Of the ten Death Stars, the one entirely crimson, engraved with countless blood-cinnabar flower patterns, was Meilin’s flagship.

Amidst the stunned gazes of the crowd, the warship’s hatch slid open, and a youth of striking, heroic bearing floated out. Smiling broadly, he flew towards the disheveled Meilin and stood silently before her. Meilin stared blankly at the youth, then suddenly hissed, “Lie Wu.Starlight, why did you do this? You… everything I did, I did it for you!”

Lie Wu.Starlight abruptly slapped Meilin across the face with vicious force, a fleeting glint of savage, primal ferocity flashing deep within his eyes. He roared, “For me? Meilin, you wretch, for me? Ah ha, I misjudged one thing. You mean to say, you did it for this body, so that you could… betray me?”

His words sent a shockwave through the assembly. Meilin, staggering back with blood trickling from her lip, cried out in horror, her eyes wide, “You are not Lie Wu. Who are you?”

“No!” Lie Wu.Starlight threw back his head and laughed loudly. “I am Lie Wu.Starlight. I always believed that once she became too significant, once she began aspiring to power, she should have been eliminated. However, I must say, Meilin, you played your part beautifully. You are the most capable of all the ambitious Empresses I’ve ever employed. To actually manage to eliminate both the Dortro and Longjilans families—truly magnificent.”

Excited, Eternal.Starlight applauded vigorously, showering Meilin with every conceivable compliment, declaring her the strongest in overall capability among all the Empresses he had ever used.

Faced with Eternal.Starlight’s mockery and derision, Meilin’s face grew increasingly ashen. Foul blood began to drip once more from her seven orifices.

Eternal.Starlight laughed triumphantly, doubling over, slapping his own thighs in mirth.

“That Seven Yin Seven Evil Soul Slaughtering Curse—do you know why it didn’t kill you instantly?” Eternal.Starlight roared with satisfaction. “Because I deliberately tampered with the Soul-Trapping Puppets. It wouldn’t kill you outright, but it would absolutely cripple your primordial spirit, while leaving behind a clear magical signature to lure you here.”

He gestured toward the seven black crystal pillars hovering below. Eternal.Starlight chuckled smugly, “This Seven Evil Spirit Slaughtering Formation was always prepared for you. But I never expected there to be two Myriad Immortal Formations! Two Myriad Immortal Formations! The fact that you engaged in a fierce battle using them saved me so much effort!”

Taking a deep breath, Eternal.Starlight shook his head repeatedly. “This slightly deviated from my plan. I knew Mu Sha was looking for something, but I never anticipated it would be the Myriad Immortal Formation Diagram.”

Daoist Mu’s expression shifted violently. He hastily channeled an escape light and darted away. Three golden flying swords narrowly grazed Daoist Mu’s body, the rushing wind whipping away swathes of his hair and the hems of his robes. Daoist Mu roared, a mix of shock and fury in his voice, “You…!”

Three cultivators at the Supreme Sovereign Heaven level from Daoist Mu’s faction cackled strangely, slowly recalling their flying swords as they floated toward the rear of Eternal.Starlight. Eternal.Starlight clapped in approval. “Truly worthy of the Director of Military Intelligence position I picked for you back then. Incredibly sharp. You deciphered from my words alone that I had planted my people among your ranks.”

“A pity. I could have eliminated you easily, but now it seems some effort will be required.”

With a strange curl of his lips, Eternal.Starlight suddenly pointed at the two dozen remaining cultivators within Daoist Mu’s group and bellowed, “Finish him!”

With hissing sounds, the two dozen cultivators simultaneously drew their swords or unleashed their magical artifacts, attacking everyone else nearby. Amidst screams of agony, only the strongest among the two dozen survived; the rest were torn to shreds by flying swords and artifacts, their primordial spirits unable to escape. The sole survivor was drenched in blood, with at least seven flying swords impaling his body. Daoist Mu stared in horror as the cultivators who had slaughtered each other slowly drifted to the ground. He heard Eternal.Starlight’s manic laughter erupt again: “Wonderful fun! Actually, none of my clones are among these people anymore! Why did you turn on each other?”

