The Stars Beyond

Chapter 536: The Origin Of The Great Barrier

Wang Xuan was alarmed. He had thought he successfully distanced himself from that peculiar place, but he never expected to carry a living corpse with him. She had actually followed him!

Inside the bottle world, the woman's white hair was disheveled, her face pale, and the marks of time were evident on her. Crow's feet had formed at the corners of her eyes, but it was apparent that she must have been extremely beautiful in her youth.

Even now, she exuded an extraordinary temperament, with an attitude that seemed to overlook the world. Her gaze gradually became sharp and intimidating. However, her body had significant issues. There was a horrific wound on her neck, with blood soaking half of her body.

She looked at Wang Xuan without speaking, then slowly turned back to look towards the depths of the darkness.

Wang Xuan felt uncertain.

What era did this being belong to? Was she human?

Despite her humanoid appearance, Wang Xuan did not know what race she belonged to.

Who caused the wound on her body? Was it the other beings, or were there still unknown terrifying monsters in this space?

Wang Xuan didn't act recklessly. He tightened his grip on the Purple Celestial Dao Sword and the furnace lid, hoping she wouldn't go berserk. He would prefer if she passed out again.

He looked down at Jiang Qingyao, and his heart sank instantly. In the real world where the correction of the universe had been successful, her condition had worsened significantly.

The substances from the Spiritual Blood Pool of the higher spiritual world and the silver substance from the Solitary Void were too weak in the real world. They were not enough to sustain her life, let alone revive her.

Wang Xuan felt a heavy burden in his heart. From this phenomenon, he could sense how cruel the Old World, New World, and the Great Barrier, all places related to the transcendent, were. After this major collapse, many transcendent beings would likely face a tragic fate, perhaps even losing their lives!

He felt extremely troubled. Although he had obtained the extinguished fire pit, having the white-haired woman standing in the bottle world with a neck almost severed made the situation much more complicated.

"Come in!" At that moment, the woman suddenly spoke.

Wang Xuan's expression changed slightly, but he didn't hesitate. Clenching his teeth, he carried Jiang Qingyao into the bottle world. For the sake of resurrecting the Celestial Sword Maiden, he was willing to take any risk.

This could very well be the last transcendent radiation in the vast universe, and one of the few remaining chances for salvation.

"I'll go in too, to help you take care of her," the mechanical bear said stiffly, jumping into the bottle. In case of a battle, it could take Jiang Qingyao away from those two.

Watching its wooden, lifeless face, Wang Xuan sighed and nodded. After the transcendent eternal silence, his peculiar friends were regressing. In some time, he wondered what would become of it.

The white-haired woman's feet were covered in bloodstains, and the crimson liquid had yet to dry. Her identity remained uncertain to Wang Xuan, he hadn't figured out who she really was.

There were a total of six beings, why was the space that they were in adjacent to his inner landscape? There was something unusual about this space no matter how you looked at it.

With blood dripping down, the woman drifted over silently without stopping. Her sharp gaze gradually dimmed, as if she had resigned herself to her fate.

"The decay of the Immortal Dao, the absence of the transcendent, ultimately leads to death," she murmured. Of course, these were words spoken on a spiritual level.

Wang Xuan quickly placed Jiang Qingyao on a clean piece of bluestone by the fire pit, allowing her to absorb the transcendent radiation. He remained silent, on guard, carefully observing the surroundings.

Indeed, the entire space was created from the transcendent radiation of the pond-sized fire pit. Under the Spiritual Eye, there were traces to follow, approaching reality the closer you got.

As for the distant areas beyond the reach of the extinguished fire pit's radiation, they were faint, blurry, and even the space seemed distorted. It was just like a dream. This had a profound impact on him! The entire space was born from the residual radiation of a fire pit!

The actual normal space wasn't very large, with the fire pit at its center, radiating a radius of only a hundred meters. Beyond this range, it was dark, distorted, and vague, and it was unclear what lurked in those areas.

"Unfortunately, you are someone with a special inner landscape, but your foundation was stolen, and your inner landscape has collapsed," the woman said as she looked at him, expressing both regret and pity.

Wang Xuan suddenly felt threads of runes flowing through her dim eyes, and beams of light passed inexplicably through his body.

She was searching and looking through all his secrets. Fortunately, she couldn’t find anything as even he didn’t know where the three light spots were now.

"Yes, there's a lunatic named Shang Yi who took everything from me!" Wang Xuan said with a heavy tone, blaming him. In fact, the cold-blooded and ruthless Shang Yi had indeed done so, and he had to shoulder this blame.

Unfortunately, the woman remained indifferent and did not go on a killing spree. Although she was angry, her eyes dimmed again as she shook her head and sighed, "Even with infinite foundation, and the potential to grow, what can one achieve here? It's all too late, it's already too late, the day of eternal silence for myths is when we die. We've endured for too long, and no one, no object, can truly remain eternal and immortal. Eventually, we'll become someone else's memory, until all traces of us disappear."

Wang Xuan felt a generation gap between them, he was unable to strike up a conversation, but still couldn't help but speak. Since she hadn't made a move and didn't seem malicious, he wanted to clarify some things.

"Elder, what is this place?" asked Wang Xuan. He cautiously phrased his question, holding back from asking more. In fact, he was more interested in knowing the background of these six beings. But he feared that the other party would tell him about the ancient hunter coveting his foundation which might trigger a fight.

"This is the origin of the Great Barrier," said the white-haired woman, informing him directly.

Wang Xuan was shocked.

If this place was indeed the origin of the Great Barrier, wouldn't that also mean it was one of the sources of transcendence?　

He looked at the fire pit, his heart pounding wildly.

Did it once create the transcendental world with its radiation?

This idea stunned even him!

"You can take a look around," the woman said.

