Arrayed Immortals and Gods Beyond the Galaxy

Arrayed Immortals and Gods Beyond the Galaxy

"Humanity spent thousands of years developing technology. They believed they had grasped everything, believed they held the truth in their hands. They overturned old legends, shattered ancient myths, and dismissed all myths and legends as the fantasies of their ancestors.

"But after leaving Blue Star and venturing into the universe, they turned around and began searching for traces of those Immortal Gods!"

"How ironic. How laughable."

That person's voice was faint and hollow, as if countless voices were layered atop his own—men, women, young, and old alike. It was profoundly eerie.

He looked at the sky as though he could see through the heavens to the stars of the universe. No whites could be seen in his eye sockets; only pitch-black darkness dwelled within, carrying an indescribable mockery.

Yet the other person showed no reaction to his words, still wolfing down the wontons in his takeout container.

As he ate, he muttered complaints under his breath.

"These aren't wontons, are they? They seem more like yuntun. What's going on? I specifically noted that I wanted wontons. Damn it, merchants these days really know how to fool people. Last time they wrapped up little dumplings for me, and this time it's yuntun. Do they really think I can't tell the difference?!"

Hearing his incessant muttering, the gloomy man's face instantly darkened, and he swung out a palm.

In an instant, a sinister wind surged through the Ancient Forest. Countless wails seemed to rise from every direction, as though all the world's suffering were hidden within them.

Vaguely, innumerable pale hands seemed to emerge from the surrounding void, pressing down upon the man eating takeout.

But faced with this bizarre scene, the man showed no urgency at all. He merely lowered his head and rapidly stuffed every last wonton from the container into his mouth with his chopsticks.

Just before those countless hands could envelop him, he tossed away the takeout container.

Figures abruptly appeared behind him. Some were peerlessly elegant, some bent and hunched, some domineering and majestic, some furtive and rat-faced. These figures were outlined in golden lines and carried an inexplicable mighty power. As the man grinned, all of them raised their heads—and their faces were exactly the same as his!

Golden light rippled, divine paths took human form, and the instant those golden figures appeared, they wiped away all the sinister wind and foul aura.

"Bai Zi, you've been pretty hot-tempered lately. Don't tell me it's because you and Hei Zi weren't assigned to the same city."

The man wore a wicked grin as the phantoms behind him vanished.

"Lin Feiyang, quit messing around. And don't call me Bai Zi—call me by my proper name, Bai Shuang!"

Bai Shuang spoke irritably, though the cold aura around him had already dispersed.

"Honestly, Bai Zi, listen to what you were saying just now. Laughable, mocking, all that mystical nonsense. That whole act of yours was just like some edgy teenage kid, you know? What, you're not human? You're sitting there going, 'Humans~ oh dear~ blindly arrogant.'"

Lin Feiyang mimicked Bai Shuang's earlier tone, but he sounded unbearably sarcastic, like he was begging to be punched.

Bai Shuang's face had originally been pale, but now it was trending toward the color of a black pot. His hands clenched into fists, and the space around him warped slightly, as though countless sickly green eyes were about to emerge from the unseen.

"Stop sighing over your grand principles. If humanity hadn't developed technology and reached beyond the galaxy, and if the Martial God hadn't protected them long enough for them to endure, humanity would never have come into contact with the remnants left behind by the Immortal Gods.

"Who could have imagined that Apollo's shattered corona could be found beyond the Third Star System, that the Netherworld Ten Marshals Manor could be discovered within a Subspace Rift, or that a fragment of a hymn recording Taiyi could be found on an extinguished sun?

"The children who left the Ancestral Star explored the world, only to discover that all its profound mysteries had long been foreshadowed in their homeland. Isn't that a kind of cycle?"

Lin Feiyang suddenly became serious, and Bai Shuang, who had been boiling with anger, immediately calmed down.

"You, Lin Madman, have a sentimental side too?" Bai Shuang said.

Lin Feiyang curled his lip. No, you simply don't understand temperature control!

Naturally, he did not say that aloud.

Bai Shuang said, "The disturbance at the Dou Shuai Palace Ruins this time was too great. Throughout the Universe Myriad Races Heavens, every race with even a little strength saw that star map illuminating everything. The Federation's years of concealment have all gone to waste."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Lin Feiyang sat down on the ground without a care.

