novelraw Chapter 428 - 348: Celestial Essence’s Location, Enemy of the Moon Palace
Chapter 428 - 348: Celestial Essence’s Location, Enemy of the Moon Palace
Heaven and Earth, mysterious and yellow, shifting stars and moving constellations.
Zhang Kui didn’t know how vast the territory of the Infinite Immortal Dynasty was, or how large each Star Realm could be, but the size of this star map was bound to far exceed it.
Because the Formless Celestial Star Realm he had seen before was just a small region, and even with all twelve Celestial Capital Immortal Monarchs combined, it couldn’t possibly fill this star map.
Could it be...
Zhang Kui’s expression became serious as he looked at the phantom of the Thousand-Handed Taoist, "Display the territory of the Infinite Immortal Dynasty."
Buzz!
A large expanse of stars on the star map began to shine brightly, dazzling and radiant. Indeed, it occupied only a small portion of the map.
From what was displayed, the Infinite Immortal Dynasty was situated in the center of the star map, with the Celestial Essence Star within its territory, and the rest, needless to say, belonged to other forces.
"Display the Eternal Immortal Dynasty."
Buzz!
The star map lit up again, but all the stars disappeared, revealing three massive nebula-like masses, irregular in shape, with only certain areas gleaming.
Zhang Kui frowned slightly, lost in thought.
This world was not a singular structure, similar to the Mortal World and the Underworld.
The three nebulae glowed red, white, and black respectively. The white one, needless to say, was the Dream World.
He had thought the Eternal Immortal Dynasty only occupied part of the Dream World, but unexpectedly, it contained three forces. Though he didn’t know what the other two were, they surely relied on the Mortal World and the Underworld as anchors, just like the Dream World.
It seems that the Eternal Immortal Dynasty uses these subspaces as its main power range, but why wage war against the Infinite Immortal Dynasty?
Zhang Kui was filled with questions, then returned to observe the original star map, feeling an inexplicable sense of unease.
The surrounding Star Realms not occupied by the Ancient Immortal Dynasty must have forces strong enough to resist it, such as those Starry Sky Evil Gods.
The Infinite Immortal Dynasty had already fallen, situated in the central area of the star map, like a dead prey surrounded by beasts, destined to be a battleground for future struggles.
The Celestial Essence Star, situated at the very center, was located in the inland of the Ancient Immortal Dynasty, making it unlikely to escape when the time came.
Moreover, judging by the interference of Starry Sky Evil Gods on the Celestial Essence Star, it might already be in chaos now.
He must hurry!
With this thought, Zhang Kui’s eyes were filled with determination.
He looked around; the little world of the Ancient Bronze Mirror was on the brink of destruction due to his actions, but it didn’t matter as long as he kept the star map.
Boom!
Soon after, amid a cacophony of loud rumbles, the mountain-like Ancient Bronze Mirror began to collapse and crumble from the middle.
Zhang Kui leaped out, wielding the Flame-Breathing Skill and blowing hard, causing the silver Yin Yang True Fire to instantly flood the entire world.
Two days later, the bronze mirror mothership of the Eternal Immortal Dynasty, which had been stranded on the Celestial Essence Star, was thoroughly refined by him, transforming into countless blue stone-like Divine Materials, so numerous it was staggering.
However, Zhang Kui still felt it was not enough.
He had previously only considered reinforcing the Divine Land Array to create a sanctuary where everyone could survive, but what he saw on the star map made him acutely aware of the danger.
The Star Array was too ordinary; he must forge the best.
He planned to continuously expand the Earth Evil Silver Lotus, allowing it to form a space of its own, enveloping the entire world to create a true Immortal Realm!
With this thought, Zhang Kui turned to look at the Immortal Ship and resumed his determined dismantling...
...
The moon’s orbit, dark and serene.
In the distance, the Celestial Essence Star moved slowly, revealing a vast, dazzling sun behind it.
The wreckage of the starships sprawled densely, like graves floating in the starry sky, silent and eerie, only the Divine Dynasty Starship of the Kaiyuan Divine Dynasty, burning with silver flames, drifted quietly.
"Is that your ship?"
Hearing what City Lord Jin said, everyone was immediately filled with curiosity.
"Indeed..."
