Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension Chapter 1424 - 765: Dead Star Seclusion

I'm back!

Those words echoed out, only to be swallowed up completely by the empty void around him.

Just as Zhao Sheng prepared to activate the spacetime teleportation, a sudden realization hit him, freezing his actions and making his eyes widen in shock.

No way!

Can't head back just yet!

Looking back, this assignment felt off from the start— the timeline was way too rushed, and the Alien Demon forces appeared overly ready, almost like they had anticipated the group's arrival as a perfect setup.

Rumors suggest that spies from both the Human and Demon factions lurk in each other's ranks, turning this task into a hidden showdown between the two powers.

On this occasion, the Human Clan managed to act first, allowing Xue Susu to barely reclaim Yunqing Venerable's body and the grotto heaven through sheer fortune.

But what happens in the future?

The layers of this situation run incredibly deep!

Conflicts involving Tribulation Crossing experts are far beyond what a minor cultivator like him can touch, as one wrong move could lead to an unknown demise.

Xue Susu?

Humph!

It's doubtful things are so straightforward. In the end, whether it's Xue Susu or Xue Yunqing who prevails remains up in the air!

With the fierce war between Humans and Demons escalating, plus the dubious stances of those Tribulation Crossing Venerables, Zhao Sheng weighed his options carefully and chose to hold off on reporting back for now.

Haha, if I can't confront them, I can always avoid them!

For the moment, he'll pick some barren star, lay low for hundreds or even a thousand years until the storm passes, and slip back in unnoticed afterward.

Finding an excuse? Simple enough!

Just two words: recovery.

After all, surviving a narrow escape from a Unification Realm Demon Emperor would naturally leave anyone in critical condition, battered and on the brink of death.

"Sigh, I aimed to gather more heavenly merit, but fate had other ideas. Luckily, the merits from Xuan Jing have built up sufficiently, so no real cause for concern."

With these thoughts settled, Zhao Sheng's form faded away into nothing.

A single year flew by swiftly, as Zhao Sheng scoured dozens of Eternal Star Domains nearby before locating a tiny galaxy.

This system held just three worlds, each one a barren, devoid rock without any trace of vitality.

To think, the All Universes stretch endlessly wide, with stars outnumbering the Constant Sand beyond counting, most of them lifeless husks, while life-bearing Constant Sand Worlds stand as rare exceptions.

Here lay a dead star spanning almost thirty thousand miles across, its face pocked with craters of all sizes, blanketed in layers of greasy green grit that gave it the look of a spoiled, forgotten tuber.

All at once, a figure materialized from nowhere near the planet's edge, overlooking a huge, shadowy depression encircled by steep, blade-like ridges rising tall as if carved by a giant's tool.

These walls shut out the Constant Sun's rays, draping the basin's depths in gloom and concealing whatever secrets lurked beneath.

Zhao Sheng paid no mind to potential threats on such a forsaken world. In a flash, he shifted to the basin's lowest point and plunged right into the soil, vanishing from sight.

Even without life, the dead star's heart burned with intense heat.

Buried nearly ten thousand miles toward the core, endless molten rock filled Zhao Sheng's vision entirely.

His divine sense swept out, spreading in every direction to seize command over the whole core in an instant.

Hmm?

A note of surprise escaped Zhao Sheng, followed by another teleportation.

Reappearing, he stood within an immense, sprawling cavern.

The space stretched vast for close to ten thousand miles, vast enough to hold half a landmass.

Yet it stayed barren and empty, blanketed in fine particles accumulated over countless ages, polished smooth like glass by time's patient hand.

Zhao Sheng drifted down to the peak of a modest hill at the cavern's heart. Upon touching ground, a silent cloud of dust stirred across a hundred miles, twisting into serpentine streams that rushed off into the shadows.

With the haze gone, the hill's real nature emerged—it was no rock, but a gleaming metal orb, its chill shine dulled by thick, glassy melts that mirrored the surroundings flawlessly.

Zhao Sheng surveyed the area, a pleased nod crossing his face.

This wasn't a true peak, but a metallic asteroid that slammed into the dead star ages untold, its special makeup hollowing out this enormous cavern.

"A fine spot indeed—time to cultivate in seclusion!" Zhao Sheng murmured with a grin, settling into a cross-legged seat and shutting his eyes. His mighty divine sense flooded the cavern's every corner at once.

Rumble!

A deafening boom echoed like thunder, as the cavern underwent a dramatic shift reminiscent of the world's primal birth.

Craggy peaks and columns sank gradually into the earth, fissures mended themselves slowly, and the uneven terrain, shaped by an unseen force, flattened and widened into a sweeping "great plain."

When the plain finally took shape, months had slipped away unnoticed.

Exhale~

Zhao Sheng breathed out softly and lifted his eyelids, then uttered calmly, "Come forth, thunder!"

The command barely finished when a fierce lightning bolt ripped through the cavern's ceiling, its harsh glare banishing the ancient darkness.

A mighty crash boomed across the space, summoning endless flashes of lightning from the void, with writhing bolts and roaring thunder beasts dancing wildly, turning the huge cavern into an ocean of storm.

Where thunder meets, Yin and Yang clash—opposing forces bring ruin, but harmony births: vitality.

Not content with the Thunder Sea yet, Zhao Sheng drew in a deep breath and bellowed:

"Come forth, water!"

"Come forth, fire!"

"Come forth, wind!"

Suddenly, gales whipped through the cavern, thick clouds of moisture bursting into being, chased by howling tempests that painted a breathtaking vista.

From time immemorial, winds drive the clouds. As the gale surged, vapors swelled rapidly on its breath, soon blanketing much of the cavern.

At the same time, the cavern's floors dipped inward, birthing vents that spewed colossal flames shooting up thousands of feet high.

Magma surged from below in waves, heating the air swiftly, and in mere three days, the whole space grew steamy and balmy, like a colossal hothouse.

Over those three days, the overhead clouds grew denser by the hour, until they unleashed a deluge of heavy rain.

Lightning cracked and thunder rolled across the cavern's heights, downpour sweeping on the winds, yet upon hitting the bubbling lava, it vaporized into rising steam clouds.

The fiercer the downpour, the thicker the mists swelled, driving the heat ever higher without pause.

This cycle dragged on for a full year, pushing the cavern's warmth to hundreds of degrees, reshaping it into a gigantic boiler of scalding vapor, a brutal realm like infernal depths.

Only then did Zhao Sheng deem it ready and halt his efforts.

To achieve this, his mana drained and refilled in cycles, three times through.

"Perfect, the groundwork's laid—now to add the key element. But what?" Zhao Sheng pondered aloud, until inspiration struck, sparking a hearty laugh: "Haha, why didn't I consider this sooner!"

At those words, Zhao Sheng slashed with his palm. With a wet rip, his leg detached cleanly, tumbling to the floor.

Yet the limb writhed like a serpent, full of vigor, leaping up abruptly as the stump sought to reconnect to the thigh.

Spotting this, Zhao Sheng willed it still, freezing the leg in the air before it shattered wordlessly into a vast puff of fine powder.