Spirit Realm Dungeon: [River of Stars]
Around the round table sat the demigods of the orthodox faction, with two prominent seats left vacant.
None of the demigods spoke; they sat in absolute silence.
A man in a pitch-black suit and a silver mask stepped into this world of dazzling starlight.
His gaze swept slowly across the demigods before he tilted his head back, looking up at the cosmic expanse above. "Where is the rule-based item I asked for?"
A shaft of starlight cascaded down, resolving into a brilliantly glowing bronze plate. Engraved across its surface were the celestial constellations, the Dual Principles, the Eight Trigrams, and dense swarms of tadpole-sized runes.
From deep within the cosmos came a grand, layered voice:
"Only usable by a Day Wanderer, or a Stargazer who specializes in the stars."
The President beckoned, and the bronze plate drifted into the air of its own accord, landing smoothly in his hand.
After a few seconds of reading its item information, the President gave a satisfied nod.
"Not bad."
In his other hand, two items materialized: one was a palm-sized brass plate, and the other was a fragment of brass.
Both were fragments of the Compass of Light; the former had been refashioned into a rule-based item, while the latter remained in its original form.
Starlight cascaded from above once more, sweeping up the two fragments before disappearing into the river of stars.
The President stowed the bronze plate into his inventory, tilted his head up, and gave a mocking chuckle.
"Do you know why I'm wearing all black?"
The cosmos remained utterly silent.
The President turned his eyes back to the demigods, smiling. "Do any of you know?"
Seeing that he had already handed over the Compass of Light fragments, the demigods felt a weight lift from their hearts, and their attitudes softened considerably.
The Red Fire Gang Leader grunted impatiently, "Don't care to know."
He had no desire to think.
The President smiled. "When attending a funeral, one always wears black."
From above the cosmic expanse came the layered, majestic voice of the Taiyi Sect Master:
"Everyone, shortly I will use the Compass of Light to unseal the Sun Dungeon. Both the Lord of Taiyin and I will receive the dungeon's summons. Ling Tuo has not yet obtained the Merit Roster, but he has no choice—he must enter the fray.
"I will slay him within the Sun Dungeon. You are to watch from outside the dungeon and guard against any unforeseen developments."
The demigods nodded slightly. Fu Qingxuan watched as the Red Fire Gang Leader and the Lord of the Central Court opened their inventories and brought out two fragments of the Compass of Light, a flicker of helplessness flashing in her eyes.
Next, the Chairman of Heaven's Punishment tossed out a full three compass fragments.
The compass fragments soared into the heights of the river of stars, forming a circle that spun at dizzying speed. Rings of pale golden radiance radiated outward, overwhelming the brilliant river of stars.
Within this galaxy-like dungeon world, a single "star" ignited. Golden light surged and ebbed, as if resonating with an invisible power.
Inside the [River of Stars] dungeon, the compass spun faster and faster, its golden brilliance growing ever more dazzling. With a sudden resonant hum, the spinning compass formed a circular golden gateway connecting to an infinite height.
The voice of the Lord of the Stars drifted down:
"The Sun Dungeon is open. Everyone, I shall take the lead."
……
In the Spirit Realm, vast as a galaxy, that gleaming golden star steadily sent out ripples of golden light, illuminating star after star.
At this moment, the skies across every single dungeon world were swept by wave after wave of golden radiance.
Every living creature and Spirit Realm walker within the dungeons felt the anomaly in the heavens.
High above the "stars," inside a full moon shrouded in darkness, the figure within heard the Spirit Realm's notification chime beside his ear:
[Ding! Spirit Realm map opening. Entering dungeon in 30 seconds. Your destination this time is "Lord of the Sun," Code: 00.]
[Difficulty: Unknown]
[Type: Multiplayer (Death Match)]
[Main Quest: Become the Lord of the Sun.]
[Note: Non-Spirit-Realm items cannot be brought inside.]
[Dungeon No. 00 Description: A world sealed away for countless years has finally opened. The supreme authority now welcomes its contenders.]
[Enter the dungeon? Please make your choice within thirty seconds. If no choice is made after thirty seconds, entry will be accepted by default.]
The colossal black moon vanished soundlessly from the Spirit Realm.
Simultaneously, outside that dungeon steadily radiating golden light, figures manifested one after another—the demigods of the orthodox faction.
Standing outside the dungeon and gazing upon that star of golden light, they saw thousands of miles of scorched earth beneath a brilliant golden sun hanging in the sky.
Faintly visible within the sun were nine Golden Crows linked head to tail, swimming in circles around a luminous body at its center.
That luminous body appeared to be the sun's core, or perhaps the largest Golden Crow of them all.
In legend, there were ten Golden Crows.
When the demigods channeled their ocular power to inspect the sun's core, their eyeballs burst one after another, bloody tears streaming down their faces.
The core of the sun could neither be gazed upon nor fathomed.
Wiping the bloody tears from his cheeks, Gang Leader Jiang looked toward the desolate, lifeless dungeon and couldn't help but frown.
"There doesn't seem to be anything inside—no enemies, no trials. The Lord of the Stars is just a calculating bookworm. How is he supposed to fight Ling Tuo?"
The authority of the Stars lay in stargazing and divination; direct combat was not its strength, and in raw combat power, it lagged significantly behind Taiyin.
"Trials or enemies are meaningless to powerhouses of their level," Fu Qingxuan said calmly. "Their true shared enemy is the sun. The advantage of the Stars is that the sun's suppression over the Stars is relatively weak, whereas Taiyin is utterly suppressed by the sun."
