The extraterrestrial beings were descending.
What they sought were the fortunes born from the world's revival.
As time passed, the rate of evolution among living beings would only accelerate.
Only then could it truly be called a great era.
Yet precisely because of this, disputes and even great wars were inevitable.
The star domains scattered across deep space were unlike Earth, where cultivation had previously been impossible. Having evolved over thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years, they brimmed with peerless powerhouses. It would not be surprising to see an entity capable of pulverizing stars in a single strike.
Lu Yuan had now broken through the Shackle Realm and reached the fourth stage—the Golden Body Realm. Looking across the world today, he had virtually no match. The only ones who could serve as his opponents were likely those extraterrestrial entities. Thus, beyond solemn vigilance, his heart held a trace of excitement. After all, ever since the New Era began and he acquired extraordinary power, he had rarely been pushed to fight at full strength, always crushing his opponents with ease.
Yet to become a true powerhouse, one had to temper oneself through brutal battles, and these extraterrestrial beings fit the bill perfectly. To him, this was far from a bad thing. Continuous warfare and continuous evolution would allow him to tread the path to supremacy. Above all, his current strength gave him the means to prevent and curb the catastrophes that had unfolded in his past life. The great clans of the various star domains were certainly no benevolent sorts.
Of course, that was not to say Lu Yuan could contend with just anyone. Against those who had traversed far along the path of evolution and whose radiance illuminated the heavens, he was nowhere near their match—the disparity was immense.
However, Earth remained under the protection of a mysterious power: the ancient runes that had manifested earlier. He had not known what they were before, but through his conversation with Jiang Ningxian, he had come to understand. They were the product of the Severance of Heaven and Earth, enacted by ancient sages.
While that power had indeed altered the world and rendered it unfit for cultivation and evolution, it had also shielded all life on Earth from every threat. From this, one could infer that the great tribulation anticipated by the ancient sages was perhaps far more terrifying than anyone imagined.
*The farther along this path I walk, and the more I encounter, the thicker the fog ahead seems to grow,* Lu Yuan thought, sighing softly to himself. Without dwelling on it further, he stepped out of his quarters.
Shortly after, Elder Ji, Elder Yun, and other high-ranking officials hurried forward alongside several elite students, their faces taut with anxiety. The recent extraterrestrial developments had left them feeling at a loss for how to proceed, and they were eager to hear Lu Yuan's thoughts to formulate their upcoming plans.
Lu Yuan understood their distress. He immediately sent for Jiang Ningxian, who was lodging nearby. As an outsider from beyond Earth, she naturally understood far more about the situation.
Soon, a conference to address the extraterrestrial threat was convened. Led by Lu Yuan, Elder Ji and the rest of the seven-member council sat in attendance, while Jiang Ningxian offered counsel as a cooperative partner.
Directly taking on those entities was clearly out of the question. What Earth's leadership could truly do was preserve their strength and accumulate their foundation, given the sheer disparity between the two sides. Consequently, their future course was straightforward: reinforce the five super cities while mobilizing as many resources as possible to cultivate more Awakened to replace conventional military forces. By now, conventional thermal weaponry was practically obsolete and could no longer serve as an effective deterrent.
Accomplishing this was not overly difficult, especially since the government had absorbed the heritage of the Three Immortal Islands, which housed tens of thousands of Awakened with respectable cultivation realms. Still, to guard against potential rebellion, binding contracts had to be signed. Furthermore, Elder Ji and the others offered to pool certain resources for Lu Yuan to help him grow stronger, given that he was their foremost combat power. Lu Yuan declined, however. There were far too many matters requiring his attention for him to micromanage everything, and with his current cultivation, ordinary resources offered little benefit anyway.
In addition, based on Jiang Ningxian's advice, they standardized the names for the subsequent evolutionary realms: the fifth stage was the Sovereign King, while the sixth, seventh, and eighth stages formed the three realms of the Saint Domain. As unified standards already existed across the broader cosmos, it was easiest to adopt them directly.
Finally, Lu Yuan reiterated a key instruction: avoid conflicts with extraterrestrial beings whenever possible. Of course, if the other side actively provoked trouble, there was no need to cower. Given Earth's protective barrier, any entity capable of descending would not be overwhelmingly powerful. In short, the strategy was to lie low and bide their time. Lu Yuan simply could not be everywhere at once.
"Once the extraterrestrial beings descend, they will likely seize the famous mountains and great rivers," Lu Yuan instructed the leadership, having long laid out his calculations. "Neither domestic nor foreign sites will be spared. Aside from those already under our control, we need not intervene in the rest for now."
Elder Ji and the others had no reason to object and readily agreed; indeed, there was no viable alternative.
With that, the meeting adjourned.
Lu Yuan and Jiang Ningxian walked shoulder to shoulder.
"From your reconnaissance data, two great star domain clans have appeared so far," Jiang Ningxian said, sharing her insight. "One of them hails from the Celestial Clan of the Thunderstrike Star Domain—the maternal clan of that Winged Celestial, Yi." Having learned of Yi's death at Lu Yuan's hands, she knew a grudge had formed with the Celestial Clan, and retaliation was certain to follow.
Lu Yuan appeared unbothered, merely asking, "Are there many star domains in deep space?"
He had some knowledge of the cosmos, but not in great detail, and this seemed like an opportune moment to learn more.
