In the southeast part of the Domain of Heaven Span.
Many realms had been reduced to dead realms that were bereft of any life and light. The starry river was filled with pieces of shattered realms, debris from ancient starships, and numerous dead human cultivators.
Those cultivators’ domains had perished, their power joining the mixed energies that filled the starry river.
A battle had broken out here not long ago. The Phantasms, led by Froste, had emerged victorious.
The other side of the battle had consisted of disciples of the Heavenly Thunder Sect from the Domain of Endless Thunder, Qi warriors from the Domain of Green Woods, and a few experts from the Ancient Law Sect.
As Grand Monarch Nether River’s son, Froste had entered the eighth grade. The prismatic crystal between his eyebrows shone with icy light as he asked with a heavy tone, “What are our casualties?”
Standing behind him and bowing, a Phantasm gave him the numbers. “We lost nine eighth grade clansmen, fifty-three seventh grade clansmen, and three starships. One of our ninth grade grand patriarch sustained heavy injuries…”
WHOOSH!
A ninth grade Phantasm grand patriarch operated a Soul-devouring Lake on an ancient starship.
A dark lake that was built into the Phantasm starship suddenly gave rise to a strong gravitational force similar to that of the Spirit Pearl, causing the discarnate souls of the dead humans that hadn’t dissipated into the starry river to fly towards it from all directions.
“Who is it?”
Froste asked, mysterious patterns flowing on the surface of his Soul Ferry Battle Armor.
A flying carpet woven by vines flew swiftly over with a Floragrim standing on it.
Upon seeing the arrival, Froste frowned with surprise and said, “Fata! What are you doing here? Is your battle going well?”
Fata shook his head. “Not so much.”
Froste let out a snort. “We’ve been on the same boat for a long time now, yet your people thought of yourselves as high and pure, and refused to associate with us evil races. But didn’t you march into the human world with us and kill humans this time?”
“That’s because we don’t have a choice now,” Fata said coldly.
He sighed as he glanced around at the wrecked ancient starships and humans and Phantasms that had died miserable deaths. “This isn’t exactly a victory for you in the long run.”
Froste’s expression grew grim.
The humans had a large population. The speed at which they grew into Qi warriors and made advances in their cultivation was much faster than any other race.
It took humans less time to produce fighters that could join battles.
Neither the Ancientspirits nor the outsiders had this advantage. As they grew older, it took them increasingly more time to become stronger.
More importantly, the Ancientspirits and outsiders’ procreation was far less efficient than humans.
Battles like this one inflicted heavy casualties on the Phantasms as well as the humans. However, it would take them a much longer time to cultivate new fighters to fill the void left by those that had died in battle.
For humans, however, a whole new generation of capable Qi warriors would rise in merely a few hundred years to make up for their lost forces.
Froste took a deep breath. “But we don’t have time to wait anymore. Fata, your people’s realms are usually full of life force. Are they experiencing the same thing as ours? Have your father and the wise elders of your clan figured out why?”
Fata shook his head. “Not just our people, but the entire Spirit World hasn’t found an explanation for what’s happening.”
Images of the changes that had recently taken place in the Floragrim domains entered his mind.
Realms that were enveloped in rich life and covered in exuberant vegetation were losing their vital power at an increasingly fast speed.
He and many Floragrim grand monarchs had traveled to numerous realms, but all failed to find the reason for such changes. All they knew was that those realms were rapidly turning into dead realms in a very strange manner.
The Floragrim realms weren’t the only ones that were experiencing this.
Titans, Ancientbeasts, dragons, Phantasms, Fiends, Demons, and many other races that lived in the Spirit World were experiencing the same thing, their realms gradually changing.
As the oldest world, the Spirit World had seen many wars, where numerous explored realms had been reduced to uninhabitable dead realms.
During the Primal Era, Star Behemoths had destroyed countless realms with favorable environments as they had ruled the starry river.
Later, devastating wars had broken out between the Ancientspirits and the Demons, Phantasms, and Fiends, rendering a large number of realms uninhabitable.
There were fewer inhabitable realms in the Spirit World than in the Mortal World to start with.
Now, all of a sudden, many of their remaining realms were rapidly running out of vital energy and turning into dead realms. This naturally forced the races of the Spirit World to think of ways to survive.
Therefore, they decided that for the continuation of their races, they had to enter the Mortal World to find realms that suited them.
This was the fundamental reason why the Ancientspirits and outsiders had launched this massive invasion at all costs.
“Our world is going through great changes. Perhaps this is the beginning of a prolonged decline.” Fata said with a thoughtful expression. “One of our deceased grand monarchs got a piece of information from the Tree of Life, but even he couldn’t tell if it was true.”
“What information?” Froste asked with a serious expression.
“It’s said that worlds that include innumerable realms like our Spirit World aren’t as immutable as we may think,” Fata said as he pondered. “They die too. In fact, our world may be collapsing under unbearable pressure, and is about to die.”
“Will there be no hope if it dies?” Froste asked with a worried and curious expression.
“No, death and life take their turn,” Fata explained. “An unknowable number of years after the Spirit World dies completely, it may be reborn. The dead realms will be able to regather power from the starry river, and return to realms that were full of vigor.
“It’s like an ever-moving circle. However, I’m not sure if this is true.”
Froste was flabbergasted by this new viewpoint put forth by Fata.
“Are you saying that our world has reached the end of a life cycle?” Froste asked, following his train of thought. “Then, many, perhaps hundreds of millions of years later, new changes will happen to it and restore life to the dead realms?”
Fata nodded. “That’s the opinion of that grand monarch of my race, if we didn’t misunderstand him.”
“So if we establish our footholds in the Mortal World, we’ll be able return to the Spirit World, to our ancestral lands, in hundreds of millions of years?” Froste asked.
“Perhaps,” Fata said. “I don’t know for sure.”
“As a matter of fact, some secrets are hidden in the depths of my people’s bloodlines,” Froste, who was Grand Monarch Nether River’s son, said. “Even though it’s been a long time since my father left, I know he’s alive and well. But at the same time, I can tell he went to a place that’s extremely far away.”
A strange look flashed across Fata’s dark-green pupils. “Your people are ‘outsiders’ to begin with!”
“What do you mean?” Froste asked, looking deeply confused.
Staring at him, Fata said with an unpleasant tone, “The reason why our high chieftains have always distanced themselves from the Demons, the Bonebrutes, and your people is because you all came from another world. They say that who knows if you’ll turn against us one day. You’re your father’s son. If you can decode the secret imprints in your bloodline, you should be able to find the truth.”
Froste gasped. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, I am,” Fata said, looking up into the heavens. “Times have changed. We’re being forced to leave our ancestral lands to take realms that are inhabitable for us from the humans.
“Whether the humans like it or not, this is something we have to do for the continuation of our races.
“Nothing will stop us from achieving this goal, however heavy casualties we may have to suffer.
“It’s just that… I’m worried that new changes may emerge while we and the humans are busy killing each other.”
Deeply concerned and baffled, Froste said, “Fata, I know that you know things we don’t. Can you please tell me what you think will happen?”
“Well, it’ll be ideal if we can reconcile with the humans and they agree to give some of their domains for us to live in, then we can avoid all the killing.” Fata muttered. “Perhaps I should try to have a good talk with someone wise on the human side.”
Froste gave a cold laugh. “Who will you talk to? Do you think that’s possible?”
“I’ll give it a shot nonetheless,” Fata said, looking as if he didn’t have a better plan. “After all, we’ll all suffer losses as heavy as them if the battles don’t end soon.”
