Chapter 283: In the Sky!

It was Gao Xingde!

His aura was listless, his robes torn to shreds — clearly he had Suffered Heavy 【Injury】.

He barely steadied himself, but dared not linger for even a moment. Transforming into a streak of blood-light, he plunged toward a roaring Dahe in the distance like a stray cur, and with a "plop" vanished into the surging river waters, his aura disappearing in an instant.

Chen Mu strained his eyes, about to carefully discern whether Gao Xingde was alive or dead, and the situation of the masked man.

Hum—

The space beside him rippled again like water waves.

The mysterious man, wearing a mask and a star-spotted long robe, had already appeared out of thin air, as if he had been standing there all along.

Not a speck of dust clung to him, his aura steady — it seemed the earth-shaking battle just now had nothing to do with him.

The pure-white mask turned toward Chen Mu, and that calm, waveless voice spoke again.

"Chen Mu, since you have already crushed the token, are you prepared to join us?"

"…"

Chen Mu gazed at the unfathomable masked man before him, was silent for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Do I still have a choice?"

Even facing a Heavenly Palace realm expert, he still maintained his composure and caution.

A glint of appreciation seemed to flash in the mysterious man's eyes behind the mask, and his calm voice rang out, "Of course you do. We never force anyone. As long as it is before you step into the 'Star Palace,' we will respect any decision you make."

"Star Palace?"

Chen Mu keenly caught this unfamiliar term. "You are the 'Star Palace' organization?"

"No."

The mysterious man shook his head slightly and corrected him, "We are 'Star Gods.' Enough idle talk — first, answer whether you are willing to join?"

His tone remained flat, yet carried a certain authority, as if merely stating an established procedure.

Chen Mu's thoughts raced — joining a completely unknown organization carried unknown risks.

But if the other party truly harbored ill intent, with the strength of a Heavenly Palace realm, he would already be reduced to bare bones.

Moreover, Chen Mu was filled with curiosity about this organization that could command Heavenly Palace realm experts and possessed such miraculous tokens and escape arts.

Immediately, he took a deep breath, decided to gamble, and asked one final question, "Only after joining will I know the specifics?"

"Correct." The mysterious man nodded, his words concise and to the point.

"Then I'll join." Chen Mu no longer hesitated and made his decision.

As his words fell, he added, "However, I am an Inspector of the Zhenwu Bureau of Great Zhou — does this identity matter?"

"Of course not."

The mysterious man's answer carried not the slightest hesitation; his tone even took on a hint of matter-of-factness. "Those who can become 'Star Gods' are all like-minded fellow travelers, each other's most steadfast allies. 'Star God' is our identity in the dark of night. On the surface, everyone has their own background — perhaps a sect elder, perhaps the head of a noble house, or perhaps an official of the imperial court."

He paused ever so slightly on those last four words, seemingly to dispel Chen Mu's final concern.

"We do not interfere with one another, nor do we even know each other's true identities — we act only for a shared conviction."

Saying this, he spoke no more, and with a flip of his hand produced a token the size of a palm.

The token's material was neither metal nor Jin Feiyu; it was a dark purple, its surface carved with an extremely intricate mysterious pattern that seemed to contain the orbital trajectories of the celestial stars, with a tiny point of light at the center flowing slowly like a stellar core.

The mysterious man lightly tapped the token with a fingertip, and the pattern suddenly lit up with a faint glow.

The next instant, an invisible yet tremendous spatial fluctuation surged forth from the token, like mercury spilling across the ground, instantly enveloping both Chen Mu and the mysterious man.

Chen Mu only felt the surrounding scenery violently twist and blur, as if he had been thrown into a bizarre kaleidoscope; his body sensed a faint tearing sensation, but it was not unpleasant.

This was a spatial traversal experience that far surpassed lightness skills and body arts, even surpassing certain escape techniques!

Almost at the very same instant Chen Mu was enveloped by the spatial fluctuation.

On a distant hilltop, several martial artists who had originally been prostrated on the ground in terror by the Heavenly Palace realm battle cautiously raised their heads.

In the sky, the raging storm had already calmed, the shattered clouds slowly knitting back together; only the destroyed forest and collapsed slope below bore witness that the brief yet terrifying battle just now had been no illusion.

"N-no more movement?" one martial artist said in a trembling voice.

"Who was that just now? Too terrifying!" another chimed in, his face pale.

"It seems like someone died, fell into the river?" a third man tried hard to recall the blurry scene he had last seen, his tone uncertain.

"He should be dead." A man beside him said with certainty, "A battle between Heavenly Palace realm experts — how could ordinary people get involved?"

"Who was the one who died?"

"Who cares who he was! A clash at this level is not something we can meddle in! Let's go, let's go, don't get caught as innocent bystanders!" The leader, still shaken, hurriedly urged his companions to leave this place of trouble.

……

……

Before his eyes, light and shadow flowed, as if he had passed through a brief tunnel formed of countless twisted rays of light.

Before Chen Mu could carefully appreciate the mysteries of this void passage, a sudden brightness flared before his eyes, and all the twisting and discomfort vanished in an instant.

He looked closely and was shaken.

Chen Mu discovered that he was actually standing in the sky!

Beneath his feet was a vast, boundless sea of clouds rolling gently, like a white velvet carpet spread out, stretching all the way to the edge of his vision.

Looking up, he saw the higher reaches of the firmament, clear as if washed, where sunlight poured down unobstructed, carrying a pure and sacred aura.

He and the mysterious man were standing in empty air, like the legendary immortals, riding the clouds.

"Is this the road to the 'Star Palace'?"

Even with Chen Mu's resilient will, he could not help but ask aloud at this moment, his voice carrying a barely concealed shock.

"More precisely…"

The mysterious man beside him spoke in his usual flat, waveless tone, "We have already arrived at the 'Star Palace.'"

"What?"

Chen Mu was even more astonished. He instinctively looked around. "Isn't this the sky?"

"It is the heavens, but not the 'heavens' as you understand them."

The mysterious man explained. He seemed very patient in resolving the doubts of this newcomer, Chen Mu. "You can think of this place as a kind of ancient site—an independent, existing alternate space."

"An ancient site? An alternate space?"

Chen Mu heard this, and the shock in his heart grew even greater.

Ancient sites—Chen Mu had entered three of them.

But an alternate space this vast, this stable, this real, as if it had encompassed an entire true sky within it, was something he had never seen before. It completely exceeded his imagination!

"Such a vast alternate space?" Chen Mu clicked his tongue.

"This place and the outside world both overlap and are isolated from each other."

The mysterious man gave a light chuckle, unsurprised by Chen Mu's reaction. "A specific token, the 'Star Token,' is required to enter. The Star Token is not merely a key—it also possesses powerful spatial translocation ability. As long as a corresponding star marker has been left in the present world, the holder can rely on the token to teleport here at any time."

Chen Mu immediately thought of the strange token he had crushed. "The token you gave me before—did it have a marker on it?"