Inside the Country of All Stars, aboard the speeding Jiashi.
"It actually... really worked..."
Weixi pressed her cheek against the windowpane, blankly gazing at the "crimson glow" spreading across the night sky. "This time, we've truly offended a Divine Lord to death..."
"Don't make it sound like you ever had good relations with Divine Lords in the first place," Yaxiu said as he jumped down. "As the Spectre Prophet, try to have some self-awareness about being public enemy number one."
"That's different. Before, I dragged you down; now, you're dragging me down." Weixi sighed. "The difference is as huge as me sleeping with you versus you sleeping with me..."
"Are we leaving?" Niya asked.
"Not yet." Yaxiu took a moment to feel. "I still can't sense my body in reality. Who knows, maybe it starved to death from malnutrition long ago..."
"Really?!" Feili exclaimed with pleasant surprise, but immediately realized that was the wrong reaction and switched to a worried tone with the corners of her mouth curling upward. "Really?"
Yaxiu flicked Feili's little head and said testily, "It might also just be because the Starry Canopy hasn't completely shattered yet. Although a huge hole has been punched through it, it should still be able to hold out for a bit longer. At the very least, it won't lift the lockdown between inside and outside until it shatters completely."
"Just as expected, the Starry Canopy lacks a self-repair function, so its collapse is only a matter of time." Weixi watched the crimson glow relentlessly encroaching upon the darkness of the night and said, "The Divine Lord of Stars never even considered that someone would assault the canopy from within All Stars. After all, even demons and sorcerers would never act just to save All Stars. Only a farsighted master would carry out the conviction of sacrificing oneself for others—not even a Divine Lord could wear down Master's iron will!"
"You can just call me a dumbass directly, no need to be polite," Yaxiu curled his lip. "What should we do next?"
"Take out your pendants and smear blood from your fingertips onto them until the pendants drink their fill," Weixi said.
Without hesitation, Yaxiu, Igola, and Harvey drew small blades, pricked their fingertips, and smeared blood over their pendants.
Niya and Feili were taken aback. Feili asked, "Do we need to do it too?"
"You don't need to; you aren't leaving this world," Weixi said. "This is a soul coordinate ritual. Aside from helping Yaxiu reinforce his memories of the various cities, the mind pendants I gave you will also reinforce our memories of this world, serving as our soul coordinates."
"All Stars is an internal world hidden inside Ruby Mountain. It won't be easy for us to enter, but with soul coordinates, it might not be impossible."
"Leaving this world is only the first step. What's more important is how to return."
"We'll probably be coming back often," Yaxiu smiled. "The Hell Trials are still too early for us. We need to keep breaking our wings to buy time."
"Besides, Weixi is a Soul Demigod. Give her some time to research, and she might be able to create suitable vessels for you so you can descend to our side as well."
"Although I'm quite unhappy that you keep dumping tasks on me, Master," Weixi said, "I'm also really looking forward to the scene when they meet the two mistresses again. So rest assured, I'll definitely do everything I can to see blood flow like a river as soon as possible."
"Leave... All Stars?" Worry and confusion surfaced in Feili's eyes. She lowered her head, twiddling her fingers. "If it's what you wish, Yaxiu..."
Even Niya felt conflicted. Much as she disliked this world, that didn't mean she was thrilled about going to an unfamiliar realm. In this world, at least she could throw her weight around and pick on Feili, but in another world... she would definitely be bullied by the Sword Princess.
"Of course, this isn't mandatory. Wherever you want to stay is fine, but just as you showed me All Stars, I want to show you the world of sorcerers," Yaxiu said seriously. "I want you to become sorcerers too."
"Saving All Stars isn't over yet. Right now, we've only let the Source Angel escape, forcing the Divine Lord of Stars to keep the Country of All Stars around. But the survival of All Stars still rests upon a single whim of the Divine Lord of Stars—it hangs by a thread."
"However, if you become sorcerers and grow to the point of being able to take command of All Stars, we'll help you seize control of All Stars when the time comes. We'll free All Stars from the Divine Lord of Stars's grasp and turn it into the Kingdom of Heaven in your palm. Only then will the plan to save All Stars be truly accomplished."
Weixi nearly burst out laughing, and even Igola's mouth twitched. Harvey looked between the two of them, somewhat puzzled. "Is there something wrong with what Yaxiu said?"
"Of course there's nothing wrong, except going from 'becoming a sorcerer' to 'taking command of a Kingdom of Heaven' might take a tiny hundred million bits of time." Weixi laughed so hard tears almost welled up. "For someone slow like me, it took several millennia across two lifetimes and I still haven't achieved it."
At those words, Harvey and Igola looked at each other. With a complicated expression, Igola said, "If compared to Yaxiu, Lady Weixi, you really are a bit slow—Yaxiu has been a sorcerer for less than a year."
The smile on Weixi's face vanished, and she silently wiped away the tears in her eyes.
Even so, Feili and Niya now understood just how difficult what Yaxiu described was. Niya asked, puzzled, "Aren't you already able to wield a Kingdom of Heaven? Wouldn't it be easier if you took command of All Stars yourself?"
"Because I have no such obligation," Yaxiu said calmly. "I'm more than happy to save All Stars, but that doesn't mean I have to look after it for a lifetime, nor does it mean I must spend my life struggling to save it."
"If even you aren't willing to work hard for it, what meaning is there in everything I've done?"
The main reason Yaxiu said this was, of course, to ignite their fighting spirit. In this world, one ultimately had to become a sorcerer to take control of their own destiny. He knew Feili and Niya feared the world of sorcerers, but if they refused to take even this step, they would remain beholden to fate for the rest of their lives.
