Deep into the Black Mist Sea, the Constant Source Summit

Lost contact?

Lin Yi was taken aback upon hearing this.

It was Wen Xiao who recruited him into the Constant Guard, and it was Wen Xiao who opened the door to Constant Island for exchange and learning, giving him the opportunity to experience a wider world.

He has now succeeded Wen Xiao as the Inspector of the Silent Cosmos Domain.

Wen Xiao himself was on a special mission and had not been able to return.

But now, Wen Xiao is clearly in trouble.

"Xuanji, come here for a moment."

Lin Yi immediately transmitted his voice.

Xuanji arrived quickly.

"Owner?"

"Wen Xiao has lost contact in the heart of the Black Mist Sea, Commander Lan Chen has summoned me to the headquarters in the Silent Constant Great City."

Lin Yi stood up. "Finish these official duties first. Mark the urgent ones in red and leave them until I get back. I'll be right back."

The phrase "I'll be right back" isn't an exaggeration given his current possession of the Constant Fusion Mark.

Xuanji frowned slightly, but didn't say anything more.

She naturally knew the name Wen Xiao.

She had compiled a network of Lin Yi within the Constant Guard. Wen Xiao's position on that network was extremely unique; he was neither a pure superior nor merely a talent scout, but rather someone more akin to a guide.

"Yes, Master." She didn't say anything more.

Lin Yi nodded, his thoughts sinking into the Constant Fusion Pillar.

The cocoon of light broke through the air, transforming into a golden stream of light that shot into the void.

After several teleportations, Lin Yi arrived at the Constant Guard Headquarters in the Silent Constant Great City.

Outside the main hall, a figure was already waiting.

Luo Mi.

"Lin Yi, you've arrived."

Luo Mi nodded slightly, then turned and walked deeper into the main hall. "Come with me, the Commander is waiting for you."

Lin Yi followed.

The two walked side by side through the corridors of the Constant Guard Headquarters in the Silent Constant Great City.

Along the corridor are displayed phantom statues of outstanding members of the Constant Guard throughout history, each statue bearing a dense inscription of their battle achievements.

Occasionally Constant Guard would walk by from the opposite side, and upon seeing Luo Mi and Lin Yi, he would consciously step aside to the sides of the corridor and bow.

Lin Yi had no interest in paying attention to those Constant Guards.

The two words kept repeating in his mind: out of contact.

Soon, the two stopped in front of an extremely heavy, dark gold door. Before Luo Mi could announce their arrival, the door silently slid open to both sides.

Commander Lan Chen stood in front of a semi-transparent star map light screen in the center of the main hall.

The star map light screen was enormous, almost occupying the entire wall. It was densely covered with countless coordinate points that were constantly changing and jumping. Each coordinate point represented a strategic node in the Constant Domain defense system.

"They're here." Lan Chen turned around, his gaze falling on Lin Yi.

Luo Mi bowed slightly at the side of the door and silently withdrew.

The giant gate closed again.

Lan Chen didn't beat around the bush.

"I received intelligence that suggested possible traces of a Lightless City." Lan Chen lightly tapped his fingertip in the air, and a dark purple mark located deep within the Black Mist Sea lit up on the star map screen. "Wen Xiao was then ordered to secretly investigate and track it. Originally, he would send back messages regularly."

He paused for a moment.

"However, before ten thousand Epoch ago, the routine transmission of messages ceased. Initially, there was no reply for about a thousand Epoch, which could be explained by some unforeseen event. But after ten thousand Epoch, there was still no news..."

Lan Chen sighed. "There are usually only two possibilities in this situation. Either he has perished, or he is in some extreme state where he cannot contact the outside world. Either way, someone needs to confirm it."

Lin Yi paused for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "What does the Commander need me to do?"

Lan Chen glanced at him, then suddenly changed the subject.

"I heard from Wei Shuo that he gave you an entry pass to Constant Source Summit?"

Lin Yi was slightly taken aback.

The turn of events came somewhat abruptly, but he quickly realized what was happening.

Although Lan Chen and Dao Lord Wei Shuo belong to two different systems, the Constant Guard and the Imperial Army, respectively, as beings at the Path Source Realm, it is not unusual for the two to communicate.

"Yes." Lin Yi nodded in agreement.

"This guy's quick..."

Lan Chen sighed inwardly, then nodded slightly. "In that case, I suppose you should go to the depths of the First Constant Domain and try your luck at the Constant Source Summit before you reach the Constant Source Second Order."

As he spoke, he raised one hand and made a vague clenching motion in the air.

A pure white jade seal appeared out of thin air in his palm.

The jade seal was only the size of a palm, perfectly round, with a very faint halo flowing across its surface.

"This jade seal is part of a pair."

Lan Chen gently pushed the jade seal, and the perfectly round jade seal floated to Lin Yi's side, hovering in mid-air. "The other one is with Wen Xiao."

Lin Yi reached out and took the jade seal.

