Marvel: The other side of the double-passing door is Devouring the Stars

Chapter 516 A New Seal!
“They’re here,” Rowan said, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

He got up and walked to the window, looking out through the gap in the window paper.

The sight of the village in the moonlight made his pupils shrink slightly.

The villagers who appeared normal during the day were now emerging from their homes one after another. But their demeanor was completely different—their bodies were stiff, their movements mechanical, their eyes vacant, and they had completely lost the vitality they had shown during the day.

They were like puppets pulled by strings, moving step by step in the same direction.

That direction led directly to Rowan's guest room.

“They’re getting closer to me,” Rowan thought with a chill. “It seems their ‘enthusiasm’ during the day was just an illusion; nighttime reveals their true colors.”

He stepped back a few paces, stood in the center of the room, and prepared for battle.

Soon, the first villager arrived at the gate of the courtyard.

He was a young man who had warmly invited Rowan to his home for dinner during the day. But now, his face was contorted, a strange smile played on his lips, and his eyes gleamed with an eerie green light.

“Guest…” he said in a hoarse voice, “Don’t go…stay with us…stay here forever…”

More villagers surged forward from behind him. Old Man Zhao, Aunt Zhao, children, elderly people... everyone came, crowding the entire courtyard.

Their eyes all gleamed with the same eerie green light, and they murmured the same words over and over:

"Don't go...stay with us...stay here forever..."

"Forever...forever...forever..."

Looking at the villagers who had once "warmly welcomed" him, Rowan saw no fear in his eyes, only a trace of pity.

“You’ve been dead for a long time,” he said softly, “trapped here, repeating the same life day after day. Isn’t that existence…too painful?”

The villagers did not respond, but continued to approach.

The young man at the front rushed into the room and reached out to grab Rowan. His fingernails had turned into black claws, radiating a cold, sinister light.

Rowan sidestepped, easily avoiding his attack.

“It seems there’s no point in reasoning with you,” he sighed. “I’m sorry, I can only offer you this final journey.”

He raised his hand, and a faint light shot out from his palm, striking the young man in the chest.

The young man's body shuddered violently, then collapsed limply to the ground as if all his strength had been drained away. His body began to decompose rapidly, turning into a pile of bones in the blink of an eye.

But this did not stop the other villagers from attacking.

They seemed oblivious to fear, continuing their frenzied attack on Rowan. Some rushed in through the door, some jumped in through the window, and some even began digging into the wall.

The room was instantly filled with these walking corpses.

Rowan was surrounded in the center, with twisted faces and outstretched claws on all sides.

“There are quite a few,” he said calmly, surveying his surroundings. “However, this level of threat…”

He took a deep breath, and the genetic energy within his body began to operate.

The next moment, a dazzling light burst forth from his body, illuminating the entire room.

The attacking villagers were enveloped by the light and let out piercing screams. Their bodies began to tremble violently, and cracks appeared on their skin as if they were about to collapse.

"Rest in peace," Rowan said softly.

The light lasted for a few breaths, then gradually faded away.

When the light completely disappeared, there wasn't a single villager left standing in the room. Only piles of bones and tattered clothes lay silently on the ground.

Rowan walked out of the room and into the courtyard.

The entire village fell silent. He had already "saved" all the villagers; they posed no further threat.

But Rowan's expression was not relaxed.

He looked up at the big locust tree in the center of the village.

The old locust tree, which looked ordinary during the day, was now exuding a dense black aura. The strange patterns on its trunk began to glow, forming a complex design.

"So you're the one at the heart of this place," Rowan said, walking towards the locust tree. "You're the one who trapped these villagers here, aren't you?"

The old locust tree did not respond, but the black aura grew stronger, as if warning Rowan not to approach.

Rowan ignored the warning and continued walking forward.

When he arrived under the locust tree, he could see the pattern on the trunk—a complex array carved into the bark and filled with some special material. At the center of the array was a human-shaped groove.

"This is... a sealing formation?" Rowan carefully examined the formation. "Someone used this locust tree as the core of the formation to seal something?"

He reached out and touched the patterns of the array.

