So Zero had to make sure he always kept at least 1 TE at all times.
He planned to build up a healthy buffer though.
Things were getting repetitive.
But repetition was something he was great at!
Zero added in a mechanism that would shut off his sublime abilities automatically if he ever fell below 1000 TE.
This way he would forever retain a sublime artifact.
It was now time for him to grind.
To break it down.
It took him roughly three minutes to gain 1 TE.
The cycle goes like this.
'Reload 0'.
Jump into the cultivation world.
This takes about a minute.
Build dantian and spiritual roots.
Qi Condensation.
Foundation Establishment.
Core formation.
Spirit severing.
Transcendent Body.
This takes about two minutes.
1 TE gained.
'Reload 0'.
Zero planned to do this for a few years at least.
He had the patience for it.
In a single 'day' - time for him didn't matter much.
In a day he was able to farm 480 TE.
After doing this for a year.
[ECHO]: {TE:179176}
These were his gains.
He planned to go for a few centuries just to be safe.
But after going for three years.
He checked his TE randomly to see his progress and was surprised.
[ECHO]: {TE:200000}
"So there's a limit!"
Zero had gotten so into the rhythm that he had lost track of time.
So he didn't realize that his sublime artifact had reached the limit of energy it could hold.
It was made up of over a million spiritual artifacts now.
"Hmm... I suppose this is as far as I can go."
Two hundred thousand temporal energy.
Not a bad haul at all.
If he used 'transformation'.
He could stay transformed for 99 seconds.
An entire minute and thirty three seconds.
But to recharge he would need to spend about 417 days grinding.
But that is barely any time at all.
The complexity of his artifact.
An ordinary person would become dizzy just from seeing it.
He did notice as he was watching his TE counter.
That it dropped without him spending any TE.
[ECHO]: {TE:199999}
It would seem that the energy is leaking.
Although it is extremely slow.
He naturally kept track to see the rate it dropped.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
It seems to be just due to the amount of energy stored.
As the energy gets lower it should completely stop draining.
Zero really wanted to test out his temporal transformation.
He missed the feeling of power he had as a rank 9.
It was time that he felt such power again.
The power that was rightfully his.
It was in this moment that Zero decided to battle the celestial emperor.
He thought it would be fun.
'Reload 0'.
He was once more in constant time.
He jumped into the same cultivation world.
He cultivated and broke through to transcendent body in about two minutes.
He then sat down and meditated.
He felt a fluctuation through his sublime artifact.
He then used it to trace back the location.
'Travel'.
He appeared right in front of the celestial emperor.
Shocking the man greatly.
"Hello!"
"...You dare trespass into my universe?"
"Oh? This is your universe? Interesting!"
"I've come to see your dao fruit. Show me it!"
At this point, the celestial emperor had enough of Zero's disrespect.
He waved his hands and wind shot out smashing Zero into the ground.
"Kids these days... thinking you're omnipotent just due to rushing through your cultivation. Haven't you ever heard the saying 'it is about the journey, not the destination'. You may be stronger then an average cultivator. But you lack control of your abilities."
"For example... I have honed my fighting abilities for over a million years. You have barely been alive for-"
By now, Zero had reappeared out of the ground and he cut off the man.
"I am far older then a mere million years... in my eyes, you are a child."
"!!!... I attacked lightly. I suppose these old bones need to get serious."
Zero waved his hands in the air.
Nothing happened.
He just did it to stop the emperor from attacking.
"Wait! I need the perfect save point!"
Zero didn't need to say his save point out loud.
But he thought it would be funny.
"Save Point 2".
'Save Point 2'.
The emperor spoke:
"Save Poi-?"
Right as he was speaking Zero punched him in the face with the strength of 30+ spirit severing cultivators and a transcendent cultivation.
Zero's hand actually broke from the force.
It took less then a millisecond for his injury to recover.
"Wow... there really is a difference between an immortal dao fruit and a transcendent!"
The celestial emperor rolled his eyes.
He then said:
"Kneel!"
The pressure similar to a rank 8 was given off of his body.
