Chapter 2346: Swimming Dragon

Several days later, beside the unopened Star Abyss Gate, the main body and the clone returned from different directions.

This slaughter caused all Star Abyss creatures to flee in panic. Looking around now, the nearby void was surprisingly empty! In fact, although they had endured several fierce battles, the remaining number of Star Abyss creatures was still considerable. If they could truly unite and resist Lu Ye without fear of death, things would not have gone so smoothly. No matter how strong Lu Ye was, even with his clone, there were only two of them.

However, during this turmoil, those at the Dao Entry stage were utterly incapable of forming any meaningful cohesion. Had the Fusion Dao cultivators, like those of the Winged race, survived, there might have been hope. But with all the Fusion Dao cultivators dead, these Dao Entry stage cultivators alone could accomplish nothing.

The entire Star Abyss, throughout history, had never witnessed such a peculiar scene. The Star Abyss Gate was about to open, yet there was no sign of any Star Abyss creatures. It could be said that only at this moment was Lu Ye's plan finally complete. Perhaps as time passed, those fleeing Dao Entry stage cultivators would return to investigate the situation, and passing cultivators would be drawn by the Star Abyss to this location, subsequently invading the opposite Starry Sky. But with Lu Ye's actions, the intensity of the impending invasion of the opposite Starry Sky had been significantly reduced.

Approximately half a month later, the Star Abyss Gate opened!

"Senior Brother, I'm going in!" Su Yan said softly, looking at Lu Ye in front of the Star Abyss Gate. Her cultivation had now recovered to roughly the Rizhao level, giving her sufficient power to protect herself upon entering the opposite Starry Sky. With her guidance, the cultivators in the opposite Starry Sky would undoubtedly have a clear direction for resisting the Star Abyss invasion. Whether they succeeded or failed, they would have at least tried. Even if they ultimately died in battle, they would surely have no regrets.

"Take care of yourself!" Lu Ye said, looking at her. After this parting, it was uncertain if they would ever meet again.

"You too," Su Yan nodded, turning to walk towards the opened Star Abyss Gate.

Lu Ye watched her go. But soon she paused, seemingly hesitating about something, then turned around and quickly came before Lu Ye.

"What's wrong?" Lu Ye asked. Su Yan swept her hand behind her head, and a golden feather appeared in her hand. Blushing slightly, she handed the feather to Lu Ye: "Senior Brother, keep this safe. When you have perfected your Dao Integration, do not rush to break through. Follow the sensation of this item to the Phoenix Nest; I will be waiting for you there!" After saying this, without waiting for any reaction from Lu Ye, she forcefully placed the feather into his hand, then turned and rushed into the Star Abyss Gate.

Lu Ye wanted to ask a few more questions, but they remained unasked. A moment later, he looked down at the golden feather in his hand, sensing a very peculiar aura emanating from it. If he was not mistaken, this was a phoenix feather, Su Yan's own. He secretly found it amusing that Su Yan had always pretended to have lost some memories after her Nirvana. Now, it seemed she was not as magnanimous as she appeared, able to disregard certain past events.

The Phoenix Nest! That should be the Phoenix clan's ancestral land. Lu Ye had heard of it before but didn't know much about it. However, according to Su Yan, this feather had the power to guide him to the Phoenix Nest. But why after perfecting Dao Integration? He didn't ponder it further. He was currently only at the Dao Entry stage, and next, he needed to reach the Fusion Dao stage; Dao Integration perfection was still a long way off.

Carefully putting away the golden phoenix feather, Lu Ye took another look at the opened Star Abyss Gate before turning and beginning his journey back. His delay here was not long, only about two months in total, but his route had shifted somewhat. Furthermore, during these two months, the Banlan had been drifting further away, so it would take Lu Ye even more time to return to it. But in the end, it was all worth it. Even if Su Yan hadn't been there originally, he would not have ignored the situation here.

Without Su Yan by his side, he was alone, and the journey was solitary. Fortunately, the previous series of slaughters had made Lu Ye's Dao power reserves incredibly abundant, so along the way, he no longer had to worry about exhausting his Dao power.

He suddenly remembered something and quickly took out the Mirror World from within his robes. During this period, he had almost forgotten about his Dao body. His divine sense immersed itself within to investigate.

In Consort Rong's palace, she had a swollen belly and a face full of loving smiles, while Emperor Chen sat beside her, gently holding her hand and speaking. The Dao body had not yet been born, but calculating the days, it should be soon. A wisp of Lu Ye's divine sense arrived silently, penetrating Consort Rong's body to carefully examine the Dao body's condition.

Consort Rong, who was speaking with Emperor Chen, suddenly let out a small cry of surprise.

"What's wrong?" Emperor Chen asked in alarm.

Consort Rong smiled and touched her belly, saying, "The little one probably wants to come out; it's kicking me."

Emperor Chen laughed heartily. "Such vitality even before birth," he said, "it must surely be a prince."

"Maybe it's a princess," Consort Rong also laughed.

