This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder-Chapter 712: Contest of Laws

The state couldn’t even be called sleep. It wasn’t even a daze. If Tianyi had to describe that state upon recalling it, he would call it the state of perceiving but unknowing. It sounded mystical, but in essence, it was the perception an infant had. Although they could perceive the outside world, they could not process anything.

People say that when one is about to die, their life flashes before their eyes. Tianyi did not undergo a near-death experience, but it felt as if his life had flashed before his eyes. Or, at the very least, his second life.

When Tianyi regained his cognition, the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System changed. No, it should no longer be called the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, but the Pangu System.

Physically, the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System remained unchanged. It was still struggling against the Spacetime Divine System and the divine worlds of many divine conduits.

No, the change was spiritual.

The vast sea representing the Heavenly Dao had disappeared, as had the earth beneath it. However, the earth did not vanish completely like the former, but changed into another form.

He was a wild man with savage, untamed hair, with strands thicker than grass. His left eye shone like the sun, and his right eye reflected the glow of moonlight. Clouds, wind, and mist flowed every time he exhaled. Thick hair that resembled a forest covered his entire body, and his heartbeat rang like a raging river and a storming sea.

Tianyi didn’t need anyone to tell him the man’s name. The man’s very presence announced his identity—Pangu.

Pangu’s awakening instantly increased the difficulty of Tianyi’s Chaos Fusion by magnitudes. Ten times was a mere underestimation. If the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System’s resistance were compared to a pile of loose sand, the Pangu System’s resistance resembled solid stone.

Not only that, Tianyi felt the Pangu System biting back at his divine worlds and Spacetime Divine System. Instead of him devouring the Pangu System, he was being devoured instead. Each encroachment felt like a wolf biting his mind and ripping a piece off.

This feeling became more pronounced because of the mental fatigue Tianyi had accumulated. The period of blankness had not given him reprieve, but pushed him further down the abyss. All Tianyi could do was grit his teeth and persevere, blocking the Pangu System’s encroachment as much as possible.

Tianyi’s first focus was to defend the Spacetime Divine System. Compared to the Spacetime Divine System, the divine worlds materialized by his conduits were secondary. In his original plan, the divine conduits were distractions and cannon fodder used to drag the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, like the three foreign systems.

Speaking of the three foreign systems, they had unknowingly shrunk to an irreversible degree. Tianyi didn’t sense it happen because the change must have occurred during his blank period. Although they still existed, it was only a matter of time before the Pangu System absorbed or destroyed them.

Once they disappeared, the Pangu System would lose a layer of restraint, making the situation even more unfavorable for Tianyi. So he had to reverse the situation as fast as possible before this happened. However, that was easier said than done.

Through his efforts, Tianyi slowed down the absorption speed of the Pangu System, but it was obvious he was at a disadvantage. He still couldn’t reverse the encroachment, and it was only a matter of time before the Pangu System devoured the divine systems and the Spacetime Divine System.

If only I had waited longer! Tianyi thought with regret. If I had prepared five—no, three divine systems! Even if they were all individually smaller than the Spacetime Divine System, I wouldn’t be so unprepared as I am now.

Yes, Tianyi regretted starting the plan so quickly. Of course, this regret was not that deep. He understood that he actually didn’t have much time left. Even if he managed to win, his mother would be left with nothing more than an empty shell.

Actually, he had another option, but he was hesitating.

During this hesitation, the Pangu System destroyed the three foreign systems and started focusing on the divine worlds. The rate of absorption spiked, but it slowly returned to its previous pace. Not because of the Pangu System’s own decision, but because of Tianyi’s efforts.

The Pangu System’s absorption was increasing as it adjusted to the divine worlds and Spacetime Divine System. But Tianyi was also improving. Unlike the Heavenly Dao, the Pangu System employed a series of ingenious methods, but as the target, Tianyi experienced them firsthand. He re-engineered them and used them for his own benefit.

Of course, he couldn’t reach the same level as the Pangu System, but his improvements far outweighed the Pangu System’s slow but steady dominance. Despite these improvements, Tianyi still bore a grave heart. He couldn’t even muster the energy to change the expression on even a single conduit, such was the immensity of the pressure he faced.

Should I just give up? More than once, Tianyi questioned himself. Although he had firmed his will before the operation, when he was truly at the crux of fate, he hesitated. It was not strange, really. Anyone would. After all, this was gambling with one’s own life.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The only way Tianyi could reverse the situation was to materialize his inner universe, just as his divine conduits had materialized their divine worlds. Once he had done this, he could not stop the process. In a way, Tianyi was also similar to the World Will, only he was the Universe Will of the Nine Heavens Universe. If he could not overcome the Pangu System, and his Nine Heavens Universe was absorbed, he would cease to exist. The only proof of his existence would be the records and his clones. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

His previous determination appeared so laughable in light of his hesitation. And why shouldn’t he give up? If he gave up, he would still have a chance to conquer the Pangu System in the future with his talent and growing power. He had a loving, beautiful wife and a talented child. He was admired by millions, billions. His abilities allowed him to stand at the peak of True Nothingness, and he didn’t fear the Nine Hells Abyss either.

