Void energy flowed like water.
In the endless ocean of void energy, an octopus-shaped Void Monster swam with extreme care, never disturbing the surrounding currents.
Every movement of its eight tentacles had been refined through two thousand years of practice since its birth.
Kaelan had lived in fear from the moment he emerged from his egg and inherited the memories carried within his bloodline.
He learned that he was a Void Monster.
An agent of destruction created by the Void Will.
Within the ocean of void energy, worlds were born and destroyed every second.
To the Void, worlds were cancerous growths capable of threatening its existence.
A World, Plane, or Realm began as a Small World before evolving into a Middle World and then a Large World.
A Large World eventually evolved into a Small Thousand World.
A Small Thousand World evolved into a Large Thousand World.
A Large Thousand World evolved into a Great World.
Beyond that stood the Eternal World.
The Void Will feared the birth of an Eternal World.
For a Great World to advance into an Eternal World, it needed to devour the Void Will itself.
To protect itself, the Void gave birth to Void Monsters and Void Demons.
Kaelan continued swimming forward.
One of his tentacles shot out and wrapped around a massive rock.
He pulled it toward his mouth and swallowed it whole.
He did not need food, but boredom constantly gnawed at him.
He refused to surrender to the madness that consumed most Void Monsters and instead tried to keep his mind occupied.
As his stomach acid slowly dissolved the rock, he entertained himself with a simple game.
Would he find something inside it or not?
He pondered the answer while waiting.
Then his single vertical eye caught a familiar energy signature.
He had never encountered such an energy signature before, yet it felt deeply familiar.
His blood began to boil.
A haze of destruction clouded his thoughts.
The energy belonged to a world.
Instead of rushing forward, he stopped.
Under normal circumstances, Void Monsters grew by feeding upon worlds.
They were born for destruction.
Any ordinary Void Monster would have charged toward the world without hesitation.
Kaelan, however, had reincarnated into the body of a Void Monster while retaining the memories of his previous life.
Because of that, the influence of the Void Will over him was weaker.
Even so, he still had to destroy worlds.
He was only a Fifth-Tier Transcendent.
A Fifth-Tier Transcendent could rival the Will of a Small World.
Such a being would stand at the peak of a Middle World or a Large World.
Yet within the Void, reaching the fifth tier was little different from entering kindergarten.
No one could ever be truly safe in the Void.
To achieve even relative safety, he needed to become a Seventh-Tier Transcendent.
To accomplish that, he would need to devour worlds until he obtained a transcendent cultivation method.
The inherited memories within his bloodline contained an enormous amount of knowledge, but no transcendent cultivation methods.
He suspected the Void Will had deliberately erased that information.
Kaelan slowly moved his tentacles and swam toward the world.
As he drew closer, his eye gathered more information.
Judging from the energy emitted by the world, it was a low-level Small World.
That meant the strongest beings within it would be Fourth-Tier Transcendents.
Their numbers would likely remain in the single digits.
The exact number did not matter.
His inherited memories taught him that the higher a Transcendent's tier, the less likely lower-tier beings were to defeat them, even through overwhelming numbers.
The void energy parted before him and revealed the world.
For the first time in his life as a Void Monster, Kaelan felt hunger.
Whispers echoed through his mind, urging him to attack and devour the world.
He ignored them.
Instead, he observed and planned.
He was confident he possessed enough power to destroy the world directly.
However, he was reluctant to do so.
Destroying it immediately would waste much of its value.
The world might contain transcendent paths.
If he could obtain them, he might one day create his own transcendent path.
Until he extracted everything useful from the world, he had no intention of destroying it.
The question now was how to enter.
Fortunately, he already had the perfect solution.
Although his inherited memories lacked transcendent cultivation methods, they contained countless magical powers from thousands of different categories.
Among them, he had devoted most of his time to two categories.
Cloning and movement.
After studying and mastering numerous clone-related magical powers, he created one of his own.
Each of his eight tentacles could become an independent clone.
No trace of the original body could be discovered through those clones.
Even if he died, he could resurrect through one of them.
The cost was severe.