Zero felt as if a billion tons was put on his shoulders.
His sublime artifact used 'cloak' to mimic the pressure.
Allowing him to remain unaffected.
"Impossible! You are merely a transcendent. How are you withstanding my aura?"
Zero just laughed:
"I am nothing special... the aura is simply too weak!"
"Nonsense!"
The Celestial Emperor was done playing games.
He used his law of order to thoroughly destroy Zero's entire existence.
With a mere wave of his hands.
Zero had died...
He didn't even know how.
'Reload 2'.
"Save Point 2".
'Save Point 2'.
The emperor spoke:
"Save Point 2?"
This time Zero didn't interrupt him.
His artifact was slightly shaking.
He tried to use transformation.
But the artifact wasn't 'stable' enough.
He needed to stall.
"Yes, indeed a Save Point."
"What is a save point?"
"Oh... let's just say... I can control the entire multiverse and reset it to my whim."
"Nonsense! Even I am unable to do such a thing."
"I speak the truth. Don't compare yourself to me, you'll only ruin your own self image."
"You think yourself better then me?"
"Kneel!"
Zero didn't bother to use his sublime artifact.
Since using cloak would cause it to shake slightly.
Which would make it take longer to be able to use his transformation.
He also just wanted to see if he could resist it on his own.
Without using his cheat.
The result?
He could not!
He crashed to the ground...
And the emperor looked down on him.
"You dare trespass into my universe. Apologize and I will leave you with an intact corpse, so that you may have a full body in the after life."
Zero was kneeling on the ground.
He then spoke:
"Temporal Transformation!"
"Temporal Transfor-?"
Zero felt infinite power.
His eyes turned into clocks.
Time slowed down, but he did not.
He slowly stood up.
He looked at the celestial emperor.
Then Zero spoke:
"Kneel!"
His aura was terrifying.
The emperor crashed to the ground.
Zero spoke again.
"Apologize and I'll leave you with an intact corpse."
"You!? How? what is this power?"
Zero then said:
"Give me your dao fruits and I'll spare your universe."
"Your bluffing! You couldn't possibly-"
Zero laughed and snapped his fingers.
The entire universe he was in collapsed on itself.
The only things left were him and the emperor in a black void.
"You! You just killed billions of people!"
"Do you have no conscience?! You are a monster."
At this point Zero had a phantom of his true body overlap this body.
He looked like an eldritch horror.
"NooooO! What are YOU!?"
"I am Zero!"
Zero had already been transformed for 45 seconds.
Zero waved his hands... and time began to reverse for everything but him and the emperor.
The universe was no longer collapsed.
It was restored as if nothing had happened at all.
The emperor looked at Zero in horror.
"You are God?"
"No. I am a Time Walker. I am a being which watches all the rivers of time. I have come to this universe with a purpose. I wish to see your dao fruits. Do you still plan to deny me this?"
"... Kill me."
Zero had about 15 seconds left.
This dialogue was killing him.
He was hoping to scare the emperor enough for him to show him his laws.
Zero just wanted a little comprehension.
But the emperor had chosen death.
Zero then spoke his voice sounding like screeching metal.
"Hahahaha! I got you. I was just joking..."
All of his TE was spent.
Except for about 1000.
The phantom of his eldritch body disappeared.
Zero then felt a horrible headache.
And an ache in his sublime artifact.
It was shaking a lot and was quite hot from him overclocking it.
But he had to test transformation.
It was more powerful then he suspected.
Zero then got dizzy and collapsed.
He died...
He might've overdone it with collapsing a universe then recreating it.
The stress of the actions he did while in quasi-rank 9 took effect as soon as he became regular again.
Since he lacked any full comprehension of the laws, his body literally couldn't withstand the stress.
So he died as a result.
'Reload 2'.
"Save Point 2".
'Save Point 2'.
The emperor spoke:
"Save Point 2?"
"Don't worry about it... I'm going to farm TE."
"Why are you speaking nonsense?"
Zero rolled his eyes.
'Reload 0'.