C2371 Farewell the Void
Zhong Chichen's confidence took a severe blow.
After a prolonged search, just as he was on the verge of finding answers through Paxton's soul shadow, an unseen force cruelly snuffed out his hope.
In an instant, all his efforts came to naught.
Seated upon the Time Book, he harnessed its power to heal his bodily wounds, gazing emptily at the swiftly passing images.
"You're okay, that's what matters."
Yu Yuan offered gentle reassurance.
Then, he and everyone else turned their attention to the scenes speeding by outside the stars.
This enigmatic star, like a swiftly moving orb of light, whirled through the vast expanse of the Creation Star River.
Its velocity meant that only blurred images were visible to the onlookers.
They watched as numerous civilizations crumbled, and in the remnants of shattered starry realms, they glimpsed the grandeur of ancient architecture, once the seat of thriving cultures.
The peculiar designs of many cities had only ever appeared in their dreams, never before witnessed in the real world.
The remains of countless intelligent beings lay chaotically strewn across the Creation Star River—some as large as celestial beasts, others as tiny as insects, a menagerie of the bizarre and the fantastical.
Yu Yuan, Heesters, Zhong Chichen, Taishi, and others had never encountered such exotic species in the thirty-six foreign worlds, the abyss, the Desolate Realm, or the Origin Realm.
This also indirectly validated the God of Destiny Stephanie's statement.
The Origin Spirit had enacted its cataclysmic wrath more than once.
Before this current age, earlier epochs of civilization had been obliterated within the Creation Star River, destroyed by the Origin Spirit.
The Creation Star River, deep within the Origin Domain, was both the cradle and the grave of all life and Origin Spirits.
Life and Origin Spirits emerged from here and also met their end here.
It seemed to be the immutable cycle of existence, the ultimate fate of all things.
The star beneath Paxton continued to consume the spatial energies of the Creation Star River. Paxton, seated and bowed, still murmured unintelligible words to himself.
Everyone could sense that the star was now howling along the outer edge of the Creation Star River, yet it had not ventured deep within.
Still, they beheld the actual celestial bodies—the sun, the moon, and the stars—as well as the shattered remnants of these heavenly objects.
Scattered among the fragments were remnants of civilizations that had vanished billions of years ago, along with continuous mountain ranges, canyons, rivers, and forests.
The remains of numerous creatures lay there, some intact, others shattered amidst the heavens and earth.
Scenes of destroyed civilizations, shattered stars, and celestial bodies, discarded like trash, accumulated in a certain area on the outer rim of the Creation Star River, now ignored and forgotten.
The images of civilizations collapsing, worlds plunging into the abyss, and the withering of all life and beings repeatedly shocked everyone's souls.
They witnessed hundreds of such desolate scenes as they soared through the skies.
Led by this star, they circled the Creation Star River, gaining an understanding of the cataclysmic events that once occurred in this enigmatic expanse.
"Is the new era doomed as well?"
Heesters, the Time God, was engulfed in confusion and panic. He longed to see Stephanie, the God of Destiny, and yearned for guidance from the figure he revered.
Regrettably, Stephanie was nowhere to be found.
The star had wandered the Creation Star River for an extensive period, yet Stephanie's presence remained elusive.
Stephanie, the God of Destiny, had not sought them out, nor had she provided any revelations or guidance.
During this journey, the Oddity Stars escorting them had diminished to half their original size!
Paxton sat dejectedly, his form now mirroring the star beneath him, having also reduced to half its size, rendering him dwarf-like.
He continued to mutter to himself, speaking in tongues that were incomprehensible to the others.
His body was riddled with openings, his skull fractured, and his mind utterly empty.
According to Zhong Chichen, Paxton had separated his soul from his body. Where one would expect to find the essence of his spirit in his mind, it had dissipated across the spatial folds on the star's surface.
Time passed once again.
Then, one day, from the consistent space folds of the star, they sensed Paxton's undying fixation.
It was a relentless desire to express and release his innermost feelings.
This fixation persisted despite his loss of most memories, the separation of his soul from his body, and even after merging his physical form with the star below.
It seemed as though this obsession would endure for another thousand, ten thousand, or even a hundred million years.
He was determined to reveal the truth!
The star sped on, with Paxton and the star shrinking in unison, diminishing to a fraction of their size!
To the onlookers, Paxton, seated and still, had become a tiny figure, so small that it seemed he could be crushed by a mere step.
The colossal star, with the power to traverse the Creation Star River, carried everyone in a swift orbit through its expanse.
The velocity was so great that the details were a blur, leaving everyone with only a vague impression.
Heesters occasionally spoke up, claiming to have spotted the remains of a deity from one of the thirty-six worlds of the Desolate Realm, resting in a nook of the Creation Star River.
These remains, like Paxton's, belonged to the old gods of foreign lands.
According to ancient tales, these gods may have perished for myriad reasons, yet their remains were never found.
