In the depths of the cosmic void.
A gray planet slowly revolved.
The sea of energy within the planet's core churned with violet-gold streams of light. Every wisp of energy contained violent power capable of tearing apart the void, yet around Xuan Chuqing, it flowed as gently as a brook.
She sat cross-legged atop the Meteorite Platform at the deepest part of the core. Her plain white Daoist robe fluttered without wind, her long black hair drifting with the currents of energy. Her face looked no older than sixteen, yet between her closed eyes rested a gravity wholly unsuited to her age.
This was her ninety-ninth attempt to break through to the Star Lord Realm.
Xuan Chuqing formed intricate hand seals with her fingers. Within her sea of consciousness, the barrier to the Star Lord Realm became a wall of light spanning heaven and earth. Its surface was covered in dense law-patterns, each one requiring sufficient energy and state of mind to smooth over and pierce through.
She drew a deep breath, then opened her mouth and absorbed the surging violet-gold energy before her into her body. Energy that would have caused an ordinary Great Void Realm cultivator to explode instantly entered her meridians like a tamed colossal beast, racing along the circulation path of the Nine Revolutions Profound Firmament Art.
The energy gathered in her dantian, forming a vortex that was continuously compressed and refined with every breath, until it finally became a dazzling droplet of liquid energy.
Xuan Chuqing abruptly opened her eyes, two beams of violet-gold light flashing within them. She thrust both hands forward, and that droplet instantly transformed into a roaring river of energy, flooding through her meridians toward her sea of consciousness and smashing fiercely into the barrier of the Star Lord Realm!
"Buzz—"