C1220 Discard Your Worries
On the flat deck of the warship, dozens of Shura warriors, each with an eighth-level bloodline, stood solemnly behind two ninth-level Platinum Shuras, attentively listening to their conversation.
Shuras who break through to the seventh level of their bloodline can withstand the erosive psionic powers of the Star River. Those born in the Dark Realm with a sixth-level bloodline can navigate the cosmos freely, unafraid of the Star River's corrupting forces.
The Shuras who stood on the deck without seeking shelter in the cabin, not requiring any protective walls, were undoubtedly formidable.
Their gazes were fixed on the Heartthumper Drum, awaiting in silence. The massive drum had previously emitted rousing beats that stirred the blood.
At that moment, Demian, who had been fervently playing the drum, now pressed his palms firmly against it. Utilizing his bloodline talent, he infused his vitality into the drum, attempting to harness the mystique within.
Demian, a Platinum Shura born in the Dark Realm and a ninth-level bloodline holder, was also the current wielder of the Heartthumper Drum. His physique, honed through innumerable trials, gleamed with an icy, snow-white sheen under the stars of Kuvrepros, as if sculpted from platinum itself.
Ninth-level Shura warriors, with their refined bodies and innate spines, could solidify their vitality into a platinum hue, enveloping their bodies like natural armor. Hence, they were bestowed the title of Platinum Shura.
Demian, nearly three meters tall with an impressively robust stature, was such a Platinum Shura. He enjoyed the deep trust of the Blood King Sabonis and bore the significant duty of finding the Titanblade. Yet, he approached his task with great caution.
Ciara, also a ninth-level bloodline holder but not native to the Dark Realm, had undergone her own trials there. She stood noticeably shorter than Demian. Despite her slender frame, the sharp spikes on her elbows and knees exuded a lethal sharpness, capable of piercing through anything. Clearly, she had dedicated herself to honing these natural weapons, treating them as her most reliable blades.
Ciara shivered with an all-encompassing chill, her gaunt figure flickering between visibility and obscurity in the eyes of her fellow Shura. Every Shura warrior was aware that she bore a Frost Well, a device that could connect with the frigid darkness of the Dark Realm, which accounted for her eerie appearance.
"Could it be Elena?" Ciara's gaze was fixed on the towering figure of Demian, watching the bloodline ripples dance across the surface of the Heartthumper Drum, sensing the stirrings of a soul and transmitting it outward, her nerves slightly on edge. "You need to confirm whether the secular bird is actually inside the cabin."
"I'm on it!" Demian snapped back, his frustration evident.
From their vantage point, they could just make out the shattered landscape and the two palaces glowing like lanterns in the distance, yet the finer details eluded them. Meanwhile, Cao Jiaze's voice, magnified by the Mark of the Celestials, reached them loud and clear, informing them of the secular bird's presence.
The mere thought of the secular bird's formidable presence caused the two ninth-level Platinum Shura to pull back abruptly, not daring to advance.
"Damn it! Beru's here too!" Ciara, with her acute sense of smell, suddenly noticed a nebulous star cloud enveloping a flickering meteorite, drawing near from another Star River. "Beru?" Demian, taken aback, paused for a moment before commanding, "Go communicate with them!"
...
Beneath the wreckage of the warship, Elena jolted as her surging vitality quieted. She then noticed several bloodlines, finer than strands of hair, at her heart beginning to shine brightly. The Shura Secret Word emerged from the twinkling lights, growing from a blur into clarity.
After a moment of shock, she turned to Yu Yuan and began, "The other party is Demian, a pure Dark Realm Platinum Shura. Along with him is Lady Ciara. Though Ciara isn't a native Dark Realm Shura, she has undergone its purifying rites. They're inquiring about..." She trailed off, hesitating.
Yu Yuan wore a peculiar look on his face.
The five Shura warships, shaped like flatfish, had not charged ahead as Cao Jiaze had cleverly anticipated. Instead, they came to an abrupt halt, thwarting his strategy.
