High above the blue star, Fang You entered stealth mode and walked on air.
Threads of faint radiance flickered in his pupils. His tracking skill, the peak of sinister arts, was activated, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon.
A dark curtain shrouded the blue star’s sky, and a foul aura surged like a tide.
Beyond the heavens, one could vaguely discern a boundless world, indescribable in words, slowly approaching.
The vast blue star was as insignificant as a drop of water in the ocean before the spectral realm.
This was an unstoppable force.
“The pace of erosion has quickened again.”
“At this rate, it won’t be long before we enter the third phase – the Tide of Gray Mist. The mysterious will fully descend upon the blue star, and the entire environment will begin to mutate. Simply put, the whole world will become a pollution zone.”
According to Yi Yueluxi and his previous estimations, the blue star should have entered the third phase of spectral realm erosion in about one to two years.
However, after the battle with the blood-colored emperor’s avatar, the erosion process had suddenly accelerated.
“Did that battle make the blue star’s world barrier more fragile?”
“Or is it that the blood-colored emperor is exerting influence from behind the scenes, pushing forward the erosion process?”
Fang You felt it was a combination of both.
He arrived in Europe and looked towards the shattered land. There were still people ‘scavenging’ there. Above this region, a massive void could be faintly seen, from which gray mist continuously seeped out. From the fragmented land below, spectral beings would emerge from time to time.
On the detection map, this area was marked as a ‘high-level pollution zone,’ the most severely eroded region on the blue star.
“At this pace, within one to two months at most, the blue star will usher in the Tide of Gray Mist. At that time, the spectral beings infiltrating the blue star could be several, even tens of times more numerous than now, and Disaster-class spectral beings will no longer be few and far between.”
“The entire blue star will truly enter doomsday, with all order gone.”
Yi Yueluxi had described this.
In the second phase, when the cult of evil gods began to appear and form their sects, most worlds had already gradually lost their order.
By the third phase, the Tide of Gray Mist, human survivors could only eke out a living under the leadership of a few awakened individuals. Perhaps those churches protected by evil gods would fare even better.
Typically, in this phase, the eroded worlds were overrun by demons and monsters, with heavy human casualties, marking the apocalypse.
Then came the fourth phase, the ‘Devouring Phase,’ where regions were successively consumed, signaling the era of world destruction.
“The Tide of Gray Mist phase has arrived much sooner than anticipated, but my Ember of Hope is already making preparations. This is a tremendous challenge, but not an insurmountable one.”
He planned to build base cities and safe zones.
The core of these would be the Beacon of Dawn.
Simultaneously, countless Beacons of Dawn would form a Great Wall of the blue star to resist the erosion of the spectral realm! However, there was a prerequisite: the Beacons of Dawn must be established in appropriate locations. These locations… he could not yet ascertain. He would have to wait for the Tide of Gray Mist to appear and determine them based on its flow.
And the materials for the Beacons of Dawn were being continuously sought.
Fang You mused, opening his game panel and casting his gaze towards An Jianyou, who was in the spectral realm.
…
The Spectral Realm, Black Stone Tower.
An Jianyou, wearing the artifact of storage, the Ring of Offering, arrived alone.
“You’ve finally arrived… Why are you alone?”
“Master is busy, so she entrusted me to come. And I’ve brought a lot of delicious food from our blue star~”
An Jianyou jiggled the ring.
It appeared to be another storage-type artifact. The blue star world was truly rich.
Yi Yueluxi clicked her tongue.
Wealth and power were roughly equivalent. The richer the blue star, the happier she became. She was counting on making a fortune from the blue star.
Uh, though that was the case, so far, she had only been getting things for free.
But she had a plan. The earning would begin today!
“A few days ago… about six or seven days ago, did anything happen on your blue star?”
“A cult… ritual.”
An Jianyou blurted out, then quickly braked mid-sentence.
But with those words, Yi Yueluxi instantly understood.
It must have been a ritual set up by the servants of an evil god on the blue star, intended to attract the gaze of some hidden entity.
From the looks of it, the people of the blue star had stopped the ritual, but it was very dangerous.
Did they know that if that terrifying mythical entity had exerted a little more force, your blue star might have been wiped out?
“That might have been the gaze of a mythical entity. I don’t know whether to call you lucky or unlucky.”
“We were startled as well.”
An Jianyou put on her usual expressionless face.
In her heart, however, she thought it was probably unlucky, given the formidable enemy that had descended upon the blue star. But it was a mythical entity? Even mythical entities couldn’t overcome the blue star. As expected, Master was at least a great mythical being!
Master was truly amazing!
She had heard that mythical entities possessed an overwhelming divine might, but she couldn't see any of it in Master… Was Master too approachable?
It had to be!
Putting her thoughts aside, An Jianyou spoke, “This time, we want to inquire more about the situation in the spectral realm, and about your Oasis factions. Can this information be bought?”
“It can, it can.”
There was no harm in sharing general information about the Oasis factions with the blue star. It wasn’t as if only their Black Stone Alliance possessed them. With the strength of the few powerhouses from the blue star, encountering other Oasis factions was only a matter of time.
It was better to build some goodwill.
She was very optimistic about the blue star. Given the performance and potential of the individuals from the blue star, they were highly likely to become a major Oasis faction in the future.
