Swallowed Star: Lord of the Wolf

"Mountain Dweller, have you gotten what you wanted?" Xu Yang asked directly without turning his head.

"Satisfied, of course I'm satisfied. This Cangya is a creature I guided out, so I consider him half a master." The Mountain Guest smiled, appearing quite gentle in front of Xu Yang.

"One thing at a time. He's my apprentice now, not a second master." Xu Yang shook his head, dismissing the mountain hermit's plan.

"But you said you crafted this Star Tower, and only the beings you guide can inherit it. Is that true?" Xu Yang strolled through the starry sky, slowly circling the Star Tower. "From my observation, this Star Tower is an extremely powerful treasure, and not just any ordinary one..."

Xu Yang certainly knew the details of the Star Tower, but he couldn't show it. After all, what he knew now was what the Mountain Guest had mentioned during their previous transaction. He couldn't possibly be a prophet and reveal information that the Mountain Guest hadn't disclosed.

"Not bad." The Mountain Guest had a hint of pride on his face. Because of the golden light that swept across the entire universe back then, he was very interested in Xu Yang now. "I only managed to refine this treasure by chance. There was an accident along the way. Even if I were given the materials again now, I wouldn't be able to refine it."

"Impressive," Xu Yang praised, then asked, "Can you see what's going on inside?"

To say I'm not envious of this Hunyuan weapon would be a lie, but since I really don't have the chance to get my hands on it, I might as well watch the process of recognizing a master.

The man sitting on the mountain nodded. "Of course."

After saying that, he paused and was about to act when he added, "If Cangya can successfully recognize the Star Tower as its master, I will give him a great opportunity... How about I become his half-teacher?"

If he can truly recognize the Star Tower as his master, then he will have achieved his most important goal in this era!
The series of opportunities that followed were originally prepared for the inheritors of the Star Tower... It's just a pity that Xu Yang acted too quickly and directly took Cang Ya as his personal disciple. Whether in the Origin Continent or the Cosmic Sea, personal disciples are closer than offspring. Poaching someone or betraying one's master without authorization is extremely serious!

Therefore, even the creator of the Stone Star, who personally guided the mountain dweller, had to obtain Xu Yang's permission to establish a relationship with Cangya.

Of course, there is another advantage to this. If he becomes Cangya's half-master, it would be equivalent to bringing Xu Yang to his side as well. After all, if Cangya cultivates the Nine Tribulations Secret Manual in the Heavenly Soul Crystal and goes to the Origin Continent, he will definitely have to confront the Food Kingdom. As Cangya's master, Xu Yang will naturally be involved as well.

The Mountain Guest was quite optimistic about Xu Yang's potential. Being able to trigger the descent of the supreme rules was extremely rare on the Origin Continent. Even he himself had only managed to trigger the supreme rules to unlock the original universe's restrictions and kill him when he entered this cosmic sea in his God-King form.

One is positive, and the other is negative.

Xu Yang dodged the question with a smile and said, "We'll talk about it later, we'll talk about it later."

Are you kidding me? You're offering no benefits whatsoever. You want to tie your apprentice to your warship? Do you really think you're some ignorant, lowly native?

The mountain dweller's expression remained unchanged, but a shadow of gloom flashed in his eyes. This Sirius was truly difficult to deal with. He had personally come to Sirius's door on his wedding day to curry favor, revealing many secrets and making deals along the way, but Sirius still wouldn't budge...

Did he notice something?
But then, the Mountain-Sitting Guest shook his head. Unless the primordial will of the universe had personally told this Sirius, his secrets could never have been revealed. He had always been very careful and had never left any flaws. And the primordial will of the universe itself was extremely ignorant, lacking even intelligence. How could it possibly have specifically warned Sirius to be careful?
He sighed and decided to take a long-term view.

With a flick of his finger, the Mountain-Sitting Guest unleashed two dazzling starlight beams from between his brows, weaving together in the void to form a transparent portal. The portal projected the interior of the Star Tower—a nine-tiered structure, each adorned with countless diamond-shaped light patterns. In the center, Cangya sat cross-legged within the starlight array of the first tier, his body surrounded by tiny golden specks of light.

"Because of the changes that happened back then, I myself am not clear about the specific difficulty of the test." The Mountain Guest's fingertip swept across the portal of light, and the scene suddenly zoomed in. Spiderweb-like dark gold patterns appeared all over Cangya's body, and the test had begun.

Inside the tower, Cangya had just sat down cross-legged when he felt the light and shadows in front of him dim. Suddenly, the golden light spots of the star array seemed to come alive and burrowed into his brow, instantly pulling his consciousness into the depths of chaos.

