Chapter 475: Land of Fragments

Chapter 475: Land of Fragments

Two Starfall Variants, Hydrokinesis and Shattering Shockwave.

Additionally, the Deep Sea Giant Devourer had several other variants that were highly valuable, especially the Reviving Tides variant, which was extremely rare. If this variant were to be auctioned at the Eastern Emperor Island, its selling price would likely rival that of a Starfall variant.

The Reviving Tides variant would be perfect for huge dragon species like the Azure Dragon and the Whale Dragon.

By further merging it with two or three recovery-type variants, as well as the "Gigantification" variant, to increase its size and enhance its ability level, it could achieve near-immortality in the depths of the sea, just like the Deep Sea Giant Devourer!

"This would be perfect for Cang Ya."

Ji Xinghuo immediately thought of Cang Ya and how her Azure Dragon lacked the Reviving Tides variant.

Soon, he located and extracted the variants based on the information provided by the interface, carefully cutting open the massive corpse of the Deep Sea Giant Devourer.

One by one, he collected the valuable variants.

The last ones he extracted were Hydrokinesis and Shattering Shockwave, and the moment he severed them from the creature, a meteor shower phenomenon occurred on the surface of the sea.

Even though they were in the remote depths of the ocean, where few ventured, Ji Xinghuo immediately mounted Doom and used Star Realm Warp to return to the area where he had first discovered the Deep Sea Giant Devourer, in case the meteor shower phenomenon posed any danger.

As the violent storm gradually subsided, the churning sea still spread with blood. Ji Xinghuo located the sinking corpse of the Shield Turtle.

It had been torn to shreds, its blood completely drained.

Ji Xinghuo examined it and shook his head.

While this Shield Turtle was of the brilliant grade, aside from the "Adamantine Shell" variant that offered exceptionally high defense, the others held little value. There was no sign of the most coveted "Longevity" variant that Shield Turtles had a slim chance of possessing.

Longevity was a Starfall variant. It held no combat capabilities, but it could extend the lifespan of a variant creature significantly, allowing them to live up to twice their normal lifespan.

Not only Shield Turtles but all manner of turtle-like creatures in the abyssal depths had a minuscule chance of possessing the Longevity variant.

It was incredibly rare, perhaps one in a billion.

Ji Xinghuo was still young and had no concerns about aging, but for those nearing the limit of their lifespan who had yet to break through their bottlenecks, they would willingly trade everything they had for a Longevity variant.

He collected a few ultra-limit variants from the Shield Turtle's corpse and continued on his way.

Now far from the storm, Ji Xinghuo held the Shattering Shockwave variant in his hand, and the variant information appeared before his eyes.

[Variant: Shattering Shockwave]



[Grade: Starfall]



[Fusion Success Rate: 84%, 90%, 17%, 51%]



[Upgradeable: Yes]



"This is fantastic!"

Ji Xinghuo looked at the four fusion success rates displayed. The first was his own, and the second belonged to Qinghong. As he had guessed, Shattering Shockwave was a perfect fit for Qinghong and would greatly enhance its attack power.

Shattering Shockwave could unleash several times its power in an instant, even breaking through the void and shattering all defenses.

It was on par with "Rift Slash," and they operated on similar principles.

The difference between the two lay in their methods of attack. Rift Slash focused on slicing and had a longer-range, while Shattering Shockwave was a head-on assault, only usable at close range in melee combat, attached to the palm, limb, or tentacle.

One was a slicing attack, while the other was a blunt force strike.

Ji Xinghuo looked at Qinghong beside him and asked with a smile, "Interested?"

Qinghong nodded eagerly, its eyes pleading.

It had used a Star Tear previously, so it had one more chance at fusion available.

However, Ji Xinghuo did not immediately proceed with the fusion. Firstly, he wanted to conserve fusion attempts for potential "Gene Reconstruction," and secondly, Qinghong had just clashed with Jiuyou, and it needed to be disciplined so it would learn to restrain itself in the future.

"I'll give it to you when you start behaving," Ji Xinghuo said calmly as he put away the Shattering Shockwave variant.

Qinghong hung its head dejectedly.

Ji Xinghuo secretly smiled to himself and sat atop Doom as they continued their flight.

They flew and stopped, sometimes taking detours.

Ever since encountering the Deep Sea Giant Devourer, Ji Xinghuo had mostly let Doom, Qinghong, and Jiuyou handle any monsters they came across, only observing from a distance to gain mental source energy. This allowed his battle pets to gain combat experience and build better teamwork.

It had to be said that the battle style of the Beast Master was incredibly satisfying, and their journey had been smooth sailing.

No monster could stand against his three battle pets.

Each day, his mental source energy increased rapidly, surpassing 2 million points once more. At the same time, Ji Xinghuo was getting closer and closer to his goal, and the arrow on the Myriad Astro Interface was becoming clearer.