A flood of information rushed into his mind.

He saw scenes from hundreds of years ago—

A massive rift appeared deep within the Valley of the Dead, from which countless black energies surged forth, transforming into terrifying monsters. The villagers of a village were slaughtered by these monsters, turning into mindless zombies.

Then, an old man dressed in a Taoist robe appeared. He suppressed the monsters with astonishing power and planted a locust tree in the center of the village. He carved an array on the locust tree, using a wisp of his own divine soul as the array's core, sealing the walking corpses within the village, preventing them from leaving.

“Poor people,” the old man’s voice echoed in Rowan’s mind, “you have been corrupted by demonic energy beyond repair. But I will allow you to remain in human form and live quietly here until one day… you are truly liberated.”

The screen disappeared, and Rowan returned to reality.

“I see,” he understood. “This village was sealed by a powerful being. That being used an array to keep these walking corpses in human form, preventing them from harming the innocent. But as time passed, the array's power gradually weakened, and these walking corpses began to become restless…”

He looked at the human-shaped groove, knowing that a wisp of the master's soul had once been placed there. But hundreds of years had passed, and that wisp of soul had long since dissipated, thus the formation had lost its core.

"Their loss of control tonight is likely a sign of the complete collapse of the formation," Rowan thought to himself. "If I hadn't come, these walking corpses would have eventually broken out of the village and threatened the surrounding area."

He was silent for a moment, then bowed deeply to the old locust tree.

“Senior, I appreciate your kindness,” he said. “These villagers have already been released from their suffering, so you can rest in peace.”

The array on the old locust tree flickered a few times before gradually fading away. The trunk began to crack, the branches and leaves began to wither, and the entire tree rapidly decayed under Rowan's watchful eyes, eventually turning into a pile of dust.

Without the support of the locust tree, the entire village began to collapse. Houses crumbled one by one, roads cracked in sections, and it quickly became a wasteland.

Rowan stood in the center of the ruins, watching everything unfold, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside him. This village had existed for hundreds of years, and these villagers had "lived" for hundreds of years. They didn't know they were dead, repeating the same things every day, as if trapped in an eternal cycle.

Tonight, he broke the cycle, giving them true liberation.

But at the same time, he also completely destroyed the village, erasing all traces of its existence.

“Perhaps this is better,” Rowan said softly. “Death is the end of life; there’s no need to prolong it in this way.”

He turned and continued walking deeper into the Valley of the Underworld.

The village incident was just a side story; his true purpose was to suppress the Demon Abyss. That was where the ancient star beasts slumbered.

After leaving the village, the surrounding environment became even harsher.

The black fog was so thick that one could hardly see their own hand in front of their face, and the air was filled with a suffocating stench of decay. The ground was riddled with cracks and abysses, and a single misstep could send one plunging into an abyss.

The energy fluctuations emanating from the ancient star beast were growing stronger and stronger.

Rowan could sense that the fluctuation carried a primal, wild aura, as if it were the breath of a colossal beast from the ancient primordial era. It was steady and powerful, and each pulse caused a slight tremor in the surrounding space.

"Getting closer," Rowan thought to himself, "The Demon-Suppressing Abyss... is just ahead."

He quickened his pace and continued deeper into the area.

After walking for about another hour, the terrain ahead suddenly opened up.

Rowan stopped in his tracks, and the sight before him made him gasp.

It was a massive abyss, hundreds of meters wide and bottomless. The edges of the abyss were smooth rock walls, with no way to climb. A dense black aura constantly surged from the abyss, the source of the demonic energy.

In the very center of the abyss, there was a figure.

It was an old man sitting cross-legged, wearing a tattered Taoist robe, with white hair and beard, and a withered face. His body had turned to stone, but he still maintained a seated posture, as if he might open his eyes at any moment.

Beneath the old man was a massive fissure. The fissure meandered and twisted, extending all the way to the deepest part of the abyss. Countless black wisps of energy surged from the fissure, but were blocked by the faint light emanating from the old man, unable to spread out.

“Zhenmoyuan… Yuanzhenzi…” Luo Wen murmured.

