Chapter 0173: Soul-Guiding Star Peak

Chapter 0173: Soul-Guiding Star Peak

At this moment, the reputation of the Blue Spirit West Palace had plummeted, and Xiao Yanglong, who was in charge of the mine operations, was pushed forward to handle the situation, which only deepened his resentment towards Xiao Yuemei.

It was Qin Yun who had done this. He was still inside the Cloud Dragon Mountains, rushing towards the Soul-Guiding Star Peak in the north.

For several days, Qin Yun had been venturing deeper into the northern mountains. He finally arrived at a marshland, where dozens of towering peaks rose abruptly from the ground, each reaching heights of several thousand or even ten thousand meters.

His journey had been perilous but without real danger. He encountered a few eighth-order demon beasts but managed to avoid them. Later, he ran into a group of ghost beasts, which he eliminated with soul-suppressing talismans.

Qiao Ruiwen had mentioned that at night, by standing in the south and waiting for the Beiming Star to appear, one could identify the Soul-Guiding Star Peak.

It was now evening, and Qin Yun could only wait patiently in the marshland.

The nine suns gradually disappeared on the horizon, and night fell, with stars quietly emerging in the sky.

Qin Yun stood in the south, looking up at the northern sky, and saw the Beiming Star appearing above a peak.

"That's the one!" he thought with delight and hurriedly dashed towards the Soul-Guiding Star Peak using the Cloud Steps technique.

The Soul-Guiding Star Peak wasn't the tallest around, standing at only three to four thousand meters, and its shape didn't seem particularly special. Normally, no one would venture up there.

Qin Yun soon reached the summit and saw many half-meter-tall cylindrical pillars.

Counting them, he found there were ninety-nine of these short, thick pillars, covered in various weeds and dust.

"These pillars must be formation pillars, and there must be a vast formation here, but it's been covered in dust and weeds due to years of neglect."

Qin Yun pulled at the vines with great effort, beginning to clear the peak. The weeds were so tough that he had to exert considerable force to break them, indicating how resilient the plants growing here were.

After several hours of clearing, a circular plaza over a hundred meters wide appeared on the peak, with the short, thick pillars arranged in an orderly fashion on the plaza.

Qin Yun examined the ground carefully and found many intricate patterns, all very complex spiritual inscriptions.

"I wonder what kind of inscriptions these are. Only the luminous parts are visible. What a pity."

Floating in the air, Qin Yun looked down at the circular plaza and could see many tiny inscriptions converging into a large pattern.

It was a spiral pattern, resembling a spiral galaxy, with the short, thick pillars placed along the spiral arms in an orderly manner.

"How long did Lan Xiao Wu Wang spend to set up such a vast formation?" Qin Yun was awestruck, as there were countless spiritual inscriptions below, all meticulously engraved.

He landed in the middle of the formation, sat down, and permeated it with his spiritual sense, quickly sensing the formation's slow operation.

"The formation is madly absorbing stellar power!" Qin Yun was startled and looked around to see that the ninety-nine pillars were gradually glowing.

The formation, like a starry vortex, was illuminated.

"Truly incredible!" Qin Yun marveled.

The formation commenced smoothly, madly devouring stellar power to fuel its operation.

Sitting in the formation, Qin Yun closed his eyes and silently practiced the Nine Suns Scripture, activating the "Star Refinement Spirit."

Unaware, he found himself amidst a vast starry sea, slowly approaching a blue fireball.

As he drew closer, he was shocked to realize that it wasn't a blue fireball but a blue sun emitting intense heat!

Fearfully, he noted that this blue sun was immense, making him feel like a grain of sand in comparison.

His consciousness advanced and entered the blue sun, discovering a colossal wolf sleeping inside. He tried to awaken the wolf with his consciousness but failed.

After the failure, his consciousness quickly exited the blue sun and rapidly wandered the starry sea again. To his dismay, there were many such immense suns in the universe, each of different colors.

Most of the suns were empty, lifeless, with the "souls" having either left or perished.

"There are many star-like entities in the night sky, but they appear as mere points of light because they are so far from us... I wonder what's inside the nine suns of our world?"

Wandering the vast galaxy, Qin Yun observed that many "suns" were at least two, some three or four, and occasionally five or six, all rotating around each other.

The simultaneous rising and setting of nine suns, without rotating around each other, was exceedingly rare.

"It seems the formation of the Soul-Guiding Star Peak allows one to enter the starry river to find a suitable martial soul."

