134: Treasures Everywhere and Star Restriction

Reverse Star Immortal Palace, outer ruins.

Under the gray sky, a deathly silence enveloped this magnificent ruin.

"Cough..."

Behind a broken white jade pillar, Zhou Wannian struggled to turn over, spitting out a mouthful of stale blood mixed with visceral fragments.

Pain.

His entire body felt as if it had been crushed by a stone mill, and his Meridians burned with a searing heat. The aftershock of a strike from a Late Stage Nascent Soul great Cultivator, even if it only grazed him, had nearly taken the life of this Foundation Establishment mid stage small fry.

"Not dead yet."

Zhou Wannian checked his body and gave a bitter laugh.

He turned to look beside him.

Ling Yunxiao and Li Feiyu were lying haphazardly in the rubble, their breaths weak, but fortunately, their chests were still rising and falling. The most pitiful one was Tie Zhu; this recently upgraded Puppet had turned into a pile of scrap metal. The large hole in its chest was shocking, and one of its flashy Wind and Thunder Wings was broken, drooping on the ground.

"A huge loss."

Zhou Wannian touched the remains of Tie Zhu with heartache. This was a treasure he had spent countless Spirit Stones and effort to create, and it had been beaten back to its original form after only a few days of glory.

"But, compared to staying alive, this loss is nothing."

He forced himself to sit up, took a bottle of extremely precious "Rejuvenation Dew" from his Storage Pouch, took a sip, and then shared it with the other two.

As the medicinal power dissolved, the intense pain lessened slightly.

Only then did Zhou Wannian dare to release his Divine Sense to cautiously investigate the surroundings.

With this investigation, his expression changed.

"The Spiritual Qi here..."

The air was filled with an extremely ancient, violent, and heavy Spiritual Qi. This Spiritual Qi was different from the Five Elements Spiritual Qi of the outside world; it carried a starlike coldness and weight. If an ordinary Cultivator inhaled it directly, their Meridians would instantly be frozen or crushed.

"I can't Cultivate directly."

Zhou Wannian immediately closed all his pores and switched to internal breathing.

"This is an independent Small World, and its Laws are different from the outside. Without a specialized Cultivation Technique, staying here for long will not only prevent progress but cause one's cultivation level to regress."

Just then.

Clack, clack, clack.

A series of steady and heavy footsteps came from the ruined streets in the distance.

Zhou Wannian's pupils constricted.

"Hide!"

Ignoring his pain, his hands moved like lightning as he quickly set up a "Flowing Cloud Shadow Concealment Formation" around the three of them. This was the highest Rank concealment Formation he currently possessed, specifically designed to use light refraction to deceive sight and Divine Sense.

A few breaths later.

A squad of bronze-cast Puppet soldiers, two zhang tall, marched over with steady steps.

They held long halberds, and although there were no spiritual power fluctuations, the starlight runes flowing on their bronze bodies emitted a suffocating sense of pressure.

"Star Guard Puppets."

Zhou Wannian held his breath, staring intently at the squad of Puppets.

According to the fragments he had seen in ancient texts, the guard Puppets of the Reverse Star Alliance back then were at least at the Core Formation stage in combat power.

There were five Puppets in this squad.

In other words, it was equivalent to five Core Formation Cultivators on patrol!

"Please don't notice... please don't notice..."

Zhou Wannian muttered to himself.

Fortunately, these Puppets seemed to be merely following a set patrol route and weren't searching intentionally. They passed within ten feet of Zhou Wannian with heavy steps, crushing a floor of precious Spirit Stone tiles, and then disappeared at the end of the street.

Only when the footsteps had completely vanished did Zhou Wannian let out a long breath, his back drenched in cold sweat.

"Is this the foundation of the number one ancient Sect?"

"A random patrol squad could wipe out the current Six-Link Palace."

At this time, Ling Yunxiao and Li Feiyu also slowly woke up.

"Old Man Han... where is this? The underworld?" Ling Yunxiao rubbed his head, looking dazed.

"Scarier than the underworld, but also richer."

Zhou Wannian pointed to the ground beneath them.

"Look at what you're sitting on."

Ling Yunxiao looked down and saw he was sitting on a broken white jade slab. He touched it casually; it felt warm, and a stream of pure spiritual power actually entered his body through his fingertips.

"This is... Ten-Thousand-Year Warm Jade?!"

Ling Yunxiao's eyes widened. "Such a large piece? Outside, it would be cut into the size of a fingernail to make pendants, but here it's used for paving?!"

"Look over there."

Zhou Wannian pointed to a collapsed pillar nearby.

"That's a pillar cast with 'Star Sand'. Knocking off a piece would be enough to refine a top-grade Flying Sword."

"And those weeds over there... that's 'Starlight Grass', which has long been extinct in the outside world, a main ingredient for refining Divine Sense Medicinal Pills."

Ling Yunxiao and Li Feiyu were completely stunned.

Looking around, these weren't ruins.

This was an open-air sea of gold and silver!

"Don't be happy too soon."

Zhou Wannian poured cold water on them. "You need to be alive to take it, and alive to spend it. The Restrictions here are layered, and any of the patrolling Puppets could crush us. If we move carelessly and trigger a killing Formation, even an immortal couldn't save us."

