Time flowed by, and no one knew how long had passed.
"The last one!"
Chu Tian gazed at the final dim seed before him.
Within his Dantian, myriad stellar energies illuminated it brilliantly.
However, Chu Tian was not at ease.
The formation of each star required the support of his immense soul power.
Even after they had condensed according to his will, a slight lapse in his focus would cause them to revert back into seeds.
Therefore, the myriad stars currently sustained in his Dantian were all locked in place by his soul.
At this moment, Chu Tian's usable soul power was almost depleted.
The spiritual lake within his divine platform was nearly dry.
A wave of pain surged through his mind, repeatedly.
Although he did not understand the significance of his actions, a subtle, guiding force within him urged him to complete the evolution of all these seeds.
Previously, Chu Tian had felt like giving up several times, but it was this faint, ethereal call that had kept him going.
Now, with only the last seed remaining, Chu Tian laboriously moved his almost transparent spiritual form.
As he arrived above the final seed…
*Boom…* Suddenly, Chu Tian felt his Dantian vibrate violently.
The tremor almost caused him to lose control of the stars.
"Am I reaching my limit?"
Chu Tian murmured inwardly.
However, another, stronger vibration occurred.
His eyes narrowed.
"This is not right…"
He realized the source of the vibration was not from within his Dantian, but from the outside.
…
In the boundless gray void.
Ya Ya's tiny figure frantically fled.
Terror filled her eyes as she gazed at the small, unmoving giant rock in the distance.
That was the camouflage she had created with countless cosmic dust particles, and Chu Tian was within it.
A long time had passed. In this universe, time could not be measured by conventional means.
After Chu Tian fell into slumber, she had been cultivating on the small asteroid formed from countless congealed rocks.
Just moments ago, a cosmic storm fluctuation swept through, shaking the asteroid and pushing it an unknown distance.
Ya Ya was jolted awake, stood up, and looked towards the direction of the cosmic storm.
The sight terrified her.
If not for Chu Tian slumbering within the asteroid beneath her feet, she might have fled immediately.
In the distance, a colossal figure appeared.
Its form resembled a whale from Blue Star.
However, its size was countless times greater than any whale.
Its body filled the cosmic sky before Ya Ya's eyes.
Its body, as dark as forged steel, appeared incredibly robust.
The creature seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, as if it had materialized instantly.
Its immense body was writhing.
*Dong…*
Another powerful surge of cosmic energy struck.
Ya Ya gritted her teeth. She estimated that the asteroid beneath her feet could not withstand this even stronger cosmic storm.
She rapidly waved her hands, and branches quickly wove together, forming a shield-like shape.
*Boom…*
Just as the shield took form, the cosmic storm surged forth.
A dull thud accompanied Ya Ya spitting out a mouthful of emerald-green blood, and the branches shattered into fragments.
Fortunately, the asteroid hiding Chu Tian beneath her feet remained intact.
Ya Ya wiped her face, flicking away the blood.
Kneeling on the asteroid, she felt no relief, only a deeper worry.
The massive figure in the distance was familiar to her.
It was known as… the Starry Sky Beast.
"Damn it, this Starry Sky Beast really knows how to pick a spot!"
Ya Ya cursed, as she noticed the Starry Sky Beast's abnormal state.
It was rolling wildly in place, its fins and tail beating against the void.
The creature was about to give birth.
It had likely used its innate divine ability to teleport to this desolate star domain, only to stumble upon her and Chu Tian.
Whether this was good or bad luck was uncertain.
The birth of a Starry Sky Beast was a spectacle rarely seen in a million years.
But couldn't it have chosen another place?
Ya Ya's intervention caused the rolling Starry Sky Beast to stop. Then, its eyes turned towards her.
"This is bad…"
Ya Ya's heart trembled. She had been discovered by the creature.
The Starry Sky Beast was a terrifying creature.
Normally, it drifted through the universe without actively attacking any life forms or planets.
However, its behavior changed during its birthing period.
It would seek out such void-like star domains. If it couldn't find one, it would slaughter all living beings within countless star domains.
Legend had it that a Starry Sky Beast could swallow stars with a single gulp and shatter cosmic barriers with a flick of its tail.
How could Ya Ya not be terrified now that she had attracted its attention?
Everything she knew came from inherited memories.
These inherited memories felt as real as her own experiences, so the primal fear was deeply unsettling for Ya Ya.
"I… I won't disturb you…"
Ya Ya stood up, naively believing she could reason with the Starry Sky Beast.
"Human? Die…"
The creature actually spoke human words. However, its pronouncement was incredibly powerful.
With just a single utterance, a vast cosmic storm was unleashed, shooting towards her like a shockwave.
