Chapter 2046: Star River

The stone rod the Giant Ape King had been using was retrieved by Shang Xia from an Elysium. It was once the Heaven Supporting Jade Pillar, and it even supported the growth of a Spirit World and assisted the establishment of a Dao Field.

The stone rod absorbed a lot of world origin and origin qi during the process. Even though it had been heavily used, its quality didn’t fall. Instead, it became an even greater weapon than before. It had long surpassed the quality of ordinary Heaven Supporting Jade Pillars used to prop up Elysiums, and there were signs of an artifact spirit awakening.

To a certain extent, it could even be compared to Shang Xia’s Seven Star Mace.

Therefore, not long after the bird emperor seized the stone rod from the Giant Ape King, it sensed the stone rod growing heavier and heavier within its talons, to the point it affected its speed of flight... Which had already been suppressed by the battle formation.

The rank seven bird emperor knew something was wrong and immediately tried to discard the stone rod, but its surface seemed to carry a space of its own, confining it within that narrow pocket.

Even after it loosened its claws, the stone rod still hung between them, growing ever heavier and forcing the rank seven bird emperor to fly slower and slower.

The next moment, the void ahead suddenly tore open. The blood-drenched Giant Ape King leapt out from it and swung its arms, smashing them hard into the rank seven bird emperor’s chest which had been exposed as it strained to tug at the stone rod.

With a piercing, miserable cry, the rank seven bird emperor’s massive body was sent spinning through the void. As it was flung sideways, a rain of blood spilled from its beak.

Fighting for its life in close quarters with the rank seven bird emperor, the Giant Ape King suffered ever more under the wind blades swirling around its body.

Even so, it thumped its chest with both fists. A roar of excitement left its lips as it lunged at the rank seven bird emperor again.

Enraged and alarmed, the rank seven bird emperor’s feathers seemed to stand on end. When it spread its wings, boundless, blazing radiance burst forth. Surging streams of star fire rushed to meet the Giant Ape King.

Of course, had it not been for the stone rod in its trapped talons, the rank seven bird emperor would have looked almost indistinguishable from a sun.

Unfortunately, with the stone rod stuck on it, the ‘sun’ looked like a heavily sinking sunset... Or a parrot crouched on a perch.

Facing the incoming sea of star fire, the Giant Ape King suddenly opened its tightly clenched fists.

Faint blood-colored lines could be seen on its palms as it started to circulate its bloodline origin energy. The scattered starlight in the surroundings converged around it, giving it a burst of strength. Its golden fur, sticky with blood, under the rich baptism of starlight, made it look like a towering giant statue gleaming in golden-red spiritual light.

Its aura surged sharply the next moment.

As its starry bloodline energy roiled, the Giant Ape King reached forward.

The surging star fire split before him, turning into two streams that flowed around him.

In the center of its palms, the runes of Star Origin Talismans could be seen. They had been personally inscribed by Shang Xia before he left.

In order to let Shang Xia inscribe those runes, the Giant Ape King had almost peeled the skin from both its palms to transform them into material akin to talisman paper.

That was its true trump card!

Seeing the star fire so easily torn apart, the rank seven bird emperor could only beat its wings with difficulty again, gathering a barrier of wind blades to buy a little time to recover.

However, since the Giant Ape King could split the sea of star fire, it could also tear through a barrier formed by the gathered wind blades. Even if its flesh was once more sliced into bloody tatters as it passed, with clumps of fur and meat falling from it, the Giant Ape King didn’t care.

The Giant Ape King knew that the window it could win was extremely brief. Only by grievously wounding the rank seven bird emperor in a fleeting moment could it have any chance of ultimate victory. There was only one thing left to do. It had to stake its life on one final strike.

Tearing through the barrier of wind blades, the rank seven bird emperor truly panicked.

With its talons held down, it hastily folded its wings for protection.

But this time, the Giant Ape King did not hammer down with its fists again. Instead, it twisted deftly in midair, pounced, and wrapped both arms around one of the rank seven bird emperor’s wings. Borrowing the torque from its swinging body and the Star Origin Taliamans in its palms, the Giant Ape King twisted the wing one full round.

With sharp snapping sounds and a miserable cry coming from the rank seven bird emperor, the enormous wing was broken by the Giant Ape King.

