Chapter 711: The Opening

The collapse of the Sacred Ground planet was nearing its end. The lush but false outer shell had now almost completely fallen into the pitch-black hole at the planet's center.

The crystalline branches growing from the core region supported the few remaining patches of land. Seen from orbit, this scene was like a mythical giant tree spreading its canopy in space, holding up the last fertile lands at its treetops as the world collapsed.

The last batch of transport ships and escort units lifted off from the crumbling planetary fragments, their engines tracing streaks of light across the dark backdrop of space.

Bai Liqing and Red stood on the bridge of the Mass Effect, watching the scene in space through the wide observation windows.

Red spoke softly. "...I once saw a similar description in the epic poems of the Argeladians. In their myths, the planet beneath their feet underwent collapse and was reshaped three times."

Bai Liqing said calmly, "Myths and epics are a mix of truth and fiction. Anything was possible before the Great Annihilation. But one thing is certain: the Hermit Order, that tumor that has entrenched itself in the civilized world for centuries, has finally been dismantled today."

Red said calmly, "The main body is undoubtedly dismantled, but the remnants may take years to purge. There will inevitably be exiled priests who fled this star sector early, and there may be hidden strongholds elsewhere in the Dark Flow Star Domain. Some fringe groups will stir trouble under the name of the Hermit Order. This cult nation has accumulated centuries of wealth; many things won't simply vanish just because a capital planet collapses."

Bai Liqing looked unfazed. "Doesn't matter, I'm used to it. Cultists and warlord pirates are always hard to eradicate. Even scattered remnants of the Angel Cult are like that, let alone a priest-run nation that has established a star sector order. Anyway, after the capital planet disintegrates, they won't amount to much. We'll just kill as many as show up."

Red murmured, its "gaze" fixed on the planet collapsing in space. "Disintegration... I couldn't witness it in person during the Stellar Entity incident. This time, I finally understand what 'Angel Hunter's big move' means. A Qing, your decision to immediately extend an olive branch to this Yu Sheng and anchor his self-awareness and stance to the human side was the right call."

Bai Liqing merely hummed in acknowledgment and didn't speak further. She looked up and watched the magnificent and awe-inspiring sight in space together with Red, her face perpetually frozen, revealing no emotion.

Meanwhile, in space, the huge silver-white nine-tailed fox was walking with light, graceful steps, crossing a patch of condensing ice mist that had risen from the planet's surface.

A transport ship that had taken off in a hurry not long ago flew past Hu Li, flashing its lights.

Hu Li happily turned her head, raised her front paws, and made a bowing gesture to greet the ship.

The little puppet grabbed the fur on Hu Li's back and shouted, "Silly fox, why are you bowing? They're signaling to overtake you, and you just turn your head right in front of them!"

Hu Li turned her face around seriously. "That wasn't an overtaking signal. Besides, space is huge here; it's not a controlled zone like a spaceport that needs planned lanes. You don't need to signal when changing course—if anything, it would be a passing light."

The little puppet was stunned. "Oh, is that right?"

Hu Li: "Trust me, I have a mobile celestial driver's license..."

The little puppet felt that the big fox was fooling her, opened her mouth, but before she could speak, she suddenly sensed a figure appearing beside her.

She turned her head—it was Yu Sheng.

"Wow!" Ai Lin was startled, and then immediately got a second scare from Yu Sheng's complexion. "Damn, Yu Sheng, your face is even paler than a C-clip! You don't look like you just came back to life; you look like you're about to die!"

To be fair, the little puppet's mouth was blessed. When she spoke, Yu Sheng felt like he had plunged into a gravel pit—even breathing made his molars ache. But he had no energy to bicker with the little thing and weakly waved his hand. "I'm almost dead from exhaustion. After dealing with that so-called Holy Throne, I looked up and the whole planet was crashing down. Do you know how thrilling that sight was?"

Ai Lin thought seriously and nodded repeatedly. "I think it's more thrilling than what we saw from up here."

"Anyway, everyone who needed to evacuate is out. Let this place slowly collapse now..."

As he spoke, Yu Sheng reached out and ruffled the little puppet's head, then leaned out from behind the big fox to look at the Sacred Ground.

Space was filled with planetary debris of all sizes, and more debris had already been consumed by the Eden Gate. Now Yu Sheng had temporarily cut off the connection between the Soul Wilds and this passage. The crystalline branches growing from the rift were rapidly dissipating, fine crystal dust spreading through cosmic space.

After absorbing enough matter and energy, the pitch-black hole that was originally at the Sacred Ground's core was now slowly expanding.

Yu Sheng's words suddenly stopped mid-sentence. The little puppet whose head he was ruffling immediately noticed and looked up in confusion.

"Yu Sheng, what's wrong?"

Yu Sheng seemed not to hear, still staring fixedly in that direction.

"Yu Sheng?" Ai Lin called again in confusion, then finally reacted and turned to look.

