Star Dou's Edge, Traces of the Void Cicada

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

When the first ray of morning light pierced the towering dome of Spirit City, the gates of the private courtyard deep within the Papal Palace silently opened. Yang Yu stepped out.

He had changed into a fitted black combat outfit, making his complexion seem somewhat pale, though his gaze was exceptionally calm and sharp. After three days of rest and medicinal nourishment, the stabbing pain in his soul had mostly faded, and his Soul Power had returned to its peak. The Dragon Clan Secret Records was carefully wrapped in cloth and carried close to his chest. This journey to the Star Dou Great Forest was fraught with uncertainty. The book might contain vital clues, so he did not dare leave it behind.

Outside the courtyard, two figures had long been waiting.

On the left stood Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan, still dressed in his flamboyant red chrysanthemum robes. His usual smile remained on his face, but there was a trace of gravity deep in his eyes. On the right stood someone new. His entire body was shrouded in illusory black shadows, as though he could melt into the darkness around him at any moment. His aura was cold and lifeless. It was Ghost Douluo Gui Mei! He spoke little, merely giving Yang Yu a slight nod in greeting.

Two Titled Douluo were personally serving as guards! It was clear how seriously Empress Bibi Dong regarded Yang Yu's journey.

"Your Highness, how are you feeling?" Yue Guan stepped forward and carefully studied Yang Yu's complexion.

"I am fine. We can depart." Yang Yu was brief and direct.

"Good." Yue Guan nodded without further words. He exchanged a glance with Gui Mei, and both raised their hands at once. Vast Soul Power surged forth, forming a stable Space Gate before them. Beyond it lay a lush forest exuding an ancient, primal aura. Even the air carried the freshness of vegetation and a faint earthy scent.

The Star Dou Great Forest!

"Let's go." Yue Guan entered first. Yang Yu followed close behind. Gui Mei brought up the rear. The moment his figure vanished into the gate, the spatial fluctuations settled, as if it had never existed.

The solid feel of the ground beneath his feet returned, and the rich scent of plants flooded Yang Yu's nostrils. He surveyed his surroundings. They were no longer at the forest's outer edge, but already quite far inside. Towering ancient trees blocked out the sky, thick vines coiled like giant pythons, and a deep layer of humus covered the ground, soft beneath their feet. Light filtered through the dense canopy, casting mottled patches across the earth. The surroundings were silent, save for leaves rustling in the wind and the occasional chirp of unknown insects, making the atmosphere feel even more oppressive. Faint Soul Power fluctuations filled the air, mixed with the scents of countless soul beasts.

The Mixed Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest! A region where hundred-year and thousand-year soul beasts frequently appeared! To ordinary soul masters, this was already a dangerous area.

"Your Highness, stay close to us." Yue Guan kept his voice low. His habitual smile had vanished, replaced by a solemn expression. "This is no longer a safe area. Soul beasts may attack at any time. Gui Mei will keep watch and remove any unnecessary trouble."

Gui Mei said nothing. Like a shadow blending into its surroundings, he silently disappeared into the dark forest ahead and to Yang Yu's side.

Yue Guan walked slightly ahead at Yang Yu's side, his mind fully focused. His powerful senses spread out like an invisible spiderweb, monitoring every movement around them.

Yang Yu nodded, drew a deep breath, and heightened his vigilance as well. Soul Power circulated slowly through his body. The phantoms of the Eternal Time Dragon Martial Soul and the Chaos Creation Lotus rose and fell within the depths of his consciousness, ready to be summoned at any moment. While warily observing the dim surroundings, he carefully sensed the chaotic Soul Power fluctuations in the air, trying to distinguish any aura bearing the attribute of time.

The three moved silently through the primal forest like ghosts. Yue Guan was clearly familiar with this region, choosing routes that avoided soul beast nests and the fringes of powerful creatures' territories whenever possible. Occasionally, ten-year or hundred-year soul beasts would recklessly leap out from the brush or tree canopy. Before Yang Yu could even see them clearly, an imperceptible black glint would flash through the shadows ahead. Those soul beasts would die instantly without even having time to scream, their corpses casually disposed of by Gui Mei as though they had never existed. The efficiency of a Titled Douluo was terrifying indeed.

Time passed amid the tense journey. The sun gradually rose higher, and the patches of light filtering through the canopy became brighter and more glaring.

Just as they passed through a forest clearing filled with strange silver ferns, Yang Yu, who had remained silently alert, suddenly stopped!

"Wait!" he said in a low voice, his sharp gaze sweeping toward the trunk of an unremarkable old tree at the edge of the clearing, wrapped in withered vines.

Yue Guan immediately halted and warily looked in the direction Yang Yu indicated. "Your Highness, did you find something?"

