"COO COO—"
Perhaps realizing Lu Yuan’s determination.
The Gugu Bird hesitated for a long ti.
Eventually... it reached out its claw and made a couple of strokes in the middle of the volcano pattern on the ground, drawing sothing round.
An egg?!
"A Phoenix Egg?!" Lu Yuan was taken aback. "Did the Phoenix leave behind an egg in the volcano after failing its rebirth?"
"COO COO..."
When questioned further, the Gugu Bird started speaking in riddles again, cooing ambiguously for a long ti without giving a clear explanation.
"If it really is a Phoenix Egg, that would indeed be remarkable..." Lu Yuan’s eyes glittered. After so thought, he took out the Extraordinary Level Phoenix Feather he had previously traded an acorn for with the Gugu Bird.
"COO COO—"
The Gugu Bird urged him to set off quickly, but Lu Yuan shook his head unhurriedly.
A gray mist rose in his eyes, spreading a mysterious aura. Using the pattern on the ground and the Phoenix Feather as clues and diums, he tried to sense the chaotic guidance from the cosmos...
"No rush."
"Before setting off, I’m going to search the internet to check my horoscope..."
「...」
「Elsewhere in the Secret Realm, in a desolate land.」
Under the murky, claret sky lay the scorching, warped, blackish-red earth.
In the quietly flowing, dark red river of magma, massive, scaled creatures roared and sprang forth, spewing intense sulfurous flas from their maws, as if to incinerate the very air.
A radiant figure, shrouded in starlight, was sprinting in a certain direction.
Ahead of him, a golden-red luminous mist undulated, as beautiful and ethereal as fallen twilight clouds.
However, it contained the most terrifying Forbidden Power. Without the protection of an energy field, even an Earth Level cha would be ground to dust within it in an extrely short ti.
The radiant figure hovered in mid-air, continuously unleashing tangible slashes of light from his hand. Thick energy beams also shot from his body, shattering layers of the golden-red luminous mist.
Before the mist could regroup, the few figures beneath the radiant one burst into action, swiftly moving and expanding their rged energy field. Amidst the intense vibrations, they barely managed to carve out a relatively safe zone.
It was like a temporary fortress, slowly advancing.
But after moving forward for so ti, the golden-red luminous mist pervading the air suddenly grew much denser.
The mist that could previously be split with a single sword strike now required the brilliant figure leading the way to use stronger and more nurous attacks to barely cleave a path.
After advancing a little further, the sight before them was rather striking.
The golden-red luminous mist pervading the void had already coagulated into a wall-like obstacle. A massive amount of this mist intertwined and coiled, even forming mysterious patterns in the void.
The shining figure unleashed several sword strikes against the mist wall, but only managed to chip off so tiny, golden-red specks of light. It was as difficult as cleaving mountains and splitting stones.
After a few attempts, the shining figure, who had been unleashing his power for a long ti, finally chose to give up.
He descended from mid-air, landing among the group below, and the entire team briefly halted to rest.
As the figure landed, the mask of his streamlined, faint gold armor opened, revealing a handso young face with black hair and black eyes.
He tapped lightly on a part of his armored cha. A hidden compartnt opened, and several vials emitting a deep blue light erged.
The young man took one, casually unscrewed the cap, and poured all the liquid inside into his mouth.
"BOOM!"
As the deep blue liquid entered him, a potent wave of energy erupted from the young man. The dozen or so initially dim light points around him began to shine brilliantly once more, his aura surging.
As the roiling energy within him gradually stabilized, soone in the crowd anxiously asked, "We still have 9 kiloters to the target location. The Forbidden Power we’re facing now is already this dense; even you, Yang Nan, can’t break through it... How are we supposed to advance?"
"It’s not as exaggerated as you think." Yang Nan, the young man addressed, shook his head. Looking at the wall of golden-red mist woven before him, he remarked calmly, "We should have reached so kind of border. The Forbidden Power here has gathered, forming a barrier-like structure. But once we break through this barrier, the resistance ahead might actually lessen considerably..."
As he spoke, light flickered in the young man’s eyes, as if he had already pierced through the dense mist wall and perceived the situation within.
After a while, the young man turned to soone in the crowd and asked, "Ding Can, how’s your recovery?"
The young man, who had just thrust out a dazzling spear gleam over ten ters long with the blue short spear in his hand, forcing a nacing, fla-wreathed fish monster that had crawled out of the magma river from outside the energy shield back into the lava river, replied in a deep voice, "Almost. I’ve recovered to ninety percent..."
The young man nodded, saying, "Then prepare yourself. In a mont, coordinate with to help break this Forbidden Light Wall."
"Alright." Ding Can, without wasting words, nodded and closed his eyes to adjust his state.
A few monts later, Ding Can opened his eyes.
He exchanged a look with the young man. Wordlessly, with perfect coordination, they both leaped into the air and attacked simultaneously.
Two formless auras of power surged in the void, and majestic energy rapidly converged.
A few breaths later, a radiant spear gleam and a saber gleam soared from the ground, striking the sa spot simultaneously.
"BOOM!"
The collision of the spear gleam, saber gleam, and the golden-red mist produced an indescribably terrifying shockwave. The ground beneath them shook and cracked, and great gouts of magma erupted.
The bombarded golden-red mist vibrated violently. Countless mysterious patterns, like tree roots and spiderwebs, instantly spread through the void, illuminating nearly ten ters inward before abruptly stopping.
Just as the young man had said. The Forbidden Power at this location had indeed condensed into a barrier-like state, like a thick wall of light, blocking their path.