"A vast number," Jiang Ningxian replied with a light smile. "The deep cosmos holds a total of three thousand star domains. Each star domain is dominated by a major clan, with numerous subordinate clans pledged to them. Naturally, many star domains are too distant to easily make the journey here. But the top hundred star sectors certainly can, and the Thunderstrike Star Domain is among those top hundred."
Lu Yuan nodded thoughtfully. He understood that 'three thousand star domains' was merely a broad figure rather than an exact count. In Daoist scriptures, references to 'three thousand great chiliocosms' signified that the universe contained worlds as countless as grains of sand. And the 'top hundred star sectors' naturally denoted the hundred foremost powers.
Lu Yuan smiled. "Then your ancestral home, the Desolate Flame Star Domain, must rank in the top ten among them, Miss Jiang?"
"Of course," Jiang Ningxian nodded without elaborating further. She simply added, "In short, the changes in this world have drawn the gaze of every star domain across the universe. This is a great era—and an era of fierce contention."
With a faint smile, she gave a slight bow and returned to her quarters.
Lu Yuan could sense a formidable power slumbering within her. Though it had remained suppressed until now, it was showing signs of unsealing.
*If it erupts in full, her realm will surpass mine,* Lu Yuan mused, realizing Jiang Ningxian was truly exceptional and harbored unfathomable strength. It was only because this world remained affected by the Severance of Heaven and Earth that her power had been constrained.
Of course, that was of no immediate concern to him.
Lu Yuan returned to his room, intending to acclimate to his Golden Body Realm strength and digest his recent gains. He chose not to enter deep, shut-in seclusion where he would be cut off from outside affairs; he knew all too well that those extraterrestrial entities could descend at any moment. He needed to stay alert so he could intervene whenever unexpected trouble arose.
Over the days that followed, the authorities continued to pull back their forces and consolidate resources, all while monitoring the void beyond the planet.
Ever since the assault from dozens of star warships had been thwarted, the vessels had fallen silent, neither advancing nor departing. Yet as time wore on, more objects emerged from the passage, drawing steadily closer and lingering in outer space as if observing.
During this period, surveillance probes revealed signs of confrontation among them, indicating they belonged to different clans and factions. At one point, tensions flared to the brink of open clash, with warships charging their weapons in preparation for battle. Yet that conflict never broke out; an unspoken understanding seemed to settle over them, redirecting their collective attention back to Earth.
A few days later, they drew closer once more.
At the same time, individual figures emerged into the void of space: a white-haired man with wings on his back, resembling the Winged Celestial; an armored woman; colossal beasts; and other beings. Several of them alighted upon meteorites, using unknown methods to guide them. The meteorites began hurtling toward Earth, initiating their descent at last.
On that very day, the world was shaken to its core as the authorities used orbital probes to launch a global live broadcast.
Across the expanse of outer space, swarms of meteorites carrying over a thousand beings hurtled toward Earth.
The spectacle was so terrifying it rendered viewers speechless. The beings varied wildly: some resembled humans, while others took monstrous, grotesque shapes of staggering proportions. As they tore toward the atmosphere, countless people went pale with fright.
"Extraterrestrials are descending! They look like gods and demons—is Earth entering an age of gods and demons?!"
"What should we do? How are humans supposed to survive once they land?!"
"This might be doomsday! Even extraordinary powers can't stand against this!"
People panicked, stirred into a frenzy as discussions exploded everywhere.
At that moment, the tens of thousands of meteorites and more than a thousand beings entered the upper atmosphere.
*Boom—*
Right then, a layer of runes surged from the void. Nearly all meteorites that brushed against the runes disintegrated upon touching the atmosphere, reduced to fine dust that vanished entirely.
Yet not all were destroyed. Some pierced directly through the runes, tore through the upper atmosphere, and plunged into the mesosphere, then the stratosphere. Friction with the air set the meteorites ablaze, radiating scorching heat. The extraterrestrial beings clung to the flaming rocks, using them to cross into Earth's airspace.
Though the runes obliterated the vast majority of the falling rocks and wiped out numerous entities, some had successfully broken through. The ancient protective measures had failed to halt them completely, and over a hundred beings truly breached Earth's defenses.
Countless pairs of eyes watched intently, desperate to know where they would land. But official tracking systems were insufficient to follow every single entity, losing trace of them once they entered the troposphere. In the end, several Awakened equipped with modern instruments ventured out to observe from afar.
*Rumble—*
Earthquakes shook regions across the globe that day, sending towering wildfires into the sky and staining the cloud cover crimson. These were the impacts left by hundreds of meteorites, each striking with devastating force. Had Earth's landmass not expanded significantly following the global mutations, the disasters would have impacted far more lives.
Somewhere in Huaxia.
A colossal impact crater lay nestled in the center of a basin, surrounded by surging flames. In the middle stood a white-haired man with wings on his back, standing tall and proud like a human.
Sensing the surging power within his body rapidly diminishing under the suppressive laws of this world, he knit his brows slightly. Soon, however, his expression smoothed out, and he murmured in human speech, "My strength is suppressed to less than a tenth of its peak. I will need time to adapt and lie low for a while, but no matter.
"This land is rich with opportunities and boundless fortunes. Now that I have arrived, I shall rise here and suppress all who stand in my way."
Turning toward a distant horizon, the white-haired man snapped his wings open, stirring a tempest of wind and thunder. In a flash, he transformed into a streak of light and shot across the sky, vanishing into the landscape.
He came from the Celestial Clan!
And at this very moment, identical scenes were unfolding across numerous corners of the world.
Chapter 125