At the outer edge of the Spirit-Severing Zone in the Mogu Star Starfield, within a belt of Void Turbulence.
The howling currents swept past like invisible blades, scraping flakes from the surfaces of drifting rocks.
A dark boulder several yards across drifted swiftly with the currents. A figure lay embedded in a hollow in the rock, like a sleeping stone statue.
Layers of bloody scabs covered his entire body. His clothes had long since been shredded into strips, and fine cracks remained visible beneath his exposed skin. He resembled a piece of cracked porcelain that might shatter completely at any moment.
Only the Blood Sea Mark on his chest still gave off a faint heat. Wisps of Power of Flesh circulated instinctively, slowly repairing his body as it hovered on the brink of collapse, keeping it from breaking apart.
The figure was Lin Sheng, who had escaped Ghost Whale World with his last remaining breath.
His consciousness drifted up and down in boundless darkness.
It was as though he had returned to the time when he first broke through the world boundary, floating in the void once more, with nowhere to go.
Only this time, his injuries were severe beyond measure.
He could not even regain consciousness.
Meanwhile, beyond the Spiritless Zone, three faint streaks of golden-brown light sped through the distant darkness.
They were three small transport ships, each several dozen meters long. Their hulls were not clad in metal armor like those of the Sunstar Starfield, but constructed from a special dark-gold wood. Its grain was fine and dense, its surface coated in a faint luminous sheen. Despite being wood, it could withstand the erosion of Void Turbulence.
A coiled azure serpent was clearly carved into the side of the leading flagship, its eyes picked out in scarlet.