Chapter 47 First Exploration of the Subsidiary Universe

Traveling through the dark nothingness, Xu Jingming suddenly smelled a peculiar scent. The moment he caught the scent, Xu Jingming felt his entire body heating up. His life instinct sensed danger ahead.

"Xiaojiu, I feel like something's not right ahead," Xu Jingming said.

"This aura should be from somewhere within the subsidiary universe," Xiaojiu responded.

"Let's travel in high-dimensional space and observe from there."

Xu Jingming intended to escape the spacetime of the subsidiary universe with a single thought.

However, when he tried to escape, he sensed that the spacetime layers were different.

If the spacetime layers of the real universe were more vast and inclusive, then the spacetime layers of this subsidiary universe were heavier and more restrictive. The number of spacetime layers was several times greater, and the degree of restriction from their interweaving was more than ten times stronger. "Hmm?" Xu Jingming attempted to escape, but to his dismay, he couldn't escape into high-dimensional space.

"Let me try again." "Such strong restrictions?"

Xu Jingming tried more than ten times in a row, but he simply couldn't escape.

"How can the spacetime layers in this subsidiary universe be so much more numerous than in the real universe?" Xu Jingming couldn't believe it. "The feeling of restriction from these spacetime layers is at least ten times stronger. This situation is rare," Xiaojiu said.

"Rare?" Xu Jingming asked.

"Yes," Xiaojiu responded. "The real universe and even other universes in high-dimensional space are formed under similar environmental conditions, so their spacetime layers are generally similar! There won't be much difference. It's like how the spacetime intercepted within the Spacetime Star Sand, although from other worlds, is similar to our universe's spacetime."

Xu Jingming nodded.

"When high-dimensional lifeforms create internal universes, they generally refer to the surrounding universe's spacetime."

"However, the spacetime of this subsidiary universe is so different from our real universe," Xiaojiu speculated. "It's possible that the high-dimensional lifeform that created it came from a very distant place. The spacetime layer structure that they were familiar with is completely different from our universe's spacetime."

"From a distant place?" Xu Jingming mused.

"Some high-dimensional lifeforms are not from our universe. Like the Ancestral Fiend of the Prison race, and the high-dimensional lifeform Heavenly Serpent that the Eternal Academy Tower Master killed, they were all from outside the universe," Xiaojiu said. "The creator of this subsidiary universe might also be from outside the universe! They just ended up dying within our universe."

"Perhaps they were killed by a high-dimensional lifeform from our universe, or perhaps they fled to our universe before dying," Xiaojiu said. "There are all sorts of possibilities. But clearly, their understanding of spacetime layers is different from ours. It's more complex, thicker, and more restrictive."

Xu Jingming nodded. "My strength is still insufficient. I can't even travel in high-dimensional space when I change the spacetime environment."

"Master, you need to be even more careful then," Xiaojiu reminded.

"Mm."

Xu Jingming's figure shuttled through the void in short bursts, constantly adapting.

"It feels different. Our real universe is more tolerant, making traversal easier, but it's also easier to trigger spacetime distortions. The spacetime here is more stable, with smaller fluctuations, and although the traversal distance is shorter, it's not easily disturbed," Xu Jingming also noticed the changes.

Different spacetimes also had an impact on the moves from the Space-Time lineage. He advanced while familiarizing himself with it. Before long...

A fiery-red world appeared before Xu Jingming. "Gurgle, gurgle…"

This fiery-red world had volcanoes everywhere, constantly erupting lava. The flowing lava reflected off everything, making the entire world red. The surrounding temperature was no less than the center of a star. Xu Jingming's feeling of heat intensified.

"That is?" Xu Jingming observed carefully and immediately discovered something special about this fiery-red world—a tree! He saw that within the flowing lava, there grew great trees, each one towering to a height of over ten thousand kilometers. If placed on a planet, they would be like world trees. "Hundreds and thousands of volcanoes, yet only six giant trees naturally surround them," Xu Jingming noted. "Each of these six great trees seems to be the core of numerous volcanoes."

The six great trees all had black-red fruits growing on them, some large and some small, the smaller ones estimated to be nearly one kilometer in diameter, and the larger ones nearly three kilometers in diameter. The six trees seemed to have hundreds of black-red fruits! "Xiaojiu, what kind of fruits are these?" Xu Jingming asked. "I've never seen this variety in the cosmic treasures I know."

"Generally, the fruits nurtured by subsidiary universes aren't this big," Xiaojiu said. "In my memory, I once saw a super-large fruit, a fiery-red fruit with a diameter of over 1 kilometer. Its value was probably 8 million merits."

Xu Jingming understood. "The value isn't that high. The black-and-white fruit that the Eternal Academy Tower previously opened for exchange, which was only the size of a fist, cost 5 million merits per fruit."

"One can't just look at the size of cosmic treasures," Xiaojiu said, puzzled. "However, such a large cosmic fruit is indeed rare. I've never seen a fruit with a diameter of three kilometers before."

"Let's try picking some," Xu Jingming said, tempted.

