Fang Chen stood outside the membrane, his gaze piercing the translucent barrier. He watched the silver figure recede until it vanished into the depths of the dim Star Domain.
Great Emperor Huo Li came to his side and said gravely, "Don't worry. This isn't Little Crane's first mission of this kind!"
Fang Chen sat cross-legged, the Floating Immortal Sword across his knees, and closed his eyes.
Ye Qingci sat beside him and gently rested her hand on his arm, silently offering him warmth.
Ye Kong stood behind them, Chaos Luster flowing over his Mysterious Yellow Battle Armor as he scanned their surroundings warily.
Time passed, little by little.
In the Core Region of the Star Core Graveyard.
The Dark Red Orb hung at the center of the Void. More than ten thousand zhang across, it was dark red throughout, its surface covered in countless fine Runes. Each Rune writhed like a living thing, radiating a pulse of Demonic Energy that made the heart tremble.
It pulsed slowly like a heart. With every beat, a ring of dark red ripples spread outward.
Where the ripples passed, the Void trembled faintly. The Star Core Fragments surrounding the orb released wisps of stellar Essence, which the ripples swept up and drew inside.
This was the Energy Core of the entire Devil Race Lair, the heart of this Forward Base.
Without it, the Devil Race could neither hold this place for long nor maintain the ultra-long-distance Spatial Teleportation Array capable of changing the course of the war.
But it was not the Dark Red Orb that made this Lair irreplaceable.
It was the immense Chaos Star Core deep within the orb, wrapped in layer upon layer of Seals.
More than a thousand zhang across, its surface bore the primordial gray of Chaos Primordial Opening,