C1245 Cross Realms

In the depths of the Kuvrepros Astral Domain, Chu Yao leaned against the ice-cold rock wall, gazing intently into the abyss of the cave. He had summoned the Mirror of the Infinite and was now observing Pei Yuling, who seemed lost in contemplation before the bronze surface.

For reasons unknown to him, Chu Yao sensed an eerie chill permeating the cave. The mirror's surface captured Pei Yuling's vacant, expressionless eyes, devoid of the slightest glimmer or human emotion, as cold and hard as pebbles.

Chu Yao had called out several times, but Pei Yuling, transfixed by the Mirror of the Infinite, showed no sign of response, as if his soul had vacated his body.

Aware of the dangers lurking in every corner of the Kuvrepros, Chu Yao was eager to make their escape. Seeing Pei Yuling unresponsive, his anxiety mounted, prompting him to call out once more, "Mr. Pei? Mr. Pei?!"

Time passed before Pei Yuling finally stirred, jerking as though he had been roused from a profound nightmare. Drenched in cold sweat, his face twisted with fear and unease.

He gasped for air, and like fireflies, spiritual energy fluttered from the tiny fissures nearby, flowing into his body.

It was as if he was reclaiming his soul through this process, and he gradually regained his composure. "Oh, Chu Yao, there's no need to worry. We're quite safe here in the Kuvrepros," Pei Yuling reassured with a swiftly steadying voice, his smile returning.

"We can leave at any moment. Let me assess our current situation," he suggested.

With a gesture, Pei Yuling infused the Mirror of the Infinite with a burst of white light and pressed it against the reflective surface. A "boom" echoed as a myriad of scenes unfolded within the mirror.

Chu Yao narrowed his eyes, trying to make sense of the rapidly shifting images, but their secrets eluded him.

Pei Yuling's face turned grave as he exclaimed, "Ballo has arrived!"

"Ballo? The Ballo from the Curtis family, the current leader of the Starborn?" Chu Yao asked, alarmed.

"The situation looks grim."

Pei Yuling inhaled sharply, sweeping up the Mirror of the Infinite with a flourish of his sleeve. "Chu Yao, we can't linger in the Kuvrepros any longer. Ballo, with his tenth-level bloodline, is beyond the likes of Zhu Huan and Fu Xuanwen. We were invited here; we're not here to fight to the death!"

After speaking, he took Chu Yao by the arm and led him away.

...

The damaged warship sped through the Kuvrepros Astral Domain, on the verge of departing this realm.

Inside the warship, Yu Yuan listened to Qiyan describe the connection between the Songbird Queen and the Origin Realm, while his gaze rested on the slumbering Songbird Queen.

Hmm!

He mentally exclaimed, suddenly sensing that Pei Yuling's watchful presence had vanished completely.

At that moment, Qiyan, the fiend, ceased all talk of the Origin Realm. With a pitiful look, she turned her attention to Xie Bin of the Obsidian Thunder Sect and finally pleaded, "Could you please extract the thunder balls from within my Starbeast body?"

The emerald glow thunder balls, the size of a thumb, were forcefully inserted by Wei Zhuo of the Thunder Sect.

The presence of the thunder balls caused Qiyan excruciating pain, leaving him desperate for relief but powerless to find it.

Wei Zhuo, as the current Sect Master of the Thunder Sect, had created thunder balls that were constantly dissolving Qiyan's Soul Power and the seven toxic rivers within the Starbeast.

Qiyan's fervent attempts to ingratiate himself with Yu Yuan stemmed partly from sensing that Fu Xuanwen, Cao Jiaze, and others harbored a wary respect for Yu Yuan due to Chen Qinghuang.

Additionally, Xie Bin, the wielder of the Glacial Storm Seal, had aligned himself with Yu Yuan.

Indeed, it was Xie Bin, with the Glacial Storm Seal, who had the potential to strip the thunder balls from the Starbeast's body, freeing Qiyan from his agony.

"What do you say?"

Xie Bin didn't immediately agree but instead turned to Yu Yuan, who was lost in thought.

Yu Yuan gave Qiyan a brief glance.

Qiyan's eyes, ablaze with vivid flames, shone with a desperate plea. "For her sake, please show me mercy."

Yu Yuan then nodded in assent.

Xie Bin joyfully called forth the Glacial Storm Seal, enveloping the Starbeast possessed by Qiyan with the renowned artifact.

The thunder balls, brimming with pure lightning power, were ripe for absorption by the Glacial Storm Seal.

For both Xie Bin and Qiyan, this arrangement was mutually beneficial.

"Once we're out of the Kuvrepros, make your departure quickly, or I fear I won't be able to resist slaying you."

Yu Yuan's brow furrowed. If not for Yu Zhu, he would have allowed Xie Bin to obliterate the poison-born Qiyan with the Glacial Storm Seal right then and there.

"That yellow sun!"

Han Dan of the Starmoon Sect exclaimed from the rear of the warship.

Yu Yuan squinted, barely making out a ring of starlight encircling the yellow sun in the Kuvrepros Astral Domain. It seemed as though a magical force enveloped the sun, offering it protection.

"Ballo of the Starborn must have arrived."

