C1248 Descender
On the fringe of the Brugeth Astral Domain, adjacent to the Silver Sands region, an inconspicuous meteorite unfurled like a clamshell.
A faint spatial ripple emanated, cascading outward as a resplendent ring of light burst forth from the shell's opening, resembling an open portal.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
One by one, individuals emerged, each garbed in vivid attire, their skin glistening like polished Hex Stones.
They were all embodiments of the Solar Spirit.
Faang Yao, with his gleaming bald head, was leading Yuan Lianyao, the Ruby Hand sect's rising star, through the midst of the group.
Yuan Lianyao stood out in the crowd with her extraordinary beauty. Her refined Solar Spirit Body shone like the fiercest Fire Crystal, making those who approached her feel a discomfiting heat.
This discomfort was a telltale sign of a novice in the Solar Spirit Realm, still struggling to finesse their newfound power.
Faang Yao observed the barely noticeable crack on her neck and inwardly sighed.
In the Land of Quiescence, sects with "Devil" in their names, like the Ruby Hand, were classified as dark adepts, focusing on rapid breakthroughs and gradual eradication of inner demons.
But Yuan Lianyao's rate of advancement had been alarmingly swift, even by Faang Yao's standards.
This hastiness had led to complications during the final stages of her Solar Spirit Body refinement, leaving her neck marred by a crack that resembled a flawlessly repaired piece of exquisite porcelain.
The Solar Spirit Body bore imperfections as a result.
"The Brugeth Starfield still harbors unclaimed remnants of its shattered sun. I will guide you to them. The essence within these solar fragments may help you mend your imperfect physique," Faang Yao assured her.
As he spoke, he accepted two emblems from the Ebon Star cultivator overseeing the area.
He handed one emblem to Yuan Lianyao, explaining, "This is one of the most notorious battlefields beyond our world. To prevent mishaps, the Starway here is not stationary but in a state of constant flux. Only with these emblems can we discern the Starway's ever-shifting location within Brugeth."
"Lin Yan, has anything significant occurred here lately?" inquired a member of the Skyblight Cult.
Lin Yan, tasked with the Starway's guardianship and a late-period cultivator of the Ebon Star, bore a square face and thick brows. He glanced at the newcomers from the Land of Quiescence and responded with nonchalance, "Nothing of consequence. My fellow sect member Cao Jiaze, along with Xu Jingyao from the Sunlit Order, Zhu Huan, Fu Xuanwen, and others have ventured to the neighboring Kuvrepros."
"I've heard that Leo and Beru are around. They're planning to seize the moment when everyone's attention is focused on the Dark Star to assassinate Leo in Kuvrepros," Lin Yan said with a detached tone. "Shouldn't you be heading into the Dark Star?"
"The Devil Palace, Shadow's Keep, and the Sword Sect's powerhouses are the main forces there. We've only recently cultivated our Solar Spirits and would rather not get entangled in their conflicts," Faang Yao chuckled.
He had brought Yuan Lianyao here because he could see her eagerness to make a breakthrough and venture into the extraterrestrial Star River. Moreover, the Dark Star was where Yu Yuan had vanished. Faang Yao didn't want Yuan Lianyao to encounter Yu Yuan so soon, which was why he had specifically come to this place. He also harbored the hope of finding a fragment of the sun to aid Yuan Lianyao in refining her Solar Spirit once more.
"May your journey through Brugeth be safe and uneventful," Lin Yan from Ebon Star said, showing little warmth to the visitors from his homeland.
The group, unfazed by his lack of enthusiasm, asked a few more questions about what to watch out for and then departed in their respective teams.
...
Yu Yuan's eyes snapped open. The meteorite beneath him was scorching, heated by the operation of the Nine Glories Wheel.
Concerned, he couldn't resist glancing over at Chen Qinghuang. The Empress remained in a tranquil slumber, unaffected by the intense heat emanating from the fiery rock.
Yu Yuan nodded to himself, his consciousness drifting into the little world of the Golden Sanctum. There, he observed flecks of flame and spiritual energy mingling and cascading into the sea of spiritual energy like a fiery downpour. The dark red sea of spiritual energy was serene, absorbing the "rain of fire" without a ripple.
