Chapter 1 A Glimpse

In the silent Dragon Lair, Jiang Xiao, hand in hand with Han Jiangxue, floated towards the string of shifting, mysterious characters.

Of course, in Han Jiangxue's view, these were shifting, mysterious characters.

But in Jiang Xiao's vertical pupils, it was a window.

Jiang Xiao raised his palm, tentatively reaching towards "outside the window." His hand simply passed through the window (mysterious characters), remaining within the Dragon Lair environment, not reaching beyond.

"Looks like we have to teleport..." Jiang Xiao muttered softly, looking around and spotting a vertically sliding "window" above.

Does it matter which one we take?

Jiang Xiao pursed his lips, turned to Han Jiangxue, and asked, "Ready?"

Han Jiangxue whispered, "Yeah."

"Let's go!" Without hesitation, Jiang Xiao released threads of Star Power, flashing with Han Jiangxue to the other side of the window.

*Whoosh*...

In the next moment, the environment around them completely changed!

Above, the scorching sun radiated a warmth completely opposite to the dim Dragon Lair.

Below, a churning sea of clouds obscured their downward view.

Behind them, waves of rich Star Power emanated.

However, unlike the Star Power Jiang Xiao felt in the Star Technique "Xi Meng Zhao Shi," while the Star Power fluctuations behind him were large and rich, they didn't reach the suffocating levels!

Compared to the dream realm that Dream Dragon had previously shown Jiang Xiao, the concentration of Star Power was not on the same level at all!

So... Xi Meng Zhao Shi's predictions are not entirely accurate.

Or perhaps, when Dream Dragon took him sleepwalking before, it mixed too much personal emotion into this scorched body, making the dream's construction half-true and half-false.

Jiang Xiao teleported another hundred meters away.

Standing atop a churning sea of clouds, they quickly turned around and saw an enormous eye socket!

Well... this scene was accurate compared to the previous dream.

This was the shell of an ancient Star Warrior!

Without a trace of life, as if he had been dead for a long time, but possibly because his previous strength was too great, even after so long, Star Power still radiated from his cracked, scorched shell.

"If teleporting through the window leads here, does that mean the Dragon Lair space is his brain?" Jiang Xiao gently squeezed Han Jiangxue's hand, analyzing the situation.

Han Jiangxue's hand struggled slightly.

Jiang Xiao: "Hmm?"

He looked at Han Jiangxue, puzzled, unsure why she wanted to let go...

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Xiao released her hand.

Han Jiangxue flew backwards, her gaze towards Jiang Xiao filled with a hint of encouragement, a hint of blessing.

Jiang Xiao frowned slightly: "What does this mean? What exactly did this girl see in the vision of the future?"

Han Jiangxue's body, having flown back tens of meters, slowly came to a halt.

Not only did she stop, but she also pressed her hands together at her lower jaw, closing her beautiful eyes, slightly lowering her head, as if praying.

"..." Before Jiang Xiao could finish speaking, a thick book suddenly bloomed in front of his chest - *Chronicles of the Stars*!

Jiang Xiao: ???

I didn't summon *Chronicles of the Stars*, did I? This...

First, Dream Dragon acted on its own accord and actively integrated into my Inner Star Map. Now, my Inner Star Map is operating on its own, opening itself up?

This is rebellion! All of this is rebellion...

While Jiang Xiao complained inwardly, a message suddenly came from within his Inner Star Map.

"Star Power Upgrade! Star Exhaustion Stage Lv.2!"

Jiang Xiao's expression froze!

He had just entered the Star Exhaustion Stage, how could he suddenly advance to Star Exhaustion Stage Lv.2 in just a minute?

Just as Jiang Xiao was caught off guard, another message came from his Inner Star Map.

"Star Power Upgrade! Star Exhaustion Stage Lv.3!"

Jiang Xiao: ???

He hurriedly opened his Inner Star Map and discovered that his Star Power realm was indeed increasing, and it was increasing autonomously...

Wait!

Something's not right!

His Star Power realm is increasing, but... but Jiang Xiao's stored Skill Points have decreased by 200,000!

"Star Power Upgrade! Star Exhaustion Stage Lv.4!"

Right before Jiang Xiao's eyes, another 100,000 Skill Points disappeared!

"Holy crap! This..."

Before breaking through the Dragon Lair window and entering this world, Jiang Xiao had painstakingly saved those Skill Points!

And in just a few seconds, they had already dwindled to just over 840,000!

Jiang Xiao was heartbroken. The Star Power realm could be improved through training. Jiang Xiao had saved so many Skill Points to deal with the unexpected or to improve the Star Techniques of his Star Pet.

He hadn't saved them to improve his own Star Power realm!

"Star Power Upgrade! Star Exhaustion Stage Lv.5!"

Jiang Xiao suddenly turned his head, looking at the huge, sunken eye socket, gazing at the scorched eyelids: "Is this guy playing tricks?"

"Star Power Upgrade! Star Exhaustion Stage Lv.6!"

"Star Power Upgrade! Star Exhaustion Stage Lv.7!"

"Those who transform me live, those who break me advance, those who resemble me die..."

