Swallowed Star: Primordial Artifact

Chapter 260 The Hostility of the Star Tower Beads

"Master, Master, I've found the passage!" Dark Thunder King shouted, startling Jiang Ye out of his thoughts.

"Oh, a passage?" Jiang Ye looked around.

"Master, it's over there." Dark Thunder King said as he rushed forward, leading the way.

Whoosh!
The two moved with lightning speed, arriving in the center of the Misty Forbidden Land in an instant. Before them stood a colossal vortex, its depths seemingly endless, like a black hole leading to an unknown world. Its interior was pitch black, yet faintly shimmered with starlight, mysterious and alluring.

"This is the passage. I've traversed passages like this many times before," Dark Thunder King said with a hint of familiarity.

"Okay." Jiang Ye nodded slightly. "Let's go."

Without hesitation, he stepped into this mysterious vortex...

Inside the Star Tower is a vast and mysterious hall, with nine colossal pillars reaching tens of thousands of kilometers in height, standing tall like ancient giants, firmly supporting the entire magnificent palace.

Above the main hall, to the front, back, left, and right, countless sealing stars are scattered like stars in the vast universe, surrounding the entire hall in layers.

This grand hall seems to float in the center of countless sealed stars, exuding an awe-inspiring and mysterious aura.

Deep within the main hall, a strange figure sat cross-legged.

It has a long, coiled serpentine body, but its upper body is human-shaped. Its purple whiskers hang down like a purple waterfall, and its eyelids droop slightly, seemingly lazy. Yet, an endless pressure, like a surging tide, emanates from its body.

This oppressive aura was like the natural force of heaven and earth; though not violent, it carried a powerful force that compelled people to submit involuntarily.

"Hmm?" This great being with a snake-like body and a human upper body seemed to sense something and slowly opened its eyes, which had been closed for thousands of years.

call out!
Strange rays of light shot out from all parts of the hall, converging in the center of the hall. Countless rays of light intertwined and condensed, gradually forming a transparent crystal bead. Golden threads crisscrossed the bead, which emitted a mysterious and powerful light. This was the true core of the Star Tower—the Tower Bead.

"What's going on? Why did the Taju suddenly erupt?" Puti stared at the violently trembling Taju in front of him, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

At this moment, the tower bead trembled violently as if it had encountered a natural enemy.

……

Jiang Ye only felt a flash of light before his eyes, and his body was already on the surface of a rock bridge, clearly having left the original forbidden area.

"This is..." Jiang Ye looked around and was shocked by the scene before him.

In the endless void, a winding, spiraling rock bridge floats suspended in mid-air, stretching endlessly into the distance.

This rock bridge, without any support, floats steadily in the void, as if it were one with the vast emptiness, mysterious and incredible.

“Master, this is the passage.” Dark Thunder King landed beside him and respectfully pointed to the end of the rock bridge, which was a void. “Follow this passage to the end, and you will reach the next forbidden space.”

"What's down there?" Jiang Ye leaned down and looked down, only to see an endless void beneath the rocky bridge, dark and deep, seemingly capable of swallowing everything. "Can we fly down?"

"Flying down is fine," Dark Thunder King smiled slightly and explained, "Generally, if you're lucky, you can see the 'Sealed Star' while walking along this passage. However, the location of the 'Sealed Star' is extremely dangerous, with invisible barriers around it, making it impossible to get close. If you force your way close, you'll almost certainly perish. I've seen the Sealed Star many times. If you're lucky, you can see it once every year or two; if you're unlucky, you might see it once every thousand years. Back then, those alien kings who accidentally saw the Sealed Star were so excited that they couldn't contain themselves, and some of them tried to seize the Sealed Star at all costs, but they lost their lives because of it."

"Once every year or two?" Jiang Ye said, continuing to look down. "I think I've already seen it."

"Ah." Dark Thunder King was slightly taken aback, and quickly looked down, then his eyes widened in surprise, "It really is."

Jiang Ye gazed into the depths of the void below, where a star was slowly tumbling. This star was comparable in size to an ordinary planet, emanating a chilling aura. It rolled endlessly at a constant speed in the endless void, as if time itself had lost its meaning before it…

"Suppress the stars." Jiang Ye murmured softly, a complex light flashing in his eyes.

