Chapter 2001: The Truth Behind the Wuxiang Palace

For a special place like the Myriad Manifestations Sea, one dominant power isn't necessarily a good thing. For countless years, it was precisely the Myriad Manifestations Sea's characteristic of embracing all rivers that fostered its prosperity and flourishing.

The major top-tier forces recognized this, which is why they tacitly allowed the local star systems to control the Myriad Manifestations Sea. Every force needs such a place for the exchange of resources and the circulation of information with other powers.

Now that the Myriad Manifestations Sea has changed hands, as long as Three Realms Island doesn't infringe upon the interests of other forces and maintains the previous status quo, there won't be significant resistance.

Inventorying the resources wasn't a difficult task. Tang Jun oversaw it, taking the thousands of storage rings away.

Lu Ye then looked at Luan Xiao'e: "Have any Sun Cultivators arrived recently?"

By his calculations, Sun Cultivators from the major powers should have already reached the Myriad Manifestations Sea. With wormholes connecting them, news wouldn't be so slow. According to his previous instructions, any arriving Sun Cultivators were supposed to report and register at Three Realms Island first.

However, he hadn't detected any Sun Cultivator aura arriving at Three Realms Island.

Luan Xiao'e replied, "I have indeed sensed many Sun Cultivator auras recently, but none of them have entered the Myriad Manifestations Sea; they've all remained stationed outside its periphery."

Lu Ye's eyes flickered; he had a faint suspicion.

It seemed that Three Realms Island's complete control over the Myriad Manifestations Sea wouldn't be easy, judging by the attitude of these Sun Cultivators.

They had received news from their respective forces and had arrived in the Myriad Manifestations Star System, but they weren't entering the Myriad Manifestations Sea, only remaining stationed outside. This clearly indicated a wait-and-see attitude.

They wanted to see if Three Realms Island truly possessed the capability to control the vast Myriad Manifestations Sea.

They weren't entering because they didn't want to offend Three Realms Island. Once inside the Myriad Manifestations Sea, they would have only one choice: to report and register at Three Realms Island under the premise of acknowledging its sovereignty, otherwise they would be breaking the rules Lu Ye had previously set.

So, what were they waiting for? The resource handover tomorrow?

Lu Ye didn't think so. While the total amount of resources plundered from the major spirit islands was indeed vast, it wasn't much when distributed to any single island. Especially for Sun Cultivators, the loss of those resources would be negligible.

There was no need for them to wait for such a small amount of resources.

Lu Ye didn't dwell on it further. For Three Realms Island, controlling the Myriad Manifestations Sea was a foregone conclusion. Anyone attempting to disrupt it would be an enemy; as the saying goes, "meet force with force, and adapt to circumstances."

Waving his hand, he dismissed Luan Xiao'e to her duties, then stood and walked into the spirit jade mine.

He soon reached its depths.

A figure sat cross-legged there, quietly healing. It was Ma Bin.

Compared to ten days prior, his condition didn't seem much improved, though his aura was slightly more stable.

Sensing Lu Ye's arrival, Ma Bin slowly opened his eyes: "Is something wrong?"

Lu Ye wouldn't disturb him at such a crucial time without reason. Gazing at this junior from Kyushu, Ma Bin's expression was complex...

Previously, with his damaged Dao Foundation, he had resigned himself to his fate, as it would have been impossible for him to find a spirit jade mine for healing based on his reputation alone.

But Lu Ye had given him hope, which was why he had come.

He hadn't expected to encounter such events. During the chaotic battle, he pursued Black Cloud for millions of miles, powerfully slaying him at a wormhole entrance. However, because of this, he missed all the subsequent developments.

By the time he returned, Lu Ye had somehow advanced to Sun Cultivator status and was coercing the Formless Palace. Subsequently, the Formless Palace reluctantly retreated, and the six Sun Cultivators of the Myriad Manifestations Sea also fled in disarray.

It was hard to imagine that a newly advanced Sun Cultivator could achieve this. Even Chao Nian, ten thousand years ago, paled significantly in comparison to Lu Ye today.

At the very least, Chao Nian didn't possess such courage and methods when he first advanced to Sun Cultivator.

"Senior, what's the origin of that Formless Palace?" Lu Ye asked, sitting down in front of Ma Bin.

His main purpose for coming was to inquire about the Formless Palace. He had never heard of this force before, but a single encounter had made him realize their powerful foundation.

They had dispatched eleven cultivators at the Sun Cultivator level in one go, not counting the two who initially pursued Ya Ya.

This confrontation had established a mortal enmity. With the enemy in the shadows and them exposed, Lu Ye naturally needed to gather more intelligence about them.

"Formless Palace..." Ma Bin murmured, "It is indeed an unknown force, or rather, not known to ordinary people."

Over the next period, as Ma Bin recounted, Lu Ye gradually learned about the Formless Palace.

In the starry sky, there is a vast, desolate, and silent region filled with various magnificent and perilous cosmic wonders. Even a Sun Cultivator would struggle to ensure their safety deep within it.