"We're finally almost there!"

Ji Xinghuo rode on Doom's back, gazing at the boundless sea before them.

Here, even without opening the Myriad Astro Interface, he could sense the location of the fragment, much like when he had sensed the fragment of Cloud City in Olympia. In fact, he felt even closer to this fragment.

"It should be within 10,000 kilometers.

Ji Xinghuo felt a surge of anticipation. It was highly possible that a fragment of the Myriad Astro Pupil had fallen into the sea, unnoticed by anyone. That would be the best-case scenario.

The worst-case scenario was that it was being carried by an extremely formidable existence, one that hadn't ventured out recently. In that case, the location indicated by the arrow would be the lair of that entity!

Doom continued to fly, drawing ever closer.

When they were about 5,000 kilometers away, Ji Xinghuo instructed Doom to halt. He then scanned the surroundings with electromagnetic induction. The dark sky and sea blended together, even dimming the radiance of the golden glow. The temperature and air pressure were both low, as if they had reached the edge of the world.

During their flight, they hadn't come across any islands or monsters, which had become scarce.

But the most dangerous aspect was the void.

The space here was highly unstable, with the flow of seawater unpredictable and rife with hidden currents and vortices that seemed to lead nowhere. The sea's surface rose and fell like mountain ranges, emitting a roaring sound, and the seabed concealed massive fissures that led to nothingness.

Ji Xinghuo took out the map Cang Ya had given him.

On it, this area—a vast expanse of hundreds of billions of square kilometers at the edge of the map—was marked as the "Solitary Sea."

This was a desolate place, devoid of life.

Even Abyss Hunters rarely ventured into the Solitary Sea.

It was said that if one could cross the Solitary Sea, they would reach another abyssal sea. Continuing onward, one could enter a realm neighboring the True Dragon Realm, corresponding to the spiral arm of the Milky Way that neighbored the Orion Arm.

"With a single leap, I could reach the fragment's location." Ji Xinghuo was extremely cautious and naturally wouldn't do something so rash.

He already had a plan in mind.

Jiuyou emerged from his left eye, attaching itself to his body and entering the Dark Incarnation state. He immediately invested 30,000 star points to create a shadow clone. The King of Darkness then absorbed dark energy to restore his star points and proceeded to create a second shadow clone.

In less than half an hour, Ji Xinghuo had created eight shadow clones.

However, he didn't send out all of his shadow clones at once. Instead, he waited until his star points had recovered to their peak, at which point one of the shadow clones began to glow.

Star Realm Warp!

A fourth-level Star Realm Warp would consume around 2,000 star points, and the star points consumed by the shadow clone couldn't be recovered.

Nevertheless, the remaining star points were sufficient for his purposes.

Ji Xinghuo remained at his original location, waiting. Through the senses of his shadow clone, he synchronously received information.

"We've arrived."

"This should be the place."

The area where the shadow clone had arrived looked no different from any other part of the Solitary Sea: boundless clouds shrouded the sky, creating a gloomy and oppressive atmosphere, and there were no islands in sight.

"Could it be underwater?"

Ji Xinghuo performed an electromagnetic induction scan within a 200-kilometer radius, from the sky to the seabed, but found nothing unusual.

They also didn't locate the fragment of the Myriad Astro Pupil.

However, the sea was filled with massive void fissures that constantly twisted and changed, preventing electromagnetic induction from penetrating the void to examine the situation within the fissures.

Ji Xinghuo immediately thought of the Cloud Dragon's lair, and he guessed that these void fissures might be hiding a secret realm!

He felt a sense of foreboding.

If a fragment of the Myriad Astro Pupil was in a secret realm, there was a high probability that someone had brought it there.

"First, find the entrance to the secret realm."

Ji Xinghuo instructed the shadow clone to remain hidden in mid-air and wait, while he and the other seven shadow clones flew over.

The star points consumed by the shadow clones' Star Realm Warps were calculated separately and didn't affect the warp distance of the main body. Nonetheless, Ji Xinghuo didn't want to waste them, especially since Doom could quickly fly to their destination, and he had brought along the remaining shadow clones.

They arrived at the target area.

Through the interface, Ji Xinghuo saw that the arrow was pointing towards the seabed. He didn't dive underwater himself but instead sent one of the shadow clones to investigate.

A moment later.

The shadow clone dove into the sea and descended to a depth of over 10,000 meters, stopping before a void fissure.

This void fissure looked no different from the others, resembling a massive canyon that ran through the sea, devouring seawater while also spewing out a large amount of water. If not for the guidance of the arrow, it would have been completely unremarkable.

"This is the place."

Ji Xinghuo and the seven shadow clones remained over 100 kilometers away on the sea's surface, maintaining their stealth.

Then, the shadow clone plunged into the void fissure.

