Chapter 442

Chapter 443: Stillness in the Dark

In the end, everything seemed to return to the starting point. The crisis that began at the Grand Void Spiritual Axis pointed back to it once more.

As the warning came through by Faster than Light communication from Sentinel Silence, alarms sounded across the capital. From the Remote Mist Sect to Nethergloom Valley, from the polar Heng Tian Star Array to the Low Orbit Guard Posts above the equator, the wail of sirens rolled through the atmosphere of the Grand Void and struck every heart.

Ancient planetary defense protocols activated. Thousands of towering palaces in Grand Void orbit made emergency maneuvers. Protective arrays lit one after another, forming a misty shield that was closing fast over the sky. The capital garrison mustered and rose at once, building inner and outer lines anchored on the Nethermoon. Elders in seclusion and hidden ancestors from every sect were summoned and roused. With no time to steady their breath, they took their sect treasures and weapons and rushed into space to fill the defense line.

At Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, a hazy rift opened between the peaks. As it turned and expanded, the cathedral shaped starship Otherworldly Hotel teleported straight from high orbit over Sentinel Silence to the sea of clouds before the Parted Clouds Palace.

Immortal Yuan Ling stood on the Plaza before the Grand Hall, watching the huge ship sink into the cloud sea, his face dark as water.

The Nine Tailed Silver Fox flew across the sky, landed before the Grand Hall, and turned into human form. Yu Sheng and the others returned to this familiar place.

Coming straight from the storm’s heart on Sentinel Silence to the Cloud Sea Grand Hall left them disoriented. Yu Sheng felt it the most. A moment ago he had been looking down on an alien world through the storm’s eyes. Minutes after being “reborn,” he had forced the Otherworldly Hotel to teleport to the Grand Void Spiritual Axis. When he jumped from Foxy’s back, he almost fell into the clouds behind him if Luna had not caught his arm.

Immortal Yuan Ling strode over, but before he spoke, Irene blurted out: “Old man, has the Evolving Youth Form arrived?”

“Not yet,” Immortal Yuan Ling said quickly, “but the lines are set. Masters and weapons from every sect are still lifting off. Soon I will take the Mountain Guarding Disciples to low orbit as well, but we do not know from which direction the Evolving Youth Form will come.”

Irene sighed and said: “To be honest, I doubt your lines can stop that thing, but some preparation is better than none.”

Yu Sheng had steadied a little. Hearing the little doll, he waved and said: “Be positive. The Evolving Youth Form has only one Ascension Core left. It is badly damaged and nearly out of energy. It might really be stopped.”

Irene curled her lip and kept quiet. Immortal Yuan Ling looked past Yu Sheng at the two figures behind him.

Immortal Yuan Hao stood with Xuan Che. Yuan Hao still looked fresh, but Xuan Che could not hide how tired he was.

“No way to intercept early?” Yuan Hao stepped up and asked.

“No,” Immortal Yuan Ling said with a shake of his head: “Anything that enters Hyperspace is almost impossible to intercept, and this Evolving Youth Form does not jump like a normal Celestial Ship or starship. At first, we got a faint auto tracking ping from Sentinel Silence, then the signal died. Right now we cannot even fix its jump speed.”

Yu Sheng frowned and said: “So it might arrive in a few days or even months, or it could show up in orbit the next second?”

Immortal Yuan Ling did not speak. He only nodded with a grim face.

After a moment, he broke the silence and asked with worry: “How is Sentinel Silence?”

The outbreak had been faster and harsher than many expected. The Evolving Youth Form was beyond human effort. He had sent support toward Sentinel Silence, but the border was far. The sect teams from the nearest worlds had not arrived before the Dark Angels sealed the whole system into an Otherworld. When communications returned, Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain received the warning that the Evolving Youth Form was charging straight at the Grand Void Spiritual Axis. No wonder he was so concerned about Sentinel Silence, even as the Grand Void Spiritual Axis lay under its own shadow.

“Sentinel Silence took heavy losses, but most of that was from centuries of erosion and reshaping by the Evolving Youth Form,” Yu Sheng sighed and said: “In the end, the planet was saved, and most of the people. I used some methods to force it into early Ascension, which weakened it and kept the world from breaking apart. That was my limit.”

