Chapter 5: Pacifying All Races, Part 1
At the Amos Royal Court, within a border void settlement, after witnessing the complete battle between Joshua and Emperor Amos up close, and personally seeing Joshua expound his teachings to the entire Multiverse Star River civilization within the void, Kerelei's heart was filled with nothing but shock.
He was an individual who aspired to become a strong one and possessed the talent to do so. From that grand spectacle of world creation and destruction, he felt no fear, only a deep longing—if not for the many things still waiting for him to do, Kerelei would have immediately found a place to sit down and cultivate, applying that enlightenment directly to himself.
But in the end, he was not yet a strong one.
And now, countless beings who were already strong had stepped forward to challenge that figure.
"I had a premonition that the era of peace in the Multiverse was departing, never to return, but I never imagined that the one to unveil this scene would not be the armies of the World Devourer, but you."
In the void, energy was frantically coalescing. From a corner of the Multiverse Star River, a powerful being descended a combat avatar directly through the information channel of Joshua's broadcast. His voice was rough, like the roaring howl of blazing flames: "I admire your determination to maintain order in the Multiverse Star River, but I will never accept restraint!"
One could see that the true form of this powerful being resembled a layered rose, each petal possessing a different color and elemental concentration. Billions upon trillions of petals were unfolding across time and space, appearing incredibly magnificent. Each of these petals was large enough to envelop celestial bodies. Countless common, rare, natural, and artificial elements were bound together by vast energy and runes, forming a natural, world-class formation!
This was clearly a rare 'pure elemental' lifeform! Unlike elementals like fairies, who simulated humanoid forms, this powerful being from another world had clearly arranged his own power into a formation, using that formation to simulate a world. From a different path, he had transformed into a massive 'Fairyland'! Within it, elements had completely replaced other supernatural forces and even fundamental forces, forming a pure elemental world! A 'Elemental Heartscape World' composed entirely of the strong one's thoughts!
Now, the Elemental Realm bloomed like a flower, forming a cage that completely enveloped the world and void around the warrior.
Joshua did not reply. He felt the intense battle intent from his opponent, so he used his own even greater battle intent as his best answer—Joshua raised his right hand. In his palm, illusory silver mist condensed into stars and celestial bodies, forming galaxies. More galaxies condensed into star clusters, and star clusters into even larger structures. In an instant, a hazy, mist-formed silver Star River world hovered in the warrior's palm, like a spinning disc of light.
Then, Joshua directly struck, pressing this Star River disc against the oncoming petal world.
Soft light spread like ripples of water. There was no explosion or roar; everything was silent—but at the most fundamental level, the two strong ones were battling. In terms of world cognition and the construction of micro-systems, Joshua was using Steel Force as a tool, employing his understanding of the world to attempt to decipher and deconstruct his opponent's elemental world, while his opponent was doing the same.
This kind of battle was also the best form of learning. Using one's own power to verify the power of others produced an effect far beyond one plus one equals two. And this scene of Joshua clashing with the elemental strong one drew the attention of other powerful beings. Even other strong ones, active deep within the Star River, who had reached the Legendary Limit long ago but could find no path forward, stared into the void, eager to try.
Whoosh—Another strong one could not hold back and struck. He knew this was like a siege, but were they supposed to just wait their turn one by one? Joshua had dared to challenge the entire Multiverse Star River, so he had naturally prepared to be challenged by multiple people at once. Moreover, neither he nor the petal elemental had used their full power, only descending combat avatars.
One could see, with another surge of energy coalescence, a spindle-shaped silver metallic phantom twisted the light of the Star River, descending across time and space. It was a mechanical warship far larger than any continent. On its silver hull, light patterns like rivers flickered, shifted, and transformed—soon, a two-headed, four-winged metallic beast, supported entirely by Life Energy and Arcane Power, appeared.
