Setting Off

Starlight shimmered, boundless and brilliant, like a flawless scroll painting. The stars seemed close enough to touch. Violet-blue star rivers flowed, cascading strands of stellar force—serene and sacred.

Xu Changqing, with his white hair and an endless saber intent, broke through that world, piercing straight through a blurry barrier and arriving in the starry sky, where billions of fixed stars glittered.

The surroundings were not pitch-black; starlight was everywhere. Brilliant star rivers drifted past him, and stars shedding feathered light brushed by.

An endless universe, a resplendent starry sky. The stars he had gazed at from afar as a child were now within arm's reach. The sun he had once feared could now be shattered with a single slap.

"This must be the beauty that cultivation brings—to witness the things revered in mortal days, to face the colossal objects once dreaded, to experience the thrill of smashing a sun with one palm," Xu Changqing murmured to himself.

He found his past thoughts laughable. Back then, when he learned this was the Covering the Heavens world, the era of the Ruthless Great Emperor, he had no desire to contend. He only wanted to live out a peaceful century.

Now, with the cultivation of a Half-Saint, he possessed the power to traverse the starry sky. Though he couldn't cross vast distances, he could still gaze upon this universe directly.

"I have no coordinates. I'll have to wander aimlessly," Xu Changqing said to himself. There was no helping it.

As for where the Human Ancient Path that youth mentioned was—how would he know? He hadn't seen it.

No choice. He could only wander.

Even if he encountered an irresistible calamity in the starry sky, he would accept it.

Sometimes, luck was also a kind of strength. If luck ran out, those who should die still died.

Without looking back, Xu Changqing transformed into a dazzling beam of light, a comet hurtling through the pitch-black universe, charging straight ahead without a trace of fear.

"Boom boom boom..."

Along the way, he shattered countless stars and pierced through numerous star rivers. He had no idea how long this journey took.

When his spiritual energy ran dry, he would sit cross-legged on a star in the cosmos, taking out the divine medicine left to him by the Quasi-Emperor to replenish his energy.

Billions of stars intersected. Sometimes he passed through dark regions devoid of living beings, sometimes he crashed into black holes, and sometimes he saw broken skeletal stars. He stopped each time to feel their charm.

Xu Changqing did not, because he had grown strong, ignore the curiosity he once had as a mortal about the starry sky. Instead, he fulfilled that old dream.

He had wondered what it would be like to cross the starry sky.

Now he knew. The starry sky was not as beautiful as people imagined, nor was it quiet. When great stars moved, they emitted piercing roars, grinding sounds, and meteorites gathered into rivers that pierced the dark universe.

And those glittering star rivers—some, when touched, caused him pain. He didn't know what substance they were made of.

Entering a black hole, he found it filled with light particles, all kinds of matter converging and then exploding into terrifying rays.

"The starry sky looks beautiful, but once you step into it, you fall into danger. No wonder those Dao Slaying experts didn't choose to walk the stars alone, but followed coordinates onto the Starry Sky Ancient Road."

Xu Changqing had no idea how many years he had walked. He lost all sense of time. In the starry sky, there was no up or down, left or right—everything was chaos.

Yet he could feel his strength steadily rising.

He had completely digested everything in his mind. With just a little more effort, he could break through to the Saint Realm.

In the deep, frozen universe, there were no stars, no star rivers, and even meteorites were rare.

But what surprised Xu Changqing was seeing gray mist gathering before him, vast as an ocean, immense beyond measure.

His divine sense told him—this was the emotion of greed.

A prey was ambushing him in the dark!

"A living being that can appear in the starry sky is certainly no simple matter," Xu Changqing thought to himself. Without any hesitation, he directly drew his bone saber.

The bone saber was over 1.6 meters long, milky white overall, with a dark red blade edge that exuded a faint smell of blood.

This blade had killed countless beings and absorbed the essence of numerous divine bodies, becoming extraordinarily hard.

Ahead was a pitch-black stretch of the universe, without a single glimmer of light.

"Whoosh!"

An extremely powerful gale swept through the starry sky, instantly blasting the gray meteorites nearby into powder.

Xu Changqing stood in the starry sky, as tiny as a single cell, so small he was barely visible. The fierce wind could not harm him.