Immortal Yuan Ling blinked.

After a moment he bowed deeply to Yu Sheng and said: “That is a world saving deed.”

“Forget credit,” Yu Sheng waved and said: “We need to decide how to handle it. If that thing really reaches the Grand Void Spiritual Axis, all my setup is wasted. Without help from here, the survivors on Sentinel Silence may not live long.”

Immortal Yuan Ling straightened and said: “What do you need? The sects of Grand Void will fully cooperate.”

Yu Sheng did not answer at once. [What do I need? If it appears in orbit in the very next moment, nothing will be in time.]

He needed a storm like the one on Sentinel Silence. He needed another trap, time to prepare, and another soaking that would drench its Ascension Core in blood rain, and Yun Qing Zi would have to play along. [That sounded impossible.]

Just then, sharp sirens ripped through the sky. Their uneasy wail rolled across the Yun Shan mists of Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain.

Yuan Ling, Yuan Hao, and Xuan Che all changed expression at once.

An Inner Disciple dived from the clouds and hit the flagstones before Immortal Yuan Ling, white as chalk, and said: “Master, it is here, the Evolving Youth Form is here.”

Immortal Yuan Ling drew a quick breath: “So fast?”

So fast. They had named this worst case already, but the Evolving Youth Form truly appearing in orbit still made every heart sink.

Yu Sheng looked back at the Otherworldly Hotel riding the cloud sea. He knew how fast he had come. Before leaving, he took only a short time to rebuild flesh from the storm and fit back into a human view. Then he used Door Opening to teleport the ship to the Grand Void, without traveling any Hyperspace lane.

The Evolving Youth Form had taken only a little longer.

If that was its jump speed, then given the long distance from Sentinel Silence, it was almost teleportation. [How did it do that? Or is this the true Descent power of a mature Dark Angel?]

Shock flashed through him, but it was not the time to dwell. He lifted his hand and said: “Enough thinking. Launch.”

The powerful engine array roared to life. The Otherworldly Hotel rose from the cloud sea. Dozens of fully armed Spirit Mountain Celestial Ships of every size lifted with it. From all across Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, lines of light shot toward low orbit.

In the command hall of the Otherworldly Hotel, the holo platform came alive. Yu Sheng looked up at the projection. Yuan Ling, Yuan Hao, and Xuan Che were aboard Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain’s main Flying Vessel, Taia. In the feed, the wide Spirit Disk hall lay behind them, and pilots worked in a tight rush.

Behind Yu Sheng, the wide Observation Window showed the planet’s rim sinking fast and the vastness of space sweeping in past tough composite panes and the faint glow of the shield.

Countless points of light pricked the dark. Between them, a half transparent haze shield faintly wrapped the entire world.

“Where is the Evolving Youth Form now?” Yu Sheng asked.

“It is still in high orbit,” Xuan Che said, a strange look on his face, “it opened a rift a short while ago, and a gray black crystal mass drifted out. Since then, it has not moved at all.”

Yu Sheng frowned: “Stopped in orbit, not moving?”

“Yes,” Xuan Che answered, then shared the forward feed to the Otherworldly Hotel and said: “This just came from the Firmament Hall. Look.”

Yu Sheng’s frown deepened as he watched.

The Evolving Youth Form’s Ascension Core hung in open space and looked as if it had completely stopped.

Thin black rifts floated among the stars, the wrinkled after image of a Hyperspace lane not yet gone. Against that cradle of fractures lay the Evolving Youth Form’s remaining gray black crystal clump. Withered root like crystal matter bunched and snarled as if in a death spasm. A faint glow lingered inside, but that seemed to be all that was left.

Luna had come to stand behind Yu Sheng. She stared at the holo for a long moment and said: “Looks close to dead.”

Yu Sheng kept silent, brows knit tight.

He tried to feel for the blood link, tried to call to the crystal now motionless in space.

Only a hollow, blurry rushing answered him, like the wind that now and then blows across the Soul Wilderness.