Starry Express Leaps Ten Thousand Years into the Future

Lin Yu opened his eyes and found himself in a dungeon.

Some scattered memories surfaced: he was a soldier of the Star Luo Empire who had been captured after being defeated at the border and imprisoned in a dungeon of the Heaven Dou Empire.

A burst of footsteps approached, and an incomparably handsome prince appeared in the dungeon. His eyes were sharp as he surveyed the defeated prisoners locked inside.

A military officer said from the side, "Your Highness Xue Qinghe, what should we do with these prisoners? The Star Luo Empire has no intention of paying ransom to redeem them."

Xue Qinghe said indifferently, "There's no need to ask me. I'm only making a routine inspection. Handle everything according to the regulations of the Heaven Dou Empire."

The regulations of the Heaven Dou Empire meant that it would not waste resources keeping worthless prisoners alive.

The military officer immediately ordered the executioners, "Hang them tomorrow."

Many prisoners' faces turned ashen when they heard this.

Lin Yu was terrified too. He had only just transmigrated, yet who would have thought he would die all over again?

"But what can I do? Tomorrow is the final deadline."

Lin Yu had never imagined that his transmigration would begin in such a desperate situation. He was trapped in a dungeon, restrained by chains.

The original host's martial soul was gone as well, and he could not sense it at all.

It was hell-level difficulty from the start, with death all but certain.

But he refused to give up and racked his brains.

The original host's martial soul isn't gone. I've simply taken his place, and his martial soul has nothing to do with me.

Put another way, does that mean I also have my own unique martial soul, but it hasn't awakened yet?

Driven to the brink of death, Lin Yu could only rely on his still-unawakened martial soul in desperation.

The reason the defeated prisoners of the Star Luo Empire were to be executed was that they were all ordinary cannon-fodder Soul Masters, and in the eyes of the Heaven Dou Empire, they had no value whatsoever.

But if he awakened a top-tier martial soul, there would be a glimmer of hope.

By then, the Star Luo Empire would also be willing to pay a ransom to redeem him.

"But awakening a martial soul requires an awakening ceremony. This is a dungeon, so there's no way the necessary conditions exist."

No one would specially arrange an awakening ceremony for a defeated prisoner who was about to be executed.

But Lin Yu refused to give up. He thought, the first person in the world to awaken a martial soul had not used an awakening ceremony either.

There was no reason such a miracle could not descend upon him.

"I don't know what a martial soul really is. I can only do everything I can and try treating a dead horse as a living one."

Lin Yu struggled through the entire night, exhausting every method he could think of.

But every single one ended in failure.

Under his extreme anxiety, even his hair turned white.

Yet perhaps a miracle really did descend. When the first rays of dawn shone into the dungeon, Lin Yu suddenly sensed an existence closely connected to him.

He blankly extended one hand, and a martial soul appeared above it.

"My martial soul has appeared, but why is it—"

It was actually the Starry Express from Honkai: Star Rail.

This seemed to be related to how he had transmigrated to the Douluo Continent. The Starry Express itself was capable of traveling to countless worlds and embarking on pioneering journeys.

It had merely chosen him by coincidence.

And when the Starry Express became his martial soul, Lin Yu also received information about it.

The Starry Express itself could not be equipped with Soul Rings, but it could invite companions aboard. As long as they signed a riding agreement, he could share his companions' martial souls.

If Lin Yu invited the defeated prisoners in the dungeon aboard the Starry Express, he could immediately share their martial souls.

Unfortunately, the martial souls of these cannon-fodder Soul Masters in the dungeon were useless. Inviting them would only be a waste.

The Starry Express did not recommend weak martial souls either. Only by inviting powerful companions could it share the strength of powerful martial souls and rapidly increase his Soul Power.

When his Soul Power reached level one hundred, Lin Yu would ascend into the God of Trailblazing on this Douluo Continent.

"So that's how it is. This is the Starry Express's unique path of advancement."

"But I'm in a dungeon, and there are no companions with powerful martial souls nearby."

Although the Starry Express had appeared, his crisis of life and death had yet to be resolved. Lin Yu sensed that the Starry Express's Innate Soul Power was only level one.

Such a martial soul would be regarded as a trash martial soul anywhere on the Douluo Continent.

No one would believe his claims and sign a companion contract with him.

This was another dead end he could not get around.

"No, the Starry Express can leap through space and time. It has a chance to take me away from here."

Through his senses, Lin Yu discovered that the Starry Express possessed a leaping ability.

However, it required powerful Soul Power to guide the leap.

But he had only level-one Soul Power. If he forced a leap, he would be unable to control the Starry Express and had no idea where it might take him.

Perhaps it would leap underground and bury him in the soil, killing him on the spot.

"I have no choice left. If I stay here, I can only wait for death. But if I leap, there's still a chance."

It was already broad daylight, and the executioners came in one after another to take the prisoners away.

They were preparing to bring them to the execution grounds and deal with them all at once.

Lin Yu had no choice. He closed his eyes and activated the Starry Express's leaping ability.

"Whether I live or die depends on this leap. I'm counting on you."

The martial soul, the Starry Express, suddenly expanded and grew enormous. Its ethereal form enveloped Lin Yu, then its entire body flashed as space and time were violently stirred open.

Boom! It vanished from the dungeon without a trace.

Boundless cold swept over him.

Lin Yu opened his eyes and discovered that he had arrived on an endless ice field stretching beyond his sight.

"Success."

Information about the leap came from the Starry Express.

Time: Ten thousand years later

Location: Extreme North

"The leap actually brought me ten thousand years into the future."

Lin Yu was astonished. He had thought the Starry Express's leap was spatial, merely transferring him somewhere else.

Who would have thought it included a temporal leap as well, bringing him directly ten thousand years into the future?

Such an ability was unheard of. The Starry Express might already have undergone an evolution to a higher level.

"I've transmigrated to the Extreme North ten thousand years later. If I remember correctly, this is the era in which Huo Yuhao lives."

The Extreme North had only come into existence after the territory of the Sun Moon Empire merged with the Douluo Continent.

Many Ice Jade Scorpions and Ice Silkworms lived here, making it extremely dangerous.

But the most dangerous thing was still the freezing cold.

As a newly awakened Soul Scholar, Lin Yu was already shivering violently from the cold.

"Did I just escape one den of wolves only to enter another tiger's lair?"

He had originally thought that escaping the dungeon would give him a chance to live.

Who would have thought that after arriving in the Extreme North, the low temperature alone would be enough to freeze him to death if he stayed for long.

"This isn't a place I can stay for long. I have to leave as soon as possible."

But everywhere he looked was a boundless expanse of white.

Lin Yu had lost his sense of direction and could only take a chance by walking in one direction.

"I'll activate the Starry Express's leap again when I can't hold on any longer."

The Starry Express's leap did not require charging. In theory, it could perform multiple leaps.

But Lin Yu only dared to gamble when he had absolutely no other choice.

His Soul Power was so low. Who knew whether a random leap by the Starry Express might carry him into a land of death?