white slowly turned around, and the folding fan in his right hand gently swayed. Ye Yun saluted again and slowly withdrew from the 'Purgatory Hall'.

Ye Yun bid farewell to the Purgatory King, whom he had met and hit it off with, and followed the Virtual Universe Company's reception envoy, who had been waiting for a long time, onto the spaceship returning to the Wuchen Time-Space.

'The days ahead will not be as easy as they are now...'

Ye Yun looked at the scenery outside the spaceship, and a strong expectation for the future emerged in his heart.