Chapter 498 -498-Ten Thousand Years of Tempering

Chapter 498: Chapter498-Ten Thousand Years of Tempering

The Celestial Grand Oracle smiled upon hearing Sirius’s response.

He waved his hand, and in the next instant, a supreme treasure appeared on the tea table.

Brilliant treasure light radiated from it, revealing its extraordinarily high grade.

The moment Grand Oracle Sirius saw the treasure, his eyes lit up.

An exceptional Primordial Supreme Treasure.

It seems the Celestial Grand Oracle is unwilling to owe me a favor.

Very well.

It is not as though I cannot release Sophis.

The Celestial Grand Oracle observed Sirius’s reaction but said nothing.

He simply turned around and departed.

From beginning to end, he did not utter another word.

Grand Oracle Sirius watched the Celestial Grand Oracle disappear into the distance, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

For the time being, he had no desire to completely fall out with an existence as powerful as the Celestial Grand Oracle.

That was precisely why he had not immediately executed Sophis.

Now that the Celestial Grand Oracle had personally appeared and offered him a treasure as compensation, he naturally had to release Sophis.

Grand Oracle Sirius immediately put away the treasure and issued an order.

"Go to the dungeon at once."

"Release that man."

...

A short while later, Sophis disappeared from the dungeon.

In the next instant, he randomly appeared within an unfamiliar starfield.

All the restrictions suppressing his body had vanished.

His cultivation and Strength had completely returned to normal.

Sophis raised a hand and touched the Chaos Lock hanging around his neck.

He could sense that the law power contained within the lock had completely disappeared.

That meant the bond connecting him to the other bearer had been thoroughly severed.

A trace of sorrow appeared in Sophis’s heart.

"Holly..."

"Was it you?"

He opened his mouth but did not know what to say.

Even a fool could understand the current situation.

There was no possibility that he had escaped from the hands of his mortal enemy unharmed because Grand Oracle Sirius was merciful.

On the contrary, Grand Oracle Sirius had always been infamous for his brutality.

There was only one possible explanation for Sophis’s release.

Someone powerful enough to make Grand Oracle Sirius wary had personally intervened and forced him to compromise.

There was only one person capable of doing that.

Sophis’s master—the Celestial Grand Oracle.

Sophis understood everything as clearly as though he were looking into a mirror.

His voice became low and hoarse.

"Holly, you must have asked Master to save me."

"And the price..."

"Was it the fate that allowed you and me to meet?"

"Could it truly be that simple?"

Sophis felt as though his heart had become completely empty.

It was as if he had lost something incomparably precious.

For the first time in his life, he realized that besides hatred, another indescribable emotion had existed within him.

Yet now, that emotion was gone.

Sophis drew in a deep breath, summoned his starship, and began traveling at full speed.

...

When Sophis returned to Celestial Academy, he rushed through the academy grounds, frantically searching for the person he wished to see.

However, Holly was nowhere to be found.

Anxiety overwhelmed him.

He repeatedly shouted,

"Holly!"

"Where are you?"

After searching the entire academy without success, Sophis decided to seek out his master, the Celestial Grand Oracle.

However, the gates leading to the core region of Celestial Academy remained firmly closed.

His master refused to see him.

Sophis immediately understood.

Perhaps the karmic connection between him and Celestial Academy had also reached its end.

The moment the Celestial Grand Oracle intervened to save Sophis, the karma binding Sophis to Celestial Academy had been completely repaid.

At that moment, several familiar fellow disciples and experts who knew the truth approached him.

"Sophis, Holly has already sworn a Cosmic Oath."

"For all eternity, she is forbidden from meeting you again."

"If she violates the oath, all of her cultivation will be destroyed, and she will be reduced to an ordinary mortal."

"You should leave."

"Meeting her again would be harmful to both you and Holly."

"That’s right, Sophis."

"You need to go."

"Holly has already sacrificed everything for your sake."

"Do you still expect her to sacrifice even more?"

"You should consider her feelings as well."

Every word they spoke caused Sophis’s heart to ache even more.

