On the morning of the sixth month of preparations, the warning array on the Star Gazing Platform suddenly erupted with a piercing alarm. This warning was completely different from the past—it was neither dark energy erosion nor ordinary interstellar fluctuations, but a Desolate Rules warning issued by the Origin Siphoning Crystal. The runes flashed at an astonishing frequency, indicating that energy fluctuations from the Desolate Realm had breached the first line of defense at the edge of the Star Sea and were rapidly closing in.
At that moment, Shen Hao was teaching cultivators at the Dao Heart Hall when the warning's roar exploded in his sea of consciousness like thunder. The gray and multicolored Dao Rhyme around him suddenly condensed, and a trace of gravity flashed through his eyes, yet his voice remained calm. "Everyone, remain calm. An abnormal movement from a Desolate Realm vanguard has appeared at the edge of the Star Sea. I'll be back shortly."
Before his words had faded, his figure had already turned into a gray and multicolored streak of light and vanished from the Dao Heart Hall. Zi Xuan, Lan Ze, Xing Heng, and the others had received the alarm long ago and were waiting in the observation room of the Star Gazing Platform.
"Alliance Leader Shen!" Xing Heng pointed at the swiftly moving red dots on the star map. "The Desolate Realm's vanguard has broken through the outer warning array. There are around three thousand of them, all Desolate Warriors, and they are heading for Cang Lan Star in the southern reaches of the Star Sea!"
Shen Hao's gaze fell upon the star map. Cang Lan Star's location flickered with a faint glow of vitality. Its spirit veins had only just recovered, and its defenses were relatively weak. "Cang Lan Star must not