Chapter 1 The Beginning

Under Bai Huo's lead, Hao Ren and his group headed towards the "High Tower" of Stars. Around the entrance of that enormous underground cavern was a circle of black rocks floating in the air. On each rock stood a grim-faced demon hunter. As they passed these floating stones, Bai Huo whispered, "They are the Nightsworn of the High Tower of Stars, the Nightsworn of the Midnight Oath. These sentinels are responsible for eternally guarding the tower entrance. If our fortress ever truly falls, they will activate the magic stones beneath their feet and blast the entire tower into distorted space, vowing to never let outsiders intrude upon the sacred land of Corpus. But things are unpredictable... Who would have thought that one day the threat would come from within Corpus itself? Now, they are also ready to blow up this gate at any time, but to prevent the Elder Council from coming out of the sacred land."

Lili's ears twitched, and she immediately felt awe for those grim sentinels standing on the magic stones, her tone filled with amazement: "They have to stand on these stones for their whole lives?! And they're not allowed to come down?! My God... How strong of a will does that take..."

Bai Huo was even more surprised than Lili: "How could they not be allowed to come down! They work in three shifts..."

Even Hao Ren was dumbfounded this time: "...Uh, didn't you say they eternally guard the tower entrance or something?"

Bai Huo frowned: "It means they can't be transferred to other positions. Because these magic stones are very precise, and to prevent accidents, the magic stones are attuned to the mental fluctuations of the Nightsworn. It's very difficult to train a qualified guard, so transfers aren't allowed. Why do you guys always have such strange ideas?"

Hao Ren opened his mouth but couldn't say a word. After learning that Bai Huo had a father who overdosed on drugs and that these seemingly bitter and resentful guards actually had shifts, the image he had of "sleepless guardians," "oath-bound warriors," and "fated duties" was shattered, leaving nothing behind. After struggling for a long time, he could only squeeze out one sentence: "Girl, can't you ever play by the rules..."

Bai Huo gave them a strange look and strode forward: "What I said is clearly common sense. It's you guys who have all these weird impressions of demon hunters."

Hao Ren and Lili exchanged a glance and said in unison: "We need to watch less TV in the future!"

The group entered the enormous vertical shaft that seemed to lead into the depths of the earth, descending along a wide spiral staircase attached to the shaft wall. After entering the shaft and no longer seeing a large pit on the surface, Hao Ren finally felt like he was moving within a tower, though not climbing, but descending. He noticed that the walls of the shaft were initially constructed from ice, but as they continued downward, the ice transformed into a deep black rock.

After walking for a while longer, he looked up and found that the entrance above had become as small as a fingernail. In the upward-looking view, the shaft resembled a hollow tube soaring straight into the sky, the spiraling stairs and numerous crisscrossing beams making him dizzy.

"Have we gone that far?" Nangong Wudi looked up and also noticed the anomaly. "I feel like we've only been walking for less than ten minutes..."

"The spatial rules of the High Tower of Stars defy common sense. Don't trust your intuition or your eyes," Bai Huo said from the side. "Also, don't casually look back at the path you came from. Sometimes the space behind you will suddenly distort, and visual errors can cause you to lose your footing and fall."

Lili stuck out her tongue a little fearfully upon hearing this, feeling that the vertical shaft was truly mystical.

The group continued down the seemingly endless spiral staircase. The surrounding construction material had completely changed from ice to black stone and cold steel. Ancient, obscure, and mysterious reliefs were carved on the walls, which had stood for thousands of years. After continuing for some distance, the spiral staircase began to connect to a wide, fan-shaped platform every so often. Each fan-shaped platform had a window next to it, through which one could apparently see outside.

Lili curiously ran to one of the narrow windows and peered outside. She discovered that the window was covered with a layer of slightly glowing, semi-transparent barrier, and beyond the barrier was the deep, dim seawater.

"We're in the Arctic Ocean... Did we pass through the ice layer?" The husky girl's pointed ears twitched slightly. "Doesn't this tower lead all the way to the bottom of the sea?"

