Chapter 271

Chapter 271: The Origin of Starfield Plain

“Wait,” Shen Sang Ruo called, stopping the bouncing Little Shi.

Little Shi turned back and asked, “Does Elder Sister have something else?”

“How much do you know about this Barrier Ward and Starfield Plain?” Shen Sang Ruo asked. “Also, besides the Devil Qi, is there anything else unusual in Starfield Plain?”

“What I know is that there was no Barrier Ward here ten thousand years ago.”

The Barrier Ward, the Devil Qi, and that protected source of Spiritual Power all seemed to hide some kind of secret.

Shen Sang Ruo now leaned toward the idea that the Barrier Ward was man made, not natural.

Either the source of the Devil Qi set it up to better take over Starfield Plain, or the people protecting the source of Spiritual Power set it up to stop the Devil Qi from spreading. These were only her guesses, and she wasn’t sure. So she wanted to learn more from this local snake.

Little Shi said, “When I was born, the Barrier Ward already existed. According to messages left by other snakes in my clan, the Barrier Ward was already here when our ancestors lived.”

“I studied the Barrier Ward. It should cover all of Starfield Plain, because I tried digging down, and the Barrier Ward is underground too.”

“Only some people and some Demonic Beasts can pass through. Elder Sister knows that part, but I don’t know what the exact conditions are.”

Shen Sang Ruo thought it over. She had wondered about this before.

There wasn’t much in common among the group who came in this time.

If she had to name something, it would be that they all belonged to the younger generation, and most were standouts among the young, gifted and talented.

Little Shi added, “The other Demonic Beasts in Starfield Plain don’t care about the Barrier Ward and barely react to it.”

There were two reasons. First, Starfield Plain was large, and the Barrier Ward lay on the edge. Few Demonic Beasts went there. Second, the Spiritual Qi in Starfield Plain was rich. Training here was enough, and there was almost no competition.

“I only noticed the Devil Qi spreading in the last few hundred years,” she said, “but the spread probably started earlier, maybe around a thousand years ago.”

Shen Sang Ruo frowned. “Only a thousand years? Then the Barrier Ward probably wasn’t set by the source of the Devil Qi.”

Otherwise, the spread would have started the moment the Barrier Ward was placed.

“There are no Human Cultivators living in Starfield Plain, right?” she asked suddenly.

“Yes. I’ve lived here for hundreds of years and never saw a single person,” Little Shi said. “Only some ruins of human houses and the like.”

That meant people had been active here many years ago.

“How many Great Demons are in Starfield Plain?” Shen Sang Ruo asked.

“You mean Great Demons like me?” Little Shi replied.

“Yes, and those stronger than you,” Shen Sang Ruo said, meaning those at Divine Transformation and above.

Little Shi looked up as if thinking. “Not many. There are about a hundred at Mid Nascent Soul Stage. There are only a few at Nascent Soul, Late Stage.”

“Only that many? None at Divine Transformation and above?” Shen Sang Ruo was surprised.

Something was off.

“None,” Little Shi said with certainty. “There might be Nascent Soul Stage Demonic Beasts I don’t know about, but there are definitely no Demonic Beasts above Divine Transformation.”

“Oh, wait, there will be soon. Little Shi will be the first Demonic Beast in Starfield Plain to break through to Divine Transformation.”

Seeing Shen Sang Ruo still doubtful, Little Shi continued, “There are only five Great Demons at Nascent Soul, Late Stage in Starfield Plain.”

“Besides me, the others are a Flood Dragon, a Golden Roc, a Gale Horse, and a Phantom Tiger.”

“That Flood Dragon is very strong. It might break through to Divine Transformation after a while.”

[Flood Dragon? The same one whose Dragon Sinew she had pulled out? Yikes.]

Shen Sang Ruo’s eyes flickered, and Little Shi thought she still didn’t believe her. The girl tugged her sleeve and swayed it back and forth as she said, “I’m not lying, Elder Sister.”

“I know,” Shen Sang Ruo said. “But from now on there are only four Nascent Soul, Late Stage Great Demons in Starfield Plain. The Flood Dragon is gone.”

“Oh.” Little Shi nodded, looking a little sorry.

She had wanted to wait until she reached Divine Transformation and then see if she could devour that Flood Dragon. Since a Flood Dragon also came from a snake, eating it would be reasonable, right?

“Eh?” Realizing something, Little Shi asked, “How do you know the Flood Dragon died, Elder Sister?”

“Did you do it?”

Shen Sang Ruo coughed lightly and said with a straight face, “It tried to eat me, so I had to kill it.”

“I get it,” Little Shi said with a wise look. “Like that dumb snake I met before. We had no choice.”

Shen Sang Ruo steadied her mood and brought the topic back: “Why are there so few Great Demons in Starfield Plain?”

“As far as I know, this region has existed for tens of thousands of years. How can there be so few Great Demons, and not even one at Divine Transformation Stage? That doesn’t make sense.”

“The Spiritual Qi in here is stronger than outside. Even the Cultivation World outside has dozens of Cultivators at Divine Transformation Stage.”

Little Shi didn’t find it strange and explained, “This region may have existed for tens of thousands of years, but it only started to wake up and revive in the last few thousand.”

“So only having this many Great Demons is normal.”

“Revive?”

“Yes. The old Starfield Plain was almost a ruin. There wasn’t even a trace of Spiritual Qi in the world. Back then, the Demonic Beasts and spiritual plants in Starfield Plain were like ordinary animals and plants.”

They couldn’t train or absorb Spiritual Qi. They could only live and breed.

“When Spiritual Qi gradually returned, the clans of Demonic Beasts and spiritual plants grew and got stronger. That’s how Starfield Plain became what it is now.”

These were reports passed down in her clan.

“That explains it,” Shen Sang Ruo said with a nod.

But a new question rose: why had Starfield Plain turned into a ruin before, with all Spiritual Qi gone?

There was no other useful information. Little Shi only knew this much, so they couldn’t guess the cause.

Once she got out, she would ask Immortal Lord Chang Li and Daoist Wu Wei. They might know more.

Shen Sang Ruo didn’t linger and prepared to leave Starfield Plain.

Little Shi asked, “Anything else you want to ask, Elder Sister?”

“No. Go to Closed-Door Cultivation,” Shen Sang Ruo said. “I’m leaving Starfield Plain.” She took out a Teleportation Artifact.

Gathering Spiritual Power in her hand, she swept it across the artifact. A glowing thread extended from it, pointing the way out of Starfield Plain.

She took the Miniaturized Spirit Vein and the rest from her Cosmos Pouch. Looking at these “heroic feats,” her heavy mood finally brightened a little.

She smiled and said, “I wonder how Sect Master and Master will react when they see this?”

[She guessed they would be very surprised.]

She put the Spirit Vein, ores, Living Spirit Tea Tree, Spirit Spring, and that stretch of land into the Teleportation Artifact.

Then Shen Sang Ruo remembered that the cluster of Divine Soul Power hadn’t been sent out yet and said, “Master burned his divine soul earlier. This Divine Soul Power can repair his soul.”