The information in the Inner Star Map and the information on the sixth page of the *Chronicles of the Stars* intertwined, filling Jiang Xiao's mind.

"Ugh..." Jiang Xiao covered his head with his hands. If it was just the information from the Inner Star Map, it wouldn't be much, but the information on the sixth page of the *Chronicles of the Stars* sounded like a morning bell in a temple, causing Jiang Xiao's head to buzz.

For some reason, while experiencing such a bizarre scene, Jiang Xiao thought of Han Jiangxue, far behind him, with her hands pressed together and her head bowed in prayer...

"Star Power Upgrade! Star Exhaustion Stage Lv.8!"

"Those who transform me live, those who break me advance..."

"Ooh~" Jiang Xiao's expression was pained, his head buzzing from the majestic and loud sound, and his body flew forward uncontrollably.

Who is controlling my body?

Is the Devouring Sea Garment carrying me forward? Clearly impossible, it's so well-behaved...

So, is it the Dream Dragon within my body?

"Star Power Upgrade! Star Exhaustion Stage Lv.9!"

"Those who transform me live..."

......

Jiang Xiao plunged into the ancient Star Warrior's deep eye socket, and just as his palm braced against the grayish-red cracked scorched eyelid...

"Crack!"

A sound of shattering seemed to echo.

In a daze, the messages from the Inner Star Map completely disappeared. Not only did they disappear, but his Inner Star Map... seemed to have shattered...

This was a feeling Jiang Xiao had, a very pure feeling.

This time, it seemed different from the previous times the Inner Star Map had closed for adjustments. It was likely truly broken, and would never return...

In his mind, the only lingering sound was four words: Those who transform me live!

"Heh..." Jiang Xiao's eyes widened suddenly, and the sixth page of the *Chronicles of the Stars* in front of his chest burst forth with astonishing light.

From within the page, the sorrowful shell, just like the anatomical diagrams on the previous pages, floated out and imprinted itself onto Jiang Xiao's body.

"Those who transform me live..."

At that moment, Jiang Xiao's body continuously grew larger, larger, and larger...

"Hiss..." As his body grew larger and larger, Jiang Xiao, clad in the sorrowful shell, tore apart his clothes.

The Devouring Sea Garment hurriedly slipped off, drifting towards Han Jiangxue.

In the sky, the sun blazed hotly.

Above the sea of clouds, a rapidly growing youth stood beside a girl with her hands clasped, silently praying.

And beneath this vast sea of clouds, along that scorched skin, all the way down, tens of thousands of meters away.

On the ground, there was a bustling city.

In the noisy city, the crowds were packed, and the traffic flowed like water.

But in just a few seconds, the entire modern city suddenly fell into a strange standstill.

People blankly looked up, gazing at the distant sky.

They were no longer surprised by the pair of scorched earth-colored legs.

People also knew who the owner of these legs was. His legends filled the myths.

In fact, this planet's ability to function normally owed 1/9 of its credit to the owner of these legs.

Unfortunately, the owner of these legs had already died in the mid-20th century.

People could only guess about his death.

After all, over decades of evolution, these legs had ultimately transformed from skin full of beautiful scenery and various landforms into a scorched wasteland.

This evolutionary picture also confirmed people's guesses.

But his death was unlike that of normal humans, not an immediate death, but one that spanned decades...

People also wanted to go up and take a look, wanting to observe and greet this "god" up close, but there was always a strange energy blocking their exploration, preventing them from approaching this body.

Looking at this body from afar, it was very clear.

The closer one looked, the more blurred it became, incredibly magical, and incredibly strange.

And the Star Power that this "god" provided to this continent was also gradually thinning. People clearly felt all of this, but were powerless to do anything.

Now... was this "god's" body finally about to shatter?

Was he finally going to die? Unable to supply this world with even a shred of energy?

On the street, a young man with a briefcase deeply sighed.

He looked like an office worker rushing about for life, but he stopped and looked up at the pair of scorched skin feet gradually shattering in the distant sky.

The young man bent down, reached out, and rubbed the soft fur of the Ghost Fox beside him, saying: "Let's move, without the energy support emitted by the 'Nine Bodies', survival here will be difficult.

I have the ability to find a job anywhere, let's... let's go to the southwest, at least Eight Bodies is still alive, showing no signs of decay."

"Woof~" The Ghost Fox with its snow-white fur whimpered softly, looking up at the pair of gradually shattering feet, tears flowing down.

For humans, the mentality might be one of disappointment, but for it, it was more like the fall of a creator.

In the center of the street, the couple in the driver and passenger seats of the stopped car opened their doors and got out.

The couple leaned against the car doors, looking up at the apocalyptic scene...

The father's Adam's apple bobbed: "This... finally..."

The mother couldn't help but cover her mouth, her eyes wide.

The next second, she hurriedly turned her head, looking through the car window at her carefree son in the back seat.

At this moment, her child was happily playing with the Little Fire Mud, the two little ones completely unaware of the world's dramatic change.

A trace of sadness rose in the mother's heart. If Nine Bodies died, no longer providing energy, then her son's playmate would probably...