The Stars Beyond

Chapter 535: The Ashes Of The Superior Bonfire

The space was dark and deep, with a large extinguished bonfire that had been indistinct when viewed from the wall of the inner landscape. Now that Wang Xuan had truly entered this space, he discovered that its area was close to that of a pond.

It still retained some warmth, with wisps of blue smoke rising, and there was transcendent radiation there. The place was quite different from the outside world.

He keenly noticed that his blessed land fragment could be activated here once again!

After the extinguishing in the Immortal Realm and the collapse of the Great Barrier, today, with the eternal silence of mythology, many significant events had occurred, and various spatial treasures could no longer be opened. Many divine objects had lost their supernatural abilities.

This was also the reason Wang Xuan had come in. He held the blood-stained body of the Celestial Sword Maiden and approached the bonfire's embers, hoping that some transcendent radiation from the fire could save her.

"Hmm?!" His spiritual eye was incredibly sharp and immediately noticed a bleeding body lying in the depths of the strange place.

Moreover, it seemed that the body had moved slightly.

Wang Xuan turned and left immediately. He hadn't had time to carefully observe the place when he discovered a body, which sent a chill through his heart.

The creatures that went after them were cold-blooded and ruthless like Shang Yi, they were so powerful. Wang Xuan fled directly with two supreme treasures in his hands after being chased by several creatures, and some of his body parts had even been torn apart. Even Shang Yi couldn't defend against them.

Now, Wang Xuan felt somewhat weak. With the great universe's correction successfully completed, he no longer had complete supreme treasures, and his strength might not be as great as before.

Holding the Celestial Sword Maiden, Wang Xuan instantly left the place, returned to the collapsed inner landscape, and then arrived in the cosmic void.

At that time, the decayed inner landscape had officially separated from him completely.

"Who are they, and why were they there?" Wang Xuan said to himself. He frowned and created a considerable distance with the body. The creatures did not chase after them.

Now that it was quiet, with no enemies and no life-and-death crisis, he carefully pondered, feeling a chill.

That strange space adjacent to my inner landscape, had it always been eyeing me?

After reaching the cosmic starry sky, he tried to activate the blessed land fragment, but it was useless. The spatial container had become an ordinary small stone.

As for the blood-stained gourd, it also couldn't be opened.

He had stored many things inside, and he hadn't expected that today the transcendence would suddenly decay completely, and the divine anomalies in the present world would gradually lose their effectiveness.

"The creature didn't chase after us," said Wang Xuan. He stopped and carefully stared in that direction of where he came from. The inner landscape continued to collapse, but his inner landscape was different. Even though it was decayed and was being destroyed, it was far more solid than others'.

Wang Xuan looked down at Jiang Qingyao, finding it hard to bear. She was covered in wounds and blood. Internally, her bones and organs were shattered.

Whether it was Heavenly Herb or the once-silver celestial liquid, starting today, they had little effect on her.

"No, I must return to those ashes of the bonfire!" Wang Xuan exclaimed. He found that the Celestial Sword Maiden's body was getting colder, and that faint life force was barely being maintained with great difficulty.

As time passed, the silver celestial liquid covering her would likely become less effective, and at that point, she would inevitably die completely.

Wang Xuan was very tired and was also covered in wounds. Although there were no obvious hidden dangers, recovery was very slow in this special era.

Even so, he set out again. If he didn't go now, he would never see this person again, and only be able to reminisce through small items. The truly mature and serene Celestial Sword Maiden would be lost forever, unable to return.

He didn't want such a tragic ending. Risking his life, he approached once more, holding the Celestial Sword Maiden, his left hand gripping the furnace lid and his right hand holding the Purple Celestial Dao Sword, ready to fight to the death with the body!

Indeed, when Wang Xuan re-entered and approached the extinguished bonfire, he again felt the transcendent radiation. As he got closer, his body's vitality strengthened.

He remained vigilant, watching the body in the distant darkness, which had stained the ground with blood. It seemed to be a woman, likely very old, with white hair.

Her clothing style did not belong to any known era and could barely be classified as ancient attire.

