Chapter 3: Livestream and Doctrine Exposition 7500
From the information left behind by the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate, Joshua learned many hidden secrets concerning the Evil Gods and Chaos.
One of them was that the number of Evil Gods is, in essence, infinite.
The Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate was originally just an ordinary viral lifeform, a special transcendent creature based on erosion, rapid evolution, and rapid adaptation—if not for unforeseen circumstances, evolving naturally, it would likely have become a special kind of Void Behemoth, reproducing and spreading across the World Star River and Multiverse Star River, unlikely to have transformed into the bizarre and powerful extradimensional lifeform it became.
However, when it grew to a certain threshold—to use Joshua's preferred unit, surpassing Legendary High-rank and entering Legendary Limit, and establishing a massive barrier nest in its home world—it was met with a wave of invasions and attacks from Evil Gods.
At that time, with the power of the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate, it was no problem to fend off ordinary Evil God invasions. Even if multiple Evil Gods invaded simultaneously, it was merely troublesome; if it couldn't win, it could simply flee without issue. But soon, after dealing with the fourth wave of Chaos invaders, it sensed something was wrong—it wasn't just that it had encountered an Evil God invasion; the entire World Star River it inhabited, all civilizations were being attacked and eroded by Chaos, and the attacks were relentless, seemingly without end.
Hordes of Evil God's Minions emerged from nowhere, along with the Evil Gods themselves, forcefully annihilating all civilizations along their path, turning countless billions of life-filled worlds into ashes and desolation.
But it was precisely during that era of war with the Evil Gods that the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate discovered that there were also many powerful civilizations in its World Star River that withstood the Evil God's assaults. One particularly powerful mechanical civilization even piloted neon-like World Warships through the void, slaying Evil Gods along the way, collecting them as research materials, and attempting to uncover the secrets behind them... If not for the Evil God invasion forcing these powerful civilizations to reveal their hidden trump cards, the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate, as it slowly expanded, would have suffered a great loss. If it had encountered those most powerful civilizations, it might even have been completely destroyed.
In short, during that time, the entire World Star River was engulfed in war. The Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate abandoned its nest, and lacking any sense of shame common to intelligent life, it even secretly followed behind the Evil Gods, joining them in invading other civilizations, then crushing and assimilating both sides of the conflict... During that period, it grew rapidly, to the point where, in the later stages, the vast majority of civilizations and Evil Gods posed no threat to it. The Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate even felt that this was its opportunity; it could transcend its limits in this war-torn Star River, with no one to restrain it.
Until that day arrived.
While the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate was on its daily hunt for Evil Gods and civilizations, it suddenly sensed that at the edge of the World Star River, beyond the Silent Void, a fluctuation that shook all realms had emerged.
Then, the entire World Star River was torn apart, like a piece of white paper ripped in two directions, splitting open. A profound darkness, like a crack, forcibly inserted itself into the Star River, forcing countless worlds to leave their original star domains, flung into the infinite distance.
"If the 'Plenty' Evil God you speak of is a Near-Saint Great Evil God, the most powerful Evil God currently observable in the multiverse, then the Evil God I encountered back then was undoubtedly also a 'Near-Saint Evil God' of the same level."
In the information left by the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate, it referred to that existence, which was so powerful it drove the Aggregate to despair and forced it to flee in disgrace to other Star Rivers, as such:
"The Evil God [Cataclysm]."
Everything was changing, undergoing violent transformation.
Before the darkness fully manifested, the entire World Star River experienced a series of great disasters akin to natural calamities—not ordinary disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis, but Void upheavals spanning all realms, with worlds as the basic unit.
The energy of some worlds entered a low ebb, the energy of others surged out of nowhere. Some worlds entered an unprecedented dark age, while others experienced endless, unprecedented light—cold, heat, eternal night, eternal day. As time passed, even transcendent power began to change drastically. The Aether cycle supporting small worlds collapsed, and countless worlds turned to dust. The madness of Psionic Energy brought immense pain to the World Will and all minds. The chaos of Elemental Force, Arcane Power, and Life Energy caused all tangible existence to lose its original balance, plunging into finality.
