Tracing Dark Energy to Its Source, Investigating the Mysteries of the Southern Star Sea

On the seventh day after the alliance grand assembly ended, the monitoring array at the Star Gazing Platform suddenly sounded a shrill alarm. This Dark Energy fluctuation was entirely unlike the previous ones—it was not scattered erosion, but a deep black gleam condensed into form. Like a venomous serpent lying in wait, it coiled within the nebulae of the southern Star Sea. It neither spread nor moved, yet it radiated a suffocating pressure that made hearts quail.

At the time, Shen Hao was meditating quietly in the Origin Fusion Pavilion of Hongmeng Academy, four-colored Dao rhythms flowing around his fingertips as he attempted to further merge Flame Ice Power with the spatial origin. The monitoring array's alarm exploded in his sea of consciousness like a thunderclap. The Dao rhythms around him abruptly faltered, and a grave look flashed through his eyes.

"Brother Hao, what's wrong?" Zi Xuan entered the pavilion carrying freshly brewed Spiritual Tea. Seeing the change in his expression, she quickly asked.

Shen Hao rose to his feet, drawing in the Dao rhythms around him. A Dark Energy mark transmitted by the monitoring array condensed at his fingertips. "An abnormal Dark Energy fluctuation has appeared in the southern Star Sea. This force is extremely strange—highly condensed, and it carries a trace of... consciousness."

Zi Xuan's expression changed slightly. "Consciousness? Could it be an evolved form of the Dark Energy Lord?"

Shen Hao shook his head. The Dark Energy mark flowed across his palm, emitting an icy aura. "Doesn't seem like it. The Dark Energy Lords of the past were violent, but possessed only an instinctive desire for destruction. This force is more like an intelligent beast lying in wait, as though it is waiting for something."

He raised his hand and summoned a communication Jade Slip, pouring Dao