Swallowed Star: Primordial Artifact

Chapter 263 The Strange Movement of the Xuanhuang Pagoda Bead

……

As time flowed by, the powerful figures within the Star Tower, like rivers flowing into the sea, continuously gathered in one forbidden space after another, before collectively advancing towards the next forbidden space.

The time spent in each forbidden area ranged from half an hour to half a day. In this way, after two days, the group of powerful individuals led by Jiang Ye had grown to an astonishing size.

“Our group alone has more than 16,000 powerful individuals.” King Lin Yuan stood beside Jiang Ye, his face full of amazement. “We haven’t even reached the final gathering place yet. Once all the powerful individuals from each group have gathered, the number will be unimaginable.”

"Hmm." Jiang Ye responded, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over a powerful figure in the human camp.

It was a man carrying seven different swords on his back, each sword exuding a unique aura, as if telling the story of its own extraordinary nature.

He wore an ancient-looking purple armor, the patterns on which seemed etched by time and faintly flowed with mysterious power. His hands were clad in black gloves made of a special material, and seven swords were branded on his forehead. The powerful aura he exuded even prompted the Xuanmu King of the distant demon race to unleash a bloodthirsty aura in response.

"The Seven Sword Kings!" Jiang Ye thought to himself.

The Seven Sword Kings are among the strongest human warriors.

At this point, the number of powerful individuals in the human camp had reached over five thousand immortal gods, more than 90% of whom were at the King level. There were dozens of King-level limit experts alone, and dozens more at the peak of the King level who were skilled in soul attacks. Naturally, the core of this group of powerful individuals in the human camp had changed from Jiang Ye and Lin Yuanwang to this long-established and even more renowned Seven Swords King.

Unlike Jiang Ye, the Seven Swords King follows the mentalist school of martial arts. He distinguished himself in the "Giant Axe Arena" at a young age and was recruited as a core genius by the Giant Axe Arena as the number one genius of that era. His strength has been advancing rapidly ever since.

Although in terms of talent and speed of progress, he may not be as good as Kodi, Jiang Ye, or even Luo Feng, he is much better than the talent of "Bolan".

After becoming immortal, the Seven Swords King gained the favor of a certain universe master in the "Giant Axe Arena" and was taken as his personal disciple.

From then on, his cultivation journey was smooth sailing. In just tens of thousands of years, he had reached a level of near-invincible power, comparable to established powerhouses like True King and Heavenly Feather King. The higher-ups of the human race placed high hopes on the Seven Sword King, convinced that he had a strong chance of becoming a "Universe Venerable."

The combined efforts of the human race in nurturing him, the meticulous guidance of the Lord of the Universe, and the special opportunities that the Seven Sword Kings themselves possessed have created the renowned "Seven Sword Kings" of today.

"He is the Seven Sword King. I heard he is the personal disciple of the Lord of the Universe."

"Which cosmic ruler is it?"

"I don't know, but I heard it's the human giant axe arena side."

"Humans are truly powerful. Our race doesn't even have a single Universe Lord, while they are divided into five major powers, each with a Universe Lord-level being."

Not only among the alien races, but also within the human camp, whispers circulated. The Seven Sword King's individual combat strength was already astonishing, and his identity as the "personal disciple of the Universe Lord" served as a banner, naturally drawing the human camp to him. After all, such an existence, backed by the Universe Lord's protection, was virtually incapable of falling. The fall of the Universe Lord's personal disciple would be far more dramatic than the emergence of a sealed star.

Of course, if Jiang Ye's identity is exposed, he will definitely be even more dazzling than the Seven Swords King.

He was taken in as a personal disciple by the Lord of Chaos City. The Lord of Chaos City, as the top authority of the Virtual Universe Company and the governor of the human holy land of Chaos City, holds the highest position among the human race, second only to the founder of the Giant Axe. Moreover, Jiang Ye was taken in as a personal disciple by the Lord of Chaos City before even reaching the Realm Lord stage, and now, as a Realm Lord, he has even earned the title of King. Such heaven-defying talent is truly rare.

However, Jiang Ye was naturally not foolish enough to reveal his identity now. He knew that once his identity was exposed, those alien powerhouses would definitely go crazy, and compared to Luo Feng, it would most likely attract the assassination attempt of the strongest being in the universe.

"The Seven Sword Kings?" Jiang Ye glanced at it and pondered to himself.

Although he is currently only at the Realm Lord level, with his current strength and many trump cards, it is not entirely impossible for him to defeat the Seven Sword King.

