Chapter 1529: Three Million Spirit Jade

After flying for some distance, Lu Ye turned to look back and, sure enough, saw a vast expanse of mist shrouding the starry sky. The mist had condensed into the strikingly lifelike form of a massive, menacing dragon.

Lu Ye had appeared precisely at the dragon's belly!

He secretly congratulated himself on choosing the right direction, as the dragon's belly was its weakest point. Had he emerged from another part, like its mouth, it would likely have taken him much longer.

He summoned his starship and prepared to take some spirit jades from his storage ring to power it, allowing him to conserve his own spiritual energy during the journey.

But his movements suddenly froze, and an astonished expression came over his face.

He had discovered that the spirit jades he had placed in his storage ring were gone!

Before leaving the Myriad Manifestations Sea, he had borrowed 50 million spirit jades from the merfolk, and Chu Shen had given him another 10 million, totaling approximately 60 million.

However, after buying numerous Silverfish Starships and Tiger Shark Battleships, he had spent the majority of it. Lu Ye then purchased many other items, leaving him with about 10 million spirit jades, which he kept as a reserve.

He hadn't kept all his spirit jades in a single storage ring; most were stored in his tattoo space. Even so, there should have been around three million spirit jades in the ring he was checking.

Lu Ye had consumed some spirit jades during his journey, but not a significant amount. The last time he checked, they were clearly there, yet now they had all vanished.

Thinking he might have remembered the wrong location, he checked his other storage rings, but found no trace of the spirit jades there either.

Three million spirit jades vanishing without a trace... This was truly bizarre.

He couldn't have been robbed; only Li Shang had been with him recently, and Li Shang would never do such a thing. Besides, how could items within a storage ring be stolen?

With furrowed brows, he extended his divine sense into the storage ring where the spirit jades had been, hoping to find a clue.

And upon inspection, he indeed found something peculiar.

With a thought, he retrieved the item.

Li Shang glanced over and immediately looked surprised, exclaiming, "How did it change?"

Lu Ye held a copper coin with a grave expression. It was the very item he had obtained from the Armadillo Beast recently, but now it could no longer be called a copper coin; 'silver coin' would be a more fitting name.

This was because the item had turned silver, though its shape remained largely the same.

Lu Ye had no idea why it had changed, but he vaguely suspected that this transformation was deeply connected to his three million spirit jades. When he first acquired the copper coin, he couldn't discern its function, so he had simply tossed it into the very storage ring where he kept those three million spirit jades.

What shocked Lu Ye even more was that, under his silent perception, he could sense an incredibly terrifying yet restrained power emanating from the silver coin.

The sheer power was at a level completely beyond his current reach!

This copper coin had been found inside the Armadillo Beast. At the time, Lu Ye had believed the strange copper light the beast could conjure was a manifestation of this coin's power. However, since infusing it with spiritual energy produced no reaction, both he and Li Shang had speculated it was a one-time-use exotic treasure.

But now, it seemed that wasn't the case.

This wasn't merely an exotic treasure, but a genuine artifact. However, activating it seemed to require a significant, special price...

Lu Ye could sense that he was capable of activating its power, but if his theory was correct, the cost would be far too high.

After a moment's thought, Lu Ye took a spirit jade from his tattoo space and placed it on the silver coin.

A surprising scene unfolded before Lu Ye and Li Shang.

Silver light flowed over the coin, enveloping the spirit jade. Instantly, the perfectly intact spirit jade transformed into a stream of light and was completely absorbed by the silver coin!

"What's happening?" Li Shang asked in astonishment.

Lu Ye shook his head. "I don't know!" The only thing he knew for certain was that this copper coin was an extraordinary treasure!

The three million vanished spirit jades had all been consumed by the coin in this exact way! Yet, if Lu Ye's conjecture was correct, then despite the hefty price of three million, it was absolutely worth it!

The Armadillo Beast had originally emitted a beam of copper light, and under its oppressive embrace, Lu Ye, a late-stage Star Realm cultivator, had felt as if he were carrying a mountain. Had it not been for the array he had set up beforehand, the situation would have been extremely difficult.

But now that the copper coin had transformed into a silver one, activating it would likely unleash silver light, undoubtedly with power far surpassing its copper form.

Lu Ye was tempted to test the silver coin's power, but the thought of the three million spirit jades gave him pause. Even with his substantial wealth, such an experiment was a bit too costly.

Three million spirit jades could transform the copper coin into a silver one. What if it were thirty million, or even three hundred million spirit jades?

Lu Ye's mind raced with possibilities, but he genuinely lacked the resources to test them.

Putting away the silver coin, with its terrifying power held within, Lu Ye activated his starship and sped deeper into the starry sky.

According to the star map provided by the Samsara Tree, he should now be entering a desolate zone.

