This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 252 A Distant Gaze

A dazzling beam of light struck Ping Xingdou between the eyebrows!

There was no flying blood and flesh, only a chaotic burst of blinding starlight. Ping Xingdou was struck as if by an invisible giant hammer, thrown backward like a cannonball, and fell off the cliff.

His eyes widened, the starlight within flickering uncertainly, as if it might be extinguished at any moment. His consciousness rapidly sank into oblivion amidst the excruciating pain and shock; the fanaticism and obsession with his so-called identity as the 'Star Lord' shattered completely in that instant, leaving only emptiness, numbness, and a sense of weightlessness.

However, just as he was about to fall into the darkness below, a streak of light appeared out of thin air from the starlight and caught his falling body. A necklace that Fu Nian had once given him was emitting light, slowing his descent into death, though only by a fraction.

There may have been some secrets involved, but now it's all too late.

They were all unaware of when they began to be powerless. Now, Fu Nian had become the core of a dungeon, while Ping Xing Dou had become the 'Star Lord' whom even he himself could not define.

What exactly is the Star Lord?
Ping Xingdou's consciousness floated in the darkness.

This final question lingered like a ghost, and he couldn't figure it out before falling into utter nothingness.

……

Deep within Ping Xingdou's spiritual realm, the scene was horrifying.

His spirit seemed to float in an endless, dark void, surrounded by countless, flickering stars. These stars were not warm beacons, but cold, greedy gazes. The starlight flashed and collided wildly, and every instant countless malevolent plans were born and annihilated—how to parasitize new civilizations, how to drag a vibrant world into a cage, how to reignite the embers of civilizations so that they could return to the starry sky… These were the star embers, or rather, what these long-dead, twisted souls truly craved.

Ping Xingdou's self-awareness was as insignificant as a speck of dust in the center of this frenzied star map; he was being assimilated and swallowed up.

No one can maintain their individuality when faced with the erosion of hundreds of millions of souls. The catalysis of emotions is only the first step.

"I... am going to die?" Ping Xingdou muttered to himself.

Darkness. Endless darkness. The twinkling starlight, in his perception, was merely a deeper darkness.

"I'm going to die." He was certain of this fact.

Death is an eternal topic, and in the face of it, he only had one thing he wanted to do.

Deep in the dark valley, Ping Xingdou's dying body twitched, his eyelids trembling as he tried to open them. He thought…

...He wanted to see the starry sky one more time. He wanted to see the real starry sky. Not for any other reason than 'curiosity'.

He remembered that initially, he hadn't sought the truth, nor did he want to save anyone or become anyone's 'master.' Because if one wants to be someone else's master, one becomes a slave to something greater…

He was simply curious. In the beginning of all reason, in the beginning of all gazing, in the beginning of all action, he was simply curious.

His health bar was almost depleted, and his mental energy was being consumed rapidly in a desperate attempt to compensate. But just before Ping Xingdou's vision returned for the last time, a pair of illusory hands formed from endless starlight slowly emerged from the light beneath him and covered the eyes of his spiritual body.

His vision was completely obscured by the starlight.

……

On the cliff, Han Jiangxue and Yi Jian rushed to the edge of the hole and looked down.

All that could be seen was the streak of light that caught Ping Xingdou flashing by and disappearing into the deep shadows and restless starlight of the canyon.

"What was that just now?"

Yi Jian asked uncertainly, the light sniper in his hand slowly dissipating, his face pale from excessive energy consumption. Another portion of his attribute points had been permanently lost, but he wasn't worried, because he was certain that Gushi or the distant Ping would give him the compensation he deserved.

Oh, well, there are still some things to worry about, like the battle ahead...

Han Jiangxue stared down, her icy eyes filled with even greater chill.

She sensed it; the aura emanating from below had become even more chaotic and dangerous.

This aura made her realize that Ping Xingdou was not dead, but she was not sure whether what had survived was his soul or his body, or something even more terrifying.

“Be prepared for something worse,” she said. “The ceremony isn’t over yet.”

