"This world was manufactured!"
Quinn and the others quickly realized that such a small world couldn't possibly have formed naturally, because they soon reached the very top of this realm.
—Quinn tried to have the flood dragons shield them as they flew over the star-river's sky, but as the flood dragons ascended, they crashed into an invisible black barrier.
The black barrier was invisible, but it definitely existed there—a wall separating this world from all others.
The reason they called it a manufactured world was clear: the instant they struck the black barrier, countless honeycomb seals flared across its surface, lighting up the sky with a rapid thrum, as if they'd entered a colossal beehive.
These were Honeycomb Seals—Quinn had seen this kind of seal before in Nethergloom Ravine, so he wasn't unfamiliar with it.
In ancient times, gods used Honeycomb Seals to plug rifts between the Netherworld and the living world. Here, the Honeycomb Seal was used as the wall of a god-made world.
"There's no way around it. We'll have to cross the star-river."
Quinn surveyed the surrounding darkness. With the world's barrier blocking their way, they couldn't fly over it—there was no choice but to wade through the star-river and make their way to the Sunwell.
"This space is strange. It doesn't look big at all, and the Sunwell and Moonwell aren't far apart—at most, three to five li."
Quinn said, "But according to the map, the Moonwell and Sunwell are tens of thousands of li apart. How is this possible?"
Serena Yunxiang pondered, "Teleportation magic... No, that's not it! Maybe it's folded space... No, that's not right either! This is a complete space, not folded. What kind of divine art is this?"
In the Great Ruins, the two wells are separated by tens of thousands of li, but here in the star-sea they're only three to five li apart. In Everpeace, when you look up at the night sky, the stars seem close but are actually far away. Here, it's the opposite—it's truly astonishing.
Serena was just as confused, unable to figure out what kind of divine art caused this anomaly.
Quinn grinned, "The ancient gods of the Great Ruins had all sorts of powers we can't imagine. Maybe they made this place just to create a passage, so they could travel through the Great Ruins more easily. Let's head for the Sunwell first."
Nine flood dragons surrounded them, flying toward the star-river. Each dragon grew tense—the star-river was filled with mountain-sized boulders crashing about in chaos. Whenever a star as big as a mountain hurtled toward them, a flood dragon would unleash its powers to push it aside.
These stars were artificial too, none especially large, but some were unique—like flawless jade, translucent and glowing as they swept past not far from them.
"So beautiful... Oh no!"
Quinn's face changed dramatically. He played his flute, commanding a dozen flood dragons. Their bodies shrank rapidly and swarmed over to him. Quinn grabbed Lina the Spirit Fox and tossed her onto his shoulder, grabbed Serena Yunxiang with his other hand, and shouted, "Dragon-Qilin, jump into the Dragon Nest!"
He leapt into the Dragon Nest with Lina and Serena; Dragon-Qilin hurried after them. Just then, that jade-like star blazed with dazzling light, and in an instant, multicolored sword-light swept across the sky, slicing through all the surrounding stars!
Each mountain-sized star was pierced through by sword-light, left riddled with holes!
Quinn led the dragons, Lina the Spirit Fox, and Serena Yunxiang into the True Dragon Nest. Countless flying swords swept past overhead—Lina shrank her head in haste, losing a few strands of fur, while Dragon-Qilin hurriedly pulled back his tail, just as a sword-light flashed past and sliced off two of his dragon scales.
Everyone was still shaken when the jade-like star vanished into thin air, disappearing without a trace.
Suddenly, the multicolored flying swords once again swept across the sky above the Dragon Nest like a meteor shower, clanging together and merging back into a jade-like star that drifted away with the star-river.
"What a gigantic Sword Pill!" Lina the Spirit Fox exclaimed, eyes wide.
Dragon-Qilin murmured, "It's even bigger than Cult Master's Sword Pill..."
Quinn was stunned too—he'd thought his own Sword Pill was enormous, but compared to this one, his was nothing at all!
"Could it be a god's treasure?"
They emerged from the Dragon Nest again. Quinn had the flood dragons form a Divine Dragon Canopy around them, and had one carry the Dragon Nest on its back—they were more cautious than ever.
The Divine Dragon Canopy came from the Ling family's Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Canopy—a technique originally meant for attack and refinement, but Quinn had nine flood dragons enact it as a formation for defense.
In Quinn's mind, the true art lay in adaptability—he never cared for rigid rules. Some thought his ideas were wild flights of fancy; others called him a heretic. He didn't mind either way.
The chaotic star-river constantly sent stars crashing their way. Even with nine powerful flood dragons forming the Divine Dragon Canopy, the dragons suffered broken bones and torn muscles. Quinn kept refining spirit pills to heal the wounded dragons, sending others to take their place and maintaining the shield. After endless hardship, they finally reached the galaxy's core, close to the two divine wells.
This region was relatively safe; the stars circled the Sunwell and Moonwell, and here only a few scattered stars remained.
Serena Yunxiang let out a sigh of relief and wondered, "Cult Master, this place is so dangerous—even with over a dozen flood dragons guarding us, we still have to hide in the Dragon Nest to avoid disaster. How does the Sun Warden manage to reach this place?"
Quinn looked up and saw that both the Sunwell and Moonwell sent thick pillars of light upward, and above them were two round openings, like well-mouths.
"They're Sun-Herders, so of course they travel here aboard the Solar Ark. Besides, the Sun Warden is extremely powerful—almost like a god."
Serena Yunxiang was startled. A being like a god?
Quinn didn't explain. The flood dragons swam upward, carrying them toward the pillar of light. Suddenly, Quinn glanced down and was stunned—the huge Sunwell was packed full of glowing spheres, each like a miniature sun!
Of course, these 'suns' weren't very big—they were god-made treasures.