Volume 1, Chapter 319 – The Road Ahead

No one knew where this transmission formation led. Standing within the spatial tunnel, Shi Lan could only see the endless starlight behind her rushing backward.

Half an hour later, the group finally stepped onto solid ground. This was a barren dead star.

Crack—

Several fissures appeared in the transmission formation beneath their feet. Clearly, the formation at the other end had already been destroyed.

With this kind of two-way transmission formation, even if one end was destroyed, the other end could still trace the transmission coordinates. That was also why the old man had chosen to stay behind.

Perhaps one day, with this formation, these embers that had been preserved might still be able to find the road home.

Li Canglan activated the warship and enclosed everyone inside it. Many among them were still very young, and their cultivation had not yet reached the level required to survive in the starry sky, even if the Illusory Star Domain could not compare to the true boundless cosmos.

“So the world beyond is this vast…”

“Are those all stars like Yaoyun Star…?”

“They’re actually all spheres…”

“Is Yaoyun Star a sphere too…?”

The gorgeous starry sky diluted the grief of these youths, as if it had lit dazzling fireworks in their eyes and illuminated an entire river of stars.

Li Canglan tilted his head up, his eyes filled with unconcealable shock. Above his head was a broad and boundless continent, completely covering this endless starry sky, vast beyond measure.

A deep blue ocean wrapped around the entire continent like a divine ring, giving off a brilliant radiance that made one want to lose oneself within it.

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“Where is that…?”

Li Canglan muttered almost unconsciously.

Shi Lan also looked up, momentarily stunned. She had rarely ever looked up at the entire continent from this angle.

So this was Lingyang…

Tianbai crouched on Shi Lan’s shoulder, looking at the distant continent. He instinctively retracted his claws, and his eyes were equally full of astonishment.

“That side is the Vast Land of Shenzhou. Over there is the Boundless Demon Domain…”

Shi Lan pointed toward one side of the continent, then suddenly froze a little.

Seen from this angle, Shenzhou and the Boundless Demon Domain were only that large after all.

“And what about over there…?”

Li Canglan pointed toward the remaining region.

That was a desolate and bitterly cold land, thick with scrub forest, with nearly half of it covered in ice and snow that had never melted for ten thousand years.

“That should be the Devil Lair. I haven’t been there either.”

Shi Lan shook her head slightly, took out a blank jade token, and focused her senses. A vague coordinate appeared in her mind. The star that belonged to her was already not far from here.

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Looking around, there were several more life-bearing stars suspended quietly in the nearby starry sky.

They looked close, but in truth were separated by millions of li. The starry sky of the Illusory Star Domain had been compressed as a whole. In the true great universe, the distance between stars would be even greater, vast and boundless.

A miniature sun hung among several stars, breathing out blazing solar true fire and illuminating all things.

Within the inheritance of the Guiyun Sword Emperor, there had been some fragmentary memories concerning suns. Apart from those formed naturally, a great many of them were transformed from the corpses of members of the ancient Golden Crow clan after their fall.

There were also rumors that many Golden Crows had not truly died, but were instead using their transformation into suns to undergo nirvana.

Looking at the starry sky before her, Shi Lan could not help but feel admiration for the Human Race Chronicle and that Sovereign. To lift up such a stretch of starry sky and suspend it above the heavens required unimaginable might.

Shi Lan looked toward Li Canglan and said softly, “I will send all of you to the nearest life-bearing star and settle you there properly. As for what you do afterward… that is for you to decide.”

Li Canglan was silent for a moment, then asked quietly,

“Do you think I have any hope of revenge?”

“No.”

Shi Lan answered directly, without the slightest hesitation.

It was not that she looked down on Li Canglan. There was truly not the slightest possibility. Even if he were given another thousand years, he still would not be able to shake a Human Emperor clan at the height of its power.

He came from Yaoyun Star, and the inheritance on Yaoyun Star could at best only reach the Nascent Soul Realm.

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Even if he had already left Yaoyun Star and might encounter some other opportunity in the Illusory Star Domain, this entire star domain was war booty won by those Human Emperors under the Sovereign.

Moreover, when this star domain was contested, the human race’s principal enemies were demons and devils, not the power of this star domain itself.

In this stretch of heaven and earth, Li Canglan obtaining power enough to overturn a Human Emperor clan was simply impossible.

Hearing this, Li Canglan’s mouth turned bitter, and a wry smile spilled across his lips. After a while, he looked toward Shi Lan, wanting to speak yet stopping short.

“I have no reason to help you.” Seeing the expression on his face, Shi Lan shook her head.

Although she had killed people from the Zheng family, whether the Zheng family could trace it back to her was still uncertain. But if she helped Li Canglan, then she would be fated to forge a tremendous karmic tie with the Zheng family.

When the time came, it would not be a matter of one or two deaths.

Li Canglan carried on his back the vengeance of extermination and ruin, the hatred of family destroyed and home lost. Such a blood-soaked hatred was not something that could be dissolved in a few words, and Shi Lan would never try to persuade him otherwise.

She had never been willing to do such thankless labor. Feelings could never truly be shared between people. It was like drinking water: only the drinker knew whether it was warm or cold.

A faint light appeared in Li Canglan’s eyes. He had noticed the hidden meaning in Shi Lan’s words. Shi Lan was capable of helping him.

“I ask only that Senior point out a clear road for me. If one day I die upon the path of revenge, I will never let it implicate you. If by fortune I keep my life, I will repay Senior’s great kindness even if it means dying ten thousand times!”

Li Canglan knelt and pressed his forehead to the ground, his fingernails digging deeply into his palms as he cried out hoarsely.

“I beg Senior for mercy!”

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Not far away, several dozen youths, seeing Li Canglan’s actions, silently knelt as well.

The oldest among them were only thirteen or fourteen, the youngest only eight or nine. By some unknown means, they had managed to survive the Zheng family’s searches.

“Stand up.”

Shi Lan looked at these youths, and her heart softened in spite of herself.

Li Canglan raised his head and looked at her, hope hidden in his eyes. To him, Shi Lan was the future.

“Your blood feud has nothing to do with me. This is only a transaction. I will teach you methods to grow stronger. Until you become strong enough, your lives belong to me,” Shi Lan said slowly.

She wanted to build up a force of her own and needed some people to serve as its first foundation. These people might be just right.

Bearing blood feuds on their backs, they already possessed an immense hunger for strength. She would not need to drive them onward.

Excitement surged onto Li Canglan’s face. He was just about to speak when Shi Lan interrupted him.

“And also, you don’t need to call me Senior. I’m younger than you.”

After correcting him, Shi Lan herself froze for a moment. In the past, she would never have cared about such forms of address.

Li Canglan’s expression stiffened for an instant, and he looked somewhat dazed. He had thought Shi Lan was some senior expert who had cultivated for many years, merely using skill to preserve her youthful appearance.

In the next instant, his expression calmed again, and he kowtowed once more. Age did not matter. As long as she could point out a clear road for him, then to him she was more real than any vague immortal or Buddha.