Chapter 393 — The Spring of the Blazing Sun

"This world was manufactured!"

Shen Mu and the others quickly realized that so small a world could not have been born naturally, for they soon arrived at its apex.

— Shen Mu meant to have the flood dragons escort them flying over the Star River, but partway up, the dragons crashed into an invisible black curtain of a barrier.

The black curtain could not be seen, yet it was undeniably there: the rampart of this world, like a wall dividing it from all others.

The reason they called it a manufactured world was this: at the very instant they struck the black curtain, countless honeycomb-shaped seals surfaced upon it, giving off a rapid thrumming, swiftly lighting up a vast expanse of the sky — as though they had entered an enormous honeycomb.

These were honeycomb seals. Shen Mu had seen such seals before in the Nether Valley, and they were not unfamiliar to him.

In ancient times the gods had used honeycomb seals to plug the rift between the Netherworld and the world of reality; here, the honeycomb seals served as the rampart of a god-made world.

"There's no way around it. We'll have to cross through the Star River."

Shen Mu surveyed the darkness all around. With this world's rampart blocking the way, they could not skirt it from above; the only path was to wade through the Star River and force their way to the Dawnspring.

"This space is strange. It doesn't look large, and the Dawnspring and the Soulspring aren't far apart — three or five li at most."

Shen Mu said, "But on the geographical charts, the Soulspring and the Dawnspring lie tens of thousands of li apart. How is that possible?"

Si Yunxiang pondered. "A teleportation divine ability... no! It should be folded space... no, that's not right either! This is a complete space, not folded at all. What divine ability is this?"

The two wells in the Desolate Ruins lay tens of thousands of li apart, yet here in the Star Sea only three or five li. And in the Kingdom of Jingping, when one gazed up at the starry sky, the stars seemed close to one another though in truth they were far apart. Here, reality was reversed — a marvel to make one click one's tongue in wonder.

Si Yunxiang was muddled too, unable to say what divine ability had produced such a wonder.

Shen Mu laughed. "The gods of the ancient Desolate Ruins had vast powers, and many divine abilities we know nothing of. Perhaps they made this place only to forge a passage, a convenience for moving about the Ruins. Let's go to the Dawnspring first and talk later."

The nine flood dragons enclosed them in their midst and flew toward the Star River. One after another the dragons grew frantic: the Star River was full of boulders the size of mountains, hurtling and colliding in utter chaos. Whenever a star the size of a mountain came crashing at them, a flood dragon would use its divine ability to shove the star aside.

These stars too were man-made, none of them very large — though among them were certain peculiar stars, like fine jade, translucent and crystalline, that streaked past not far from them, trailing light.

"So beautiful... oh no!"

Shen Mu's expression changed drastically. His flute rang out loud and clear, commanding the dozen or more flood dragons; the dragons' bodies shrank rapidly and swarmed onto him. With one hand Shen Mu seized Snow Fox and flung her onto his shoulder, with the other he caught hold of Si Yunxiang, and shouted, "Fat Dragon, jump into the Dragon Nest, quick!"

He leaped into the Dragon Nest with Snow Fox and Si Yunxiang; the Dragon Qilin scrambled in after them. At that very moment the jade-like star blazed with incomparable brilliance, and in an instant five-colored sword light filled the sky, blotting out everything, sweeping across the stars in every direction!

Star after star the size of a mountain was pierced through by the sword light, riddled with a thousand holes!

Shen Mu, with the dragons, Snow Fox, and Si Yunxiang, had jumped into the Dragon Nest; overhead countless flying swords flashed past. Snow Fox ducked her head in panic, and a few strands of her hair were sliced away; the Dragon Qilin hastily drew back its tail, and a sword light swept past behind it, and two dragon scales fell.

The group was still shaken when the jade-like star vanished without a trace, gone into thin air.

Suddenly, five-colored flying swords streaked across the sky above the Dragon Nest like a rain of many-hued meteors, clashing together with a ringing clang, and then became once more a jade-like star, drifting away with the Star River into the distance.

"What a huge sword pellet!" Snow Fox stared, eyes fixed.

The Dragon Qilin murmured, "Bigger than the Sect Master's sword pellet..."

Shen Mu was likewise dumbstruck. That such a colossal sword pellet could exist in this world! He had thought his own sword pellet already very large; only upon seeing this one did he know himself a small sorcerer before a great one.

"Could it be a god's treasure?"

They flew out of the Dragon Nest again. Shen Mu still had the flood dragons form the Divine Dragon Shroud, and set one flood dragon to carry the Dragon Nest, growing ever more cautious.

The Divine Dragon Shroud came from the Ling family's divine ability, the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Shroud — originally an offensive, refining art, which Shen Mu controlled through nine flood dragons and deployed as a formation.

In his heart, the wonder of application lay in the mind alone; there had never been so many rules and bounds. Some thought his thinking wild and unbridled, others thought him a rebel against orthodoxy — but he did not care.

The chaotic Star River sent stars crashing at them from time to time. Even though the Divine Dragon Shroud was formed of nine flood dragons of immense strength, the dragons were battered until bones broke and sinews snapped. Shen Mu ceaselessly refined elixirs and wonder drugs to heal the injured dragons, sending others to take their place, keeping the Divine Dragon Shroud unbroken. After countless hardships along the way, they finally reached the core of this silver river, not far from the two divine wells.

Here it was fairly calm. The stars revolved around the Dawnspring and the Soulspring; here the stars were few and scattered, not many in number.

Si Yunxiang let out a breath of relief, then said doubtfully, "Sect Master, this place is so perilous. With a dozen or more flood dragons guarding us, we still have to hide in the Dragon Nest from time to time to escape danger — how did that Sun Warden ever get here?"

Shen Mu looked up. From the Dawnspring and the Soulspring too a thick pillar of light shot upward, and above them were two great round holes, like the mouths of wells.

"Since they are Sunherds, of course they came here piloting the Dawn Ark. And the Sun Warden's strength is exceedingly high — a being like a deity."

Si Yunxiang was startled. A being like a deity?

Shen Mu did not explain. The flood dragons swam, heads swaying and tails wagging, carrying them up toward the pillar of light above. Suddenly Shen Mu looked down and was struck still: that great Dawnspring was stuffed full of enormous orbs of light, like so many suns!

Of course, these suns were not large; they must be treasures refined from god-made things.

But so many suns crammed into a deep well still shook him deeply!

"The suns on the Dawn Ark have gone out — why don't they fish up an unextinguished sun from the Dawnspring?"

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than from above them came the clatter of a chain shaking, and a black iron chain, immensely thick, dropped down from the mouth of the Dawnspring, lowering steadily, drawing near the suns in the well.

Snow Fox said in surprise, "Young Master, are the Sunherds fishing for suns?"

Shen Mu was astonished too. Several great hooks hung from the end of the chain — they must be trying to snag the suns in the well and haul them out.