Chapter 1204: Volume 7: Across the Human World Chapter 1199: Turmoil in the Scattered Stars Sea

Han Li headed straight for Heavenly Star City, passing other islands along the way, but without stopping in the least.

However, not long afterward, he noticed that the cultivators he occasionally encountered on the road also seemed to be in a great hurry. If two groups of unfamiliar cultivators happened to meet along the way, both sides would instantly display cautious and vigilant expressions, creating an unusually tense atmosphere.

This made Han Li furrow his brows slightly, sensing the turbulent undercurrents hidden beneath the surface of the Scattered Stars Sea.

As he approached the massive island where Heavenly Star City was located, the number of cultivators rushing along the road gradually increased. In addition to the confrontations he’d seen earlier, full-on violent skirmishes had started to occur. The parties involved showed no mercy, and each sought to kill the other outright.

At first, Han Li paid little attention to these clashes. But as he witnessed more and more of them, he finally understood that most of these cultivators were likely involved in the conflict between the Star Palace and the Starfall Coalition.

Although the Starfall Coalition appeared to have the upper hand now, the Star Palace had ruled over the Scattered Stars Sea for so long, and its influence extended deeply into countless affiliated sects and forces. Perhaps those connections weren’t apparent under normal circumstances, but when the Star Palace was truly on the brink of life and death, these forces were bound to reveal themselves.

This suggested that the Star Palace truly faced a life-or-death crisis. After all, if there were even a sliver of hope, any long-standing power would hesitate to mobilize such hidden forces so easily.

Of course, Han Li wasn’t about to recklessly plunge into the Star Palace and Starfall Coalition’s battle without first understanding the current situation in the Scattered Stars Sea. However, the news he could get from cultivators with lower levels of cultivation was often unreliable due to their limited status. Thus, despite encountering many Foundation Establishment cultivators along the way, he didn’t pause even for a moment.

That day, as he was flying high in the sky, transforming into a faint streak of green light that shot forward, his expression suddenly shifted, and he turned his head sharply to gaze into the distance.

The streak of light abruptly changed direction and shot toward the spot he was looking at.

With Han Li’s current cultivation, when exerting himself at full speed, his green rainbow-light flashed a few times before appearing mid-air over a spot more than ten miles away.

Sweeping his gaze downward, he revealed an expression of faint amusement.

Below him in low-altitude flight, an elder in black robes and a ferocious-looking large man were locked in a fierce battle, each directing their respective treasures–a gleaming yellow flying sword and a green ring-shaped magical artifact.

It just so happened that both individuals had cultivation levels around mid-Core Formation, and their magical artifacts seemed to be equally matched. They were fighting a balanced duel.

From Han Li’s perspective, unless one of them had a particularly special treasure or secret technique to gain an advantage, the skirmish would likely go on for at least half a day without a clear victor. Furthermore, neither seemed capable of killing the other; most likely, one of them would retreat in frustration.

Han Li’s sudden and eerie appearance directly above their fight naturally startled both the elder and the large man, causing them to instinctively falter, their incantations slowing as they turned their heads to look up.

Upon scanning Han Li with their spiritual senses, both of their expressions changed dramatically.

Although Han Li deliberately concealed his cultivation to appear as if he were only at the early Nascent Soul Stage, that was still more than enough to intimidate the two Core Formation cultivators.

Almost simultaneously, the two hurriedly recalled their magical artifacts, and the elder quickly bowed from afar with great reverence, asking respectfully:

“This junior, Bi Xun of Lost Soul Island, pays his respect to Senior. May I ask for Senior’s esteemed name? Is there anything you wish of this junior?”

The large man, deeply alarmed, also repeatedly paid his respects, muttering words of flattery.

“Who I am is irrelevant to you two,” Han Li replied, crossing his arms and speaking calmly. “I’ve simply been out of touch with the world for some time and have a few questions I’d like to ask you both.”

“Senior, whatever you wish to know, we juniors will answer to the best of our ability!” On hearing that Han Li was merely asking questions, both men inwardly sighed in relief. The elder, in particular, was quick to respond with tactful eagerness.

Han Li nodded upon hearing this and immediately began questioning them about the major events in the Scattered Stars Sea over the past century.

Both the elder and the large man regarded Han Li as some reclusive Nascent Soul eccentric who had recently emerged from seclusion and launched into explanations with urgency.

First, the issue of demon beasts seizing human islands in the Outer Star Seas reached its climax shortly after Han Li left the Outer Seas. On more than a dozen islands, fierce battles erupted between human cultivators and demon beasts.

Surprisingly, neither the Star Palace nor the Starfall Coalition sent out significant forces to intervene in this matter. Instead, numerous loose cultivators and various mid-sized sects with vested interests gathered considerable manpower to defend the islands equipped with transportation formations and engage in battle with the demon beasts.

In truth, these so-called battles were nothing more than humans desperately defending islands, relying on the restrictive formations installed there to wage a futile campaign.

Those daring enough to fight had at least reached the Foundation Establishment Stage. Allegedly, the total number of cultivators gathered across all the islands exceeded tens of thousands, with around five to six thousand stationed on each island.

As soon as the fight began, all the islands were surrounded by swarming low-tier demon beasts, suffocatingly packed with no gaps to escape. The initially confident human forces quickly had their hopes dashed. They couldn’t hold out for long–within merely half a month, all the dozen islands fell in succession.

It was said that throughout the war, even the high-tier demon cultivators at the metamorphosis stage didn’t need to intervene. The seemingly endless onslaught of low-tier demon beasts alone was enough to overwhelm the islands’ restrictive formations and invade.