Bai Huo remained silent, continuing forward with a serious expression. As they approached the deeper levels of the High Tower of Stars, her emotions clearly became more tense. She was no longer in the mood to chat with everyone.

Lili, on the other hand, excitedly peeked out the windows at each platform, seemingly expecting to walk all the way to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. But after passing a few more platforms, she suddenly exclaimed, "Land... Landlord! There are stars outside!!"

Hao Ren was stunned to hear this and immediately ran to Lili's side to look out of the tower, and the result left him speechless:

Outside the tower, the stars were shining brightly.

Just a moment ago, they could only see the deep, dim seawater outside the tower window, but after descending only a few dozen meters further, they had already entered the starry sky!

Hao Ren continued to walk down in amazement. As he walked, a sense of incongruity welled up in his heart. He glanced at the steps beneath his feet and suddenly realized that he was unknowingly moving along a spiral staircase that ascended upwards.

Space had unknowingly reversed, and gravity had also changed direction. It was in front of that window where they could see the stars that the group had crossed the boundary between Corpus space and the real Earth. Just as Bai Huo had said before: this tower initially descended, but after reaching a certain point, it would invert!

A faint rumbling sound came from ahead. Hao Ren looked in the direction of the sound—what was originally the bottom of the tower, but was now the top—he saw a hazy starlight shining in the distance, and fragmented architectural structures floated hundreds of meters away.

The group quickened their pace, rushing towards the top of the High Tower of Stars with astonishment. They saw that the top of the tower was fragmented as if it had been blown apart by something. Large sections of giant stone walls and stairs floated in the air as if weightless. Behind the tower's roof, which was split into four pieces, they could see a mysterious and brilliant galaxy shining brightly.

Lili couldn't help but exclaim when she saw this scene: "It's been blown up!"

"No, the High Tower of Stars is originally like this," Bai Huo finally explained. "The tower isn't broken; it's just that Corpus's special spatial phenomena make it appear fragmented. Keep up, we'll exit from the front."

Under Bai Huo's lead, Hao Ren and his group left the bizarre and inexplicable "tower" from the correct exit. As soon as they left the building, they stepped onto a huge rock platform, which turned out to be floating at the top of the tower!

Bai Huo took a deep breath and slowly exhaled: "Welcome to Corpus."

No one responded to her, because everyone, including Izhaks, was deeply attracted by the strange and wondrous sight of this space.

Corpus was like the universe itself. In the boundless dark and chaotic space, one could not see any celestial bodies or large landmasses. Hao Ren looked as far as he could, seeing countless broken ancient buildings and towers floating in the void. In the far distance, he could see a large number of stars shining, and all kinds of mysterious flashes of light leaped incessantly in the depths of this space, like flowing flames or lightning between the stars. He looked back at the tower they had come from. This time, he finally confirmed that it was a tower: the High Tower of Stars stood majestically in the void, the lower half shrouded in a layer of faint purple chaotic light, while a series of rock platforms floated above the tower, the platform beneath their feet being just one of them.

"Now you know why we insist on calling this building the 'High Tower of Stars'," Bai Huo glanced lightly at Nangong Sanba. "It's named after its form in Corpus."

The area around the High Tower of Stars seemed safe, but if one looked far into the distance, one could see a large number of abnormal fires flashing between the distant architectural ruins. Clearly, the battle in this space was still ongoing and was in a stalemate.

The arrival of the group also attracted the attention of the guards around the High Tower of Stars. A small group of demon hunters teleported silently in front of them, like ghosts in the universe. One of the hunters called out Bai Huo's name: "Master Bai Huo! You've finally returned safely!"

Bai Huo quickly walked towards these guards: "I've brought reinforcements, and the main force will arrive later. What's the situation?"

"Master Tu Taan has retreated from the front line, we've lost two more energy nodes, the Elder Council..."

The demon hunters began to nervously exchange frontline reports, while Hao Ren was stunned at some point. He stared intently at the distant floating palace ruins, and a sense of déjà vu slowly welled up in his heart.

Beside him, Lili also stretched her neck and looked at the distant scenery without saying a word. For a moment, the always carefree husky girl even showed a thoughtful and serious expression on her face.