184: True Strongest Level Sixth Stage

Chen Jun's judgment, like the cold Laws of the Universe, was branded deep into the Soul of every member of the Yaoqiong Divine Kingdom.

When those golden and silver divine patterns faded, the Shining World Celestial Vault—that former capital of the Divine Kingdom, now forcibly compressed and imprisoned—was thoroughly reduced to an eternal "source energy mine" and a "cage of hatred."

Twenty-three hours, condensing origin crystals without pause.

This was the only meaning of their existence, an instinct carved into their genes!

Their power was twisted and directed; the moment their hands touched the Void Realm, they could extract and refine the purest source coins, origin crystals, source marrow, source heart, and even higher-quality "source soul" from the Origin of the Universe!

A source heart was a product that took an Early Galaxy Level entity one year to condense! A source soul was the supreme essence that took an Early River of Stars level entity one year to condense!

These energy crystals, shimmering with enchanting luster, were born from their hands like flowing water, and through invisible contractual links, they poured endlessly into the Human Federation's national treasury.

This process itself was an endless torture.

Every condensation suppressed their instinct to evolve, consumed their time, and reminded them of the shame of being slaves for eternity!

However, compared to the last hour of every day, this twenty-three hours of manual labor was simply like heaven!

...

virtual universe, "Eternal Purgatory" exclusive plane.

Time dilation, one thousand to one.

This was the ultimate execution ground created by Chen Jun using supreme authority, combined with virtual universe technology, specifically for the sinners of the Yaoqiong Divine Kingdom!

When the last hour of the real world arrived, all members of the Divine Kingdom, regardless of Rank or where they were in the Shining World Celestial Vault, would be forcibly linked, their consciousness falling into this boundless land of despair!

Here, they would endure one thousand full hours of tailored, endless, painful torture!

"No—!!! It's here again!!!"

"Spare me! I beg you, spare me!"

"Kill me! Just kill me!!!"

...

When the link was established, countless shrill, deformed wails echoed throughout the entire Virtual Purgatory!

The scenery here was bizarre, automatically generated based on the deepest fears and past sins of each sinner.

For ordinary members of the Yaoqiong Divine Kingdom, they might fall into endless war flashbacks, experiencing over and over the desperate counterattacks of the civilizations they had slaughtered, feeling the pain of blades piercing their bodies and energy annihilation!

For the once high-and-mighty nobles and generals, they might be subjected to the cruel Laws they had once enacted, experiencing those tortures themselves, or being torn and gnawed upon day and night by the hundreds of millions of "virtual vengeful spirits" they had oppressed!!

But regardless of the torture, the core pointed to one thing—letting them taste, a thousand or ten thousand times over, the pain they had inflicted on others from the perspective of the victim!!!

And in the very center of this purgatory, there existed ten of the most "famous," never-closing "exhibition halls."

These were prepared for the ten Venerables: Brilliant Light, Thunder Punishment, Venerable An Ying, Ice Soul, Thick Earth, Wind Howl, Wood Spirit, Gold Spear, Water Splendor, and Red Flame.

Outside their "exhibition halls," there was always the longest line—these were "visitors" formed by the consciousness of countless Federation citizens and members of the chen clan bloodline!

By paying a negligible amount of virtual points, they could enter and personally experience, or even personally "participate" in the execution process of these ten Venerables!

Venerable Hui Guang's "Ten Thousand Suns Heart-Burning Purgatory":

He was imprisoned in the center of a constantly expanding virtual star emitting billions of degrees of high temperature!

Countless Federation citizens transformed into spirits of light, holding light spears, piercing and evaporating him over and over again, watching him instantly reconstitute, only to continue enduring the pain of being burned by the scorching sun!

He had once used light to destroy stars, and now he would bathe in his most familiar Purgatory of Light for eternity!

Venerable Lei Fa's "Abyss of a Billion Thunder-Cracked Souls":

He floated in an endless sea of thunder, where billions of divine thunders of different colors and attributes acted as if they had life, striking precisely, each one aimed at the most fragile parts of his Soul!

Federation engineers had created a "Chain Thunderstorm Formation" here, attracting countless people to follow suit, just to hear his screams, distorted by electricity, ring out a little louder!

Venerable An Ying's "Corridor of Eternal Betrayal":

He walked through a corridor that had no end, the walls on both sides constantly manifesting all the conspiracies and betrayals of his life!

And the target of every betrayal would manifest as a physical entity walking out of the wall, taking revenge on him in the way he was best at!

He had once taken pleasure in manipulating human hearts, and now, in this eternal corridor, he was repeatedly betrayed and sliced to pieces by countless "versions of himself"!

