Chapter 337: Star River

Ding Huan's letting Old Six go was something not only Seeing Yan Mei and Liu Yinzhu couldn't understand—none of the others could either.

By all reason, Ding Huan couldn't possibly have spared Old Six just because the beast was his companion, not after Old Six had smashed the sect's great hall doors.

Because normally they felt the relationship between the Sect Master and his beast companion didn't seem all that harmonious.

An ordinary cultivator naturally brings their beast companion everywhere they go, yet their Sect Master rarely seemed to take his beast companion out.

But such things are hard to say—what if Ding Huan was calling on old sentiment and didn't want to kill Old Six?

Ding Huan naturally wouldn't explain this matter, nor could he. He couldn't very well say that this whole thing had to start from the legends of immortals and gods from Huaxia on Blue Star.

"Vice Sect Master Liu, I've come back this time for two things. The first is to hand the position of Sect Master over to you…"

Hearing Ding Huan's words, Liu Yinzhu gave a start. Just as she was about to speak, a flying sword pierced through the sect's protective array and landed directly in her hand.

This kind of message-bearing flying sword that could pierce through a sect's protective array required the recognition of Blue Star Sect; otherwise it couldn't even get past the sect's protective array.

After Liu Yinzhu activated the flying sword, an urgent voice came through: "Vice Sect Master Liu, this is Shan Beishu. If Sect Master Ding has returned, you must tell him something.

In our side of the universe interface there is a Ten Thousand Worlds Commerce Guild. They've issued warrants for Sect Master Ding everywhere. Xun Youshan and Ji Xuwen have already been killed by them. If they find the third-layer Star Land, the consequences are hard to predict…"

Liu Yinzhu was stunned. She looked at Ding Huan with some fear and unease.

Ding Huan clenched his fists, wondering how this matter had leaked out.

If it hadn't leaked, why would Xun Youshan and Ji Xuwen have been killed?

Thinking of this, Ding Huan immediately shot out a message-bearing flying sword.

Message-bearing flying swords come with their own Dao resonance and flight array patterns, so the distance they transmit is far greater than communication beads.

What made Ding Huan frown was that his message-bearing flying sword had just rushed out of Blue Star Sect when it automatically crumbled apart.

The sword, having lost its Dao resonance, also fell to the ground.

There are two possibilities for this kind of situation. First, the distance the flying sword has to travel is too far and it can't reach. Second, the recipient has actively sealed off all traces of their Dao resonance.

Ding Huan suspected it was very likely the second—after Shan Beishu sent out the flying sword, he didn't dare contact Blue Star Sect again.

"Vice Sect Master Liu, when did Shan Beishu and the others leave? How many people left in total?" Ding Huan asked in a grave voice.

Liu Yinzhu also knew this matter was probably serious. She hurriedly said, "Twelve years ago, Senior Fei Zhankuang had been waiting for you to come back the whole time.

After waiting seven or eight years with no word from you, he invited Seniors Shan Beishu, Xun Youshan, Ji Xuwen, Fu Qijian, Ji Gu, and Cang Yongqian to leave the third-layer Star Land. As for what they went out to do, I don't know."

Ding Huan immediately sent out message-bearing flying swords in succession to Xun Youshan, Fu Qijian, and the others. Without exception, none of the message-bearing flying swords could be sent out.

Ding Huan suddenly stood up: "Sister Yinzhu, from today onward you are the Sect Master of the sect. Seeing Yan Mei, you and Hu Wuxin will be the Vice Sect Masters. All sect affairs are to be handled by you through mutual consultation…"

Liu Yinzhu hurriedly said, "Sect Master, I can't do it. My strength is limited…"

Ding Huan waved his hand: "Originally there should have been a ceremony, but I don't have time now. You may hold a Sect Master inauguration ceremony. I must find a place to go into closed-door cultivation for a period."

"Yes, Sect Master, rest assured. Vice Sect Master Liu and I will absolutely not let you down," Seeing Yan Mei immediately understood Ding Huan's meaning.

He also knew that Ding Huan making him Vice Sect Master was to help Liu Yinzhu correct her mistakes.