The spear gleam and saber gleam continuously pushed through the root-like mist wall. Soon, the spear gleam dissipated. The saber gleam continued, penetrating more than five ters further before finally vanishing.
The other mbers of the team couldn’t help but be visibly affected by this sight. The strength of this Forbidden Light Wall far surpassed their imagination; even the combined efforts of their team’s two strongest mbers couldn’t completely shatter it. It was truly hard to imagine what level of power would be required to break through.
"PHEW—"
Here, after their outburst of power, Yang Nan and Ding Can retracted their attacks and landed back on the ground.
"This barrier is a bit thicker than I imagined..." Yang Nan remarked. Starlight flickered around him, and one could clearly see that the dazzling light points spinning around him were more nurous than those around Ding Can, totaling nearly twenty!
"However..." Yang Nan mused, "A few more tis should be enough. If it weren’t for the severe suppression of my Life Star Chart and Sky-level Armants, I should be able to break it alone..."
Everyone nodded; no one doubted Yang Nan’s words. After all... he was the only one in the team whose own strength had reached the Seventh Order; even Ding Can was far from his equal.
"Let’s replenish our energy first. Don’t skimp on supplies; try to maintain peak condition at all tis..." Yang Nan instructed Ding Can, then turned to glance aside.
Several kiloters away, enormous booming sounds kept echoing, and faint, intertwining golden-red lights could be seen.
Clearly, others, like them, were attempting to breach the Forbidden Light Wall blocking their path.
"Our opponents are not just these Forbidden Powers blocking our path..."
「...」
「The Havel Egersis Organization exploration team.」
A handso, light brown-haired young man was repeatedly punching the Forbidden Light Screen before him.
His entire being was surrounded by a vast and formless ’Presence.’ This ’Presence’ was rooted in the void, drawing forth vast streams of cosmic energy from the unseen realms, continually enhancing the power of the brown-haired youth’s fists.
As the brown-haired youth’s power was pushed to its limit, the dozen or so light spots around him rotated rapidly, gradually showing a tendency to form a certain Star Map pattern.
While the brown-haired youth continued his relentless assault, the force of his punches surged like waves, building layer upon layer, growing ever higher and stronger. One of his punches dispersed a thick patch of golden-red luminous mist above, allowing a special signal to penetrate.
"BEEP BEEP BEEP—"
The brown-haired youth and a group of high-ranking Egersis received information from the outside world and instinctively checked it.
Half a breath later, everyone’s expression changed simultaneously.
The rhythm of the brown-haired youth’s attacks was disrupted, and his soaring montum instantly beca chaotic, then rapidly waned.
"PHEW—"
The brown-haired youth stopped his attack and descended from mid-air. His brows were tightly furrowed, a hint of astonishnt and disbelief on his face.
After a mont, the brown-haired youth’s expression cald. After replenishing his energy, he soared back into the air and resud punching the Forbidden Light Wall relentlessly.
This ti, however, the frequency and intensity of his punches were much greater than before.
「...」
「The Distant Star Federation’s exploration team.」
Orelsha, clad in her moon-white Sky-level Armants, stared at the ssage she had just received, her eyes flashing with a cold light.
The expressions of those around her tensed, and they whispered to her quickly, showing so concern.
Orelsha’s face was cold as she responded curtly.
Then, the two pairs of brilliant gold alloy wings on her back fully unfurled, and she soared into the sky like a great bird.
Vast surges of energy poured from her body and her armants.
A dense array of star points erged in her eyes, faintly forming a mysterious Star Map pattern.
"BOOM!"
Orelsha wielded her battle saber. When her aura and energy surged to their peak, she slashed forward violently.
The terrifying saber gleam roared out like a river of stars, devastatingly breaking through layers of the Forbidden Light Wall, pushing forward a full nine ters. It only stopped after nearly breaching the entire Light Wall.
Orelsha’s expression remained unchanged. Closing her eyes, she replenished her energy while continuing to prepare her second strike.
「...」
"BOOM!"
The terrifying sounds of bombardnt and the intense light and turbulence from the Forbidden Light Wall reverberated through the void, clearly perceptible even from several kiloters away.
Yang Nan, who had been recovering his strength with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. With a slightly startled expression, he looked towards the direction the fluctuations originated from, a hint of surprise and confusion on his face.
"Why have the Distant Star and Havel’s people suddenly started exerting themselves like this? Did they sense sothing? Are they getting anxious?"
Yang Nan’s eyes flickered. He said quickly, "Show the current visuals of the Forbidden Center Volcano."
"Yes."
Soon, a blurry, barely captured image appeared before Yang Nan.
Covered in various Treasures, with roiling magma, a white, egg-shaped mysterious object bobbed in and out of sight within the magma...
Everything seed calm; nothing unusual was happening.
"Strange." Yang Nan couldn’t see any change and couldn’t help but frown slightly. "There’s no activity. So why are they all acting as if they’re on stimulants, disregarding the cost to forcibly break through?"
Yang Nan felt there had to be a reason he didn’t understand; otherwise, the leaders of the Distant Star Federation and Havel wouldn’t suddenly alter their previous operational plan and pace of advancent.
His intuition told him this point was likely crucial, but he was completely clueless, unable to figure out the reason.
Just then.
Suddenly...
"BOOM!"
From far behind their team, a loud explosion sounded.
Yang Nan and his group imdiately turned to look.
Vaguely, they sensed a powerful Evil Energy Fluctuation rising like a beacon of smoke, rapidly approaching their position.
Accompanied by... heavy and trendous footsteps.
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