BA-DUM!
BA-DUM!
BA-DUM!
Wei Wuyin's heart raced, pounding with such immense force that the Voidship shivered ceaselessly as if experiencing an earthquake. Those words of Wang Yutian prompted him to turn around, and what he witnessed instantly took his breath away.
Since the departure of all living beings, outside of himself, from the Imperial Dawn Starfield, Wei Wuyin had kept a mental clock that ticked down to the upcoming arrival of this fabled Star-Devourer, this so-called Tiangou, but new stimuli can change pre-existing predictions. It clearly sped up its arrival.
Titanic.
It was hard to describe it in a single word, or even a collection of them. It was just big. So big that his entire perception had been overtaken, robbed, aggressively snatched by the sheer enormity of what he was witnessing. It was all he could focus on..
Just outside the Imperial Dawn Starfield, at its borders, was a creature that, by all classifications, shouldn't be too outstanding in appearance. It was like a fox, be its upturned snout, its sharp and piercing eye shape, its flat-like skull formation, or pointed triangular ears, it was almost exactly like a standard lineage of a fox beast. It was almost too common.
Yet its eyes.
It was its eyes that set it apart from every single species that Wei Wuyin had ever seen. Those eyes were without pupils, without irises, but a gorgeous, expansive sea of crystalline sclera that seemed to contain an infinite number of stars. It was as if one looked to the night sky, cloudless, observing the millions of stars that existed in the Dark Void, that represented the vastness of the entire world.
It took his breath away. And those magnificent eyes, that perfect snout, those pointed triangular ears, and head all lined up and faced him, as if looking at him! Yet this was only something that he grasped by using the entirety of his spiritual sense, backed by his extremely powerful spiritual strength.
It was simply too, too, far too enormous to be observed. As it stalked the edges of the Imperial Dawn Starfield, staring at him, seemingly observing him, its white hairs fluttered endlessly. Each strand seemed to carry its own force of gravity, its size rivaling the Myriad Yore Continent in length. Every breath sucked in the Chill of the Dark Void, and for a brief moment, Wei Wuyin could visibly see the deficiency in the Dark Void.
It was almost instantly replenished somehow, yet the fact it was being sucked away only shows the amount of force this creature inhaled with. However, the Celestial Bodies of the Imperial Dawn Starfield were absent of any motion. The Solar Stars that lingered as the center of the starfield didn't just show no signs of being affected by its breathing, but it had stopped rotating altogether!
The planets stilled, the Solar Stars stilled, even the faint comet in the vast distance had seemingly halted its movement. It was as if the starfield unanimously decided to pause all its activities.
He had never experienced such an outrageous, seemingly unexplainable phenomenon. Was it Tiangou's presence? Was it the survival instinct of a non-living being? Was that even possible?
In his mind, he involuntarily thought about a certain type of beast that was often assumed to pretend to play dead when faced with predators. It was believed to be an act, a survival instinct, but Wei Wuyin knew the truth of this from his older brother long ago.
There was no act.
It was fear.
It was pure fear.
It was that type of debilitating fear that forced the beast to enter a comatose state, helpless and horrifically afraid. Its life and death was no longer its own to decide. That linked to his memory of a time in the Myriad Yore Continent, directly after Ash Dragon City, he met a so-called Mortal God that radiated a wild, bestial feeling, yet when he faced an attack that exceeded his limits of understanding, he froze and met death without resistance.
Those celestial bodies seemed to experience something similar. However, as he observed this Tiangou, this devourer of stars, Wei Wuyin felt no fear. With his silver eyes, he matched its seemingly endless gaze without hesitation, and his heart didn't pound in horror, but roaring excitement. A strange, unknown, and unexplained excitement.
WOOSH!
Wei Wuyin was buffeted by a surging force that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, turning his Voidship that floated within the Dark Void to become chaotically unstable. It moved like a tiny boat caught within a tsunami, and he had to hurriedly send his astral force into its formations. The action formed some stability, yet he found himself pushed further out in the matter of seconds.
He was roughly a million miles away from his previous location, and the Tiangou's white fur that seemed like long stretches of celestial bodies, its star-filled eyes that took over a tenth of the starfield's space, had moved its gigantic mouth in a slight motion. Just that movement sent his Voidship packing a million miles!
But what Wei Wuyin was shocked about wasn't the distance, or the sheer power required for that, but at the sound that it seemingly released. It wasn't auditory sound, but waves of force that could only be seen with his Celestial Eyes.
His eyes bulged.
The Star-Devourer turned its head towards the three suns, no rushing wind or terrifying force was emitted then. It was as if the body of the Tiangou, no matter how big, was completely merged with the Dark Void and unable to affect the world with its mass or momentum. The lack of a disturbance was clearly deliberate and extremely eerie.
Wei Wuyin shot to the edge of the Voidship, looking down as he tried to observe its legs that seemed to act as heavenly pillars to its enormous body. Those feet of its were stepping on the Dark Void as if on solid ground. There was a strange depression in that area.
"…I've never seen one so big before…" Wang Yutian commented, utterly amazed by this sight of the white fox-like beast.
"What…?" Wei Wuyin was still reeling from the excitement he felt, that soundwave was still infused within his thoughts. Wang Yutian broke him out of his thoughts as he tried to decipher it.