The Eden Gate at the center of the Sacred Ground wreckage was still slowly expanding. The black hole that originally occupied only a small space at the planet's core had now grown to an impossible-to-ignore scale. After crossing a certain threshold, its expansion slowed down as if reaching some balance—but the shape it took made everyone hold their breath.

It was a pitch-black celestial body, its utterly lightless surface like a void in the universe. It resembled a black hole but lacked the gravitational disturbances of one. It simply hung there silently. Apart from its optical existence, no detection equipment could capture any characteristics of its existence in the material universe.

The little puppet finally heard Yu Sheng speak. "It's the Black Star..."

"The Eden Gate is the Black Star?! The Black Star is an Eden Gate?!" Ai Lin stood up directly on Hu Li's back. The little puppet's brain was churning, but clearly this wasn't something she could sort out. "Hey, how is this so confusing... the Bridge? So the Black Star is a Bridge? Then when I climbed down from the Bridge back then... I can't remember either?"

The little thing got so anxious that even the half-portent in her soul logged in—but clearly that half-portent also couldn't figure out the situation.

Hu Li turned her head, her voice clearly calmer than Ai Lin's. "Master, could this thing run out of control? Are you 'connected' to it now?"

"Connected, but I can't fully understand what it really is. This thing—it's not purely a 'Bridge'," Yu Sheng said with a frown, his tone hesitant. "It's some kind of 'new thing' generated after two Bridges established a connection. That 'Eden Gate' is inside it..."

He paused, then shook his head. "No, not inside. They're fused together."

Ai Lin and Hu Li looked at each other. Luna beside them also seemed a bit bewildered. Only the artificial angel who had fled the Sacred Ground in a daze with Hu Li and the others was completely out of the loop, still floating unhurriedly in space nearby, occasionally diving into the Soul Wilds and then popping out from nowhere.

"Let's go meet up with Bai Liqing first," Yu Sheng said quickly. "They have plenty of smart people and professional equipment. You lot—even combined, you can't scrape together a primary school diploma—so stop racking your brains here."

Hu Li immediately acknowledged, turned around, and accelerated like a fox rocket, nine tails blazing, flying straight toward the direction of the Combined Fleet's flagship.

The artificial angel, who had been floating unhurriedly nearby, was startled. She quickly flapped her wings to catch up, but halfway found that Hu Li was flying too fast for her to keep up. Anxious, she pulled out her giant flame sword and fired three consecutive light cannons behind herself, then charged forward dragging a trail of pulse-propelled flashes.

There was no sound in space. Yu Sheng only noticed due to peripheral vision and turned to look. Cold sweat broke out immediately, but soon he relaxed—at least this living ancestor knew to fire in an empty direction. She wasn't completely brainless.

In the Traveler's Inn, she would count as a strategist.

The place where Yu Sheng and his group were located was not far from the Mass Effect, so they didn't open a gate to take a shortcut. The group soon arrived at the bridge where Bai Liqing and Red were—and as Yu Sheng had expected, it was bustling.

Clearly, the Black Star that had transformed from the Eden Gate had also intimidated everyone on this ship.

Technical officers were activating the ship-wide scanning system to closely monitor the dark celestial body. Other ships were sharing their observational data with the flagship. Several probes had been launched to the original Sacred Ground crust position and were now cautiously orbiting the pitch-black sphere at close range.

"Cannot scan the physical structure of the target celestial body... cannot analyze its material composition..."

"Gravity signals are abnormal, too bizarre... When we actively observe it, it seems not to exist, but occasionally it randomly produces slight gravitational disturbances..."

"A probe is being interfered with. This is a dangerous distance. Do not approach too closely."

"Closely monitor all space debris and spacecraft approaching the target celestial body. Until we figure out what it is, do not let anything touch its surface—except for survey ships, all other units begin retreating."

Bai Liqing turned to look at Yu Sheng and his group arriving on the bridge.

The relatively normal part was that this time they entered through the main door.

The abnormal part was that they were followed by a Living Saint who had charged over entirely using pulse-propelled light cannons.

If not for having spent a long time together, Bai Liqing would have considered activating the ship's anti-air defenses for a moment.

"I don't know if it's that everyone who joins your team becomes abnormal, or if your team only takes in those who aren't normal," Bai Liqing sighed, looking with a subtle expression at the tall figure floating behind Yu Sheng. "...Can you ask her to put that sword away? It's not safe to have it on the bridge."

The "artificial angel" clearly understood what was said. She tilted her head at Bai Liqing's words, noticed Yu Sheng's expression, and immediately obediently waved her hand, causing the giant flame sword to dissipate into thin air.

"She's a new hire, still in the adjustment period. Please be patient," Yu Sheng waved his hand. "Let's not talk about that now. Let's first talk about that sphere outside. I'll say upfront—this really wasn't in my plan."