Chapter 431 – The Gate of the Divine Kingdom, Journey on the Styx

In the boundless Starry Sky, Yuwen Tong was engulfed in a blazing light sphere, moving towards the depths of the Starry Sky.

An unimaginably vast and indescribable mental power firmly encapsulated Yuwen Tong, allowing her some freedom of movement within a certain space, but escaping from the light sphere was entirely wishful thinking.

At this moment, Yuwen Tong was like a goldfish trapped in a transparent glass tank, being transported to an unknown distance.

However, her expression remained quite calm.

Through the light sphere, Yuwen Tong gazed at the seemingly eternal and unchanging desolate Starry Sky outside.

She closed her eyes.

In the perception of her consciousness, she sensed the unique Mark planted on Lu Yuan and the cuckoo bird rapidly moving away from her.

She herself was also swiftly leaving that original part of the Starry Sky.

In the blink of an eye, it was almost entirely beyond her perception.

Yuwen Tong remained silent, a faint light glimmering in her eyes, as if she was still contemplating the correctness of her decision.

At this moment, a grand and indifferent male voice sounded in her ear.

“Are the people in that spaceship very important to you? To be willing to use yourself as bait, allowing them to slip away right under the noses of Bai Wancheng and me…”

“However, you might have underestimated the abilities of powerhouses at the Grand Star Lord level. If it weren’t for me, even if you used yourself as bait to attract most of Bai Wancheng’s attention, those guys probably wouldn’t have escaped…”

“I’m not telling you this to make you feel grateful. I just want you to know… I’m different from that guy Bai Wancheng.

Bai Wancheng has been at the Grand Star Lord level for quite some time, yet he still uses a Fate Mech at the legendary level, which is frankly laughable.

He values you only because he wants to sell you at a good price to acquire the resources needed to consolidate his status in the Grand Star Lord Realm…”

“But I truly intend to help you unlock the potential in your bloodline, to prove your immortality…”

The voice echoed softly in Yuwen Tong’s ear, gentle and calm, guiding and persuasive.

It carried a subtle, demonic Strength, persistently burrowing into her mind, as if trying to take root and sprout.

Yuwen Tong listened quietly, her eyes downcast, making it difficult to discern her expression.

…

Desolate Starry Sky, Ancestral Land Secret Realm.

Compared to before, the massive light vortex representing the secret realm entrance had grown more than twice its size.

Not only that, its form had undergone intense distortion.

What was once a hazy, magnificent, and radiant light vortex had completely turned blood-red.

A large amount of black aura was gushing out, spreading across a vast area of the Starry Sky.

Countless black arms reached out from the light vortex, pressed together and extending in all directions like twisted, growing vines.

From a distance, this area looked like a sewage pond continuously emitting a strong stench, with those grotesque, twisted, deformed arms being the bizarre toxic plants sprouting from it.

“Whoosh-“

In the distant Starry Sky, a faint ripple spread through the void.

Two figures emerged from the ripple, one after the other.

These two figures were clad in large hooded robes, their forms completely hidden within, making their appearances indistinguishable.

The robes emitted a faint glow in the dim Starry Sky, with stars swirling and shifting upon them, constantly assembling and dispersing into various star diagram shapes.

The two robed figures stood silently in the void, watching the intensely transforming blood-red light vortex from afar.

“The entrance has been completely contaminated. If not dealt with promptly, it might affect several nearby star regions…”

A deep, magnetic male voice emerged from beneath the star robe.

The star-robed figure beside the man spoke in a voice that sounded like a rather young woman, though quite cold.

“The trouble caused by the Tulan Family should be resolved by them. I heard this disturbance in the ancestral land was triggered by an Immortal Bloodline?”

“Yes.”

The man beneath the star robe nodded, speaking with a tone of deep feeling, “Immortal… It’s been countless millennia since a bloodline king above immortality has appeared in our Moyun galaxy. To think we could witness one in our lifetime…”

“The Tulan Family has gained so much benefit from this; they should be the ones cleaning up the mess.”

The woman remarked coldly, “I have no interest in cleaning up after others.”