Yang Yu did not answer at once. He focused and fully activated the Eternal Time Dragon Martial Soul within him! An exceedingly faint yet remarkably clear sensation arose from the depths of his soul! On the old tree's trunk lingered a nearly imperceptible aura carrying strange fluctuations!

That aura... drifted unpredictably, as if detached from time itself! It carried an illusory sense of spatial displacement!

"A time fluctuation!" Yang Yu's eyes lit up, his voice carrying suppressed excitement. "It is faint, but pure! It is on that tree trunk!"

Yue Guan's expression turned solemn. In a flash, he arrived before the old tree. He sensed it carefully, but his brows furrowed slightly. Even with the perception of a Titled Douluo, he could only vaguely detect an extremely faint spatial residue on the trunk, one nearly on the verge of dissipating. Unlike Yang Yu, he could not clearly grasp the time attribute hidden within it!

"It is a shell shed by a Void Cicada!" With his seasoned experience, Yue Guan immediately made the judgment. He carefully peeled away the withered vines and moss covering the trunk. Sure enough, within a crack in the bark, he found a cicada shell the size of a fingernail, nearly completely transparent and resembling a thin crystal shard! Extremely faint spatial ripples still lingered on it, along with the trace of time fluctuation Yang Yu had sensed!

"Void Cicada?!" Yang Yu's heart jolted. He had seen records of this soul beast in the soul beast illustrations of the Library Pavilion! It was an extremely rare and unusual soul beast possessing both weak time and spatial attributes! They resembled ordinary cicadas, but their bodies were completely transparent. When resting, they nearly fused with space itself, making them extraordinarily difficult to discover! Their shed shells were valuable materials for crafting certain top-tier spatial Soul Tools, while their soul rings contained unique spacetime attributes! This was one of his most ideal soul ring targets!

"Judging by the strength of this shell and the aura remaining on it..." Yue Guan carefully wrapped the shell in Soul Power and examined it. "This Void Cicada's age... definitely exceeds four thousand years! It may even be close to five thousand! It shed its shell not long ago, so it should be nearby!"

A flicker of delight crossed Yue Guan's eyes as well. Void Cicadas were already rare, and those over five thousand years old were even more difficult to encounter! The spacetime attributes within its soul ring were simply a perfect match for His Highness the Holy Son's Dragon of Time Martial Soul! Their luck was incredible!

"Pursue it!" Yue Guan made his decision without hesitation. He flicked a fine strand of Soul Power from his fingertip, winding it around the cicada shell. The transparent shell immediately gave off a faint glow, pointing like a compass toward the depths of the forest!

"Gui Mei! We have a target! A five-thousand-year Void Cicada! Seal off this area and clear the obstacles!" Yue Guan called in a low voice.

From the shadows ahead came Gui Mei's deep response. A denser shadow spread out like a living creature, silently merging into the shadows of the surrounding trees and isolating, suppressing the sounds and auras within this region to some degree.

Holding the glowing cicada shell, Yue Guan led Yang Yu carefully in the direction it indicated. They were not moving quickly, but every step was exceptionally cautious. When tracking a soul beast skilled in concealment and spatial leaps, even the slightest carelessness could not be tolerated.

The pursuit continued for around half an hour. The trees around them grew taller and older, while a more primal and dangerous aura filled the forest. The glow of the cicada shell grew brighter, and its direction became increasingly clear.

At last, they passed through a dense patch of silver shrubs that gave off a strange fragrance, and their view suddenly opened up.

It was a small forest clearing, with a shallow pool of crystal-clear water at its center. Beside the pool, several massive moss-covered rocks lay partially submerged.

And atop the largest of those rocks, warmed by the sunlight, an unusual figure lay quietly still.

It was a cicada whose entire body was almost completely transparent, as though carved from the purest crystal! It was only palm-sized and elegantly shaped, with two pairs of wings as thin as cicada wings folded behind its back. Silver patterns like a galaxy naturally flowed across them. Sunlight passed through its body, casting a faint, constantly twisting and changing shadow on the ground, as though it did not entirely exist within this space! An extremely faint yet exceptionally distinct spacetime fluctuation slowly emanated from its body!

It was the five-thousand-year Void Cicada!

It seemed to have just completed a spatial leap and was using the sunlight on the rock to restore its energy. Its transparent body rose and fell slightly with each breath, looking utterly defenseless.

Yue Guan and Yang Yu immediately held their breath and concealed themselves behind a massive boulder. A sharp gleam flashed in Yue Guan's eyes as he gave Yang Yu a questioning look. The meaning was obvious: should they act?

Yang Yu's heart pounded. The target was right before him! As long as Yue Guan acted, capturing and killing this five-thousand-year soul beast would be effortless for a Titled Douluo! His first soul ring was within reach!

Yet just as he was about to nod!

A sudden change erupted!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Three nearly inaudible projectiles shot from the forest on the other side of the clearing! Their angles were tricky, their speed lightning-fast! They flew straight at the defenseless Void Cicada atop the rock!

