Chapter 516: Planar Source, Plural Universes

“Damned bastard!”

Lady Fungi’s face twisted, her bloodshot eyes fixed on Pei Ze in the distance.

Just a moment ago, Pei Ze had launched a brazen attack on her with a third Space Rule Origin Crystal.

Lady Fungi’s attention had been focused entirely on Mu Yuan. She never imagined Pei Ze possessed a third Space Rule Origin Crystal. Caught off guard, she took the hit and was severely wounded.

Mu Yuan, Xi Nan, and the others were also taken aback.

‘He has another one?!’

‘Just how many Space Rule Origin Crystals does Pei Ze possess?’

But Mu Yuan quickly recovered. Without a word, he struck. A deep, dark night swelled in an instant, blotting out the sky as it swept over Lady Fungi.

‘Finish her while she’s wounded!’

Lady Fungi was severely injured. This was undoubtedly the perfect time to eliminate her!

In an instant, a colossal black sphere materialized in the sky.

Mu Yuan and Lady Fungi were enveloped within it.

The crowd looked away from the sphere, their gazes falling on Pei Ze in unison. Their expressions were a mixture of shock and awe.

Only now did they understand. Pan Mo hadn’t stood a chance.

Even if he’d had a second Death Rule Origin Crystal, he would have been no match for Pei Ze.

Besides, who knew if Pei Ze had even more Space Rule Origin Crystals?

Mo Weng gazed at Pei Ze, marveling to himself.

Now, even he could no longer fathom the depths of his own disciple.

CRACK!

Before long, the black sphere high in the sky shattered, revealing Mu Yuan’s figure.

As for Lady Fungi, she was nowhere to be seen.

Mu Yuan slowly descended before the group. His gaze fell upon Pei Ze, and he smiled and nodded at him.

“Thanks to your help. Otherwise, I really wasn’t certain I could have killed Lady Fungi.”

“She was too arrogant. I couldn’t stand watching her.”

Pei Ze’s blunt remark made everyone laugh.

With Pan Mo dead and Lady Fungi reduced to ash, the war’s objective could be considered a complete success. Naturally, everyone present was in high spirits.

With their Demon Lord slain in battle, the remaining aberrant demons instantly lost their will to fight and fled in all directions.

The army of Chenxi City didn’t waste energy chasing this cannon fodder and simply withdrew.

The Councillors also returned to their respective Wizard Towers.

However, Pei Ze had just returned to the All-Knowing Wizard Tower when he received a message from Mu Yuan, inviting him to his own Wizard Tower for a meeting.

When he arrived, he saw that Xi Nan was there as well.

As soon as he was seated, Mu Yuan spoke with a smile.

“I gained a great deal from killing Lady Fungi. A Demon Lord’s soul is worth a considerable amount.”

Mu Yuan looked at Pei Ze, and with a flick of his wrist, an object appeared in his palm.

“I couldn’t have killed Lady Fungi without you. Please, take this as a token of my gratitude.”

The so-called token of gratitude was a golden, diamond-shaped crystal the size of a pebble. It was semi-translucent, and within it, golden threads swirled ceaselessly like tiny fish. At its very center was a speck of golden light as brilliant as a star.

As Pei Ze’s gaze fell on that point of golden light, he felt his entire soul tremble. It was as if he felt some kind of resonance—his very soul was cheering, yearning.

This astonished him.

“What is this?” Pei Ze asked, giving Mu Yuan a questioning look.

Mu Yuan smiled faintly. “It’s Planar Origin,” he explained. “It’s a great help for advancing one’s comprehension of the Rules. Many Rule Wizards use it to gain insights.”

Pei Ze was stunned. “There’s actually an item that can improve one’s progress in comprehending the Rules?”

All the information he had gathered until now indicated, without exception, that there were no other means to rapidly advance one’s comprehension of the Rules in the Multiverse, aside from the Holy Land.

The only other method was the one for converting Rule Origin deduced by the Eye of Omniscience.

Even Mo Weng had said the same thing.

‘My teacher wouldn’t lie to me, would he?’

“It’s true. There are no items in this Multiverse that improve one’s progress in comprehending the Rules.”

A glint appeared in Mu Yuan’s eyes as he gave a meaningful smile.

“But that doesn’t mean other Multiverses don’t.”