A flash of helplessness flickered in the eyes of the Cyan Flood Dragon as it slightly shook its head, "Apart from the people of Huo Continent on board, there are also spies from the Celestial Craft Pavilion hidden across the continents."
"Among them, the highest in cultivation are several accompanying Mahayana. I repeatedly instructed them to only scout and not leave the starship, yet it seems foolish things were still done."
Yuan Huang looked ahead, narrowing his eyes, "Even if they were foolish, they would know they couldn’t survive in the Star Sea, so it seems there was a problem with that starship..."
"Leave the starship here, let’s go!"
Their task was not only to investigate but also to eliminate various potential hazards as much as possible, facilitating future large-scale development by the starship fleet, so they left without hesitation, heading toward the starship.
Without the Underworld’s obstruction of Divine Sense, as soon as they flew a short distance, a sweep of their Divine Sense revealed the interior of the ship.
The starship from Huo Continent had a large breach at its bottom, the cabin in disarray, dry, shattered remains floating everywhere.
Just one look was enough for them to understand what had happened; the ship had suffered significant damage from impacts during their time in the Underworld Immortal Sect’s Floating Island, allowing Bursting Spiritual Qi from the starry sky to rush in and inevitably causing a tragedy.
The starship had flown so long while damaged...
Could there have been any survivors?
However, the sight inside the ship left them profoundly shocked.
It was equally chaotic inside, obviously caused by a fierce battle, many areas twisted, shattered, and charred as if scorched by raging flames.
Black tumors grew densely in many places, though they were all broken and charred, clearly identical to what they had seen in the Underworld.
"The underworld anomalies have already invaded!"
Yuan Huang frowned, immediately realizing the severity of the situation.
The tragedy in the Peacock Buddha Country had not long passed, and Zhang Kui had specially spoken about the horror of the anomaly invasion during his teachings at Kunlun Mountain.
It was a catastrophe akin to a plague.
"It’s the starship core explosion."
The Great Venerate Toad suddenly said, "The Sect Leader once used a discarded starship core from Profound Yin Mountain to make a super bomb. I tried to replicate it but never succeeded. The explosion in the central part of this ship is exactly the starship core; someone must have done it on purpose."
City Lord Jin looked puzzled, "Could someone still be alive, but no one is on the ship? Where did they go?"
At that moment, the Cyan Flood Dragon furrowed its brows slightly and suddenly moved to the side of the large starship.
There was a huge breach at that side, and it stared intently at the edge of the breach, speaking in a deep voice, "Fellow Daoists, please have a look."
The others approached simultaneously and discovered that there were several gigantic footprints next to the breach, even the Star Armor had been shattered.
"They were rescued!"
The group, quick-witted, immediately saw the clue.
The Star Armor is hard; people from the Huo Continent Starship obviously lack this capability.
Everyone uniformly turned to look at the massive Moon behind them, and with close observation, the scene was vastly different.
From the Celestial Essence Star, the Bright Moon appeared as a bright jade disk, but now it looked desolate, with giant craters towering and all sight met with silence.
Only above the Moon Sea, magnificent palaces stretched continuously, many of them in ruins, with even massive claw marks and sword scars thousands of meters long visible. However, in some places, the palaces were still intact, shrouded in a hazy Immortal Light.
The Great Venerate Toad grinned, "Could it be that remnants of the Ancient Immortal Dynasty still exist on this Moon Palace?"
The Cyan Flood Dragon narrowed its eyes slightly, "It’s very possible. Do you all remember that Immortal Palace celestial sound?"
Everyone nodded, their expressions growing serious.
Above the Moon Palace, the sound of the Great Path occasionally came through, awakening Spiritual Wisdom in some beings in a trance, allowing them to embark on the path of cultivation. This is why the legend of the Moon Palace Immortal Hall continuously spreads on the Celestial Essence Star.
The Moon Palace is tens of thousands of miles away from the Celestial Essence Star. It wasn’t until they became Immortal that they realized the difficulty of this matter exceeded imagination.
What exactly is hidden up there?
At that moment, at the very center of the Moon Palace ruins, a point of weak light suddenly flickered, and invisible ripples began to spread around, even rapidly expanding into the surrounding space before gradually fading.
The faces of the few individuals became dramatically different.