"Roar!"

A great roar came, carrying a thick stench of blood on the wind, blowing Xu Changqing's white hair straight back and making his black clothes rustle.

In the dark, deep, and frozen universe, rows of white luster suddenly appeared. Just one glance made Xu Changqing tense up.

He saw two endless rows of teeth, and a pair of blood-red eyes larger than the sun, greedily staring at him.

This was a colossal living being!

It was the first time he had seen such a massive creature.

In the dark universe, two rows of teeth like the Great Wall gleamed with light. Strange, enormous eyes fixed on the tiny Xu Changqing.

"Roar!"

The giant beast let out a deafening roar that shook the starry sky.

But that roar also let Xu Changqing sense that this creature's realm was not high. He immediately relaxed.

He couldn't make out the monster's full form—only that it was enormous, with terrifying eyes and two rows of sharp teeth shining like the Great Wall in cold light.

"A mere Dao Slaying level creature dares to bark in front of me?" Xu Changqing said coldly. Then, he simply raised his bone saber and slashed fiercely toward the direction of those blood-red eyes.

"Chi!"

A peerless white saber light split open the pitch-black cosmos, illuminating this region as if someone had ascended to immortality. Within that radiance, specks of feathers drifted down, breathtakingly beautiful.

"Pfft!"

As a Half-Saint, he naturally killed this massive creature with a single strike.

Silver liquid flowed out like a river—the blood of that enormous beast, carrying a thick, bloody stench, with starlight spreading through the gore.

"It's been a long time since I've eaten meat." Xu Changqing put away his Bone Saber, approached the colossal creature, and saw its smooth, delicate skin, which stirred his mind.

This creature had no scales; its skin seemed coated in a layer of oil, slick and shiny. Its head resembled a tiger's, but it looked far more terrifying than any tiger.

Its massive body lay sprawled across the cosmos like a giant dragon, blood slowly seeping out.

Even its fur was countless times larger than Xu Changqing.

To prevent this creature from having any backing, Xu Changqing chose to cut off a portion of its flesh and immediately leave, not lingering for long.

He was very cautious.

"Boom!"

The moment he stepped away, a golden pillar shot out from behind him.

The golden Divine Light pierced through everything, tearing through the void all the way to Xu Changqing's back. Wherever He Went, a massive rift appeared.

Cold Light flashed in Xu Changqing's eyes. He snorted, turned around, and raised his palm. A flat, white wall materialized before him.

Boom!

A tremendous explosion erupted, as if the universe itself had detonated. All kinds of violent energy burst forth, blazing intensely, like fireworks exploding in the pitch-black night sky.

Just then, Xu Changqing saw a massive blue battleship slowly emerge from a Black Hole. First, three sharp, blade-like protrusions appeared, followed by the entire dazzling blue metal hull.

"Impressive strength. To block a Casual Strike from a Saint-grade Battleship, you must have some extraordinary physique."

A voice in an incomprehensible language came from the enormous ship, but through spiritual vibrations, Xu Changqing could naturally grasp its meaning.

Xu Changqing neither fled nor spoke. He simply stood silently in the dark cosmos, facing off against the approaching battleship.

He could sense a threat, but it wasn't lethal.

"A Saint-grade Battleship, huh? That means this ship possesses the Combat Power of a Saint. But unfortunately, a dead thing is a dead thing. If a real Saint were facing me, they could pose a lethal threat, but a dead thing can't."

Xu Changqing assessed his own strength in his mind. Back in the Dragon Transformation Realm, he could already step into the Forbidden Domain.

At the Immortal Platform stage, he could freely control the power of the Eight Prohibitions. Now, as a Half-Saint, with his comprehension and physique, he could easily enter the Divine Prohibition domain.

A Saint? Unless they were a Heaven's Pride-level powerhouse, they weren't worth mentioning before him.

"I'll use you to warm up for my first fight after the tribulation."

"If I can encounter a Living Being here, there might be a life-bearing star domain not far away."

P.S.: I've been grinding practice problems these past few days. Exam on Friday.

If I pass, I'll drop extra chapters. If not, just two.

A bit nervous, so I'll release one chapter first to calm down.