Chapter 1110

"Someone came…" Han Wuxian frowned slightly. He restrained his aura, like withered wood blending into the environment, silently came ashore. The shattered star armor was forcibly condensed by his weak stellar force into a dark purple leather armor covering vital parts, concealing the most shocking wounds. The broken sword "Shattered Star" was taken into his body's stellar realm to be nurtured.

He needed to understand this world, needed a safer place to fully recover, and more importantly needed to find a way to leave. The star gate coordinates branded in his divine soul faintly burned, and the shadow of the Nine Abysses loomed like a thorn on his back.

Following the direction in which those barbarian footprints departed, Han Wuxian slipped into the dense forest like a ghost. Though the divine sense of a Void Reclamation cultivator was damaged, it could still cover a radius of several li. He sensed the faint remnants of breath in the air, tracking the traces of those primitive hunters.

Passing through a giant fern jungle draped with vines, the view suddenly opened up. A vast clearing appeared deep in the forest; at its center stood dozens of primitive shelters built from massive logs, animal hides, and stones. Some men and women clad in animal hides, their faces painted with colored clay, were laboring—sharpening stone tools and processing game. In the middle of the clearing, a huge bonfire's embers still glowed, sending up thin blue smoke.

And on the most conspicuous high slope behind the village, a crude stone hall built entirely of some dark blue-gray boulders stood silently. On the walls of the stone hall, rough yet powerful lines carved a huge pattern:

Seven stars, encircling an open gate! The arrangement of the stars faintly resonated with the trajectory of the seven star-seal sigils within Han Wuxian's body! And that open gate bore a striking resemblance—about seventy to eighty percent—to the Myriad Heavens Star Gate!

At the stone hall's entrance stood two crude stone carvings. They were not humanoid, but rather some strange beast clad in star-patterned scales, gazing up at the firmament! The beast's form was exactly identical to the "Celestial Beast" totem recorded in the Myriad Heavens Star Battles True Explanation as serving the stars in ancient times!

Han Wuxian's heartbeat skipped a beat the moment he clearly saw the totem and the stone carvings!

This seemingly primitive barbarian tribe actually worshipped a star totem sharing the same origin as the Star Derivation Sect? Is it a coincidence? Or… could the spark that scattered when the Star Derivation Sect collapsed thirty thousand years ago have drifted here?

Just as his mind and spirit were shaken, and he attempted to use his divine sense to examine the interior of the stone hall more closely,

"Hum!"

Deep within the stone hall, an extremely obscure yet incomparably pure stellar force erupted! This power carried an ancient and sacred majesty, as if a slumbering beast had been startled awake, instantly sweeping across the entire village!

All the busy primitives in the village, men and women, young and old, simultaneously halted their actions! Their faces showed utter fervor and awe as they unanimously knelt toward the stone hall, mouths uttering in unison a prayer filled with primitive rhythm!

And within Han Wuxian, the seven dormant star-seal sigils, stimulated by this pure stellar force, unexpectedly flared up uncontrollably! Seven faint cyan-gold light pillars shot through his body in an instant, piercing the heavens! The thicket where he hid was illuminated as if it were daytime!

"Roar!"

In the village, the muscular man with beast-pattern tattoos on his face leapt to his feet, pointed toward the direction where Han Wuxian hid, and let out an earth-shaking roar! All those who had been kneeling instantly lifted their heads; hundreds of gazes, like tangible arrows, brimming with shock, ecstasy, and an indescribable scrutiny, locked onto the thicket where the figure clad in star armor and surrounded by seven stellar glows could no longer hide!

The tranquility of the barbarian lands was utterly shattered. Han Wuxian lay exposed beneath hundreds of fervent, primitive eyes, like a lone star straying into a wolf pack. The pure stellar force deep within the stone hall continued to undulate, as if scrutinizing him yet also beckoning. Ahead lay unknown tribes and the mysterious star totem; behind him pursued the relentless shadow of the Nine Abysses.

The seven cyan-gold light pillars, like divine spears piercing heaven and earth, completely exposed Han Wuxian's figure from the dark thicket! The shattered star armor dripped with dim stellar sparks; though the stellar radiance encircling his body was faint, it bore a vast pressure emanating from the essence of life. Hundreds of fervent, reverent, scrutinizing gazes, like tangible flames, scorched every inch of his skin. The air froze, save for the faint crackle of the bonfire's embers and the heavy breathing of the primitives.

