While Chen Zhou pondered, the battle on the board continued.
The white stones exploded one after another, slime gushing from within to contaminate wave after wave of skeletons.
But the skeletons did not care in the slightest.
Contaminated? They simply ripped off the infected parts and regrew them.
Completely contaminated? A martial brother would smash them to pieces with a coffin, and moments later, they would crawl back out of the defiled earth.
The more they fought, the wilder and more excited they became, dancing about and laughing merrily.
“Hahaha, again, again!”
“You shameless bastard! How dare you steal my kill?!”
“Out of the way, out of the way! Let me try my new move!”
One skeleton slammed his black coffin onto the ground. The lid popped open, and a massive volume of black mist surged out.
The mist condensed into a massive malevolent ghost. It stood three zhang tall with a green face and protruding fangs, its entire body wrapped in iron chains.
The malevolent ghost slapped downward, smashing three white stones into fragments.
However, the slime within the fragments splashed onto the malevolent ghost's arm.
The arm began to turn white.
The malevolent ghost roared. Its other hand grabbed the whitened arm and yanked hard, ripping the entire limb off as black blood spewed out.
At the stump, a new arm rapidly grew back.
“Nice! Brutal! Truly a hot-blooded man of our Corpse Soul Sect!” a nearby skeleton applauded.
The malevolent ghost roared toward the sky in triumph, then glared at him.
The malevolent ghost's owner quickly clarified, “Don't talk nonsense! My Little Sha is a female ghost as beautiful as a flower!”
The skeleton: “...”
The battlefield grew increasingly chaotic.
Only the last fifty white stones remained.
Yet, as if sensing their impending doom, they began to fight back frantically.
All fifty white stones exploded simultaneously. Slime poured out from within them, merging to form a massive puddle of white liquid.
The liquid squirmed, deformed, and then shaped itself into a giant white monster.
The monster had no fixed form; its body twisted constantly as it surged forward, lunging at the skeletons.
“Holy crap! They fused?!”
“Don't panic, don't panic! Let's charge together!”
The skeletons swarmed forward, but the white monster's infectivity was too potent. The slime on its body clung at the slightest touch, immediately contaminating whatever it contacted.
Over a dozen skeletons were contaminated, turning white, only to be smashed to pieces by their nearby martial brothers.
“This thing is troublesome!”
“Surround it! Don't let it escape!”
“Martial brothers, open your coffins together!”
The remaining dozens of skeletons opened their black coffins simultaneously. All of their malevolent ghosts poured out in full force, charging toward the white monster together.
The malevolent ghosts tore at the white monster's body, ripping it away piece by piece, which other ghosts then shredded.
The white monster let out a shrill shriek, its body continuously shrinking.
Finally, all of the white stones were completely wiped out.
The slime from the exploded white stones gathered, slowly flowing toward the center of the board—the position of Tianyuan.
The stone slabs began to crack, fractures spreading outward from Tianyuan in all directions. The lines on the board blurred, and the black and white lights fell into chaos.
The entire space shook.
Debris rained down, and cracks appeared in the void overhead.
“My Lord, the board is collapsing!”
The Plague Rat cried out.
Chen Zhou did not move; he stared fixedly at the position of Tianyuan.
Something seemed to be crawling out from there.
The skeletons sensed it too.
They ran back from all corners of the battlefield, surrounding Chen Zhou in layer after layer. Their black coffins faced outward, with malevolent ghosts hovering on guard.
“Do not panic, my Lord! We will protect you!”
The skeletons clamored, their voices tinged with tension but filled with even more excitement.
Boom—!
The board shattered completely.
The stone slabs burst apart, flying debris scattering as dust filled the sky.
At the position of Tianyuan, a cluster of bright light slowly rose.
It was a carved tortoise shell.
Palm-sized and pitch-black, its edges were carved with intricate patterns that flowed with a silvery-white light.
Above the shell fragment, a blurry human figure emerged.
The figure was very faint, resembling a condensed mass of mist. His facial features and clothing were indiscernible; one could only make out the silhouette of a tall man.
“What is that?!”
“Who cares what it is! Smash it first!”
Several skeletons leapt into the air, swinging their black coffins to smash the figure.
But the shell fragment transformed directly into a beam of light, shooting straight toward Chen Zhou.
“Stop it!”
The skeletons paled in fright, jumping up one after another to block it with their bodies.
Yet the light was too fast. The skeletons could not even touch its shadow before it penetrated their defensive line.
“We're doomed!”
“My Lord, watch out!”
“It's over, it's over!”
The skeletons shrieked in despair.
Chen Zhou reached into his robes and felt a warm shell fragment.
He pulled it out to look.
The carved tortoise shell had changed.
The originally black shell fragment had turned white, warm and lustrous like fine mutton-fat jade.