In the next instant, however, two sword-like feathers pierced through the Giant Ape King’s shoulders.

With its legs still perfectly alright, the Giant Ape King used the drooping wing as leverage, dragging itself up into the void once more. It stomped hard on the rank seven bird emperor’s head, driving it into an inverted fall in midair.

Flipping in the air once again, the Giant Ape King started to gather its strength, preparing to stamp down on the bird emperor’s exposed chest and abdomen. But before it could strike, the rank seven bird emperor let out a bleak, tragic cry, followed by crisp, distinct sounds of bones breaking.

It had forcibly wrenched itself free of the spatial confinement around the stone rod!

No... Something seemed off. Its left talon had been completely severed and discarded, while the right, though looking intact, had tendons and bones shattered to a pulp.

After paying such a horrific price, the rank seven bird emperor finally freed itself from the stone rod. Though one wing was also broken, it still used everything it had to shift its body some distance away, causing the Giant Ape King’s stomp to miss and dropping it straight into a sea of star fire.

As it fell, the Giant Ape King didn’t seem the slightest bit afraid. Ignoring the star fire around it, the Giant Ape King grabbed the stone rod before hurling it with all its might at the bird emperor.

With one of its talons severed, the other broken, one wing twisted and fractured, and the fleet’s battle formation suppressing it, moving became extremely difficult.

Facing the Giant Ape King’s stone rod, it could not fully dodge. Enduring the agony, it folded its wings again to try to block, while straining with all its might to shift to the side.

With a muffled puff, the rank seven bird emperor avoided a vital point again, but its already twisted wing was pierced once more. Half of it was nailed to one of the anchor chains.

The rank seven bird emperor struggled, but the dozen anchor chains that had been intertwined from different directions suddenly loosened with a clatter, uncoiling of their own accord. Whipping around due to the massive force, they slammed into the rank seven bird emperor one after another, binding it fast and suspending it in the void.

...

At an unknown distance from the nebula where the Giant Ape King and the rank seven bird emperor were locked in battle, Shang Xia and Yuan Qiuyuan hung in the void, gazing at a sight in the distance that caused their hearts to tremble.

“This... This... What is that?” Yuan Qiuyuan whispered. He subconsciously stepped past Shang Xia and was about to walk forward when he felt a powerful force restraining him.

Shang Xia had also been drawn to the spectacle displayed in the distant void, but his soul was strong enough that he quickly cleared his mind of that strange pull.

Noticing Yuan Qiuyuan’s abnormal state, he reached out at once to stop him.

Seeing that Yuan Qiuyuan still could not wake from the shock of what they were seeing, Shang Xia’s expression hardened. He growled, “Wake up!”

The voice boomed in Yuan Qiuyuan’s mind like a great bell, instantly jolting him awake.

Thinking of the state he had fallen into moments before, Yuan Qiuyuan broke into a cold sweat.

“Sage Shang... What just happened?”

Shang Xia turned his gaze back to the distant void and said solemnly, “You saw a Star River.”

“A Star River?” Yuan Qiuyuan was stunned for a moment, then recalled the breathtaking scene he had just witnessed. Comparing it with Shang Xia’s description, he nodded and sighed. “There were countless stars, arranged without any order. They stretched through the void to the very limit of sight. The radiance of each star gathered together into a dense, flowing river of light... Describing such a wondrous, majestic scene as a Star River is indeed most fitting!”

Shang Xia remained unmoved by Yuan Qiuyuan’s praise and instead cautioned, “Do not use your arts of stargazing to look upon the Star River again. It is not something you can handle right now.”

Yuan Qiuyuan nodded hastily, still shaken. “I won’t. At least not without thorough preparation, I won’t.”

Shang Xia nodded and said no more. In truth, as long as neither of them forced it, what lay within their line of vision was still an ordinary patch of void. It was just that the section not far away looked more twisted than usual.

Soon, Yuan Qiuyuan could not suppress his curiosity. “What exactly is a Star River, and why has it gathered so many stars?”

Shang Xia did not answer at once. After brief consideration, he shook his head and sighed, “I do not know either. Stay here and do not wander around. I will go ahead and take a look.”

Yuan Qiuyuan opened his mouth to speak, but Shang Xia had already reached out his hands.