In terms of treasures, although the Seven Swords King possesses a set of powerful treasures, Jiang Ye has the special treasure Starry Sky Cloak and the domain treasure Flowing Light Gale Disc. In comparison, Jiang Ye is superior, but it is also possible that the Seven Swords King's teacher, the Lord of the Universe, also bestowed upon him a treasure.

In terms of divine power, the Seven Sword Kings, being immortals, can burn immortal divine power, but Jiang Ye's Ancestral Dragon clone, using the Body Amplification Secret Technique, can reach 90 million times the power of a peak World Lord when fully unleashed, comparable to some blank Venerables. In this respect, the two can be considered equal.

"In terms of laws, thanks to the fusion of wind and time laws, I am no less powerful than those who have passed the twentieth level of the Cosmic Bridge. My only weakness now is probably my secret techniques. Although I created the peak secret technique Flowing Wind Trailing the Sky, it only has one move, and the attack method is too simple. If I were to fight for a long time against an invincible king like the Seven Sword King, who has created several peak secret techniques over a long period of time, I would definitely be suppressed. However, with the Devouring Heaven Dragon Armor, I won't suffer too much of a loss." Jiang Ye pondered to himself.

"Defeating the Seven Sword King at this stage is indeed quite difficult. But if I become an immortal god, I will defeat him very easily," Jiang Ye thought to himself.
"Unfortunately, I am currently only a Realm Lord, and my cultivation time is still short. Moreover, my inner world still needs to be further expanded, so there is no need to rush to break through."

******
There are more than 16,000 immortal gods in total from the four major factions, including the human faction. They come from all corners of the universe and have different forms.

There are flesh-and-blood life forms; there are energy life forms; there are metallic life forms; and there are also plant life forms. This is also a huge category. Among them are those with weak consciousness, such as the Mo Yun Vine, as well as some plant species whose intelligence is no less than that of humans. Some of them look very similar to humans, only their internal life structure is different.

"Rumble~~~~"

A loud bang was heard, and the mountain range in front seemed to be torn apart by an invisible force, revealing a huge and bottomless cave.

Inside the cave, faint, star-like lights seemed to be moving, creating a dreamlike and illusory scene.

"exit!"

"It's the exit!"

In an instant, the four factions were in turmoil. Based on distance, over sixteen thousand immortal gods from various races surged towards the enormous cave. The human faction was third, and they all entered together. Upon entering, they felt as if time and space had distorted and shifted; the next moment, they found themselves atop a massive stone peak.

……

Before them lay endless void, with stone peaks suspended within them. Each peak was very close to the others, like countless closely spaced pebbles paving a broad road through the void.

Having explored so many forbidden spaces within the Star Tower, Jiang Ye was already experienced and knew that this was a void passage. By passing through this passage, he could reach the next forbidden space.

"Whoosh!" Jiang Ye landed on a rock on the towering stone peak, looked into the distance, and couldn't help but gasp. "How can there be so many powerful beings? The void passage is just a passage between forbidden areas. Under normal circumstances, the number of powerful beings passing through should be very small, but here... there must be more than 100,000 immortal gods."

Countless stone peaks floated in the endless void, and on each peak, and in mid-air, gathered a vast number of immortal gods from various races—the sheer number was astonishing. At this moment alone, the number exceeded one hundred thousand.

"Yes, it might even exceed that. You know, there are only 100,000 humans in my Hong Alliance who have been granted the title of King." King Lin Yuan stood beside Jiang Ye and chuckled softly.

"Moreover, the quality of the 100,000 kings in the Hong Alliance isn't that high," Jiang Ye added.

“That’s natural,” King Lin Yuan sighed. “As we’ve traveled this far, more and more powerful individuals have gathered from various forbidden areas. In particular, some of the weaker ones, seeing so many powerful individuals, have become fearful and afraid of losing their lives, so they deliberately separated from us midway and stopped going.”

It's actually quite simple to give up the fight for the Zhenfeng Star. For example, if the main force moves along the passage together, as long as you don't follow along, you can leave separately when the passage appears again, and you will naturally "fall behind".

"Furthermore, many incredibly confident super-strong individuals, even if they were originally in other dangerous places in the Seventh Battlefield, would probably rush here upon hearing the news of the emergence of the Star-Sealing Tower. To be honest, I was adventuring in the Morning Sand Star Region when I heard about the Star Tower's movements, which is why I quickly came here. Fortunately, I was only on the outskirts at the time, so I arrived here quickly through the legends of the Divine Kingdom."