"Then what should we do?" Li Feiyu asked. "We can't just starve to death while guarding a mountain of gold, can we?"

"First, find a safe place to settle down, recover from our injuries, and repair Tie Zhu."

Zhou Wannian took out the Heavenly Secret Dao Disk.

In this starlit Small World, the Heavenly Secret Dao Disk seemed to receive some kind of empowerment, rotating exceptionally smoothly and even emitting a cheerful hum.

"I seek the heavenly secret."

"Where is safe here? Where can we survive and plan slowly?"

Hum—

[Divination Result: Neutral-Fair (The dark spot under the lamp)]

[Location: Five hundred li to the front-left, 'Utility Disciple Quarters'.]

[Status: Due to its low Rank, this area is ignored by high-level patrol Puppets. Furthermore, the defense Formations have long since failed, leaving no residual killing Formations.]

[Opportunity: In the utility quarters, there is an Incomplete Manual of the ancient 'Star Refining Art' basic chapter, which can be used to repair Puppets using the Materials here.]

"Utility quarters?"

Zhou Wannian smiled.

"As expected, only the bottom level is the safest."

"Let's go! We're going to be Utility Disciples!"

...Two hours later.

Like thieves, the three of them avoided three waves of patrol Puppets and finally reached the so-called "Utility Disciple Quarters."

This was a group of low stone houses located on the outermost edge of the Immortal Palace. Compared to the magnificent palaces in the center, this place appeared dilapidated, with even half the roofs collapsed.

But just as the hexagram said, there were indeed no Restriction fluctuations here.

Zhou Wannian chose a relatively intact stone house and led everyone inside.

The room was covered in a thick layer of dust.

"Clean up."

Zhou Wannian casually cast a cleaning spell.

The dust cleared, revealing the room's furnishings. They were extremely simple: a stone bed, a stone table, and a long-decayed prayer mat.

But on the stone table lay a dusty Jade Slip.

Zhou Wannian picked up the Jade Slip and cautiously probed it with his Divine Sense.

There was no powerful Restriction backlash; instead, a peaceful flow of information entered his mind.

[Record of Starwork Creation: Basic Chapter].

This wasn't a Cultivation Technique, but a... reference book.

It detailed how to use Materials like "Star Stone", "Star Wood", and other Materials to refine and repair basic "Star Guard Puppets."

"Is this a textbook used by ancient Utility Disciples to repair Puppets?"

Zhou Wannian felt as if he had found a treasure.

For him right now, this thing was more useful than any Heaven Rank Cultivation Technique!

"With this, Tie Zhu can be saved."

Zhou Wannian rubbed his hands excitedly. "Moreover, Materials are everywhere here. We can source them locally and upgrade Tie Zhu into a 'Star Guard version'!"

"Old Man Han, look at this!"

At this moment, Ling Yunxiao, who was tidying the bed, suddenly cried out in surprise.

From a crack in the stone bed, he pried out a fingernail-sized stone emitting a soft white light.

"This stone... the energy inside is so gentle, I feel like I can absorb it directly!"

Zhou Wannian took it to look.

[Low-rank Star Stone].

This was the common currency of the Reverse Star Alliance back then, as well as a cultivation resource. Although it was only low-Rank, the starlight power within had been purified. Not only could it be used for Cultivation, but it was also the best energy source for driving Star Guard Puppets.

"Good stuff."

Zhou Wannian immediately gave an order.

"From now on, we divide the work."

"Fei Yu, you're responsible for guarding. Stay within ten feet of this house, don't go far."

"Ling Yunxiao, go search all the other houses in this utility area. Remember, don't miss even a broken bowl or a piece of rotten wood—bring it all back!"

"As for me..."

Zhou Wannian sat cross-legged at the stone table, taking out the "Record of Starwork Creation" and Tie Zhu's remains.

"I'm going into seclusion to learn the craft."

"Once I've learned this 'Star Refining Art' and repaired Tie Zhu..."

He looked out the window at the towering "Reverse Star Pagoda" in the distance.

"We'll go and have some fun with those watchdogs left by the Nascent Soul Old Monsters."

In the following days.

In a corner of these ruins that had been silent for ten thousand years, a group of hardworking "scavengers" appeared.

Ling Yunxiao shuttled through the various broken houses every day, his face covered in dust, bringing things back like a hamster.

"Old Man Han! I found an undamaged refining furnace!"

"Old Man Han! Here's a pile of unused Star Iron!"

"Old Man Han! This chamber pot seems to be made of Cold Jade..."

Meanwhile, Zhou Wannian was immersed in those ancient runes, completely enthralled.

He discovered that many of the runes in the "Record of Starwork Creation" actually shared similarities with his "Cloud Seal Heavenly Scripture."

One could even say that the "Cloud Seal Heavenly Scripture" seemed to be a high-level advanced version of these runes!

"Could it be..."

"That my family's heirloom Cultivation Technique actually originated from the Reverse Star Alliance?"

This discovery sent waves of shock through Zhou Wannian's heart.

If that were true.

Then this Reverse Star Immortal Palace was not a dangerous place for him.

But rather... a homecoming.