Liu Yinzhu's consideration of many matters wasn't comprehensive enough and needed him to round it out. As for Ding Huan himself, he must have felt his strength was too low and was preparing to go into closed-door cultivation to break through to a higher level, preparing to go out and rescue people.

Ding Huan was indeed thinking exactly this. Although Seeing Yan Mei was young, Seeing Yan Mei was absolutely a guy with ideas, and his consideration of many matters was extremely thorough.

When he wasn't in the sect, with Seeing Yan Mei watching from the side, nothing would go wrong with the sect.

……

Hidden Jianshan—Ding Huan had come here once again. Not only that, he had also reopened the cosmic vortex he had sealed away.

He had to break through here; otherwise he wouldn't qualify to fight the Ten Thousand Worlds Commerce Guild.

Back on Jiuyuan Star, a mere Immortal-Fanqiao cultivator like Lou Xihe had nearly made him fall. As for the giant behemoth that was the Ten Thousand Worlds Commerce Guild, if you told him they didn't have Immortal-Fanqiao realm experts, he wouldn't believe it even if you beat him to death.

Although Ding Huan hadn't broken through to the Immortal Bridge realm on Jiuyuan Star, he had accumulated sufficiently deep foundations.

Cultivating again now, feeling the vast and boundless cosmic aura from the cosmic vortex, the star bridges in Ding Huan's cosmic consciousness sea underwent some changes.

The star bridges in Ding Huan's cosmic consciousness sea were bridges connecting star systems. After these star bridges took on physical form, the spaces between them were a void of starry sky.

Now, within these void starry skies, all manner of Dao resonance auras had appeared.

Previously, when Ding Huan was in closed-door cultivation on Jiuyuan Star, there had been no such Dao resonance changes.

Although the Jiuyuan cultivators of Jiuyuan Star had been wiped out by Ding Huan and Jiabaihe, it was actually a living planet. When Ding Huan cultivated on Jiuyuan Star, he had fused with the genetic information of countless myriad things.

Now, returning to cultivate at the cosmic vortex, the void starry skies between these star bridges gradually filled with all manner of Dao resonance auras.

As Ding Huan continuously circulated the Great Cosmos Art through Zhou Tian, comprehending the various rules within the vast starry sky, these Dao resonances gradually formed one starry-sky Dao pattern after another.

The starry-sky Dao patterns constituted a faintly visible great river.

Although this great river had not yet fully formed, it had already vaguely encircled all the star systems and star bridges.

Within the massive spiritual energy vortex formed by the Great Cosmos Art, Ding Huan knew his next realm.

Star River realm!

As Ding Huan continuously absorbed the world's primordial energy, the Dao resonances within the star river churned and surged, seeming as if they could take on physical form at any moment.

Yet Ding Huan stopped cultivating.

He vaguely felt that to advance to the Star River realm, cultivating at this cosmic vortex was still not enough. Only by entering true cosmic starry sky to cultivate would his Star River be completely perfected.

Ding Huan once again sealed this cosmic vortex, and at the same time took away the venom vein sealed at Hidden Jianshan, sealing it within his iron pot space.

After finishing these things, Ding Huan controlled the iron pot to rapidly rush out of the third-layer Star Land.

He had a clear objective: first, cultivate within the cosmic starry sky and strive to enter the Star River realm.

Second, wipe out the Ten Thousand Worlds Commerce Guild.

The Ten Thousand Worlds Commerce Guild absolutely had to be wiped out; otherwise, after he left the third-layer Star Land, his heart would never be at ease.

At the edge of the massive iron pot, Ding Huan had implanted four supreme-grade spirit veins and four supreme-grade starry-sky spirit veins.

As for those millions of rings, Ding Huan hadn't opened them all—only opening some of them, the spirit veins and spirit stones inside the iron pot had already piled up into mountains.

Although there were no supreme treasures like the Immortal Jujube Flower or the Nine-Colored Immortal-Mortal Lotus, spirit veins and spirit stones were more than could be counted.