The Shura's dread of the secular bird had surpassed all expectations.
"How should I respond to him?" Elena inquired.
"Tell him the secular bird is currently dormant, yet it could awaken at any moment," Yu Yuan reflected briefly before adding, "Advise them not to worry excessively. Inform them that the secular bird is on the verge of departing from Kuvrepros and won't linger. Also, Cao Jiaze of Ebon Star is here, in possession of four Marks of the Celestials."
As he spoke, Yu Yuan moved beneath the ship to stand with Elena.
Caught off guard, Elena listened as he commanded, "Pilot this warship away from this sector. Follow the former trajectory through the Star River and proceed towards our predetermined destination."
"Yu Yuan, is this your idea of a joke?" Cao Jiaze exclaimed.
When the five Voidfarers halted abruptly, the Ebon Star prodigy grasped the extent of the Shura's fear of the secular bird.
Yu Yuan's strategy was transparent; he intended to send the wrecked warship away to alleviate the Shura's concerns.
With a whoosh, the fiend that had been concealed within the warship, never showing itself, suddenly made an appearance.
Pausing at the cabin's threshold, its eyes ablaze with multicolored flames, the creature spoke softly, "Beru of the Starborn wishes to communicate with you through me."
"Beru?"
Yu Yuan paused, then realization dawned, and he sneered, "So, you encountered Beru and Leo after leaving part of yourself on that land earlier. What's the matter? Did you find out that Beru simply doesn't care about you?"
Silence was the fiend's only reply.
"I neglected to mention during our time in Zekrica that Beru and I share a significant bond," Yu Yuan said with biting irony. "Your scheming is truly despicable. Now, what exactly does Beru want?"
The Starbeast, possessed by the fiend, glanced back at the wrecked warship.
A moment of clarity struck Yu Yuan.
Without another word from the fiend, he understood that both the Great Sage of the Starborn and the visitor from the Shura shared a common fear of the secular bird, uncertain of its current might.
Yu Yuan pondered the situation. What would happen if the secular bird regained its full strength?
In this day and age, unlike ten thousand years ago, the tenth-level powerhouses from various extraterrestrial races, including the five great supreme forces of the Everlands, as well as factions like the Blood Fiend and Shura, were all adversaries of the Boulderdawn Sect and the Skyreach Consortium.
It's unlikely that the Otherkin could muster all their mightiest warriors to take down the secular bird. If that were the case, and the secular bird truly regained its former strength, the intelligent extraterrestrial beings would be at a loss, wouldn't they?
"Have Beru come here, and tell him it was my idea," Yu Yuan suddenly instructed.
"And..."
He turned to Elena, "Inform the leader of the Shura Legion that I want them here too. As for you, take command of the warship and create some distance from this location."
"What will you do?" Elena asked, concern evident in her voice.
"Don't worry, I have the power to defend myself. They can't harm me," Yu Yuan reassured her with a calm demeanor, gently persuading Elena to return to the wrecked warship. He then nonchalantly glanced at Cao Jiaze, "Everyone has time. Send a message to the Unbound cultivator who's been keeping an eye on you. Have him come over sooner rather than later."
"He's already en route," Cao Jiaze replied, his expression sour.
"That's a fiend from the Rainbow Ocean!"
Miao Kun, a member of the Thunder Sect, gazed intently at the poisonous stream within the Starbeast. After a moment of silence, as if struck by a sudden realization, he exclaimed, "He's in the records of our Thunder Sect! No, according to our sect's texts, he should have been dead long ago!"
"The Thunder Sect, such a repugnant aura."
The fiend inhabiting the Starbeast muttered in a raspy, deep voice, yet made no further move. He was aware of his current weakness and lack of strength to act.
"Let's get out of here!"
Yu Yuan bellowed, prompting Elena to make a swift departure.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The battered warship began to tremble violently, embarking on another shaky flight.
Soon after, the lead warship of the Shura, along with Beru, Gheirat, and Leo, who was steering a meteorite, arrived one by one following the departing vessel.
"Yu Yuan!"