Chapter 194

Chapter 194: Origin Star: Lunar Star

Li Shuang’s endurance was beyond doubt.

Her childhood on the streets.

Those ten forced silent years.

And the betrayals that cut to the bone. All of it had forged her heart like blades, sharp enough to slice through any chain made of pain.

Lunar Starlight was as fierce as promised. Under its glow, Li Shuang’s soul felt scorched by fire, every strand wrapped in extreme agony.

She sat cross-legged. Drops of sweat slid from her brow and steamed away before they hit the ground.

Her soul seemed torn into countless pieces. In every instant, she felt she might really die like this.

Yet the next instant, under the power of three strange treasures, her soul pulled itself together again.

Over and over.

Shattered, then rebuilt.

No one knew how long the torment lasted. At last the light of the Lunar Star faded, and the effects of the Stellar Fruit and the Soul-Settling Pill slowly ebbed.

Li Shuang’s face stayed calm.

She had failed.

She had held on to the very end.

But the odds of success were too small.

The Lunar Starlight finally scattered.

Though the battle had been fought on the level of the soul, her body looked unharmed. Even so, when she remembered that soul-pain, she could not help a slight shiver.

She looked to the Heaven and Earth Furnace.

Starlight still lingered.

Moonlight still hung in the air.

She had enough resources for two more tries.

If she failed both times, then all the gains from this hard venture would drop to zero, and she would still have to choose a dim star as her Origin Star.

If she succeeded, she would rise in one step.

[Do I gamble or not?] In a heartbeat, she made her final decision.

[Bet.] With the Heaven and Earth Furnace in her hands, if she always picked the safe path, how could she ever catch up to those peerless geniuses of the Central Continent?

She steadied her breath, then swallowed another Stellar Fruit and another Soul-Settling Pill.

The violent pain was still fresh in memory, but without any hesitation, Li Shuang drew the Lunar Starlight again.

The first time someone faces pain, not knowing it beforehand may help them endure.

But after suffering an extreme pain once, few dare to walk into it a second time.

For Li Shuang, though, that first pain set a baseline.

[So this is all it is.]

[Just this much.]

[How can this compare to the despair I felt that day on the snowy mountain?]

The Lunar Star hung high, its light pouring down like water over Li Shuang.

Under the moonlight, a hazy glow wrapped her form.

This time, the light of the Lunar Star came even stronger than before.

Li Shuang was like a tiny boat pushing upstream on a sea of pain that belonged to her alone.

That sea held endless torment.

Winds howled and waves rose. The boat could sink at any time.

But if she could cross this ocean, a brand new world would open before her.

In the sharpest agony, Li Shuang’s will began to blur.

The Supreme Emotionless Art ran without pause, bringing bits of coolness into the heat.

This art guarded a thread of clarity in her sea of consciousness.

Again, the sea of pain roared with storm winds and towering waves.

Before, Li Shuang would have gritted her teeth and held on by force.

But this time, she suddenly opened her eyes.

Pain of the soul, suffering of the soul, could not be put into words.

If she only endured, could she really reach the far shore?

She looked up at the starry sky.

The world is vast. To reach the far shore, you must borrow a greater force.

When the next wave crashed down upon the sea of the soul, the little boat vanished. In its place under her feet bloomed a lotus.

One lotus was not enough.

So an Azure Lotus formed petal by petal.

The Lotus Seed that had already fused with her slowly floated into view at the center of the Azure Lotus.

Under Li Shuang’s feet, the Azure Lotus appeared once more.

In that instant, a faint image of a Ninth-Grade Azure Lotus shimmered on her brow.

The lotus image flashed and sank away, but Li Shuang knew many things had changed.

When the Azure Lotus took shape, the harsh pain melted like ice in the sun. Beams of Lunar Deity light fell across the lotus petals, beautiful and mysterious, as if this scene had always been meant to be.

In that moment, Li Shuang felt it strongly: [It worked!]

Without delay, she took the final step and let her soul link with the Lunar Star.

Up in the sky, the Lunar Star flickered light and dark.

In the Sword Sect, on a remote peak, an Elder lifted his head to the heavens, surprise glinting in his eyes.

The Lunar Deity and the Sun are the two most important stars.

There are many arts in this world that use the power of the stars, but none of them are said to involve the Lunar Deity or the Sun.

Yet now this Lunar Star…

The Elder murmured: “No, this is impossible. It must be the star itself changing. It cannot be done by a person.”

Worry crossed his eyes.

The Lunar Deity changing like this, could it point to the troubled times we are living in now?

At the Treasure Pavilion’s door, a woman raised her head.

Elder Ling looked up at the sky. Her hand trembled. Her last stitch scratched a long mark across the silk instead. She breathed out: “Lunar Star…”

What had stirred the Lunar Star to change?

Across the Central Continent, one peerless expert after another felt something.

The movement of the Lunar Deity was seen not only on the Nanlan Continent. The whole world witnessed it at the same time.

Someone said, softly but shocked: “Could it be that fate itself has shifted?”

Another voice weighed the air: “Could a great demon be born?”

A third sighed: “Troubled times. Truly troubled times.”

In the Myriad Arts City, a stunning woman opened her eyes.

Within that city there is no sun or moon, but her gaze lifted as if she could see the sky outside with a glance.

She whispered: “Lunar Starlight…”

No. This was not a simple disturbance.

From it, she sensed a familiar aura.

It was the Rebirth Art.

The First Turn of the Rebirth Art tempers the soul with the power of the stars.

So now, someone had chosen the Lunar Star as their Origin Star?

She herself was only at the Second Turn, and she had already changed her Origin Star once. But in sheer power, it could not compare to the Lunar Star.

Who was this person who had stirred the Lunar Deity?

It could not be one of the new people at the First Turn. Who would choose the Lunar Star right from the start?

[Could it be a hidden expert already at the Second Turn?]

Her eyes grew brighter and brighter. [Who is it? Who has reached this step?]

She forced herself to calm down.

Since this person had made it this far, sooner or later they would need the method for the Third Turn.

She only needed to wait quietly.

[Little Sister, the day we meet may not be far.]

The Lunar Star’s disturbance did not last long. After Li Shuang fully chose her Origin Star, the star returned to normal.

Only Li Shuang could feel it: a faint, strange link had formed between her and the Lunar Star.

What pleased her most was this:

In a single night, on her very first draw of Lunar Power for Soul Tempering, her soul strength leaped straight to Late Nascent Soul.

It had already surpassed her former peak.