Normal stars were over a million kilometers in diameter. Even if the stars inside the Ten Thousand Tribulations Prison had become depleted of energy and contracted inward, they shouldn't have turned hollow.
A hollow interior had to be man-made. Perhaps an indigenous tribe was hiding inside.
Wu Yun tried extending his Heart Power downward, but found he couldn't penetrate at all. A faint heat blocked him. No wonder the scanners hadn't discovered it.
"Interesting." Wu Yun felt he was getting somewhere. His Heart Power was at the fifth level, True God level. Even weakened by the differences between worlds, it shouldn't have been unable to detect anything.
Immortal Gods definitely didn't have this ability.
Was it a natural formation, or the work of a Heavy Treasure?
Those indigenous Immortals had survived for countless ages because they knew the terrain too well. Many natural formations could even withstand attacks from Universe Venerables.
They still dreamed of their tribe's rise, hoping that one day their descendants would produce a Universe Venerable—or even a powerhouse like a Top Universe Overlord or Universe Master.
Wu Yun looked around and made sure no one was nearby in the surrounding stretch of space. Then he punched the star's surface. His power was perfectly contained, and the blow carved out a passage five hundred kilometers deep.
The cold rock evaporated completely, but the deeper he went, the hotter it became.
At a depth of five hundred kilometers, the rock was already hot enough to melt an Apprentice Level being.
"What hard stuff." Wu Yun hadn't used True God power in that punch, but even World Lord Level strength combined with his mastery would amount to King Level power.
In the universe, even a star would have shattered under that blow.
Yet he had only managed to penetrate five hundred kilometers. Even a celestial body in a Universe Secret Realm shouldn't have been so sturdy. There had to be some kind of reinforcement.
Or perhaps the energy permeating the area had made it stronger.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
After punching several more times, Wu Yun finally broke through three thousand kilometers of the outer layer, revealing a pitch-black cavern. Waves of scorching heat surged out. Even a Star Level being would have melted if caught in them.
Wu Yun was skilled and bold, so he flew straight inside. An ordinary Immortal would have called friends over to investigate, but the natives in the Ten Thousand Tribulations Prison were nothing like those on the Yanji Continent.
The natives on the Yanji Continent couldn't produce Heavy Treasures. But in the Ten Thousand Tribulations Prison, treasures almost always emerged alongside Heavy Treasures. Usually, it took a Peak King to lead the group, with three to five Peak Kings working together to claim one.
Against the natives, Wu Yun could reveal his full strength without hesitation. Even two or three Peak Kings would be killed instantly by him.
Whoosh!
Three thousand kilometers was nothing. In the blink of an eye, Wu Yun had reached the hollow interior, but he didn't see the magnificent world he'd imagined.
Inside the star floated a mass of Flame over ten thousand kilometers in diameter.
Its temperature was so terrifying that it could have been said to burn the heavens and boil the seas. The surrounding space kept shattering and knitting itself back together, while the million-li world was scorched into a sea of yellow sand.
The blazing light illuminated the entire interior of the star. Wu Yun stared fixedly at the Flame. Within it stood a burly figure, its aura astonishingly powerful.
"Alien, are you alone?" the figure asked. Wu Yun had never heard that language, but he could just barely make out what it meant.
The burly figure suddenly opened its mouth and inhaled. The endless Flame was sucked into its belly, and only then could Wu Yun get a clear look at it.
Its entire body seemed to be made of crimson rock. This was what the natives of the Ten Thousand Tribulations Prison looked like. As the burly figure spoke, the entire space trembled.
Wu Yun sensed trouble. This wasn't some King-Level Immortal—this figure inside the Flame was a Universe Venerable!
The natives had actually produced a Universe Venerable.
Just standing there, he seemed like the ruler of the starry sky. His naturally radiating aura alone could make a King-Level Immortal grovel. The gulf between their levels was immense and seemingly impossible to cross.
It wasn't unusual for a World Lord to rival an Immortal. Most World Lords in the Original Secret Realm and Giant Axe Secret Realm could do it.
But it was incredibly difficult for an Immortal to rival a Universe Venerable.
Invincible Kings were extremely rare; even a whole race might have only a few. Those who could match a Universe Venerable while still at King Level were all peerless geniuses.
"It's quite a surprise that the natives have produced a Venerable." Wu Yun stood there calmly. In terms of strength, he truly wasn't afraid of the man before him.
A Universe Venerable born among a backward race would need countless years to reach the level of a High Universe Venerable. Wu Yun had a Blood Luo Continent Clone and understood the creatures of secret realms all too well.
The problem was that Wu Yun couldn't fight for long.
Even at the True God and Ancestor God stages, in many regions where energy couldn't be absorbed, even a Life-Death Dao Lord had to rely on external objects to recover energy.
"You've got some courage, but you're going to die today," the native Venerable said coldly, his eyes filled with endless hatred and his killing intent soaring.
Wu Yun was puzzled. The breakthrough to Universe Venerable would have caused quite a stir. When had this native broken through? If it had been recently, someone should have noticed.
If it had happened long ago, how had the natives of the Ten Thousand Tribulations Prison managed to stay hidden?
If a Universe Venerable truly wanted to hide, and knew the terrain extremely well, then even hundreds of thousands of Kings wouldn't be able to find him.
"Die, Alien!" The native Venerable slapped at Wu Yun. Space shattered inch by inch along the path of his attack. Even a Peak King would have died beneath that blow.
Boom!
Wu Yun met the attack with a punch. He brought his True God Divine Body to its utmost limit, unleashing a million times World Lord Power, combined with fifth-level Heart Power and fifth-level Killing Power!
Fist and palm collided. Their terrifying power surged outward. Scarlet Killing Power mingled with Flame and scattered in all directions, annihilating the entire desolate star in an instant.
The two of them emerged into space and stared at each other. The native Venerable was stunned. Wu Yun hadn't moved an inch, while he had been forced back several hundred meters.
"You?!" The native Venerable couldn't understand how a King-Level Immortal could be so powerful.
Whoosh!
Wu Yun paid him no mind. He quickly tore through the void and disappeared. With his strength, he had no chance of killing a Universe Venerable, even an Elementary Venerable.
Before leaving, he planted a Heart Power Seed on the other man.
The native Venerable was named Nuoqi. He had only recently broken through. He had once been a Peak King in the branch that had been discovered, leading his people as they fled from place to place.
"Alien! Alien!" Venerable Nuoqi clenched his fists, his rocky body creaking. The scene from earlier involuntarily replayed in his mind.
Several King-Level Immortals from the Bug Race faction had discovered them. The enemy was too powerful. Nuoqi was only a Peak King, and even with a Heavy Treasure, he could barely reach Peak King strength.
The other King-level elders were even weaker.
His people had been slaughtered, including the frail descendants living in his World Ring. He had watched so many of them grow up with his own eyes.
They were the foundation and hope of his tribe, and now they had all been wiped out. Desperate and grief-stricken, Nuoqi had frantically burned his Immortal Divine Body and relied on his Heavy Treasure to fight his way out.
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