C1212 Look Again
Five Dead Stars, nestled close together in the murky Star River, resembled colossal meteors.
Yu Yuan narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing them carefully. It was only then that he discerned the fragmented stones on the surfaces of the Dead Stars, which must have once been assembled into buildings and palaces.
This indicated that, long ago, beings had thrived on these five stars.
Their demise came swiftly as the wall was rent asunder, ceasing to exist, and the creatures perished in an instant, leaving the stars to their current desolate state.
"What brings her here?"
Yu Yuan, emerging from the wrecked warship, silently engaged his Evil Body Refining technique. He harnessed the essence beneficial to his physique from the rampant and tainted psionic power that filled the cosmos.
As his combat strength steadily returned, he hovered in the void, his brow furrowed in deep contemplation.
He watched the Songbird Queen, ethereal as a sprite, glide lightly to one of the dark brown stars.
Without warning, the dark brown star ignited with the flame of destruction.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
In silence, the other four Dead Stars crumbled away, stealthily undone by Chen Qinghuang's formidable power.
Within mere moments, the four Dead Stars fractured into innumerable stones, adrift in the eerie expanse of the Star River.
At Chen Qinghuang's feet, a piercing whistle began to rise.
As the sound emerged, Yu Yuan, though distant, felt his thoughts congeal. The spiritual energy and blood coursing through his veins seemed tainted by the psionic power, eluding the grasp of his soul.
His limbs grew increasingly feeble, a profound fatigue welling up from within.
His Evil Body Refining Technique faltered, unable to stave off the insidious psionic power that now infiltrated his flesh and bones.
His body, as if weighed down by a mountain, began to sink slowly.
With great effort, he widened his eyes, clinging to his core and consciousness, and bit his tongue. In that fleeting moment of lucidity, he silently invoked Wraithbinding.
Then, he was assailed by the shrieks of the enchantress.
He also saw the Dead Star, now ablaze with the flame of destruction, shuddering intensely beneath Chen Qinghuang's feet.
Countless bizarre curses, invisible to the naked eye, were bound together by souls and vital energy.
It was as though myriad tiny stars were adrift in the black flame of destruction, clashing with Chen Qinghuang's power, being crushed and bursting intermittently.
A petite, disheveled enchantress, clutching a shrieking, peculiar wind zither, strummed its strings amidst the flame of destruction.
Her long hair trailed on the ground like an expansive carpet, blanketing much of the Astral Domain.
With a gaze filled with terror and despair, she watched the Songbird Queen standing still atop the Dead Star, slowly and desperately trying to approach.
As she moved, the flame of destruction seeped into her, setting her alight as well.
The color of despair in her eyes deepened.
Thousands upon thousands of whispered curses were incinerated by the flame of destruction, her power waning rapidly, until she could no longer endure.
When she was still hundreds of meters away from Chen Qinghuang, she was completely consumed by the flame of destruction.
Her body, soul, and the strange zither all gradually turned to ash.
The spells and dark arts she had employed ceased to function, and the last unshattered star also exploded, turning into innumerable charred stones.
Chen Qinghuang rose and flew back to the wrecked warship.
The flame of destruction followed her like a series of fiery rivers, merging into her one by one.
As she brushed past Yu Yuan, she left him with a faint remark, "Let's head back."
"Oh, right."
Yu Yuan, momentarily dazed, quickly came to his senses. Upon returning to the cabin, he discovered that the empress had just gently closed her eyes, falling asleep once more.
The fiend inhabiting the Starbeast and Elena consciously distanced themselves from her.
Without a word and without asking why, both Elena and the fiend maintained their silence.
Yu Yuan, equally perplexed, was at a loss as to why the capricious empress had detected a lurking enchantress and why she had resolved to deal a deadly blow.
"Continue the journey."
Moments later, noticing that Chen Qinghuang had clearly fallen asleep again, Yu Yuan gave the command in a hushed tone.
...
"Hausel is dead."
The ruler of Kuvrepros, having split from the main force, pulled out a translucent, gleaming eyeball from his bosom, infused it with his bloodline, and peered into it intently.
The locations of the Dead Star had transformed into a Star River of meteorites, with a charred skeleton amidst them crumbling into dust.
"Hausel? The enchantress traitor from the evilkind?"
Leo, blessed by the stars at birth, looked troubled, as if he couldn't quite believe it. "Gheirat, is it truly Hausel? The renowned witch from the evilkind?"
"You sheltered her?" Beru exclaimed, surprised.
Gheirat was silent for a moment, then nodded. "She was once kind to me. After a rift with her kind and being pursued until she was gravely wounded, she sought refuge in Kuvrepros. Yes, I sheltered her, settling her in the Wasteland and made her vow not to wander."
He paused before continuing, "She has been in seclusion there ever since, quietly cultivating."
Looking up at Beru, he asked, "Great Sage, why was she slain by the secular bird?"
Leo was taken aback.
