"Buzz--!"
A violent spatial fluctuation rippled across the edge of the Ōtsutsuki Star Region. A complex, Ultra-Long-Distance Space Teleportation Array lit up like Xingchen, outlining mysterious patterns. As the light faded, a pure white figure quietly emerged. She wore an ancient and elegant robe, had pale skin and long blue-white hair, and the unique horns on her head revealed her identity— Kaguya Otsutsuki.
Her pure Byakugan, tinged with a mixture of confusion and barely suppressed excitement, gazed ahead.
The sight before them was enough to make any being from the Shinobi World feel their own insignificance and awe. Unlike the Shinobi World, which possessed countless Xingchen, this place had only one unimaginably massive superplanet at the core of the entire star field. It floated silently in the void, and according to Kaguya's perception, its size was probably hundreds of millions of times larger than the planets of the Shinobi World! The planet's surface was shrouded in a hazy aura, and the outlines of continents and vast oceans were vaguely visible. An ancient, majestic, and awe-inspiring aura emanated from it.
Even more astonishing is the sky. Two enormous, blazing suns, like two loyal guardians, slowly revolve around this super-planet, following some ancient and unchanging law. Their wondrous orbits mean that most of the planet's surface is simultaneously illuminated by the two stars, making the nights short.
"Is this... the ancestral star of the Ōtsutsuki Clan?" Kaguya murmured to herself, her voice carried by her own power at the edge of the silent vacuum of space. Even though she was born here, a thousand years had passed, and her childhood memories had long since faded. Yet, witnessing the magnificence of the Ōtsutsuki Star Region with her own eyes, she still felt her heart surge with emotion.
However, her appearance did not go unnoticed.
Almost the instant she stepped out of the spatial rift, an incomparably powerful will enveloped her like an invisible giant net. This will was far stronger than any existence she had encountered in the Shinobi World, carrying a cold scrutiny and an unquestionable majesty.
"Returnees from beyond the borders, state your identity, origin, and the purpose of your return mission."
The void twisted, and two Ōtsutsuki warriors, clad in standard silver armor and with pale purple pupils, appeared. Their auras were deep, clearly indicating they were "Domain" level powerhouses, specifically responsible for patrolling the star field's boundaries. Their gazes were sharp as knives as they swept over Otsutsuki Kaguya, their expression cold and businesslike.
Kaguya's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately concealed all her aura, displaying the reverence and restraint befitting a "stranger stranded among foreigners." She bowed slightly and answered in a voice tinged with excitement and hoarseness, "My lords, my name Otsutsuki Kaguya, born on Ōtsutsuki Planet, in Crimson Sky City. Over a thousand years ago, I was stranded in a remote star region due to an accidental mission. After enduring many hardships, I was fortunate enough to find a way back and return to my homeland recently."
" Crimson Sky City?" One of the guards raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with his companion. Crimson Sky City had become quite famous in recent years. He took out a crystal mirror covered with runes and shone it on Kaguya. The mirror surface shimmered with light, quickly reflecting Kaguya's life essence and bloodline patterns.
"Confirmed to be Ōtsutsuki Clan, the bloodline origin... points to the Crimson Sky City region. Relevant information is available in the records database; the match rate is 91%." The guard looked at the data displayed on the mirror and nodded slightly, but the scrutiny in his eyes hadn't completely faded. "You said you've been wandering for a thousand years? Where have you lived? Why have you only returned now?"
Kaguya had already prepared her explanation, her face revealing a timely expression of sorrow and lingering fear. "That star field was desolate and barren, with scarce energy, and was known as the ' Shinobi World.' I struggled to survive there, dealing with the local natives, until recently when I discovered the teleportation coordinates left by my clan's ancestors. It took a huge price to return..." Her words were half true and half false, blurring her own experiences and emphasizing the difficulty of her return and her longing for her homeland.
Another guard asked in a deep voice, "Are you allowed to carry prohibited items? Or are you involved with any forces in the Unknown Star Domain?"
"Absolutely not!" Kaguya quickly assured them, "I only wish to return to my clan and settle down; I have no other thoughts." She deliberately lowered her defenses, allowing the other party's divine sense to roughly scan her personal storage space.
After careful questioning and testing, confirming that Kaguya's identity was genuine, her bloodline pure, and that she posed no obvious threat, the two Domain Level guards softened their stance slightly.
"Since you are indeed a descendant of Crimson Sky City, you are permitted entry. Remember, upon your return, you must re-register at the Household Registration Office, abide by the clan rules, and refrain from any reckless behavior." The head guard waved his hand, and a portal opened before Kaguya. "Through this portal, you can directly reach the reception platform on the outer edge of the planet. You are responsible for handling any subsequent matters."