...

Every Venerable was enduring endless punishment in their own exclusive purgatory, perfectly corresponding to their sins...

Their screams became one of the most "popular" background sounds in the virtual universe!

However, even the combined pain of these ten Venerables was far less than... that absolute dark space located at the very bottom and deepest part of all the purgatories, isolated from everything, where even light could not escape—

Huang Yu's unique abyss of remorse!

Here, there was no fixed form of punishment.

Because the one inflicting the punishment was not just the simulation of the virtual universe, but also the programs set by Chen Jun.

It was even more so all the... survivors who had lost their loved ones, friends, and compatriots in this catastrophe!

When the link was established, Huang Yu's consciousness was dragged into this abyss.

He could not see anything, could not hear any sound, could not smell any scent.

There was only boundless, cold darkness, and... that extreme hatred surging from all directions, from the end of time, like a tidal wave!!!

That was the resentment and torture of countless living beings he had destroyed during his conquests when he was at Galaxy Level Peak!

That was the final despair and curse of the five quadrillion Federation citizens before they fell!

That was the pure pain and fear when over ten billion chen clan bloodline members were annihilated!

That was the bone-deep anger and hatred when Yun Qinglan, Lin Wei, and other wives and daughters were abducted and humiliated!

That was the monstrous rage of Chen Jun himself, carrying the cold, dead silence that could burn the sea of stars after enduring ten billion cycles of Reincarnation of death!!!

All these negative emotions were amplified a thousand times by Chen Jun and the virtual universe, turning into the purest, most vicious mental attacks, eroding Huang Yu's consciousness through every pore!

"Huang Yu! Return my son's life to me!!!"

"Demon! You will not die well!!!"

"My child... he was only three years old... Huang Yu! I curse you to suffer for eternity!!!"

"Father! Mother! Where are you... Huang Yu! I hate you!!!"

"Avenge my wife! Crush his Soul!!!"

...

The curses and wails of ten trillion Zhao Jing... were like billions of red-hot steel needles, stabbing fiercely into his Soul, stirring repeatedly!

This was not the most terrifying part!

The most terrifying part was the "Interaction Time"!

During the one thousand hours of the virtual universe every day, Federation citizens and members of the chen clan bloodline who were allowed to link into the "Eternal Purgatory" would be randomly selected to project a part of their own consciousness directly into this abyss to carry out... "zero-distance" revenge on Huang Yu!

At this moment, the darkness would temporarily recede.

Huang Yu would "see" countless blurred, distorted figures condensed from pure hatred, like demons crawling out of a bloody pool in Hell, roaring, wailing, cursing, and pouncing on him!

There was no physical body, but the pain of his Soul being torn, gnawed, and defiled by billions of strands of hatred was a thousand times! Ten thousand times! Crueler than any physical punishment!

An old scientist who had lost all his loved ones would practice his lifelong research on the amplification of neuropathic pain on Huang Yu's Soul, one by one!

A mother who witnessed her child's annihilation would use the most vicious, most insane curses to impact Huang Yu's core consciousness, making him experience the extreme pain of separation from his own flesh and blood!

A soldier who was disabled in the catastrophe would condense virtual blades and, in the most crude, slowest way, slice Huang Yu into a thousand pieces in his "perception"!

There were even those young children of the chen clan who survived under the protection of their elders; they would use the most innocent, yet most cruel ways to surround Huang Yu, re-enacting the scene of their brothers and sisters being annihilated over and over again, and forcing Huang Yu to play the role of the "one being annihilated"!

"Hee hee, it's your turn now, big bad guy!"

"Bang! You're gone! Like my little brother, poof, just gone!"

"Not fun, not fun, he can still 'come back to life', let's play again!"

...

The childish words were like the sharpest ice picks, piercing through all of Huang Yu's psychological defenses!

He tried to close off his perception, tried to let his consciousness sink, tried to collapse himself...

But he couldn't!

The power of the "authority" left behind by Chen Jun was like the most ruthless jailer, precisely maintaining the "clarity" of his consciousness, ensuring that he could clearly feel every minute, every second, and the extreme pain brought by every strand of hatred!

He couldn't even become "numb"!

Because every new strand of hatred was sharper and more vicious than the last!

"Wuu wuu wuu... Kill me! Great Ancestor Chen! Supreme Ancestor Chen! I beg you! Please kill me!!!"

"I know I was wrong! I really know I was wrong!!!"

"Let me die! Let me die!!!"

...

Huang Yu roared, begged, and struggled madly in the abyss!!!

