Chapter 130: Star Power Showdown, Pluto's 3909 Star Power vs. 7216! (Part Two) His King Star and his two accompanying Dwarf Stars shuddered simultaneously, and the space spanning tens of millions of miles around them groaned into absolute stillness and darkness.

Three beams of intense light, invisible to the naked eye but discernible only through divine sense, shot out from Pluto's three satellites, rapidly merging into the planet's crust. Pluto's celestial body began to tremble. The body of the Colorless Crystal Man swelled once more, now reaching a height of two hundred meters.

A muffled laugh rumbled from the Colorless Crystal Man’s mouth. He rubbed his hands together forcefully, and a ball of lightning, imbued with attributes of both searing heat and bone-chilling cold, erupted from his palms and shot toward the Corpse Emperor. The Corpse Emperor’s expression changed drastically.

He exclaimed, “This wretch is channeling the Star Power of Pluto! And he hasn’t even used any magical powers or techniques!” The Colorless Crystal Man had borrowed the strength of Pluto and its three satellites without displaying any trace of magical exertion, as if it were purely instinctual. A cultivator at the Spirit Transformation stage could never stand against the power of an entire planet unless they too could draw upon sufficient stellar force.

Xin Jia, lying prone on the ground, suddenly roared, “Corpse Emperor, release your Nascent Soul immediately! I will teach you the method to channel the Star Power of the Three Killing Stars—Sha, Po, and Lang!” The Corpse Emperor froze for a moment. He recalled his great seal to block in front of him, then gritted his teeth and completely removed the restrictions on his Nascent Soul.

Xin Jia groaned, forcibly breaking down a portion of his own Nascent Soul, transforming it into a thumb-sized speck of purple light and forcing it out of his Sea of Consciousness. A stream of purple light zipped across the space and quickly merged into the Corpse Emperor’s brow. The fragment of Nascent Soul, containing the secret technique for channeling the Star Power of Sha, Po, and Lang, was instantly devoured by the Corpse Emperor’s massive soul.

All the seals and incantations recorded within were rapidly digested and integrated by him. The lightning bolt unleashed by the Colorless Crystal Man struck the White Bone Great Seal directly. With a tremendous boom, brilliant light erupted, sending Gu Ye Chen and the others soaring dozens of miles away on the shockwave.

They slammed violently against the surrounding crystal walls, their bodies shattering most of their bones, the intense pain searing into their very core. Wisps of smoke drifted from the White Bone Great Seal. The Colorless Crystal Man’s lightning strike had indeed damaged the seal’s vitality.

However, this was, after all, the treasured heirloom of the Nine Nether Dao’s secret transmission. Though the seal showed signs of crumbling and dispersal, it firmly blocked the Corpse Emperor, preventing him from sustaining any damage. The Corpse Emperor squinted, digesting the incantation transmitted by Xin Jia for a moment.

Then, he suddenly threw his head back and laughed uproariously, “Marvelous, truly marvelous beyond description! To open the gate to the Great Dao in one stroke, ascending to the Azure Heavens upon the clouds! The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao; without obtaining the True Dao, one cannot enter the Daoist Gate.

Truly wonderful!” Amidst his laughter, the Corpse Emperor formed an arcane hand seal and began muttering strange incantations. This chant sounded like the universe's first thunderclap, like the first ray of lightning in creation, like the celestial music made by the first raindrop striking the first leaf. This was not a sound meant for the mortal realm; the sound itself conformed to the Heavenly Dao.

This was a secret technique that should never have manifested in the human world. This chant was a trace left behind by the Heavenly Dao. To master this chant was to grasp a shadow of the Heavenly Dao, drawing one step closer to it!

As the Corpse Emperor recited the words, two clear tears flowed from his eyes. Visions flickered within his Sea of Consciousness; he seemed to behold the wondrous spectacle of the Zhou Tian Star Web being spread out, witnessing countless divine, magnificent, and resplendent shadows. These visions were ephemeral, like the traces left by a passing goose—leaving only faint ripples on the Corpse Emperor’s heart before vanishing without a trace.