"Thank you both!" Kaguya showed just the right amount of gratitude on her face, bowed again, and then stepped into the portal.
After a brief moment of dizziness, she found herself firmly on solid ground. An overwhelming surge of Natural Energy washed over her, making every cell in her body seem to cheer. She was standing on a massive floating platform, below which lay her colossal home planet. A closer look revealed its immense power; mountains, rivers, and forests were all scaled up to an astonishing degree.
Without lingering, Kaguya followed the guidance and stepped onto the large public teleportation array leading into the planet's interior. Amidst flashes of light, the surrounding scenery rapidly changed, and the next moment, she found herself on a familiar yet utterly alien land.
Crimson Sky City area.
As her feet finally touched the soil of Crimson Sky City, Kaguya was overwhelmed with mixed emotions. A thousand years had passed, and the world had changed. The once prosperous, magnificent, and bustling Crimson Sky City of her memories was long gone.
What met the eye was an endless expanse of desolation and ruin. The sky was a perpetual gray-black, a cloud of dense corpse fumes and deathly energy that obscured the sun's rays, casting only a dim, gloomy light. The earth was cracked, displaying an unhealthy, decaying gray hue, barren of any vegetation, with only a few twisted, charred remains of dead trees standing scattered about, like dying monsters. The air was filled with a mixture of decay, coldness, and a faint, sweet stench—the smell of corpses. Although purified and no longer highly aggressive, it still made one feel uneasy.
The once magnificent buildings are now nothing but ruins, like the skeletons of a colossal beast scattered across the vast land. Some of the more intact areas have been shielded by light barriers, seemingly to protect the ruins, but also to block out life. What caught her attention even more was that this desolate place was not deserted. On the contrary, there were many Ōtsutsuki Clan dressed in various colorful costumes, traveling in groups of three or five, riding various flying vehicles or using their own strength to traverse the air, pointing and commenting on the ruins below, and some even taking pictures with photo crystals.
"Wow, this is the heart of the zombie outbreak back then! Look at those ruins, I heard it used to be the most bustling market in Crimson Sky City!"
"Quick, help me take a picture with that broken pillar, make sure it captures that desolate and tragic feeling!"
"I heard that the three Saint joined forces here to seal away that Zombie Monarch. Tsk tsk, I really want to witness the power of the Saint firsthand..."
The murmurs of the tourists reached Kaguya's ears, making her feel disoriented. Her beautiful home, which had once given her birth and nurtured her, had now become a "photo spot" for the Ōtsutsuki Clan people seeking novelty and sightseeing? An indescribable sense of sorrow and absurdity welled up in her heart.
Following the flow of people, she unconsciously walked towards the city center, towards the still towering crimson peak that seemed to pierce the clouds. The closer she got to the mountain, the more pronounced the lingering stench of death became in the air, and the more excited the tourists grew.
Finally, she arrived at the foot of Crimson Sky Peak and looked up.
The next moment, Kaguya's pupils shrank, her body stiffened abruptly, and she instinctively turned her head away, unable to bear looking at her.
At the most conspicuous point of that towering crimson cliff, a figure was tightly bound by countless jet-black chains shimmering with runic light, hanging there in a "T" shape. The figure was completely naked, its skin a deathly grayish-white, covered with eerie black patterns and scales—it was none other than Orochimaru, the Zombie Monarch! His head was bowed, his long hair disheveled, his face obscured, and he was utterly silent, resembling a preserved specimen. Rays of light imbued with holiness and sealing power flowed from the chains, ensuring his eternal silence.
Below this "specimen," the largest number of tourists gathered. They excitedly adjusted their angles to take photos with Orochimaru's suspended body, and various comments and laughter filled the air.
"This is the Zombie Monarch who caused such a catastrophe? He doesn't look like much at all!"
"I heard he killed many of our clansmen back then, he deserves to be hung here as a public spectacle!"
"Make the expression even cooler! Yes, include this 'Evil Zombie Monarch ' in the background!"
Kaguya listened to these words and witnessed this shocking scene, she felt a mix of emotions. She had no connection with Orochimaru and had even disliked him because of his disappearance, but seeing a powerful figure who had once reached the Peak Zombie King and could contend with Saint fall to such a state, a sense of desolation, like a fellow rabbit mourning the death of a fox, quietly swept through her heart.
This place is no place to linger. Kaguya suppressed the complex emotions in her heart and quickly turned away from this suffocating place of right and wrong. She needed to go to the power center of the Ōtsutsuki Clan — the God Tree City —to find out about the Tian Yu and... the movements of the Saint.