Wang Xuan looked down, seeing the ground beneath his feet. But as his gaze intensified and his spiritual perception reached its peak, he discovered the truth.

"Below, there's the Immortal Realm, and nearby, there's also the Great Barrier, but they've all gone out, plunged into darkness!" exclaimed Wang Xuan. He had experienced enough twists and turns today, but he was still stunned by it now.

One after another, these Great Veils were the residences of immortals, the spaces where gods lived, and the semi-material, semi-spiritual planes where transcendents ascended.

Their origins were all related to this fire pit, were they radiated out by it?　

As if knowing what he was thinking, the white-haired woman said, "Those semi-spiritual, semi-material planes have always existed, but after the transcendent firelight radiated in, transcendent power was born."

Wang Xuan felt a bit numb-headed. The origin of this fire pit was simply unimaginable!

"At its peak, this fire was over billions of feet high, illuminating the Immortal Realm, with a rich transcendental radiation. Now it's extinguished, diminished, and everything will dissipate," the woman said.

"What's the origin of this fire pit? How did it appear?" Wang Xuan asked.

"The vast universe, under the eternal night, occasionally has transcendent meteors streaking across, most of which gather here, burning and creating all things with its radiation," the white-haired woman explained.

Wang Xuan lowered his head, staring at the remnants of the transcendent fire pit. He actually saw some burnt stones and some yellowed paper... was that... spirit money!

"The ashes don't look like much, not even enough to fill a pond, but many transcendent meteorites were actually burnt here. They all vanished, disappeared, leaving only this bit behind," she explained.

After hearing this, Wang Xuan looked at the spirit money.

What was going on here again?　

Without Wang Xuan asking, the white-haired woman knew his thoughts and had already spoken, saying, "Time is short, and none of us has the power to change anything. We can only listen to the twilight song of the immortals. We are destined to fade away, so we burn some scriptures, burn some paper, and bid ourselves farewell in advance."

Wang Xuan thought of his first time entering the Immortal Realm, where he had seen many yellowed spirit money floating in the extinguished areas.

His face was somewhat numb.

Were those spirit money scattered from here?

"In the future, there may not be new transcendent fire pits appearing. When mythological meteors streak across the sky again and fall across the universe, the former Immortal Realm may be illuminated again and revived, or a new Great Barrier may be born. But we won't be there to see it," she said with regret, deep loneliness, and a hint of unwillingness.

"It's a pity that you have such strong talent, but you won't live to see it," she looked at Wang Xuan, with some emotion fluctuation, saying, "That person who destroyed your inner landscape deserves to die!"

She spoke with hatred, her eyes becoming sharp again, wishing she could kill Shang Yi herself.

"If he hadn't destroyed the barrier, the residual heat of the fire pit could have sustained us for some years longer, or perhaps there could have been a chance for a turning point. But now, even the last remnants of warmth are rapidly dissipating, and today, we will perish," the woman sighed.

Wang Xuan fell silent. He actually wanted to ask if the turning point she’s waiting for, related to his foundation. But he didn't want to make himself uncomfortable. At this point, there was no need to know the truth. Perhaps there was another truth, and his speculation might not be reliable.

"Elder, about your injury..." said Wang Xuan. He changed the subject, wanting to know who wanted to kill her.

The white-haired woman smiled, covering her neck. Finally dealing with the wound, a white light flashed, and it healed.

"In the face of the vast universe's corrections, who can remain unharmed? Who can avoid death? Every transcendent must go through a calamity," she said.

With the drastic changes in the environment, her blood essence, her foundation, fell into eternal silence. They gradually cooled like the ashes of the fire pit, and her life was extinguished.

"Elder, why are you living next to my... inner landscape?" Wang Xuan couldn't help but ask why they were adjacent to his inner landscape.

"We didn't choose to be your neighbors. It's mainly because you are indeed remarkable. You opened a special inner landscape prematurely, confirming that you are extremely suitable for embarking on the path of cultivation. Also, because of this, the distance between your inner landscape and the origin of the Great Barrier is very close," she explained.

Wang Xuan was lost in thought, muttering to himself, "Am I to blame myself?"

"Conceited, arrogant, narcissistic!" the mechanical bear said bluntly.

"Do you want to save her?" the white-haired woman asked, looking at Jiang Qingyao.

"Yes!" Wang Xuan immediately replied without hesitation. He had originally wanted to ask for help, but he didn't want to bring it up when she said she would die today and her foundation was exhausted.

The white-haired woman said, "With the end of transcendence, there are not many ways to save her. One is to put her in a complete Life Essence Furnace to preserve her and slowly restore her in the future. Second, I can reluctantly consume myself to reignite a strand of Transcendent Fire, allowing Heavenly Herbs, Spiritual Blood Pool, and that silver substance to reappear with mythical effects."

"Please, elder, save her!" Wang Xuan pleaded for her help, but his heart sank. He guessed that she might have a request in return for saving her.

"To save her, I need to use my remaining blood essence to ignite the fire pit. Whether it succeeds or not depends on whether she herself has enough luck," the white-haired woman said. After all, this was no longer the era of transcendence. A strand of Transcendent Fire was not enough to transform this place into a mythical world.

"I have a condition." Sure enough, the white-haired woman made a request, looking into the distance at the distorted spacetime at the end of the residual heat radiation from the extinguished fire pit, she said, "You accompany me to a place and send me on my way."

"Elder, where do you want to go?" Wang Xuan asked.

"Today, if nothing unexpected happens, I am destined to perish. But I'm not reconciled. I want to go to the origin of the transcendent meteors that cross this vast universe, to find a way to survive. I want to find the true Transcendent Realm," the white-haired woman said firmly, adding, "It won't take much of your time. After all, I only have less than half a day of life left."