บท 179: Home once again.
The Interstellar cruiser continued to speed through space at a blinding speed, anything that got close to it being reduced to an indistinct blur. Thanks to the directions given by Ye Zhong, as well as the map they had received from Sun Haixie, Liang Chen and Yan Ling were able to head directly for Blossoming Ocean planet.
They used their map to check up on their surroundings as they moved, making sure that they properly flew past the four planets that Ye Zhong had mentioned in his directions. On the ninth day, after flying past the fourth planet, Blossoming Ocean planet entered their vision. Even without the map and directions, they were certain that they would have been able to guess that this planet was Blossoming Ocean planet, and that it was certainly special.
The planet itself was completely blue in color, a single ocean of unknown depth covering the entirety of it. The only land visible on the planet was a collection of nine islands, one large center island and eight smaller islands surrounding the larger one, forming the shape of a large flower. There seemed to be some light yellow grass covering each of the islands, as the resulting flower was practically completely yellow in color.
But this strange island formation wasn't even the most special part of the planet, the surrounding area was even more peculiar and eye-catching. Blossoming Ocean planet was surrounded by 17 other planets that were somewhat smaller, a metallic construction connecting all 17 planets in a circular formation around Blossoming Ocean planet. The construction then branched out to connect with the center planet, hundreds of metal poles gathering around the island formation.
The two quickly got closer to the planet, expecting to see a few cities spread out on the various islands, but each of them actually ended up being empty. The eight surrounding islands were covered by the metal poles, each of them twining around each other and forming strange images, while the center island only contained a circle formed of the end-points of the metal poles and a single house standing right next to the circle. Yan Ling and Liang Chen stood at the front of the boat and looked down at the center island, locking eyes for a short moment before Yan Ling spoke up.
"I can't detect anything dangerous, only a massive amount of energy moving through the metal poles and gathering in that circle. You've got better instincts than me, and you've read an absolute fuckload more books than me, what do you think?"
Liang Chen was quiet for a bit, sifting through his memories to check if any of the books he had read in the past contained anything helpful for the situation. After spending a few minutes with closed eyes, he opened them again and gave a slight nod of his head, pointing at the hundreds of metal poles.
"It fits the description I found in one of the books within the sect archives. Those poles should be draining and concentrating the energy of those 17 planets, channeling it towards the circle where it should be changed into spatial energy using an array engraved on the inside of the poles. I'm guessing that the building holds the overseer or guardian of the array, someone has to make sure that it runs smoothly after all."
Yan Ling nodded her head, she had perfect trust in Liang Chen's words. But just to take some precautions, the two had Lan Yun and Yumao retreat back into their dantians to stay hidden. Yan Ling then put the Interstellar cruiser into her interspatial ring, the two descending to the surface of the planet by utilizing their control over the law of wind.
When they were only a few hundred meters above the surface of the planet, they both felt a highly intrusive energy sweep over them for a quick second, their skins crawling as the energy scanned them for a short second before retreating. They then landed on the surface of the planet, just in front of the simple wooden log house that only seemed large enough to hold two or three rooms.
The door to the house opened just as they landed, a somewhat withered and old man who had somewhat sunken in brown eyes stepping out. Strangely enough, despite clearly being very old, the man's hair was a glimmering black and looked almost like silk that flowed down his back, only stopping behind his knees. The man looked at the two for a short moment, his eyes roaming over their bodies as he spoke.
"Flying here on your own is foolhardy, you should get yourself a spatial shuttle or travel in larger groups in the future, otherwise you'll just end up as bandit fodder."
The old man's voice was smooth and soft, surprisingly calming and pleasant to the ear. Liang Chen couldn't feel any cultivation or Qi from the man, but he did not for one second doubt that the man was likely far more powerful than them, he and Yan Ling giving him a polite bow and thanking him for the advice.
"Thank you for thinking about our safety, we will make sure to take better precautions in the future."
This was the first Liang Chen had ever heard about there being bandits even in the void between planets, it seemed like there were bound to be bandits wherever there were living beings. The old man nodded his head slightly, gesturing towards the circle standing at the side of the house.
"Good. But you haven't come here to listen to me ramble, you've come to use this Interstellar Array here. Two humans and two Demonic beasts, the cost of activation will be five High-grade Spirit Stones or something equivalent, just tell me where you want to be sent."
Liang Chen and Yan Ling's eyebrows twitched slightly, it seemed like that intrusive energy earlier had even pierced all the way into their dantians and revealed what was hidden there. Their eyebrows also twitched slightly because of the price the man mentioned, it was rather steep. The division of Spirit Stones was very simple, it went low, mid, high, top, and peak-grade, with each 1 of a higher grade being worth about 1000 of the lower-ranked versions.
The two of them had quite a lot of riches on them after killing Qian Liao, but losing five High-grade Spirit Stones would still take away about 70% of their current wealth. Even then, just being able to pay this sum was a testament to their strength, it would be difficult for most people with their cultivation to even produce one or two High-grade Spirit Stones. But as they needed to go home, they could only pay up. They moved the required funds over into a separate interspatial ring, handing it to the man as they stepped into the circle and stated their destination.
"Please send us to Dragon's Head planet."
The old man checked the contents of the interspatial ring to make sure that the fee was paid, nodding his head after making sure that everything was in order. He walked over to one of the metal poles that formed the circle, placing his hand on it and pouring some energy into it. The entire circle started to light up, space around Liang Chen and Yan Ling turning thick and viscous. A bright white light flashed in front of their eyes, and once the light vanished, the scenery around them had changed.
