Chapter 165: Ruins of the Star God Temple, the Secret of Xuannv
The experience in the turbulent spacetime zone was like a brief but perilous nightmare. When the two finally escaped from that silvery, chaotic region and landed on a relatively stable, vast, suspended landmass, they couldn't help but feel as if they were in another world.
Qin Yixuan's face still held a trace of the paleness of exhaustion. The information contained within the star mark had a profound impact on her soul, yet her eyes were unusually bright, like the brightest stars in the night sky. She closed her eyes slightly, carefully sensing the mark that had merged into her sea of consciousness. It now emitted gentle, sustained fluctuations, resonating clearly with the call of the distant sacred ruins, as if sketching an invisible path map in her mind.
"Follow me." Qin Yixuan's voice was firm. She took Ye Li's hand and followed the guidance of the mark, heading towards the depths of this landmass.
As one approaches the core of the ruins, the surrounding landscape begins to take on a stark contrast to the rest of the wasteland. While still dilapidated—cracked pillars, crumbling temple walls, plazas covered in dust and rubble—the remains are constructed from a strange stone, as smooth as jade, a faint glow of starlight flowing through it even after ages of dust. The remaining patterns are no longer the chaotic marks of corrosion, but rather ancient and sacred runes. Though incomplete, they still convey a sense of order and power.
The "void miasma" in the air has become much thinner here, replaced by a faint energy aura like the moonlight. Although it is also weak, it stubbornly resists the erosion of the outside world and makes people feel refreshed.
However, this sacred ruin was not defenseless. When they tried to enter a relatively intact inner temple area entered by a huge archway, something strange happened.
"Buzz—"
From the void, countless pale golden chains composed of pure, luminous runes of the Heavenly Laws materialized, interweaving into a vast web that blocked the path. These runic chains exuded an unbreachable majesty. Any unauthorized approach would trigger a counterattack, unleashing a fiery divine light capable of purifying evil yet annihilating all life. Simultaneously, above the ground, faint star patterns illuminated, forming a complex maze. The sense of space suddenly distorted, the path ahead seemed to stretch infinitely, and the path back blurred.
This is the remaining protective barrier of the Star God Temple! After eons of time and the collapse of the God Realm, these barriers have lost most of their energy sources and their power is reduced to a fraction of what it once was. However, their inherent status is extremely high, and they are still not something that can be easily forced through.
Ye Li paused, her eyes grim. She could sense the power contained within these restrictions, a level far beyond anything seen in the spirit world. Breaking them by force, regardless of success, would inevitably cause massive energy fluctuations, and no one could predict what would be awakened within these silent ruins.
"Let me do it." Qin Yixuan stepped forward, standing before the barrier. She took a deep breath, and a mysterious goddess's aura naturally flowed around her, resonating subtly with the lingering sacred aura. She extended a slender jade finger, her fingertips shrouded in pure starlight, and gently tapped the pale golden rune chain.
She didn't resort to brute force, instead knocking on the familiar door of a homecoming, like a wanderer returning home. The star mark in her sea of consciousness shone brightly, emitting divine power of the same origin, which merged into her fingertips.
A miraculous thing happened. The rune chains, once filled with repulsion and aggression, unexpectedly parted like ice and snow upon contact with Qin Yixuan's divine power, imbued with the aura of the stars, revealing a passageway. The star maze on the ground also shifted, the distorted sense of space returning to normal, and a clear path appeared beneath their feet.
"Sure enough... this mark is the key." Qin Yixuan breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to give Ye Li a faint smile.
Ye Li's eyes flashed with amazement, and she nodded. The two of them, one in front and one behind, carefully passed through the gap in the restriction. Whenever they encountered a new obstacle, Qin Yixuan would follow suit, relying on the Star Mark and her own Xuannv inheritance to overcome danger time and time again, like a true temple master, guiding guests on a tour of her ancient home.
They passed through crumbling side halls, past dried-up springs that might once have flowed with celestial nectar, and long corridors riddled with cracks, yet still hinting at their former grandeur. Occasionally, scattered fragments of artifacts, now devoid of their aura, and the remains of divine servants, long since reduced to jade skeletons, in combat or prayer poses, could be seen among the ruins, silently testifying to the suddenness and severity of the disaster.
