Chapter 1466: Reentering the Myriad Sea

Confused, Lu Ye casually closed the Star Palace gate again, then opened it, closed it, and opened it once more, finding it completely effortless.

Bai Lu watched, delighted. "Li Taibai, you truly are favored by the Divine Palace!"

If he wasn't favored by the Divine Palace, there would be no reason for others to be unable to open the gate while Lu Ye could.

Lu Ye neither confirmed nor denied this. It was true that the seahorse had previously been able to ram open the gate, but now it couldn't. This left only two possibilities: one was timing. The seahorse had rammed open the gate when the Star Palace competition was opening, meaning the Star Palace gate could be opened and closed at will during that period.

The other possibility was the Star Palace's own will. At that time, it was willing to let the seahorse enter, which was why the gate had opened.

Regardless of the reason, the current situation was that Lu Ye could open the gate, but Bai Lu and the seahorse could not.

It was likely that no one else could either.

"Li Taibai," Bai Lu said, "The Grand Elder said if you have nothing to do, you should visit our territory more often. You must be bored all alone here."

The Grand Elder hadn't actually said this; Bai Lu was merely using her name. She genuinely felt sorry for Lu Ye, who seemed lonely and isolated, and wanted to take him to the bustling mermaid territory.

Lu Ye shook his head. "I should be leaving. Since you're here, consider this my farewell."

Bai Lu was startled, then her expression subtly changed. "Where are you going?" Lu Ye pointed upwards. "Naturally, back to where I came from." Bai Lu was completely stunned.

She had no idea Lu Ye could still leave. In her and the Grand Elder's view, since Lu Ye had drifted here, he would likely be unable to depart in the future. After all, hidden dangers lurked beneath the Vast Ocean, and even a Soul Cultivation Realm cultivator, despite being able to move freely here, couldn't travel very far. For a moment, she found it hard to accept.

Just as Lu Ye was about to say more, he suddenly felt something, turned his head towards the portal, and frowned. "There's not much time left; I must go!"

Bai Lu snapped back to reality, glancing at the portal. She vaguely sensed something. "Is that portal... a path to the outside world?"

Lu Ye nodded, and a thought struck him. "Want to come and see?"

Bai Lu's expression turned somber. "Have you forgotten? My people are afflicted with a cursed poison. Without the Vast Ocean's waters to protect us, we would die instantly. I can't go outside."

"That's alright then," Lu Ye said. "I'll come visit often in the future. Please convey my thanks to your Queen and the Grand Elder for your people's generosity."

"Oh, alright," Bai Lu replied, still somewhat dazed. "Then I'm off," Lu Ye said, sweeping towards the portal.

Just as he reached the portal, Bai Lu's voice called from behind him, "Li Taibai!" Lu Ye paused, looked back, and saw Bai Lu smiling at him. "When you have time, remember to come back and visit often!"

Lu Ye nodded, then turned and rushed into the portal.

As his figure vanished, the portal disappeared along with him.

Bai Lu watched, feeling a profound sense of loss. The seahorse seemed to sense its owner's dejection and nuzzled against Bai Lu's body.

Suddenly, there was movement behind her. Bai Lu looked back and quickly said, "Let's go!"

Somehow, the Star Palace gate was slowly closing. If they didn't leave now, they wouldn't be able to.

Riding the seahorse, they arrived outside the Star Palace. Watching the grand gate close, Bai Lu, still skeptical, tried to open it again but found it remained stubbornly shut.

She became even more convinced of the Grand Elder's previous judgment: Li Taibai was indeed favored by the Divine Palace; otherwise, there was no logical reason why only he could open the gate.

In the cave on the dead star, Lu Ye reappeared.

He noticed a problem: the portal this time lasted much shorter than the ones he usually opened within the Star Palace.

He vaguely guessed this was likely due to distance.

While in the Star Palace, he wasn't too far from the mermaid territory, so the opened portal could be maintained for longer. However, here, on a dead star in the Myriad Manifestations Star System, it was quite distant from the Star Palace, significantly shortening the maintenance time.

From this, it seemed that while the Azure Conch could be used within the Myriad Manifestations Star System, it must have a distance limitation. Beyond a certain certain range, perhaps the portal wouldn't open, or even if it did, it wouldn't be sustainable.

He then considered something else: if he were the only one who could currently open the Star Palace gate, could he store his spatial rings inside the Star Palace?

If no one else could enter, there would be no risk of loss. He could retrieve them later when needed, and since the Azure Conch could be used again quickly, it wouldn't affect his overall usage.

This was certainly better than having his spatial rings strung together and coiled around his waist.

He secretly decided to do this the next time he entered the Star Palace.

Having finished testing the Azure Conch's capabilities and getting a satisfactory result, Lu Ye immediately exited the cave, summoned his starship, and sped towards the Vast Ocean.

He was about to embark on a massive shopping spree!

He had thought that the ten million spirit jade worth of fire-attribute treasures he bought earlier at Hall No. 88 would last him a long time. Yet, his trip to the Star Palace had completely depleted his previous reserves, and even the fuel stored in his Talent Tree was running low. The Talent Tree was his most relied-upon treasure, the foundation of his cultivation, and a lack of sufficient fuel reserves was unacceptable.