The human cultivators’ strength was indeed no match for the demon beasts. They were forced to retreat to the Outer Star Seas, destroying the transportation formations to the Outer Seas and temporarily abandoning everything there. From then on, the Outer Seas once again became the domain of demon beasts.

Of course, humans wouldn’t truly let go of the Outer Star Seas. Given a few hundred or even thousands of years, they would likely attempt to reclaim the territory. The limitless supply of Fiend Cores from the demon beasts in the Outer Star Seas was far too valuable to the cultivation world in the Scattered Stars Sea.

Another matter that caught Han Li’s attention was the sudden demise of the Heavenly Star Sages several decades ago.

However, this couple didn’t pass away through natural causes. Decades earlier, on an unexpected day, they stormed the headquarters of the Starfall Coalition, wielding the Divine Essencefused Light to annihilate multiple righteous and demonic Nascent Soul cultivators in succession. Their audacity forced Wan Sanniang and Archsaint of the Six Paths–who had been in a chamber discussing critical matters–to emerge in anger and desperation and face them together.

Those two top cultivators of the righteous and demonic paths had, until that moment, believed the Heavenly Star Sages would be unable to leave Yuanci Mountain due to its restrictive properties, leaving them completely unprepared for the assault.

What happened next was beyond anyone’s imagination!

Upon encountering Wan Sanniang and the Archsaint, the Heavenly Star Sages didn’t engage in a prolonged fight. Instead, they somehow triggered a peculiar secret technique, causing the Divine Essencefused Light–which they had spent centuries cultivating internally–to detonate. The explosion was so destructive that it reduced most of the Starfall Coalition’s headquarters to ashes.

Being at the core of the blast, the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sanniang didn’t even have a chance to let their Nascent Souls escape and perished on the spot.

This chain of events led both the Starfall Coalition and the Star Palace to lose their most powerful figures simultaneously. At first, the Starfall Coalition appeared to be in an even worse position, as many of its elders and numerous mid-Core Formation cultivators also perished in the explosion.

In the initial twenty to thirty years following the deaths of the Heavenly Star Sages and the Archsaint, the Starfall Coalition suffered repeated setbacks. Under the leadership of Ling Yuling, the newly appointed palace master of the Star Palace, the coalition was forced into retreat, losing numerous islands and territories.

Had it not been for the fact that the righteous and demonic sects aligned with the Starfall Coalition were placed on the Star Palace’s list of enemies marked for elimination, prompting them to grit their teeth and stubbornly resist, the coalition might have been completely eradicated.

Just as the coalition seemed to be on the verge of collapse, the situation abruptly turned with an unexpected event.

Wan Tianming, the sect leader of Myriad Gates of Enlightenment, remarkably advanced to the late Nascent Soul Stage during this crisis, becoming a new great cultivator.

This development instantly transformed the power dynamics in the Scattered Stars Sea. Wan Tianming consolidated the strength of the righteous and demonic sects, claiming the unchallenged position of Alliance Hierarch within the Starfall Coalition. With his late-Nascent Soul cultivation, he launched successive assaults against the Star Palace, slaying several of their elders and making a significant impression.

In the subsequent decades, due to the Star Palace lacking a great cultivator of comparable strength, they couldn’t withstand Wan Tianming’s aggressive campaigns. The coalition reclaimed lost territories and steadily expanded, driving the Star Palace into an even more dire situation than when the Archsaint and Wan Sanniang were alive.

Not long ago, the Starfall Coalition even managed to open a path leading directly to the gates of Heavenly Star City and issued a new Starfall Coalition Token.

With this token, all recipient sects were compelled to declare their allegiance immediately. Failure to join the battle against the Star Palace would result in being labeled enemies by the coalition and annihilated.

The Starfall Coalition now appeared to be fully preparing for a decisive confrontation with the Star Palace.

Following the annihilation of some sects allied with the Star Palace, the Scattered Stars Sea was plunged into utter chaos.

Sects supporting the Star Palace, those siding with the coalition, as well as those trying to remain neutral or profit from the turmoil, all began to act. Some closed their island formations tightly and hunkered down like prey under siege, while others fled en masse to Heavenly Star City seeking refuge. Still more took the opportunity to expand their territory, capitalizing on the havoc.

At this moment, the Scattered Stars Sea had turned into a boiling cauldron of disorder.

The Starfall Coalition cultivator army, meanwhile, was gathering on several islands near Heavenly Star City, seemingly mobilizing all of its resources for a decisive battle to settle the conflict once and for all.

It appeared that Wan Tianming had no desire to prolong the struggle in the Scattered Stars Sea and intended to crush the Star Palace in one stroke.

As for when the great battle would begin and how many cultivators had gathered near Heavenly Star City?

Neither the elder nor the large man could provide definitive answers.

Despite most cultivators avoiding this impending clash at all costs, many individuals and forces caught up in the conflict had no choice but to take sides and participate in the battle.

Whether they aligned with the Star Palace or the coalition was anyone’s guess.

This situation, combined with the waves of spies and scouts sent by various factions, turned the sea near Heavenly Star City into a turbulent vortex of activity, rife with mutual pursuit and killing.

Moreover, the closer one got to Heavenly Star City, the worse the chaos seemed to grow.

Having obtained the intelligence he wanted, Han Li refrained from asking further questions and lowered his head, lost in thought.

(First update! I returned home very late yesterday and stayed up all night writing this chapter. My body is completely exhausted, and I must take some rest now. Once I wake up, I’ll write the second chapter for everyone! Stay tuned for more updates. If you wish to know what happens next, please visit www.wuxiaworld.site for additional chapters and to support the author with legitimate reading options!)