The Galaxy

The Dao artifact flying vessel that Yaoguang and his companions boarded... More accurately, it was akin to a flagship combining speed, defense, and living quarters in one. Moreover, since this battleship was bound to travel frequently between Cangwu and Beihai for some time to come, Yaoguang had re-refined it and christened it the *Cangbei*. Not only was the battleship *Cangbei* remarkably fast, but it also possessed formidable defensive power. Although violent astral winds and freezing rain plagued Beihai Star's surface and outer atmosphere, such natural perils posed no threat either to the Dao artifact itself or to Li Hanqiu, who piloted the vessel. The battleship climbed steadily, and before long... Their field of view abruptly cleared. A vast, boundless, dark profundity opened before everyone's eyes. The extraterrestrial starry void. And as they broke free from Beihai Star, everyone—including Li Qingshan, Lou Yuyu, Liang Qiu, Xu Qiexing, and the others who had accompanied Li Hanqiu—felt an abrupt lightness wash through their bodies. It was as if they had suddenly cast off a crushing burden, an airy lightness that made them feel as though they were floating on air welling up within them. Accompanying this lightness was an overwhelming sensation of power, as if every gesture and movement carried immense might. It felt as though with just a slight stir, they could obliterate everything around them. "We've left Beihai Star," Li Hanqiu could not help remarking. As a Void Piercing Battle Immortal who frequently traveled between Beihai Star and the battlefields beyond it, Wan Liugui was quite accustomed to this sensation. He glanced "down" at the massive Beihai Star and said, "The gravity and environment of Beihai Star are abnormally oppressive, so much so that any living being who emerges from it feels like a fish returning to the open sea or a bird soaring into the boundless sky." He smiled and continued, "On Beihai Star, even if a Void Piercing cultivator detonated their internal grotto-heaven, they could at most obliterate a radius of several thousand li. Even someone as mighty as a Void Shattering expert would have to expend considerable effort to level a perimeter of several tens of thousands of li. But out in the extraterrestrial starry void, even crushing a star millions of li in diameter would be nothing more than a casual gesture." "Beihai Star is different from other celestial bodies. Its anomaly does not stem from its gravity or environment, but from the level of laws," Yaoguang explained. As a Void Shattering expert standing at the very peak of Beihai Star, the knowledge and information he commanded far exceeded anyone else's. Gazing at the enormous planet as well, he elaborated, "Deep within the core of Beihai Star lies a Gate of the Immortal Realm. Although the gate is sealed, the Three Thousand Great Daos leaking from it have subtly transformed the structure of Beihai Star, causing its environment to shift toward that of the 'Immortal Realm.' Because of this, the laws governing Beihai Star and its surroundings are extraordinarily rigid and dense, leaving any cultivator who ventures there feeling thoroughly constrained." "The laws of the Gate of the Immortal Realm..." Li Hanqiu and Wan Liugui had heard of this explanation before, but they had never understood it in such detail. Beside them, Li Qingshan could not help chiming in, "No wonder we felt so uncomfortable when we first arrived on Beihai Star, yet had no idea how to break free of that constriction. It turns out that constraint operates on the level of the laws themselves." "Though it is uncomfortable, cultivating there is countless times more efficient," Yaoguang explained with a smile. "Just like in the Cangwu Great World, where top cities are packed with powerhouses and ordinary cultivators naturally feel inhibited. Yet an environment full of powerhouses also makes it easy to obtain better resources and greater opportunities, allowing one to soar rapidly. Otherwise, if one merely sought comfort, wouldn't it be far more leisurely to stay forever in some remote backwater?" "A backwater might be leisurely, but it isn't necessarily pleasant to live in," Wan Liugui said. "When I was born, the Cangwu Realm had not yet undergone its great upheaval. Back then, rural folk could scarcely save a single tael of silver after a year of farming. But if they went to the capital, as long as they were able-bodied, doing almost any odd job could bring in over a dozen taels a year. By the same token, while an income of a dozen taels would make someone a wealthy notable back home, in that grand city it was barely enough to scrape by. Furthermore, once someone had witnessed the bustling world, they rarely had the heart to return to the countryside... You could tell as much simply from how rural populations steadily dwindled." Li Hanqiu, Li Qingshan, and the others nodded in unison. Compared to the Cangwu Great World... Even though life was grueling for these cultivators on Beihai Star, they had to admit that only by coming here could they secure a brighter future. If they had stayed in the Cangwu Great World, mingling with Golden Core Battle Immortals, their peak achievement would likely have remained at the Golden Core Realm. The boundless lifespan of a Void Piercing cultivator? Unthinkable. To say nothing of crossing paths with Dao Lords, whose lifespans reached 129,600 years, or the Gate of the Immortal Realm, through which one was said to attain eternal life upon entry. "First comes seeking sustenance, then securing safety, followed by the pursuit of health, longevity, and evolution... such is the course every living being must traverse." As Yaoguang spoke, he turned his gaze back out toward the void. Without the constraints of Beihai Star's environment, he could clearly perceive how fragile space truly was. Just as a creature raised in a high-gravity environment would find leaping into the heavens no idle dream once in low gravity, the matter and life in low-gravity environments were often far more delicate. While shattering mountains and splitting the earth with a flick of the hand might be a slight exaggeration, crumbling the "rocks" on