If they couldn’t find an unclaimed oasis, well… that would be even better, wouldn’t it? They could then invite them to join the Black Stone Alliance and make them one of their own.
Plan complete!
But well, while building goodwill was important, earning money was also crucial.
“Food for information, information for food.”
“Mm-hmm~!”
An Jianyou immediately transformed into a gourmand, taking out a dazzling array of beautifully presented and aromatic dishes from the Ring of Offering, introducing each one.
Cantonese, Sichuan, Shandong cuisine.
Dishes from the sky, the land, and the sea.
Compared to the hurried affair last time, the spread of delicacies this time was even more dazzling. As An Jianyou introduced them, she herself felt a pang of hunger.
But she still listened attentively, ears pricked, to Miss Yi Yueluxi’s intelligence.
Yi Yueluxi put away the entire table of food.
She was actually a little tempted as well, but she restrained herself. She couldn’t, like last time, ungracefully devour everything.
These delicacies had great use for her; they were part of her plan as the Tower Master Yi Yueluxi to make money.
Besides, this body was merely an avatar. While her main body could share in the taste of these delights, it still felt like a waste.
“Cough, cough!”
“The spectral realm has always been described in terms of shallow, deep, and deeper layers. I can’t say how large the spectral realm is, but in the region where our Black Stone Alliance is located, there are probably dozens, even hundreds of oases around us.”
Her definition of “around us” referred to the exploration range of the Black Stone Oasis.
It was a vast area.
“However, most of these oases are small. They can only survive precariously in the spectral realm, so I haven’t bothered remembering them. I’ll just talk about the large oases.”
“Our Black Stone Alliance is a large oasis, and among the large oases, we are quite strong.”
She proudly puffed out her chest. “Besides us, there are also Fallen Star City, Sacred Serpent Society, Scorching Flame Oasis, Sword Flower City, and Tide City.”
“These large oases are factions capable of exploring the spectral realm and operating in dangerous territories. Therefore, when you explore the shallow spectral realm, you might encounter people from these large oases. However…”
She curled her lips. “These oases may not be as friendly as our Black Stone Alliance~”
That’s right! The best trading partners were only their Black Stone Alliance.
Hmph!
…
The Spectral Realm, deep layer, a place where gray mist was sparse.
A silver-haired woman opened her eyes, a gleam flashing within them.
If An Jianyou were here, she would have discovered that this woman looked not just similar to Yi Yueluxi, but identical.
That’s right, she was Yi Yueluxi – the main body.
The Seventh Tower Master of the Black Stone Alliance.
She wore a silver cloak and, with her long, slender legs, slowly walked to the tower’s window. From here, she could overlook more than half of the Black Stone Oasis.
The oasis’s architecture was predominantly black and gray. Around her Seventh Tower, the buildings were still spaced some distance apart. But further away, the densely packed black structures seemed to be fused together.
Even though the buildings were not crude or simple, they still exuded a sense of oppression.
The pedestrians below the buildings were like worker ants, moving through narrow streets and alleys.
Compared to ordinary people, the living environment of oasis nobles was much more privileged. As a top-tier noble figure, a Tower Master, Yi Yueluxi possessed a considerable area of land around her high tower.
There were green plants and a small pond.
Yi Yueluxi, as usual, went to her personal plantation. Here, she cultivated some mysterious crops, the most important of which was the Bread Tree. This was also the most crucial food source for the Black Stone Oasis – one of the staple foods for nobles.
The bread fruit from a Tier 2 Bread Tree was rich in nutrients. For a strong individual like her, five or six pieces were enough to fill her stomach.
If it were Tier 3 bread fruit, one would suffice.
Not only was it a staple food, but it was also an important strategic resource.
However, the taste of bread fruit was actually quite ordinary, and it couldn’t be prepared in many ways. In comparison…
Yi Yueluxi savored the memory.
“The food from the blue star world, although it doesn’t fill me up, is absolutely delicious! Many of them are things I’ve never seen before!”
She summoned a subordinate.
“Have the merchants from Fallen Star City arrived?”
“Yes, Tower Master,” replied her attendant, Xiao Xi. She paused and then asked, “Can these foods really be exchanged for resources?”
After all, they weren’t abundant, and they didn’t improve one’s strength.
Yi Yueluxi asked, “Do you think they taste good?”
Attendant Xiao Xi subconsciously licked her lips. “Delicious.”
“Then that’s all there is to it.”
Yi Yueluxi said, “I like them very much, and the other Tower Masters like them too. Why shouldn’t people from other oases like them?”
“Yes, the overall environment of the spectral realm is dangerous. We have always focused on survival and improving our strength. But if 99% of our resources are spent on improving our strength, can’t we use the remaining 1% to enjoy ourselves?”
“Moreover, not all oasis powerhouses are ambitious. There are also those who indulge in pleasure. This is our business opportunity.”
Even a small fraction of the total trade volume of an entire large oasis represented a considerable amount to her. And her target was multiple large oases.
Furthermore, what had she sacrificed for these blue star delicacies?
She had only exchanged some information.
No cost, immense profit!
I’m a genius, hahahaha—!
…
ps: The operations team has launched a monthly ticket event. You can participate in the discussion area, duck~