It possessed immense mass and nearly indestructible defenses. This bizarre, powerful beast was essentially formed by countless silicon-based lifeforms merging and transforming their 'Life Energy Sparks'. That silver continental warship was the manifestation of their collective will and power, capable of taking forms like beasts, warships, or sanctuaries. It was an ultimate wonder construct, a condensation of power and technology.
"We come to challenge!"
A violent mental fluctuation, like countless echoes in a valley, rang out. The metallic beast lunged directly at Joshua, intending to fight him at close range—these silicon-based lifeforms were more familiar with Mycroft people compared to other strong ones. They knew that Joshua's rise had been very short. He might rely on his unparalleled genius and various inherited knowledge from predecessors to gain experience and wisdom far surpassing other beings, achieving an extremely high realm. But in terms of power foundation, that was not something talent alone could bridge.
At most a few decades—how much power could he accumulate? Battling the elemental strong one in knowledge and realm was the worst choice, as it was equivalent to challenging the collective of the entire Mycroft Civilization, and all other beings Joshua had learned from. The truly correct approach was to directly compete with Joshua in raw power!
But what the metallic beast met head-on was a left hand that grew larger and larger, until it blotted out the heavens and was capable of grasping the Star River.
The metallic beast could see a torrent of Life Energy far surpassing their collective might, an endless tide of Steel Force sweeping across the Star River like a tsunami. Under the influence of this power, the surrounding starlight twisted as if reversed, forming dizzying vortices that involuntarily drew them toward the palm of that left hand—then, the hand closed slightly, enveloping the metallic beast, making a throwing motion.
Whoosh—A meteor flew backward in reverse, vanishing into the temporal rift from which it had descended.
"What did we just do?"
"What kind of power is this?!"
They had been unknowingly thrown back to the other side of time and space. The silicon-based lifeforms' minds were blank: "Even when facing the most powerful World Wills, we have never felt such power!"
Still, an endless stream of strong ones descended to challenge, either through theory or direct power contests. In a sense, this was like an immensely grand 'thesis defense'. Joshua expounded his teachings to the entire Multiverse Star River, while numerous professors and experts from related academic fields below came forward to question, or even directly attack, attempting to suppress him with force.
What Joshua had to do was make all who dared to challenge him completely convinced—both in theory and in power. He was conducting a 'debate' and 'defense' on both spiritual and physical levels.
One could see that throughout the star domain at the border of the Amos Royal Court, temporal rifts were appearing one after another. Strong ones from all directions descended like stars, their light falling from the distant sky. The entire void seemed to become a massive maelstrom, filled with killing intent and chilling auras. Countless gazes—angry, cold, or simply 'challenging'—focused on the center of the vortex and those gazes, where the warrior still appeared to have strength to spare.
Joshua feared neither theory nor practical power.
Indeed, his time of achievement was too short. For strong ones in the Multiverse who might have cultivated and grown for tens of thousands of years, the time he had experienced was merely the beginning and end of a dream, like the Astral Dragon Clan of old, who simply rested and slept through the entire rise of humanity.
But that meant nothing.
"In the Multiverse Star River, there are no 'hundreds of thousands of years old' monsters. The cycles of eras have eliminated all individuals who tried to hoard power through 'time'. Even the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate only appeared in the last few tens of thousands of years."
Joshua's four arms simultaneously dealt with different enemies. The elemental world from earlier had already dissipated. That strong one's elemental path was indeed exquisite; by combining many completely different elements, he had formed a unique elemental world that did not follow any material world's common sense. The fairies of Mycroft were inferior to him in this area of study, but the Ultimate Sublimation Aggregate's alternate space did it even better. Joshua, with his extremely rich experience, analyzed the essence of his opponent's world at a much faster rate, disrupting its balance and causing his avatar to dissipate.
Ultimately, the accumulation of power was a false proposition. At the Legendary Limit level, anyone could easily manipulate the endless energy and matter around them for their own use. Even in the void, there was at least the Great Magic Tide as an energy source. Perhaps only during the period when the Great Magic Tide subsided, in the Silent Void, was something like 'power reserves' necessary.
