Yuan’s Ascension

Within the majestic temple, Archimmortal Jing Qu waited anxiously in silence.

"Jing Qu, you’ve rendered a substantial contribution. Well done. Remember, this information must not be leaked," Astral Monarch Ya Hei, standing at the far end of the temple, suddenly spoke. "I will reward you with a million divine crystals."

"Thank you, Astral Monarch," Archimmortal Jing Qu respectfully replied.

His heart swelled with joy. A million divine crystals? This wealth meant little to the Astral Monarch, but for an Archimmortal like him who wasn't even an Astral Lord, it was a considerable fortune.

Of course, he also felt a tinge of disappointment. If a single piece of information was worth so many divine crystals, what rewards would he have gotten if he’d managed to obtain the Black Devil Star?

"Additionally, I will issue a bounty to all my subordinates of fourth-stage Archimmortal strength and above," Astral Monarch Ya Hei said coolly. "Anyone who reports the Spacetime Sword Immortal's whereabouts will be rewarded with one hundred thousand divine crystals per instance.

Anyone who captures the Spacetime Sword Immortal and presents the Black Devil Star to me will be rewarded with one billion divine crystals, along with a promise from me.

So, Jing Qu, you can continue tracking him down. As soon as you locate any trace of the Spacetime Sword Immortal, report it immediately. I will reward you accordingly. If you obtain the Black Devil Star, one billion divine crystals will be yours." Astral Monarch Ya Hei gazed down at Archimmortal Jing Qu.

Archimmortal Jing Qu listened with bated breath.

A hundred thousand divine crystals just for providing information on his whereabouts? One billion divine crystals for obtaining the Black Devil Star?

Someone like him who possessed nearly ten million divine crystals in wealth was considered quite rich among those below the Astral Lord phase.

As for Astral Lords, except for a few skilled in the Law of Space, most had wealth ranging from tens of millions to several hundred million divine crystals. Astral Lords with a net worth exceeding one billion divine crystals were extremely rare!

In essence, such an enormous fortune was enough to tempt and even drive the numerous powerhouses under Astral Monarch Ya Hei's command crazy. They would spare no effort to hunt down Wu Yuan.

One billion divine crystals? Archimmortal Jing Qu's heart trembled. If I had such wealth, I could easily exchange it for numerous Dao comprehension opportunities from the Hundred Mysteries Palace. My chances of breaking through to become an Astral Lord would increase by at least twenty or thirty percent.

Observing Jing Qu's expression, Astral Monarch Ya Hei also pondered. One billion divine crystals are enough to drive the Archimmortals under my command into a frenzy.It's also enough to offset their greed for the Black Devil Star.

If he had only offered a bounty of tens or hundreds of millions of divine crystals, those Astral Lords were highly likely to flee upon obtaining the Black Devil Star, as the Black Devil Star itself was worth even more.

When managing subordinates, one must use both carrot and stick.

Obtaining a Black Devil Star indeed granted powerhouses the qualification to explore the Black Devil Blood Hollow, but it didn't necessarily guarantee such enormous wealth.

Divine crystals weren't easy to come by.

For Archimmortals and Astral Lords, if their talent wasn't sufficient, they would have to rely on secret arts, teachings, and Dao comprehension opportunities for support, all of which required enormous wealth to acquire.

And when sending their mana bodies on dangerous expeditions or battles, the treasures lost upon their deaths could range from tens of thousands to millions of divine crystals.

Moreover, for certain important treasures, one might never make back their losses once they were gone.

In battles between powerhouses, many medicinal pills, arrays, and weapons and artifacts were consumables, and had to be replenished with wealth.

Unless one were an Astral Lord proficient in the Law of Space—exceptional in both self-preservation and reconnaissance, and able to amass wealth with ruthless efficiency—many Archimmortals, despite adventuring for countless ages, might struggle to earn much and instead fall deeper into debt.