This vast region, if truly measured, is roughly a hundred times the size of the Myriad Manifestations Star System. It is the most barren place in the starry sky, devoid of life and lacking any decent realm. It is even more desolate than the remote Jade Snail Star System.

While the Jade Snail Star System is indeed remote, it at least contains three large realms and other smaller realms.

The region where the Formless Palace is located, however, is truly barren; even spirit jade rarely forms in that part of the starry sky.

Yet, in the very center of such a place, a single top-tier realm was nurtured, known as the Formless Star.

Under normal circumstances, the Formless Star would be undiscoverable to the world, due to the numerous cosmic wonders and extreme dangers in that region.

Until one day, a powerful individual emerged from the Formless Star. Their nature was wicked and their methods cruel. Coming from a place like the Formless Star, their actions were utterly unscrupulous, naturally attracting many enemies.

However, their strength was sufficient. Despite having many adversaries, they consistently emerged victorious in every battle, accumulating more enemies and growing their reputation.

Gradually, a group of lawless individuals gathered around them, committing evil deeds everywhere.

"The predecessor of the Formless Palace was actually a group of space pirates, albeit a very powerful one," Ma Bin slowly recounted. "As their menace grew, they eventually attracted the attention of the top-tier forces, making an encirclement and suppression inevitable."

In that battle, the Formless Palace suffered heavy losses, and there were even rumors that the powerful individual from the Formless Star had been killed.

After that, this powerful individual disappeared for a period.

However, only a few decades later, they reappeared, stronger and more dangerous than before. The reputation of the Formless Palace gradually spread.

Subsequently, it continually attracted vicious criminals or villains with nowhere else to go, who sought refuge there.

After years of development, the current Formless Palace has gathered powerful individuals from countless races. They hide within the Formless Star, making it extremely difficult for outsiders to access them on a daily basis. Even if major forces wanted to unite and encircle them, it would be hard to pinpoint the exact location of the Formless Star in that vast, barren region.

On one occasion, the Yellow Dragon Realm spearheaded an encirclement operation, but suffered heavy losses halfway through due to the eruption of an unstable cosmic wonder, forcing them to retreat. After that, the Formless Palace became even more arrogant.

After listening to Ma Bin's account, Lu Ye thought for a moment and realized that the Formless Palace's Sun Cultivators indeed had diverse origins. He had seen humans, shadow creatures, bone creatures, as well as demons and fiends among them...

It was practically a den of iniquity.

"Because it's extremely difficult for even spirit jade to form in that part of the starry sky, the Formless Palace often ventures out to plunder. This time, I don't know why they set their sights on the Myriad Manifestations Sea."

Lu Ye, however, knew why they had targeted the Myriad Manifestations Sea; it was merely a coincidence.

"Senior, what's with the Formless Palace's ultra-long-distance teleportation? If what you say is true, wouldn't they have directly teleported from the Formless Star to the Myriad Manifestations Sea? Can such long-distance teleportation truly be achieved?"

This was the point Lu Ye found most puzzling.

The starry sky region where the Formless Star is located alone is hundreds of times the size of the Myriad Manifestations Star System, and the Formless Star is even further from the Myriad Manifestations Sea. What kind of method could directly connect two such distant locations?

"I don't know exactly how they do it. I only know that the Formless Palace possesses a sub-treasure of a supreme treasure, and they use its power to teleport back and forth during their plundering expeditions."

"A sub-treasure of a supreme treasure..." Lu Ye's expression shifted slightly.

He suddenly recalled the Filth Clan he had encountered previously.

The Filth Clan possessed a supreme treasure called the Heavenly Frost Mirror, which could project Heavenly Frost Cold Qi anywhere in the starry sky, freezing and shattering space to form a passable wormhole.

The Formless Palace's teleportation method clearly had a similar principle to the Filth Clan's creation of wormholes, though the modes of passage were different.

One created wormholes, the other teleported. Therefore, the Formless Palace's sub-treasure should not be a sub-treasure of the Heavenly Frost Mirror.

He then thought of another question: "Senior, do all supreme treasures have their own sub-treasures?"

So far, he had encountered few supreme treasures, but whether it was the Creation Vine he saw in the Primordial Realm, the Star Palace, or the Asura Arena, they all had their own sub-treasures.

Furthermore, the power of a sub-treasure largely extended from the supreme treasure itself.

His own Dice of Destiny was also a sub-treasure.

This was undoubtedly strange. Why would supreme treasures have their own sub-treasures?

It was rumored that supreme treasures were born alongside the starry sky, or that some evolved from cosmic wonders. So how were sub-treasures born?

Supreme treasures aren't living beings; they can't reproduce.

"Generally speaking, supreme treasures all have their own sub-treasures, though exceptions aren't ruled out," Ma Bin nodded. "Your power wasn't sufficient before, so you didn't encounter many. But now that you're a Sun Cultivator, you might encounter various sub-treasures in the future. Remember, sub-treasures have many different attributes, but the power displayed by offensive sub-treasures is generally irresistible to ordinary Sun Cultivators. The might of a sub-treasure can only be countered by another sub-treasure. You can think of it this way: when the power of most sub-treasures is fully unleashed, it's akin to an peak Sun Cultivator making a move!"