It seemed that in the ancient era, when the Dragon God existed, powerhouses truly gathered like clouds. Many primordial deities had been born together with the birth of this star-domain itself. That time truly deserved to be called a glorious age.
After all, even Destruction and Life—who now stood as rulers of the God Realm—had only been youngsters in the ancient God Realm.
"Without the Dragon God and the Ancient God Realm, and with even the few remaining God Realms that could still show some presence swept away by the time-space turbulence, this entire star-domain is already showing a trend of decline. In the future, it will probably only weaken further. Do you know why I chose you?"
The God of Time and Space spoke softly.
"Because I can change the future…" Su Wen said quietly. "I'm one of the extremely few variables in this endless sea of stars."
"Correct. Even though I am the God of Time and Space, I can only control the time and space of this star-domain. I cannot influence other star-domains—unless one of the factions or God Realms within our star-domain charges out and conquers others."
"I once tried to peer into the future, but the future ten thousand years of this star-domain remained dark and silent. The only thing that gave me any pleasant surprise… was the human race."
The God of Time and Space let out a quiet sigh.
"The soul tools they invented astonished me, even delighted me. But… I still can't see the future of this star-domain."
"It's fine. From here on out, leave it all to me." Su Wen smiled faintly.
"Because I know of a race that fits everything you just described."
"Oh?" The God of Time and Space was slightly surprised. "What race?"
"Humans…"
"Don't underestimate humanity's creativity. The reason you can't see the future is because you didn't look far enough ahead. If you're willing to burn more divine power to observe that race a bit longer, you'll find a very pleasant surprise." Su Wen chuckled.
The Poké Ball was his gift to humanity.
But the essence of humankind, in the end, was becoming gods through technology.
When these weak, ant-like humans, by relying on intellect, slowly feel out the foundational building blocks of this universe and gradually master knowledge, they will deliver a tremendous shock to this cosmos.
That is what real human civilization is.
Not the human world that Tang San had forever restricted, endlessly hampering development.
"Your power… huh? No, something's not right." The God of Time and Space suddenly spoke in astonishment.
His eyes gradually went blank, then shocked, then somewhat dazed.
A dragon's roar echoed, resounding clearly throughout the entire God Domain. A nine-colored phantom slowly emerged, as if the Dragon God had descended to the world once more. It tore open space, thrusting forth its majestic, towering body, spanning the galaxy itself. Even from the other end, its vast form exuded an awe-inspiring, terrifying might.
"This is… the Dragon God?!"
The God of Time and Space's eyes were filled with shock. He could clearly feel that the Dragon God's strength was actually on par with His own—just like the Dragon God in His memories, who had ruled the Ancient God Realm.
"Is this your Poké Ball small world? It's grown large enough to bear countless planes?" The God of Time and Space's voice trembled.
Otherwise, with such overwhelming might, the former miniature Poké Ball world could never have borne the Dragon God.
"The Poké Ball is evolving as well…" Su Wen smiled.
From a single plane, it had derived innumerable planes.
Relying on this plane, Gu Yuena had completely restored her former combat power and leaped to become a true Dragon God.
No—this was only after Su Wen had just taken over the position of God of Time and Space. In the future, if he could seize control of more star-domains, Gu Yuena and the other pet beasts' power would skyrocket even further.
At the same time, the other pet beasts were all advancing to godhood.
They no longer tangled with inheriting God Realm god-seats, but each relied on their own Poké Ball inner world to become a god in their own right.
Gale evolved into the God of Wind. The Ice Empress and Snow Empress together inherited the seat of the Ancient Ice God. Little Gold became the God of Destruction. Azure Luan became the Goddess of Life. Big Eye and Su Wen himself were both Gods of Time and Space. The Golden Dragon King also transformed into a Dragon God. Jiao Jiao became the God of Fire. Li Ya became the Goddess of Water. Qiongqi became the Evil God. Mu Qiuer became the Goddess of Fate. Ah Yin became the Goddess of the Forest. Little Purple became the God of Thunder. Mirror became the God of Illusion. Bai Xiuxiu became the Sea God. The Crimson Mother became the Goddess of Devouring. The Deep Sea Demon Whale King became the newly derived God of Storms.
These pet beasts all ascended straight into the heavens.
The Poké Ball world could no longer be called a "small world," but a great world.
After all, any randomly chosen pet beast now possessed combat power on par with the Dragon God—and Su Wen had over twenty such beasts.
Over twenty peak God Kings, and not just any God Kings, but ones at star-domain level.
The God of Time and Space was utterly stunned, frozen in place.
He had once tried to see through the future, and even in the instant He handed the god-seat to Su Wen just now, He'd still been worrying about the future of this star-domain. But now…
What was there to worry about?
This faction already rivaled the Ancient God Realm, and even far surpassed it.
Other star-domains invading?
It was more likely the other star-domains that should be worried.
"Unbelievable…" The corner of the God of Time and Space's mouth twitched. At this moment, He regretted not giving the god-seat to Su Wen earlier. He had always thought that the concept of "Martial Souls," upon reaching the scale of a star-domain, would be diluted—that after Su Wen became a god, he'd be terrifying, and perhaps it would be normal for his pet beasts to merely reach ordinary God Realm level.
But who would have thought… the Poké Ball world was this outrageous.
It had directly elevated his pets to star-domain-level God Kings.
"Hahaha… I'm retired!" The God of Time and Space threw His head back and laughed, waving His hand as He completely vanished into the sea of stars.
A faint smile curved Su Wen's lips. He slowly let out a breath and let his gaze sweep across the boundaries of this star-domain.
A cold gleam flickered in his eyes.
"I'll clean up the internal chaos first. After that, I'll deal with that lot."
In His eyes, the River of Time slowly began to flow once more as if it had come alive. To cross it, He no longer needed the temporal anchor points set by Big Eye. With a mere thought, He could skip through it with ease.
Yet it was precisely after becoming the God of Time and Space that His sense of reverence for time and space grew stronger.
Once he completely ended Tang San and his group, he would need to straighten out this timeline. Looking back from the standpoint of the God of Time and Space, Su Wen could clearly see how he'd turned the two timelines into a complete mess. He could only be thankful there had been a God of Time and Space to serve as a safety net; otherwise, the backlash from such arbitrary tampering with time and space would have been enough to erase him with ease.
"Let's see if I can reach Tang San." A faint smile tugged at Su Wen's lips.
He had not sensed Tang San anywhere within this star-domain.
Perhaps Tang San was hidden in some secret black hole, or still lost within the time-space turbulence.
Author's Note (PS):
Regarding the demon race, I'm referencing Tang San's reincarnation plotline from Soul Land V (Douluo Dalu 5)—after leaving this star-domain, human beings in other star-domains are extremely miserable, enslaved by demon races or other species. The great-circle character Ye Yinzhu references the story arc of Soul Land IV.
Later on, Su Wen might also propose a "humans first" concept, but he'll seek mutual respect with spirits and avoid conflict with them, focusing solely on races in other star-domains that enslave humans.