Aboard the roof of the Canaan, Yaxiu watched the "crimson hole" in the Starry Canopy trying to knit itself shut. The blockade surrounding Ruby Mountain remained unbroken, and the last sliver of wishful thinking in his heart vanished without a trace.
Yaxiu could not afford to let this chance slip away. The Sword Princess and the Witch had set their plan into motion; whether they had executed it smoothly or been forced into it by circumstance, it meant they had officially broken with the Stars. He had to rush back and regroup with them immediately!
Yet at this critical juncture where every second counted, Yaxiu resolutely opened Operator Recruitment in *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook* and immediately executed a tenfold recruitment!
During the third Angel Hunt, he had hunted down numerous sorcerers and seized plenty of sorcery spirits. After sorting through them and confirming no one needed the rest, he had converted them all into points and traded them for source crystals for a rainy day. He had originally intended to wait for a limited-time recruitment event before pulling, but since there was no time to wait, he would not force the matter—he pulled straight from the standard pool!
No matter what he pulled, anything was fine so long as it improved his chances of success by even a fraction!
Experience Potion!
Sorcery Spirit Delight Potion!
Pure Spiritual Light Special Drink!
Ruby Essence!
Stamina Potion!
Yaxiu's gaze swept past the white and purple glows, locking onto the final golden light—Evernight Silver Lantern's Pocket Mirror.
[Evernight Silver Lantern's Pocket Mirror: A pocket mirror that Evernight Silver Lantern took from the Illusion Mirror Dragon. It witnessed the transformation of Evernight Silver Lantern and possesses an incredible power—it allows one to see the light of the Evernight Silver Lantern.]
Evernight Silver Lantern?
Yaxiu froze for a brief moment. When he retrieved it from the interface, a large silver mirror materialized in his palm. The mirror's surface reflected no image at all; within it lay only impenetrable darkness, though he could vaguely make out a potent wisp of silver light.
The item served no practical function; it felt more like a mocking consolation prize meant to pick at old wounds. Yet Yaxiu seemed to draw immense encouragement from it. Tucking the pocket mirror into his coat, the last lingering unease in his heart dissipated completely, leaving behind nothing but pure resolve.
Yaxiu thrust out his fist and bumped fists with Feili beside him. Feili immediately entered her demonized state, spreading seven demonic wings, while Yaxiu also unfurled seven virtual wings to stand proudly against the Stars.
If other factors were disregarded, Yaxiu could have directly summoned his Soul Kingdom of Heaven long ago. After all, once he underwent sorcery spirit transformation, the mysterious chains would no longer affect him and naturally could not restrict his Soul Kingdom of Heaven. Even if the Soul Kingdom of Heaven failed to burst the Stars in an instant, it would not have mattered.
But the problem was that he could not ignore other factors—above all, the other demons of the Stars, Feili aside, would never permit the Prime Angel to escape this cage!
If they discovered someone attempting to help the Prime Angel break out, Yaxiu had no doubt they would be far more savage than the wardens of Shattered Lake Prison.
One could not forget that although the Soul Kingdom of Heaven was a kingdom of heaven, it was first and foremost Yaxiu's soul!
Exposing his soul completely was tantamount to a Lalafell voluntarily leaping onto a cutting board. If the other demons were given even a fraction of a second to react, they would gleefully shatter Yaxiu's soul to foil his attempt to tear through the cage of the Stars!
Therefore, he had to be fast. Fast enough to summon the kingdom within a single second and burst the Starry Canopy; fast enough that even if the demons reacted, they would not have time to demonize!
Yaxiu closed his eyes and channeled the miracle art that Weixi had taught him, instantly sensing countless distant waymarks. As his consciousness swept past each waymark, the scenery of that city sprang vividly to mind, along with all the foolish things they had done there.
In an instant, he had already become one with every corner of the Stars—or rather, he had drawn the Stars into his world!
"Silver Lantern, this time it is my turn to become the torch."