The man beneath the star robe did not comment further. The two stood watching the distorted, polluted light vortex for a moment longer before the man spoke.

“Let’s go to the Tulan Family and lay out the tasks. We might as well take a look at this legendary Immortal Bloodline.”

The woman frowned slightly and asked, “Not going to the Bai Family first?”

The man replied indifferently, “We’ll deal with that later. The Bai Family didn’t report the Immortal Bloodline promptly when they discovered it, waiting until it was taken to reach out to our Star Deity Association. There’s no need to focus too much on them.

The Bai Family’s foundation is weak. Bai Wancheng’s promotion to Grand Star Lord almost exhausted their resources.

Now that they’ve lost their only ancestral land entrance, unless Bai Wancheng has some tricks up his sleeve, they might rapidly decline in the coming times.

Let’s leave them aside for now, and reach out when they’re of use to us…”

The woman nodded.

They stopped talking, and their figures, cloaked in star robes, quickly faded into the Starry Sky, disappearing in an instant.

Not long after they left, the spot where they had stood was gradually overtaken by the giant arms sprouting from the blood-red light vortex and the emerging black aura…

Ancestral Star.

A desert adjacent to Kasha.

In the gray-yellow sands of the desert, a massive black inverted pyramid stood silently.

Beneath the pyramid, a large number of black robed men, holding torches, marched in circles around it.

As they walked, they chanted ancient and obscure songs or prayers, as if performing some ancient and solemn sacrificial ritual.

At the top of the inverted pyramid stood another black robed man, but the edges of his robe were adorned with intricate gold-thread patterns. He quietly overlooked the ritual below.

At a certain stage of the ceremony, the robed man suddenly tilted his head back, gazing intently at the sky above.

The white sky was reflected in his eerie eyes, one blue and the other red.

Quickly, his eyes filled with a light of devotion and fervor.

The robed man suddenly raised his arms, lifting his hands, hidden within wide sleeves, above his head.

In one hand, he held a white scepter that resembled bone.

In the other, he cradled a pitch-black crystal ball.

The robed man knelt to the ground, and the black robed men circling the inverted pyramid all halted, their chanting ceased.

They all looked up, silently observing the robed figure atop the pyramid.

The white bone scepter in his hand began to emit a faint light, while flames appeared one after another within the black crystal ball.

Underneath the black-golden hood, a face filled with excitement and fanaticism let out a joyous shout.

“The gate of the divine kingdom… has opened!”

“Our divine masters will take over this world, and what follows… will be our era!”

“Hu-saa!”

The voice carried far, gradually fading into the desolate silence of the desert…

Xia State.

Jiaoyan City.

Under the red and white sign of “Xinghua Food Store,” Zheng Qiuling sat on a plastic stool, staring into the sky, lost in thought.

Lu Jing, who was coming down from upstairs with a bag of chips, noticed Zheng Qiuling’s immobility and curiously approached, calling out, “Mom?”

“Mm… what?!”

Zheng Qiuling snapped back to reality and turned to look at Lu Jing.

Lu Jing glanced in the direction Zheng Qiuling had been staring, seeing only the gray sky, and asked in confusion, “Mom, what are you looking at?”

“Nothing.”

Zheng Qiuling shook her head and stood up from the stool, looking at her small shop, uncertain about what to do next.

Lu Jing, munching on a chip, looked at her mother and muttered, “You seem to have something on your mind…”

Zheng Qiuling denied it, then paused, gazing upward again as she murmured, “I just suddenly got worried about Xiao Yuan, feeling inexplicably empty…”

“Oh, come on.”

Lu Jing waved it off, “I thought it was something serious. What’s there to worry about with Lu Yuan? Besides, didn’t you just have a video call with him this morning?”

“That’s exactly why I’m worried, because it’s always just a video call.”

Zheng Qiuling sighed, “Video calls every day, but that’s all it ever is… It’s been so long since he actually came back. What kind of training takes this long…?”

“How would I know…”

Feeling a bit guilty, Lu Jing turned her face away.

Just then, a few crows landed gently at the entrance of the small shop, quietly watching Zheng Qiuling.