It was said that this created countless Evil God embryos resembling 'Imbalance,' 'Cataclysm,' and 'Collapse.' Numerous worlds collapsed in a chain reaction under the might of the Near-Saint Evil God, and fragments of other worlds entering other worlds triggered transcendent upheavals similar to the Siberia World, amplifying the disturbances of the 'Cataclysm' Evil God. All these changes contradicted the understanding of many civilizations: within those still intact large worlds or the heavily defended home worlds of advanced civilizations, cataclysms continued. The properties of some substances changed; certain chemical elements no longer reacted with others; some metals suddenly became indestructible, then abruptly fragile, rendering all complex and precise creations useless.
All theories that worked in the 'conventional multiverse' were invalidated by the Near-Saint's attack, which was akin to altering fundamental constants. The most powerful civilization in that World Star River launched an offensive, attempting to defeat the Evil God [Cataclysm] and stop the chain reaction of world collapse. But it was futile. They did hinder it for a time, but ultimately, as the core star domain of that civilization was silently destroyed, the entire World Star River was declared completely lost.
If not for the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate's extremely high adaptability to various environments, its rapid evolution, and its nature as a collective lifeform where a single part could not be fully killed by losing a portion, it would have perished in the aftermath of the [Cataclysm] Evil God... So it fled in panic from that fallen World Star River to other regions of the Multiverse Star River.
But the question arose—how many 'Near-Saint' level Evil Gods are there?
The Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate did not know.
However, as it traversed the void to other World Star Rivers, it observed a cold, flowing fire burning across the entire Multiverse Star River.
A dark fire, yet flickering, swaying like flames, but also intensely cold.
That was the radiance of the Evil Gods, the shadow of the Evil Gods... Their number was enough to completely obscure the entire World Star River and spread endlessly across the Multiverse Star River.
"I can no longer observe any information from the Multiverse Star River I originally inhabited—it has vanished, disappeared into the vast, boundless Silent Void. I can observe nothing, whether it be the light of worlds or transcendent fluctuations. There is nothing there."
"It's as if it vanished into thin air, as if it never existed. But in the Silent Void, I found the wreckage of other World Star Rivers, and even Multiverse Star Rivers. I may have understood the origin of this multiverse's endless void—in the era when the First Flame still shone brightly, all that void was once filled with worlds. Back then, there were no World Star Rivers or Multiverse Star Rivers, these isolated islands in the void. All worlds were connected as one, a single vast, infinitely expanding complete multiverse."
But the Evil Gods destroyed these worlds.
Joshua could already guess the truth behind this: from the birth of the Plenty Evil God, one hundred and sixty million years ago in the time reference frame around the First Flame, to the era of the Psionic Sage's birth, all civilizations, after their destruction, gave rise to Evil Gods... And the endless void within the entire multiverse, the once infinite worlds, may all have been civilizations in the past.
In other words, the number of Evil Gods...
"It's meaningless. Fighting Evil Gods is meaningless. They can devour all things. Rather than engaging in an almost eternal battle with nearly endless Evil Gods, it's better to seek the location of the First Flame, to go to the origin of all things, and end the source of darkness that shrouds the multiverse."
Joshua truly understood the thoughts of the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate, and even the Sages like the Sage.
That was why he could now suppress his desire to fight and negotiate with Emperor Amos—facing the impending Evil God calamity that would destroy all things, even a little bit of power was precious and needed to be won over.
But this was merely a beautiful wish, because both Joshua and Emperor Amos were people who couldn't speak properly without first proving their strength.
Thus, after a few brief words, Joshua, losing patience, issued an ultimatum.
"Agree, or fight."
Emperor Amos sneered in response: "That's not for you to decide."
With that, the two struck almost simultaneously, clashing in the void.
Neither their true bodies nor even their avatars were present; only their wills manifested from afar. But under the command of these wills, the surrounding energy and matter began to condense and manifest, becoming part of them, transforming into their battle avatars—space meant nothing to beings like them; wherever their will touched was within reach.
In the dark void, Joshua manifested a silver giant arm capable of grasping worlds. He directly grabbed toward the region where Emperor Amos was located, and within his palm, space-time was collapsing, everything being compressed violently. If caught, it would undoubtedly be crushed into a singularity.
But Emperor Amos controlled the Aether, turning invisible forces into a torrent that coalesced into countless semi-transparent, multi-jointed bones. These bones rotated, shimmering with a faint fluorescence, nearly indestructible. The expanding force resisted the collapsing space-time, then they linked together, forming a whip-like structure composed of individual worlds, wrapping around Joshua's arm.