"Most of the Tiangou-variant of Star-Devourers I've seen are the size of medium-sized Solar Stars, but this one is larger than a dozen or so starfields combined. This is incredible! What is something so massive doing in this desolate and tiny-sized stellar region?" Wang Yutian was baffled yet endlessly amazed.
Wei Wuyin's mind circulated, his eyes roamed the world for a moment before he stared at the far-off Tiangou that seemed to set its sights on those three Solar Stars. It started to slowly open its gigantic maw, and while it seemed outrageously slow, Wei Wuyin knew its size meant each movement was actually extremely fast.
"It's…" Wei Wuyin clutched his face with his right hand, "She is here for…"
Within the depths of Wei Wuyin's silver eyes, in the pupils, there was an exquisite spiritual formation that formed the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity. That formation exuded a unique aura that seemed to be particularly energetic as it examined the Tiangou.
"She? Is it a she? They have genders?" Wang Yutian was startled, finding Wei Wuyin's words fresh and intriguing.
"She's asking for help…" Wei Wuyin finally spoke out, and the Tiangou's maw was slightly opened. A surging suction force was emitted, and it brought an incredible sight! The three Solar Stars that defined the orbit and gave life to the starfield were like marbles being pulled into a vacuum.
They moved at such astounding speeds that it was unbelievable to think that they were so massive that Wei Wuyin might need a tens of billion of himself to come close to matching their size. Yet these Solar Stars moved, crashing into flat continental earths of planets in its way, as they entered the mouth of the Tiangou.
Even the Elemental Heaven Pavilion's main planet collided with the red sun, evaporating as it was engulfed on its route.
After devouring the three Solar Stars, the starfield growing darker and darker, the Tiangou's fur started to become black, and her physical form started to undergo visible and rapid changes. Her skull became larger, snout thicker, and her ears more limp. The slim and sleek body expanded, seemingly gaining weight and mass.
With a faint breath, she settled down and the fur on her skin started to emit light. Just like that, she turned to stare at the far-off Wei Wuyin, her crystalline eyes seemingly adding three more stars in its vastness, as it lowered its body into a resting state. With that last look, it closed its eyes.
The transformation was utterly unexpected yet utterly amazing to observe. But Wang Yutian's voice shouted out: "You need to run! After consuming Solar Stars, Star-Devourers discharge energy that typically wipes out the entire starfield. Go! Go! Go!"
Those words snapped Wei Wuyin out of his messy thoughts as he glanced at the Tiangou one last time, using his astral force and sent the combat-type Voidship flying away at its greatest speed. He knew this day would come, and he was even aware of the discharge, yet seeing that his home was about to be destroyed didn't evoke the bittersweet emotions he expected.
Instead, his heart was filled with endless desire. A desire to know what the Tiangou meant when she sent that soundwave, and what it meant when she asked for help. And why his Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity could understand her.
As he was about to leave the border of the Starfield, Wang Yutian abruptly spoke out: "I guess this is it."
Wei Wuyin halted the Voidship immediately, sending it into a screeching stop. A flicker of emotion flowed out of his silver eyes, still lit with the brilliance of the Celestial Eyes of Spiritual Divinity.
Wang Yutian was bound by an oath established by him and the King of Everlore, and he was unable to leave the confines of the Imperial Dawn Starfield for a few thousand more years. He could only operate in the Myriad Dao Palaces and the Starfield itself. His consciousness leaving would mean breaking his oath.
"I'll see you in a few thousand years," Wang Yutian's consciousness cheerfully said. Despite the cheer in his voice, there was also a hint of sadness. While he knew this day would come, the change up from his typically robotic days of giving to-be geniuses tests or acting as an Overseer was fun.
Wei Wuyin felt the same way. Wang Yutian helped him in numerous ways since they met, enlightening him, and broadening his horizons. He always wondered how Long Chen felt having a senior of outstanding cultivation guide him, and how it would impact your emotions, but just these few days was enough for him to form an emotional attachment.
Yet he also understood that the oath wasn't something the current him could break, so this was goodbye.
"Thank you, Wang Yutian."
"Haha! I should be the one saying thanks. You brought all sorts of revelations to my life, reminding me of my old friends, of the difficulties of cultivation, you made me feel like I was still living as a cultivator. It was nice, better than an autonomous existence acting like a machine. Its been a long time since I felt free…"
There was a brief silence between the both of them.
Then, Wei Wuyin promised: "If I have the ability to break your oath, give you back your body in the future, I'll return to do so. If I don't, then I'm probably dead or worse. In which case, after a few thousand years and you're free, see if I have any descendants and take care of them."
"…you really are a unique one. Haha," Wang Yutian commented. Who would promise salvation and, in the same breath, give a demand? But Wang Yutian liked this about Wei Wuyin.
CRACKLE!
A faint crackle sound echoed throughout the Dark Void, shocking Wei Wuyin. He turned around to see the black fur of the Tiangou radiate a strange glow that seemed to be increasing in intensity.
"Go!" Wang Yutian urged.
Wei Wuyin didn't hesitate as he resumed his full speed flight through the Dark Void! The Voidship was actually incredibly fast at maximum speed, and in the matter of seconds, thanks to the existence of being pushed a million miles away earlier, he swiftly left the border of the once-named Imperial Dawn Starfield.
