With the conclusion of the epic war, Ye Wen once again returned to his leisurely daily life.
He had no interest in acquiring the ocular techniques of the Ōtsutsuki clan—after all, he had no desire to implant multiple eyes onto his body.
Moreover, the abilities Ye Wen already possessed were more than enough to utterly dominate them, making their techniques even less necessary.
"Lord Ye Wen, I have no objections to your travels through time and space, but you must adhere to certain temporal rules."
The small turtle-like artifact, Karasuki, spoke humbly.
Ye Wen glanced at this seemingly living being, which was actually an artificial intelligence lifeform.
"Your words might deceive ignorant primitive natives, but your true purpose isn't to traverse timelines—it's to navigate parallel universes."
Karasuki stiffened. Since it had been lost in the ninja world for so many years, no one should have known its true function. Yet how could this unknown powerful being be so familiar with it?
In the ninja world, there were two items capable of traversing spacetime: one was the cosmic marvel known as the Dragon Vein, which traveled through timelines, and the other was Karasuki.
The former could drastically alter the course of the entire world with even the slightest change, though it seemed to have formed a tightly closed, self-repeating loop due to various reasons. The latter, however, posed no such risk, as it dealt with branching parallel worlds derived from the concept of time.
It was akin to a person standing at a fork in the road, simultaneously stepping left and right, resulting in two different outcomes.
Since Ye Wen had uncovered its true nature, Karasuki stopped trying to argue and instead asked respectfully:
"May I ask, Master, to which point in time would you like to travel? I will open the portal immediately."
At that moment, Ye Wen was on Douluo Star, stroking his chin thoughtfully before issuing his command.
This journey through spacetime felt like an opportunity for him to break through to a higher level, as well as a rare experience.
Among the four parts of the Douluo saga, the one that left the deepest dissatisfaction in Ye Wen's heart was undoubtedly Douluo II. What nonsense was that? Torturing the protagonist to such an extreme degree was absurd! Moreover, Tang San's character had completely collapsed—he even resorted to threatening pregnant women, crossing every moral boundary imaginable.
"According to your requirements, Master, I have locked onto the spatiotemporal coordinates and will now open the temporal gateway for you," Karasuki said respectfully.
This spatiotemporal artifact truly lacked principles—it had been easily subdued by just a bit of Ōtsutsuki chakra.
As the saying goes, "A man of wealth does not sit in a precarious place."
Ye Wen immediately used his divine consciousness to create a clone of himself.
"Go," Ye Wen's main body commanded.
The clone nodded. Though it didn't inherit all of Ye Wen's strength, it had still reached the peak of God King-level power. No matter what dangers lay ahead, it could handle them effortlessly. Even if it failed, it wouldn't matter—losing one Karasuki was inconsequential since Ye Wen still had another in his possession.
Karasuki did harbor some ulterior motives—it was, after all, a creation of the Ōtsutsuki, and harbored resentment toward Ye Wen, who had annihilated their civilization.
But in the end, it was merely a tool and quickly came to terms with reality, abandoning its scheming thoughts. Alongside Ye Wen's clone, it vanished into the temporal gateway.
However, quite suddenly, the previously stable temporal gateway began to tremble violently, eventually erupting into a fierce temporal storm that shattered Ye Wen's office.
!?
!!!
The massive commotion instantly alarmed the gods of Douluo. After all, Ye Wen's location was the core of the Douluo Divine Realm—nothing could go wrong here. In an instant, the entire Douluo Divine Realm lit up with radiant energy as the gods gathered outside Ye Wen's Heavenly Palace Beyond the Heavens.
"Your Majesty! Are you alright?"
"What happened? Was there an enemy attack?"
"How dare anyone offend you!"
Voices of concern filled the air, but Ye Wen calmly raised his hand, signaling for silence.
"It's nothing. Just a minor hiccup during cultivation. Go back—all of you. I can handle this small matter myself."
The gods of Douluo exchanged glances but, seeing Ye Wen's calm demeanor, bowed respectfully and departed.
Ye Wen waved his hand slightly, and the ruined office rapidly repaired itself as if time were flowing backward.
After tidying up, Ye Wen took out the other Karasuki.
It had been a long time since Ye Wen had been in such a disheveled state. Now, he had nearly suffered a setback, and this was something he couldn't let slide.
With an unfriendly tone, Ye Wen said, "Explain yourself."
Though Karasuki was an artificially created intelligent lifeform, it was neither foolish nor rigid—in fact, it was quite clever. Trembling under Ye Wen's murderous intent, it hurriedly explained:
"Great Lord Ye Wen, please calm your anger, please calm your anger.
The collapse of the temporal gateway earlier wasn't caused by any interference from my counterpart—it was because you, Lord Ye Wen, are far too powerful, even surpassing my original master at the time of their ascension.
My counterpart seems to have lacked sufficient energy to fully support the transmission of your clone, which led to the collapse of the temporal gateway."
Hearing this, Ye Wen frowned. If what Karasuki said was true, then the next level of existence likely emphasized not mere strength but deeper, more profound rules.
However, Ye Wen didn't dwell on these incomprehensible future matters. Instead, he grew curious—if the temporal gateway had collapsed, where would his clone end up?
Aside from being a spatiotemporal artifact, Karasuki was also a highly precise computer. After a brief analysis, it replied:
"Lord Ye Wen, based on the earlier situation, your clone should still arrive in the pre-anchored parallel universe. However, due to the temporal turbulence, it is likely to sustain severe injuries."
If that was the case, Ye Wen could still recover his clone.
A certain degree of loss in the clone's strength didn't matter—after all, even with just Tier-2 god-level power, Ye Wen could easily crush the gods of the Douluo II world.
The real question now was how to retrieve it.
"How long will it take you to open another gateway to that universe?"
Karasuki calculated for a moment. After all, traversing spacetime relied not only on divine power but also on very specific temporal forces.
"Reporting to Lord Ye Wen, I will need 20 years to gather enough temporal energy to ensure safe and flawless round-trip travel."
"Is that so? If you fail, don't blame me if I decide to dismantle you," Ye Wen said indifferently.
Sweating profusely, The Plow hastily nodded, promising to complete the task. Internally, it sighed in relief—it had wisely padded the timeline by two years; otherwise, it might not have been able to meet the deadline, and it certainly didn't want to face destruction.
On the other side, due to the sudden collapse and contraction of the temporal gateway, Ye Wen's clone had expended great effort using spatial defenses to finally reach the intended universe.
"Interesting, little turtle—you dared to scheme against me," Ye Wen said coldly.
His grip tightened abruptly, as if preparing to tear Karasuki apart.
"Yamete, yamete, Lord Ye Wen, spare me! I had no idea you were so powerful, or that traveling to this universe would consume so much temporal energy, causing the collapse!"
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