C966 Starhaven
Through the clear barrier, Cao Yi, the Ebon Star Sect's prodigy who had slain Ann Jieshan, offered a smile to Ann Wen.
Ann Wen's gaze was icy as he gave a slow nod.
Even he, known as the Evil God, felt a twinge of fear at this moment.
Cao Yi had vanished from the Land of Quiescence without heeding any commands. When he reappeared in Aetherius, Ann Wen used a drop of lifeblood to infer that Cao Yi harbored the immense Divine Qi of the Mark of the Celestials within him. He immediately suspected something was amiss with Cao Yi.
He hurried to Aetherius to locate Cao Yi and determine the nature of the problem.
Upon reaching the outskirts of the forbidden area, his vision pierced the barrier, revealing Cao Yi with a new visage, seated within a palace crafted from a Mark of the Celestials. With Ann Wen's wisdom and experience, how could he be unaware of what had transpired?
Had Cao Yi not heeded the Ebon Star Sect's call and exposed himself by stepping into the forbidden area, he might still be covertly among the Colddeath, lurking close by...
This realization sent a chill down Ann Wen's spine.
"Follow me into battle!"
Within the forbidden area, Quero, the chieftain of the Silverscale Tribe, bellowed in the Otherkin tongue. He charged ahead, leading the assault on Cao Jiaze's position.
Hundreds of gleaming silver scales transformed into indestructible circular blades of light as they burst forth from his body.
Following him, dozens of Blood Warriors from the Silverscale and Nightscale Tribes answered his call with fierce cries, alighting upon the scales.
Like warriors on chariots, they roared as they closed in on Cao Jiaze.
Nine palaces, augmented by the Mark of the Celestials, stood at strategic points around the forbidden area. From his position in the rear palace, Cao Jiaze let out a scornful chuckle.
"Starhaven!"
Cao Jiaze's voice, dignified and commanding, echoed far and wide.
As Quero, of the ninth-level bloodline, entered the space encircled by the nine palaces, he was struck by the realization that the structures, which seemed rooted to the earth from afar, were actually suspended in the air like towering Holy Mountains.
The brilliance emanating from the nine palaces was so intense that it brought tears to his eyes.
Subsequently, in his consciousness, within his Mindscape, he envisioned nine ancient deities towering above the Nine Heavens, showering him with cascades of radiant light as thick as waterfalls.
These beams brimmed with boundless divine power, encapsulating the mysteries of life and death, the succession of seasons, the celestial dance of sun and moon, the shifting of heat and cold, and the enigmatic laws governing the rise and fall of empires.
Quero's bloodline was stifled, his soul adrift amidst the scales, passively enduring the onslaught.
Soon after, he was engulfed by the brilliance.
Yu Yuan, positioned atop the Crucible of Evil and upon the Soulforge Pool, was stricken with horror.
He was not alone in his dismay; Mia, Canli, and others from the Shadowkin and Dawnbringers also showed visible alarm.
Through their eyes, they witnessed Quero, the chieftain of the Silverscale Tribe, leading his tribe's finest warriors in a headlong rush towards the array region where the nine palaces stood.
As they penetrated deeper, Cao Jiaze let out a scornful laugh, unleashing the array's power.
Then, divine light burst forth from the palaces, a dazzling deluge that shattered Quero's gleaming silver scales into fragments.
The Silverscale and Nightscale warriors, lesser in strength than Quero, were instantly reduced to clouds of blood mist.
The towering Quero, subjected to the assault of numerous resplendent beams, was first mangled, then his body burst asunder, and finally, his soul was extinguished.
Within the palaces, Cao Jiaze, Cao Yi, middle period Guang Hong, early period Lin Yue, Ren Yun, and their peers struck simultaneously as the Silverscale and Nightscale members advanced.
The five powerhouses from Ebon Star surged in battle prowess within those halls.
Their every spell and artifact, in harmony with the palaces' divine force, wreaked havoc upon Quero and his kin, their destructive impact likened to an apocalypse.
Without the anticipated fierce battle, the Silverscale and Nightscale warriors, under Quero's lead, perished in an instant.