Floating in the endless starry river, Qin Yun felt a deep yearning for greater power, realizing that only by mastering such immense power could he explore the mysteries of this starry sea.

He didn't know how long his consciousness had been drifting in the starry sea, only that he had entered many colossal stars. Though some contained something inside, he couldn't awaken the "souls" within.

"Could it be that they don't recognize me?" Qin Yun sighed inwardly and continued to drift, heading towards the center of this spiral galaxy where the light was brightest, indicating more of these large suns.

He couldn't understand why his consciousness could drift so quickly, and in just a moment, he reached the spiral center, where there were indeed many immense "suns," far larger and more terrifying than any he had encountered before.

What terrified Qin Yun the most was a black sphere in the middle of this spiral galaxy. This black sphere was so dark that it was difficult to see.

He could see it only because the immense suns were all rotating around this black sphere. The countless suns emitted intense light, but none could illuminate the black sphere; the light was distorted and swallowed upon touching the sphere's edge!

Qin Yun trembled all over, his consciousness becoming unstable, a sense of unprecedented fear filling his entire being, as if he were about to be completely devoured.

"My heart must remain steady; my spirit cannot be shaken by fear! The more something instills fear in me, the more I must conquer it!"

At that moment, he recalled being stripped of his spiritual veins as a child and Yang Shiyue's helpless expression towards fate... Waves of determination surged within him, gradually calming him.

His consciousness stabilized, and he stared at the enormous dark sphere before charging towards it swiftly.

The entire immense spiral galaxy was rotating around the dark sphere, demonstrating the terrifying power of the black sphere!

Though the black sphere was enormous, it appeared minuscule compared to the entire spiral galaxy, located at the center of the rotating disk. Yet, it could drive the rotation of the entire starry river, showing just how powerful it was!

Qin Yun's consciousness entered the black sphere and found nothing but a rapid devouring of his awareness.

"No good, if my consciousness is devoured, it means I will lose my consciousness forever!" he secretly panicked in his heart, then quickly activated the Star Sun Scripture to stabilize his consciousness.

In addition, he controlled his primordial spirit to merge with his mind, enhancing his consciousness.

"I must not lose, no matter what you are, I will conquer you!" Qin Yun shouted in his heart, his determination unshakable.

Gradually, his devoured consciousness began to escape the powerful suction bit by bit.

Boom!

Qin Yun felt as if his consciousness had left the dark sphere, and his mind suddenly felt as if it had exploded, causing immense pain.

The headache did not last long before it gradually dissipated.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was already dawn, and the circular pillars around him were all shattered, with many cracks appearing in the circular plaza, and all the spirit patterns had burst open.

"What happened?" Qin Yun looked at the great formation, his heart filled with shock, and quickly took out a crystal ball, inside which flickered more than thirty light points.

This was a device to calculate the number of days; after shaking it vigorously, it would start counting the days, with one light point lighting up after each day passed.

Qin Yun had started the count when he entered the great formation, and now more than thirty light points were lit, meaning a month had passed!

"I've actually been sitting in the great formation for a month, but it feels like only an hour to me!" He was shocked, recalling how his consciousness had wandered in the star river, like a dream.

Especially thinking about that terrifying dark sphere, he couldn't help but shudder.

"By the way, have I obtained the Star Martial Soul?" He immediately introspected his body and saw a small black sphere in his dantian, which left him stunned.

Before, his oscillating inner energy was also a black sphere but had a reflective surface, unlike this one which was so dark!

"What is this?" Qin Yun couldn't figure out what had happened, and he hurriedly checked his left arm, where the dormant Fire Martial Soul was still in his arm.

"Could this be my third Martial Soul?" He didn't know if it was a good or bad thing.

He closed his eyes and tried to use the power of this new inner energy.

"A very peculiar power, it can only be activated by spiritual energy! If you use mental power or primordial spirit energy alone, you can't activate the power of this inner energy."

After activating the inner energy, Qin Yun soon discovered its peculiarity; it could make things lighter or heavier. For example, a hundred jin stone could become a thousand jin or just one jin heavy with this power applied.

The changes in weight would increase with the improvement of one's cultivation.

Moreover, this power had other attributes; if circulated on the body's surface, any incoming force within the bearable range would be absorbed like a stone sinking into the sea.

"If the oscillating inner energy is applied on the outside, it would be like having two layers of protection to guard myself." After secretly rejoicing, Qin Yun continued to explore the mysterious and unique power of this Martial Soul.