Jin Haolong was quietly thrilled, then added with a hint of schadenfreude, "It's a good thing we withdrew quickly and didn't linger. I bet Xu Jingyao and Cao Jiaze are going to get a thrashing. Ballo is one of the Starborn's mightiest warriors, a tenth-level combatant renowned across the vast Star River."

Mentioning Ballo, both he and Han Dan, also of the Starmoon Sect, showed unmistakable reverence.

Increasing evidence suggested that many of the Starmoon Sect's spells and mystiques originated from the extraterrestrial Starborn.

"We're almost out."

Elena gazed into the distant grey expanse with a mix of anticipation and anxiety.

She saw no twinkling stars or signs of the sun and moon in the Star River ahead, "We're nearing the Brugeth, one of the most notorious extraterritorial battlefields. I hope it's tranquil inside now."

"Brugeth," Xie Bin said, his face etched with distress.

Distracted by Elena and Xie Bin, Yu Yuan, who had been pondering the Origin Realm and Pei Yuling, inquired, "Is Brugeth that famous?"

"His first Solar Spirit Body was obliterated there," Rong Xun clarified.

Yu Yuan was taken aback.

With a bitter expression, Xie Bin nodded and shared, "We encountered a team from the Silverscale Tribe and the Shadowkin. The ensuing conflict left us no chance to escape. I never thought I'd return to Brugeth after all these years. But... I suspect we won't be as unfortunate this time."

"You consider that unlucky?" Elena quipped, her lips twisting.

Her mood turned somber as she stared into the starless night sky, murmuring, "Thousands of Shura warriors perish in Brugeth every century, many of them high-ranking members of our tribe. The Starborn, Shadowkin, Silverscale Tribe, and others have all met their end there, slain in droves by the Solar Spirits of the Everlands."

Many of my close uncles also vanished in the Brugeth Astral Domain. After we were reduced to bandits, a significant number of our gathered warriors perished there as well.

She paused briefly before continuing, "The ancestral homes and domains of the various peoples within Zekrica were mostly located in Brugeth. It was turned into a gruesome extraterritorial battlefield because the humans and archdemons of the Everlands saw it as a playground for earning battle honors."

"Once their Domain was shattered, it didn't even qualify as a desolate star."

"All that remains are innumerable meteorites and fragments, filling the Brugeth Domain. The sun, moon, and stars have all been obliterated by the racial wars."

Elena's voice was laced with hatred as she disclosed the origins of the Astral Domain before them.

Rong Xun and the others wore somber expressions and remained silent.

They wanted to express that wars between different races were invariably brutal, often ending with the utter defeat and subjugation of one race.

"The Brugeth Domain..."

Qiyan, the fiend possessing the Starbeast, appeared restless and ready, as if he was preparing to make his mark in the Brugeth Domain.

"Haha, let's see if you can make it out alive," Jin Haolong sneered.

Yu Yuan massaged his temples, his thoughts not on the Brugeth Domain but on the Origin Realm and Pei Yuling. He repeatedly whispered "Origin Realm" to himself, hoping to trigger a memory sparkle from his first life.

Regrettably, his efforts were in vain.

His former self seemed to have no knowledge of the Origin Realm's secrets or origins, as there were no relevant memories.

Time passed, and as Yu Yuan meditated, the subtle vibrations of the warship abruptly roused him. He looked around at the surrounding starry expanse with astonishment and decisively disembarked from the vessel.

Whoosh!

He materialized in an unfamiliar and intriguing Star River.

Before him lay countless meteorite fragments, varying in size and scattered as far as the eye could see.

Many meteorites bore the clear marks of being sliced by blades. There were remnants of crumbled mountains and fallen palaces, bones that had been lifeless for untold years, wreckage of various warships, and shattered weapons.

It was desolate, a lonely scene reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, unfurling before his eyes. Standing in an Astral Domain devoid of sun, moon, and stars, where silence and desolation permeated every corner and signs of battle littered the ground, Yu Yuan could feel his blood coursing through his veins at an accelerated pace. He was constantly on edge, sensing that danger could be lurking in any unseen shadow, whether from the powerful cultivators of the Everlands, the vicious evilkind, or the alien beasts that fed on the flesh of various races.

"This is Brugeth," Elena said as she emerged, gazing numbly at the endless expanse of shattered meteorites. "Before it became an extraterrestrial battlefield, it was a paradise under the control of the Shadowkin. Many from the Silverscale Tribe, Fire Lizard Tribe, and Stoneborn Tribe lived in this little world. The people you've seen in the Zekrica mostly migrated from here. This Astral Domain was once teeming with life, just like Kuvrepros, with days and nights, and creatures living harmoniously."

"One day, a wise cultivator like Pei Yuling secretly constructed a Starway."

"After the successful clandestine repair of the Starway, Solar Spirits and archdemons from the Everlands began to arrive in droves, first slaughtering the Shadowkin's former champions. Overwhelmed, the Shadowkin fell. Warriors from the nearby Starborn of Kuvrepros and the Silverscale Tribe of Silver Sands, along with other formidable fighters, joined in the fray to battle the humans and archdemons."

"Gradually, the landscape was torn asunder, the Sun Moon Star City was obliterated, and Brugeth was transformed into what it is today."

"In a way, this is better. Brugeth has become an infamous extraterrestrial battlefield, drawing in more of the Everlands' most ruthless, who continue to pour in relentlessly."

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