Deep within the canyon, the starlight flickered like breath, like a cold heart slowly awakening. Ping Xingdou's figure blended into the light, becoming indistinguishable.

……

Those hands, formed from starlight, covered the eyes of Ping Xingdou's spiritual body, signifying that they had temporarily taken complete control of his will.

For these dormant star embers—those long-dead, civilizational souls that have traveled through the starry sky with starstones and meteorites, yearning to parasitize and plunder—the spirit and obsession of Ping Xingdou are perfectly suited to be the first vessel to contain them.

They have been eroding him, brainwashing him, trying to completely transform this soul with firm beliefs and strong desires, erasing his ego, and turning him into their perfect tool.

However, Ping Xingdou's deep-seated, pure devotion to the real starry sky, like an inextinguishable spark, continues to resist complete enslavement.

"why?"

The alien souls couldn't understand why this 'human' had such an obsession. They had been in the starry sky for too long and had been dead for too long, so it was impossible for them to empathize with Ping Xingdou, an ordinary creature.

However, this indelible obsession influenced the core philosophy that Star Ember wrote down when developing its cult, making it built around the pursuit of the true starry sky.

Because this is the most likely to resonate with the people of Pingxingdou, and also the best way to conceal their true purpose.

—They never intended to keep their promises.

Open the planet's barrier and reveal the true starry sky?
That would be tantamount to suicide.

If the barrier were to dissipate, it would expose them, and the planet they were quietly reaping, to the vast and dangerous universe.

God knows what kind of terrifying attack that would provoke!

The so-called real starry sky, the so-called ideal, is nothing but bait to lure people like Ping Xingdou, Fu Nian, Hao Yao, and others!

But at this moment, to counter Yi Jian's attack that nearly destroyed the container, the Star Embers had no choice but to tear off their masks, temporarily suppressing Ping Xingdou's remaining consciousness and forcibly controlling him. In just a breath, the soul in the darkness gradually rose, starlight gathered around Ping Xingdou, and began to condense into a hard, shimmering stone…

During the process of losing consciousness, Ping Xingdou seemed to be having a long and fragmented dream.

He dreamt of the old campus on Earth, the cool touch of a telescope, and the stars twinkling clearly in its lens.

She dreamt of her family's joy upon receiving an acceptance letter from a top university, the excitement of discussing knowledge with teachers and classmates, the satisfaction of each stargazing session, arriving in the early days of a new world, the rapidly deteriorating situation, the arduous yet hopeful pioneering work… Then came the eerie starry sky, the bewilderment in people's hearts, and the subdued thoughts… She listened quietly to his gentle gaze as he described the starry sky…

The dream ended at a moment of choice: between burying his thoughts and pursuing his ideals, he chose the latter.

Why? That thought resurfaced, tinged with a stubbornness he himself couldn't understand: Why did he say he wanted to go to the land corresponding to Australia that day?
The question, like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, rippled faintly in the depths of his suppressed consciousness.

……

The distant Australian continent is barren, but mutated animals thrive there, presenting a completely different scene from the region where Central Australia is located.

A figure tossed aside what he was holding—a spider carcass the size of a car, its viscous green blood splattered on his tattered protective suit. He paid it no heed and strode forward.

Before him was a vast, suffocating ceremonial space.

The entire ceremony site was almost the size of a large town from an old era.

The ground was etched with deep, intricate trenches, from which flowed not normal liquids, but a dim, starlight like shards of glass. Countless enormous crystal pillars stood tall in the ritual space, arranged according to some incomprehensible pattern, constantly absorbing energy from the surrounding natural world while releasing even deeper darkness towards their center.

At the center of the ceremony site was a bottomless pit, seemingly leading straight to the earth's core.

An indescribable attraction emanates from the pit, not just for matter, but also for energy.

This is far beyond the small-scale skirmishes that occurred in the ruins of Zhongzhou.

This is the true core of the ceremony.

"Ready to begin." He patted the sash at his waist. "According to the Star God's will, if all seven ritual sites around the world operate successfully, we will destroy this false starry sky!"

(End of this chapter)