Unexpectedly, their final resting place was in the Creation Star River of the Origin Domain.
Heesters, aware that he lacked the means to lead the group to the truth, watched his friend wither and dwindle day by day, and saw the star underfoot shrink as well, leaving him with a heavy heart.
Uncertain of what to do next, he also had no idea what awaited them on their journey.
After what seemed an eternity, the howling stars finally came to a halt.
"We are no longer in the outer reaches of the Creation Star River, but... within its core."
Zhong Chichen, adept in spatial powers, fixed his gaze on a particular spot as the stars ceased their motion. "Something's not right, I'll check it out!" he declared, and swiftly departed from the Time Book, heading towards the anomaly he sensed.
"Nothingness!"
"It's utterly bizarre! Inside the Creation Star River lies a realm of complete emptiness!"
Zhong Chichen's voice echoed with astonishment from a distance.
"Emptiness?"
The group was stirred, naturally turning their attention to the direction from which Zhong Chichen's exclamation came.
Yu Yuan, taken aback, then shot forth like a divine spark, following Zhong Chichen's path.
Soon after, he too was confronted with an eerie sight.
Far off, at what should be the central belly of the Creation Star River, was an endless void of Emptiness Land!
Devoid of suns, moons, stars, life, and even the air itself, this absolute realm of nothingness burst into his view, leaving him momentarily paralyzed with awe.
His gaze could not pierce the endless expanse of the Emptiness Land. All around him was a vast, empty void, as if he were adrift in the Deep Starfield.
For a moment, he was taken aback, then his Yang God form moved beyond Zhong Chichen, delving deep into the Emptiness Land.
In that instant, he trembled with a start!
Far in the depths of the void, he sensed his true form, along with his massive, multicolored body!
Their spiritual consciousnesses began to communicate in an instant.
At this moment, every incarnation of Yu Yuan within the void was struck with awe.
In the furthest reaches of the Origin Domain, at the heart of what was known as the Creation Star River, lay an immense void, bordering the very edge of the Desolate Realm.
Boom!
A burst of memory ignited, and Yu Yuan's true form was flooded with recollections of a scene.
A peculiar, gray, tube-shaped galaxy sat amidst the boundless void.
The ends of this tubular galaxy connected to the void, while the rest was encased in a murky realm wall, silently adrift in the emptiness.
Within this tubular galaxy, there were suns, moons, and stars, along with numerous Starfields, scenes he recognized.
This odd, tubular galaxy had the abyss and the Desolate Realm at its ends, with the Origin Realm at its center.
In his memory, the galaxy had the Desolate Realm and the Origin Realm separated by a strange realm wall, with the Origin Realm and the abyss similarly divided.
The three worlds within this tubular galaxy were distinctly partitioned, each separated by a natural realm wall.
"Abyss, Desolate Realm, Origin Realm!"
The various consciousnesses of Yu Yuan were in dialogue.
The experiences of his Yang God in the Creation Star River, his true form in the Origin Realm, and the colossal five-colored body left in the Desolate Realm, all began to converge.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Zhong Chichen, the Time God Heesters, Taishi, Youyu, Qi Yunhong, and the rest successively departed the Oddity Stars and assembled behind him.
The Time Book soared across and unfurled in the void, providing a platform for everyone to stand upon.
"What's the matter?"
"Yu Yuan, have you made some significant discovery?"
"Our senses stretch out into this endless void, yet we detect nothing."
"How peculiar! Why is the interior of the Creation Star River just a void? And yet, the outer ring harbors an energy so vast it's beyond imagination?"
Some were questioning Yu Yuan, while others whispered to themselves, voicing their inner turmoil and bewilderment.
"In the Origin Domain, at the very heart of the Creation Star River, lies the world from which we hail."
Yu Yuan turned to face Heesters, Zhong Chichen, Taishi, Youyu, and Qi Yunhong, who appeared staggered by the revelation. "The Origin Domain we've been journeying towards, the Creation Star River we've sought for truth within, harbors a so-called World within a World deep inside."
Zhong Chichen's mouth moved, but no words came out.
Yu Yuan's words had shattered the boundaries of his imagination, completely redefining his understanding of the known world.
The enigma of the Origin Domain's depths was the Creation Star River, and beyond it lay a colossal ring.
This immense ring cradled countless lost worlds and civilizations, including the beings from great epochs erased by the Origin Spirit.
Within this vast ring, boundless known and unknown energies swirled, and the mysteries of the laws were manifest.
Yet, within the ring's embrace lay an infinite expanse of nothingness.
The Emptiness Land, Origin Realm, and Abyss were all integral parts of this boundless void!
Their so-called venture into an alien dimension was merely through a portal left by Paxton. They traversed from the Desolate Realm within the void, through the outer ring of the Creation Star River, across the river itself, and beyond the Origin Domain to distant worlds.
In truth, they had always been within the deepest reaches of the Origin Domain.