With a single focused thought, the sea of spiritual energy began to churn, sending bolts of spiritual energy lightning through his acupoints and veins.
Boom!
A mighty and peerless aura naturally radiated from him, blending seamlessly with the heated meteorite beneath.
"The meteorite, a remnant of a shattered sun, holds flame energy that can be harnessed by spells. What I've refined is only a fraction; there's still plenty left for me to use for a long time."
Yu Yuan stroked his chin, pondering the thought that if only the meteor could move like a warship, whisking him away through the stars. It would enable him to continuously extract spiritual energy for his cultivation.
Having become acquainted with the Brugeth Astral Domain, he noted its stark contrast to the Kuvrepros, Annihilation Nebula, and other regions. Perhaps due to the cataclysmic destruction of the Domain, the once pervasive psionic power of the Star River was nearly absent in many zones of the extraterritorial battlefield.
As a practitioner of the Evil Body Refining technique, he was adept at harnessing power from the chaotic, toxic psionic energy. Yet, within the Brugeth, it wasn't as simple as finding any spot to utilize the Terror Claws' spells for rejuvenation. Most areas were devoid of any spiritual energy or strange power, resembling a vacuum of emptiness.
However, in certain locales, the energies surged with such chaotic ferocity that even he, with a pounding heart, dared not attempt to capture it through the Evil Body Refining technique.
Stumbling upon this valuable meteor, one that the Nine Glories Wheel could draw flame energy from and convert into spiritual energy, was indeed a stroke of luck. He found himself somewhat unwilling to part with it.
Time passed indeterminately.
Suddenly, five dark red, eerie figures leaped from meteor to meteor, soaring high before plummeting down, drawing ever closer.
"Sunshard!" exclaimed a diminutive Fire Lizard warrior, his back clad in armor resembling a tortoise shell, as he approached with haste.
"A cultivator of the human race!" he cried out upon drawing nearer. Upon spotting Yu Yuan next to a boulder, the seventh-level Fire Lizard clansman let out a wail as if he had encountered a ghoul.
His scream sent shivers through the other Fire Lizard clansmen trailing him.
The Brugeth's unique environment, largely devoid of the life-corroding psionic power, had emboldened these Fire Lizard clansmen, originally from the Brugeth, to stealthily return and scour the area. They sought the wreckage of battleships and shattered artifacts left behind by various extraterrestrial races after fierce conflicts.
They profited from scavenging these relics.
Yu Yuan, encountering them in such a perilous region of the Brugeth, might as well have been the grim reaper himself.
Yu Yuan gave them a languid glance. Upon noticing that the Fire Lizard squad was lugging a massive snakeskin bag and adorned with numerous trinkets of little value, he furrowed his brow, uninterested in even acknowledging them, and waved dismissively for the Fire Lizard clansmen to depart.
Elena had informed him that the extraterritorial battlefield was once under the dominion of the Shadowkin, yet it was also home to many from the Fire Lizard, Silverscale Tribe, and Moonlit Wanderers. The Fire Lizards before him were, in fact, the original denizens of this land, which had transformed into the battlefield it is now, following the successful establishment of a Starway in the Brugeth.
His perspective had evolved after enduring numerous trials, and he no longer harbored an innate animosity or repulsion toward the extraterrestrial beings.
The quintet of Fire Lizard clansmen, ecstatic to be shooed away by his gesture, promptly spun on their heels and scampered off. Yet, mid-flight, they halted, huddling close to whisper in hushed tones in their native tongue.
Then, the five Fire Lizards set down their packs and drew forth gleaming blades from the snakeskin bags.
With a glint of savagery in their eyes, they cautiously turned back toward him.
Initially dumbfounded, Yu Yuan soon grasped the situation and chuckled, shaking his head, "It appears that on the extraterritorial battlefield, kindness and amiability are mistaken for vulnerability and meekness."
The combat prowess and bloodline level of the five Fire Lizard warriors were clearly insufficient; they must have thought him gravely wounded. Or perhaps they believed him to be an impostor, masquerading as a Human Race's Solar Spirit.