The tortoise shell quickly transformed into an exquisite bone carving, depicting a single-horned divine beast standing atop a mountain peak, roaring toward the sky.
The divine beast resembled a Qilin, but it had a single horn on its head, was covered in scales, and stepped on clouds with its four hooves, looking exceptionally majestic.
【You have obtained a Spirit of the Dipper Constellation (Activated)】
“My Lord! Are you alright?!”
The skeletons hurriedly crowded around, clamoring with concern.
“That thing drilled into your body!”
“My Lord wasn't possessed, was he?”
“Do you need us to dig it out for you?”
Chen Zhou glanced at them. “I'm fine.”
The skeletons breathed a sigh of relief.
“That scared me to death. I thought it was some kind of hidden weapon.”
“Exactly, exactly. Thank goodness my Lord is unharmed.”
“But what on earth was that? A turtle shell?”
“I don't know, but it seemed incredibly powerful.”
As the skeletons chattered, Chen Zhou stared at the Spirit of the Dipper Constellation in his hand, his brow furrowing slightly.
Was this left behind for him by Xuan Cai?
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the Spirit of the Dipper Constellation suddenly lit up.
Silvery-white light surged from the shell fragment, drilling into Chen Zhou's palm, climbing up his arm, and finally sinking into his forehead.
Within his sea of consciousness, fragments of memory began to surface.
They flashed before Chen Zhou's eyes like a revolving lantern.
The first memory.
The sky was red, the earth was trembling, mountains and rivers were fracturing, and countless living beings were wailing in pain.
In the sky, numerous figures were locked in battle.
But Chen Zhou could not make out their appearances, seeing only blurry lights and shadows.
Red, white, gold, black.
Lights of various colors intertwined, tearing open gash after gash in the sky.
From within those gashes, things were surging outward.
They were black, twisted, and mad, highly resembling the slime from the board, but larger, denser, and far more terrifying.
The scene shifted.
A man stood upon the shattered earth.
He wore a black cloak, his robe embroidered with a silvery-white star chart, the stars slowly rotating across the fabric.
The man's face was blurry and indiscernible, but one could vaguely sense an innate, majestic authority radiating from him.
He raised his hand and pressed it toward the sky.
The gashes in the sky were forced shut by an invisible power.
The black substances were pushed back, and the edges of the gashes began to heal.
Yet the man also paid a price.
His body trembled, the star chart on his robe dimming as star after star extinguished.
“Lord Xuan Cai!”
Someone called out from behind him.
The man turned his head and glanced back.
Following his gaze, Chen Zhou saw a stretch of ruins.
Upon the ruins stood a group of bizarrely shaped creatures, staring in terror at the sky, at those gashes, and at those black substances.
“Bring them and follow me.”
The man spoke calmly. Instantly, several dark shadows surged from the shadow behind him, wrapping around all the ancient beasts and following closely behind him as they walked step by step in one direction.
The scene shifted once more.
The man stood upon a barren land.
There was nothing around him, only a gray sky, cracked earth, and a pool of lifeless, nearly dried-up lake water.
He squatted down and pressed his hand against the ground.
Mysterious dark light surged from his palm, pouring into the earth.
The ground began to shake.
Vegetation began to sprout from the soil.
Within a few short breaths, this barren land transformed into a serene forest.
“From this day forth, this place shall be called Qingzhou.”
The man stood up, looking at this newborn land with a calm tone.
“Qingzhou?” a voice asked.
Chen Zhou looked down and saw an ancient beast that resembled an ox.
It possessed the head of a dragon and the body of a tortoise, covered in scales, its four hooves treading on mist and clouds.
The ancient beast looked at the man innocently and asked, “Why this name?”
The man lowered his gaze, remaining silent for a few breaths.
Then he said, “There is no particular reason.”
“In the Battle of Qingtian, the high heavens were stolen, and the outer provinces fractured to this point.”
“I preserved this old site of the Ancient Kingdom of Southern Tang, naming it 'Qing' probably just to allow some old friends, who are destined to return in the future, to find their way home.”
The innocent ox let out an understanding grunt and asked no more.
The man took a cluster of glowing clay from his robes.
The clay was very small, only the size of a fist, but its light was blindingly bright.
The man squatted down and buried the clay into the ground. He then stood up, looked around, and reached his hand out to grab at the void.
From the void, the corpses of auspicious beasts were dragged out by him.
They were already dead, but their bodies remained perfectly preserved, emitting a faint glow.
The man piled the corpses together, then waved his hand.
Mysterious dark flames surged from his palm, incinerating the corpses.
The corpses melted within the flames, turning into pools of dark, shadow-like liquid.
The liquids merged before splitting into numerous points of light.
Under the moonlight, the man's shadow also began to split. Shadows surged out to merge into the points of light, which then fell to the ground and transformed into new lives.
“From this day forth, you shall be the Northern Seven Mansions of my, Xuan Cai's, command.”