It was not gentle guidance, but more like billions of invisible steel needles, carrying a cold will, piercing through his mental barrier!
Severe pain!

Unimaginable pain swept through the depths of my soul!
Cangya let out a muffled groan, his body trembling violently, barely able to maintain his cross-legged posture.

In the instant of consciousness, it was as if an invisible giant hand had roughly kneaded and flattened me, plunging me into a boiling, chaotic abyss.

There is no distinction between up, down, left, or right here; there are only distorted light and shadow and a noisy, piercing whistling sound.

Countless fragments of broken, chaotic, malicious, and insane thoughts swept in like a cosmic dust storm, frantically eroding the core of his consciousness.

The trial of illusion has begun!

This is not a simple illusion or deception, but a deeper form of torture targeting the soul itself.

Cangya felt as if he had been stripped naked, exposed under a giant millstone filled with prying eyes and malice.

He felt that the foundation of his "self"—those fragments of memory, whether cherished warmth or deep-seated hatred—was being forcibly torn and stripped away by an invisible force.

It was as if they wanted to erase the proof of his existence bit by bit, reducing him to a pure, meaningless mass of consciousness energy.

One moment, Bai Rong's warm love suddenly turned icy cold; the next, her deep-seated hatred for her enemy instantly turned into an empty sense of bewilderment. Her firm belief was questioned and mocked amidst the millions of noisy whispers in her ears.

Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness are no longer under control, like paint thrown into boiling water, churning, merging, and transforming wildly.

Along with these, there is an even more terrifying feeling of 'dissolving' that originates from the depths of the soul.

Even in this state, the will of a cosmic overlord still endowed him with remarkable perception. He could clearly sense that the boundaries of his consciousness were blurring and melting, like a drop of clear water falling into surging ink, about to completely dissipate and return to that boundless chaos.

A great terror gripped him—not just death, but the utter nothingness from the traces of his existence to existence itself!

In the chaos, countless fragments filled with negative emotions and disordered laws poured in wildly.

Desperate sobs, frantic roars, venomous curses... these thoughts, which did not belong to him, clung to him like maggots, trying to pollute his pure spiritual core, distort his cognition, and assimilate him into this chaos.

"what……"

Cangya clenched his teeth, letting out a low growl like a wild beast, a metallic taste rising in his throat.

His physical body was writhing in pain, veins bulging on his forehead, and the blood vessels under his skin writhing like living snakes, radiating a light of resistance, yet suppressed by a deeper pain.

In the illusion, Cangya desperately tried to rein in his collapsing will.

Master Xu Yang's dignified yet gentle gaze, the hardships he had endured along the way, his wife, children, and elderly parents waiting anxiously at home... these became the final anchors in his consciousness.

He clung to these "pieces" like a drowning person grasping at the last piece of driftwood.

"I am... Cangya! The Star Tower... is mine!"

"I am not weak... I want to... take control of my own destiny..." A faint but exceptionally firm spark of will stubbornly ignited amidst the frenzied mental storm, like a light that could be extinguished at any moment in a raging tempest.

There was no thought, no hesitation, only a tenacious will to not perish, stemming from the instinct of life!

"I want to live—!!!"

A silent roar exploded deep within the soul!
A blood-gold flame, imbued with all his strength and will to survive, instead of extinguishing, flared up, carrying a fierce and desperate momentum as it resolutely accepted the lash of the wind and rain!
laugh--!
The hallucinatory images twisted and vibrated wildly!
Outside the gate of light, the Mountain Guest's expression also tightened. After all, this was the first attempt by the 'soul-type' race he was guiding. He looked solemn as he saw Cangya rolling on the ground and howling pitifully.

Xu Yang remained silent, staring intently, a fleeting glint of thought appearing in the depths of his calm eyes.

The core of the test lies in Cangya's sea of ​​consciousness.

Amidst the chaotic light of blood flames and darkness intertwining and annihilating, a pair of cold, sharp, blood-gold eyes, filled with endless pain and indomitable fighting spirit, vaguely emerged!

……

After the initial violent collision, the scene inside the portal descended into a long and monotonous cycle of torment.

Cangya's body no longer writhed violently, but instead resembled a specimen nailed to the star array, with only subtle, almost imperceptible twitches proving that a brutal battle was still raging deep within his soul.

On the surface of his skin, the spiderweb-like patterns sometimes dimmed and almost disappeared, and at other times they were as bright and hot as an overloaded lava pipe. Each flash of light represented another near collapse and desperate counterattack deep in his consciousness.