"These jade seals can not only synchronize information, but within half a cosmic domain, they can also sense each other's location." Lan Chen looked at him, "Since you were originally going to the First Constant Domain anyway, why not take the opportunity to search for Wen Xiao and see if you can find any trace of him?"

Lin Yi put the jade seal into his palm and nodded solemnly.

Lan Chen added, "Of course, don't act rashly. If anything happens beyond your capabilities, just come back and report to me. If there are any urgent missions from Constant Domain Office, you should be able to decide for yourself whether you need to teleport back."

"Clear."

Lin Yi stored the jade seal into his Divine Kingdom within his body.

Wen Xiao was his mentor in the Constant Guard, so if anything happened to Wen Xiao, he would naturally help him if he could.

Moreover, he originally planned to go to the First Constant Domain.

The trial at the Constant Source Summit was his most important goal before advancing to the Constant Source Second Order. Now, the direction of the search for Wen Xiao happened to be in the First Constant Domain, just like the location of the Constant Source Summit. There was no reason not to accept it.

"I'll set off immediately," Lin Yi said.

Lan Chen nodded in satisfaction. "If you can find Wen Xiao's whereabouts, whether he's dead or alive, you'll have completed a Tier 3 emergency mission."

Tier 3 Emergency Mission.

Lin Yi quickly calculated in his mind.

An emergency mission in a third-tier key area is worth at least several dozen Origin Constant Crystal.

"Go then." Lan Chen turned around.

Lin Yi bowed slightly, then turned and left the main hall.

Luo Mi was still waiting outside the door. When she saw Lin Yi come out, she didn't ask any questions, but simply raised her hand and gently patted Lin Yi's shoulder.

"Take care along the way," Luo Mi said.

Yes, it will.

Lin Yi didn't linger. After the teleportation cooled down, he immediately activated the Constant Fusion Mark and quickly returned to the Silent Left Giant City.

Then, he returned to his private floating residence at the Constant Guard Headquarters and went back to his courtyard.

In the northwest corner of the courtyard, an elegant little building stands quietly amidst a patch of low Silverblue grass.

A very faint light enveloped the small building, clearly indicating that Aurelia was still in seclusion.

Lin Yi stood outside the small building, not touching the light barrier. He simply took out a small information crystal from his inner Divine Kingdom and quickly inscribed a brief message: "There's a mission deep in the Black Mist Sea. I might not be back for some time. Don't worry about me. Focus on your seclusion."

Then he gently pressed the information crystal onto the light shield.

The light shield trembled slightly, engulfing the information crystal.

After doing all this, Lin Yi did not leave immediately, but stood silently outside the light barrier for a few breaths.

Through the semi-transparent light barrier, he could faintly sense the familiar soul fluctuations deep within the small building—calm, focused, and stable.

Aurelia was in a state of intense concentration during her cultivation, and the flow of her soul energy was extremely even, showing significant progress compared to the beginning of her seclusion.

A slight smile played on his lips before he turned and left.

In the berthing area of Constant Guard Headquarters, the Silverblue was hovering on the docking platform.

Xuanji was already waiting at the spaceship's hatch.

She changed into an extremely lightweight, silver-gray bodysuit, and her long hair was tied up high.

The reason for bringing Xuanji along was that she was responsible for taking control of the spaceship and handling some non-emergency situations encountered along the way.

The hatch of the Silverblue closed silently behind the two of them.

Xuanji walked to the spaceship's core control panel and placed her hands on the core crystal.

The crystal core burst forth with a blinding light, and all the inscription circuits of the entire spaceship were activated simultaneously. The spaceship took off from the floating island area with an extremely stable attitude.

Then, the ship's luster quickly faded and darkened, and it entered a fully submerged state in just a moment.

Looking towards the Silverblue from any angle, the naked eye and ordinary soul perception can only detect an extremely faint Void Ripple, which is instantly submerged by the natural fluctuations of chaotic energy.

This is the capability of the Silverblue's stealth module.

Xuanji glanced at the spaceship's navigation parameters and reported to the navigation system: "We expect to reach the target area of First Constant Domain in three to four hundred Epoch. Based on the current trajectory, we need to detour to avoid several known Black Silence Beast."

"If you encounter any newly ascended Third-Order Black Silence Beast along the way, let me know," Lin Yi said. "If any veteran Tier 3 beasts or multiple Tier 3 beasts appear at the same time, avoid them if possible. The main objective of this trip is not combat."

"Understood," Xuanji replied briefly.

Soon, the Silverblue sped off into the depths of the Black Mist Sea.

This was not Lin Yi's first time venturing into the depths of the Black Mist Sea, but it was his first time piloting his spaceship alone as an active searcher.

After the Silverblue activated its stealth mode, thousands of hidden rune circuits on its body continuously absorbed the chaotic energy in the surrounding void, transforming it into a dark energy membrane that adhered tightly to the hull.

This energy membrane is extremely similar to the fluctuations of the Black Mist Sea. Even Third-Order Black Silence Beast would find it difficult to distinguish the Silverblue from the surging black mist around it.

