Swallowing the Stars: Analyzing All Things

The sky over the continent of Lanqi is a solidified, heavy, and seemingly eternally unchanging dark red.

This color, like diluted blood, flowed slowly across the sky, enveloping the entire continent in an eerie crimson halo.

And within these flowing, dark red clouds, a small spaceship is silently flying.

Inside a quiet room on the spaceship.

Lin Yan sat cross-legged in meditation, with the silvery-white leg bone that had been plucked from the native floating in front of him.

Under the soft light inside the cabin, the secret bone gleamed with a faint silver glow. The fine patterns on its surface flowed slowly like living things, each flow bringing with it a faint energy fluctuation.

"Buzz~"

Lin Yan extended his right hand and grasped the secret bone in his palm.

The warm touch returned, a temperature that felt less like that of an inanimate object and more like that of some kind of slumbering life.

"Let me take a look..."

"What secret does this secret bone hold?"

Lin Yan thought to himself, his mental energy probing into the inside of the secret bone, slowly extending along those fine lines. The faint secret patterns on the bone gradually lit up under the infusion of his mental energy.

These secret patterns...

Upon careful study of these secret patterns, Lin Yan discovered that they did not seem to be engraved later, but rather seemed to be naturally formed. Moreover, the more he studied them, the more familiar they seemed to be.

"Spatial runes?"

Lin Yan suddenly remembered that when he was cultivating the Void Instant Shadow Secret Manual, he had vaguely sensed many secret patterns of spatial laws under the guidance of the light and shadow figures on the broken stone slab.

The patterns on this secret bone are extremely similar to the patterns of those spatial laws, just like different branches on the same tree, each following a different branch of the spatial laws.

Besides the secret runes, at the core of the secret bone, mental energy also detected a strange energy fluctuation.

"What kind of energy is this?"

Lin Yan felt a sense of doubt. This power seemed to be the primordial energy of the universe, but it wasn't quite pure.

After half an hour.

Having failed to find any clues, Lin Yan casually put the secret bone into his world ring, then logged into the army system and began to search for information about the sacrificial temple, the secret bone, and so on.

Blank.

Not only in the military system, but also in the virtual universe, the search results were all blank.

"No?"

"Is it a permission deficiency? Or is it simply not available in the military system?"

Of the two guesses, Lin Yan believed the former more. It was impossible for the human race and the demon race to directly ignore the sacrificial temple that had always ruled this starry sky when they opened up this extraterrestrial battlefield.

"Snapped!"

Turn off the light screen.

Lin Yan stopped dwelling on these things; his immediate priority was to complete the extermination mission and improve his own strength.

……

The following days.

Lin Yan led the 37th Combat Squad to wipe out the remaining tribes in succession, in accordance with the mission objectives given by the military system.

but.

The situation with these recent raids differed somewhat from that of the first tribe. These tribes seemed to have been informed of the raids, and some were already fleeing when the raiders arrived.

Some tribes even abandoned their ancestral lands decisively, migrating as a whole before their arrival and disappearing into the vast wilderness.

"The news spread so fast?"

On the ruins of a tribe that had been wiped out, Lin Yan looked at the dark red land in the distance, his brows furrowing slightly.

The news spread too fast!

The indigenous people of the Lanqi Continent may seem to have a low level of civilization, but they have their own means of communication, and within just a few days, some tribes had already received the news.

"Captain." Wei Ran came up from behind, her voice tinged with worry, "The next mission tribe is probably already empty."

Lin Yan nodded.

This can't go on.

If all the natives run away, their extermination mission becomes meaningless, and their space warriors lose their training effect.

"Report to the commander."

Lin Yan said, "Requesting further instructions."

This is not something he can handle; let the Realm Lord and the Immortal Army Lord worry about it.

……

at the same time.

In a magnificent stone city on the continent of Lanqi.

The kingdom's palace stands in the center of the city, built of huge gray-white stones, with ancient totems carved on the stone walls.

A totem is an abstract pattern made up of countless interwoven runes that gleams faintly in the sunlight.

Inside the main hall.

The king of the kingdom sat on his high throne, surrounded by a faint golden light.

His physique was no different from that of an ordinary Stone-Skinned Clan member, except that on his forehead was a brownish-yellow mark of law, like a third eye, radiating a heart-palpitating aura.

Below him, a dozen clan elders stood on either side.

Although their auras were not as powerful as those of the Kingdom Lord, they were all Realm Lord level experts.

now.

The dozen or so elders had solemn faces and their eyes were full of worry.

"Over a thousand tribes have already appealed for help," an elder said in a low voice. "Even several city-states have sent messengers; those people are simply otherworldly demons."

"What kind of extraterrestrial demon is this?"

Another elder chimed in, his face grim. "They've come specifically to annihilate us. These aren't some extraterrestrial demons; they're an army from beyond the realm!"

"Extraterritorial armies..."

An elder murmured the word repeatedly, a flicker of fear in his eyes, "An army capable of traversing the stars, that is..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone present knew what he wanted to say.

Gods.

An army capable of traversing the stars must have a god behind it, but their kingdom has no god.

"Where is the temple?"

An elder with a slightly younger face stood up, his voice tinged with urgency, "The temple has been out of contact for over ten thousand epochs, but the statue remains, the god's power remains, we can awaken the statue—"

"Awakening the idol requires a sacrifice."

An old clan elder interrupted him, "You all know the price. Every time the idol is awakened, ten clan elders must be sacrificed."

Silence fell over the main hall.

Ten clan elders.

The entire kingdom currently has only seventeen elders, and once the decision is made to awaken the statue, it means that most of those present will have to sacrifice themselves.

It concerns one's own life.

Who would be willing to give it up so easily?

"I disagree," an elder spoke first. "Those extraterrestrial demons may be powerful, but we are not without a chance to fight back..."

His voice grew softer and softer.

Clearly, he himself did not believe what he said.

"Awaken the idol..." The king's gaze swept over each of the elders present, and he slowly spoke, "It is the only way."

Silence fell once again in the main hall.

The dozen or so elders looked at each other, some lowered their heads, some turned their faces away, but no one agreed. Even the elder who had spoken first remained silent.

The meeting ended unhappily.

One by one, the elders left the main hall.

The king sat on his throne, watching them leave. In his dark yellow eyes, there was no anger, no fear, only a deep, indescribable weariness.

……