Time, in this silent starry sky, lost its measure.

The solemnity on the mountain dweller's face had long since faded, replaced by a deep, almost frozen focus.

Back when the Star Tower was first successfully forged, he secretly captured tens of thousands of powerful individuals throughout the universe, ranging from World Lords and Immortals to Universe Venerables, to experiment on them... All of these selected tens of thousands of powerful individuals perished.

For the Star Tower to recognize a master, it is extremely difficult, so difficult that even he, the creator, dared not touch it.

He unconsciously tapped the air with his fingertips, creating subtle ripples in the space.

Time passes—

One thousand years, two thousand years, three thousand years...

Six thousand years have passed in the blink of an eye!

For the Mountain Dweller, there was surprise, but not shock, because he didn't know how long it would take for the Star Tower to recognize its master... even though the world lords and immortals he had captured before often died within two years of recognizing their master.

But Cangya is different. Not only is Cangya the strongest on Stone Star in this era, but he is also the personal disciple of the True God of Sirius. Therefore, the Mountain Guest has high expectations for him.

Wow~~~~
"The 6,092nd cosmic year..." Xu Yang's voice suddenly became very low, with a hint of joy that was almost imperceptible.

"Hmm?" The mountain dweller turned his head in confusion. Xu Yang's voice was too soft, and he hadn't heard it clearly.

suddenly--

hum! ! !
Inside the gate of light, the figure of Cangya, which had been silent for over six thousand years, suddenly burst forth with an unprecedentedly dazzling golden light!
The golden light was no longer the flickering resistance it had shown during the previous painful struggle; instead, it was like a sleeping star fully awakening, instantly transforming into a tangible torrent of liquid gold that surged and swept across every floor of the Star Tower!
Wherever the light reached, the countless rhomboid light patterns suspended on the tower wall seemed to be infused with life, spinning and buzzing wildly, emitting a deep and grand cosmic rhythm, and the entire tower was trembling violently!
"This...?!" The mountain dweller's pupils shrank, and the focus on his face was instantly replaced by ecstasy and disbelief!

It worked?!
At the very core of that golden torrent, above Cangya's brow, a tiny, almost imperceptible crack suddenly appeared in the void.

A drop of water-shaped liquid silently slid down from it.

Its entire body is clear and transparent, yet its surface flows with starlight more dazzling than the stars themselves. Inside, it seems to contain the birth and death of countless worlds, the folding of time and space, and endless chains of laws that are constantly operating and reorganizing!
Its mere presence caused the projected scene outside the light gate to distort violently, as if space itself could not bear its weight!

"The Tower Bead!" the Mountain-Sitting Guest exclaimed. It was the core of a treasure he had personally crafted. Now, it was being guided out, proving that Cangya had indeed successfully accepted the inheritance of the Star Tower!
"The core essence of the Star Tower is finally... finally about to recognize its master!"

Meanwhile, inside the Star Tower, in various parts of the alternate dimension.

"what happened?!"

"My treasure!"

"Damn it, spatial repulsion!"

Countless immortal kings who were struggling, fighting, and searching for treasures in different tower levels and secret realms suddenly felt an irresistible and boundless power enveloping their entire bodies!

This force is not an attack, but it carries an undeniable, surging repulsive force.

They were like ants caught by an invisible giant hand, and no matter how dangerous the situation or whether they were in a fierce battle, they were forcibly stripped of their spatial coordinates!

Boom boom boom boom——! ! !
As if the Star Tower itself were breathing violently, countless figures were violently repelled and flung out!
These powerful kings, who usually dominated their respective universes and were capable of destroying star systems, were now in a sorry state, like dust being swept up by a cosmic storm, rolling and screaming, as they were violently flung into the void outside the Star Tower by that overwhelming spatial force!
"puff!"

"what--!"

"My divine body!"

Screams, roars, and groans of pain mingled together.

Some who couldn't react in time suffered instant damage to their divine bodies in the violent spatial repulsion and tumbling collisions, some even shattering half of their bodies, their immortal divine power dissipating wildly.

They managed to steady themselves, still shaken, as they looked at the towering Star Tower, which now emanated an unprecedentedly terrifying aura.

Centered on the Star Tower, a vast and magnificent nebula vortex was surging and expanding wildly!
That was not a natural nebula in the universe, but a mixture of the purest and most extreme spatial laws, the power of the stars' origin, and some kind of supreme willpower!

Golden, silver, and dark purple energy streams, like billions of roaring galactic dragons, surged, intertwined, and collided in the void, forming an energy frenzy that covered billions of miles of starry sky and shook heaven and earth! (End of Chapter)