Crack—the bones twisted like a giant serpent, attempting to snap the silver giant arm. Aether and Steel Force clashed and annihilated each other, eroding one another, as if fighting at the most microscopic level while expanding to the most macroscopic void. The intense light from the conflict illuminated the entire World Star Domain.
Boom!
Just as the Amos people in the surrounding star domains were bewildered and fearful, with a tremendous roar and the trembling of worlds and space-time, the battlefield of their aerial clash began to shift.
Accompanied by transcendent light that occasionally flared, shaking the entire Amos Royal Court, within the clusters of ownerless, dead worlds, the light of worlds was extinguished one by one. Joshua didn't want to harm unrelated lives, and Emperor Amos didn't want to mess up his own territory, so they left the borders of the Royal Court—but the ownerless star domains between the Royal Court's borders and the former Takur borders suffered greatly. The battle of the powerful caused stars to vanish and realms to dissipate. Worlds were pierced through, even directly used as materials for their fight.
"What's happening?!"
An observer at a border outpost of the Amos Royal Court didn't understand what was occurring. He just trembled, looking at the instruments that showed the residual power of the clash, which had already burned out most of the arrays, and the observation nodes being rapidly destroyed, muttering to himself in confusion.
"World destruction—a chain of destruction!"
At the border of the Royal Court, a titled general's face changed drastically. He rushed into the void, staring into the distance. As a Legendary expert, Caledonia guarded the front lines against the Takur people, his strength ranking among the top in the entire Royal Court. But now he felt a chill, because the aura of the Great Emperor was interweaving with the power of a foreign expert, shattering the numerous World Star Domains that had served as a buffer zone between them and the Takur!
"Has the Takur High Patriarch invaded?! Their disappearance was indeed just a feint!"
"But they're not this strong—and where is the fleet?"
In a short time, the entire armed forces of the Royal Court were placed on highest alert and began to assemble, but they couldn't find the enemy. Countless experts could only look around in confusion—they had enough self-awareness to know their own strength; they couldn't join the battlefield between the Great Emperor and that foreign expert. Doing so would not help and would only result in pointless death.
Near the border, merchant ships traveling through the void, carrying supplies, sensed the changes in the surrounding worlds. They urgently halted in place, trying to avoid the suddenly appearing battlefield ahead—but although the battlefield didn't advance further, its aftershocks still spread. It could be seen that, accompanied by massive space-time fluctuations, the radiance of world-stars flared. The Amos people piloting the merchant ships felt their tentacles and limbs go weak, nearly unable to move.
Because small and medium-sized worlds, tumbling like meteorites, were being pushed away by the aftershocks from the core of the battlefield, hurtling toward them—granted, due to the difference in scale, their merchant ships would at most be carried along by these flying worlds, but facing the endless radiance of worlds bearing down on them, who could remain calm?
And the most terrifying thing wasn't a single world bearing down, but thousands upon thousands, countless worlds being pushed aside and swept away!
It could be seen that in the Bloody Star River, the star domain at the border between the Amos Royal Court and the Takur Order, countless worlds were scattering in all directions like a meteor shower. Space-time currents were disrupted, even the radiance of the Great Magic Tide was struck into surging tidal light. It could even be said that the buffer zone's World Star Domains had been swept clean, becoming a Silent Void, an absolute void within the Star River!
And within this void, endless light blazed, burning out all prying eyes and observation arrays. Without reaching the Ultimate-rank, one couldn't even look directly at this light. Only at Legendary-rank could one barely discern the details of the clash between the two within the light's birth, death, brightness, and darkness.
But the true process of the battle—who had the advantage, who was at a disadvantage—was known only to the two combatants themselves.
—That should have been the case.
Emperor Amos, an expert who had achieved his current realm based on Aether and Arcane Power, had walked the path of Legendary Limit for tens of thousands of years. His true body had long since invaded the Abyss, attempting to contact the foundation of a World Star River, the 'Genesis Maelstrom.' If he truly assimilated the cyclical power of that entire World Star River, turning this ultimate principle into his own use and giving birth to a path purely his own, then becoming a Near-Saint would be a natural progression.