The last surviving cultivator let out a shrill howl toward the heavens. With near-madness in his eyes, he roared at Eternal.Starlight, “I will fight you to the death!”

With a smack, the skin on the ring finger of the cultivator’s right hand suddenly peeled back, revealing a ring carved from black crystal. The cultivator roared, “Eternal.Starlight, remember my name! I am Kalong.Longjilans! I possess the bloodline of perfect Dragon God power!”

Kalong’s cry grew increasingly distorted, eventually transforming into a deep, resonant dragon roar. The clothes on Kalong’s body shredded, revealing skin rapidly turning blue-black. Large scales erupted from beneath his skin; his muscles writhed and twisted; his bones contorted unnervingly. Gradually, his body hunched over, and two flesh mounds the size of half a dou—also covered in dense black scales—sprouted from his back.

With a massive shout of Ah-you! Kalong’s head transformed into the shape of a wyvern; his forelimbs shrank into sharp claws; his hindlimbs rapidly expanded, becoming exceptionally powerful. The flesh mounds on his back burst open, and two enormous wings unfurled swiftly, whipping up a gale. In the blink of an eye, Kalong had become a completely black dragon, about five meters tall, its blood-red eyes fixed on Eternal.Starlight as it beat its wings with all its might, lunging toward him.

The Dragon God Power—the secret bloodline inherited by the Longjilans family, derived from the mystical lineage of the inscrutable Elder Council.

Daoist Mu’s face twitched. He seemed about to speak but stopped, his feet slipping as he instantly moved to Meilin’s side, seizing her slender waist.

Meilin rolled her eyes toward Daoist Mu and swung her hand to slap his cheek. Daoist Mu seized her hand with all his might and kissed her blood-and-bile-stained red lips forcefully. Meilin’s body shuddered violently, then she suddenly embraced Daoist Mu as if driven mad.

“Have you gone insane?” Eternal.Starlight roared, casually waving his Golden Vajra Mace, shattering Kalong’s dragon head into dust with a single blow. Yet, Kalong’s body still propelled itself toward Eternal.Starlight, his claws ripping viciously toward Eternal.Starlight’s solar plexus, the resulting sharp air currents tearing open the lapels of Eternal.Starlight’s robes. (To be continued—for the next part of the story, please log in for more chapters, support the author, and support genuine reading!)

…him. But, oh, I am truly sorry, he became my clone the moment he was born!”

Clones… Even Gu Xichen, watching from afar, felt his heart sink. He suddenly realized something deeply unsettling, grinding his teeth as he hissed under his breath, “Even a tiger does not eat its own cubs!”

Eternal.Starlight sighed softly, turning his gaze toward the stunned Daoist Mu, Meilin, and the Corpse Venerable, chuckling lightly, “Hard to comprehend, isn’t it?”

Meilin looked at Eternal.Starlight, her face the color of ash. She murmured, “Yes, why must it be like this? Your Majesty, can you allow me to die understanding?”

In addition to the ten Death Stars originally belonging to Meilin, five more Death Star warships descended rapidly through the clouds. More White Winged warships surged from all directions, completely sealing off the surrounding void. No matter what divine power Meilin possessed, escape was impossible. The desire to "die understanding" perfectly mirrored the despair Meilin felt at that moment.

Eternal.Starlight stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking with immense satisfaction at these enemies who had schemed against his throne, only to be utterly defeated.

Sighing contentedly, Eternal.Starlight nodded. “I don’t mind letting you know my secret. In that case, I have to ask: Do you know why every emperor of the Polar Star Empire, upon ascending the throne, has always renamed himself Eternal.Starlight?”

Shaking his head proudly, Eternal.Starlight burst into laughter. “It’s absolutely not for the reason I publicized—that it represents the eternal prosperity and heritage of the Polar Star Empire, requiring every generation to adopt the same name. It is because the Polar Star Empire once had only one emperor, still has only one, and will only ever have one emperor in the future: Me!”