However, how many Astral Lords of Space were there? At least, among the nearly one thousand Astral Lords under Astral Monarch Ya Hei's command, there were only two skilled in the Law of Space.

One billion divine crystals? Astral Monarch Ya Hei shook his head slightly.

This sum of wealth wasn't too much for him. If he hadn’t been unable to enter the Snowlight Mist Realm, he would have personally gone over to hunt Wu Yuan down.

If I obtain a Black Devil Star, even the price of billions of divine crystals would be worth it. Astral Monarch Ya Hei mused silently.

"Jing Qu, you may go," Astral Monarch Ya Hei said. "I have already issued the relevant orders and messages."

"Understood."

…

The vast headquarters of the Hundred Mysteries Palace spanned multiple spatial dimensions.

Within an unremarkable palace.

Hmm? The Astral Monarch has sent a message? A purple-robed figure, whose outer layer of skin was nearly transparent, suddenly opened his eyes and quickly began to review the information.

One billion divine crystals? The Astral Monarch is being quite generous this time. Such wealth is enough to make other Astral Monarchs take action. The purple-robed man's eyes flashed with surprise. All this to capture an Earth Immortal?

He was Astral Lord Gu Shou, an Archdeity possessing terrifying power rivaling a ninth-stage Archimmortal. Moreover, he was skilled in the Law of Space.

In terms of strength and status, he was absolutely among the top Astral Lords, worthy of being called the number one Astral Lord under Astral Monarch Ya Hei's command. He was no weaker than Astral Lord Hao Chi who had once saved Archimmortal Long Xing.

But even so, one billion divine crystals was enough to tempt him.

A Black Devil Star? Legend has it that this was one of the great treasures scattered throughout the Dao Realm by Sovereign Black Devil before his demise. After countless ages, it’s likely that extremely few are still in circulation outside. At least, I've only heard of it, but never actually seen one. Astral Lord Gu Shou thought to himself.

If I obtain it, even if I don't present it to the Astral Monarch, I can still venture into the Black Devil Blood Hollow.

His heart stirred.

Immortal cultivators only needed to carry the Black Devil Divine Pillar with them to qualify for entry; but for those who had already ascended to Archimmortality, they had to carry a Black Devil Star to enter.

Legend has it that the Black Devil Blood Hollow hides the secrets of Sovereign Black Devil, who was the number one Sovereign of the Dao Realm. Astral Lord Gu Shou pondered. This might also be an opportunity to break through and become an Astral Monarch.

Though he served under Astral Monarch Ya Hei, he couldn't help but yearn to break through and become an Astral Monarch himself. It was just that taking this step was too difficult. On average, fewer than one in several thousand Astral Lords could break through.

The difficulty of fully comprehending an Intermediate Law while at the Archimmortal or Archdeity phase was over ten thousand times greater than while at the High Immortal or High Deity phase.

To the Spacetime Immortal Voidrealm. Astral Lord Gu Shou gave a mental command.

A strand of his consciousness instantly descended into a special temple within the Spacetime Immortal Voidrealm, where hundreds of powerhouses with strong auras had already gathered. The vast majority were Archimmortals, and only a few were Archdeities.

"Astral Lord Gu Shou has arrived."

"Gu Shou."

"Haha, with Gu Shou here, I'm afraid our chances of snatching the prize are slim." The numerous Archimmortals and Archdeities laughed as they spoke.

Many Archimmortals looked at him in awe.

"Where's Astral Lord Li Wu? He isn’t here?" Astral Lord Gu Shou swept his gaze around, not finding his old friend.

Astral Lord Li Wu was another individual under Astral Monarch Ya Hei's command skilled in the Law of Space.

"Everyone, let's work together to capture this little Earth Immortal," Astral Lord Gu Shou smiled. "My mana body is about to depart. Those who are at the headquarters can come with me to the Snowlight Mist Realm."

"Let's go."

"Astral Lord Gu Shou, wait for me."

Time passed.

