Chapter 278: Moro
Chapter 278: Moro
The First Administrative District, also known as the Imperial Central Court. This is where the headquarters or branches of all major official organizations within the Empire are located. This includes the three great Holy Sees, the Central Court Council, the Imperial Holy Department, the Apocalypse Knights, and the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.
Of these, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau is situated in a remote wilderness, its thousand-meter spire piercing the clouds. It is a special agency independent of the military and political systems, primarily responsible for monitoring the astronomical phenomena of the Astral Realm.
All living beings in the world have corresponding stars in the Astral Realm. However, most beings are like mere tiny [Star Dust], insignificant and imperceptible. It’s only after one advances to the First-stage Spirit Master level that a corresponding [Stardust] will light up. If a Spirit artifact is awakened, its brightness will increase, becoming a [Star Spirit]. Above Star Spirits are the very large celestial bodies. Only gods can possess corresponding planets, representing their authority.
Of course, there are extremely rare exceptions. For instance—Sirius!
“Director! Director!”
The white-haired old man, lounging in a rocking chair and dozing off, stirred and mumbled, “Don’t bother me with trivial matters. Handle the important ones yourself.”
A clerk, draped in a star-blue cloak, smiled and said, “Director, we’ve detected unusual activity from Sirius No. 2. Would you consider this a trivial or important matter?”
*Snap!* The white-haired old man sat bolt upright, all traces of sleep vanished. In an instant, he appeared before an astronomical observation platform. The assembled clerks quickly made way for the director.
The Astral Realm is not the literal starry sky. Therefore, the monitoring methods are somewhat abstract. One needs special astronomical lenses and must also possess the corresponding Divine Grace Spirit Robe. Only by becoming a believer of a certain god can one’s gaze be projected into the Astral Realm; otherwise, they would be instantly blinded.
The old man gazed into the Astral Realm through the Bolog-level astronomical lenses. His vision was shrouded in darkness; there was no trace of Sirius. Nearly half a year ago, when the second Sirius appeared, the Astronomical Bureau had observed two identical, dark celestial bodies rotating around a star in a symmetrical fashion. Unfortunately, after a few minutes, they were once again obscured by star dust, and Sirius disappeared from view.
“Gone again?” The old man frowned and stood up, seeing nothing.
A clerk quickly stepped forward, handing him a diagram. He stated in a deep voice, “Sirius No. 1 remains untraceable. However, Sirius No. 2 appeared for 23 seconds. Based on our estimations, this is likely the time it took for its advancement. Judging by the halo’s intensity, its Spirit Pressure is currently around Fourth-stage.”
“Fourth-stage…”
In less than half a year, it had gone from a novice to a Fourth-stage Spirit Master. Advancing to Fourth-stage was as simple as drinking water. The old man’s sparse eyebrows furrowed deeply. He could only say it was worthy of being a world-ending disaster star; it was too heaven-defying. If it were allowed to grow further, the consequences would be unimaginable.
He took the diagram. The astronomical chart was completely dark, except for a dark celestial body in the upper right corner emitting a milky white halo. For the past half-year, the Astronomical Bureau had been searching the Sirius region for any trace of the two disaster stars. Logically, each of their advancements should have been a moment of exposure.
However, unfortunately, Sirius No. 1 could not be observed for unknown reasons. Sirius No. 2 had appeared twice, emitting extremely faint glows, signifying two advancements. Regrettably, the light was too weak and disappeared after a short while, making it impossible to locate. Only this time, upon entering the transcendent realm, the glow was unprecedented. Although it only lasted for over twenty seconds, it was enough for a location!
The director turned back, “Where is it?”
“Near the northern border, in the Moro Sea of Quadrant Forty-nine, coordinates 291.12.03.09. According to our records, it’s a military base under the Li Dong Legion, on Xize Island.”
“Moro Sea…” The white-haired old man pondered for a moment. He recalled that the Wolf Hunting Squad had a member stationed in the Moro Sea.
