88: Chapter 88 Shocks All Sides

In the boundless depths of the starry sea, there stood a majestic divine mountain, countless times more massive than an ordinary star domain. Cast from pure gold, it radiated an eternal, imperishable brilliance, illuminating the dark void for billions of light-years around.

This was the ancestral home of the Golden God Clan, ranked second among the Ten Thousand Races of the Starry Sky—the Golden Divine Mountain!

At this moment, at the mountain's peak, within the Golden Temple that seemed to have existed since time immemorial...

A Golden Giant Ancestor, who had slumbered for countless eons, slowly opened his terrifying eyes, blazing like twin suns!

RUMBLE!

With his awakening, the entire divine mountain trembled violently, and the surrounding starry space rippled like boiling water!

"A powerful clan left over from the previous Epoch... has actually re-emerged?"

"True Dragon..."

The Ancestor's voice, resonating like the Great Dao itself, echoed throughout the temple, carrying a trace of unconcealed apprehension.

As an ancient relic who had lived through endless ages, he understood better than anyone the meaning represented by those two words!

They were the absolute overlords who once dominated an entire Epoch, making all races tremble!

Their emergence often signaled the dawn of a great era, or... destruction!

"Again, it's the Human Race... that remote ancestral planet?"

The Ancestor's brow furrowed deeply, his golden pupils flickering with the light of deduction.

"First, the Starlight Piercing the Heavens, then the Nine Resonances of the Great Dao, and now the emergence of a True Dragon..."

"Could all of this... be connected to those nine Great Dao resonances from before?"

Though he couldn't pinpoint the exact causality, his intuition as a top-tier powerhouse told him that the Human Race—once viewed as ants by all races but now rapidly rising—must harbor a world-shaking secret capable of overturning the entire starry sea's balance of power!

Below in the temple, numerous terrifyingly powerful figures of the Golden God Clan were prostrated on the ground, trembling, not daring even to breathe heavily.

Though they themselves were overlords in their own right, before the Ancestor, they were as insignificant as ants.

"The Human Race... must be checked!"

The Ancestor's voice rang out once more, filled with unquestionable authority.

"Issue the order! Immediately contact those old ghosts of the Netherworld Race!"

"Tell them my Golden God Clan wishes to join forces with them to jointly investigate the secrets of the Human Race's ancestral planet!"

Hearing this, the powerful beings below were all shaken to their cores.

Although both the Golden God Clan and the Netherworld Race were powerful star-spanning clans, they were usually locked in open and covert struggles, riddled with conflicts.

Now, the Ancestor was actually proposing an alliance?

This showed just how seriously the upheaval on the Human Race's ancestral planet had escalated!

"Additionally..."

The Ancestor pondered for a moment before issuing another command.

"Recall Jin Lin from the Human Race's Xuanhuang Supreme Academy! Have him transfer immediately to the Great Xia Martial Academy!"

"Also, dispatch all of the clan's young geniuses from the previous generation who have already stepped into the Flying Heaven Realm!"

"No matter the cost, you must dig out the secrets there for me!"

"Yes! We obey the Ancestor's decree!"

The assembled powerhouses responded in unison, their voices shaking the heavens.

...

At the same time.

Deep within the Netherworld Blood Sea, a place perpetually shrouded in bloody mist and filled with an aura of death and decay.

Gurgle... gurgle...

The previously calm sea of blood suddenly began to churn violently.

Huge bloody bubbles burst, releasing a nauseating stench.

Several terrifying figures, shrouded in black robes with indistinct features, slowly emerged from the blood sea.

Several Ancestors of the Netherworld Race had also been stirred!

"Heh heh heh... the aura of a True Dragon... such a nostalgic scent..."

A sinister, terrifying laugh echoed over the blood sea.

"Those hypocrites of the Human Race have secretly stirred up such a commotion. It seems their ambitions are vast indeed!"

"Hmph! The Human Race shares a blood feud with our Netherworld Race! How many of our clansmen did they slaughter in the battle a thousand years ago? That debt remains unsettled!"

"We absolutely cannot allow them to rise again! Otherwise, our Netherworld Race will never know peace!"

The Ancestors spoke one after another, their tones filled with hatred and apprehension towards the Human Race.

"But... the Human Race is powerful now, with nine Martial Saints presiding. They would never allow our geniuses to easily set foot on their ancestral planet."

One Ancestor voiced his concern.

"So what?"

The most ancient and terrifying Ancestor at the center of the blood sea, who seemed to merge with the sea itself, slowly spoke.

"As long as the price paid is high enough, there is nothing that cannot be negotiated!"

"Even if it means a temporary truce with the Human Race, even ceding a few resource-rich star domains... as long as we can send our geniuses in to uncover the ancestral planet's secrets, and that... the root cause of the previous Epoch's end..."

"All of it would be worth it!"

His voice was low and hoarse, yet it carried an undeniable madness and obsession.

For that legendary secret, the Netherworld Race was willing to stake everything!

...

Within Human Race Territory, at the Blood Sea Star Pass.

Ning Jianghe stood at the forefront of the pass, holding his bronze spear, still like an immortal sculpture from antiquity.

But now, his eyes, which seemed capable of piercing through the ages, gazed past layers of space and time towards the distant ancestral planet.

His expression was unprecedentedly grave.

"True Dragon's emergence... Epochal Fluctuations..."

"Why... has it come so early?"

He frowned deeply, as if pondering an extremely important question.

"According to that guy's divinations back then... there should have been at least a century's buffer before that point in time..."

"Could it be... because of Yuaner?"

Once this thought emerged, he could not shake it off.

He recalled his Grandson's series of heaven-defying feats and the visions that had shaken the starry sea, and he felt it was increasingly possible.

"That troublesome kid... he really is a troublemaker!"

He shook his head helplessly, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"But... this also means those old fellows must be getting restless, right?"

He let out a cold laugh, his gaze becoming sharp as twin swords, piercing the darkness before him.

"Want to shake the foundation of my Human Race? Want to touch my Grandson?"

"Then first ask my spear if it agrees!"

But he also understood clearly in his heart.

With the spread of this commotion, the ancestral planet had completely become the eye of the storm for the entire starry sea.

Ning Yuan, caught within it, would likely no longer be able to remain peacefully detached from events as before.

"Sigh... If I had known this, perhaps I should have let him stay at the Xuanhuang Academy."

Ning Jianghe sighed, feeling a twinge of regret.

After all, the Xuanhuang Star Domain was the Human Race's stronghold, heavily fortified and impregnable.

The ancestral planet, while also important, was located in a remote area, making it easy for alien races to find loopholes.

"Enough, enough. Children have their own fortunes."

"Since I've already placed him at the forefront of the storm, it's up to him to ride the waves and soar to the heavens!"

"I believe my Grandson, Ning Jianghe's Grandson, will not disappoint me!"

He tightened his grip on his spear. His aura surged once more, standing like an insurmountable mountain, steadfastly guarding the Human Race's border!

...

Just as the entire starry sea was seething with undercurrents and an impending storm due to the upheaval on the ancestral planet...

Ning Yuan had already returned to his dorm room.

He had an important matter to attend to.

The Collect Dragon Blood Mission!

It could now be submitted!