"If it's a princess, then she'll certainly be a mischievous one!" Emperor Chen seemed to be in a very good mood. There were no issues with the Dao body; Lu Ye's examination revealed that it should be born within ten days. Although he knew that a Dao body was different from an ordinary clone and could be regarded as a true individual, Lu Ye still had a peculiar feeling. After all, this was ultimately a part of himself, yet now it needed to be nurtured within an ordinary maternal body to be born. But this was also a marvelous aspect of the Blood Clan's bloodline, as such gestation held infinite possibilities.

Withdrawing his divine sense and putting away the Mirror World, Lu Ye continued forward, following the sensation of the Banlan.

One day, while rapidly flying, Lu Ye's mind suddenly sharpened. He turned his head to look and saw a translucent creature had appeared beside him, a strange Star Beast resembling a giant hairtail fish. To Lu Ye's surprise, he had not noticed how this creature had come to be beside him at all. Almost instinctively, he raised his hand and rested it on his Panshan Blade. But the next moment, Lu Ye showed a thoughtful expression because the Star Beast clearly bore him no ill will. On either side of its head, two large, bulging eyes, like a frog's, were curiously observing him.

Looking at the Star Beast's appearance again, Lu Ye suddenly recalled a strange creature that Nine Infants had once mentioned to him.

A Roaming Dragon! Although it had 'dragon' in its name, it was not a dragon species. This was an extremely rare Star Beast in the Star Abyss, extremely gentle in nature, never actively attacking other living beings. It fed only on Dao power drifting in the void. Their speed was extremely fast, a level unreachable by ordinary Star Abyss creatures. Under normal circumstances, such Star Beasts had no natural predators because even if they encountered cultivators or beings one or two major cultivation realms higher than them, they would still not be as fast. But this type of Star Beast had one major flaw: extreme curiosity. Just like now! This Roaming Dragon was curiously observing Lu Ye. And the reason Lu Ye hadn't noticed how it came beside him was entirely due to its immense speed; perhaps just a moment ago it was still far away, but in an instant, it had already arrived beside him. Such speed was no less impressive than Su Yan's spatial teleportation technique, and was even more sustained.

Realizing this Star Beast was a Roaming Dragon, Lu Ye withdrew his hand and winked at it. Unexpectedly, the creature also blinked back, then brought its head closer, its two bulging eyes bulging even more intensely, as if it wanted to press its eyes against Lu Ye to observe him. This left Lu Ye speechless and amused. With this level of curiosity, it was strange that its species hadn't been wiped out. At such close range, no matter how fast it was, one strike from Lu Ye's blade would certainly kill it.

"Go on, go away!" Lu Ye said, giving it a push. The Roaming Dragon tilted its head but still didn't leave, simply keeping pace with Lu Ye. After flying for a while, it seemed to get bored, and its body flickered, suddenly disappearing. Lu Ye only vaguely sensed that it had darted forward, disappearing from the range of his divine sense in the blink of an eye. Such speed... was truly astonishing! And just as Lu Ye was marveling, a shadow flashed beside him – it was back! As if it had encountered something good, it looked overjoyed, its long body swaying.

Lu Ye couldn't be bothered with it and simply focused on his journey. However, over the next period, the Roaming Dragon suddenly disappeared and reappeared several more times, each time returning seemingly very happy. Lu Ye gradually realized this creature was racing him! This was too much. No matter what he competed in, Lu Ye would not be inferior to it; only in speed was he no match. He sighed inwardly, "Indeed, still so naive, unaware of the Star Abyss's dangers and having never experienced its harsh realities!"

When the Roaming Dragon flew back once more, Lu Ye suddenly turned around, taking it by surprise, directly mounted it, and gripped two of its scales with both hands. Startled, the Roaming Dragon darted forward at full speed. In an instant, Lu Ye felt everything around him rapidly receding; that speed was many times faster than his own flying! He laughed heartily, trying to control the Roaming Dragon's flight direction. If he could truly tame this creature, the time to return to the Banlan would be greatly reduced. Unfortunately, the idea was wonderful, but reality was not so smooth. As if startled, the Roaming Dragon's flight direction became chaotic. It constantly tried to shake Lu Ye off its back but couldn't, so it just flew erratically in all directions. Lu Ye wrestled with it for most of the day, getting somewhat closer to the Banlan, but if he couldn't control the Roaming Dragon, it was actually of little use.

No longer forcing the issue, Lu Ye flipped over and jumped off the Roaming Dragon's back. The creature disappeared in a flash, appearing to be thoroughly frightened. For the next several days, Lu Ye didn't see any trace of the creature again; it had probably run away.

Continuing forward, one day Lu Ye, who was flying rapidly, slowly stopped and frowned as he looked ahead. The void ahead was completely empty! This was not normal; whether in the Starry Sky or the Star Abyss, the void would always contain all sorts of miscellaneous objects, such as shattered stars, floating landmasses, and meteorites. But the direction Lu Ye was looking in now was utterly empty. Not only that, a sense of unease also arose within him, as if something extremely bad would happen if he continued forward.