553: Chapter 553 Return to the Starry Sea, The Crimson Light Transformation

Deep in the sea of stars, there is no light, no sound, only eternal silence and cold.

A starship of such grandeur that no words could describe it was traversing the boundless darkness, warping time and space.

It wasn't flying; it was forcibly flattening the space ahead, compressing distances of billions of miles into a single step.

Chaos Dao Palace, Central Throne.

Shen Yuanmo sat with his eyes closed. On his black Daoist robe, chaotic airflow swirled, as if harboring a Universe in the midst of birth and destruction.

His aura merged with the massive Chaos Dao Palace and even this lonely sea of stars.

A formless light and shadow, composed purely of data and rules, materialized beside the throne.

"Master, the navigation route has been set based on the coordinates of the Chiming Realm you provided. The Chaos Dao Palace is currently heading to the Chiming Realm at full speed."

The ship spirit's voice was devoid of emotion, yet contained absolute respect.

"It is estimated that we will arrive at the outskirts of the Chiming Realm in about a month."

Shen Yuanmo didn't open his eyes, merely letting out a low hum from his nose.

"Mm."

He paused, then added.

"Maintain vigilance. The Heavenly Dao Laws of the Chiming Realm are extremely fragile. Be careful to restrain our power upon arrival."

"Don't let the aftershocks of the Chaos Dao Palace shatter the Chiming Realm."

"As you command, my Lord." The ship spirit's light and shadow bowed slightly before dissipating.

Shen Yuanmo remained motionless on the throne.

Before venturing far, take the clan members.

These words were the sole purpose of his trip.

He had already seen the magnificence of the sea of stars, witnessed the fall of True Immortals, and even personally buried an overlord who had ruled a Star Domain for billions of years.

Looking back, the petty grievances of the immortal clans and the struggles for hegemony in the Chiming Realm's Immortal Dynasty were as insignificant as grains of sand.

But that was where his roots were.

His father was there, his clan members were there.

In his two lives, it was the only place he could call home.

Time lost its meaning in faster-than-light travel.

After an unknown amount of time, just as the Chaos Dao Palace was about to reach that familiar world.

Within Shen Yuanmo's Sea of Consciousness Universe, the chaos divine man, who had been meditating on the Chaos Great Dao with closed eyes, twitched slightly without warning.

He suddenly snapped his eyes open!

Those eyes were so deep they seemed capable of swallowing stars.

At this moment, a cold, sharp glint flashed through them.

Something was wrong!

In Shen Yuanmo's Divine Soul perception, the Chiming Realm at the end of the distant sea of stars...

It should have been a world of life, emitting a faint spiritual light, impoverished but full of vitality.

But now, the lines of the Chiming Realm's Laws were fluctuating violently, and large areas were even collapsing!

A Death Qi and resentment so thick it wouldn't disperse was like ink dropped into clear water, frantically polluting the entire Chiming Realm.

...

At the same time.

Chiming Realm, Southern Border, Qingzhou City.

The sky was a murky yellow.

Endless monster clouds and ghost mist blotted out the sun, shrouding the great city in a doomsday-like shadow.

Shouts of battle, the roar of Magic Treasures, the howling of Yao Beasts, and the shrieking of vengeful ghosts.

Mixed together, they formed a symphony of destruction that would make one's heart tremble.

The Great Demon Calamity had already swept through the entire Great Qian Immortal Dynasty.

Ninety percent of the territory had fallen, and countless immortal families had been uprooted, turned into scorched earth.

And now, the allied forces of the Ten Thousand Demon Ridge and the Netherworld Path had arrived at the gates of Qingzhou City, launching the final general offensive.

"Ang—!"

A piercing, mournful cry echoed through the clouds.

Above Qingzhou City, the qilin war soul that Shen Yuanmo had personally enlightened years ago was seeing its massive body become increasingly illusory.

The Five-Colored Divine Light had long since dimmed, and the majestic Qilin body was pierced through by thick, mountain-like pitch-black chains.

The other end of the chains connected to countless hideous and terrifying Demon Kings and Ghost Kings deep within the monster clouds.

They were frantically tearing at and devouring the qilin war soul's Origin.