Therefore, no matter what, he needed to buy more fire-attribute treasures this time for the Talent Tree to absorb, preventing similar situations in the future.

The Vast Ocean was as magnificent and turbulent as ever, but this time, upon entering, Lu Ye immediately noticed a difference from before.

The attacks between various major powers had noticeably increased.

The Vast Ocean was far from peaceful; battles erupted almost every day.

Previously, such conflicts were merely skirmishes among cultivators, mostly small-scale. Even if a spirit island occupied by a certain power was occasionally attacked, it wasn't very frequent.

But upon his return this time, he witnessed at least seven or eight instances of spirit islands being attacked along his route.

Moreover, all the attacking parties were aided by array disks, forming various powerful formations that radiated immense might!

Lu Ye immediately understood that the co-existence array disks, which originated from him, were beginning to subtly influence the dynamics of the Vast Ocean.

There was a rule in the Vast Ocean: Sun-Exposure Realm cultivators from outside this star system were not permitted to stay for extended periods; even if they came, they had to leave within a certain timeframe. Even for Moon-Glimmer Realm cultivators, there were numerical restrictions, with each power allowed only a few at most to reside in the Vast Ocean. This was how the Myriad Manifestations Star System regulated external forces: with fewer powerful individuals, they could maintain overall control, whereas too many would make governance difficult.

From ancient times until now, all major powers had adhered to this rule. After all, this was someone else's territory, and a powerful dragon couldn't suppress a local snake. Furthermore, the major external powers themselves were unwilling to break this rule, as their interwoven interests were complex, and disturbing one aspect could affect everything. Once someone broke this rule, the situation would inevitably become uncontrollable.

Therefore, in the past, even if a spirit island was attacked, if the strength between the two sides was not significantly different, it was very difficult for the attacking party to succeed, unless they possessed overwhelming force. But if there truly was overwhelming force, it would imply that the spirit island occupied by the weaker party wasn't very good, and who would even want it?

But now it was different. With the aid of the co-existence array disks, five late-stage Soul Cultivation Realm cultivators, if they formed a formation, could function like an ordinary Moon-Glimmer Realm cultivator. Which power didn't have several late-stage Soul Cultivation Realm cultivators capable of forming multiple formations? This effectively meant that one side suddenly gained several "pseudo-Moon-Glimmer Realm" cultivators.

Once such "pseudo-Moon-Glimmer Realm" cultivators joined a conflict, their impact on the situation was considerable. The side without array disks would undoubtedly suffer losses.

That was why, when Jiu Yan first learned about the co-existence array disks, she immediately recognized their immense value. This item was truly a treasure capable of changing the current landscape of the cultivation world.

It allowed late-stage Soul Cultivation Realm cultivators to possess the ability to contend with ordinary Moon-Glimmer Realm cultivators.

Only two or three months had passed since Lu Ye held the auction, yet these signs were already emerging. All the powers that had won bids for the array disks had now invested significant manpower into deciphering their secrets. Although Lu Ye had left behind countermeasures, causing many array disks to self-destruct during the research process, with a hundred sets, or ten thousand array disks, having circulated, it was inevitable that some power would eventually fully comprehend their mechanism.

Once that happened, the co-existence array disks would inevitably become widely popularized, which would be a severe blow to ordinary Moon-Glimmer Realm cultivators.

After toiling arduously to cultivate to the Moon-Glimmer Realm, they would have believed themselves superior, only to find that a few late-stage Soul Cultivation Realm cultivators could form a formation to contend with them. This would certainly leave a bitter taste in their mouths.

Some powers had also researched whether Moon-Glimmer Realm cultivators could use the array disks to form formations and contend with Sun-Exposure Realm cultivators. However, a brief attempt revealed that array disks were unsuitable for Moon-Glimmer Realm cultivators. Their coverage range was limited; while Soul Cultivation Realm cultivators could barely use them, they were definitely not appropriate for Moon-Glimmer Realm cultivators.

Furthermore, powerful cultivators who reached the Moon-Glimmer Realm were unaccustomed to teaming up with others, unless their relationship was very close.

Many powerful figures from various factions had already predicted the array disks' impact on future affairs. Currently, whichever power could first mass-produce array disks would undoubtedly gain a significant advantage in future conflicts.

However, mass-producing array disks was not an easy task. After two or three months, while the major powers hadn't completely unraveled the array disks' secrets, they had a fairly thorough understanding.

They all knew the key to refining these items lay in the peculiar spirit patterns. But spirit patterns weren't something that could simply be constructed at will, especially during the refining process, which presented an extraordinary level of difficulty.

This required extensive practice and mastery over a long period, and even then, it could only slightly increase the success rate; there was no guarantee of successful refinement.

This left the major powers puzzled: where did Fa Wuzun get so many array disks? If he were backed by a major power, that wouldn't make sense, as no major power would be willing to share such a deadly weapon with others.

But if he wasn't supported by a major power, could he, by himself, refine so many array disks?