Seeing the crows, Zheng Qiuling hurried into the shop to fetch some bird food.

But by the time she came out with the food, the crows had disappeared without a trace.

In that moment, Zheng Qiuling felt an indescribable sense of loss, as if something incredibly important was slipping away from her, only to be seen again after a very long time.

Unfortunately, this feeling was something she couldn’t quite explain or articulate to anyone.

“Swish-“

The sound of something gently gliding across a calm water surface woke Lu Yuan from his sleep.

Lu Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

What met his gaze was the serene, water-like glow of moonlight.

Rising to a sitting position, he was surprised to find himself on a small wooden boat.

He sat at the stern, while at the bow was a breathtakingly graceful and familiar silhouette of a woman in a black dress, sitting quietly.

All around was the dark, tranquil water surface, the red spider lilies blooming on both banks, and the giant full moon shining like a silver disc.

“Oh, I’m still dreaming…”

Lu Yuan realized.

The familiar scene, the familiar silhouette, the familiar Crow Dreamscape.

Lu Yuan stretched lazily and then slowly stood up on the boat.

He didn’t rush to greet the woman in the black dress sitting at the bow with her back to him. Instead, he curiously examined the small boat beneath him.

This “new prop” hadn’t appeared in any previous Crow Dreamscapes.

It was a small boat, about three meters long and half a meter wide, tiny and narrow, made of some material he couldn’t identify. At first, Lu Yuan thought it was a wooden boat, but on closer inspection, it seemed it wasn’t made of wood.

It was entirely black, emitting a crisp “thunk thunk” when tapped, as if knocking on bone.

The black boat drifted on the dark river.

Without anyone controlling it, it moved forward leisurely with the river’s flow.

Lu Yuan leaned over the edge of the boat to look down.

He watched as the black hull carved out graceful ripples on the calm water, the black Styx water gently roiling, offering a soothing sight.

After watching for a while, he felt a great sense of peace wash over him.

After examining the small boat, Lu Yuan finally walked toward the woman in the black dress at the front.

The small boat moved steadily, yet he was unsteady and wobbly.

His Grandmaster-level martial skills seemed completely useless in this place, rendering him no different from an ordinary person.

After a struggle, Lu Yuan finally reached the woman in the black dress. He tilted his head, attempting to see her face.

The woman, suspected to be Lamashtu, the crow deity, propped her hands on the boat’s edge, her feet dangling outside, gently stirring the water.

The hem of her wet black dress clung to her calves, highlighting the delicate white of her feet.

Lu Yuan tried to catch a glimpse of her face, but although her upper body remained still, all he could see was her exquisite profile, no matter how hard he tried or from what angle.

After a while, Lu Yuan gave up and sat beside her.

Sitting next to her, he imitated her posture, dipping his feet into the Styx, swinging them gently as he gazed ahead.

The moon was behind Lu Yuan and the woman, and the small boat drifted toward a stretch of darkness.

Not knowing what the woman was looking at, Lu Yuan followed her gaze into the darkness for a long time. Finding it somewhat dull, he focused on playing with the water using his feet.

He mentioned to her that the dreamscape she demonstrated last time, where the Styx swept through the Starry Sky, was too profound for him to grasp, and he asked if there was a simpler and more understandable move she could teach him.

He also recounted his recent experiences in the Starry Sky, asking if she knew about a clan called the Spirit Devourer Clan, which could eat anything and grow stronger, seemingly defying the natural order.

Additionally, he inquired if she had heard any news on the daughter of the nightmare, as he couldn’t sleep peacefully until that trouble was resolved.

Lu Yuan continued talking, a one-sided conversation. It had been a long time since he shared these thoughts with anyone.

He had held so much inside, and it was only in dreams that he could freely let it all out.

While the woman remained silent, her feet playing in the water had stopped at some point, as if she was listening intently.

“Oh, by the way… where are we going?” he asked casually, not expecting a response from her.

To his surprise, the woman in the black dress raised her hand and pointed forward.

Lu Yuan followed the direction of her finger.

Suddenly, he noticed.

In what was once utter darkness, at some unknown point, a soft, dim, and mysterious light had appeared ahead.