Secondly, Yaxiu also hoped they could hold a grander aspiration. A splendid life shouldn't consist solely of romance; it should also encompass poetry and distant horizons. He actually had some self-awareness: having barged so tempestuously into their lives, he had made it impossible for them to return to an ordinary existence. Therefore, Yaxiu had to show them a vaster world and set them on a greater journey.
Moreover, Yaxiu felt a faint sense of impending crisis—he was going back to see the Sword Princess and the Witch, and heaven only knew what would happen. If the number of capable competitors increased, then even if Yaxiu were locked up in a dark dungeon room in the future, it would at least slightly increase the odds of someone coming to his rescue.
"Urging them to study like this is useless," Weixi chimed in from the side. "You have to use more direct temptations and threats—Yaxiu is now a sorcerer who possesses a Kingdom of Heaven. A lover who can stand as his equal must inevitably possess a Kingdom of Heaven as well. Or to put it another way, if you possess a Kingdom of Heaven, neither the Sword Princess nor the Witch will be a match for you."
"I understand!" Feili clenched her fists. "I will fight to take command of All Stars!"
Niya said nothing, but the resolute look in her eyes was enough to show her stance.
Igola mused, "If the threshold for a betrothal partner is a Heavenly Divine Lord, your options aren't very broad, Yaxiu. Even if you don't restrict it to women, at most you only have five choices right now."
"If you don't restrict it to the living, then there are six," Harvey reminded him. "If you can fetch me the corpse of the Senluo Azure Lord, I'll risk my life to turn Him into your fiancée!"
Yaxiu couldn't be bothered to entertain them. Noticing Rose quietly sitting to the side and gazing at the crimson glow at the edge of the canopy, he walked over and asked, "Will you come see the world of sorcerers in the future?"
"I don't know." Rose turned her head to look at him. "Are you leaving?"
"Yeah, but I'll be back," Yaxiu said. "Aren't you curious about sorcerers? We'll have Weixi make a vessel for you, and see if we can help you become a sorcerer."
"Become a sorcerer..." Rose murmured. Suddenly, she asked, "If I become a sorcerer, can I keep being your assistant?"
Yaxiu paused, then smiled. "Of course. I'd welcome it. But I think once you become a sorcerer, you'll want to forge your own path."
"Perhaps," Rose tilted her head slightly. "But before that, I still want to bear witness to your future. In that case, all right."
She looked at Yaxiu and offered a faint smile.
"Yaxiu, I want to become a sorcerer."
Yaxiu was stunned. In all the time he had known her, this seemed to be the first time he had ever seen Rose smile.
Just then, everyone's souls violently shuddered. An immense pressure that rendered them breathless made them acutely aware that terror had arrived.
Yaxiu turned his head. Looking through the carriage window, he saw that the crimson glow was gone, and so was the canopy.
An abyssal darkness heavy enough to crush the mortal realm pierced through Ruby Mountain, ignoring the lockdown between inside and outside, descending calmly and coldly onto the heads of the trial-takers.
At a time like this, someone had actually triggered the demigod ascension ritual?!
And the trial progressed with freakish speed. Within the few breaths they watched, the first layer of Hell had already crashed down, and the second layer of Hell followed right on its heels!
"What are they doing?" Igola murmured. "Are they trying to stop the canopy from shattering? But that won't do any good."
"It's very difficult for a Divine Lord to interfere with the first four layers of the Void Realm."
Weixi's voice was very soft, so soft as if she feared awakening something. "However, the boundary between Hell and the Kingdom of Heaven is very blurred. If a Divine Lord is willing to pay a certain price, interfering with Hell isn't difficult at all. If a Divine Lord wills it, they can even help a mortal ascend to demigod."
Harvey asked, "So a Divine Lord is helping a sorcerer pass the ascension trial?"
"No." Yaxiu's expression turned grim beyond measure. "What Weixi means is—"
"A Divine Lord's power can reach straight down into the mortal world through Hell!"
After the fifth layer of Hell descended, the five layers of Hell did not vanish, but came to an eerie standstill right there.
Then, a boundless sea of blood surged forth from the first layer of Hell, submerging the earth and overturning the canopy!
"Legend has it that there is a sea of blood in the Time Continent," Weixi whispered. "Every drop of blood within can grant someone a second life."
From the second layer of Hell, a pitch-black curtain spread outwards, blotting out the sky and sun, reaching everywhere!
"The Dark Curtain, the most mysterious world secret realm. It is the destination of all secrets, the chronicle of every epic, the graveyard of all stories."
The third layer of Hell emitted tremors akin to a heartbeat. Immediately, countless masses of soil and rock formed around it, coalescing into earth high up in the sky.
"Humans have hearts, and the earth has its core. Wherever the earth's core resides, all is the body of the earth."
From the fourth layer of Hell, countless tender green branches sprouted, weaving into an unimaginably colossal tree crown that enveloped the world.
"No way..." Weixi murmured blankly. "I read a notebook that said the summit of Ruby Mountain wasn't bare in the past. Instead, a World Tree grew there, and its crown could envelop the entire mountain. But even back in my era, no one had any information about the World Tree..."
From the fifth layer of Hell flowed a river formed of stardust. It clearly was not wide, yet gave the impression of being vaster than the blood sea, the Dark Curtain, the earth's core, and the crown of the World Tree combined. Each speck of stardust was clearly so minuscule, yet shone brighter than everything in the world.
"The Silver River."
Weixi collapsed limply to the floor, clutching Yaxiu's sleeve as she said, "This is the Divine Lord of Stars's Silver River."
Chapter 973