Dark Thunder King said helplessly, "We can only look but not obtain. There are many 'Sealed Stars' in the Star Tower, and quite a few have been photographed and recorded. There are still many that have not yet been discovered. Unfortunately, if the Sealed Stars do not appear on their own initiative, even the unparalleled cosmic overlords of the four peak races cannot forcibly obtain them."

"Mm," Jiang Ye responded and continued walking along the rock bridge.

"Another star that can be sealed." Dark Thunder King walked beside Jiang Ye on the rocky bridge, looking down and exclaiming in amazement.

As Jiang Ye walked, he occasionally glanced down. In the endless void beneath the rocky bridge, he could sometimes see a slowly rolling, sealed star. They flickered faintly in different locations deep within the void, each sealed star rolling at a constant speed for billions of years, never ceasing, until the moment of their birth…

Just as Jiang Ye was walking on the rocky bridge, he suddenly received a call request. He immediately separated a wisp of his consciousness, entered the virtual universe, and accepted the call invitation.

"Kill the King of Gold".

“King Lin Yuan,” Jiang Ye said. King Lin Yuan was a human. Although Jiang Ye had only been in the Hong Alliance for a short time, he had already spoken with many human kings and they knew each other. There were also many human kings who were either in seclusion, too arrogant, or exploring the secret realms of the universe. Although he hadn’t met them, he had collected some basic information about them.

“I was at the Star Tower when I discovered your coordinates nearby through the military's internal system, so I contacted you immediately,” King Lin Yuan said.

"Oh." Jiang Ye nodded slightly. He knew that the military system could collect the coordinates of each soldier and then integrate them in the virtual universe. Even in the special environment of the Star Tower, where it was impossible to explore other forbidden spaces, it was still possible to find other comrades and allies.

“I’ve just contacted several friends because I was suddenly attacked by the guards of the forbidden area, which caused me a lot of trouble. This situation is extremely rare. After contacting some friends, I found that three of them had encountered the same situation. What about you?” King Lin Yuan said.

"Ah, you too? I was also attacked by the guards of the forbidden area," Jiang Ye replied.

"This is serious. It seems the possibility of the 'Star-Sealing Demon' appearing is extremely high," King Lin Yuan said solemnly. "King Shi Jin... If the Star-Sealing Demon does appear, the countless forbidden spaces within this Star Tower will naturally attract powerful individuals from nearby races to gather and converge towards the place where the Star-Sealing Demon appears! Every time the Star-Sealing Demon appears, it will trigger a brutal massacre. You must be careful. I won't say more; I'm going to enter the next forbidden space."

……

After ending his call with King Lin Yuan, Jiang Ye received calls from four more allies in his faction. They were all comrades and allies of the human faction within a 10 billion kilometer radius, and all had encountered varying degrees of trouble, suspecting that the Zhenfeng Star was about to be born. After exchanging ideas with his friends, he felt increasingly confident that the Zhenfeng Star was indeed about to be born. "The Zhenfeng Star, is it really about to be born?" Jiang Ye thought warily.

Although the Sealed Star is a great treasure, Jiang Ye, who possesses the "Starry Sky Cloak," "King's Armor," "Abyss Sword," and "Universe Cauldron," has a high standard and would certainly not act rashly or blindly just because a "Sealed Star" is about to be born.

“A single star that is sealed away usually emerges only once every long period of time.”

"Is there a seed about to be born the moment I arrive?"

"Is this just a coincidence?"

Jiang Ye's vigilance grew stronger, and he turned to ask, "Dark Thunder King, what will happen when the Star-Sealing Demon is born?"

“The situations will vary, but various anomalies will definitely occur in the Star Tower, and the connections between the forbidden spaces will change, naturally attracting many powerful alien races to gather, ultimately triggering a bloody massacre…” Dark Thunder King explained in detail.

"Well, let's go."

Jiang Ye nodded slightly and said nothing more. Soon, they reached the end of the rock bridge.

Jiang Ye glanced at the faintly visible, slowly rolling sealed stars in the endless void beneath the rocky bridge, then put the Dark Thunder King into his world ring, and stepped alone into the exit at the end, entering another forbidden space.

……

Upon entering this forbidden space, Jiang Ye found himself in a mysterious primeval forest.