With a crisp “kacha,” a sound emanated from the Corpse Emperor’s brow, and an ineffable wave of spiritual energy expanded outward from that spot. The Corpse Emperor formed a hand seal and sighed toward the sky, “Bone King Corpse Emperor, that Void-Breaking Pill from Lao Jun Valley belongs to you. This Emissary no longer requires it!” Lion Venerable, Eagle Saint, and Tiger Granny gasped in unison.

In the next instant, they could no longer contain their ecstatic shouts! The Corpse Emperor’s cultivation, stagnant for nearly a thousand years, had broken through in one day. He had crossed the barrier between the Spirit Transformation stage and the Void Returning stage, gaining initial access to the mysteries of the Heavenly Dao.

The first Grandmaster of the Void Returning stage in the history of the Earth’s cultivation world had appeared here and now! With a light sigh and the lingering trace of tears, the Corpse Emperor smiled faintly, “How can a mere Pluto contend with the ancient Star Gods?” He lightly tapped the space before him three times. The surrounding void suddenly vibrated violently.

The space that had been sealed by the Star Power of Pluto and its three satellites instantly reverted to normal. Deep within the boundless cosmos, three colossal stars erupted with blinding light. Three faint, ethereal shadows hovered and soared above those great stars.

An invisible force instantly traversed the void spanning countless light-years and, in the very next instant, descended upon the Solar System. Three streams of starlight, saturated with murderous intent, destruction, doom, and annihilation, shot down from the high heavens and integrated directly into the Corpse Emperor’s body. The Corpse Emperor chuckled and slowly brushed his hand across the White Bone Great Seal before him.

The dense starlight coalesced into a blinding, purplish-silver Star Flame, which licked the seal. The great seal immediately dissolved into a puff of white vapor floating before the Corpse Emperor. Countless twisted demonic faces on the white bones simultaneously let out mournful shrieks; their original consciousnesses were forcibly erased by the Star Flame, transforming into a mass of dark energy, ferociously violent to the extreme and brimming with endless killing intent, swirling within the white vapor.

In the blink of an eye, the Corpse Emperor let out a sharp cry: “Merge!” The black vapor and white vapor instantly combined into a single White Bone Great Seal, smooth and jade-like, sized to fit a fist. No longer did the seal display rows of snarling skeletal remains; only a hazy starlight faintly radiated outwards. An aura of yin, evil, slaughter, a hundred times more intense and a hundred times stronger than before, continuously diffused from within the seal, causing the distressed Gu Ye Chen, clinging to a crystal pillar protruding from the chasm wall, to feel a sudden panic.

Clutching the crystal pillar protruding from the chasm wall, Gu Ye Chen gave the Corpse Emperor a thumbs-up. “Truly excellent material for a businessman! Not only borrowing the Star Power of the Three Killing Stars but also refining a magic treasure with it right on the spot—this is what you call squeezing every last drop of commercial value, leaving nothing behind!” Having instantly refined the White Bone Great Seal with magnificent stellar power, the Corpse Emperor roared with wild laughter, “A brilliant strategy!

Today, I bestow upon you a new name: the Tri-Malice Seal! Hahahaha!” With a burst of maniacal laughter, the Corpse Emperor, whose entire skin had turned a purplish-silver color, stomped his foot hard. The entire planet Pluto trembled once more.

The vast Star Power of Sha, Po, and Lang pierced straight to the core of the planet. The gathered energy within Pluto shuddered, transforming into scattered orbs of light that drifted everywhere. The Colorless Crystal Man roared in anger.

The Star Power of Pluto, which had been continuously flowing into his body, suddenly cut off. His immense body rapidly shrank, returning to its original size in the space of a single breath. He stared blankly at his rapidly diminishing form and shouted in shock, “The Ancestor’s power—!” The Corpse Emperor lunged toward the Colorless Crystal Man with a grim smile, seizing him by the neck.

“This Emissary possesses the power of three Great Stars! You, a mere insignificant little star, hahaha!” He closed his fingers slightly. The neck of the Colorless Crystal Man, who had been rendered completely defenseless against the assault that had battered Gu Ye Chen and the others, shattered into fragments.