In the darkness, the shadow clone felt a pulling and compressing force that would instantly turn an ordinary person's body to dust. Even a legendary anomaly would have difficulty enduring it, but Ji Xinghuo's shadow clone was unaffected.

Suddenly, the area before them opened up.

Through the shadow clone, Ji Xinghuo found himself in another sea, one with a beautiful landscape of azure seas and blue skies.

Ji Xinghuo exclaimed in surprise, but the spatial extent of this secret realm was vast, with a diameter of around 180 kilometers. If not for his electromagnetic induction, it would have been impossible to cover such a large area. The secret realm was almost entirely ocean, with dozens of islands scattered throughout.

These islands resembled a string of pearls, distributed across the sea, with the largest island close to the center of the secret realm.

The island was lush with vegetation, and many structures were built upon it.

The shadow clone discovered numerous exotic beings, from various races, bustling around a black palace on the island.

"Who's there?"

Before he could get a closer look, someone shouted loudly nearby.

A circular platform with a diameter of over 600 meters had been constructed around the area where the shadow clone had appeared on the sea's surface, leaving a gap for the seawater to flow in. The platform was guarded by many sentries of different races: Mermen, Shellfolk, Scaleborn, Gillborn, Wildlings, Draconians, and more—all common exotic races in the Azure Dragon Domain.

Their overall strength was lacking, and even their leader was only at the legendary level.

Their weapons and equipment were also in poor condition.

In Ji Xinghuo's eyes, they were nothing but a bunch of insignificant soldiers and a disorganized mob. Despite their loud and angry shouts, not one of them dared to make a move.

Crackle!

The shadow clone ignored the guards and soared into the sky, disappearing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

He was headed for the large island in the secret realm, as his electromagnetic induction had detected a target—the only one in the secret realm that posed a threat to him. The fragment of the Myriad Astro Pupil was on that person, so he had to scout ahead.

Outside the secret realm, the other seven shadow clones also returned and prepared to enter the void fissures.

The shadow clone sped across the sea's surface.

The distance from the secret realm's entrance to the island was not far, and he soon arrived. The architectural style and terrain of this island resembled those of the islands in the Azure Dragon Domain. The entire island spanned an area of about 200 square kilometers.

A black palace stood tall in the middle of the island.

The entire palace was built from giant stones, with odd and bizarre shapes, and its surface was carved with abstruse and incomprehensible bas-reliefs that completely went against conventional aesthetics, evoking a strong sense of disgust.

There was only one living being inside the palace.

As the shadow clone drew closer, it was able to make a preliminary judgment based on the shape and intensity of the magnetic field.

It was a giant, about seven meters tall, with a strength that seemed to be at the third level of the sixth stage, but not quite at the pinnacle. However, the giant emanated a strange fluctuation, as if shrouded in mist, making it difficult to discern its true nature.

"It's just a shadow clone anyway, so it doesn't matter if I lose it."

The shadow clone accelerated and charged towards the palace.

Boom!

Before the clone even got close, a giant lightning bolt struck the black palace. The thunderous roar of the lightning reverberated through the sky, creating an impressive display. A thick layer of dark mist-like shadow emerged from the palace, but the lightning bolt had no effect as it struck the shadow, like a drop of water falling into the ocean.

"What is this thing?" The shadow clone sensed that something was amiss.

At that moment, an invisible beam of light shot out from within the palace, instantly hitting the shadow clone and causing it to lose speed and fall towards the ground.

The shadow clone's body became stiff, and he was unable to move.

His thoughts were still functioning normally, and his senses remained intact, but he had lost connection with his body and was unable to use his abilities.

Bang!

The shadow clone fell to the ground like a stone, creating a trench hundreds of meters long due to the immense inertia of his flight. However, his body remained undamaged, and suddenly, his body and abilities were restored.

He jumped out of the pit and realized that he had crashed not far from the palace, just a few hundred meters away.

The shadow clone did not continue the assault.

Boom!

The giant doors of the black palace opened, and a tall figure walked out. When the shadow clone saw the figure clearly, his face was filled with astonishment.

Just as the electromagnetic induction scan had revealed, it was a giant.

This giant had a robust body that stood over seven meters tall. Its skin was a greasy grayish-blue, and its thick carapace resembled a suit of armor, with layers upon layers of shell. Its left hand was a thick, coarse tentacle, while its right hand was a giant pincer.

The most surprising feature was its head.

It had no face, no eyes, just a massive octopus head. Its bloated, smooth head had several tentacles growing from where its chin would be, and one of these tentacles was especially thick and long, almost reaching down to its knees.

It looked like a monster straight out of a nightmare. With each step it took, the ground shook with a deep, echoing vibration.

"What kind of monster is this?"

Ji Xinghuo had never seen such a giant before.

However, he sensed a strange and dangerous aura from this giant through his shadow clone. This giant was definitely not an ordinary sixth-stage being.

Kaven is suffering, but he has endured it! Back to two chapters tomorrow.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end