Devour and Refine, Starry Sky Power

The moss seeping from the stone walls glimmered with an eerie ghostly light beneath the candle flame. The instant Hua Qiang's fingertips touched the edge of the stone bed, the entire skeleton suddenly rang out with a crisp clash of metal and stone.

Star-like patterns flowed across the grayish-brown bones. When he saw the faintly flickering starlight mark between its brows, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

That was the mark of the Starry Sky Realm, said to awaken only after one broke through the peak of the Immortal Emperor realm.

Inside a groove along the stone bed lay half a jade slip, suspended within a wisp of starlight that was about to fade away.

Hua Qiang held his breath and reached out. The moment his fingers felt its icy chill, countless fragments of memory crashed into his sea of consciousness like meteors.

Within the image was a sharply defined face beneath a magnificent purple-gold crown. Thirty-six Star Formations floated behind the youth, yet on one night, they were torn apart by blood-red blades filling the heavens.

"I am Ye Xiao, direct descendant of the Night Clan of Starfall City."

The divine consciousness lingering within the jade slip carried the desolation of ages past.

"Three hundred years ago, I was plotted against by a clan cousin and mistakenly entered the Exile Ruins."

"Time and space are chaotic in this realm, and spiritual energy is exhausted. Even with Starry Sky Realm cultivation, I could not tear open a spatial rift."

The image suddenly shook violently. Ye Xiao's Star Formations crumbled inch by inch, while the faces of the pursuers behind him were shrouded in a blood-colored mist.

"The last Star Marrow Pill has been exhausted. If any later arrival sees this message..."

The divine consciousness suddenly