Yaxiu opened his eyes. His thoughts pierced the Stars from north to south; his soul spanned the earth from east to west!
Fish of the Ocean!
Bull of the Earth!
Mountain on the Bull's Back!
Hell of Chaos!
Vast Earth!
Heaven of Order!
The six-layered Soul Kingdom of Heaven expanded to its absolute limit in an instant, towering over all existence and casting its colors over everything!
Countless people looked up, staring blankly as the intangible kingdom overlapped with reality. Their gaze pierced through the phantoms of the kingdom to see the Heaven of Order at the very summit pressing flush against the Starry Canopy, stirring a bizarre sensation within them—
This cramped world simply could not accommodate so vast and magnificent a soul.
The dome blanketing the Stars met an unprecedented impact!
***
The Starry Kingdom.
Every pair of eyes was glued to the expanse of the canopy struck by the deluge of flames. They heard the sound of glass shattering; they saw shards of the canopy rain down like crystal. And then...
The canopy remained silent and dark. The stars continued to shine.
The region bombarded by the full might of the Four Pillar Cult appeared completely unblemished. The dome that had sheltered the land of the Stars for thousands of years had successfully defended its inviolable glory.
"Ha..."
Star-Flicking Captain Alexis let out a long breath and laughed uproariously. "Hahahaha! Is this the culmination of all your anti-starry-sky organizations' meticulous plotting? Is this the rebels' futile endeavor?!
"Dust cannot compare to a ten-thousandth of a mountain; how can fireflies dare vie with the stars for brilliance?!
"Still, that fleeting firework was rather fitting as your final performance, Daedalose," she sneered. "Beneath the eternal stars, no matter how you struggle and sparkle, you cannot leave the slightest mark upon this night sky. Serving as a crude firework to amuse the masses is the greatest achievement you will ever manage.
"It is still not too late to beg for mercy." Facing two legendary sorcerers, Alexis showed not the slightest trace of fear. "The Divine Lord of Stars will receive any stray lamb that returns to the fold."
Yet the red-haired Sword Princess merely looked up at the canopy, her brow furrowed. "Still not enough?"
"It should have broken through the canopy just now, but for some reason, there's no visible effect," the black-and-white Witch said. "Gospel is investigating the cause."
"Looks like we have no choice but to try again," Sonia said coolly.
"Mm." Diya nodded calmly. "I'll deploy a team of Sanctuary sorcerers over from Gospel."
There was neither hysteria nor despondency. This had clearly been a desperate gamble with their lives on the line, yet Alexis could not detect the slightest hint of defeat on them.
On the contrary, it was as if they had merely flubbed a practice exam, calmly discussing how to get a better score next time.
They had just declared war on the Starry Kingdom!
Their schemes had ended in total bankruptcy!
Why hadn't they given up? Why did they still think they could make a comeback?!
Before Alexis could crush their spirits, Daedalose, slumped on the ground, suddenly spoke up: "You won't have time. Now that you've launched your plan, the Divine Lord of Stars is bound to accelerate the timetable. Within three days at the latest—or today at the earliest—the final Angel Hunt that decides the turn of the era will conclude."
*That's right, exactly like that! Use your professional poise to teach these two little brats their place!*
"Daedalose, our partnership is over," Sonia said calmly. "You deceived us. We gave you all the help we could, only for you and the Four Pillar Gods behind you to repay us with a failed firework. You don't need to trouble yourself with our next move."
"I am very disappointed too, Daedalose," Diya added. "You let our expectations down."
"Sonia, Diya, don't be angry," Daedalose said with a chuckle. "Who said we failed?"
Everyone froze, raising their heads toward the canopy.
Alexis sneered. "Empty bluster. You've already played all your trump cards. Do you really expect a miracle to happen?"
"You may doubt me, but you cannot doubt the divine decrees of the Four Pillar Gods." Daedalose raised her chin, speaking with immense pride. "And even less can you doubt the power of the Four Pillar Gods' feeler, the 'Observer of the End'!