"Roar!" The beast-tattooed chieftain of the tribe stepped forward violently, slamming his stone spear into the ground. He fixed his gaze on the faintly visible star-pattern trajectory beneath Han Wuxian's shattered chest armor, which shared the same origin as the stone hall's totem, his eyes bursting with indescribable excitement and fervor! Trembling, he raised both hands, holding in them the few withered leaves that still retained faint traces of stellar light and bloodstains, and from his throat issued a low, ancient syllable:

"Star… son… descends!"

"Star's child! Star's child!" After a brief silence, the entire tribe erupted in a shout like mountains collapsing and seas roaring! All the primitives, men and women, young and old, prostrated themselves, foreheads pressed firmly against the warm earth, uttering the most devout prayers and invocations. That fervent atmosphere almost ignited the air.

Han Wuxian's brows were tightly knit. Though he had forcibly suppressed the anomaly of his star-seal sigils, dimming their light, the undulation of the pure, ancient stellar force emanating from deep within the stone hall clung to him like an invisible chain, bringing a sense of scrutiny… and… summoning.

"Take me… there." Han Wuxian's voice was low, carrying the indisputable authority of a Void Reclamation cultivator; his gaze pierced the fervent crowd and fell upon the primitive stone hall built of dark blue-gray boulders. His words were not the tribe's language, but they carried the power of divine sense, clearly imprinting themselves on every primitive's consciousness.

Chieftain Yan Shan trembled all over, the fervor in his eyes intensifying! Without hesitation he rose, like the most devout guide, parting the kneeling crowd and leading the way bowed forward. The path to the stone hall was cleared, with kneeling primitives on either side like pilgrims.

The stone hall loomed before them. The two crude stone carvings of star-gazing celestial beasts, though rough, exuded mighty power and an ancient desolation. The hall's door was covered with thick hides, separating inside from outside.

Yan Shan halted before the hall's door, respectfully kneeling and chanting an even older, obscure prayer. Then he rose, drew a deep breath, and violently flung open the hide curtain!

A stellar force far purer and richer than outside, carrying the dust of ages and a sacred aura, surged forth! Inside the hall the light was dim; only on a similarly crude altar of dark blue-gray stone at the center did the offerings emit a soft, steady starlight.

This was not an idol, but a half‑human‑high meteorite core, pitch‑black all over yet covered with countless natural silver star‑spots! Visible stellar force halos flowed across its surface—the very source of that pure stellar undulation! Before the meteorite core stood a rough stone pillar; atop it hovered a palm‑sized fragment of bronze, its whole body flowing with a warm cyan‑gold glow, whose patterns shared the same origin as the star‑seal sigils fused within Han Wuxian—only older and deeper.

The bronze fragment trembled slightly, resonating strongly with Han Wuxian's star‑seal sigils! But what shocked his mind and spirit even more was the massive stone‑carved star chart on the wall behind the altar!

The star chart was etched with extremely bold, powerful lines; at its center lay exactly the totem of seven stars encircling a gate. Yet beyond that totem, several star‑roads extended, each formed by linking different stars and pointing in different directions! At the core node of one such road, a special star‑mark was outlined in deep‑red mineral pigment, its shape perfectly matching the coordinate imprint Han Wuxian had etched in his sea of consciousness leading to another intact Myriad Heavens Star Gate!

What this barbarian tribe worshipped was not merely a star totem, but also a primitive star chart pointing to the place where the Star Derivation Sect's spark lay!

"Roar… huh…" Chieftain Yan Shan uttered a low, reverent moan, pointing at the floating bronze fragment and the meteorite core, then at Han Wuxian; his eyes brimmed with pleading and devotion.

Han Wuxian understood. Perhaps this tribe were the descendants of the guardians left behind by a Star Derivation Sect cultivator who fled here thirty thousand years ago carrying a star‑seal fragment! They revered the star‑seal fragment and the meteorite core containing stellar force as holy objects, guarding through the ages this star chart that points to the land of hope.

He stepped into the stone hall. As he drew near, the bronze fragment on the altar trembled ever more violently, its cyan‑gold light almost bursting through the stone! Within him, the star‑seal sigils emitted a yearning hum. When he reached out, his fingertips about to touch the fragment—

Boom!