He finally found it.

This is the Demon-Suppressing Abyss that Zhou Qing mentioned, the place where Yuan Zhenzi, the first head of the Mysterious Bureau, suppressed the source of evil spirits.

Yuan Zhenzi used his own body as a seal to suppress this rift for hundreds of years. Even after his death, his body continues to function, preventing the spread of demonic energy.

But Rowan could see that the seal was already in grave danger.

The light emanating from Yuan Zhenzi was extremely faint and was constantly diminishing. The black aura was gradually eroding his body, attempting to break through the seal.

At the deepest part of the rift, Rowan sensed a terrifying energy fluctuation.

The energy surge was far more powerful than any he had ever sensed before, carrying an ancient, indescribable pressure. It was like a sleeping behemoth slowly awakening.

“An ancient star beast,” Rowan’s eyes flashed with a hint of solemnity, “is located beneath this crack.”

He finally confirmed the location of the ancient star beast.

It slumbers in the deepest part of the Demon-Suppressing Abyss, sealed and suppressed by Yuan Zhenzi for hundreds of years. But as the seal weakens, it is gradually awakening. The ever-surging demonic energy is the power it releases.

"I must report to the company as soon as possible," Rowan thought to himself. "This seal won't last much longer. If the ancient star beasts fully awaken, this planet is doomed."

He took out a small communication device, which he had taken with him when he left the spaceship. Although Blue Star did not have the communication network of the Virtual Universe Company, this device could send emergency signals directly to the nearest relay station.

“Urgent report,” Rowan said into the device, “Blue Star Mission, codename Rowan. Ancient Star Beast confirmed. Location: Dragon Vein Mountains, Demon Suppression Abyss. Star Beast status: Dormant, but awakening. Sealed status: Severely weakened, estimated duration not exceeding…”

He glanced at the faint light emanating from Yuan Zhenzi and made a judgment:

"...No more than ten years. Requesting headquarters to send reinforcements and handle this as soon as possible."

Signal transmission complete.

Rowan put away the communication device and looked at the Demon Suppression Abyss again.

His mission was complete—to locate the ancient star beast, confirm its condition, and then report to the company. The rest should be handled by a more powerful entity sent by the company.

But a sense of unease lingered in his heart.

“Ten years…” he murmured, “Will reinforcements from Virtual Universe Corporation arrive within ten years?”

The universe is too vast; even a behemoth like Virtual Universe Corporation cannot possibly have a sufficient number of personnel at all times. Furthermore, Earth is located on the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, quite a distance from the nearest branch.

“If reinforcements don’t arrive in time…” Rowan looked at Yuan Zhenzi’s stone statue, “this seal will have to be reinforced by me.”

He walked to the edge of the abyss and carefully observed the structure of the seal.

Yuan Zhenzi's seal was formed using his own life and cultivation, and is essentially an extremely advanced form of energy binding. The strength of this seal depends on the caster's power; the stronger the caster, the more secure the seal.

"With my current strength, I can't create a new seal," Rowan analyzed. "But if we just reinforce the existing seal, we should be able to buy some time."

He sat down cross-legged and began to mobilize the genetic energy within his body.

A faint light emanated from him, echoing the light emanating from Yuan Zhenzi. He slowly poured his energy into the seal, filling the gaps that had been eroded.

This is a slow and costly process.

Rowan could sense that the black energy within the seal was rebelling fiercely. It was like countless venomous snakes, constantly tearing at every corner of the seal, trying to break free of its restraints.

Deep within the rift, the slumbering behemoth seemed to sense something as well. Its energy fluctuations intensified, as if urging the black auras to accelerate their attack.

"Quiet down," Rowan scoffed. "You think you can wake up so easily?"

He increased his energy output, forcefully suppressing the restlessness.

Time passed by minute by minute.

When Rowan finally stopped, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

He opened his eyes and looked at the seal in front of him.

The light emanating from Yuan Zhenzi was brighter than before, and the seal's strength had also recovered somewhat. Although this was only temporary, it at least bought more time for reinforcements from the Virtual Universe Company.

(End of this chapter)