Chu Ming was just about to set a course for the entrance to the Myriad Laws Source Sea when a sword-shaped jade talisman in his robes, which had remained unresponsive for a long time, suddenly grew faintly warm. It was True Lord Haoqing's token!
His divine sense entered it, and a brief message came through:
"Fellow Daoist Chu, I trust you have been well. I heard you have entered the Third Step. Congratulations.
"The Myriad Laws Source Sea is about to open. This humble elder brother has arrived outside the entrance, at Celestial Pivot City. If you are interested, come gather at Listening Rain Pavilion in Celestial Pivot City. Haoqing." Celestial Pivot City was the largest gathering place for living beings outside the entrance to the Myriad Laws Source Sea—a place where dragons and snakes mingled, as well as the center for intelligence and resource exchanges.
Chu Ming put away the jade talisman, looked at Qingwei and Thunder Splendor, and smiled faintly.
"Destination: Celestial Pivot City. We have an ally waiting there."
When the Star-Piercing Shuttle tore through the starry veil and emerged from its warp state, the sight in the void ahead made Thunder Splendor, standing by the porthole, whistle. "Good heavens, that many people?"
There truly were many.
As far as the eye could see, the once-empty starfield was now densely packed with flying artifacts of every kind.
There were ancient, majestic tower ships; sinister bone vessels; radiant flying shuttles; and living beings hovering in the void on the strength of their physical bodies alone. Like iron filings drawn to a magnet, these artifacts and beings all faced the same direction.
There lay an enormous spatial vortex, its diameter unknown but surely spanning tens of thousands of miles, shrouded in seven-colored streams of light and constantly twisting and