Celestial Realm.

Saint Palace.

Elis smiled. "My Authority over life is the only means to decipher Forbidden Text, but that person can no longer spread this entry-level Authority on a large scale."

"Serves him right for not spreading it earlier. He just had to hoard it. I hit him once and he was caught completely off guard! It's too late for regrets now."

As Elis said this, she felt a deep sense of satisfaction, finally savoring the fun of scheming at a distance against an unseen opponent.

This is what you call class.

Only brutes solve things by brawling. People like them play with the rules and the grand tide of order of the Cosmos.

"As expected of Your Highness." Sylvie exclaimed.

Elis was even more pleased with herself and continued, "Now, time and life—our two entry-level Diagrams—have already been put on the blacklist. If the Emperor hands me his cultivation technique for the entry-level Space Diagram, I'll help him blacklist that as well, so no one else can learn it!"

Forbidden Text is how we perfect the order of the Cosmos.

The three primary gods are all encrypted. How are you even going to learn them?

As long as we block off the initial entry-level Authorities, it's equivalent to blocking the gate, erecting a Forbidden Gate. After that, no one will be able to cultivate these three Dharma Methods ever again!

The Saint's Technique will become a Forbidden Technique of the Cosmos—indescribable and nearly impossible to spread!

This is a kind of technical-patent-style monopoly.

It can guarantee that their Authorities endure for millennia upon millennia, and that almost no latecomer will ever reach their current heights.

As for whether this kind of monopoly, this evil tactic, might turn Elis—this Human Emperor who serves the common folk—into the next rotten Father of Evil, becoming the very person she hates most?

Impossible!

Elis was never truly a hot-blooded Human Emperor fighting for the masses.

Her moral bottom line was quite flexible.

She didn't think there was anything wrong with monopoly and dictatorship; as long as the monopolist and dictator was a good person, that was the real good thing.

In her eyes, those young people harboring ulterior motives, trying to overthrow them, were precisely the ones who needed to be struck down.

Because those people might become the next true Father of Evil!

Besides, that mysterious man called the Celestial Emperor who Eliminates Traces—who knows where he really came from?

For all she knew, he might be connected to that imprisoned Light Ancient God, acting as the current-era spokesperson for that cosmic black hand.

All of the above made Elis just as proactive as Atabia in dealing with that guy.

"If it's the entry-level Space Diagram... you can go talk it over with the Emperor."

Li Qing thought for a moment and said, "After all, it's only entry-level. He probably won't mind leakage at that level. It's a kind of precaution too."

If he can't spread time and life, he might very well choose to spread space instead.

If you don't encrypt it in advance, you're just leaving hidden dangers lying around.

Elis understood this logic and happily ran off to find the Emperor.

Solar Calendar, year 14031.

Various ancient Forbidden Techniques of the Cosmos, forbidden Domains, suddenly emerged, pinning down the upper limit of human brain capacity, hailed as the Brain Forbidden Zone.

The Four Great Saints joined forces to lock down the Life Forbidden Area.

And precisely because it was so mysterious, the word "Forbidden" began to fill many people with yearning.

Many started searching for the lost forbidden cultivation systems, attempting to look up various ancient texts, break through their own limits, and cultivate Dharma Methods prohibited by the Saints.

Unfortunately, they couldn't cognitively grasp them at all. Those books and texts were eerie, horrific scrawls—ghostly scribbles they simply couldn't understand.

Knowledge was being monopolized.

Knowledge was being lost.

Solar Calendar, year 14040.

A certain forbidden Saint scripture suddenly made a startling appearance.

"Hahaha, this book can restore our cognition, letting us see the text that had been twisted!"

"This book must be a Forbidden solitary copy from the ancient era!"

"Hide it."

Obviously, only that behind-the-scenes guy could have personally made this type of book. Only with the blessing of his life Authority could people who read it, like him, peel away the Authority that blocked and twisted their cognition.

He was producing massive numbers of handwritten copies and began spreading them.

There were three types of such books in total, hailed as the Three Great Divine Books.

They contained the blessing of the Life Map and expounded the cultivation techniques for [Space], [Life], and [Time].