The iron pot wasn't moving forward aimlessly. Ding Huan took out the Ten Thousand Worlds Commerce Guild's guest token.

When he bought it, he had heard Jia Baihe say that this guest token could later guide him to the headquarters of the Ten Thousand Worlds Merchant Guild.

With Ding Huan's array knowledge, controlling the iron cauldron to fly to the Ten Thousand Worlds Merchant Guild headquarters via a guiding array was an easy matter.

Ding Huan wasn't in a hurry to know when the iron cauldron would reach the Ten Thousand Worlds Merchant Guild headquarters—he was wildly refining his Milky Way inside his own iron cauldron.

Compared to all previous realms, Ding Huan felt that only after completing his Milky Way would the Great Cosmos Art be considered preliminarily mastered.

Because to perfect his Milky Way, he had to perfect every cosmic dao rhythm within it.

Main stars, star systems, star bridges…

All of these became more stable through the dao rhythms within the Milky Way.

The dao patterns within the Milky Way were everything he had sensed and fused.

These cosmic rules included not only the cosmic rules he had sensed through cultivation, but also the gene rules of all things in heaven and earth that he had fused during cultivation.

Only a month had passed, yet Ding Huan felt he could summon a Lei Jie by perfecting his Milky Way.

As long as he crossed the Lei Jie, he would enter the Milky Way realm.

Ding Huan did not do this—he continued to strengthen his Milky Way's dao rhythms.

He felt that the strength of his Milky Way might affect his next realm; it was pure intuition.

Therefore, any dao rhythm he had ever sensed or encountered, Ding Huan fused entirely into his Milky Way.

Moreover, through cultivation of the Great Cosmos Art in the vast universe, as long as his spiritual source was sufficient, his Great Cosmos Art could draw in every starry dao rhythm from the boundless cosmos and absorb it into his Milky Way.

Two years, three years…

Ding Huan still wished to further expand and refine his Milky Way when several streaks of Lei Guang exploded, followed by waves of Lei Jie arcs crashing down.

Boom—boom—boom!

The thunder cracked open; Ding Huan suddenly stood up—he realized he still had no suitable offensive treasure.

The first wave of six Lei Jie arcs struck; Ding Huan unleashed six punches in succession.

Crack!

The dao rhythms he hurled collided with the Lei Jie arcs; Lei Guang sprayed everywhere, and Ding Huan felt only his hand bones shattered.

Yet all six Lei Jie arcs were shattered by him.

Ding Huan's confidence surged.

It proved his foundation and accumulation for this Tribulation Crossing were far deeper than the last.

It seemed he was right not to rush into the Milky Way realm after only a month.

If he had entered the void and immediately attempted the Milky Way realm upon sensing he could, he would have been forced to rely on the iron cauldron to cross the Lei Jie.

That might have let him cross the Lei Jie unharmed, but the benefits of using the iron cauldron were completely different from resisting the Lei Jie directly.

Ding Huan easily shattered the six Lei Jie arcs, then three more crashed down.

These three Lei Jie arcs were thicker than the previous six, yet they only broke his arms again.

Ding Huan's Great Cosmos Art surged, completing one Zhou Tian in an instant, stirring the nearly formed Milky Way dao rhythm—his injuries vanished instantly.

Perhaps because the first two waves of Lei Jie posed no threat, the third wave unleashed eighteen Lei Jie arcs at once.

Sensing the Lei Jie arcs of the Milky Way realm could not kill him, Ding Huan's Great Cosmos Art transformed the furious Lei Jie arcs into Lei Yuan and lightning dao rhythms.

The Lei Yuan was easily absorbed by Ding Huan; the lightning dao rhythms were drawn into his Milky Way to fill its dao patterns.

The Milky Way perfected itself at visible speed, and under the endless assault of dao rhythms, it emitted a hollow rumbling, like massive waves crashing against a riverbank.

Even before the Milky Way Lei Jie was finished, Ding Huan was eager to test himself against a Immortal-Fanqiao realm expert.

(That's all for today's update, fellow Daoist, good night, please support with monthly votes!)