At the highest point of the monster clouds, atop a White Bone Altar built from the skulls of billions of living beings.

A figure dressed in black robes, with a withered face and surrounded by endless Death Qi, stood with his hands behind his back.

He was the leader of the Netherworld Path, the Soul Transformation Stage Nether Lord.

Ominous.

In his hand, he held an Ancient Demon Pestle that emitted an aura of decay and ill-fortune.

Looking down at the tottering Qingzhou City, he let out a cackling wild laugh.

"Shen Family? The miracle of the Southern Border?"

"Laughable! Before my Netherworld army, you are nothing but ants struggling for your last breath!"

"Isn't that Shen Yuanmo known as the number one Prodigy of all time? Where is he? Why hasn't he come back to save his Family?"

"Hahahaha... He probably died in some corner of the world long ago!"

On the city walls.

Blood stained every inch of the battlements.

Shen Qiming and Old Ancestor Shen Zongdao stood side by side. Their Daoist robes were in tatters, they were covered in blood, and their magic power was nearly exhausted.

Watching the protective light curtain of the City Protection Grand Array about to completely collapse, Shen Qiming's eyes burned with the fire of grief, indignation, and determination.

He growled hoarsely to Shen Zongdao beside him:

"Old Ancestor, the array is about to break!"

"Even if I have to sacrifice this old life of mine, I will never let these beasts step a single foot into my Shen Family's ancestral hall!"

Shen Zongdao let out a tragic laugh, blood continuously seeping from the corners of his mouth, his aura like a candle in the wind.

"Heh... The sons of my Shen Family are not cowards who fear death!"

His gaze, filled with endless regret, looked toward the sky obscured by the monster clouds.

"It's just a pity... I won't be able to wait for Yuan Mo to return..."

Behind them, below the city walls, were tens of thousands of Shen Family disciples.

From white-haired elders to youths who had just learned to use Magical Artifacts, everyone's face was filled with fear.

However, not a single person retreated.

They tightly gripped the Magical Artifacts in their hands, forming broken battle arrays.

Using their weak bodies, they formed the final line of defense to protect the Family.

"Crack—!"

Finally, accompanied by an overburdened mournful cry.

The City Protection Grand Array that had shielded Qingzhou City for over a hundred years—that massive light curtain—shattered like broken glass, cracking inch by inch until it finally exploded!

"Jie jie jie! It's broken!"

"Minions, kill! Slaughter the entire city! Feast on their blood for three days!"

The Nether Lord raised the demon pestle high and issued the command for the final assault.

In an instant, the sky-blotting demons, like an unleashed black torrent, brought a storm of blood.

From all directions, they surged frantically toward the unprotected Qingzhou City!

Despair!

Absolute despair shrouded the hearts of every Shen Family Clan Member.

Shen Qiming and Shen Zongdao looked at each other, both seeing the resolve to die in the other's eyes. They were about to burn their final life force and Divine Soul for one last desperate struggle.

However, at this very moment.

A sudden change occurred!

The sky of the entire Chiming Realm—that murky yellow canopy—suddenly and without warning split open with an unimaginably huge crack!

It was no ordinary spatial rift, but a terrifying cross that stretched tens of millions of miles, one line spanning east to west and the other north to south!

It was as if the entire world had been slashed with a cross-shaped wound by an invisible giant sword!

Endless chaotic airflow flooded in from the rift, instantly washing away the surrounding monster clouds and ghost mist!

Before any living being on the battlefield could react.

A ship...

A ship whose bow alone was larger than the entire Central State Continent, its entire body flowing with profound Chaos divine light—a magnificent starship—slowly emerged from that cross-shaped spatial rift.

An indescribable sense of pressure descended!

The terrifying shadow it cast instantly shrouded the entire Southern Border and even a small half of the Tianyuan Continent!

The battlefield, which had been deafeningly noisy just a second ago, fell into a deathly silence in this instant.

Whether it was the frenzied Demon Kings, the howling vengeful ghosts, or the Shen Family clansmen on the city walls ready to meet their deaths...

Everything froze at this moment.

All things fell silent.

Every living being instinctively looked up, their gazes almost dull with shock.

Gazing up at the colossal object above the sky that exceeded the limits of their cognition.