A crisp bell suddenly sounded in their minds, followed by some basic knowledge of cultivation.
This was not surprising, as some had heard it before, though never so closely, and finally, a cold, emotionless voice resonated:
"Forbidden area of the Infinite Immortal Dynasty, outer Immortals entering shall die!"
This voice was majestic and ancient, like the resounding of the heaven and earth’s Great Path, even causing their Divine Souls to tremble on this orbit.
"Immortal Artifact!"
Yuan Huang and the others exchanged looks.
This Star Realm, with its aberrant Longevity Cave Heaven, except for special existences like the Longevity Immortal Queen, all Immortals had perished.
The voice was cold, clearly from an Artifact Spirit, and its power confirmed it to be an Immortal Artifact without doubt.
Unlike the Celestial Capital Banner, which expanded as an Immortal King Cave Heaven’s power, Immortal Artifacts were extremely rare, they had only seen half an Immortal Artifact in the Dragon Pearl and Zhang Kui’s "Breaking Sun."
The Great Venerate Toad cracked a big grin, "Fellow Daoists, an opportunity has come. Now that we’ve become Immortal, we have no treasures to wield; how about we each try to subdue it with our methods?"
"Don’t take it lightly!"
Yuan Huang snorted, "Immortal Artifacts aren’t ordinary. Besides, this artifact seems troublesome, didn’t you hear it say ’outer Immortal’?"
"This Immortal Artifact belongs to the Infinite Immortal Dynasty. We, following the Sect Leader to achieve a new Immortal Path, will not be tolerated by it, likely causing a confrontation upon meeting."
As he spoke, a small black spot soared from within the still-standing palace, radiating golden light and enveloped in eerie black Qi. In an instant, it appeared before them.
This was a starship hundreds of meters long, with an ancient form, surrounded by magnificent golden light. Besides the Star Armor, the ship’s body had some shell-like conglomerations.
On the deck, Yellow Turban Puppets, which Zhang Kui had seen before, were lined up neatly, their eyes emitting cold ghostly light. A huge banner hung above the boat pavilion, its light dazzling, with the word "Longevity" clearly written.
"Indeed, remnants of the Immortal Dynasty!"
Yuan Huang’s eyes flashed with blood light, his Small World Domain turned blood-red instantly, and others prepared to take action.
The Infinite Immortal Dynasty was an enemy, not a friend.
What puzzled them, however, was that if the remnants of the Immortal Dynasty existed on the Moon Palace, why had they never troubled the Celestial Essence Star?
The other side seemed indifferent to their Immortal identity, and before Yuan Huang could question them, the Yellow Turban Puppets raised their massive crossbows one by one.
Buzz!
The entire space seemed to tremble as countless golden arrows rained upon them.
The Great Venerate Toad snorted coldly, his round belly suddenly bulging, and with the explosion of Domain Power, a large space in front of them vibrated, and all the arrows disintegrated into powder, unable to approach.
The others didn’t act, their eyes full of killing intent staring at the starship.
Though they hadn’t mastered Immortal Skills after becoming Immortals, they had their own Domain Powers. The Yellow Turban Puppets, straddling the border between Immortal and mortal, could not harm them; the opponents must have a next move.
Indeed, seeing the ineffectiveness of crossbow arrows, the enemies immediately halted their attack, as a strange Qi Mechanism burst suddenly from the boat pavilion.
Yuan Huang and his companions’ brows furrowed intensely.
There were Immortals after all!
No, this Qi Mechanism carried an eerie underworld power yet wasn’t insane, could they all be Immortal-level anomalies?
But why were they under the flag of the Ancient Immortal Dynasty?
While they pondered in confusion, white mist rose abruptly, and everything around seemed to slow and solidify.
"It’s the Celestial Capital Banner, retreat!"
Yuan Huang roared in fear, but despite them raising their domains to resist, they were trapped in the suddenly appearing ash-white fog.
In the starry sky above, a colossal Celestial Capital Banner of several hundred meters slowly emerged from the void, its imposing force and extensive domain almost covering the entire Moon.
If Zhang Kui were here, he would recognize it as the one that escaped during the Reincarnation War.
And below the great flag, a graceful silhouette stood floating, with eyes as black as night...