The starry sky is vast and filled with numerous star systems, but their territories are not always tightly contiguous. Consequently, there are many desolate zones like this, typically fraught with danger and belonging to no particular star system.

Some desolate zones are territories where powerful stellar beasts reside, while others are home to stellar wonders. Still others conceal various undetectable dangers.

Of course, some desolate zones are simply too barren, lacking even a single viable realm capable of sustaining life.

The greatest danger in this particular desolate zone was the presence of several stellar wonders. The Mist Dragon was only one of them, and it was also the least perilous.

As the starship traveled onward, Lu Ye continuously checked his star map to ensure he stayed on course. After about half a month of this, a peculiar sight suddenly appeared before him.

In a vast expanse of starry sky ahead, a colossal mirror seemed to stand, reflecting the surrounding scenery. Yet, the mirror appeared shattered, with a network of crisscrossing cracks covering its surface, looking extremely daunting.

Lu Ye, however, looked pleased, for seeing this object confirmed he was on the right course.

It was a stellar wonder: the Mirror of Rending Space!

The crisscrossing fissures on the mirror were not cracks at all, but spatial rifts. Anyone who ventured into them would undoubtedly meet a grim end.

Standing on his starship, Lu Ye gazed at the Mirror of Rending Space. Even from a great distance, he could still sense extremely profound power fluctuations emanating from within it.

If he were strong enough, he could certainly attempt to enter and comprehend its mysteries. If he survived, his mastery of Void Spirit Patterns would undoubtedly advance by several levels.

This was because Void Spirit Patterns correspond precisely to such wondrous spatial power, something he had deeply experienced when he and Tang Jun were trapped in that wormhole.

Unfortunately, with his current limited strength, he absolutely dared not trespass into such a terrifying stellar wonder.

He steered the starship and changed direction, preparing to bypass the Mirror of Rending Space. The greatest danger of this stellar wonder wasn't the visible spatial rifts, but the invisible ones. Influenced by this wonder, hundreds of millions of miles of surrounding starry sky were not safe. No one knew if they might suddenly encounter an undetectable spatial rift, and if one were unlucky enough to, a body not strong enough would lead to instant death.

The Mirror of Rending Space was incredibly vast. Even at the speed Lu Ye piloted his starship, it took a full month of flying just to barely bypass its radiating range. During that time, he didn't encounter a single living creature; even low-intelligence stellar beasts knew to steer clear of this terrifying place.

After bypassing the Mirror of Rending Space, Lu Ye spent a few more days adjusting his course before continuing onward.

At one point, he suddenly turned his head and looked in a certain direction, spotting a streak of light passing by in the distance, seemingly in a hurry.

It was undoubtedly a cultivator, and judging by the spiritual power fluctuations, clearly a late-stage Star Realm cultivator. He wondered which star system they hailed from.

He had finally encountered another living being. Although the other party showed no intention of coming over to greet him, Lu Ye finally felt a glimmer of life in the otherwise cold, desolate starry sky.

While such desolate zones were dangerous, they were not entirely uninhabited. They yielded a considerable amount of spirit jades, and compared to competing with cultivators within one's own star system, searching in these areas undoubtedly promised greater rewards.

However, those who dared to venture into such places were generally skilled and daring individuals.

Lu Ye realized he had underestimated the courage of cultivators from nearby star systems. Ever since he bypassed the Mirror of Rending Space, he had frequently encountered hurried cultivators passing by, some alone, others in groups of two or three.

However, after a few days, he began to feel that something was amiss. The level of activity in this desolate zone far exceeded his expectations.

This vast desolate zone bordered four star systems: the Silent Moon Star System, the Boundless Star System, the Northern Profound Star System, and the Grand Luo Star System, all marked on his star map.

The cultivators coming and going didn't seem to be merely searching for spirit jades; they appeared to be looking for something specific. What surprised Lu Ye even more was that arguably over eighty percent of these cultivators were martial cultivators!

Without exception, they all carried their weapons openly.

This was quite strange. While Lu Ye was accustomed to wearing his Mountain-Shattering Saber at his waist for quick drawing in combat, many cultivators, including martial cultivators, typically stored their weapons in their storage rings, which didn't hinder their use in battle.

This was especially true for some martial cultivators whose massive weapons were inconvenient to carry.

Yet, all the martial cultivators he had recently encountered, regardless of their weapon, displayed it openly, and often activated its power while flying.

Furthermore, few cultivators used starships for travel; they all traversed space with their physical bodies!

Lu Ye vaguely sensed that something might be happening in the area, but as he was merely passing through, he didn't pay it much mind.

To his surprise, however, one day a cultivator, upon spotting him, flew directly towards him and, from a distance, sent a streak of light in his direction.