Clouds of blood and a rain of gore scattered across the Silvery Land amidst the palaces.
Witnessing this carnage, Canli, Mia, Xi Quan, and the other human cultivators involuntarily winced.
A soft exclamation soon followed: "Starhaven!"
Rumor has it that the Ebon Star originated from nine palaces floating in the void, arranged to form the seventh-level formation known as Starhaven!
The nine Marks of the Celestials are the lynchpin of Starhaven. To fully unleash the formation's might, all nine Marks must be present—no exceptions.
Now, the Starhaven that Cao Jiaze had arranged using the nine Marks of the Celestials was significantly less powerful than the true Starhaven of the Ebon Star.
Yet, even this diminished version of Starhaven, formed by the Marks of the Celestials, effortlessly slaughtered Quero and his kin without breaking a sweat.
"Starhaven!"
A trace of bitterness crept onto Yu Yuan's lips.
He was aware of the seventh-level array's fearsome nature, but he had underestimated it, considering there were only nine Marks of the Celestials involved.
Unexpectedly, even a scaled-down version of Starhaven, as arranged by Cao Jiaze, could unleash such formidable power!
"Three Unbound cultivators have had their strength augmented, along with two other Cao-named powerhouses on the cusp of the Unbound realm, not to mention numerous Solar Spirit cultivators of the Ebon Star. It's no injustice that Quero and his people perished within," Tian Zang explained from atop the Blood Altar. Even while trapping Huanmiao with the blue shadow of the Spawn of Chaos and battling Lingxu's Divine Visage, he found the time to clarify for everyone, "Do not enter Starhaven. Do not attempt to battle the forces of the entire Ebon Star on your own."
Beneath him, the Blood Altar transformed into a piercing blue prismatic crystal that impaled Lingxu's Divine Visage.
After being penetrated, Lingxu's Divine Visage abruptly shifted and reformed.
"Starhaven, a marvel of the Everlands, is a testament to the Ebon Star's collective heritage and intellect, forged into a seventh-level grand formation," Zhou You remarked with a hint of awe. "Heed Tian Zang's counsel; do not venture into that palace. It only covers one-seventh of the forbidden area. Stay out, and you'll be safe."
"The three Unbound cultivators of the Ebon Star won't come out, so we'll just ignore them for now!" Xi Quan declared.
"Let's eliminate someone else first!"
Numerous Otherkin experts concurred.
The death of Quero, a ninth-level Blood Warrior, and the subsequent transformation of the Nightscale and Silverscale warriors into a mist of blood within the formation had profoundly shocked them, instilling a deep fear of the Starhaven Great Array.
No Otherkin dared to foolishly charge into the formation as Quero had.
"The Starhaven of our sacred land is tied to the surrounding mountains and channels power from several other domains, rendering it immobile," Cao Jiaze explained earnestly, shifting his gaze from the bloodstains on the ground to the onlookers. "However, the Starhaven created by the nine Marks of the Celestials is capable of movement."
"If you refuse to enter, I'll just move the rune circle to envelop you."
Boom! Rumble!
The palaces that were meant to be anchored to the earth suddenly levitated, hovering less than ten feet off the ground.
Beneath the palaces and the Silvery Land, there was a murky expanse of tainted blood. The remains of Quero, the Nightscale and Silverscale Tribes were visible—their shattered scales, broken bones, and the residual souls that hadn't fully dissipated yet.
The fallen warriors of the Nightscale and Silverscale Tribes seemed to have become a sort of Spawn of Chaos, supporting the floating palaces.
This allowed the Starhaven to float and shift positions without any power of its own.
"Shift the stars."
Cao Jiaze intoned.
The nine aerial palaces suddenly burst into a peculiar glow, causing the Domain Channel in the deep pit to tremble fiercely.
In a flash, the positions of the nine palaces within the Moonfall Sanctuary had completely shifted.
Following the Nightscale and Silverscale Tribes, the Stoneborn were next to be enveloped by the Starhaven.
Beams of light surged forth, and the Stoneborn warriors, as resilient as those of the Silverscale Tribe, met their demise.