“This is the foundation of Qingzhou.”
“Nü Tu Fu, Wei Yue Yan, Xu Ri Shu, guard it well for me.”
“Remember, no matter what happens, you must not let the seal break. The only one who can control it is her.”
“Otherwise, this world will truly be beyond saving.”
“Understood.”
“Dou Mu Xie, you shall stay here to protect the descendants of these old friends for me. If anything goes wrong, you will be held solely responsible.”
“Understood.”
The four named newborn lives knelt in unison, bowing their heads in obedience.
The man took one last look at them, then turned and left with three of the creatures.
“Lord Xuan Cai, where are we going?” a voice asked.
“Back to the Central Province,” the man said. “To reclaim his position.”
The scene shifted again.
In the forest, the moonlight was as clear as water.
The single-horned Dou Mu Xie stood by the Celestial Maiden Spring, lowering its head to look at the lake's surface.
Its body was trembling, its scales covered in cracks through which white light seeped outward.
That was not its own power, but a form of contamination.
Just like the slime in the board, it was white, twisted, and mad.
“Leave quickly.”
It spoke, its voice hoarse.
Behind it stood several hundred descendants of the auspicious beasts.
Deer, oxen, tigers, birds... of various shapes and sizes, but they all shared one common trait: they were incredibly weak.
The strongest was only fifth-stage, while the weakest was not even first-stage.
“Lord Dou Mu Xie!”
A small tiger rushed forward, nuzzling against its leg. “We aren't leaving! We want to stay and protect you!”
“Go.”
Dou Mu Xie lowered its head, gently nudging a small deer's head with its nose.
“You are still young. You cannot defeat them.”
“Go to the other provinces, and do not return.”
“But—”
“Go!”
Dou Mu Xie suddenly raised its head, a silvery-white light lighting up on its single horn.
Moonlight surged from its body, diffusing in all directions to envelop the entire forest.
Wherever the moonlight passed, space began to distort.
The figures of those auspicious beasts blurred, then vanished.
They had been teleported away.
Sent to a safe place.
Dou Mu Xie breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around to face the depths of the forest.
There, a dense mass of white things surged out.
Like a tide, they covered the sky and earth.
Some were humanoid, some beast-like, and some had indescribable shapes.
All of them were white, twisted, and mad.
“Come.”
Dou Mu Xie lowered its head, the moonlight on its single horn growing brighter and brighter.
“Even if I die, I will take some of you down with me.”
It charged toward those white things.
The moonlight and the white light intertwined, illuminating the entire forest.
Then—the scene cut off, and Chen Zhou opened his eyes, breaking free from the memory.
The board had completely shattered, stone slabs broken all over the ground to reveal the black void beneath.
The moonlight lingering in the forest gradually dissipated, revealing a gray sky.
“My Lord! You're finally awake!”
“You were completely motionless just now. You scared us to death!”
“Was it that turtle shell playing tricks? Do you want us to smash it?”
The skeletons crowded around, chattering with worry, each of their faces filled with self-reproach.
Chen Zhou waved his hand, gesturing for them to quiet down.
“I am fine.”
He looked down at the Spirit of the Dipper Constellation in his hand.
The Xiezhi on the shell fragment was lifelike, roaring toward the sky as if calling out for something.
Although the scenes in those memories were blurry, Chen Zhou could roughly guess what had happened.
In the Battle of Qingtian, the outer provinces fractured, and Xuan Cai protected the old site of the Ancient Kingdom of Southern Tang, forming Qingzhou.
Then, using the corpses of auspicious beasts and something from within his own body, he refined and created the Northern Seven Mansions to guard this place.
Xuan Cai himself had returned to the Central Province. Later on, the Graveyard of Ten Thousand Beasts left behind by him seemed to have been contaminated by the white beasts, and Dou Mu Xie had also died. Before its death, it used moonlight to seal the forest, burying itself along with those white things here.
Now that he understood the rough sequence of events, this Spirit of the Dipper Constellation was likely something Xuan Cai had intentionally left for him.
Although Xuan Cai's contemptible methods to draw him into the game made Chen Zhou somewhat averse.
But when it came to reciprocity and human relations, Xuan Cai was quite sensible.
The spirits of the constellations were indeed good things.
Not long after arriving in Qingzhou, Chen Zhou had already felt his strength stretched to its limits.
Mao Ri Ji, Kui Mu Lang, Bi Yue Wu, and Wei Tu Zhi.
The cooperation of these four constellations had already given him a headache.
If Xuan Cai's enemy was Bai Xing, then Bai Xing definitely had more than just these four subordinates. If they all banded together, it would be a massive headache just thinking about it.
Chen Zhou was currently in dire need of strength.
And the constellation spirits happened to be excellent items he could use to enhance his side's combat strength in the short term.
Rate on N.U.