"Hausel's ancestor was involved in the hunt against the secular bird a hundred thousand years ago," Beru explained, privy to the details. "Her ancestor possessed a tenth-level bloodline and was skilled in the art of curses, which slowed the secular bird's bloodline and dulled its soul consciousness, diminishing its combat abilities."
"Hausel carried her ancestor's aura, which the secular bird must have detected."
After a brief reflection, Beru inquired further, "Before her injury, Hausel was at the ninth level and possessed the holy weapon of her ancestor. The weapon was severely damaged after her injury, greatly reducing its power. I've heard her bloodline has plummeted. After such a long recovery, what level of power has she regained?"
"She could have, at most, returned to the ninth-level bloodline," Gheirat replied cautiously.
Beru's brow furrowed.
After a moment, he nodded and said, "It's difficult to assess the secular bird's combat strength. However, if we trace a line from where Hausel first appeared to her current location..."
Beru gazed intently in one direction, his furrowed brows easing slightly as a hunch formed in his mind.
"It's a stroke of luck amidst misfortune that she's left the Kuvrepros Astral Domain!"
Behind the crystal, the fiend possessing the Starbeast stretched its massive body. Seven vivid and toxic glimmers of light shone within its semi-transparent form. The fiend's remnant soul reached out, as if silently perceiving something. After a while, he turned, his eyes ablaze with a rainbow of flames, a plea evident in his gaze, "There's a shattered little world with no Otherkin, only poisonous insects and alien beasts."
Yu Yuan, seated and holding a soulstone, squinted thoughtfully. The possessed Starbeast voluntarily crouched down, adopting a submissive and docile posture, its head hanging low. "I dare not offend you again. I've witnessed the potency of the Ethereal Potion you crafted. Moreover, you've mastered the intricate sword spell of the Nine Celestial Slashes, capable of truly slaying me." His demeanor was one of wholehearted submission.
Yu Yuan gave a slight nod.
The fiend, ecstatic, carefully approached the cabin and pushed open the door. He then transformed into a wisp of light and darted out.
"He won't try to escape, will he?" Elena voiced her concern.
This fiend, born from the toxic essence of the Rainbow Ocean, had a devil soul that naturally harmonized with various poisons, giving it a peculiar form that could latch onto any living creature. If it were to be set free, it would wreak havoc on the beings of Kuvrepros.
In Elena's heart, the sovereign of this Astral Domain was still her Uncle Gheirat, who had always looked after her in private. She couldn't bear the thought of trouble befalling Kuvrepros.
"I'll check on it."
With an unchanged expression, Yu Yuan left those words behind and soared out.
Elena and Chen Qinghuang remained in the wrecked warship. The Shura girl glanced at the slumbering Chen Qinghuang, her eyes brimming with bitterness and dread. Without Yu Yuan, she felt utterly unprotected. The thought of the beautiful sleeper, the secular bird that had laid waste to Astral Domains a hundred thousand years ago, made her legs tremble, and standing became a struggle.
Beneath the greenish-gray fractured wall lay a desolate landscape, a vista of dried-up rivers and sheer cliffs as far as the eye could see.
In a region further from the wall's breach, a stretch of vegetation still clung to life, though a few insects and alien beasts had mutated but not perished due to the corruption of psionic power.
Yu Yuan, having entered this small pocket of the world through the tear in the wall, used his Lunar Spirit to sense the presence of insects and alien beasts being preyed upon by a fiend inhabiting a Starbeast.
These insects and alien beasts, devoid of reason and acting purely on instinct, fought for survival, their blood turning toxic once tainted.
The fiend yearned for that trace of venom.
The lowly creatures and the mutating plants were swiftly consumed, the area falling silent as life withered away.
Before long, the fiend possessing the Starbeast arrived, bobbing its head. It glanced upward at the wrecked warship suspended in the void and, after a moment's hesitation, suddenly spoke, "You should part ways with her."
Without naming names, Yu Yuan instantly understood the fiend referred to Chen Qinghuang.
Yu Yuan gestured for the fiend to go on.
"Head underground."
The fiend pivoted and burrowed into the earth, quickly descending a hundred meters below the surface.
Yu Yuan trailed effortlessly and, upon reaching the subterranean depths, regarded the cautious fiend and said calmly, "Share your thoughts. If you wish to test my methods again, I'm open to it."
"No, I dare not. Nor do I wish to try again," the fiend replied, shaking its head. After a pause to gather its thoughts, it continued, "The Baneblade you wield, along with the Dragon Slaying Stage you've taken from the Everlands, are in fact her favorite treats. The Dragon Slaying Stage, in particular, contains the corpses of Dragon Gods, some of which are of the tenth level!"
"She is a secular bird, a cosmic giant beast by nature, driven by instinct to seek out and consume powerful beings."
"At any moment, she might use the Dragon Slaying Stage and the Baneblade Bloodhell in your possession as a catalyst for her awakening and transformation!"