However, since they were hand-copied, and he had to bless each one individually so that others could read it, the total number could never be very large.

"That guy's turned into a bookseller?"

When Elis heard about this, she couldn't help but laugh. "Only someone with his life Authority can let others see it, but if he has to bless and copy them one by one, how many can he spread? How many copies?"

It wasn't hard to picture what he looked like.

He'd basically turned himself into a printing factory, painstakingly churning out books.

No matter how clever he was, no matter how good he was at schemes, what was the point? They could simply crush him with overwhelming power and resources. If they still managed to lose to a little rat skulking in the shadows, they might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes.

Elis quickly contacted Sylvie.

Keep the crackdown tight!

Seize those circulating solitary copies and destroy them.

At the same time, track the spread of those solitary copies to trace his origins.

"He must be miserable. If he doesn't spread the books and keeps hiding anonymously, we can't catch him at all. But once he spreads the books, he leaves us a trail to follow!"

Time blocked, life blocked, space blocked.

Since none of those worked, they'd just catch him using the most primitive methods.

"If we can't find any slip-ups, we'll force him to slip up!"

Sylvie had the reinforced Celestial River Navy, with the Heaven and Earth Net as support, hunt everywhere, looking for traces left by those solitary copies.

However, that lunatic actually continued to defy the wind, maniacally writing and spreading those books.

He wandered everywhere, practically acting as if the entire cosmic inspection corps didn't exist.

Gradually, the range was narrowed down within the All Heavens and Myriads of Realms; the encirclement tightened. After spending over three thousand years in the Lower Realm, they finally cornered his true body.

Crash!

In the next instant, the other party jumped through space and vanished from where he stood.

"So he's relying on his power of Space Jump, is he?"

A leading Ancient God of the Celestial River snorted coldly, holding the Compass given to him by the Saint of Space. "I've already recorded his Space Jump fluctuations. If he does it again, we will definitely seal off space."

Time continued to pass.

That guy was still spreading.

If he just hid, they truly might not have found him, but he insisted on wildly distributing all sorts of solitary copies, trying to leave traces across the entire All Heavens and Myriads of Realms, giving people a chance to glimpse the Life Forbidden Area.

He had to sow enough seeds for flowers to bloom.

Solar Calendar, year 14043.

Within the Wu'e All Heavens Realm, one Ancient God after another surrounded him, tightening the circle.

At last, a tall young man revealed his true body, encircled on all sides, yet he glared at them with cold brows. "So you've finally come."

"Insolent!"

"Insolent!"

A Celestial Soldier and Celestial General roared in fury.

With a crashing sound—

Elis, the Supreme Saint of the Cosmos, personally descended, striding forward.

"Seems I'm really being taken seriously..." Eliminates Traces glanced at the Saint and spoke softly, "Even the so-called Supreme God is paying attention to me."

"You could have lived. If you didn't spread those books, no one could have caught you. But you chose death, running around everywhere." Elis fixed her gaze on the man. "You're insane."

"Aren't you insane as well..."

Eliminates Traces looked at the woman before him. "Back in the day, weren't you also beneath the Light Ancient God, carrying Reincarnation around, rushing everywhere to recruit fresh young blood, lining people up to enter Reincarnation?"

Elis suddenly fell silent and looked at the man before her. "You're quite interesting. But that time and this time are different. You should know that by spreading solitary copies, you were bound to be cornered by us—you were destined to die."

What was the situation back then?

The Light Ancient God held the Three Thousand Great Path, but his control over the Lower Realm of the All Heavens and Myriads of Realms was insufficient.

And now?

They had each attained complete Authorities, reformed the Cosmos, and become Saints of the Cosmos. Their control over the All Heavens and Myriads of Realms was terrifying.

"I really am about to lose."

"I'm about to die."

"But my death is only a beginning. You see your brief victory in the present, while I see the victory after my death." Eliminates Traces looked very ordinary, with firm eyes and a faint, peaceful smile. "You compete for the present; I compete for the future. I see the fate that lies far ahead."

Elis's heart tightened.

This man was about to die.

He was doomed to die, yet why was he so calm?