Daoist Mu and Meilin’s bodies trembled violently; they looked at each other almost instinctively.

Eternal.Starlight slowly recounted his secret, and as he spoke, Meilin and Daoist Mu trembled with increasing severity, so much so that those near them could hear the audible grinding of their joints. What Eternal.Starlight revealed was too astonishing. Meilin and Daoist Mu had rashly engaged without even grasping the true nature of the entity they were fighting; their defeat was entirely deserved.

Since its founding, the Polar Star Empire had only ever had one emperor: Eternal.Starlight. He claimed to be a man who disliked trouble, so when he established the nation, he decreed that the Emperor of the Polar Star Empire must continue to use his name. This decree was written directly into the Imperial Ancestral Edicts, becoming an irrefutable law.

Eternal.Starlight, having inherited the Buddhist technique of entering the Dao through dreams, lacked the ability to evolve three thousand worlds solely through his own dreamscape, nor could he create sentient life within his dreams to embed his clones into, allowing him to perceive the cycle of birth and death to comprehend the Great Way of Nirvana. However, the inherently cold, selfish, and merciless Eternal.Starlight had a superior option: he separated his primordial spirit using dark arts, targeting his own descendants.

Any direct descendant, immediately upon birth, would have their soul wiped and his clone implanted. Subsequently, his clone would mature alongside that physical body. He would actively cooperate with everyone around that body, acting according to their needs. For example, if Meilin required an ambitious son aspiring to the throne, Lie Wu.Starlight would manifest as just such an ambitious prince, willing to use any means necessary to eliminate other princes in whom Eternal.Starlight had also implanted a clone.

This was an act of devastating, complex, and unnatural game-playing. In this manner, Eternal.Starlight controlled the vast Polar Star Empire; the so-called emperors of each generation were nothing more than his extensions. These clones would marry and father children, but all resulting princes would have Eternal.Starlight’s essence implanted.

Through intermarriage between these other princes and the offspring of the great noble families, this nightmarish fate of soul-implantation spread to the descendants of those influential clans.

If not for ancient noble families like the Dortro and Longjilans, who inherited ancient lineages—and whom Eternal.Starlight dared not easily touch for fear of exposing his deeds—he had achieved near-total control over the other noble families of the Polar Star Empire.

As royal and noble families declined, as family fortunes withered, the descendants of once-great noble houses devolved into commoners. Eternal.Starlight remained indifferent to the status or position of the body hosting his clone; he passively followed the life dictated by that flesh. Indeed, many of his clones lived in other low-level civilizations; some even became beggars or held even lower social standing.

The sheer mass of clones granted Eternal.Starlight immense life experience. His cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, his power soaring. Ultimately, he became the first emperor among the twenty-six Six-Star Civilizations to break through to the Clear Clarity Embryonic Heaven stage, and the first to launch an assault on the Profound Embryo Nurturing Heaven. While emperors of other nations were scattered and destroyed by qi deviation and heavenly tribulations, the founding emperor of the Polar Star Empire endured.

The royal families of the Blazing Dragon Empire knew of Eternal.Starlight’s perversion, as did the core royal families of several other Six-Star Civilizations. However, due to certain external constraints, none of the Six-Star Civilization royal families dared to leak Eternal.Starlight’s secret. Even Chi Long.Lieyan, who had grown close to Gu Xichen, dared not reveal Eternal.Starlight’s terror to him for the same reason—he constantly mentioned the term ‘Old Monster’ in front of Gu Xichen, hoping to draw his attention and caution. Eternal.Starlight meticulously explained the entire sequence of events to Meilin and Daoist Mu. Satisfied with their stunned silence, he suddenly burst into loud laughter.

While his main body laughed uncontrollably, the clone, Lie Wu.Starlight, took over the talking, teasing Meilin and Daoist Mu, “Rarely have I encountered a game that truly engaged me over so many years. But this time, you actually sought to usurp my throne. How utterly ironic.”

