Chapter 3700 - The True Dark Forest

"Middlekin Star Ruins...." Tianming, Wudi, Qingyu and Moran looked ahead into the distance. The only ones within the Sky Palace Formation were the Lin Clan and quite a number of key figures of the Myriad Solar Sects. Those were the only people that Tianming took with him. He didn't dare to bring more, as there was a risk that they would perish in the mysterious Upper Star Ruin. He didn't want to risk the deaths just because it would strengthen his power as the Galactic Emperor. In other words, this was a scouting mission.

Countless dragons swarmed about in the Flameyellow Divine Path. Even though they had known that they were going on a journey like this from the get-go, they couldn't help feeling their heartbeats quicken.

"What kind of place is the Upper Star Ruin? Do the flameyellow divinities still exist? The people of an imperial-class world can't just vanish without a trace, right?" Qingyu had many questions about the journey ahead.

What lay ahead of the Sun? They didn't even know how long it would take to reach their destination! They had much to anticipate during their wait after witnessing such a majestic sight. Tianming used the time to organize his recent hauls and gave Qingyu and Wudi fitting weapons. Wudi's best artifact, however, remained the Flameyellow Coffin.

"The Flameyellow Coffin changed. It's able to absorb the energy of the Flameyellow Guard Formation for my use, so it still works like it did before. As long as you aren’t in your Galactic Emperor form, I'm stronger than you with the Flameyellow Coffin," Wudi confidently asserted.

"Oh, are you sure?" If it weren’t for not daring to leave the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, Tianming would have asked for a duel. Though, without the Flameyellow Coffin and Flameyellow Guard Formation, Wudi probably wouldn't be able to defeat Qingyu, let alone Tianming.

"I also have an army of flameyellow fiends! Hahaha!" Wudi cockily laughed.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"So all you're good for is watching the house. Don't come with us and embarrass us," Tianming said.

"Eh?!" Wudi seemed stunned. "Wait, no! It's my turn to go out adventuring!

You

should watch the house!"

"In your dreams. Let's talk when you're able to defeat me without using the Flameyellow Coffin!" Tianming said, looking down on him.

"I'm not going to let this rest! You little brat, you've been doping way more than I have," Wudi said.

"In your dreams!"

"Alright, quiet down," Qingyu said, glaring at her dad. "You, stay home!"

"Why? If I don't go out and roam now, my youth will come to an end!" Wudi begged with a hint of crying.

"Godfather, I think your youth has long ended," Tianming said.

"Ended your sister! It hasn't!"

"I'm his sister. What about it?" Qingyu asked.

How the mighty has fallen; Wudi hadn't been able to do anything about his daughter.

Once we reach the Upper Star Ruin, the first thing we should do is scout the place out. I’ll definitely have to leave, and I can only focus well knowing that Godfather’s at home watching over the Sun

. The thought came from Tianming's heart.

"Dad, Big Brother can only dare to take risks if you're at home watching over it. That way he'll have a home to return to no matter what kind of trouble he's facing, okay?" Qingyu said.

"That sounds more like it! Emphasize how important my role is!" Wudi gave himself a thumbs-up, stunning everyone into a deadpan silence.

***

Tianming continued waiting for their arrival while practicing his swordsmanship. He had moved the bronze bed used for training the Yin-Yang Immemorial Art to the Sun. It took five days for the trip from Infinitum to the imperial capital, but the current journey had spanned two months and still hadn't ended. Every day, he looked at the Flameyellow Atlas and saw the dot that denoted the Sun passing through cloudy masses one after another, heading toward the glowing point away from the Tianming Star Ruin.

"At this rate, the total time required for the Sun to reach the Middlekin Star Ruin will add up to three months!" It was longer than he had expected, which made him slightly anxious.

"If that's the case, the mobile stareyes might not work.... Then again, the Myriadpath Celestial Formation can still reach Antiquitas Mortis, and it seems like there isn't any distance limit with that. It only takes half a month to transfer there." All he could do now was wait.

Eventually, the glowing dot on the atlas approached the Middlekin Star Ruin. Everyone on the Sun nervously looked up at the exit of the Flameyellow Divine Path, where billions of streaks of black and gold intersected to form a vortex.

"Middlekin Star Ruin, here we come!" Tianming excitedly yelled. The pink Sun came bursting out of a completely different point in space.

"Activate the astral cloaking formation!" Tianming controlled the Sun's formations, including the Flameyellow Guard Formation. As the Sun rose in class, its cloaking formation grew much more complicated than before. Its defenses and stealth capabilities were much higher than when the Sun was just an ether-class world.

Tianming was cautious and immediately activated those formations upon exiting the Flameyellow Divine Path, leaving a pink-Sun-shaped hole in the void of space, almost completely undetectable. It only gave out light to its surroundings for the slightest moment. Even so, the Sun continued moving forward as it decelerated. However, Tianming kept it cruising away from the 'landing point' they arrived at.

"Someone might’ve noticed the sudden flash and could send people over to check." As they cruised, Tianming observed the new world he found himself in. From the outside, the Sun looked like part of the dark void, but under the Flameyellow Guard Formation was the very same blazing Sun.

"Bai Ye, can you reach out to your infant souls? Both the one in the imperial capital and those in the Ancient Oldgod Domain," Tianming asked.

"Try asking a question that isn’t stupid! If I can't contact them anymore, wouldn't that mean that they've broken free of me?" Bai Ye snapped.

"So? Does it work or not?"

"Everything you say now, my infant souls can hear. There's no need to go out of your way to reach out to them," Bai Ye said.

"Amazing!" That was the only answer Tianming needed. "Tell Jiguang and Zi Zhen that we're safe first."

Then he looked outside the Sun. "How dark!" That was his first impression of the place. It was a world of true darkness.

"The Lower Star Ruins are filled with stars wherever the eye can see, unlike here!" Not a single star could be seen ahead of the Sun. It felt to Tianming like he had entered a land of death.

"Even the Frontier Starscape is sparse, but stars are still visible. But this place is completely devoid of even that," Moran said in a daze.

"There's only two possibilities!" Tianming said.

"What are they?" she asked.

"First, we've come to the wrong place. This isn't the Middlekin Star Ruin at all, but a place without any nova-source worlds."

"That's impossible. The atlas said that this is the Middlekin Star Ruin," Qingyu said.

"Then there's only one other possibility...." Tianming's voice grew coarse with tension.

"What is it?" Everyone gathered up to listen.

Tianming took a deep breath and said, "The Upper Star Ruin is a dark forest where all nova-source worlds use cloaking formations to hide themselves!"

"Bingo!" Bai Ye said.

"Did you already ask them for an answer?" Tianming asked.

"Yes!" The answer Bai Ye got from the wonderian sisters confirmed Tianming's guess. Everyone was hiding, not letting even a trace of light out into space!

"But there seems to be some light behind the Sun!" Tianming entered the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb and circled around behind the Sun to look at the space behind it.

"What’s that...?" Tianming's eyes narrowed as his heartbeat accelerated. There was an ocean of stars that was so dense it looked like they couldn't be packed any tighter!