A hundred years later, Maximus and his wives were aboard their void ship, Shadow.
Looking at his wives, tearing up as they say goodbye to their families, He couldn't help but sigh.
After this, they would head to an isolated place.
This time, it was a real challenge.
Unlike the Endless Void Nullrift, where they could still access the virtual realm and be as leisurely as they wanted, their next destination would be brutal.
They were headed to the Silent Void Expanse, a special void space in the Aeon Plane filled with soul pollution.
Void pollution is the general term for a chaotic concentration of corrupted causality of power.
On the other hand, soul pollution is a specific type of pollution made up of corrupted causality of soul.
This soul pollution is said to temper the soul, spirit, and even the will.
Unfortunately, to achieve this, they had to face the soul pollution head-on.
Taking on crazy, corrupting thoughts and ranging chaotic energy, they couldn't use any protection or hide in a shelter.
Such tempering was torturous, but the strength it brought was real.
Although it couldn't directly make one stronger, under the influence of the causality of the soul, their soul, spirit, and will would be forged like an impenetrable wall.
Unfortunately, unlike the Endless Void Nullrift, where one could enter and exit at will, the Silent Void Expanse was surrounded by a barrier of soul pollution.
Diving into such concentrated soul pollution was suicide, even for a master of the Ocean of Law.
The only time they could enter or exit was when a fluctuation occurred, and a part of the soul pollution barrier weakened.
This only happened once every few hundred to thousands of years.
That was, if they could accurately predict when and where the fluctuation would occur.
Otherwise, one might be trapped inside the Silent Void Expanse forever.
To this, Maximus didn't worry much. With the Seal of Truth, he could find the entrance and exit as long as it appeared.
Turning to his panel, Maximus admired his progress over the past hundred years.
[Family and Power System:
Host: Maximus Shadowcrest
Physique: Dimensional Source (Origin Grade: 0/Unknown) (Rank 11: 18.5 Billion/10 Trillion)
Magnitude of Power: 2.1 Trillion
River of Knowledge: 10%
Causality Points: 125 Billion
Causality Points (Corrupted): 2.7 Trillion]
First was his progress with his special physique—18.5 billion!
With uninterrupted absorption of corrupted causality of power at the rate of over a hundred every minute, he was getting closer and closer to his goal.
Furthermore, having reached 10% mastery of the River of Knowledge, his absorption of causality of power reached an astonishing 1,000 per minute.
After selling the materials, he also earned over 155 trillion origin coins.
Exchanging 125 trillion for 125 billion strands of causality, even Iris had been saddened.
125 billion strands of causality would take hundreds of years of her normal rate of production.
Thinking of Iris's reaction when he exchanged such a large amount of causality strands, Maximus couldn't help but smile.
Like a girl who had lost everything, Iris's expression fell like a wilted eggplant.
If not for his tireless coaxing, Iris might have been down for a while.
As for the remaining 30 trillion origin coins, he allocated 10 trillion to the Etherium Realm, 10 trillion as emergency funds for his children, and stored the other 10 trillion in his dimensional storage.
He might be gone for thousands of years, leaving his children some property to get by is a must.
There is also the Etherium realm; to avoid capsizing while he was not around, the 10 trillion origin fragment was enough to send a master of the river of law to death.
Finally, the 10 trillion origin fragment in his dimensional storage is for their funds in the silent void expanse.
The Silent Void Expanse not only blocked access to the virtual realm but also rendered the virtual interface useless.
Apparently, the virtual signals couldn't penetrate the thick barrier of soul pollution, rendering access to the outside world impossible.
Storing physical currency was a must in such a closed space.
Without the virtual realm's network, they could only rely on physical barter.
Turning his attention to his wives, he asked if they were ready.
"Hmm, we are ready to go," they muttered sadly.
Not seeing their families for the coming thousands of years—how could they not be sad?
"Don't worry. Each of our children has their own lives now. As parents, we can only accompany them when we have the time. Right now, what's important is that we become stronger," Maximus said solemnly.
If possible, Maximus would like to stay in the Endless Void Nullrift.
Although it would take longer to collect causality of power, Maximus was not too impatient.
However, during his interactions with Iris, Maximus could sense the worry in her tone.
Besides a guardian, all the supreme leaders of the top forces were going into a sprint of cultivation, hoping to grow even a little stronger.
When he asked, Iris played dumb and refused to tell him anything.
It seemed there was a restriction concerning the impending disaster, or it was too early for him to know, so Iris wanted to keep it a secret.
Wanting to grow strong as soon as possible, Maximus could only venture out into dangerous places, enduring the loneliness and suffering that came with it.
As for bringing his wives along, it was their choice.
They would rather be separated from their families for a while than not see him for an indefinite period.
Maximus was right; each of their children had their own lives.
As husbands and wives, what they should do is cherish their time together, focusing on becoming stronger to protect what they love and to achieve what they want to do.
Calming down, his wives looked resolutely at Maximus, signaling that they were ready.
"Voyager! To the Silent Void Expanse!"