The Corpse Emperor casually reached into its chest and tore out a glowing orb radiating a seven-colored halo. Powerful surges of energy continuously diffused from the sphere. “Pat, pat.” Peng Hua had somehow crawled to the Corpse Emperor’s feet.

He reached out and firmly hugged the Corpse Emperor’s calf. “Master, since your disciple has been beaten black and blue, grant this treasure to me! You are already a Grandmaster of the Void Returning stage, hehe, you surely wouldn’t care for this trinket, right?” Peng Hua smiled obsequiously, his eyes narrowing into slits from the effort.

The Corpse Emperor glared at Peng Hua and casually tossed the crystal sphere high into the air, where it landed perfectly in Gu Ye Chen’s arms. He said coolly, “A cultivator should not rely on external objects. All external power is unreliable compared to one’s own cultivation.

Let your junior brother handle this crystal ball.” Gu Ye Chen smiled wryly at the grimacing Peng Hua and promptly stuffed the crystal sphere into his Little Qiankun Pouch. The hundreds of high-level Crystal Men who had rushed into the chasm following the Colorless Crystal Man stood frozen on the spot. They had not expected that both the Black Crystal Man and the Colorless Crystal Man, who could borrow the Ancestor's power, would be defeated, and that their life cores would be extracted after they were killed.

One of the Crystal Men roared, and the hundreds of them surged toward the Corpse Emperor like a tide. Gu Ye Chen spat out a mouthful of blood. While frantically mobilizing the power in his Dao Embryo to repair his battered body, he screamed downward, “Master!

Please go easy on them!” The Corpse Emperor chuckled, “Hmph, small fry.” He tapped a few times casually. Several streaks of sword energy tore through the sky. Sword energy miles long effortlessly ripped apart the limbs of the Crystal Men.

The Star Power of the Three Killing Stars surged into their bodies, locking down their crystal cores. Hundreds of Crystal Men crashed heavily to the ground, all rendered immobile. Peng Hua, feigning subservience, lowered his head and furtively tucked three purple crystal spheres into his embrace.

He chuckled softly, “Hehe, purple Christo Crystal Spheres. Tsk tsk, one of these could buy out the entire red-light district three levels beneath Paris! Hee hee, the Best Actress from last year’s Oscar, tsk tsk—that big-breasted blonde girl—no matter how expensive she is, one purple crystal sphere would suffice.

As for the remaining one… the female leads from the Golden Bear, Silver Bear, and Palme d’Or awards, hee hee…” With a slurp, a long string of drool dripped from Peng Hua’s mouth. He quickly sucked it back in. Gu Ye Chen hurriedly jumped back to the ground.

He rapidly ordered the bearded captain to gather the employees of the Hadvar Company from the Hunting Ship and quickly lower the transport craft. They crammed the heavily wounded Christo Crystal Men into specialized alloy crates. After loading a thousand alloy crates containing the high-level Crystal Men, he stuffed the remaining five hundred-plus purple and blue Crystal Men into his pouch.

Once everything was finally dealt with, the Corpse Emperor beckoned Gu Ye Chen over. “Disciple, you mentioned there are at least eleven altars here? Meaning at least eleven ancient exotic beasts, correct?” The Corpse Emperor’s eyes glittered, and Gu Ye Chen’s eyes were likewise shining rapidly.

The older and younger man exchanged a glance. The Corpse Emperor fell silent for a moment, then made a gesture to Gu Ye Chen. “You cannot cultivate the Dao.

What benefits do you desire?” Gu Ye Chen smiled reservedly. “Hmm, can Master acquire a top-tier alchemy furnace from Lao Jun Valley? Having a high-grade furnace would satisfy this disciple greatly.” The Corpse Emperor looked thoughtfully at Gu Ye Chen and nodded with a slight smile.

(Mid-break reminder) Alchemy Furnace— Cultivation invariably involves artifact refining and pill concoction. As long as there are sufficient materials to waste, success can be achieved even with mediocre skill. As for writing, it invariably involves Monthly Passes and Recommendation Votes, doesn’t it?

Everyone, keep smashing those votes! (To be continued)