The trees are tall and twisted, their bark rough and covered with strange patterns, as if telling ancient stories. Occasionally, a few strange cries come from the depths of the forest, echoing in the mist and adding to the eeriness.

"Swish, swish, swish..." A soft sound came from beneath his feet. Jiang Ye looked down and saw that the fallen leaves on the ground seemed to be stirred by an invisible force, beginning to slowly rotate. Immediately afterward, a spider the size of a wolf crawled out from under the fallen leaves.

The spider was covered in a dark blue carapace that shimmered with an eerie light.

Its eight eyes, like eight red gems, radiated a chilling killing intent. The spider's legs were long and powerful, each covered with sharp barbs. As it moved, the barbs scraped across the ground, producing a chilling screeching sound.

"Have I run into the guards of the forbidden area again?" Jiang Ye muttered to himself.

……

The Star Tower seemed to take special "care" of Jiang Ye. From the first forbidden space to the tenth forbidden space, each forbidden space attracted its own forbidden guards. Their fighting styles, methods, and levels of danger were all different. The ninth forbidden space was the most dangerous one Jiang Ye encountered. At that time, he encountered a humanoid mechanical monster about two meters tall. This mechanical monster was made of black metal all over its body. Not only was its defense extremely amazing, but even the Dark Demon Poison Water was ineffective.

Moreover, its size is much smaller than other forbidden area guards, which also means that it is very agile.

It was the most agile one Jiang Ye encountered in the ten forbidden spaces. Its speed and dodging were almost comparable to Jiang Ye's when he used the treasure Starry Sky Cloak, and the two meteor hammers in its hands were comparable to the Dark Thunder King's attacks.

Jiang Ye used all his strength and all his means for the first time, fighting for a full half hour before he could suppress it and finally found the exit of the passage... Only then did he leave the ninth forbidden space.

"Luckily, it's just a metal puppet and can't burn the immortal divine body," Jiang Ye muttered.

"This is insane! This forbidden area guard, in terms of combat power alone... has completely surpassed the limit of a King-level expert, comparable to an invincible King-level expert. Fortunately, he's not a real god who can burn his immortal divine body." Even King Dark Thunder was stunned by the forbidden area guard's combat power.

……

After traversing ten forbidden zones, Jiang Ye no longer encountered attacks from the forbidden zone guards.

Within the Star Tower, one after another forbidden spaces are explored downwards.

"The 20th Forbidden Space." Jiang Ye sat cross-legged on a star, which carried him directly to the entrance of the 20th Forbidden Space.

******
When Jiang Ye stepped into the 20th forbidden space, the scene before him startled him. It was a strange crystalline wasteland, the entire space filled with a hazy and cold light.

The earth is made up of countless huge crystals, which are of various shapes. Some are like sharp swords piercing the sky, while others are like rolling mountains. Their surfaces shimmer with colorful luster, yet they also exude a chill.

Above this crystalline wasteland, two groups of immortal gods from different races were locked in a tense standoff.

One group, comprised of 32 immortal gods from the Mechanical Race, were all at the King level. Among them, two members of the Mechanical Race stood out.

Two members of the Machine Race have been crowned Kings!

These two mechanical race kings were uniquely designed silver alloy puppets. They were surrounded by 30 other immortal kings, all of whom were arranged neatly to one side, with these two mechanical race kings as their leaders.

The mechanical race is already small in number, and each mechanical king represents a vast and terrifying mechanical empire, whose power should not be underestimated.

The other group was the Zerg faction, consisting of only eight alien kings. However, the aura they exuded was in no way inferior, and perhaps even slightly stronger.

It turns out that among these six alien kings, one was a "King Limit Soul Servant" controlled by a Zerg king. This soul servant was surrounded by a strange purplish-black aura, and its outer shell was like an indestructible keratin layer, covered with sharp, needle-like barbs, each barb gleaming with a deadly cold light.

The existence of this puppet undoubtedly means that the terrifying Zerg immortal from the outer battlefield is within reach.

The Zerg Queen is immortal; any one of them is a fearsome being, second only to the Supreme Being of the Universe.

The immortal insectoid legions they control can instill fear in the hearts of countless races' rulers throughout the universe with a single attack.

(End of this chapter)