They were Bone-Piercing Nails coated in deadly poison!

Someone had launched a sneak attack! And their timing was extremely precise, striking when the Void Cicada was at its most relaxed!

The Void Cicada was instantly startled! Its transparent body shuddered, and a powerful spatial fluctuation erupted! The light around the small area it occupied twisted violently! Less than a foot from its body, the three poisoned nails seemed to strike an invisible spatial barrier. With three crisp clangs, they were forcibly redirected and embedded deeply into the nearby rock!

"Shriek—!" The Void Cicada let out a sharp, piercing cry full of shock and fury! Its transparent wings snapped open, the silver spatial patterns flashing fiercely as it prepared to launch a spatial leap and escape!

"Move! Don't let it get away!" A deliberately lowered young male voice, anxious and immature, rang out from the direction of the ambush!

Immediately afterward, two figures sprang from the woods like leopards!

On the left was a boy who looked two or three years older than Yang Yu. He wore a faded blue combat outfit. His appearance was ordinary, but his eyes were exceptionally calm and sharp, like a venomous snake poised to strike! He held a small, inconspicuous black hammer and was in the middle of throwing it toward the Void Cicada! It was Tang San!

On the right was a delicate little girl who appeared to be around Yang Yu's age. A long scorpion braid hung down her back, and her large eyes were as pure and bright as rubies, filled with lively wildness. She was incredibly fast, her movements so light they seemed weightless. In only a few leaps, she had closed in on the pool! It was Xiao Wu!

"Tang San?! Xiao Wu?!" Yang Yu's pupils contracted sharply! Why were they here?! And they had met even earlier than in the original story?!

Yue Guan's face instantly darkened! Someone actually dared to snatch prey from a tiger's mouth?! Right under the noses of two Titled Douluo, him and Gui Mei?!

"Courting death!" Killing intent flashed in Yue Guan's eyes! He had just moved, ready to strike with thunderous force!

However, Yang Yu moved even faster!

At the instant the Void Cicada was startled and its spatial leap was about to activate! At the instant Tang San and Xiao Wu sprang forward!

Yang Yu suddenly stepped out from behind the boulder! His eyes locked firmly onto the panicked transparent cicada, whose spatial fluctuations had become violently unstable!

Buzz! The phantom of the Eternal Time Dragon flashed behind him and vanished! A vast, ancient Dragon Might that transcended all things, born from the deepest depths of his soul, surged like an invisible tidal wave straight toward the Void Cicada! This was not broad suppression, but a trace of focused impact Yang Yu had barely mastered after desperately practicing during his three days of rest! It had only one purpose—to terrify its soul!

Roar—!!!

A majestic dragon's roar, audible only to the Void Cicada's soul, crashed fiercely into its chaotic consciousness!

"Shriek—!!!"

The Void Cicada's nearly completed leap froze as though someone had pressed pause! The spatial fluctuations instantly collapsed into chaos! Its transparent body went rigid, as if an invisible giant hand had clutched its throat! Instinctive terror toward a supreme predator instantly drowned it! Even its compound eyes lost focus from fear! Like a stone, it fell stiffly from the rock with a splash into the shallow pool below, sending up a small spray of water. Its body convulsed, and its wings beat helplessly at the surface, but it could no longer gather even a trace of spatial power! Completely intimidated by the Dragon Might, it had lost all ability to resist!

This sudden turn of events made Tang San and Xiao Wu, who had been rushing forward, abruptly stop in their tracks!

Tang San's expression changed drastically! He had clearly sensed an indescribable, terrifying aura that made even his soul feel oppressed and shaken, flashing past in an instant! Its target had been the Void Cicada! He suddenly raised his head and looked toward where the aura had come from!

Xiao Wu also stopped uncertainly. Her ruby-like eyes looked from the struggling Void Cicada in the pool to Yang Yu, who had suddenly appeared, her small face full of astonishment. That aura just now... had made the soul beast instinct within her feel intense fear and... a trace of inexplicable agitation?

As for Yue Guan, he stared at the Void Cicada struggling like a dead fish in the pool, then at Yang Yu standing before him, whose face had grown even paler from forcibly activating his Dragon Might. His eyes were filled with utter shock! This brat... could truly use Dragon Might to precisely intimidate a soul beast?! And the target was even a Void Cicada, famed for its sharp soul perception and mastery of spatial escape?!

"His Highness the Holy Son..." Yue Guan's voice carried a dryness he did not even notice himself.

Yang Yu ignored Tang San and Xiao Wu's stunned, wary, and hostile gazes. He endured the weakness in his soul, his eyes fixed firmly on the Void Cicada in the pool, which had lost all capacity for resistance and was struggling only on instinct. His hoarse yet clear voice rang out:

"Elder Ju, help me!" "Now is the best time... to absorb the soul ring!"