They now stood on an island made from solid rock, with not even a blade of grass in sight. Several craggy mountains spread out around them, metal poles winding around the mountains for a bit before stretching into the sky and connecting to 17 small planets that slowly moved around far above them. There was another small wooden house located right next to the circle they were standing in, but it seemed like the person inside it had no intention of coming out to greet them.
They brought out their map and checked their position, making sure that they had actually reached Dragon's Head planet. Once they saw that the glowing dot that represented the current position of the map was indeed on top of Dragon's Head planet, they jumped into the air and used a bit of wind to quickly ascend high into the air.
Only once they reached the very edge of the planet's atmosphere did they bring out the Interstellar Cruiser and board it. They pointed the ship north and headed off at their fastest speed, heading directly for the Spatial Vortex that should take them back to their home planet.
Unlike their journey to Blossoming Ocean planet, which had been so far away that they had to fly past other planets to reach it, the Spatial Vortex was only a few hundred kilometers away from Dragon's Head planet, it was a much shorter trip. And thanks to that, they managed to reach the Spatial Vortex after only flying for half a day, stopping once to refill the Spirit Stones that powered the ship.
The Spatial Vortex was a rather strange sight, it didn't resemble a Spatial Rift, which was what they had expected at first. Spinning around in empty air in front of them was a two-kilometer wide spot of what seemed to be hazy and distorted air, oddly reminiscent of air that was heated up by an incredibly warm stone. Liang Chen turned his head slightly, glancing at Yan Ling, who carefully inspected the Spatial Vortex for a bit before speaking up.
"It really is a Spatial Vortex. It looks like distorted air, but it's actually space itself that has been folded and distorted, constantly sucking in energy from both the area here and from the place it's connected to. It's practically a perfectly self-sufficient spatial array, I can't even begin to guess at how it was made, or who could possibly have done it. I can't really feel too much from the vortex's endpoint, but what little I can feel does feel very familiar, it probably does really lead home."
Yan Ling, who actually had made contact with the law of space and was starting to learn how to control it, was far more suitable to judging the vortex in front of them. With her vouching for the Spatial Vortex, the two only shared one more glance before steering the ship forward, having it fly directly into the vortex of distorted space.
The two felt like they had steered the ship in stormy seas once they entered the Spatial Vortex, the boat tossing and turning as the vortex tossed it around like a toy. Space around them also bent and twisted, various small items appearing and disappearing each time the vortex moved slightly. Both Yan Ling and Liang Chen grabbed onto the sides of the ship, one on each side of the ship, Liang Chen furrowing his brows while doing his best to keep the ship steady.
"Tch, Ye Zhong said it had a tendency to be somewhat unstable, but he could've at least mentioned that it would be this bad!"
Complaining like this was the only thing Liang Chen could do right now, the ship was refusing to listen to his orders as it tossed and turned, they were completely at the mercy of the vortex. They were slowly pulled towards the center of the vortex, the tossing and turning only getting worse as they got closer to the center. By the time they were only a few meters away from the center of the vortex, it had gotten so bad that they often had to let go of the boat so that they could dodge small folds in space that threatened to send them away prematurely, which would result in them ending up in separate locations.
When their ship entered the center of the vortex, Liang Chen and Yan Ling's eyes rapidly narrowed. What seemed to be countless translucent tentacles of folded space stretched out and latched onto the ship and started pulling on it, the parts of the ship touched by the tentacles vanishing as they were sent through space. Liang Chen and Yan Ling didn't know, but the ship was actually too large for the vortex, which was the cause of the current turbulence. The vortex was planning on sending the ship over in several smaller pieces, rebuilding it once it arrived at the other side of the vortex.
But as a result of being on the ship, Liang Chen and Yan Ling were caught up in the turbulence and subsequent dismantling. Realizing that the ship was being taken apart, Liang Chen and Yan Ling quickly locked gazes and decided on their course of action. They let go of their respective sides of the ship, turning their bodies and dashing towards each other. They figured that as long as they managed to grab a hold of each other, they should end up being sent to the same place.
But just as they let go of the ship, more tentacles of folded space stretched out and grabbed onto the ship, going to fully dismantle it in one go. And as they were on the ship right now, Liang Chen and Yan Ling were both caught by the tentacles, a bright silver light flashing in front of their eyes as a nauseating sensation flooded their bodies and they were thrown through space.
When the silver light vanished, Liang Chen found himself lying on his back inside a forest where there was at least a few meters between each tree. He didn't know his exact position, but in the distance, he could barely see the peak of a very familiar mountain that had a deep-blue waterfall cascading down the side of it. He knew that the mountain he was seeing served as the centerpiece of Eternal Stream city, the home of his friend, Lei Qiang.
Liang Chen let out a short breath of relief when he realized that he had arrived back on his home planet, but his brows immediately furrowed when he noticed that neither Yan Ling nor the Interstellar cruiser was next to him. The air was also filled with the thick scent of smoke and blood, causing Liang Chen's eyes to narrow slightly. This amount of blood and smoke scent weren't normal, something had to have happened.
While Liang Chen was opening his eyes to the scent of smoke and blood close to Eternal Stream city, Yan Ling opened her eyes on the other side of the planet, in a small back-alley behind what seemed to be a restaurant, the smell of roasted meat and soup tickling her nose. She didn't know it yet, but she had arrived in the heart of the territory controlled by the Dawn's Blade Alliance.
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ShiranuiShukumei
ShiranuiShukumei Gonna try to have quite a few of the upcoming chapters be split in half, one part following Liang Chen's journey while the other follows Yan Ling's journey, let me know how you feel about it.
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