Chaotic streaks of light crossed the last stretch of cold void before gradually drawing in.
Neji hovered before an indescribably magnificent sight.
Before him was no longer the black, empty backdrop of the universe.
A vast starfield shrouded in a soft pale-golden halo resembled a gorgeous piece of amber set into dark velvet, emanating an ancient, majestic, and overwhelming aura.
That pale-golden halo was not starlight, but some kind of composite energy barrier covering the entire starfield. Fine rule-patterns, like a neural network, could be seen slowly flowing and flickering across its surface.
The source of the halo was a massive celestial body at the center of the starfield, far larger than an ordinary star and radiating steady, warm golden light.
It was not as blinding or violent as the sun. Instead, it possessed a maternal radiance that seemed capable of nurturing all things.
Orbiting around it were dozens of differently sized "celestial bodies," each with the warm, lustrous sheen of jade.
These celestial bodies were not naturally formed planets. Their orbits were exceptionally regular, and their surfaces were covered in complex geometric structures, energy circuits, and obvious artificial constructions—towering spires, sprawling palace complexes, and crisscrossing energy bridges.
Tiny points of light moved methodically between these celestial bodies and rainbow bridges like fireflies, clearly serving as transportation for the Ōtsutsuki Clan or being Ōtsutsuki individuals themselves.
Rather than a star system, the entire starfield was more like a super-civilization fortress that had been completely transformed and utterly controlled—a living, breathing colossal ecological-military complex.
Its vast scale and mysterious technology far exceeded anything Neji had ever imagined in the Ninja World, or even at the edge of the Solar System.
An intangible pressure born of life's hierarchy and civilizational foundation faintly reached him even across the vast distance and the barrier.