Joshua could now, in an instant, condense energy a thousand times greater than his normal state, unleashing a tsunami-like burst. And this multiplier had yet to be pushed to its upper limit—tens of thousands of years of reserves meant nothing. As long as the energy burst within a certain time did not exceed a certain threshold, so-called 'deep foundations' were merely a small faucet connected to a water tank.
The enemies that followed were also extremely troublesome. These strong ones from countless endless worlds in the Multiverse Star River all had their own signature skills. Most were unfamiliar to Joshua, but quite a few were well-known—the warrior even saw a strong one from one of the eighteen famous fifth-tier civilizations, whom he had met not long ago. That strong one from the Enbang civilization looked like a nine-tailed fox, but their tails were actually their arms. Splitting off could even give birth to a new Enbang person. Their thinking center was on their back, while the front part, which looked like a fox head, was essentially an energy-absorbing organ, capable of shedding its 'head' like a lizard to survive.
In a sense, the Enbang people's tails were their true bodies. This acquaintance smiled at Joshua, seeming a bit embarrassed by his own act of ganging up.
Joshua was also a bit embarrassed as he punched him into oblivion—this Enbang strong one was indeed powerful, but the warrior, the old Pope, and the Seven Gods had all sparred with him before. They knew each other's strengths, so there was no need to waste time.
Soon, this stretch of void had become a chaotic battlefield of energy and matter. While the vast majority were rushing to challenge Joshua, attacking from spiritual, energetic, material, temporal, and many other levels, some challengers, seeing they couldn't get into the fray, felt awkward and bored. They simply picked another opponent and started fighting on the side.
After all, this challenge was initiated by Joshua. Everyone was using avatars or descended clones, so the loss from destruction was minimal. Instead, they could witness the power of other strong ones who were previously separated by unknown distances and difficult to communicate with—a sure-win situation.
There were even strong ones who had failed earlier, quietly crossing time and space for a second or even third descent—but these strong ones were too embarrassed to challenge Joshua again. Instead, they took this opportunity to seek out opponents who might be beneficial to them and issued challenges.
The scene was chaotic. In an instant, perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of Legendary Limit-level strong ones descended from all corners of the Multiverse Star River, while simultaneously, dozens or hundreds were blasted away by Joshua or others. The Amos Royal Court army, which had been approaching from afar, retreated several times faster than they had advanced. The entire border region was undergoing emergency evacuation. All worlds that could see this void star domain were within the danger zone.
Never before had so many strong ones gathered in one place. The aftershocks of their battles and sparring would permanently affect this stretch of void, creating a special 'void condensation' effect, forming a unique void terrain similar to the 'Void Great Maelstrom'—a dangerous life forbidden zone!
"Damn it! Hateful!"
Emperor Amos had never been so stifled. At this moment, he felt an unprecedented anger and humiliation rising in his heart—back when he couldn't conquer the Takur people's home star domain, it was because he, as an individual, couldn't overcome the Infinite Divine Energy Variable Source representing the Takur people as a whole. He was outmatched and accepted defeat. He also couldn't beat Joshua, so there was nothing to say; he had to concede.
But now, these strong ones from who-knows-where, the vast majority weren't even qualified to challenge Joshua, let alone him! How did this feel? It was like someone had cleaned his spotless home, with its shiny, polished floor, and then a person fresh out of the mud stepped on it—he could tolerate that person, but then that person called a whole crowd into his home to sing and dance, even turning on the speakers to start raving. And this crowd wasn't even human; they were like mud slimes!
—Who did they think they were?!
—They weren't even as good as him, yet they dared to challenge Joshua?! They were just taking advantage of the numbers! Despicable! Shameless! Utterly without bottom line!
Thinking this, Emperor Amos also split off an avatar, mingling into the noisy crowd of strong ones.
After a moment's thought, he felt it wasn't safe enough, so he split off a few more.