"Sleep, don't wake up," said Wang Xuan as he stood before the ashes, his wounds clearly healing faster than in the cold cosmos.

Silver substance covered his body, and now the medicinal effect of the substance began to increase sharply. Indeed, divine objects needed the transcendent era to be more powerful and valuable.

In the strange place, the last of the transcendent radiation lingered. Wang Xuan was extremely surprised.

What was the origin of this place?

It was imaginable that when the bonfire had been blazing, it would have presented a world-shocking spectacle, with transcendent radiation at its peak!

Even the immortal realm had completely extinguished, yet this place could still be like this, inspiring awe.

The Celestial Sword Maiden's life force was slowly growing stronger, and a turning point had appeared, perhaps offering a chance to revive her. He was full of anticipation and prepared to take some action because this place could not be stayed in for long.

Outside, there were a few dangerous creatures. If they gave up chasing Shang Yi and suddenly returned, Wang Xuan’s fate might be very grim.

In fact, if he didn’t leave soon, the adjacent inner landscape would also collapse completely, and he might not be able to get out.

He quickly took out the blood-stained gourd, which could be reopened here. He immediately retrieved the sacred liquid collected from Mount Bu Zhou's spiritual blood pool.

Wang Xuan swiftly applied the red sacred liquid all over Jiang Qingyao’s body, letting it seep into her wounds, hoping that with the help of the transcendent radiation, it could nourish her shattered physical body and spirit, allowing her to wake up one day.

He also bathed himself in the high-level spiritual realm's blood once again.

“Unfortunately, it wasn't the supreme spiritual blood that Shang Yi mentioned; otherwise, it might have saved her instantly.”

After completing all this, Wang Xuan felt her life force growing stronger again, continuing to increase, and he immediately showed a joyful expression.

“Sorry, it seems you don’t need this ash anymore. The bonfire is extinguished, so I’ll take the embers.” He took out a white bottle, which was originally a top-tier exotic treasure worth a fortune, but now it was of little use in the outside world. Here, it could still be used as a blessed land fragment.

He had some trepidation about the ash, so he collected it separately into the jade bottle, filling it instantly.

“Hmm...” Just then, in the distant darkness, the body lying on the ground made a sound, like thunder exploding in Wang Xuan’s ears.

It was actually still alive!

...

In the depths of the universe, Shang Yi was truly going mad. He had nowhere to escape and had been caught up with again, unable to shake them off.

The creatures were both male and female, with white hair and some young faces. One person had a vertical eye on their forehead, while another had ancient supreme rule runes imprinted on their forehead.

“What do you want?!” Shang Yi asked in a deep voice. They had all entered the spaceship, completely blocking his path.

At this moment, his inner landscape was silently opened. He finally experienced the feeling of being forcibly suppressed by outsiders.

Blood splattered everywhere. Even though he wielded the Ascension Banner, tearing through the void and hurling the Life Essence Furnace, it was useless. He only managed to pierce the massive mothership, completely destroying the rear cabin.

Shang Yi’s body was pierced by three male and two female, their hands reaching into his Life Soil, searching around.

The Sword Lunatic, so domineering and cold-blooded, was treated like this today. In an instant, the sword light from his Ascension Banner split into countless rays, causing the entire mothership to explode, but it was still useless.

Those creatures vanished in an instant and then reappeared, transitioning from void to reality, within his inner landscape.

Shang Yi, covered in blood with several gaping wounds, had a cold expression. If it were a one-on-one fight, he had the confidence to kill his opponents. But now, with the five of them working together, exchanging between void and reality, and merging with the remnants of the supreme rules, they were impossible to defend against. The five’s cultivation was united as one.

“What are you looking for?” he realized that the five were searching, seeking something, after searching his Life Soil, they entered his inner landscape.

Boom!

They blasted the inner landscape, going mad because they found nothing.

Shang Yi was furious, his killing intent sweeping across the starry sky. He hesitated, wondering if he should protect the inner landscape. Doing so might destroy them.

Especially since their current state was already abnormal, they should be killable.