The deeper they went, the clearer the divine calling became. At the same time, the resonance of the fragments of the Samsara Mirror within Ye Li's body grew stronger. Their goal lay just ahead.
Finally, they arrived at the core of the temple complex - a relatively well-preserved circular main hall.
Most of the dome of the main hall has been damaged, revealing the twisted and strange wasteland sky outside, but the surrounding walls are still standing tall, engraved with vast star maps. Countless stars are moving in mysterious trajectories. Although most of them have dimmed, there are still a few key star nodes that are faintly flickering, maintaining the last sacred territory of this main hall.
At the center of the main hall lay not a statue or throne, but an incredibly complex three-dimensional altar constructed from a pure crystal-like material. The altar slowly rotated, its surface radiating a mercury-like glow as countless tiny star-shaped runes emerged and faded within it. And at the very core of the altar, a single point of chaotic light quietly hovered, emitting an aura of the same origin as the fragment within Ye Li's body, yet possessing a gentler, more peaceful aura—it was the fragment of the Samsara Mirror they had been searching for!
This fragment seemed to be carefully nurtured by the power of the altar, isolating it from the erosion of the "nothingness" in the outside world, and was even slowly absorbing the thin star power gathered from the altar, making the light flowing on its surface carry a hint of strange starlight.
However, obtaining the fragments was no easy task. The altar was enveloped by a layer of multicolored light, so solid it was practically tangible. Flowing across it were countless fine, living, guardian patterns. This light shield was the ultimate essence of the Star God Temple's protective power.
"The final test..." Qin Yixuan stared at the colorful light shield. She could feel that this light shield was not just a defense, but also contained a will, a residual will from the master of the Star God Temple from eternity ago.
She slowly stepped forward and gently placed her palm on the light shield. This time, while the resonance of the star mark weakened the shield's repulsive force, it didn't directly open a passage. Instead, a massive wave of thought flowed through her palm and into her sea of consciousness!
In an instant, the scene in front of Qin Yixuan changed.
She was no longer in a ruined temple, but stood upon a vast, starry battlefield! Below her, the primordial divine realm, ablaze with war and constantly crumbling. Above her, a terrifying tide of demons, condensed from pure nothingness and darkness, surged forward. Gods and demons fell, stars extinguished, and the world was filled with the roars of despair and the roar of the laws of nature collapsing.
At the center of the battlefield, a shadowy figure, draped in a dazzling star-filled veil, her features blurred but her aura divine and noble, bearing an almost uncanny resemblance to Qin Yixuan, danced gracefully. Her dance wasn't merely to entertain the gods, but rather embodied the supreme avenue! As she danced, the celestial sphere echoed, showering down endless purifying starlight like a vast rain of light, showering down upon the ferocious monsters.
Wherever the starlight passed, the monsters let out shrill howls, and their bodies quickly melted like ice and snow thrown into purgatory. The stubborn, all-eroding power of "nothingness" was peeled off and disintegrated layer by layer by the purest star-purifying light, and finally turned into nothingness.
This dance is a dance of purification, a dance of redemption, and a complete interpretation of the "Galaxy Purification Dance", one of the ultimate magical powers wielded by the Queen Mother of the West to fight against "nothingness"!
Qin Yixuan's mind was completely absorbed by the dance, lost in the vast, purifying atmosphere. The Mysterious Woman's essence within her was churning and resonating at an unprecedented rate. Many previously obscure points in her inheritance suddenly became clear. Her mastery of the power of the stars and her understanding of the essence of purification were deepening and elevating at an astonishing rate.
In reality, Ye Li saw that the palm of Qin Yixuan's hand pressing on the light shield emitted increasingly strong starlight, and a dance trajectory similar to the shadow of the woman in her mind began to naturally emerge around her body, causing the dim star maps on the walls of the main hall to light up slightly, gathering the sparse star power and integrating it into her body.
She knew that Qin Yixuan was undergoing the test of inheritance, and this was her chance. Ye Li stood guard silently, alert to any possible interference, while carefully sensing the fragment of the Samsara Mirror at the core of the altar. She could sense that the fragment was in a strange state, as if "cleansed" by some pure power, losing some of the domineering nature of Samsara and gaining some of the gentleness and order of the stars.