Joshua, on the other hand, based his Steel Force, sublimated from Life Energy, on Emotion Force and various other transcendent powers to verify his path forward. He had also obtained information from the Unified Grand Database, the Knowledge Seizer, the Triple Veil, and the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate. He had long since touched the realm of Near-Saint, even placing half a foot within it, when he attempted to command the Steel Serpent of the Starry World, the World Will holding eighty percent of the power of the Starry World's Soul Cycle, and merged with the stars through the Triple Veil.
The mere aftershocks of their battle would cause world destruction. If it were within a Star River World, it wouldn't be strange for them to break apart a galactic cluster. Given time, dismantling most of a galactic cluster wouldn't be difficult. Theoretically, aside from beings of the same level, no one else could know the details of their fight.
With one exception.
That was the observation arrays carried by the combatants themselves.
At this moment, the battle between Joshua and Emperor Amos had reached a fever pitch. The power they had descended from afar had transformed into a four-armed God of Destruction and a nebula creature. Arms and tentacle-like mist-hands intertwined, emitting stellar sparks of light. Simultaneously, dead worlds shattered one by one, turning into clouds of light mist, which were pulled and absorbed into their bodies, becoming their supplies and power.
In this battle, Joshua held the advantage. Although his four arms seemed fewer than the nebula creature's numerous Aether tentacles, each time he clenched his fist, he could crush an indestructible Aether tentacle, scattering brilliant light everywhere. The giant god even lunged forward, embracing the nebula creature—a chest large enough to easily encompass a solar system tightened as the four arms closed in, forcibly snapping the nebula creature into three sections.
And the Legendary-rank observation array carried by Joshua faithfully recorded everything.
Then, livestreamed.
At the far reaches of space-time, in the Origin Star River and the Lost Star River, in Mycroft's homeland and the Jetram Star Domain's void base, almost all Mycroft people could see the current situation of Emperor Amos's retreat—his descent speed was slower than Joshua's, his reaction time for connecting his void avatar was longer, and lacking experience in fighting Near-Saint-level enemies and connecting his own mind-subunits spread across the Multiverse Star River, the Great Emperor was indeed inferior to Joshua in this regard. So, even though their power seemed comparable, he was firmly suppressed by Joshua.
Praise and exclamations never ceased. Even the Legendary experts of Mycroft changed expression slightly, either sighing, lamenting, or feeling gratified. They hadn't expected Joshua's growth rate to be so fast. How long had it been? He had already grown to such a level.
Indeed, as the Shadow Sage had said, it was as if 'the gaze of the entire multiverse and all the Sages were focused on him,' with countless causal entanglements giving birth to the warrior of today. But if the warrior himself hadn't continuously fought, facing those terrifying enemies, he would never have passed through so many crises and grown so strong.
Of course, it wasn't just the Mycroft World—this livestream wasn't primarily for their own people.
All the major powers in the Multiverse Star River where the Lost Star River was located, numerous powerful void empires, civilizations, and races, had received invitations from the Mycroft Civilization to watch this unprecedented 'livestream'—and then, they trembled in shock, even fear.
The Amos Royal Court of the Bloody Star River, one of the calamity civilizations—also a Level 5 void civilization—had speculated about Emperor Amos's power, but they hadn't expected it to have reached such a level... With just a battle avatar descended from the void, he could easily destroy a star domain, shaking or even destroying countless worlds. With his strength, if not for the equally formidable Takur Annihilation Order holding him back, he would not only be able to project power across Star Rivers but even build a vast cross-Star River empire!
But even more terrifying was the expert from the Mycroft Civilization, who could suppress Emperor Amos, causing the latter to roar repeatedly but never find an opportunity.
"Why are they showing us this?"
"Undoubtedly, to display power... They probably intend to declare hegemony over this Multiverse Star River!"
"As expected of our lost ancestors, a civilization that once created brilliance. Now they have returned, showing us their power and glory."
Experts from other Level 5 civilizations felt a great crisis, because the power Joshua displayed at this moment had surpassed their imagination of 'limit.' The Limit Crisis had just passed, and they were severely damaged. Although they thanked the Mycroft Civilization for its selfless contributions, that didn't mean they intended to submit to it.
But now, because of the existence of that four-armed giant god, everything had become uncertain.
Even the departing Takur people saw that scene in the distance. The new High Patriarch sensed the power of their old enemy and the foreign expert. Having already received Joshua's message and knowing the agreement between Joshua and the previous High Patriarch, the expert sighed. Once, the ones who could contend with the Amos people were them, but they had never been able to suppress their opponent.
