Chapter 604: Black Tide

The Venerable Shenzang Statue, which required Celestial Immortal-level power to destroy, was being devoured by this mysterious Black Tide, with none of the statue’s famously hard texture offering any resistance whatsoever.

“So this remaining half of the statue must have drifted back to the Nine Provinces, where Sword Sovereign found it, and eventually passed it to me.”

Jiang Li had many theories about why only half the Venerable Shenzang Statue remained—perhaps immortals had rebelled against the Immortal Realm, or maybe Dao Ancestor had left some hidden mechanism. But he never imagined it had been swallowed by the Black Tide.

“I remember now—I saw those black dots on my way to the Underworld.”

“Through multi-angle observation, we can roughly simulate the situation back then. Everyone can experience it for themselves.”

After Entropy Increase Ruler finished speaking, countless particles rose from beneath their feet, like fireflies taking flight from a glowing grassland as night fell.

Slowly, these light particles reconstructed the scene from that time.

Jiang Li and the other two found themselves completely immersed in the experience.

“Our Observer civilization has a history of eleven thousand years. The first five thousand years belonged to the world of cultivators, while the last six thousand have been the era of science. Throughout these eleven millennia, we have observed the Black Tide phenomenon thirty-six times in total.”

“This is the thirty-fifth Black Tide phenomenon, which appeared in the cosmos and was observed through the Cosmic Eyes.”

Without any warning, a black dot materialized out of nowhere. Coincidentally, a meteor happened to pass by and collided with the black dot.

The black dot remained completely motionless, as if the meteor hadn’t touched it at all, allowing the space rock to pass right through.

As the meteor traveled through the black dot, the portion that made contact left behind a tiny hole, as if a thin, sharp thread had pierced straight through from one end of the meteor to the other.

Entropy Increase Ruler explained from the side, “This thing remains unaffected by external influences, exists independently, doesn’t move, and only expands outward from its own origin point.”

The black dot multiplied from one to two, then from two to four, before vanishing without any warning.

“That’s it?” Bai Hongtu was stunned. “It was so majestic when devouring the Venerable Shenzang Statue, so why did it disappear so quickly this time?”

Entropy Increase Ruler didn’t answer that question directly, instead stating, “This is the thirty-fourth Black Tide phenomenon, which also represents the greatest disaster in the recorded history of Observer civilization.”

The light particles reassembled, transporting everyone to the void six hundred years ago.

An unknown massive world passed dangerously close to the Observer civilization, with only five astronomical units separating the two worlds.

This was the largest world Jiang Li had ever seen—boundless, endless, with the Observer World appearing like a mere speck in comparison, completely incomparable.

The unknown world was shrouded in an aura of both sanctity and decay, filled with mysterious power, its causality unobservable, existing independently and transcending worldly concerns.

It resembled a colossal behemoth in the void, with any world that encountered it automatically giving way.

“The Immortal Realm!”

All three spoke simultaneously, identifying the unknown world’s origin.

Although it differed somewhat from the Immortal Realm described in ancient texts, based on its sheer size and distinctive aura, Jiang Li felt certain this was indeed the Immortal Realm.

“Immortal Elder mentioned that the Immortal Realm is sacred, enveloped in immortal energy, revered as the sovereign of all realms. Its dimensional barriers are engraved with repulsion arrays—any living being or world that approaches without permission will be repelled.”

This was exactly what happened to the Observer World. The Immortal Realm’s repulsion arrays activated, powered by immortal energy, automatically triggering to make the Observer World swerve aside.

At that moment, the black dot reappeared, reproducing and expanding to form the Black Tide. This process was extremely prolonged, during which the three Rulers even ventured into the void to observe the Black Tide using various instruments.

Once the Black Tide took form, it became unstoppable. Positioned exactly between the Immortal Realm and the Observer World, both worlds ended up affected by it.

The Black Tide continued expanding, first making contact with the Immortal Realm.

The repulsion arrays powered by immortal energy proved completely useless against the Black Tide. The Black Tide touched the Immortal Realm and swallowed a small section of its dimensional barrier.

It was precisely at this moment that the Immortal Realm’s means of erasing causality temporarily failed, allowing it to be detected through turtle shell divination.

The Immortal Realm seemed to receive a fright, abruptly halting its movement direction and shifting course away from the Black Tide, fleeing beyond the Black Tide’s range.

As a mere phenomenon, the Black Tide naturally paid no attention to the Immortal Realm’s actions. It continued expanding through the void until it reached the Observer World.

The three Rulers at that time wore expressions of terror—they possessed no means to alter their world’s trajectory.

They desperately tried to block the Black Tide’s expansion momentum, but despite exhausting all methods, they couldn’t budge the Black Tide in the slightest.

Their proudly developed Unified Four Fundamental Forces theory, their power to alter their own parameters, their methods of controlling entropy increase and decrease—all were devoured by the Black Tide without creating even a ripple.

The Black Tide spread across the Observer World, consuming dimensional barriers, devouring stars, swallowing homeworlds…

One hundred homeworlds were consumed, with hundreds of billions of people perishing.

Then the Black Tide vanished into thin air once more, along with the billions of people it had devoured.

A Unity Stage cultivator who witnessed this scene went mad with despair, completely losing his sanity.

The disaster was far from over. With the dimensional barrier torn open by a massive gap, void astral winds poured inward, bringing a second wave of catastrophe to the Observer World.

Astral winds that even Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivators could barely withstand for a short while swept across the stars, immediately reducing them to dust.

The three Rulers attempted to block the astral winds, but instead were sent coughing up blood by the gales.

Fortunately, every world possesses self-regulating mechanisms. These mechanisms activated, gradually repairing the dimensional barriers and sealing the breach.

“This disaster only brings despair, so after discussing among ourselves, we decided to seal away this period of history, preventing future generations from learning about it.”

“It was also during this event that we formally named this phenomenon the Black Tide.”

As Entropy Increase Ruler recalled this catastrophe, he felt profound self-blame. If the three of them hadn’t been greedy for research back then but had instead focused on evacuating people from their homeworlds, the outcome might have been completely different.

“Big brother, don’t blame yourself. Our world has over thirty records of observing the Black Tide, and none were on such a massive scale before.” Entropy Decrease and Entropy Balance Rulers offered words of comfort.

Entropy Increase Ruler made an effort to push the disaster from his mind and continued displaying the Black Tide observation records.

From the thirtieth observation: A black dot appeared on the roof of an apartment, expanded to the size of an insect, then disappeared.

The twenty-sixth: A black dot appeared on a wall, expanded to fist-size, left a hole in the wall, then vanished.

The sixteenth: A black dot appeared on a spaceship, specifically on the back of a crew member’s head. The crew member shook his head, his hair brushing against the black dot, causing several strands to fall out before it disappeared.

The tenth: This occurred before the Celestial Ascension Ladder disappeared. A black dot appeared on a horsetail whisk, expanded to half a meter long, swallowed the whisk, then vanished. The whisk’s owner exhausted all methods trying to find his lost whisk, cursing the damn thief.

The third: A black dot appeared during a duel between two cultivators. None of their attacks could harm it. The two cultivators paid it no mind, assuming it was their opponent’s technique. The black dot disappeared quickly as well.

The first: A black dot appeared in space, existed for only three breaths, then vanished.