He recalled his high spirits when he broke through to the Star River Level, recalled the casual indifference when he ordered the capture of Yun Qinglan, recalled the cold arrogance when he erased the Federation's galaxy and slaughtered the chen clan children...

Endless remorse gnawed at his heart like a poisonous snake!

If... if he hadn't provoked that seemingly ordinary Family back then...

If he had been a little more decisive back then... directly annihilating Kunlun Star... not letting Chen Jun awaken the Seal...

If...

Unfortunately, there are no "ifs" in the Universe.

His momentary arrogance not only brought upon himself torture from which he could never be freed, but also implicated all the citizens of the Divine Kingdom, causing them to fall into this eternal abyss with him!

A lifespan of one hundred billion years!

He had only spent one million years!

There were nearly one hundred billion years left!

A full ninety-nine billion, nine hundred and ninety-nine million years!!!

Thinking of this despairingly long number, thinking of repeating this cycle of extreme pain every day, every virtual universe cycle...

Huang Yu's Soul couldn't help but let out a shriek that transcended limits, causing even the virtual space to distort!

"No—!!!!!!"

The fear of this near-eternal sentence itself became the most important part of his torture!

...

Outside the virtual universe, on Kunlun Star in the real world, and in the rapidly rebuilding Human Federation, it was a different scene.

The flame of revenge had not been extinguished by the eternal slavery of the Yaoqiong Divine Kingdom; instead, it had become the strongest catalyst for the civilization's Nirvana and Rebirth!

Every day, that last hour of "Virtual Purgatory" time had almost become a "compulsory course" and emotional outlet for all Federation citizens.

They entered not for entertainment, but for commemoration, for remembrance, and for... personally exacting the blood debt!

When citizens were researching technology in the virtual universe, they would think about finishing their work quickly so they could go to the Virtual Purgatory to "greet" Venerable Lei Fa.

Teachers in schools, when teaching students, would incorporate that dark history into the curriculum, encouraging children to work hard to grow so that they could better protect the Federation in the future, and by the way... go to the purgatory to feel the consequences of falling behind.

When soldiers were drilling, the slogans they shouted carried sky-high Killing Intent; they treated the execution techniques in the Virtual Purgatory as reference for real combat training!

An atmosphere of shared hatred and extreme unity enveloped the entire Federation!

And the never-ending supply of source energy from the Shining World Celestial Vault made the Federation's recovery and development speed astonishingly fast!

Massive amounts of basic source energy were used for livelihood restoration and infrastructure construction, and the nearly half of the territory that had been destroyed was rebuilt at a speed visible to the naked eye, even becoming more prosperous and sturdy!

Precious high-level source energy was prioritized for the military and research institutions.

Mo Heng's laboratory was piled high with origin crystals; he couldn't spend them, he absolutely couldn't spend them all!

He and his team were frantically parsing the 2.9 Rank Peak technology obtained from the Yaoqiong Divine Kingdom, and combined with the 2.8 Rank technology given by Ancestor Chen, they were continuously advancing towards a Rank 3 Galaxy Level civilization!

Shi Yue, Li Qingshan, Chu Yueyao, and other core members, driven by the dual forces of abundant origin crystals and the belief in revenge, launched one impact after another against the Bottleneck of the Star Arm Level!

Although source energy had no direct effect on the barrier for Stellar Level and above, it was more than enough to use for recovery and accumulation!

If they couldn't break the barrier, they would use it to comprehend more Laws! Two... ten... twenty!

The entire Federation was like a super engine fueled by revenge, roaring with unprecedented efficiency, sprinting madly toward a more powerful future!

The source of all this came from deep within the Pillar of Leaders, from that... invincible, lying-down-to-win, immortal... Ancestor Chen, who seemed to still be lolling on his lounge chair!!!

A true powerhouse!

It lies not only in how many potential "enemies" you can make work for you! Sell their lives for you! And be grateful to you!

It also lies in... when certain potential enemies truly become your enemies, you have enough strength to let them know—

Death is billions of times happier than being alive! Being your enemy is the biggest mistake in life!

Chen Jun did not appear in the public eye again.

He spent most of his time in the manor, silently digesting the pain of ten billion cycles of memory Reincarnation alone!

His wives and daughters often surrounded him.

The look in their eyes when they gazed at their husband/father, besides the usual dependence, now held more of an indescribable, complex emotion mixed with gratitude, worship, heartache, and awe.

They knew it was him who, at the last moment, pulled them back from the abyss of despair.

Yet Father had endured—the pain of having his cultivation sealed for ten billion years, being forced to break the Seal, and seeing ten billion years of effort go down the drain!

Especially Father's black hole-like eyes... what kind of hatred and price must have been paid to form them?