When he heard the final sentence, his heart nearly shattered completely.

So Holly had already sworn a Cosmic Oath.

She had even been willing to use all of her cultivation as the price.

They were right.

He had already dragged her into danger once.

It was time for him to leave.

Sophis cast one final, lingering gaze at the academy before him.

He released a long sigh within his heart.

Then let us never meet again.

Sophis closed his eyes in agony.

When he opened them once more, all traces of romantic attachment had disappeared from his heart.

He drew in a deep breath.

"Only someone who has reached Eternal Grade can break a Cosmic Oath."

"As long as I cultivate to Eternal Divine-grade, I will be able to ignore the oath’s restrictions."

"My enemy is a T7 Oracle-grade powerhouse."

"Then I will first cultivate to T7 Oracle-grade."

"No."

"I will reach T8 Oracle-grade."

At this moment, Sophis’s determination to pursue the Great Dao became incomparably firm.

Without hesitation, he departed from the place where he had studied and lived for so many years.

Separation from his beloved.

The deaths of his closest relatives.

The blood feud of his entire clan.

His desire for revenge and his determination to become stronger completely transformed Sophis into a cultivation machine.

Daniel could clearly sense the terrifying desire for power burning within Sophis.

It was no longer an ordinary ambition.

It was an obsession born from the belief that if he failed to become stronger, he would die.

After leaving Celestial Academy, Sophis did not immediately attempt to take revenge again.

His previous failure had taught him many things.

As a Tier-3 Oracle-grade expert, he was as weak as an infant before a T7 Oracle-grade powerhouse.

Grand Oracle Sirius could crush him with nothing more than the movement of a finger.

Sophis would not possess even the slightest ability to resist.

In fact, Grand Oracle Sirius had not even needed to act personally.

He had merely sent a servant, and that servant had effortlessly captured Sophis.

Only when Sophis’s strength reached a sufficiently high Rank would he possess the qualifications to speak of revenge again.

Otherwise, if he failed a second time, the Celestial Grand Oracle would not intervene to save him again.

When Sophis left Celestial Academy, he did not turn around.

He showed no hesitation and no reluctance.

He merely swore silently within his heart.

"I will return one day."

"Holly, wait for me."

...

Not long after his departure, Sophis decisively joined a powerful faction.

He began accepting missions from the faction without rest, completing one assignment after another to earn contribution points.

The moment he accumulated enough points, he exchanged them for all kinds of treasures and opportunities to enter forbidden lands.

Sophis had already cultivated three laws to an extraordinarily profound Rank: the Law of Speed, the Law of Yin and Yang, and the Law of Causality.

He had also cultivated the Law of Fate and the Law of Destruction, although his attainments in those two were slightly weaker.

Sophis ultimately chose to focus on breaking through with the Law of Destruction.

He ventured into countless forbidden lands, secret realms, and regions containing extraordinary opportunities.

He never wasted a single chance to comprehend the Law of Destruction.

He also attended the Dao sermons of numerous Grand Oracle-grade powerhouses.

He once witnessed an entire star river being destroyed with a casual wave of a supreme expert’s hand.

He experienced battles and massacres between Oracle-grade powerhouses.

Every trial he encountered was an incomparably dangerous life-or-death calamity.

Without exception, he survived them all.

At the same time, his strength grew at an astonishing speed.

One thousand eight hundred years later, a bolt of tribulation lightning descended.

Sophis successfully survived the tribulation and broke through to Tier-4 Oracle-grade.

Thirty-five thousand years later, he completed his cultivation at Tier-5 Oracle-grade.

Another twenty-nine thousand years later, he forged his T6 Oracle-grade foundation in a single decisive breakthrough.

After fifty-one thousand six hundred more years, he finally caught up to his mortal enemy and reached T7 Oracle-grade.

Ninety-six thousand five hundred years later, during yet another life-or-death battle, Sophis broke through in the midst of combat and ascended to T8 Oracle-grade.

At the same time, his Law of Destruction reached the mid-grade stage.

His Law of Fate also advanced to the transcendent stage.