"The false starry sky shall be shattered; eternal kingship shall ultimately fall away. Such is the law of the end!"
*Thump!*
The moment Daedalose finished speaking, an unprecedented celestial tremor jolted the Stars. The world spun for everyone, as though reality had been turned upside down!
When they raised their heads, what greeted their eyes was no longer the starry night, but another world entirely!
Another world home to an advanced civilization, where sprawling cities covered the land and nurtured hundreds of millions of living souls!
Stretched across the gap between the two worlds was a colossal six-layered Soul Kingdom of Heaven, reaching from the deep sea below to the heavens above!
As the living beings of the Stars looked up, the billions of souls in that other world looked back down at them. Though it was only a fleeting exchange of glances, it sent a tremor deep through everyone's spirit.
The phenomenon arrived swiftly and vanished just as fast. A second later, everything returned to normal. The other world was gone, the Soul Kingdom of Heaven was gone, and the starry night sky had returned.
Yet no one celebrated. Even Alexis wore an expression of sheer terror.
Because everyone heard the sound of glass shattering from beyond the canopy.
*Crack, crack, crack.*
*Snap!*
Suddenly, a kaleidoscope fragment of the night fell, resembling glass, resembling a rainbow. It was unquestionably a sorcerer treasure of peerless rarity, yet everyone stared blankly at the canopy; not a single person paid heed to that falling piece of night.
A crack had appeared in the canopy.
A radiant beam of sunlight pierced through the fissure, and after more than two thousand years, the sun's grace shone upon this land once more.
"So... it's daytime outside?" Sonia murmured softly.
She, too, was seeing real sunlight for the first time in her life.
Diya came to a sudden realization. "So the canopy has two layers! We only punched through the first; we still have to pierce the second to shatter the starry sky. Once that's done, the Starry Dome will meet its end—"
"It won't be that simple!"
Alexis bellowed, "It is merely a tear in the sky! Do you think punching a single hole changes anything? You may have pierced the canopy, but do you think the Church and the Throne Room cannot repair it?!"
Even as Alexis spoke, the fissure in the canopy was steadily shrinking. Seeing this, her spirit soared. "Heaven's mandate belongs to the Stars! Can you truly defy the grand tide of history this time?!"
"Probably not," Daedalose said, shaking her head. "The Observer's side can likely only pull that off once... The Four Pillar Cult's performance is at an end."
Alexis puffed up with pride. "At your wit's end at last?"
"However, the performance of the Starry Kingdom has only just begun." Daedalose pointed toward the east. "Here it comes."
A plume of deep-blue fire rose from the earth and soared straight toward the canopy.
Alexis was taken aback. "Your accomplices?"
"No, merely seeds planted by the Four Pillar Cult long ago—rebellious souls nurtured by false starlight and the shackles upon their spirits. In exchange for nothing more than handing out miracle arts, there's no better bargain in the world." Daedalose smiled. "Didn't you know? The Four Pillar Cult was never the only anti-starry-sky organization.
"Everyone is waiting—waiting for an opportunity for light to shine into the Stars," the Chaos Diva said. "Waiting for a chance for light to illuminate their souls."
*Whoosh!*
Alexis turned her head and saw an orange-red blaze rising from the horizon. As she looked around, blazing white, blood-red, purplish-crimson, and dark-green fireworks—spells of varying colors and sorceries—shot up from the horizon one after another, nearly illuminating the entire night!
"What you tore apart wasn't just the canopy, but the shackles bound around the hearts of all sorcerers." Daedalose wore a pointed, mocking smile. "The Four Pillar Gods asked me to pass a message to the Divine Lord of Stars—
"'If you tried to forcibly brainwash that ungrateful pack of white-eyed wolves called sorcerers, you should have known the day would come when it all blew back in your face.'"
"This is Daedalose's true final performance." The Chaos Diva rose slowly, spreading her arms with a captivating smile. "Isn't it beautiful?"
Before the foremost beauty under the starry sky, countless stars rose from the earth, surging toward the canopy!
Chapter 971