However, if the inner landscape was destroyed, the consequences would be severe. Shang Yi stood among the wreckage of the shattered mothership, covered in blood, his expression fluctuating.

At the same time, he also had some doubts. Was there some misunderstanding between them? What exactly were these people looking for? His heart skipped a beat as he thought of Wang Xuan. Could it be that he had missed something on that decayed young man?

“Everyone, the thing you are looking for should still be on that young man!” Shang Yi spoke up.

However, these people seemed to be in despair. With time running out and the eternal silence of mythology upon them, they were about to vanish completely. Once again, they charged at Shang Yi.

“If you want to die, I will send you on your way!” Shang Yi, a ruthless man, also went mad at that moment, wielding the Ascension Banner and preparing to self-destruct his inner landscape!

...

Wang Xuan’s body stiffened. He sighed. Today was truly full of calamities, one wave had not settled before another arose. He had encountered unprecedented bloody tribulations.

Am I going to have to fight another bloody battle now and die here?

At this moment, he couldn't help but think of the Ascension Banner. It was truly an ominous object; whoever held it would be doomed, without exception!

He was speechless. Ancient people aside, recently, Heng Jun had died miserably, Qi Tian had sacrificed himself, and today, he had merely held it for a moment and ended up in such a miserable situation.

Even Shang Yi, who was unparalleled, had an unfavorable survival situation after holding the Ascension Banner. He was now being hunted by several mysterious creatures.

Wang Xuan slowly turned around, bracing himself to face the woman lying on the ground, but the result was unexpected.

That woman’s figure was blurring, seeming to dissipate, and then she truly vanished. There was no abnormal movement at the spot, only that the space was distorted.

Wang Xuan turned around and ran, holding the Celestial Sword Maiden. It was rare that no bloody incident had occurred. He truly couldn’t withstand any more consumption. After a series of great battles, he was severely injured and exhausted.

“After getting far from the Ascension Banner, my luck has improved somewhat.” He dashed far away.

The inner landscape had long separated from him, and the collapse intensified. Finally, with a bang, his decayed inner landscape disappeared, leaving a vortex in the cosmic void, which then completely calmed, as if nothing had ever happened.

Wang Xuan firmly clutched the white bottle, without putting the lid on. He feared that even though the exotic treasure contained ashes, it might not open outside.

“Little Bear!” He saw the silver-white spaceship in the distance and exerted all his strength, vibrating the spiritual domain, and using the Purple Celestial Dao Sword for support.

“Wang Xuan!” The mechanical little bear had been hovering nearby, estimating that Shang Yi wouldn’t return. Only then had it come back to search for Wang Xuan’s remains, unexpectedly finding him alive.

The hatch opened, and Wang Xuan rushed in instantly, shouting, “Let’s go, get away from here, as fast as possible!”

At the same time, he noticed that the mechanical little bear was not as agile as before. It had completely fallen out of the transcendent level, looking more like an intelligent mechanical creature now.

“My mind feels like it’s covered in dust.” Its voice was somewhat mechanical and dull, but it was still loyally executing various commands.

“Is she alright?” The mechanical little bear asked with concern, looking at Jiang Qingyao, but its face was stiff, far from the rich expressions it used to have.

Wang Xuan sighed lightly and said, “I will find a way, someday in the future, to make you a transcendent little bear again.”

The silver-white spaceship sped away, disappearing from this section of the starry sky. Wang Xuan couldn’t wait any longer and checked the ashes in the jade bottle. Indeed, there was still transcendent radiation inside, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. At least nothing unexpected had happened.

“No, something... something major has happened!” As he explored the interior, his scalp tingled. There was an entire world within the bottle!

To be precise, there was a dim, deep space, not very large, but laid out exactly like that strange place from earlier.

Inside the bottle, there was a bonfire the size of a pond, and in the distant darkness, a woman lay prone. The entire space was deep and incredibly mysterious.

Wang Xuan realized a very serious issue, the entire strange place, this mysterious space, seemed to be radiated from the bonfire’s embers!

What made his heart race even more was that the woman moved. She climbed up, her white hair stained with blood, and she slowly stood up!