Chapter 1616: Dark Spot on The Great Sun

Although the conclusion drawn by his External Avatar was merely based on the current progress, Shang Xia was still somewhat disappointed.

However, the leadership of the task had clearly shifted towards Yan Ming. Shang Xia and his External Avatar naturally had to follow her instructions and cooperate with her actions.

"I originally invited her to assist you..." Shang Xia grumbled to his External Avatar, who was being kept busy by Yan Ming.

With Shang Xia and his External Avatar providing high-grade combat support, the survey results for the fourth sun positioned at the Megrez position were quickly determined. The sun was found to contain enough energy and it was of a reasonable size. It was pretty adequate to be one of the suns in the Big Dipper formation.

Next, they planned to conduct a practical survey of a sun located at the Phecda position on the Star Chart.

Compared to the fourth sun, the fifth was mediocre in every respect. Its size, the energy it contained, and everyone else was barely passable. It was extremely average.

Apart from a few ordinary stars, the surrounding millions of miles of void were free of any worlds or chaotic streams, ensuring everyone’s safety.

"Do you think there is still a need to continue the survey? Given the 5 suns we've already surveyed, their quality clearly doesn't match those recorded on the fifth chart. Even if the remaining two are of high quality, they can't hide the fact that all 7 of them on the third chart differ too much.” Shang Xia felt that continuing might be a waste of time and suggested that Yan Ming give up the survey of the fourth chart and move directly to the fifth.

However, Yan Ming snapped without even looking back, "Let's first look at the sixth sun!"

Her tone carried a sense of authority, and Shang Xia and his External Avatar exchanged a resigned look but ultimately decided to follow the Stargazer’s lead.

It wasn't that Yan Ming was controlling Shang Xia and his External Avatar; rather, both had noticed that Yan Ming seemed to be in an extremely focused state, which was closely related to her Stargazing arts.

Yan Ming had been practicing in the Chaotic Sea of Stars for several years, aiming for a breakthrough in her art. However, she lacked the innate talent of Yuan Qiuyuan and did not have the extensive experience of Xin Lu. Although her skills had grown sharper over the years, she still had not managed to break through to a Grand Stargazer.

The series of practical surveys of suns charted by Yuan Qiuyuan, although each was millions of miles apart or even farther, had provided Yan Ming with an unparalleled sense of fulfillment.

She felt she was close to a fundamental breakthrough in her Stargazing arts, not through sudden enlightenment or accumulation and maturity, but through a gradual progression towards a clearly seen goal.

After a long journey, the trio finally approached the sixth sun.

However, at that moment, Yan Ming suddenly signaled for Shang Xia and his External Avatar to stop.

"What happened?" Shang Xia's divine soul spread out instantly, covering thousands of miles around them in the void, but he detected no dangers.

"Look!" Yan Ming did not explain but simply pointed at the huge fiery orb suspended in deep space.

Shang Xia and his External Avatar scrutinized the sun carefully until even their eyes hurt from the intense light, yet they found nothing unusual and reluctantly withdrew their gaze, looking at each other in confusion.

Yan Ming probably didn't expect them to see anything, so she explained, "The emission of light from this sun is uneven. It's either natural or it has been damaged by an external force."

Shang Xia and his External Avatar couldn't see any imbalance in the light emission from the sun, but since Yan Ming said so, they had to believe her.

"Let's get closer; you might be able to see what I mean then!" Noticing the amusing expressions on the faces of her 2... Or 1, companion, Yan Ming proceeded directly toward the sun.

After advancing another hundred thousand miles, the light from the sun became even more intense, affecting their vision and the heat, though intangible, swept over them, almost scorching the surrounding void.

Seeing Yan Ming struggle even under the protection of his domain, Shang Xia grunted, "We can't go any further!"

But Yan Ming, disregarding her disheveled state, yelled in excitement, "Look, now you should be able to see it clearly!"

Shang Xia and his External Avatar dared not look directly at the sun and had to use techniques to shield their eyes, then observed the sun's position peripherally. They indeed noticed a large ‘dark spot’ on the upper left corner of the sun.

Actually, calling it that was not quite accurate. It was just dimmer compared to the other parts of the sun, which were constantly emitting intense light. It was difficult to see with the naked eye because of the bright light, but Yan Ming could observe it through her secret arts.

Suddenly, Shang Xia’s External Avatar turned to his true body and asked, "Do you think you could cause such a dark spot in the sun?”

Regardless of the dark spot, the sun was excellent in terms of the volume and energy it contained.

The dark spot was the only imperfection.

Shang Xia understood what his External Avatar meant, and the question was likely also meant for Yan Ming to hear, so he pondered and said, "This sun is so massive that with my current abilities, I can't destroy it, but temporarily suppressing the light source and leaving a wound to form a dark spot isn't difficult. The hard part is how to keep it on the sun permanently, which is probably harder than destroying the sun outright!"

Yan Ming listened to their straightforward discussion and instinctively said, "So you're saying it's impossible for it to be man-made, and the sun was born this way?"

Shang Xia's expression had become grave by then, and he shook his head, "On the contrary... Someone probably caused this!"

Before Yan Ming could ask why, Shang Xia explained, "Remember when I told you about the heavenly screen of the Spirit Abundance World that was damaged by a supreme being and couldn’t recover for hundreds of years? They couldn’t even form their 24th continent because of it.”

Yan Ming's eyes widened. "Are you saying that the existence of that dark spot on this sun is because someone permanently took away the energy that belonged there?"

Shang Xia nodded. "That's about the gist of it."

Yan Ming exhaled. "If that's the case, then this sun obviously doesn't need to be considered anymore. We can leave now and prepare to survey the last Star Chart."

Being able to harvest the energy from such a massive sun meant at least a Sage was involved, likely not a weak one.

Since such a powerful being was aware of the sun's existence, it presented a risk to Shang Xia, who was about to attempt to enter the Seven Star Realm. There was no need to consider it further.

However, after Yan Ming spoke, his External Avatar expressed an opposing view, "Hold on, maybe we should explore the void around this sun first. There might be some unexpected discoveries."

Yan Ming was astonished. "Are you crazy? What if we really encounter a Sage?!"