C1214 A Punishment
In the dim and cluttered cabin, Yu Yuan clutched a Soul Crystal, absorbing the pure spiritual energy that filled the little world within the Golden Sanctum. His Lunar Spirit wandered through the newly opened acupoints, moving between the Dragon Slaying Stage and the Baneblade known as Bloodhell. Settling his mind, he attuned himself to the nuances of the young beast on the Dragon Slaying Stage and the swirling clusters of Bloodwraiths within the Baneblade.
He then sensed a deep unease lurking within both the young beast and the Bloodwraiths—an instinctive fear of something. The young beast, having drawn power from the remnants of a dragon's corpse, grew cautious. Most of the time, it lay dormant in a state similar to Qinghuang's deep slumber, as if to evade some unseen threat.
Yu Yuan's understanding deepened, and he grew increasingly convinced that the fiend's tales of the cosmic giant beast were not unfounded, but a stark reality. Consequently, his gaze upon the empress grew heavy with concern. To serve a ruler was akin to walking alongside a tiger, was it not?
As time slipped by unnoticed, Qinghuang emerged from her profound slumber, floating effortlessly into the air. Yu Yuan, the fiend inhabiting the Starbeast, and Elena were jolted by her sudden awakening, their eyes wide with panic and unease.
Unaware of their alarm, Qinghuang drifted towards the fiend-possessed Starbeast, her gaze deep and enigmatic. The Starbeast, now meek under the fiend's influence, lay submissively at her feet. Its head bowed, the liger-like creature quivered gently like a frightened cat.
Without a trace of emotion, Qinghuang extended her arm, pale and sculpted like jade, her slender fingers gleaming with a crystal sheen. She reached towards the Starbeast's raised spine, her arm gliding smoothly as if merging with the ocean, causing no disturbance, no dramatic scene, as it seamlessly entered the creature's body. With a whoosh, the vibrant eyes of the Starbeast, once ablaze like a rainbow fire, were abruptly extinguished.
Brightly colored, toxic streams flowed rapidly through the translucent body of the Starbeast, converging uneasily behind its rear as if ready to flee at a moment's notice. The fiend's wails and cries for help emanated from these vivid streams, saturated with helplessness and despair.
In her panic, Elena, the Shura girl, instinctively drew closer to Yu Yuan. She quietly clutched his arm, her alluring body trembling slightly as she sought answers with her eyes. Her expressive gaze seemed to question, "What does the empress intend to do? Will we... end up like the fiend?"
It was evident that Elena was deeply concerned, fearful that she might be senselessly killed like the fiend had been. Yu Yuan shook his head, offering her a calming, reassuring look.
Yu Yuan kept his focus on the Starbeast, sensing that something was amiss. He had a theory in mind and, rather than intervening, he allowed Chen Qinghuang to proceed. The pitiful screams of the fiend fell on his deaf ears.
He noticed that one of the seven venomous rivers that once flowed within the Starbeast had vanished. He didn't have to wait long to see the remaining six rivers become severely diminished, now appearing incredibly slender.
Chen Qinghuang's hand, which had been thrust into the Starbeast, emerged clutching a fist-sized, glistening eyeball. "One less," remarked the empress, her voice detached.
Elena gasped in realization, then gripped Yu Yuan's arm tighter. "That guy must have left an eyeball behind at his last stop! The Starbeast's eye sockets only contained his burning seven-colored flame; he must have ingested the eyeball," she deduced.
"He's definitely betrayed us by leaving an eyeball elsewhere," Elena declared angrily.
Yu Yuan nodded slightly in agreement. "And one less venomous river marked with the devil soul."
Chen Qinghuang's grip on the eyeball tightened, and soon a gray-white flame sparked from within the crystal, growing more intense. A potent sense of death emanated from the Starbeast's eye, engulfing the entire cabin.
Yu Yuan, Elena, and even the trembling fiend felt as if they were witnessing the annihilation of all life in a mere moment. A once vibrant little world was transformed into a tableau of eternal stillness.
Many scenes of death beyond their wildest dreams flashed through their minds.
...
Simultaneously, on a swiftly passing meteor, Beru, clutching the eyeball of a Starbeast, had just invoked a blood magic spell, infusing it with cosmic energy and lifeblood. Suddenly, he jolted violently.
The Great Sage, famous across the Star River, gasped in shock. His loose cape, embellished with twinkling star patterns, shone brightly.
High above in the Kuvrepros Astral Domain, some stars began to resonate, suddenly flaring up.
"Great Sage!"
Gheirat's face turned pale as he clutched a glass bottle containing a fraction of a fiend's venomous essence, which now stirred with a palpable unease.
"What's wrong?"
Leo, blessed by the stars, sensed trouble. Without much hesitation, he conjured the resplendent Altar of Rebirth and presented it before him.
The colorful Altar of Rebirth, brimming with millions of tiny luminous points, resembled an endless array of stars.
A mysterious aura, embodying the profound secrets of the stars, emanated from the enigmatic Altar of Rebirth, creating a gravitational pull.
The luminous stars of the Kuvrepros Astral Domain immediately responded, showering down infinite starlight.