this planet with a casual gesture was effortless. Such was Yaoguang's current perception and understanding of space. As his divine sense expanded... Free from external restrictions and interference, his divine sense surged like an unbridled steed, rapidly reaching what had been his limit on Beihai Star—one hundred thousand li. Immediately afterward, it effortlessly shattered that boundary, unfurling across one million li, ten million li, one hundred million li, one billion li... Furthermore, through his comprehension of the Great Dao of Space and aided by its power, he could extend his divine sense up to ten billion li away. Ten billion li. With a shift of Yaoguang's mind, his figure vanished the next moment. Void Flicker. In an instant, Yaoguang appeared ten billion li away. The entire process met with virtually no resistance. Pausing for a brief moment, Yaoguang performed Void Flicker once more. In a flash, another ten billion li. Then came a third time, a fourth, a fifth... In a single breath, he had traversed one hundred billion li of starry space. "It's far too effortless. Both the strain that Void Flicker places on the grotto-heaven and its activation speed... have become vastly lighter. If previously on Beihai Star executing Void Flicker a hundred times at full power to cross one hundred million li at once would cause my grotto-heaven to shudder and leave my strength flagging, now... forget a hundred times, even a thousand or several thousand times would pose no problem." In other words... At his limit, he could sustain an efficiency of one hundred billion li per breath for several hundred breaths. That was tens of trillions of li. "So at my level, my maximum combat radius has reached one light-year." Yaoguang calculated briefly. One light-year! How vast a distance! Yet he could now cross it in a very short span of time. This was his true strength at this moment. What was more, the cosmic void held countless spatial nodes, which functioned similarly to wormholes. Using these nodes to traverse space, crossing several hundred, several thousand, or even several tens of thousands of light-years in one go was entirely feasible. Even without utilizing spatial nodes, his speed coupled with a lifespan of tens of thousands of years would allow him to complete a circumnavigation of an entire galaxy. "Therefore, calling Void Piercing, Void Refining, and Void Shattering cultivators the overlords of a galaxy is thoroughly deserved. A light-year-scale combat radius, combined with spatial nodes that allow them to project their power anywhere... ruling a galaxy is an easy task." Ruling was not destroying. In a city of one hundred thousand people, anyone possessing the strength to fight a hundred alone could use the deterrence of that power to raise a ruling class of a thousand. Those thousand people would then naturally keep the remaining 98,900 docile and orderly on their behalf. *Whoosh!* Yaoguang triggered Void Flicker and returned to the *Cangbei*. "All right. Search for spatial nodes and accelerate at full speed toward the Cangwu Great World." "Yes." Piloting the *Cangbei*, Li Hanqiu headed straight for the nearest void node. Along the way, they encountered several battleships wandering the periphery. Although these ships did not reach the level of Dao artifacts, each was exceptionally fast. Their purpose in roaming outside Beihai Star... Was naturally to plunder targets attempting to enter Beihai Star. However, once those ships discerned the grade of the battleship Yaoguang and his companions were aboard, along with the insignia of the Heavenly Dao Sect displayed upon it, they kept far away, not daring to cross paths with them at all. At one point, they even came upon an ongoing battle of pillage, where Yaoguang's mere passing caused the raiders to abandon their quarry and flee in haste. Such scenes... Could not help but evoke a touch of nostalgia in Yaoguang. Yet once the battleship entered a void node and completed a transit spanning several hundred light-years, the surroundings quieted considerably. The *Cangbei* sailed placidly toward the next void node. The *Cangbei* was capable of void jumps itself, but its travel distance was limited to anywhere from several light-years to over a dozen light-years, requiring a cooldown period between jumps. Fortunately, void nodes were plentiful across the vast cosmos; usually after just one or two jumps by the *Cangbei*, they could find another usable void node. Under such conditions, in less than half a month, the Cangwu Great World was already right before their eyes. "We're finally here." Aboard the *Cangbei*, the party of over a hundred people stepped out almost simultaneously, gazing toward the celestial body "not far" in the distance. "The Cangwu Great World..." Li Qingshan and the others felt mixed emotions. "Originally, we could never clearly perceive the Cangwu Great World's structure. Looking at it now, it's actually a massive void node—albeit an abandoned one. The space within collapsed, absorbing matter from several light-years around and filling the collapsed node, eventually forming this unique structure," Li Hanqiu reflected with some emotion. "While such a structure is rare, it isn't nonexistent across the starry sky... It's just that the void node of our Cangwu Realm is comparatively large..." Lou Yuyu said, his expression tinged with desolation. "So it turns out the Cangwu Realm isn't special after all." The crowd observed it for a long while, and eventually, many turned their eyes toward the space beyond the Cangwu Great World. There... Stood arrays of Heavenly Palaces. Beholding these Heavenly Palaces, Murong Hui, formerly the Hall Master of the Heavenly Palace Hall of the Nine Cauldrons Sect, could not help murmuring, "So... several decades have passed, and the Cangwu Great World hasn't changed at all." "All right, let's head in," Yaoguang commanded. Thereupon, the *Cangbei* accelerated once more and soon arrived in the skies above the Cangwu Great World. ... And just as Yaoguang arrived at the Cangwu Great World, Zong Wenxian, who was still locked in an endless struggle with the Light God race, finally received news from the Heavenly Dao Sect.