‘Other Multiverses?’

Pei Ze’s expression flickered. He realized he was on the verge of making contact with a new world.

“There are many Multiverses?”

“Of course.” Mu Yuan smiled. “I alone know of no fewer than ten. The vastness of the cosmos is far beyond your imagination.”

Xi Nan, who was beside them, remained calm; he had obviously known all of this for some time.

Pei Ze grew thoughtful. ‘Perhaps one can only access this sort of information after being promoted to a Rule Wizard.’

‘Mu Yuan must be telling me this in advance on account of the Rule Origin Crystals.’

“Whether it’s a Sixth-level Wizard comprehending the Rules or a Seventh-level Wizard understanding them, the best method is to come into contact with a Rule Origin.”

“In fact, for an Eighth-level Wizard to further enhance their power, they must also use a similar method.”

Mu Yuan continued his explanation, his expression turning solemn.

“Although a Rule Origin Crystal is a type of Rule Origin, it is ultimately converted from the Power of Rules. It can’t compare to the purest Rule Origin, so its effect on one’s comprehension and understanding of the Rules is limited.”

“So, some Wizards found an alternative path: directly destroying a plane and extracting the Rule Origin from within.”

The corner of Pei Ze’s mouth twitched.

‘The world of Wizards is certainly not lacking in madmen,’ he thought. ‘To think someone would destroy an entire plane just to obtain a Rule Origin.’

‘Then again, if it truly helps with breakthroughs, I’m sure plenty of Wizards would do it.’

‘But common sense dictates that such a method must have enormous repercussions; otherwise, there’s no way I wouldn’t have heard even a whisper about it until now.’

Sure enough, Mu Yuan then said gravely, “Simply destroying a plane is of little consequence. The planes in the Multiverse are innumerable; losing a few is fine. But extracting a Rule Origin from them is another matter entirely.”

“After more than a thousand planes were destroyed in succession to extract their Rule Origins, numerous Ninth-level and Eighth-level existences began to notice signs of the Multiverse collapsing.”

“Afterward, they confirmed that this practice would cause irreparable damage to our Multiverse. If it continued, the universe would sooner or later fall into ruin.”

“In light of this, the entire Multiverse united to prohibit such an act from ever happening again.”

Hearing this, Pei Ze understood. He mused, “So, afraid of their own Multiverse being destroyed, they decided to go after other Multiverses instead.”

“Exactly,” Mu Yuan said with a faint smile.

Pei Ze shook his head and chuckled.

‘What a self-serving way of thinking,’ he mused.

But it wasn’t surprising. No matter the world, if you stripped it down to its essence, all that remained was the law of the dark jungle: the weak are prey for the strong, and only the fittest survive.

This was true between races, between planes, and even between one Multiverse and another.

Plundering the resources of other Multiverses to nurture one’s own was, in fact, a perfectly normal thing to do.

Coming back to his senses, Pei Ze looked at the golden crystal again and marveled to himself.

A Rule Origin extracted from the destruction of an entire plane… its value was in no way inferior to the soul of a Demon Lord.

Since it concerned the advancement of his own power, Pei Ze didn’t stand on ceremony and reached out to accept the Planar Origin.

The moment it touched his hand, he immediately felt his soul give a sudden leap, as if letting out a cheer of delight.

Suppressing the urge to begin comprehending it immediately, Pei Ze asked Mu Yuan, “Does this Planar Origin contain multiple Rules?”

He had a vague feeling that the Planar Origin contained not just a Spatial Rule Origin, but multiple other Rule Origins as well.

“To be precise, it contains all the Rule Origins that exist in the Multiverse,” Mu Yuan said with a smile.

“The composition of any complete plane must include all the fundamental Rules. Therefore, the origin obtained from destroying a plane naturally contains all of those Rules as well. This is what makes a Planar Origin so precious.”

“No matter which Rule a Wizard has mastered, they can use a Planar Origin to rapidly improve their progress in comprehending it.”

“Of course, this process continuously consumes the Planar Origin.”

Pei Ze’s eyes glinted. “Then how can I obtain more Planar Origin?” he asked.

The smile on Mu Yuan’s face deepened, as if he had been waiting for Pei Ze to ask that very question.

“Have you ever heard of the Tree of Truth?”