I have so much to lose. I can keep all this, and all I need to do is abandon one person? Even if Mother were present, she would persuade me to stop.

Time seemed to stand still for Tianyi, but that was an illusion, as reality waited for no one. The Pangu System took advantage of Tianyi’s lapse and seized a huge portion of the divine systems and Spacetime Divine System.

His mind entered the Nine Heavens Universe, where he had sealed his mother. She lay in space, eyes closed and chest moving up and down. There was no pain on her face, and she just seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but her soul was collapsing. Despite Tianyi’s best efforts, he could not stop this process.

Like hell I’ll sacrifice Mother! It’s precisely because she’s willing to sacrifice herself that I won’t abandon her!

His primary conduit appeared in the center of the Vast Void, near the core of the Pangu System. The conduit possessed only a humanoid figure. Its skin was the night sky, and its clothes were the myriad stars. His locks were strands of chaos, and at the dantian was a sun orbited by eight planets.

Like an illusion, the solar system seemed to grow bigger the longer one stared at it. Only, it wasn’t an illusion. The humanoid dimensional barrier separating the Nine Heavens Universe from the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System, and by extension the greater universe, had long lost its shape, returning to its most primal form. Accompanying this change was the increasing size of the solar system.

No, this wasn’t an increase in size or mass.

The Nine Heavens Universe was simply revealing itself to the universe. The increasing size was nothing but an illusion. However, the pressure it brought was real.

The Nine Heavens Universe continued to expand, eclipsing the Spacetime Divine System and divine worlds. It even exceeded the boundaries of the Pangu System. The moment the Nine Heavens Universe touched the True Nothingness, nothing changed. It was as if the boundary of Tianyi’s inner universe had never left the Pangu Universe, but that was naturally impossible. Unseen and undetected, the Nine Heavens Universe quietly carved and occupied a growing territory in the greater universe.

Tianyi could feel the strain on his mind lessening, becoming extremely light. Despite this, he didn’t let down his guard. Although revealing the Nine Heavens Universe brought him great advantages, it also placed him in direct contact with danger.

The situation had reversed. Tianyi held the upper hand. The Spacetime Divine System and the divine worlds no longer mattered. Although they still existed, they couldn’t even serve as foils for the Nine Heavens Universe.

However, Tianyi would not abandon them. Even if they were useless to him, the Pangu System could absorb them and grow stronger if he was careless. Although he currently possessed the advantage, he knew that it would be unlikely to remain that way.

As Tianyi expected, his advantage did not last forever. Ensnared in this battle for dominance with the Pangu System, he lost all sense of time. He couldn’t even spare any attention to monitor Mengfei’s situation.

The situation of quantity versus quality had shifted. Before, Tianyi was the quality, while the Heavenly Dao was the quantity. Now, Tianyi had become the quantity, and the Pangu System had become the quality.

Strictly speaking, Tianyi still had the overall advantage. Possessing a consciousness on the universe level, he far outweighed a system’s consciousness, even if it was only partially manifested. Despite its vastness, his consciousness lacked the density of the Pangu System’s.

The Pangu System’s offense was like a steel ball slamming into the loose sand that represented Tianyi. Every time the ball struck, countless specks of sand would fly into the air and eventually land. Although the total amount of sand might remain the same, the ball had left an unmistakable hole.

With each attack, Tianyi could feel the Pangu System breaking his defenses one by one. Once they were all breached, he would have no choice but to engage in ‘close combat.’ All their blows could only be considered ranged attacks up to that point.

At that point, Tianyi’s massive advantage would be halved at best. So naturally, he poured all his efforts into it. The divine systems and the Spacetime Divine System had already fallen, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t attack from other angles.

According to his plans, Tianyi succeeded in gaining ground and attacked the Pangu System from all sides. If the Pangu System was not careful, Tianyi could swallow it. He wanted to make the Pangu System hesitate and focus on defense in order to make this a war of attrition, but the Pangu System ignored his offense. It was the first time that Tianyi lacked confidence to win a war of attrition, but in such a situation, the opponent actually refused!

The Pangu System was persistent. Even though Tianyi’s method allowed him to gain a greater advantage, the danger increased for him bit by bit.

Tianyi held a seventy percent advantage, which had actually grown because of the Pangu System’s focus on offense, but that seventy percent could dip to twenty or thirty percent at any moment. Once his defenses were breached, it would turn from a war of attrition into a contest of laws.

Through their clashes, Tianyi could sense that the Pangu System carried many more divine-level laws than he did. It didn’t surprise him, considering its long history. Each divinity that appeared likely contributed to its rich foundation, not to mention Pangu’s awakening and forceful absorption at the end of the primordial era. Despite Tianyi’s talent, he simply could not contend.

Of all the divine-level laws he mastered, the only one that could exceed the Pangu System’s divine-level laws was his Divine Law of Spacetime.

Years passed as the conflict continued. Bit by bit, Tianyi’s ground increased, but so did the danger. When his advantage reached seventy-six percent, the Pangu System breached his defenses, and Tianyi faced Pangu.