Evan Chu didn’t rush to stow the Starflare Stone in his storage ring; instead, he examined it carefully. It was hard to imagine how such a small stone could weigh thousands of pounds.
Unable to resist, he asked Sword Spirit Luna, “Sister Luna, what exactly does the Starflare Stone do? Surely it’s not just for opening the Netherworld’s seal, right?”
“Of course it’s not that simple. The Starflare Stone isn’t much use to you cultivators, but to beings from other worlds, it’s extremely precious—it contains incredibly powerful energy. However, you can’t absorb it yourselves."
Wherever a Starflare Stone appears, there’s usually a Starstone Vein. Sometimes there isn’t, but you’ll understand when you shatter the void in the future. Telling you more now would only confuse you,” Luna said.
Sword Spirit Luna’s frequent mentions of “other worlds” left Evan Chu puzzled. Could there really be even stronger cultivators out there, beyond the Saint Martial Realm? Evan didn’t dare imagine what kind of power that might be.
After stowing the Starflare Stone in his storage ring, Evan Chu began picking up the dazzling Starstones scattered on the ground. Even without the Starflare Stone’s glow, it didn’t affect him at all.
He conjured a fireball in his hand to illuminate the ground, and soon had collected all the Starstones. This time, he gained three Star Crystals, hundreds of supreme-grade Starstones, nearly a thousand high-grade ones, and tens of thousands of mid- and low-grade Starstones.
There were even more mid- and low-grade Starstones. Evan Chu walked over to Goldwing, who was currently radiating golden light—clearly at a critical breakthrough moment—so Evan didn’t disturb him.
Soon, Goldwing’s golden glow faded, and he opened his eyes. Seeing Evan Chu in front of him, he immediately said, “Boss, I’m just one step away from Sovereign Rank. But I’ve hit a bottleneck—absorbing more Stellar Power won’t help me break through.”
Evan Chu marveled at Goldwing’s progress and laughed: “Old Goldwing, I didn’t expect you to reach such a level so quickly. That’s impressive!”
“Boss, we’ve been stuck here for over a year. Didn’t you realize?” Goldwing said.
Evan Chu was stunned—it really had been that long. By his calculation, only twenty days had passed outside. He wondered how everyone was doing; Selena Yale and Joan He must be worried sick about him.
“Old Goldwing, there are plenty of Starstones over there. Go pick them up while I figure out how to break open this spatial black hole,” Evan Chu said.
Goldwing immediately transformed into a middle-aged man and followed Evan Chu to the area littered with Starstones.
When Evan Chu conjured a fireball, Goldwing looked at him in shock. “Boss, how did you get so many Starstones? That’s way too many!”
“Just keep picking them up. These will be invaluable for the sect’s growth,” Evan Chu said.
Evan Chu walked to where the Starflare Stone had appeared and closely examined the area. He sensed a faint energy fluctuation beneath it—likely the Spatial Spirit Vein. If he severed it, he could escape.
To confirm his theory, Evan Chu asked Sword Spirit Luna, who replied just as he expected. She also told him he could harvest more Starstones—a once-in-ten-thousand-years chance he shouldn’t miss.
Understanding this, Evan Chu unleashed Earthsplitter, shaking the ground so violently that Goldwing was startled again. The tremors were like an earthquake—hard not to be amazed.
Thinking back to when he first met Evan Chu, Goldwing remembered how Evan was only at the Earth Martial Realm. Now, his strength was unimaginable—following Evan was clearly the right choice.
After unleashing this sword strike, Evan Chu saw cracks spreading all around. He quickly followed up with Tyrant Cleave, widening the fissures and bringing forth even more Starstones—including another Star Crystal.
With this method, Evan Chu didn’t need to use Earthsplitter every time—recovering Chaos Dragon Force took ages, but now he only needed one round of recovery to harvest Starstones, making the process nearly twice as fast.
Using this approach, Evan Chu gathered all the Starstones within a ten-meter radius, noticing that the further from the center, the lower the grade—mostly mid- and low-grade Starstones now.
For two days, no supreme-grade Starstones appeared, let alone Star Crystals. Only within two meters of the Starflare Stone’s original spot did Star Crystals appear—Evan Chu knew it was time to stop.
Goldwing filled all three storage belts Evan Chu gave him. Evan then said, “Old Goldwing, return to my body. Breaking open the spatial black hole will trigger a huge energy storm—at your strength, you might not survive.”
Goldwing’s golden light flashed as he disappeared, while Evan Chu moved to the spot with the energy fluctuation, preparing to attack the Spatial Spirit Vein with full force.
Evan Chu knew that if he didn’t destroy the Spatial Spirit Vein, in tens of thousands of years, countless Starstones and another Starflare Stone would appear here. But he couldn’t wait—he had too much to do outside.
He quickly circulated his Chaos Dragon Force and unleashed Earthsplitter. The devastating attack struck the spot where the energy fluctuation was strongest.
A powerful energy storm erupted from the spot, forcing Evan Chu to teleport away to avoid the oncoming blast. After the storm subsided, he returned and found a half-meter-wide crack—through which he could see white clouds outside. He was almost free.
He hurriedly recovered his Chaos Dragon Force, preparing to use Earthsplitter again.
Outside, the Nine Great Sects were holding their tournament on a massive mountaintop behind Frostbane Sect. The final top-ten duels were underway.
As host, Frostbane Sect fielded four disciples—there should have been five, but with Evan Chu’s fate unknown, they left his spot open, hoping for a miracle.
At that moment, Marcus Blake, the Unrivaled Young Lord, was dueling Lynne Nie. Suddenly, a deafening sound split the sky—it wasn’t thunder, but more like the impact of an attack.
Many people looked up, seeing a beam of white light in the sky—then a lone figure appeared in midair…