*Whoosh.*

With a single blink, Xu Jingming arrived at the crown of the nearest great tree. As he stretched out his hands, dozens of Primordial Battle Armor's colored threads flew out, instantly entangling two adjacent giant black-red fruits. "*Buzz*." Xu Jingming tugged hard, but he couldn't break them off.

*Chi chi chi!* Only when the Primordial Battle Armor threads severed the connection point of the black-red fruits did Xu Jingming instantly store the two giant fruits in the Primordial Battle Armor's space.

Just as he stored the fruits…

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming felt the surrounding world as if it had solidified. He felt like a frozen insect. "Gotta go!" Xu Jingming tried spacetime traversal, but he couldn't traverse at all. He could only escape into the distance at his fastest speed.

"I just came to take a look and grab two fruits. I've only explored the tip of the iceberg of this subsidiary universe… I can't possibly lose my life, right?" Xu Jingming thought to himself.

Dying in a subsidiary universe wasn't a big deal.

The items wouldn't be lost!

It was just a bit embarrassing.

"Believe in my strength, believe in Xiaojiu's protective abilities," Xu Jingming thought as he transformed into a beam of light and flew away.

"Who are you?"

An invisible wave rang in Xu Jingming's mind.

At the same time, the fiery-red world's earth churned as one gigantic figure after another crawled out, a total of six enormous figures. Each figure was over a million kilometers tall, and they resembled upright apes. Their bodies were covered in fur that was burning with flames. Even the combined heat of hundreds and thousands of stars couldn't compare to the terror of the heat radiating from these figures.

"*Hoo.*" One of the towering figures nearest to Xu Jingming suddenly swung its enormous arm. The arm tore through spacetime as it swept across a million kilometers.

Although Xu Jingming was flying at top speed and changing direction nimbly, he couldn't match the speed of the arm's swing.

As he fled, Xu Jingming manipulated the universe origin power and suddenly formed a universe prison.

A universe prison of only 300,000 kilometers in range only trapped a part of the arm. This universe prison was also Xu Jingming's most powerful move after reaching the tenth-order peak. *Rumble*—

The towering upright ape's swinging arm shook slightly, forcibly crushing the universe prison, but its speed was also affected. "*Boom*." Xu Jingming's entire body emitted a great light, with endless illumination shining in all directions, desperately trying to stop the interference.

Furthermore, a large number of colored threads emanated from his body's surface, enveloping all directions. The surrounding time flow was changing, and space was distorting. "*Bang*."

The gigantic palm pulverized everything with irresistible force, crushing the endless light and shattering the colored thread's obstruction. Xu Jingming, however, instantly disappeared, drilling into the spacetime rift.

"*Boom*!"

A large portion of the spacetime layers in the area shattered. Naturally, Xu Jingming, who was hiding in the rift, couldn't escape.

"As long as I don't escape into high-dimensional space, I clearly can't escape this strike." The gigantic finger swept past Xu Jingming, who was protected by countless colored threads. At the moment of the sweep, the threads immediately borrowed the force to dissipate it. *Swoosh!*

Xu Jingming was sent flying by a single palm strike! "Hmm?"

The towering ape was slightly puzzled, perhaps wondering why it hadn't killed him?

However, Xu Jingming was sent flying out of the fiery-red world's range by this palm strike, flying into the dark nothingness. The towering ape didn't chase after him. After the six enormous towering apes looked around, they returned to their original positions and sank back down. Since their birth, they had existed to maintain order in this fiery-red world.

Xu Jingming was a little dazed from the palm strike.

He stopped in the dark nothingness and blinked his eyes.

"Master, don't worry, the cosmic spirit won't leave its garrison," Xiaojiu said.

"No matter what moves I use, be it the universe prison, Origin Point Dissolution, Endless Domain, or even escaping into the cosmic seams... this palm strike rendered them all useless. Everything was crushed," Xu Jingming shook his head. "Too strong."

Xiaojiu agreed, "Yes, we've only just begun exploring the beginning areas of the subsidiary universe, and we've already encountered six cosmic spirits, each one over a million kilometers tall. I've never encountered such large cosmic spirits in my memory."

"The fruits are very large, and the cosmic spirits are also very large. You've never seen them in your memory," Xu Jingming murmured.

"I guess the creator of the subsidiary universe should be the type of high-dimensional lifeform with an exceptionally large body," Xiaojiu said. "Moreover, the might of those six ape-like cosmic spirits was too terrifying. Under normal circumstances, the cosmic spirits in the core area of a subsidiary universe are the most powerful."

Xu Jingming nodded.

He had originally planned to explore a bit, but he didn't expect to encounter a cosmic spirit in the starting area that sent him flying with a single palm strike.

"However, my greatest strength is resisting head-on attacks. Even if a universe legend attacked, I could block it for a period of time," Xiaojiu said. "Only attacks that target mental power can't be completely blocked by me."

"Yes, it looks terrifying to be struck by that palm, but I'm not really injured," Xu Jingming laughed. He was just a little dazed when he was struck.

As he spoke, Xu Jingming returned.

"Master, what do you plan to do next?" Xiaojiu asked. "Do you want to ask for help in clearing the land?"

"No need."

Xu Jingming laughed. "When I reach the tenth order, I'll be able to better unleash the Primordial Battle Armor's strength. Then, I'll come and explore again."