Chapter 652: A Stellar Sip to Calm the Nerves
Chapter 652: A Stellar Sip to Calm the Nerves
In the vast expanse of the starry sky, a sun that appeared somewhat twisted, resembling an eggplant shape, floated in the silent void. To the left of this shriveled eggplant-like sun, Feng Ye hovered quietly, his eyes closed gently as he adjusted to the power that he had recently attained.
Ordinarily, a sun of such a peculiar shape would find it challenging to maintain its form, but due to Feng Ye's presence, it remained intact, orbiting around him.
It's not just the Earth that revolves around you, but the sun itself—a true celestial body!
With the immense power that Feng Ye now possessed, even the process of acclimatization required an extensive period.
Fortunately, the power of the Illusionary Clock still proved effective, even for his current state, and it hadn't diminished compared to before. This couldn't help but make Feng Ye marvel at its might.
In the past, it might have been understandable, but now, he was akin to a black hole among celestial bodies, capable of warping time and space in his vicinity, bending them at his will.
Yet, the temporal abilities of the Illusionary Clock seemed entirely unaffected, still capable of exerting their influence as they always had, and even Feng Ye found it difficult to resist this force.
Its power seemed to transcend higher dimensions.
"At the very least, it possesses the might of a universal-level force," Feng Ye murmured to himself after using the Illusionary Clock to accelerate his personal time, assessing its strength.
While he couldn't destroy a galaxy composed of thousands of billions of stars, let alone galaxy clusters or superclusters, the power he now held was sufficient to rampage through a galaxy, shattering and disintegrating countless celestial bodies in his path.
In comparison to the vast galaxy, his power was akin to that of Uchiha Madara relative to the Earth of the Shinobi World. While he couldn't destroy the Earth itself, he was among the strongest forces on its surface, capable of leveling it in an all-out attack.
Even with this level of power, he couldn't budge the might of the Illusionary Clock, which undoubtedly belonged to a higher order of existence.
The only thing that could surpass him was something of a universal caliber.
Although it seemed that there was a distinction between him and the universal level, marked by the difference between star clusters and superclusters, there was no actual boundary within this range.
As long as he continued to enhance his mind and improve his control, he could consume more stars, constantly augmenting himself.
In other words, from this step to the universal level, there was no bottleneck; the only difference was the number of stars he had devoured.
Even if he reached a level where he had consumed a thousand billion stars, far surpassing his current cumulative energy, it wouldn't mean that his power couldn't be moved at all.
The fact that it couldn't be moved at all indicated that it was a power of a different order, like the difference between a regular ninjutsu and the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, or between an ordinary Shinigami and the Final Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer.
Feng Ye suddenly thought of something.
"Could the existence of the Illusionary Clock be the very reason why the concept of time exists in this universe?" he wondered. "Perhaps, because of its presence, time flows, and this universe isn't a chaotic mess but is constantly changing as time passes."
Its power influenced the temporal changes in the entire universe, and the strength he now possessed was minuscule in comparison. Hence, it was understandable that he couldn't affect it.
"It seems that obtaining it was indeed my good fortune," Feng Ye mused. "However..."
"The power I possess today is not solely dependent on its might. I, too, have exerted great effort, tirelessly cultivating in every world I've visited."
Feng Ye's heart stirred as he considered his journey.
But now that he thought about it, relying on the power of the Illusionary Clock to reach this point wasn't a big deal. He firmly believed that he would eventually cultivate to the pinnacle of the universe and fully control its power.
And when that day came, when he had complete dominion over its might, it would truly be his. It would be as if he had never relied on external forces, and everything he had achieved would be solely due to his efforts.
One year...
Two years...
Three years...
Under the coverage of a hundredfold time acceleration, five years passed for Feng Ye, causing his physical size to shrink by half once more. Then, after another five years, he halved his size again.
Ten years...
Twenty years...
Thirty years...
Time flew by, and seventy years passed in what felt like a fleeting moment.
To the vast starry sky and the boundless universe, these seventy years were but a drop in the ocean, insignificant and fleeting.
Feng Ye's immense power, housing twenty-eight stars within his being, was enough to sweep through a galaxy uncontested. Yet, compared to the vastness of the cosmic starry river, it was still negligible. He would need to increase his power by millions of times to create even the slightest ripple in the cosmic sea.
In the span of seventy years, Feng Ye's body shrank further, now roughly a thousandth the size of the moon. This form, while still massive, was no longer as gigantic. If he were to stand, his height would be around three kilometers.
"Still too big," Feng Ye murmured, closing his eyes once more to continue his cultivation.
In the blink of an eye, another twenty years passed, and he reduced his body to a height of about a kilometer.
It had taken him nearly a hundred and fifty years to shrink from a star-like physique to this point, and even with a hundredfold time acceleration, only a year and a half had passed in the outside world.
It had been almost seven years since he left Soul Society.
"It's time to go back," Feng Ye said as he opened his eyes once more.
He could sense that his body, having shrunk to this size, was approaching a limit. If he wanted to reduce it further, it wouldn't be a matter of shrinking by a few hundred meters but rather gaining complete control over his bodily dimensions.
Crossing this threshold would allow him to shrink to a size smaller than molecules or even protons and neutrons with a mere thought, and he could also expand to the size of a star at will.
However, taking that step forward would not be easy.
A brief ten or twenty years wouldn't suffice; it would require at least hundreds of years of cultivation. Feng Ye decided to return to Soul Society first and resolve the matters there before embarking on this new stage of his journey.
He stretched his body, standing tall in the starry expanse, and turned his head to glance at the distant sun, which had regained its spherical shape during the hundred years he spent cultivating. Like before, it continued to orbit around him even as he reduced his size.
"Maintaining this state consumes a slight amount of energy, and while I can restore it with time regression, it's better to achieve a balance," Feng Ye mused briefly before raising his hand towards the star.
Buzz!!!
The star's movement froze in an instant, as if the surrounding space had transformed into an invisible giant hand, grasping and compressing it.
Along with the contraction of space, the star began to shrink rapidly.
While Feng Ye couldn't use the power of space to shrink his body, he could easily compress external matter, even a star, with ease.
Moments later, the massive star had transformed into a light orb with a diameter of only about ten meters, floating and bobbing at the tip of Feng Ye's finger.
Feng Ye gazed at the star on his fingertip, pondered briefly, and then stroked his fingers up and down.
Buzz!!!
The star underwent a rapid transformation, becoming a light golden snuff bottle with a delicate appearance as if crafted from a mix of gold and red gems.
Feng Ye lifted the snuff bottle to his nose, inhaled lightly, and a wisp of the star's energy flowed into his body, bringing a smile to his face.
"Not bad," he said with a faint smile, then put away the snuff bottle. Through his soul connection with Lillith, he sensed the direction of Soul Society and began his journey back.
The snuff bottle was a miniature world created by his power, capable of housing at least three stars. On his way back, Feng Ye casually captured three stars and placed them within the snuff bottle's world, filling it to completion. But these were mere trifles along the way.
(End of Chapter)
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