Global Era of Star trekking Chapter 1858 - 902: Star Sea·South Pole (2)
Previously on Global Era of Star trekking...
The vastness of the Shattered Starry Sea is immense, so immense that even backed by three Mythical Space Traversal Components, it demands a prolonged buildup of time to possibly locate the fabled "South Pole."
Song Chi remains undeterred by this reality, since it matches what he anticipated, and luckily, time is on his side; a buffer of thousands of years exists before the Heaven-Fighting Ruins fully crumble.
Therefore, he persists in firmly guiding the Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong southward without pause, while time steadily flows onward in the midst of this endeavor.
In the span of a moment, two millennia slip by.
From the point when he first seized command of the Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong and embarked on this path, three thousand years have now elapsed, and throughout all that duration, he has shown no sign of letting up.
One particular day, right as Song Chi assumed this pattern would drag on unchanged, a sudden glow flickered from the Heavenly Destiny Compass Territory Star Map, which had remained mostly static until then.
Glancing over, a spark ignited in Song Chi’s gaze.
Upon this Territory Star Map, without his notice, the "Star Sea·South Pole" marker had quietly synced up entirely with the Component’s indicator.
"Star Sea·South Pole... has it truly come at last?"
Nearly on reflex, Song Chi whispered the words.
With his mental concentration sharpening, he senses the nearby cosmic laws growing unusually sparse and peculiar, while the fabric of time and space reveals a fragile, indefinable...edge-like quality.
It feels like this marks the boundary of the familiar material cosmos, and pressing ahead would plunge into the realm of "void" that defies even the grasp of laws.
The Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong eases its speed gradually, after wrapping up the full Fourth Rank of Soul Devouring buildup at the Soul Devouring Altar, transforming into Seven-Colored Quality for the Eye of Truth sky patrol radar, now at peak power, warily scanning the deepest shadows where light itself vanishes.
Song Chi’s awareness ramps up to maximum alertness, fully aware that this last leg could signal the real start of the ordeal.
Quelling the excitement stirring deep within, Song Chi swiftly regains his composure, refraining from impulsively urging the Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong onward; instead, after a brief reflection, he calls back the Mirror Image Warship stationed at the Immortal Domain Continent Ruins, substituting it for the Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong’s core to press south.
As for this enigmatic "Star Sea·South Pole," his knowledge is utterly lacking; unsure of lurking perils, it proves wiser to dispatch the Mirror Image Warship as a vanguard.
Acting like a vigilant explorer, the Mirror Image Warship inches ahead through the near-total emptiness.
The Seven-Colored glow from the Eye of Truth sweeps the area with unmatched vigor, but the returns are scant and oddly distorted.
No substance, no power exists here, and even notions of time and space blur into ambiguity, as if every fundamental principle and law of the universe fails in this spot, regressing to a primal "void" condition.
Were it not for the Heavenly Destiny Compass steadfastly directing toward this point and matching the Territory Star Map’s scale flawlessly, Song Chi might nearly suspect he’d strayed into a sheer "Star Sea Void Forbidden Zone."
Steering the Mirror Image Warship, Song Chi boosts the energy field and Rule Realm to their limits, merging his consciousness deeply with the Eye of Truth, venturing ahead with utmost care.
This utter "vacancy" stretches on for an indeterminate span, maybe a fleeting second or infinite cycles; within this lawless expanse, time forfeits any sense of measure.
Just when a deep isolation and weight begin to weigh on Song Chi’s very spirit, the Eye of Truth’s detection pulses at last detect a hint of odd "ripples."
These ripples aren’t surges of mass or force, but rather akin to...resonances of laws, traces etched in time.
"Something’s there!" Song Chi’s mood surges, promptly directing the warship to edge toward the ripple’s origin with caution.
As proximity grows, the "ripples" sharpen into focus.
Amid the pitch-black nothingness, faint, nearly sheer shard-resembling spectral forms start to materialize; these specters loom gigantic, intricate, and arcane in form, faintly outlining structures like halls, pillars, and squares, though they lack solidity; they consist of some hardened, splintered Time Law and Original Rules.
"Could this be... a remnant site?"
Song Chi’s core trembles, having encountered no such bizarre sight before.
These building specters appear to dwell in a separate layer, layering over and crossing the present void, yet remaining beyond reach.
The Mirror Image Warship delves further in, as nearby shard specters multiply, slowly assembling into a colossal, limitless expanse of wreckage.
This hushed, tranquil wreckage radiates an unfathomable age and depth, as if it has lain dormant across uncounted ages.
An odd force seeps through the air; this force targets not living beings but the laws themselves, subtly slowing the Mirror Image Warship’s mechanisms.
The duplicated Eye of Truth runs at maximum output, dissecting the nature of these law shards.
Bit by bit, scattered data starts to unravel:
"... Time... Sequence... Foundation..."
"... Eternal... Slumbering Place..."
"... High... Dimension..."
"... Trans..."
Still, these data scraps prove too obscure, leaving Song Chi baffled about their key elements no matter how he puzzles them out.
Then, at a certain instant, the Mirror Image Warship traverses onward and nears the heart of this boundless wreckage.
In the All-Attributes Cultivation Room of the Ruins Market, Song Chi, who sat with eyes shut, abruptly furrows his brow; via the Soul Link’s relayed images, he beholds the eternal wreckage’s central vista, and as the view registers, an abrupt wave of recognition floods his mind.
This recognition strikes without warning, momentarily blocking his grasp of its essence; despite mulling it over, he fails to pinpoint where he’d witnessed akin vistas.
In the midst of his bewilderment, Song Chi’s eyes light up.
"That’s it..."
After the soft utterance, he flicks his wrist, summoning a unique object into his grasp the instant after.
It was a fractured bronze portal to a hall.
This bronze hall portal came from a minor stretch of the River of Time, part of the Key of Time Divine Hall Inheritance, and the recognition lingering in his thoughts stemmed from the ruins deep within that River of Time fragment.
Intent on verifying, Song Chi promptly instructs the Ethereal Body on the Mirror Image Warship to engage the Ruins Market Projection Rank, passing the bronze hall door to it.
Soon enough, as the Ethereal Body leaves the market and rejoins the Mirror Image Warship, the bronze hall gate clutched in its hold predictably starts to quake fiercely.
"As expected, these are the Time Divine Hall ruins..."
Song Chi draws in a sharp breath; though he had guessed as much, confirming this spot as the mythic supreme power’s Time Divine Hall location still leaves him in disbelief.
The mighty faction that spanned myriad epoch cycles, said to have produced multiple transcenders, in the end, fell to the doom of legacy extinction.
As thoughts swirl, Song Chi detects an irregularity.
"Didn’t they say the Time Divine Hall’s primary chamber lay at the River of Time’s terminus? Why would it end up at this ’Star Sea·South Pole’?"
With his instincts probing, scanning the wide swath around the wreckage, Song Chi verifies that within the Southern Star Sea Extreme Domain, no thick cluster of time laws and rules lingers, implying the famed River of Time surely isn’t present or doesn’t pass through here.
Yet, no matter the confusion, clearly no one stands ready to explain; he opts not to dwell on it more, choosing instead to keep directing the Mirror Image Warship of the Heavenly Ruins Cang Qiong ahead.
No matter the reason the Time Divine Hall surfaced at this Star Sea·South Pole, the pressing matter now lies in whether the Key of Time Divine Hall Inheritance he holds can still perform its intended role.