The Small Sapling swayed its head. "A schemer like the Lord of the Stars would never dare vie with Ling Tuo for the throne of the Lord of the Sun without absolute certainty of victory."
As they spoke, a beam of golden light swept in from the distance, coming to a halt outside the Sun Dungeon.
Within the golden radiance proudly stood Empress Sandao, her colorful robes fluttering, breathtakingly peerless. Her features were dazzlingly exquisite, a drop of cinnabar red between her brows, looking like a goddess descended to the mortal realm.
Empress Sandao cast a cool glance over the Human Immortals, paying them no heed. Golden light erupted from her palm, condensing into a brass pestle.
The brass pestle spun between her hands before shooting forward like a bolt.
*Buzz!*
Brimming with mighty solar divine power, the brass pestle struck the dungeon's barrier and was instantly deflected.
"Don't waste your energy," Fu Qingxuan said, looking at her. "The Sun Dungeon only permits the lords of the Stars and Taiyin to enter. All other classes, as well as anyone below demigod rank, are barred from entry."
Empress Sandao knitted her brows and retorted, "I once sensed soul fluctuations from within this small world when standing outside it."
The Zhu Clan Ancestor focused his senses for a moment, then said, "Perhaps it was just an illusion. There are no signs of life in the Sun Dungeon, save for Taiyin and the Stars."
Hearing this, the other demigods stopped paying attention to the peak Dominator, shifting their focus back to the dungeon.
Across thousands of miles of scorched earth, scorching solar flames burned. Both the Stars and Taiyin were suppressed by the blazing sun in the sky, revealing their true appearances.
Ling Tuo had handsome features and appeared around twenty-five years old. He had pale skin, wore a black robe, and bore a black full moon between his brows. His aura was dark and gloomy, resembling an elegant monarch of the underworld.
The Lord of the Stars looked three to four parts similar to Ling Tuo. He also appeared as a young man, with a dazzling nebula stamped between his brows. In his eye sockets was ethereal, mystical starlight, completely devoid of pupils.
Compared to the intensely defined presence of the "underworld monarch," the Lord of the Stars seemed ethereal, detached, and indifferent—like an incarnation of natural laws.
Ling Tuo coldly scrutinized his father. "Old thing, you've meditated in the Spirit Realm for sixty years. Have you figured out how to accommodate the sun?"
The Lord of the Stars replied in a flat voice:
"There are no shortcuts to accommodating the sun.
"Ling Tuo, I have been waiting for you to enter the Sun Dungeon. Taiyin shields you from divination and deduction; hunting you in the real world was nigh impossible.
"Yet within the Sun Dungeon, you have nowhere to run, unless you voluntarily surrender the bid for the Lord of the Sun. But if you do, death still awaits you."
Ling Tuo sneered.
"I thought Void would hold out a while longer. To give him hope, I even took the initiative to present Yuanshi Tianzun with a grand gift. I didn't expect him to compromise so soon after all.
"However..." Ling Tuo curled his lips into a smirk. "Do you truly think I haven't prepared for the worst?"
……
In a hidden space drifting beyond reality.
The sky held neither sun nor moon. Murky, dim celestial light filtered down through gray-white clouds, holding this realm in a perpetual twilight.
A group of figures stood by the lake:
There was Fear Heavenly King, dressed in a casual suit with a silver earring;
Old Mac of the Dionysus Club, white-haired with a silver flask tucked in his pocket;
A white man in a black suit and white dress shirt, his exposed arms and neck covered in tattoos of mutated aberrations;
Two hooded, black-robed Illusion Gods from the Spirit Society;
Two Gu Dragons with dark green manes, pale scales etched with eerie runes, and ruby-like crimson vertical pupils;
And finally, a towering three-meter-tall figure with three heads and eight arms, standing like an iron pagoda.
Demigod-level combatants of the evil faction had gathered by the shores of the Blood Lake.
Except for Asura, all the other demigods displayed a measure of deference.
The evil faction demigods waited in silence until a whirlpool formed in the middle of the Blood Lake, swallowing the bloody water as the water level dropped rapidly.
A deep purple "egg" slowly surfaced. It was colossal in size, its purple fleshy shell wrapped in pulsating veins and riddled with spiracles.
Consuming the bloody water, this massive purple egg began to throb like a heart.
"Alas..."
A hollow sigh echoed from within the giant egg. It then disintegrated, erupting into a thick beam of purple light that soared straight into the clouds.
This pillar of purple light pierced clean through the pocket dimension, revealing a galaxy dotted with countless "stars."
It opened a direct path into the Spirit Realm.
Like a colossal sword, the purple beam stabbed into the Spirit Realm, annihilating every dungeon in its path with unstoppable force. It bridged an unfathomable distance before finally striking that dungeon radiating golden brilliance.
—The Sun Dungeon!
Into the Sun Dungeon, which none could enter save for the Stars and Taiyin, a tear was forcefully ripped open.
Inside the Sun Dungeon, Ling Tuo narrowed his eyes. Watching the purple light aggressively pierce the heavens, he chuckled.
"The Demon Seed has waited in the pocket dimension for a century, all for this very day. Once the Sun Dungeon opened, it became no different from any other Spirit Realm dungeon; the only difference is the strength of its barrier.
"Demigods cannot break this barrier, but the Demon Seed can. Its status is higher than a demigod's.
"If I had successfully obtained the Merit Roster, then today, I would have contended with you for the Lord of the Sun as the Lord of Taiyin. Since I haven't, the decisive battle between the orthodox and Freedom factions erupts ahead of schedule."
Chapter 951