Ya Ya was forced to reweave her branches, creating a shield to block it.
She blocked the shockwave.
Seeing the Starry Sky Beast relentless, it was actually charging towards her.
Ya Ya gritted her teeth and instantly abandoned the asteroid, speeding off horizontally.
She could only hope that the Starry Sky Beast had not discovered Chu Tian within the asteroid.
"Brother, wake up quickly!"
Ya Ya's final thought.
Her tiny form was a stark contrast to the Starry Sky Beast.
The Starry Sky Beast's body spanned over ten thousand miles.
To the beast, Ya Ya was less than a speck of dust.
However, after Ya Ya's two blocks against its shockwaves, coupled with the creature's current agitated state, it shifted its body.
It pursued Ya Ya.
Despite its colossal size, its speed in space was exceptional.
The Starry Sky Beast species occupied the apex of the food chain.
Its defense was impenetrable, and its attack power formidable.
Its speed ranked among the fastest.
The scarcity of Starry Sky Beasts was due to their unique reproduction method.
Each Starry Sky Beast could only produce one offspring in its lifetime.
Furthermore, this creature was hermaphroditic.
After giving birth, a Starry Sky Beast could only live for ten thousand more years at most.
Young Starry Sky Beasts were still in their infancy.
While adult Starry Sky Beasts were powerful, young ones were very weak.
They could only "develop sneakily."
However, they often fell prey to others.
For this reason, the Starry Sky Beast population was extremely scarce.
If they could reproduce freely, the entire universe would likely be ruled by Starry Sky Beasts.
Thus, the Heavenly Dao was fair.
Ya Ya led the Starry Sky Beast further away.
Her speed was no match for the Starry Sky Beast.
She could only rely on her agile body and the fact that while the Starry Sky Beast was fast, its turning ability was poor.
This allowed her to narrowly evade the creature's attacks countless times.
During one particularly dangerous moment, she narrowly dodged by turning just as the Starry Sky Beast's mouth swept past.
With a sudden lunge, the entire void cracked.
Ya Ya was almost struck by its paw.
Even though she evaded, the cosmic storm generated by the Starry Sky Beast's thrashing struck her tiny body.
Her small form fluttered like a butterfly, her clothes torn by the cosmic storm.
Meanwhile.
The area where Chu Tian was located became safe.
He concentrated all his soul power to condense the star before him.
"Just a little bit more…"
"Open for me…"
"Ah…"
Chu Tian's spiritual shadow flickered.
His form was on the verge of collapse.
Chu Tian's external physical body resembled a dried corpse.
His shriveled body trembled uncontrollably.
Layer upon layer of hard, black shells encased his body.
This was the black substance expelled from his body for every star that failed to form.
After countless refinements, Chu Tian's shriveled body now possessed skin as smooth and lustrous as mutton-fat jade.
Through his nearly transparent skin, one could see his seven-colored supreme bone emitting a brilliant glow.
Anyone who saw him would instantly recognize that he was undergoing a transformation.
Or perhaps an evolution.
With only one seed left, all the stars in his Dantian would be born.
At this moment, the soul power within Chu Tian's divine platform had completely dried up, not a drop remaining.
Chu Tian's heart turned utterly cold.
"Is it all for nothing?"
His spiritual form, nearly transparent and dim, hovered above the star that was about to form, filled with unwillingness.
But there was nothing he could do.
He could only watch as the star gradually reverted to its original state.
Chu Tian knew that once this star reverted, a chain reaction would follow.
The myriad stars he had painstakingly formed would also revert.
Becoming seeds once more.
However, he didn't know if he could go through it again.
He also had no idea how much time he had spent.
In this void of the universe, there was no way to replenish anything.
Perhaps…
This failure would be permanent.
Without energy replenishment, even with abundant food in his divine platform, he would not survive long.
Just as Chu Tian's hopes were dashed, a voice suddenly sounded.
"Master, I'll help you!"
The voice was endearingly simple.
It was Shou Shou, who had recently awakened.
"Shou Shou, no."
Before Chu Tian could react, he heard a clear female voice.
It was Shui Shui, the artifact spirit of the Clear Water City Seal within the Four Directions City Lord's Seal.
Shou Shou was the earliest follower of Chu Tian, an artifact spirit conjured from one of the Ten Thousand Beast Cities.
Chu Tian didn't know what Shou Shou intended to do.
But hearing Shui Shui's voice, and knowing what they were about to do, he knew it couldn't be good.
He desperately wanted to inquire, but he couldn't spare even a trace of soul power to communicate with his divine platform.
However, Shou Shou then said,
"Shui Shui, don't cry. If Master fails, we will all die. And… perhaps with my own strength alone…
Well… you decide. I'm going first!"