After an unknown amount of time, the starlight surrounding Qin Yixuan suddenly receded, and she slowly opened her eyes. Within those beautiful eyes, it seemed as if billions of stars were born and died, deep and pure. While her aura didn't surge, it became more harmonious and restrained, and her control over her own power reached a whole new level.
She gently uttered an ancient divine syllable towards the colorful light shield in front of her.
"open."
"Buzz—"
The colorful light shield moved in response, separating to both sides like flowing water, revealing the altar in the center and the suspended fragment of the Samsara Mirror.
Test, passed.
Qin Yixuan stretched out her hand, and her fingertips, carrying the more refined power of the mysterious woman that she had just comprehended, gently touched the fragment.
Just as her fingertips were about to touch the fragments—
"boom!!"
The entire main hall shook violently! The altar erupted in an unprecedentedly brilliant light, completely enveloping the two. The surrounding scene shifted again. No longer a ruin, no longer a starry battlefield, but an incredibly clear memory, as if imprinted in time and space!
In the image, a towering deity (Star God), clad in a torn star-shaped battle robe, his face dignified yet weary, exuding an aura no less powerful than that of the Supreme Being, stood in the main hall where they were currently standing. In his hand, he held the fragment of the Samsara Mirror. Outside the temple, a doomsday-like scene unfolded, the divine realm rapidly collapsing.
The Star God's gaze seemed to penetrate eternity and space, falling on Ye Li and Qin Yixuan, filled with endless compassion and a hint of determination.
He spoke, his voice ancient and weathered, resounding directly into the depths of their souls:
"Latecomers... no matter who you are, being able to reach this place and trigger this shadow is fate, and also responsibility..."
"This mirror fragment is the core of reincarnation and the key to the great catastrophe... I will use the last remaining light of the Star God Temple to purify its evil nature and nourish its spiritual light, so that it will not fall into eternal darkness..."
"However, the crisis is not over... Although the 'Nothingness' has temporarily retreated, its root cause has not been eliminated... What is even more terrifying is..."
The Star God's voice paused here, and His image grew increasingly blurred, as if He were resisting some invisible pressure. Finally, He exhausted all His strength and uttered that earth-shattering warning:
"Beware of the darkness within the light, order can also become a yoke..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the image of the Star God faded like a candle in the wind. The brilliant light also quickly faded, and the main hall returned to its previous state of desolation and silence.
Only the fragment of the Samsara Mirror was still quietly floating above the altar, emitting a soft light.
Ye Li and Qin Yixuan stood there, speechless for a long time.
The Star God's final warning exploded in their hearts like thunder.
"Darkness within the light... Order becomes a yoke..." Qin Yixuan murmured repeatedly, her beautiful face filled with solemnity and thought. She thought of the temple's seemingly bright and righteous, but in reality exclusive and rigid doctrine.
Ye Li's eyes were as sharp as a knife. She said slowly, "He is warning us... The true enemy may not be just the superficial 'nothingness' and chaos... Those beings who claim to be the embodiment of order, when their paranoia reaches the extreme, the confinement and destruction they bring may be no less than chaos..."
She thought of Ling Hao and Xuan Cong. Didn't they also begin by pursuing order and power, only to fall into the deepest darkness? And the Temple...was their "pure order" the "darkness within the light" that the Star God warned against?
Instead of making them feel relieved, the acquisition of this fragment made the fog ahead even thicker, revealing a truth that might be more complicated and more terrifying.
Ye Li reached out her hand, and this time, there was no more resistance. The fragment of the Samsara Mirror, nurtured through eternity, transformed into a stream of light and flew into her palm, instantly merging with the other five fragments within her body.
When the six fragments gathered together, the aura around Ye Li suddenly surged, and his understanding of the power of reincarnation became more profound. He could even vaguely feel the specific location of the last fragment deep in the Demon Abyss. The perception became clearer than ever before.
However, the Star God's warning was like a heavy brand, engraved on their hearts.
The demonic abyss ahead no longer seems to be just a dangerous place full of monsters, but more likely to be a place where... the key to revealing the ultimate truth lies.
They looked at each other and saw the determination and resoluteness in each other's eyes.
No matter whether the road ahead is gods or demons, light or darkness, they have no way out.
Gather the fragments, face the truth, and break free from their shackles—this is their only path.
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