Reunion in Shattered Star Valley

North of the middle layer of Shattered Star Valley.

Li Yuan had traveled through the fragments for most of the day, his passive perception constantly maintained at eight hundred zhang.

The farther north he went, the fewer Spatial Rifts there were, and the wider the gaps between fragments became. The passages broadened, his view stretched farther, and the spatial fluctuations instead settled down.

There was no sign of Rift Lizards.

The Third-Order and Fourth-Order ones he had killed before were most likely the only ones left in this area. Rift Lizards nested in Spatial Rifts; where rifts were sparse, such Demonic Beasts could not remain.

Li Yuan did not deliberately search for them. He continued north, casually using the passive precision of Spatial Investigation Technique at Major Accomplishment to record the spatial structures along the way.

After another hour or so, an open junction appeared between the fragments ahead.

Several rifts converged here from different directions, forming an open area roughly a hundred zhang wide. Fragments cut apart by the rifts had piled up around the edges, leaving the center unexpectedly clean.

There were people in the junction.

Five spiritual power fluctuations—three Golden Core cultivators and two Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivators—all wore gray-blue robes embroidered with the emblem of the Heavenly Balance Sect. Two of the Golden Core cultivators carried storage bags stuffed with ore fragments, while the third held a probing Dharma Artifact and scanned the walls.

Li Yuan recognized the Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivator leading them.

Liu Qingyang.

The middle-aged male cultivator had a square, upright face and graying temples. His left arm was whole and uninjured, with no trace remaining of the wound a Spatial Rift had torn into it before.

Liu Qingyang saw Li Yuan as well.

He froze for a moment, then quickly