Heavenly Killing Star Shines

A soft halo, like a mother's hand, gently caressed the delicate skin of the clouds and mist. The illusory space possessed an extraordinarily captivating sense of substance. Vaguely, not far away, there seemed to be a majestic palace, both illusory and real beneath the touch of that gentle glow.

A figure stood quietly amid the clouds and mist, gazing into the boundless distance, though no one knew what he was looking at.

The figure had Water-blue Long Hair like a waterfall, hanging all the way to his feet. Were it not for his imposing build and broad shoulders, anyone viewing him only from behind might have mistaken him for a woman. Ripples seemed to flow across his noble blue robe, as though proclaiming the extraordinary status of its wearer.

In the night sky of the God Realm, countless stars hung high overhead, shining with incomparable brilliance. Their brightness and clarity were unmatched. The celestial patterns filling the heavens formed an enormous star chart, as though foretelling something. Among mortals, changes in the stars were mysteries only stargazers had the right to glimpse, but in the God Realm, every mystery lay open and unobscured.

"Ah..." The man sighed softly, a faint sadness appearing between his brows. His eyes half closed as though he were comprehending the ultimate truths of heaven and earth.

"Third Brother." A soft call rang out. A figure stepped from illusion into reality and came to the Blue-robed Man's side.

She was a woman dressed in a pink gown. Her long hair was braided into a long Scorpion Braid that draped gently down her back. From the side and behind, her exquisite, slender, fair neck was visible. The cinched waist of her dress could be grasped in one hand, perfectly outlining her alluring figure.

"What is it, Third Brother? You seem deeply worried. Is it about Kindness and Evil?"

"Perhaps."

The figure did not answer her question directly. He merely raised his head to look at the stars filling the sky. Among those eternally circling stars, three Ding Level Stars were orbiting one another according to a certain pattern, drawn together by mutual attraction.

They were three baleful stars among the Ding Level Stars. One of them, the brightest of the three, seemed to be blinking as it slowly flickered. This inevitably stirred a trace of concern in the man's heart.

The star slowly flickering was the Heavenly Calamity Star among the three baleful stars—or rather, the Heavenly Killing Star. It represented calamities sent down by heaven. Even when the First Generation Shura God descended into the world, the star he caused to flicker had only been one of the other two baleful stars, not the Heavenly Calamity Star.

This was the very day the man began laying out his Ten-thousand-year Plan for Douluo Continent, and also the year of the Child of Destiny's Martial Soul Awakening. At such a crucial juncture, the Heavenly Killing Star's flickering was anything but a good sign for him. Yet even God was powerless to alter changes in the stars.

"I hope this has nothing to do with the Child of Destiny."

The man muttered unwillingly to himself, completely forgetting the woman beside him.

"Nothing to do with him? Third Brother, what has nothing to do with the Child of Destiny?"

The woman scratched her head curiously and asked.

Her words made the man's heart tighten. Only after confirming that there was no one behind him besides her did he relax slightly. "Nothing. After ten thousand years of change, Douluo Continent has become rather chaotic. Especially the Continent Collision caused by the Crustal Movement more than four thousand years ago. Not only did it more than double Douluo Continent's area, it also brought many uncertainties."

"Recently, a New Star seems to have emerged on Douluo Continent. I tried to see his fate, but it was shrouded in mist. Perhaps the changes in the stars are related to this child as well. Yet I would rather hope none of this is connected to him."

"Those who can trigger changes in the stars have far too much to bear. And he is also the Child of Destiny. With those two factors combined, I fear every power Under Heaven will want to place a wager on him. This child has no need to shoulder such immense pressure."

The man's words were somewhat insincere. The woman did not know whether she had noticed the awkwardness in them. After all, it was obvious that he harbored designs on—or at least took an interest in—the so-called Son of Destiny. Yet he clearly wished for himself alone to hold that interest, rather than for everyone to take notice of the Son of Destiny.

Star Luo City, inside a shop somewhere on Trit Street, on the shop's second floor.

"This is evidence that Viscount Jack's wife remotely manipulated the results of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Tournament's Star Luo Division preliminaries."

"Viscount Jack's wife accepted a considerable sum from Earl Ansel and bribed one of the Star Luo Division's officials. While making the arrangement in private, she even turned him into her lover. That was precisely why the whole matter went as smoothly as a hot knife through butter."

As he spoke, a dwarf of short stature, his entire body wrapped in a coarse linen robe, placed an Image Recording Pearl on the table.

The dwarf's hoarse voice sounded again. "I also looked into that Earl Ansel. His second son is serving as captain at Kassel Academy this year, but I have to say, this year's Kassel Team is a complete mess. There are only three Soul Elders on the team, while the rest are Soul Grand Masters. If they did not resort to underhanded methods, it would not be easy for them to obtain entry qualifications for the All-Continent Soul Master Tournament."

Across the table sat a plump middle-aged man. He seemed to be in a good mood as he reached out with a large, greasy hand to take the Image Recording Pearl the dwarf had pushed over.

"Of course. Even those powerful teams that placed in the previous All-Continent Soul Master Tournament have already been directly admitted. The remaining slots are still fiercely contested. This sort of thing happens in the preliminaries before every All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Tournament. It is nothing unusual."

The middle-aged man rose to his feet, pulled open a drawer in the cabinet behind him, and took out a small burlap sack. The sack was bulging, seemingly stuffed with quite a few things. Facing the dwarf, a trace of sentiment flashed through his eyes.

"The Ansel Family has truly fallen. When their Old Man's generation first rose to prominence, what power they wielded. Loyal Courageous Earl—what a glorious title."

"But fortunes change. The Ansel Family's influence has declined year after year, and now they have nothing but an earl's title in name. A fallen Phoenix is no match for a chicken. Otherwise, even if Earl Ansel could not obtain a letter of recommendation to send his son to Shrek for gilding, he would not be in such a sorry state that he could only send his son to some obscure trash academy."

As he spoke, the middle-aged man clicked his tongue in sympathy. He then set the burlap sack in his hand on the table and pushed it toward the dwarf. "This is what you wanted: dark green medicinal herbs that smell pungent and look like little clumps of mud. For this sack of herbs, the team I sent to Star Dou Forest to help clients hunt Soul Rings spent another half month wandering around the forest. We even lost a man before we managed to snatch this sackful from the mouth of a Plant-type Soul Beast."