Now, their eternal enemy was being suppressed, even about to be defeated, but he felt no excitement or joy, because it wasn't them who had achieved this.
"One day, we will return... We will rebuild our homeland and glory, existing eternally in this Star River!"
Making a vow in his heart, the new High Patriarch turned around, no longer looking at the distant battle.
And thirteen dimmed canopy worlds, as if deliberately hiding their radiance, along with countless mobile void homeland ships, sailed toward the distant Silent Void, disappearing into the boundless darkness.
At this moment, the battle in the void was nearing its end. Joshua's four arms tore apart the nebula creature's main body, like tearing apart an extremely tough cotton and cloud layer. He brought all matter and energy under his control—at the realm he and Emperor Amos had reached, there was no longer any core to speak of. Not a drop of blood, not a trace of residue, not even a glimmer of energy or a pattern similar to their essence could be left, as it could become a possibility for them to descend or even start over.
Therefore, everything about the opponent had to be completely annihilated and controlled. Only then could a battle be considered over.
"You win." In the end, the Great Emperor still hadn't given up, but he still hadn't found the key to turning the tide. His voice seemed to sound from a distant point in space-time, gradually fading to nothing: "I concede."
"Give up that playful aggression against foreign races. Our enemy is the Evil Gods, Chaos. All life shares this enemy."
Joshua's giant god avatar stood in the dissipating light mist of the nebula creature's corpse. He said in a deep voice: "Otherwise, the next place I descend will be the Bloodmoon Abyss."
The Great Emperor did not reply.
And Joshua didn't care whether the other agreed or understood his meaning.
This battle with Emperor Amos, or rather forcing his concession, was inevitable. The matters of Kreler and Elma were merely a convenient entry point. Even without them, Joshua would still have come to demand an explanation for the Amos Royal Court's previous attack on the expeditionary force.
And the purpose of livestreaming all this was, as other civilizations speculated, to display power.
And to increase the credibility of what he was about to say... After all, the most sincere trust in this world comes from the most powerful strength.
Joshua had to use a sufficiently powerful battle to intimidate the countless civilizations and races in the Multiverse Star River—and then, tell them the secrets of the Evil Gods, the truth of the cycle of eras, and finally, at the distant reaches of space-time, the place of origin of all things, the unknown struggles, sacrifices, and awakenings of the many Sages.
"The name of the Life Energy Sage has been forgotten. The existence of the Sage of Demons is only remembered by the Knowledge Seizer. The name of the Psionic Sage is known only to the Triple Veil of the Starry World. The names of the Element and Aether Sages have left no trace in this Multiverse Star River."
"This should not be. They should be celebrated and remembered by all. Their love and sacrifice for the multiverse's beings—the meaning of their actions should not be buried in the river of history."
Joshua knew that the Sages probably didn't care about these things. Their will to fight eternally had nothing to do with the understanding of others or the praise of other beings. But so what? Joshua felt it shouldn't be this way, so he would do it. Moreover, only by clearly explaining the relationships of transcendent power and clarifying the source of transcendence could he guide numerous civilizations not to stray from the path of transcendence, thereby giving birth to more powerful beings.
Although the warrior had not yet reached the realm of the Sages, he understood that all the changes the Sages had made were for the prosperity of this multiverse, so that later generations could walk their path—and now, what he was about to do, though far inferior to the Sages, was the same.
Joshua was about to expound the doctrine. Taking this opportunity, before all realms and all beings, he would explain his understanding of transcendent power.
Because 'inheritance and knowledge' are not 'life.' A thousand people have a thousand different persistences. 'Inheritance' is only meaningful when passed down. Sealed in an ancient box or the most secret database, it is as good as non-existent.
As for whether they understood or not, that was not Joshua's concern... And if anyone attempted to use this for evil, the warrior would naturally act and kill them.
So, in the silence of all realms, under the breathless gaze of countless civilizations and experts, the four-armed giant god, who had just ended a battle and annihilated Emperor Amos's avatar, raised his front right hand, still bearing the scars of battle.
In it, a world was coalescing, born out of nothing. Countless dense transcendent runes condensed and unfolded on its surface.
"The origin of transcendence comes from Divine Power."
A grand, heavy voice sounded. No preamble, no warning. Joshua spoke.
Doctrine exposition.
He had begun.