Glancing coldly at Daoist Mu, Lie Wu.Starlight sneered, “I know what you desire: power, more power, greater power. But look at what you are, what kind of entity are you? If you were given greater power, could you control it? Could you protect it? With your meager cultivation? With your limited intellect?”

Sighing, Lie Wu.Starlight looked at Meilin with pity and mocked, “As for you, unfortunate foolish woman, your life has been a true failure! You loved Mu Sha, yet he delivered you to me. You managed to give birth to a daughter, only to become her enemy. You bore a son, only to have him become my clone. And you actually tried to place my clone on the Imperial Throne!”

Shaking his head, Lie Wu.Starlight stated grimly, “A failure, a foolish woman! You are truly only fit to be our plaything; you are utterly unqualified to participate in our game. Why haven’t you died yet? Look, look! After all your hard work selling your charms to eliminate the Dortro and Longjilans families, what was the result?”

Meilin stared blankly at Lie Wu.Starlight, a cruel smile spreading across her lips. “So, you were always his clone.”

Lie Wu.Starlight gazed at Meilin, chuckling coldly, “Do you feel fear, or do you feel despair?”

Meilin suddenly spat out a mouthful of bile, vomiting frantically until even bitter gall erupted. Once she managed to stand upright, Meilin laughed strangely, “I only feel disgust!”

The Corpse Venerable suddenly raised his hands and shouted to the wildly laughing Eternal.Starlight, “Your Majesty, I was deceived by this woman, who told me you perished under the heavenly tribulation. That is why I involved myself in this affair. Had I known Your Majesty was safe and sound, I would never have set foot in the Polar Star Empire.”

The Corpse Venerable sighed softly, speaking with deep sorrow, “My disciples have suffered so many casualties due to this mistake. I do not wish to continue this futile struggle.”

Eternal.Starlight stopped laughing, tilting his head in thought for a moment, then casually stated, “The Polar Star Empire needs a new Director of Military Intelligence. If you are willing, you can replace Mu Sha.”

The Corpse Venerable frowned, but after surveying the dozen or so Death Stars and countless White Winged warships surrounding them, and carefully weighing the gains against the losses, he cast one lingering look at Meilin, then silently led his remaining dozens of disciples to Eternal.Starlight’s side, bowing respectfully, “Your Majesty!”

The Corpse Venerable never straightened up again. As he bowed, Eternal.Starlight casually drew forth a Golden Demon Subduing Vajra Mace, twelve feet long, and with utter nonchalance, struck the Corpse Venerable upon the head. The forty-two fist-sized golden sariras embedded in the mace simultaneously spewed forth dazzling golden flames. Driven by Eternal.Starlight’s Profound Embryo Nurturing Heaven level power, the staff easily smashed the Corpse Venerable’s skull. The golden flames enveloped the struggling primordial spirit, easily refining it into a wisp of blue smoke that drifted away.

A hundred streaks of sword light shot toward the sky, instantly piercing the vital points of the ten remaining disciples near the Corpse Venerable. Eternal.Starlight waved his right hand lightly; the Demon Subduing Vajra Mace struck the ten disciples repeatedly, shattering their bodies. Golden flames spewed forth, and white ash from incinerated flesh drifted down like snow across the heavens.

“Would I have a corpse serve as the Empire’s Director of Military Intelligence?” Eternal.Starlight roared with wide eyes, laughing loudly. “Wouldn’t that be too disgraceful? I have so many clones right here! I could conjure up hundreds of Mu Sha’s men on a whim. Why would I give a chance to a treacherous zombie?”

Blood dripped again from Meilin’s mouth. She looked at Eternal.Starlight, her beautiful eyes filled with absolute despair.

Eternal.Starlight looked gently at Meilin, chuckling softly, “After all, we shared a span of marital connection. Although, all previous Empresses were killed by my own hand.”