In the depths of the starry river.
Countless dazzling stars made up a human domain. Among the stars, one was especially large and glorious.
It was none other than the realm where the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s headquarters was located.
As one of the last remaining super-large-scale realms, the Realm of Fragmentary Star was roughly a hundred times as large as the Realm of Split Void.
Domains could be divided into Elementary grade, Medium grade, and Premium grade domains.
Realms could also be divided into small-scale, medium-scale, large-scale, and super-large-scale realms.
In fact, the Shatter Battlefield had been a super-large-scale realm back in the Desolate Antiquity Era.
Normally speaking, super-large-scale realms shared a mystical feature: they never ran out of their spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth.
Other than super-large-scale realms, other realms would gradually lose their spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth and decline as time passed.
If powerful sects with Void domain and Saint domain Qi warriors set up headquarters in such realms, they speed at which they lost their spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth would become even faster.
Powerful experts at the peak of human cultivation would naturally channel energies of heaven and earth from their surroundings as they practiced cultivation.
Their terrifyingly large demand for spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth would usually accelerate the decline of a realm.
For that reason, numerous ancient human sects would search the boundless starry river for new realms from time to time to set up headquarters.
This was how the Domain of the Falling Stars had been discovered in the first place.
Even larger domains like the Domain of Heaven Python, the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, and the Domain of Heaven’s Origin had been discovered by powerful human experts while they had explored the starry river for ideal new realms.
Word had it that super-large-scale realms could channel energies from the starry river and generate an endless supply of spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth.
Therefore, it was almost impossible for such realms to be drained of their spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth as long as God domain experts didn’t channel power from it immoderately.
Even if their spiritual energies ran low, as long as the God domain experts left or stopped practicing cultivation, it would be enveloped in rich spiritual energies again after a few years.
Since the foreign impurities that kept flowing into the Realm of Split Void were continuously purged by the special spell formation of the grand palace, which had been left by the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, and turned into the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth that suited human cultivators’ needs, it had the potential to become a super-large-scale realm someday.
It was just that the scale of the Realm of Split Void was far smaller than that of the true super-large-scale realms.
The vast Realm of Fragmentary Star held lofty mountain peaks that pierced into the clouds, boundless oceans, winding rivers that stretched billions of kilometers, and spiritual energies that filled every corner of it.
Among all this stood an ancient city, where the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth was the richest.
In the middle of the city, magnificent palaces could be seen bathing in glorious starlight.
The loftiest of the palaces pierced deep into the clouds. Those who lived in it were like immortals who lived in a sea of clouds.
On the top floor of this palace stood a special teleportation portal that hadn’t been used for thousands of years.
Just decades ago, it still had been covered in dust and cobwebs, as if it had been completely forgotten.
However, people had been charged to clean it periodically during the recent decades.
At this moment, the teleportation portal that led to unknown destinations was suddenly activated.
The hall where it stood was completely empty.
Moments later, the large-scale teleportation portal thrummed with intense spatial fluctuations as it was gradually enveloped in misty white light.
As this happened, an enormous mountain-like brass bell that was floating not far from this lofty palace suddenly reacted.
That gigantic bell was floating in the sea of clouds, and densely wreathed in countless lightning bolts.
Lightning bolts that were much thicker than the ones Yuan Jiuchuan, the Thunder Devil, had ever unleashed suddenly converged on and wrapped around the bell hammer that was floating motionless next to it.
The bell hammer, which looked like a sky-reaching stone column put on its side, then rammed hard into the brass bell.
BONG!
A resounding sound that shook the void spread in all directions.
As soon as this happened, the mysterious magical symbols that had been engraved on the enormous bell flew out towards the perimeter of the Realm of Fragmentary Star like countless butterflies.
The toll of the bell alarmed every Qi warrior in the Realm of Fragmentary Star.
Even though it was incomparably powerful, it wasn’t destructive in the slightest, as if it was only meant to inform.
Numerous Qi warriors that were scattered in different parts of the Realm of Fragmentary Star rose into the sky upon hearing the bell toll to gaze in the direction of the part of the sea of clouds where the bell had tolled.
“The bell rang!”
“What happened? That bell hasn’t rung for a long time!”
“Has our sectmaster returned from his trip?”
“Is one of our major subordinate realms in trouble?”
BONG!
The bell tolled a second time.
The moment it did, countless mysterious magical symbols traveled through space, spreading the toll to every corner of the Realm of Fragmentary Star.
Then, the bell tolled a third, a fourth, and a fifth time…
Only after the seventh time did it finally stop.
In a remote corner of the Realm of Fragmentary Star, a burly man surfaced from a boiling lava lake in an active volcano.
“Seven tolls…” he muttered.
The blazing lava seemed to have fused with his bronze-colored skin. The flaming aura he exuded was far stronger than Yue Yanxi’s.
A shudder ran through him as he morphed into a streak of fiery light that shot directly towards the source of the bell tolls. “The seventh Son of the Stars!”
Atop one of the countless mountain peaks…
Dressed in a robe that had many stars on it, a thin, righteous-looking old man was channeling and refining starlight from the starry river. His eyes snapped open when he heard the bell tolls.
Countless stars could be seen glittering in the depths of his eyes, as if he had a starry river in his eyes.
“The seventh Son of the Stars has finally finished his path of stars and come to our headquarters!” With these words, his figure grew blurry, and in the next moment, he vanished into thin air.
In the depths of a mountain valley, where many crescent-moon-shaped wells could be seen, chilly moonlight poured out of the heavens and condensed into crescent-moon-shaped crystals within the magical wells.
A graceful, beautiful woman slowly put down a crescent-moon-shaped crystal. Gazing towards the source of the bell tolls, she muttered, “The seventh Son of the Stars!”
Her quality was rather similar to that of Xing Huanyue from the Realm of a Thousand Devastations.
The profound incantations she practiced seemed to originate from the power of the moon, which was chilly and noble.
As she blinked, her eyes seemed sparkling and crystal-clear, completely immaculate.
SHEW!
A moment later, she flew off towards the divine bell as well.
In a mysterious secret room, a cluster of blinding light was floating like the sun.
The light that lit the room was bright and scorching hot. A man was practicing secret incantations and taking in sun power essence from the light. The tolls of the bell woke him from his secluded cultivation as it did with the others.
“The seventh Son of the Stars!” He exclaimed these words, and flew out of the secret room like a beaming sun.
…
Numerous Qi warriors who had been practicing cultivation in different parts of the Realm of Fragmentary Star were awoken.
Each and every one of them would have been a luminary who could determine the fate of a realm with a flick of their fingers if they weren’t here. Many of their names inspired awe across the starry river.
However, as soon as they heard the bell tolls, all of them ended their secluded cultivation and gathered to the divine bell from different directions.
Like falling stars, lights of different colors dashed across the heavens in the Realm of Fragmentary Star at incredible speeds.
At the same time, atop the lofty palace that pierced deep into the clouds…
As the bell tolled for the seventh time, Nie Tian’s figure appeared in the teleportation portal that was thrumming with intense spatial fluctuations.
Looking confused, Nie Tian muttered, “This teleportation took an unusually long time, as if I spent quite a while roaming a bright spatial river. As far away as the Realm of Maelstrom was from the Realm of Split Void, the teleportation took only a second. This teleportation took such a long time. It must mean that this place is far more distant from the Realm of Shattered Earth.”
As he muttered to himself, he suddenly saw people flying into the palace at alarming speeds.
“Are you the seventh Son of the Stars?!”