For the first hundred Epoch or so, everything was peaceful and calm.

The Silverblue maintained its stealth state with extremely low energy output. Xuanji constantly scanned the energy fluctuations in the surrounding void, occasionally pointing out large, blurry shadows appearing in the distant black mist.

That was a horde of Black Silence Beast surging beyond the border.

Each time, the Silverblue would slightly deflect its course, keeping a safe enough distance away.

Lin Yi sat cross-legged in the center of the cultivation cabin, cultivating while keeping an eye on the jade seal given to him by Lan Chen.

But the jade seal showed no reaction.

The jade seal's sensing range covers half of the universe, which is already an extremely exaggerated coverage area.

However, in the vast void of the Black Mist Sea, the coverage radius of half a cosmic domain still seems like a drop in the ocean.

During the remainder of the voyage, Lin Yi only made two moves.

The first time was around 140 Epoch ago.

As the Silverblue was passing through a dark area with extremely high black fog density, a Black Silence Beast that had advanced to the third tier inexplicably took up position directly in front of the ship.

It was a strangely shaped, elongated creature covered in a dark blue, viscous liquid film. Large and small dark purple bubbles constantly rose from the surface of the film, and each bursting bubble released a large amount of Annihilation Power in all directions.

Lin Yi launched a surprise attack and succeeded, then immediately collected the corpse, flew back to the spaceship, and fled in hiding.

The second intervention occurred more than sixty Epoch later.

This time, the target was also a lone, newly-entered Tier 3 individual, which looked quite similar to the giant whale in the fortress, but was much larger.

However, for Lin Yi, the difference was minimal.

It was resolved in just a few moves.

In addition, Lin Yi maintained the stealth status of the Silverblue, without actively revealing any energy fluctuations.

The Black Silence Beast that patrolled in groups within the black mist appeared and disappeared in the mist, like shadows moving in a dark ocean.

The Silverblue glided silently through the gaps between them, like a swimming fish.

In the blink of an eye, more than two hundred Epoch have passed.

The Silverblue detected a massive Black Silence Beast in the distance.

The sheer size of the beast horde was so large that even Lin Yi felt a chill run down his spine.

Within the detection range, countless Black Silence Beast densely covered the void.

Large numbers of low-ranking Black Silence Beast and low-level Tier 1 Black Silence Beast could be seen slowly swimming among them, while more than forty Third-Order Black Silence Beast, like floating hills, occupied different areas, maintaining a delicate balance between each other without interfering with one another.

And this is still within the detection range.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Yi immediately instructed Xuanji to activate the hidden mode to its maximum, and then they immediately took a detour.

Are you kidding me? With Black Silence Beast of this size, and the distance between the Third-Order Black Silence Beast being controlled so perfectly, there's a very high probability that there are Fourth-Order Black Silence Beast behind them.

Lin Yi was even prepared to activate Henghe and escape back at any time.

Fortunately, we managed to get around it without any serious injury.

The Silverblue continued flying forward.

More than three hundred Epoch passed.

On this day, Xuanji's voice suddenly rang out.

"Master, the density of the black fog ahead is decreasing rapidly."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi immediately left the training cabin and went to the central command room.

Xuanji reported, "Based on the current trend, we will soon enter an area where the black fog concentration is close to zero."

Lin Yi stood up and saw that the curve representing the concentration of black mist on the control screen was dropping at a visible speed, falling from a deep, almost inky black color to a light gray, and it was still falling.

The appearance of an area free of black mist deep within the Black Mist Sea is itself an extremely unusual phenomenon.

The Black Mist Sea is called a "sea" because the annihilating black mist permeates the entire void like a real ocean. The closer you get to the Core Zone, the higher the concentration of the black mist becomes, making it almost impossible for a large "vacuum" zone to appear.

Unless... something is repelling the black mist.

"Scan it."

Xuanji nodded slightly, her fingers flying across the light screen a few times, and a new scanning light screen popped up.

On the light screen, a massive and extremely blurry outline appeared about half a day's journey ahead of the Silverblue.

The scale of the outline was so large that Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.

It occupies almost half of the scanning screen, and its edges continue to extend outwards, seemingly without end.

"The energy fluctuation characteristics match the Imperial Era Inscription Array," Xuanji quickly reported the analysis results. "There is an energy field of immeasurable strength on the periphery, repelling the surrounding black mist at a constant rate. The exact value cannot be precisely determined; the scanning power has reached its limit."

Lin Yi remained silent for a moment, then walked to the porthole of the Silverblue and looked out into the void.

The black fog is thinning.

The thick, inky darkness outside the window was fading away at a visible speed, as if some invisible giant hand was stirring up this void, peeling away the layers of black mist that had accumulated countless Universal Epoch.

As the Silverblue emerged from the last wisp of light gray mist, Lin Yi and Xuanji fell silent.

Outside the porthole was an extremely vast and crystal-clear void.

The black mist completely disappeared.

In the very center of this Clear Void stood a colossal tower.

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