Chapter 1168: Crossing the Universe

A massive horn emitted a deep, primeval sound as the expeditionary army set sail, shattering tens of thousands of years of peace. Swarms of battleships, dense and overwhelming, followed each mothership.

Each of the twelve great royal families dispatched at least four motherships, some as many as seven. Majestic and radiating holy power, these vessels sliced through the sky, continuously entering the colossal stargates located beyond their realm.

This was an interstellar war!

Amidst the roar of ancient war horns, vast formations of steel, gleaming with a cold luster, obscured the sky and covered the firmament as they sailed towards the other side of the starry sky.

Many people came to see them off. Various spacecraft soared into the sky, and many powerful cultivators ascended in their physical forms. Descendants and female relatives of the Winter Royal Family scattered flowers into the void, as if sending off heroes.

"I await your return!" a beautiful maiden transmitted to a young man.

"Go forth... conquer vast territories, forge a brilliant kingdom! My children, I await your good news!" Ancestral Sages also came to bid farewell, their emitted fluctuations resounding through the cosmos, causing the entire starfield to resonate.

"Warriors expanding our frontiers, we await your triumphant return!" Friends and family of the twelve great royal families saw them off, offering heartfelt blessings.

The warships resembled a jungle, gleaming with the unique cold luster of metal. The morale of the expeditionary forces was high; all awaited the advent of glory, ready to carve out a magnificent future.

Finally, the colossal stargate slowly faded as all warships plunged in and vanished, entering another brilliant sea of stars.

The great conquest had begun!

The vast universe, the boundless starry sky—its grandeur was unparalleled, without end.

The classical definition of "universe" refers to "Yu" as encompassing all directions, and "Zhou" as spanning all time. This was the only way people could define it, for its immense breadth, profound depth, and terrifying nature defied measurement.

Darkness was the eternal theme. Even with countless stars, they appeared insignificant when dotted across such a vast black curtain. The coldness and desolation were boundless, far more cruel and terrifying than people imagined.

The first spatial jump went smoothly. They appeared in a desolate void, a dead zone devoid of any life fluctuations.

The path recorded by the Southern Demon, using the most ancient and simple celestial coordinates of the demon race, was accurate. After complex restoration and deciphering, they had compiled the correct route map.

"Excellent," the command came, "proceed with the next spatial jump. If all goes well, we will need to perform over four hundred jumps in total to reach that mysterious ancient life-star!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Fan's heart stirred greatly. It seemed his mid-journey change in direction wasn't just a tangential shift; reaching the Eternal Kingdom had actually propelled him significantly further than he'd anticipated.

It was already clear that by stepping onto the five-colored altars and landing on one unfamiliar dead star after another, the total number of stars reached was less than a hundred.

The second, third... and by the eighty-eighth spatial jump, everything was proceeding smoothly. Vast fleets of motherships led boundless steel warships, advancing with the might to sweep across starfields.

As they crossed the cosmos for the eighty-ninth time, and all warships emerged from the colossal stargate, strange fluctuations appeared ahead. Alarm bells rang out within every mothership.

"A cosmic vessel has been discovered ahead. It is heavily damaged, drifting horizontally in the cold starry sky, alongside cosmic dust."

A scene appeared on the main screen: a grand and massive warship, extending for fifteen hundred zhang, nearly comparable in size to a mothership.

"It belongs to our Eternal Starfield," a voice commanded, "but we don't know which family it belongs to, or how it ended up destroyed here. Send a battleship to investigate what happened."

A silver cosmic vessel shot forth, tracing a streak of light. In an instant, it reached the massive ship, observing it before entering through a large gaping hole.

"Ah..."

Suddenly, agonizing screams echoed. Every battleship received their signal as the people who had entered the vessel suddenly found their faces contorting. Then, one by one, they exploded, their flesh and blood splattering and staining the screens red.

Then, a strange "clatter" sound was heard, cutting the connection. The area became dead silent.

"Who can tell me what happened?" demanded a Marquis from the Mo family, his voice cold, from inside the mothership of the Primeval Demonic Star Sea. The lost vessel belonged to their family.

No one could answer. Many things in the cosmos were unexplainable; the vast and boundless universe was immensely ancient, and a human's entire life would not be enough to explore it all.

Anyone who regularly navigated the cosmos knew that things a hundred, even a thousand times stranger than this had occurred, defying comprehension.

"Fire!"

A Marquis in another mothership decisively issued the order. With so many of them present—fifty to sixty motherships alone, not to mention ancient saint mechs—if they opened fire with full power, even a Saint would be instantly annihilated. Moreover, for this expedition, various great families had dispatched ancient Sages to oversee and support them, making them fearless!

Boom!

A beam of light sliced through the darkness, cutting open the eerie, colossal ship and revealing its contents completely.

The next instant, something strange happened. People inside many battleships screamed as all signals were almost severed, and the vessels showed signs of losing control.

Within the damaged hull, a vast expanse of mist appeared, grey and heavy as leaden clouds. It was so oppressive that the cosmic void itself cracked. It suddenly spread out, obscuring suns, moons, and stars, engulfing the void and completely submerging one mothership along with dozens, even hundreds, of surrounding battleships.

"No, this is Devil Mist! Retreat quickly, avoid it!"