"Ever since the Federation first discovered an Immortal Relic in the galaxy, it began sealing off the Ancestral Star and suppressing the Ancestral Star's Martial Dao Luck. For all these years, it claimed to be protecting the Ancestral Star, but in reality?

"How many New Star People call the humans of the Ancestral Star natives? In their eyes, the humans on the Ancestral Star are no different from monkeys. Compared to your earlier edgy remarks, don't you think members of the same race trampling each other is the real joke?

"And now, although the Ancestral Star has been exposed to the eyes of the heavens, at least it is living in the real world."

Hearing Lin Feiyang's words, Bai Shuang revealed a trace of helplessness.

"There's nothing to be done about it. The path you wish to sow is the human world, which is why you have such insights. But to the Federation, although the Ancestral Star has several billion people, compared to the Fifteen Planets, Fifteen Star Systems, and countless trillions of people now controlled by the Federation, the Ancestral Star is far too small.

"After weighing the gains and losses, the Ancestral Star's sacrifice is inevitable. After all, it may contain secrets related to humanity's rise.

"Besides, the Federation is now preparing to open up the Martial Dao and release vast resources to cultivate martial artists. It could be considered the clouds parting to reveal the moon." Bai Shuang said.

"Do you believe that yourself?" Lin Feiyang rolled his eyes at Bai Shuang.

"The Ancestral Star exerts extremely powerful suppression over all lifeforms not born there. The strength of martial artists sent by the Federation is suppressed to less than a tenth. Now that the Ancestral Star has caught the attention of the myriad races, the Federation had no choice but to allow the Ancestral Star to hold the Martial Examination.

"Moreover, this Martial Examination is being conducted under the divination of that Celestial Grandmaster. He has already found a way for New Star martial artists to escape the Ancestral Star's suppression: through the Martial Examination, New Star prodigies under twenty can become tainted with the Ancestral Star's luck and gain its recognition.

"Put bluntly, in the Federation's original plan, this Martial Examination was merely a means for the children of major noble families to become tainted with that luck, using the entire Ancestral Star as their stage."

"But that's too boring." Lin Feiyang spoke meaningfully.

Bai Shuang immediately sensed that something was wrong. Lin Feiyang was famously insane. They had come to the North Sea together to arrange matters for the Martial Examination, and everything had gone quite smoothly. The examination was about to be announced—surely this madman was not about to lose his mind now?!

"Lin Madman, what are you going to do?!"

"Nothing. I'm just placing a bet. The New Star prodigies want to use the Martial Examination to become tainted with luck, and the children of noble families want to use this opportunity to enter the starry sky. At a time like this, wouldn't it be fun if an ordinary person who had only just come into contact with the Martial Dao stepped over everyone's heads and rose to the top?"

As Lin Feiyang spoke, he raised his gaze toward a certain direction, his smile radiant.

"No, what did you do this time?" There was not a trace of the earlier gloomy aura left around Bai Shuang. He truly feared this lunatic causing trouble.

"Bai Zi, tell me—if I subconsciously didn't want people to see what I looked like, could ordinary people see me?"

"Absolutely not. Though we are suppressed on the Ancestral Star, your Heart and Mind Height has reached Seeing the Shore. To ordinary people, you are no different from a god. A careless thought alone would be enough to prevent them from seeing your appearance," Bai Shuang said with certainty.

"Then what would you think if I told you that a child who had never cultivated the heart and mind had seen my true face?"

"To you, an ordinary person's Heart and Mind Height is like a mayfly beneath the bitter sea of the Other Shore—imperceptible and insubstantial, like a speck of dust.

"Though you did not deliberately conceal yourself, even your subconscious would require one to reach the stage of a Flawless Mind at the very least before they could glimpse you.

"By your account, for someone who has never cultivated the heart and mind to see you, unless... he was born with a Flawless Mind. Such a gift for the heart and mind can only be found in a handful of people throughout the entire Federation!"

Bai Shuang's voice trembled slightly.

What Lin Feiyang was saying was as absurd as claiming an ant understood quantum mechanics.

Seeing Bai Shuang's expression, Lin Feiyang smiled but said nothing. Yet it seemed that something was hidden behind that smile.

"Su Tu, my student, your teacher thinks very highly of you. Let your teacher see just how far you can go."