The Wolf Hunting Squad was a secret team established two years ago when the first Sirius appeared. They were deployed throughout the Empire, but after two years, they had found nothing. They had even begun to suspect the target might be in the Nightmare Realm. However, it now seemed that was not the case. At least Sirius No. 2 had not escaped the Empire’s borders.
Lost in thought, the old man flipped his withered palm, and a pure white carrier pigeon materialized out of thin air. It flapped its wings and flew into the colorful mirror in front of him, disappearing without a trace.
Xize Island not only possessed a vast amount of spirit materials but also various military-grade ships. Xia Feng’s Nascent Ten Space had an extremely large capacity, so he swept up all the ships directly. Capsule Ships, cone-shaped ships, cloud shuttle warships, small Star Wheels… Even if they weren’t useful, he would gather them first. Besides these, there were also large quantities of daily necessities and food.
Mu Qingtong also joined the plundering. She had a space of her own called Fei’s Inner Space, a rather… peculiar name. However, her space was only 5 cubic meters, so she only stored some spirit materials and a large amount of tanghulu. Unfortunately, this fortress didn’t have soy milk, a definite demerit!
After finally clearing out the fortress’s arms depot, Xia Feng used the Shadow of the Blood Fiend to consume all the corpses. Simultaneously, he spread the Blood Fiend thinly to cover the entire island, instantly corrupting the ground and buildings, destroying all traces. The already ravaged island became even more dilapidated, pockmarked, and eerily silent. He had accumulated a large amount of Blood Fiend over these months, and even after cleaning the island, more than half of it remained, utterly unusable.
While dealing with these matters, Mu Qingtong also managed to decipher the compass obtained from the Heaven’s Revelation Knight. It contained a confession video of Xize admitting his involvement as a mastermind for both the Garden and White Emperor City. Watching the video, Xia Feng stroked his chin thoughtfully. Although Xize hadn’t told the whole truth in the video, the compass was still very useful. For instance, he could cut out the latter half of Xize’s false testimony and only keep the first half of his true confession.
Furthermore, a dialogue within the video caught Xia Feng’s attention. “Xize, from thirty years ago until now, have you used the souls of one hundred thousand troops to create ‘Wang Sheng Stone’?” “Yes.” Wang Sheng Stone… He didn’t know what it was, but it was likely the primary reason for the downfall of the one hundred thousand troops.
After noting this down, Xia Feng gave a few instructions to the Half-dragon legion and then put them into hibernation. He didn’t intend to take the Half-dragon legion with him, nor could he. So, it was better to leave them here for the Li Dong Legion to receive. Such a valuable Half-dragon army would surely warrant significant resources from the Li Dong Legion, who would do their utmost to nurture them. Using the enemy’s resources to cultivate his own forces, and with the Dragon God Contract Seal in place, if the Li Dong Legion tried to investigate their memories, they would only find a void—perfect!
Having completed everything and ensuring nothing was overlooked, Xia Feng and Mu Qingtong returned to the Blue Whale within White Emperor City through the Blue Whale passage. However, to Xia Feng’s confusion, Freya was nowhere to be found.
“Where is she?” The two circled the skies above White Emperor City a few more times. The world was dim and desolate. Xia Feng couldn’t help but frown. Teacher Freya wouldn’t simply wander off, and by now, the old soldiers should have returned to White Emperor City. Yet, there was no one around.
“Something’s not right. Something is extremely not right.” Lost in thought, he dashed into the dense forest to investigate. One of the functions of the Nascent Ten Holy Armor was Forest Protection: within the forest, one’s spiritual senses could merge with the trees, allowing them to see everything within a thousand-meter radius.
Xia Feng sprinted rapidly through the forest and soon spotted an armored man leaning against a tree stump. The man was covered in blood, his armor cracked and torn. His disheveled white hair framed a face with a semi-transparent mask. His lips were purple, and he was spitting blood, appearing as if he had just survived a brutal battle. This was the leader of the old soldiers, Li Zaishi. However, his eyes were vacant and lifeless, his twisted Spirit Body on the verge of leaving his form. He was dying.