Creating a clone required a portion of his life essence and fragments of his True Spirit.
The movement technique was something he had developed through his Void Monster Law.
For a limited period, he could transform himself into pure void energy.
Since worlds absorbed void energy to survive and grow, he could use that process to slip inside unnoticed.
He began casting the cloning magical power.
A blade materialised before him and sliced away a fragment of his True Spirit and Essence.
He clenched his teeth and remained motionless as unbearable agony tore through him.
Only after the pain subsided did the fragments drift toward one of his tentacles.
The tentacle detached naturally from his body.
This time, he felt no pain.
A new tentacle regenerated from the wound.
The detached limb twisted and transformed into the human appearance of his previous life.
The clone smiled.
"Deity, do not worry. After obtaining the knowledge within this world, I will begin destroying it from the inside."
Kaelan nodded.
"I will take care of the outside."
The clone walked toward the world.
Around the crystal wall surrounding it, the raging void energy became calm under the influence of the World Will.
Within that region, the World Will could project its power and perceive abnormalities.
To avoid detection, the clone had to transform before entering.
As he approached the boundary, his body dissolved into pure void energy.
The world's power immediately began pulling him inward.
At the same time, he guided himself toward the crystal wall.
Passing through one of the absorption channels, he slipped inside.
A minute later, or perhaps an eternity, he found himself floating within another sea of void energy.
This place differed from the true Void.
He could no longer sense the Void Will.
This was the World's Void Sea.
A place where the world stored void energy before refining it.
He moved toward the only source of light visible within the darkness.
His speed increased to its limit.
Maintaining this form consumed far more energy than he had anticipated.
He could not sustain it much longer.
If he reverted to his Void Monster form, the World Will would immediately notice him and strike him with heavenly thunder.
While travelling, he noticed the light source changing position.
It was not stationary.
He guessed it was the world's sun.
If the sun moved, then the world was probably not planetary in shape.
Instead, it was likely planar.
The plane remained fixed while the sun revolved around it.
Realising this, he felt relieved.
Planar worlds were often associated with transcendent civilisations.
Soon, he felt the heat radiating from the sun.
He condensed part of his body into a giant eyeball.
The eyeball rotated and searched the surroundings until it located the plane itself.
Focusing its vision, Kaelan peered through the world's inner energy barrier.
Above the clouds floated numerous islands.
Palaces, gardens, and magnificent structures covered their surfaces.
Beings resembling angels lived among them, though their wings were black and gold.
Beneath the floating islands stretched a vast supercontinent surrounded by endless seas.
On the eastern side of the continent, he spotted human-like civilisations.
At the same time, he sensed the World Will scanning the area because he had assumed a material form.
He needed a body.
Only by hiding within a native lifeform could he conceal his presence.
Passing through the inner energy barrier, he carefully avoided colliding with the floating islands and their inhabitants.
His target was a human body.
Partly because of familiarity.
Partly because of nostalgia.
After two thousand years, he missed being human.
Unfortunately, as he descended through the clouds, his energy form began destabilising.
He could no longer maintain it.
The World Will's scrutiny intensified.
He needed a host immediately.
While falling, he formed another eye and searched the surroundings.
A crow flew toward him.
No other living creature was nearby.
Above him, dark tribulation clouds began gathering.
Without hesitation, he shot toward the bird and struck its mind.
The crow opened its beak.
Kaelan slipped inside and rushed directly into its stomach.
He attached himself to the inner muscles and played dead.
Then he shut down his consciousness.
Some time later, his mind awakened.
His mental power extended outward.
The World Will was gone.
Only then did Kaelan begin taking control of the crow's body and soul.
His Essence spread through every cell.
His True Spirit entered the crow's soul space.
There, it attached itself to the crow's soul and began transforming it.
He had no intention of destroying the crow's soul.
If he did, he would lose the ability to perceive the World's Laws through the native lifeform.
To fulfil his mission and eventually destroy the world, he needed to reach the Fourth Tier.
His True Spirit fused with the crow's True Spirit.
The transformation proceeded slowly and carefully.
Eventually, Kaelan's consciousness replaced the crow's consciousness completely.