"The same goes for the super-strong individuals within the Star Tower. They use the divine kingdom's teleportation to get as close as possible to the place where the anomaly is occurring," King Lin Yuan remarked. "Therefore, among these more than 100,000 immortal gods from various races, there are quite a few super-strong individuals. Look, the 'Fate-Fallen King' of the Mechanical Race, our human 'Seven Sword Kings,' and over there the 'Tower Dragon King'... aren't they all renowned? Now they've all gathered here. If so many powerful individuals can gather in this void passage, then this void passage... is probably the birthplace of the star-sealing formation."

"Mm." Jiang Ye nodded in agreement.

Generally speaking, the places where one can witness the birth of a sealed star are mostly within a void passage. Therefore, the birth of a sealed star is very likely to occur within this void passage.

“Suppressing the stars.”

"Look, the stars are sealed!"

"It's appeared!"

"The sealed star has appeared!"

The more than 100,000 immortal gods from all over the universe, who had been bustling about, instantly became agitated. Almost all the powerful figures looked down, including King Lin Yuan and Jiang Ye.

In the depths of the endless void below, a vortex of airflow appeared, and deep within the vortex, a star slowly rolled and was gradually rising.

"Boom~~~" The roar of the enormous vortex finally reached Jiang Ye's ears.

Within the massive vortex, the speed at which the sealed star rose slowed down, seemingly encountering immense resistance.

"So many sealed stars!"

"There must be several thousand of them."

"Oh!"

Exclamations came and went.

In the distance surrounding the enormous vortex, countless slowly rolling, sealed stars could be faintly seen. Each sealed star ranged in diameter from nine thousand to ninety thousand kilometers, and at a glance, thousands of stars appeared, all slowly rolling at the same constant speed, all orbiting the central vortex. The sealed star that had already risen to the surface within the vortex was the most dazzling and radiant. This scene instantly plunged the more than one hundred thousand immortal gods of various races into a frenzy.

Jiang Ye was also captivated by the stunning scene and was completely engrossed in watching it.

"Ok?"

At this moment, the Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Exquisite Pagoda Bead, which had always existed in Jiang Ye's sea of ​​consciousness and protected his soul, seemed to sense something and trembled slightly.

Although it was only for a moment, Jiang Ye still noticed it keenly.

"Hmm? What's going on?" Jiang Ye wondered to himself.

Just as Jiang Ye was puzzled by this, King Lin Yuan seemed to notice Jiang Ye's unusual behavior and asked with concern, "What's wrong?"

Jiang Ye glanced at him and said, "It's nothing!" Then, glancing around, he changed the subject, saying, "It seems that many alien immortals are already impatient."

"Kill the King of Gold".

King Lin Yuan looked at Jiang Ye with a strange expression, but did not press further. He then quickly transmitted his voice, "Do you want to obtain the Zhenfeng Star? Don't tell me you don't."

Jiang Ye glanced at King Lin Yuan beside him and couldn't help but smile: "If they didn't want to, who would come here to take this risk? However, judging from the current situation, the probability of obtaining the Sealed Star is extremely low. Among the more than 100,000 immortal gods of alien races present, there are nine beings like Nan Cheng, King Xuanmu, and King Talong..."

"They are indeed powerful, but there are over 100,000 immortal gods from various races present. The influence of individual combat strength has been greatly weakened. Who would dare to defy so many immortal powerhouses? Even a Universe Venerable would only perish if struck by the combined attack of over 100,000 King-level powerhouses!" King Lin Yuan hurriedly said, "I have already contacted several other King-level limit-level beings and am preparing to temporarily form an alliance with our approximately one thousand comrades and allies around us, to advance and retreat together, and to compete for the treasure together."

"Thousands of comrades and allies have formed an alliance?" Jiang Ye became interested.

“Yes.” King Lin Yuan nodded. “I have applied to the virtual universe system for a ‘temporary meeting room’ so that we can all enter directly.”

Temporary meeting rooms are frequently used by immortal beings in emergency situations, such as on extraterrestrial battlefields or in secret cosmic realms. Once an application is successful, all invited immortals have the right to directly enter the temporary meeting room for urgent discussions and decision-making.

Of course, this would require a considerable expense, but it's nothing for a King-level expert.

“I am now sending out emails and sending telepathic messages to remind them that we must act quickly to have even the slightest chance,” said King Lin Yuan.

"Gentlemen, this is King Lin Yuan. I have sent you all an email. After reading it, please proceed to the temporary meeting hall immediately." King Lin Yuan's voice transmission caused the thousands of immortal gods from the human faction around him to exchange bewildered glances before connecting their consciousness to the virtual universe and beginning to check their emails.

(End of this chapter)