Someone exclaimed that it was virtually the bane of all cosmic vessels. Where it passed, the battleships were completely corroded beyond recognition; even Daoist runes couldn't withstand it. "This is an extremely dangerous substance in the cosmos, one that even ancient Saints must avoid. It can devour everything. Fortunately, we only encountered a small patch; otherwise, we'd be in great trouble. Quickly, ask the Sages to act!"

No one could definitively explain what Devil Mist truly was. Sometimes it exhibited strong electromagnetic properties, while at other times, it manifested a destructive divine energy, its nature unpredictable.

Very rare in the cosmos, it was classified as a legendary terrifying entity. It was undeniably horrifying, yet it was difficult to determine if it possessed independent will or if it was a life form.

Four ancient Saints acted simultaneously. Tens of thousands of divine chains of order flowed with Daoist runes, forming a cage. They confined all the mist in the center, refining it together and continuously eroding it.

When only a small amount remained, a Sage opened his mouth and spat out a brilliant, crystal-clear divine glass treasure furnace. Its lid opened, forcibly drawing the remaining mist inside.

Beings of this caliber naturally did not lack sacred artifacts. Some weapons were legacies from ancient ascetics, possessing unparalleled power and equally suitable for their use.

"Take it back and study thoroughly what this substance is."

In the distance was a horrifying scene: dozens, even hundreds, of escort battleships were damaged and lifeless. Clearly, no one had survived.

The mothership in the very center also had dim Daoist runes, its hull ripped open, and no one survived. This mothership fleet was completely devoured and rendered useless.

The start was unfavorable. They had barely begun the journey, yet a priceless mothership was lost, which disheartened everyone.

"Anything can happen in the cosmos; this is nothing," a Sage said coldly. "To embark on interstellar conquest, one must be prepared for sacrifice. Continue the journey."

The people of the twelve great royal families frequently traveled the cosmic star seas and naturally understood its cruelty. They had encountered things far more terrifying than this, so they were not overly despondent. They quickly adjusted and continued forward.

The path ahead became quite long because the ancient coordinates left by the Southern Demon were increasingly difficult. The original calculations and deductions were not necessarily accurate, requiring repeated verification and leading to many incorrect detours. Constant corrections were needed along the way.

This process was both time-consuming and labor-intensive. As they deduced, calculated, scouted, and verified, five months passed in a blink, yet only half the journey was covered.

Suddenly, piercing alarm bells rang out, and every vessel roared, swept by a terrifying wave of Daoist fluctuations. Numerous small vessels were violently impacted and rapidly disintegrated.

"Enemy attack! Power comparable to an ancient Saint! An unknown creature is charging from the depths of the cosmos!"

It was a giant beast, like a small mountain, hundreds of zhang tall, covered in bloody scales, with even its eyes a blood-red hue. Majestic as a wild ox, it bore a pair of dragon horns and extended a sharp claw like that of a Black Sky Roc, tearing directly towards a mothership and destroying many battleships along its path.

It emitted a mental fluctuation that shook the cosmos, its roar so loud it could shatter souls. Ye Fan was greatly astonished. The vastness of the cosmos was indeed wondrous, for a creature capable of rivaling an ancient Saint had appeared in this boundless, desolate starfield.

"What kind of creature is this? Where did it come from? Why is it attacking us?"

"It's a fierce beast that has reached the Saint level," came the reply. "A year ago, a mothership from our Zhao family came to explore this starfield and encountered it. They severely injured its offspring and were hunted across many starfields. We didn't expect to come here again and encounter it once more."

It was obvious without needing to think deeply: the Zhao clan had nearly killed the offspring of an ancient Saint-level fierce beast, creating a deep enmity. Their current encounter naturally meant the beast would not let them go.

All battleships around that mothership were destroyed by its mental roar, shattering into pieces. The powerful mothership, however, was torn at by it, and cracks appeared.

Boom!

The mothership's protective barrier expanded, finally shaking the beast off. That motherships could withstand Saints was no empty boast; at this moment, it displayed its true combat power, emitting brilliant light.

The Saints accompanying the expedition appeared; this time, eight of them emerged, each radiating world-destroying fluctuations. This caused the entire cosmic starfield to tremble, creating swaths of black holes and nearly causing stars to fall.

This ancient, surviving alien fierce beast roared with an open maw, its blood-red eyes flashing fiercely. Knowing that confrontation meant certain death, it tore open the void and fled.

But before leaving, it struck down with a claw, reducing hundreds of small cosmic vessels to cosmic dust, destroyed in an instant and utterly unable to resist.

Ye Fan marveled in his heart. Traveling through this dark cosmos, he had encountered such a solitary and terrifying Saint-level being. The boundless starfield was indeed terrifying and endlessly mysterious.

"No need to mind it; let's continue our journey."

The colossal mothership fleet performed another spatial jump, with two Saints standing guard to prevent the Saint-level fierce beast from following.

Time flew, and half a year had passed in the blink of an eye. The expeditionary army, combining the route map taken by the lost brother and sister of the Purple Cloud Royal Family, carefully deduced and calculated the coordinates left by the Southern Demon. The path ahead slowly became clearer, and perhaps reaching their destination was now within reach!

Half a month later, a battleship exploring and verifying the path ahead in the starfield seemed startled and retreated at high speed. Its captain transmitted a trembling voice, reporting a terrifying matter.

"They've been found! Ten thousand years... and they're still here, eternally existing!"

Soon, within the colossal mothership fleet, everyone was horrified. They also saw a terrifying sight whose grandeur made every powerful individual shudder; even the supreme Saints turned pale upon witnessing it.