Guided by Leo, the starlight streamed into Beru's body, defying the confines of space.
Despite this,
Beru remained enveloped in an aura of decay and deathly stillness, like an elder on the brink of death, making a final stand against time and destiny.
With a loud pop!
The Starbeast's eyeball he was gripping burst open.
The tiny fragments sent Gheirat and Leo scrambling to disperse them, crushing them with overwhelming cosmic energy.
The death aura that seeped out defied the glass bottle's containment, seeping into the venomous river refined by the fiend.
The fiend's wails of agony echoed across two different star seas.
The sound lingered for an eternity.
"Great, Great Sage?"
Leo, tapping into his bloodline gift, retracted the splendid Altar of Rebirth back into himself.
Upon speaking, he noticed his voice had turned raspy and bizarre, prompting him to immediately fall silent.
He licked the corner of his lips and, after composing himself, asked again, "Is it the secular bird?"
He had never encountered a true cosmic giant beast before. These apex predators of the food chain were exceedingly rare in the modern era. His closest encounter had been in the Ionodios not long before.
He was inside Ionodios, while the Abyssal Leviathan remained outside.
Thus, even though he was well aware of the cosmic giant beast's fearsome reputation, he had never had the opportunity to witness its power firsthand.
This had truly been his first time.
From millions of miles away, through the eye of a Starbeast, the force exerted by the secular bird had left the Great Sage in disarray. It instilled a sense of despair in him, fearing that both he and Gheirat, being so close to the eye, might also be dragged into a vortex of death.
Leo finally grasped why, from ancient times to the present, cosmic giant beasts were considered the supreme species, transcending all other life forms.
"She's punishing that one and warning us as well."
Great Sage Beru managed a wry smile as he pulled out a pill he had acquired in Ionodios and swallowed it with a pained expression. He then turned his attention to the significantly diminished fiend's soul. "This nasty creature thought its cunning plans would go unnoticed. How utterly ridiculous."
Beru shook his head and advised, "Let's not rush to get close to them. We'll give them ample time to leave Kuvrepros in peace before we make our next move."
The battered Voidfarer wasn't particularly swift. With the combined strength and resources of the three of them, they could catch up in no time.
But what would they do upon facing the secular bird?
This was the dilemma Beru pondered.
"I understand."
Leo nodded earnestly, no longer resistant.
"Let's hope some unfortunate souls from the Sunlit Order run into them first," Beru remarked with a touch of schadenfreude.
Having imprisoned a seventh of the fiend, they had mercilessly extracted information through torture, unconcerned about the possibility of its demise. They learned much: the interactions between Yu Yuan and Denise, the arrival of Rong Xun and Xie Bin from the Obsidian Thunder Sect, the emergence of Elena, and more.
The trio of Starborn powerhouses had gleaned everything they desired to know, including that Xu Jingyao had sought the aid of a cultivator from the Unbound Realm.
Beru was eager to witness the spectacular fireworks that would erupt when an unsuspecting Unbound Realm cultivator stumbled upon the dilapidated warship.
...
The eyeballs incinerated into ash.
Without a glance at the trembling fiend cowering behind the Starbeast, the Songbird Queen retreated to her customary resting place.
Yu Yuan and Elena stood side by side, enveloped in silence.
"I am weary," the Empress murmured, her eyes gently closing. She reclined slowly, settling into a relaxed pose before adding, "Upon our arrival in the Wingkind's Astral Domain, we shall go our separate ways, to wherever you please."
Yu Yuan was taken aback.
He couldn't shake the feeling that the First Female Emperor of All Ages from the Everlands was upset.
But with whom? The fiend? Or me?
Touching his nose, Yu Yuan felt a twinge of embarrassment. He wondered, "Is it because I let the specter's influence make me wary, leading her to sense my guardedness? Is she upset with me for not trusting her?"
The Songbird Queen drifted back into slumber, and Yu Yuan, knowing her well, recognized the even rhythm of her breathing.
With his mind swirling with unanswered questions, Yu Yuan dared not awaken her or seek explanations.
He was admittedly intimidated by Chen Qinghuang, whose current mood and thoughts were a mystery to him.
"We're still quite a distance from the Wingkind's Astral Domain," Elena said, her gaze lowered as she gestured toward the fiend inhabiting the Starbeast. "This creature harbors malevolent intentions and is far from friendly. Shouldn't we consider a way to dispose of it? I fail to see any benefit in keeping it around."
The Shura girl was no stranger to violence, her past as a bandit marked by bloodshed.
The fiend had repeatedly revealed its malevolence, much to her displeasure.
"There are things you don't quite grasp," Yu Yuan internally sighed. If it weren't for his connection to Yu Zhu, he would have flooded the Ethereal Potion into the caverns back in Zekrica, dissolving the fiend's toxic core, and combined Spiritrend with Shadow Moon Essence to end its existence.
"Once we've left Kuvrepros, I'll devise a plan to address this issue."
Yu Yuan snorted, casting a malevolent glance at the feigning fiend.
The cabin then lapsed back into silence.
Time passed...
Elena jolted awake, springing to her feet with the alertness of a cheetah. "There are powerful warriors from the Shura!" she exclaimed.