Astral Monarch Ya Hei commanded tens of thousands of Archimmortal-level powerhouses, but those who could reach the fourth-stage Archimmortal level and earn his trust were naturally few. Moreover, not every Archimmortal's mana body was available or unoccupied.

In the end, within a short span of two hours, about eight hundred Archimmortal/Archdeity mana bodies set out for the Snowlight Mist Realm. Among them were dozens of Astral Lord-level powerhouses.

"The target was last seen in the Myriad Mountains Ice Plain," Archimmortal Jing Qu hurriedly said. "It takes several days at least to leave the Myriad Mountains Ice Plain."

"Mm, we'll get there as fast as we can."

"Haha, I'm already in the Snowlight Mist Realm, I'll head over right away." A few Archimmortals who were already in the Snowlight Mist Realm naturally had an advantage.

In their view, even if they didn't ultimately obtain the Black Devil Star, just providing information on his whereabouts once or twice would be profitable enough.

Moreover, hunting down an Earth Immortal posed no danger to them.

…

A bunch of fools. Spacetime Sword Immortal? How can an Earth Immortal who comprehends the Law of Time be an easy target? In an inconspicuous region of outer space in the Dao Realm was an artificially created world. An Archimmortal was currently hiding here.

The Astral Monarch will be fine. Even if a Sovereign launches a karmic attack, it'll be hard to kill him.

But us?

He was one of the two Astral Lords skilled in the Law of Space under Astral Monarch Ya Hei's command—Astral Lord Li Wu.

After receiving Astral Monarch Ya Hei's message, he pondered briefly before finding an excuse to decline.

We can't kill this Spacetime Sword Immortal anyway. With his talent, as long as he doesn't die prematurely, there's a high probability he'll become a Sovereign in the future, and a Sovereign of Space at that. Astral Lord Li Wu shook his head slightly.

A Sovereign of Space skilled in the Law of Time? Even if he can't enter the Dao Realm, once he launches a karmic attack, how many Archimmortals and Archdeities could withstand it?

In terms of karmic attacks, someone who comprehended the Law of Karma was naturally the most terrifying, but it was worth noting that the Law of Karma was built upon the foundation of the Laws of Time and Space.

In terms of rarity, a Sovereign of Karma was no less rare than a Sovereign of Space. Therefore, in terms of the power of karmic attacks, a Sovereign skilled in Space or Time was equally terrifying.

Even if the probability was small, Astral Lord Li Wu didn't want to court disaster.

One billion divine crystals? To him, it wasn’t worth it.

…

The battle on the Myriad Mountains Ice Plain was witnessed by numerous High Immortals and High Deities. As time passed, news gradually began to spread.

However, most of these High Immortals and High Deities were not part of the core of their factions, and compared to Wu Yuan's previous feats, this battle wasn't particularly extraordinary. Thus, for the time being, the news didn't spread very quickly.

Although Astral Monarch Ya Hei had issued a search warrant, it was only distributed within a small circle of Archimmortals under his command. Therefore, the matter of the Black Devil Star had not yet been brought to light.

In the short term, no other Astral Lords or Astral Monarchs of other major factions had taken notice of this incident.

Wu Yuan was even less aware of it.

…

Days slipped by, and in the blink of an eye, six days had passed.

Whoosh! Amidst the endless glaciers and ice sheets, howling winds raged. The cold here was severe enough to fell even a Void Refiner/Elysian Field powerhouse.

Crack! One of the ice sheets shattered, and a black-robed figure darted out.

It's truly freezing here. However, if I press on for another few dozen billion li, I should be able to escape the Myriad Mountains Ice Plain. Wu Yuan muttered to himself.

For the past few days, he had been traveling at full speed. Unfortunately, while traversing the depths of the ice sheets, he had the misfortune of getting ensnared by a powerful array, which had taken him several days to break free from. Luckily, there had been no mortal danger.

Let's go. Wu Yuan said, his form blurring into motion as he navigated the deep crevasses between the towering glaciers, pressing forward across this vast and endless land of ice and snow.

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