Chapter 842: Traversing through Outer Space
Having come this far, Jian Chen had completed what he needed to do in the Fantasy Star Ocean. No matter if it was the extremely-valuable Dragon’s Saliva or the stardust, he had collected more than enough. The Dragon’s Saliva in particular; the dozens of grasses all approached a million years in maturity and combined with the fact that they were almost extinct, it made them even more valuable. Each grass was like a priceless treasure on the continent.
“I’ve obtained another material for forging the Azulet swords. I just wonder how many are left.” Jian Chen thought. He greatly anticipated the day where he could forge the two swords and he felt an extremely strong intuition that the power of the swords would not disappoint him at all. He could feel this from just the sword spirits.
The swords to the sword spirits were like a human’s body to his soul. If they lost their body, no matter how powerful their soul was, they would still be extremely weak. This could be observed with the falling of Saint Rulers; the bodies of Saint Rulers were extremely powerful but once their souls fled their body, they could be easily wiped out. Right now, the sword spirits were just like that, a soul without a body. Even when they were weakened, they were already so powerful. Once they fully recovered and entered a suitable vessel, Jian Chen could not imagine just how powerful they would become.
Although he had fulfilled what he needed in coming here, Jian Chen had no intention of leaving. Instead, he ventured onward in the Lunastron Pit with Rui Jin and the others. He was also extremely curious about the transformation of the island that occurred all those years ago.
Other than this, the sword spirits had even sensed a familiar energy here. This was also a target of Jian Chen’s continued investigation.
The area of the Lunastron Pit was unknown. Jian Chen followed behind Rui Jin and Hei Yu. They traveled for a dozen or so kilometers in one direction but still had not reached the end. When they traveled over thirty kilometers, figures gradually appeared in their sights.
All these figures were humans or magical beasts that had become living corpses, currently frozen in a running posture.
Seeing this, Jian Chen’s complexion immediately became odd. These corpses were trapped here by Rui Jin’s secret technique from the Dragon clan before.
The four of them stopped their steps simultaneously. They stared at the frozen corpses ahead in shock. Only after a while did Rui Jin speak with a deep voice, “We’ve actually come back to where we were before.”
“The Lunastron Pit really is mystical. Is this perhaps a formation?” Hei Yu exclaimed in wonder.
“This formation is extremely great, much more profound than the formations that my Dragon clan uses. Even I did not sense that I had fallen into a formation at all. Additionally, I haven’t been able to find any information regarding this formation in my inherited memories. Perhaps this formation was formed naturally after the island changed?” Rui Jin murmured with his eyebrows furrowed.
“This is the Eight Trigrams Disorientating Formation! How- how- how is this possible! The Eight Trigrams Disorientating Formation is the- Why would it appear here!?” Suddenly, the shocked voices of the sword spirits sounded in Jian Chen’s head.
“Zi Ying, Qing Suo, you recognize this formation? Is there a way to break it?” Jian Chen asked curiously.
“We indeed recognize this formation. It’s the Eight Trigrams Disorientating Formation but how can this formation appear here? Is there anyone else in this world who knows it? Impossible.” Zi Ying’s voice was filled with disbelief. He was in extreme great shock.
“And this Eight Trigrams Disorientating Formation is the complete thing. The person who set it down must have an extremely high understanding of the Eight Trigrams Disorientating Formation. Has someone from our previous world come here before?” Zi Ying murmured. He was filled with doubt.
“Zi Ying, Qing Suo, it’s not like we can come to a conclusion about this right now. You should tell me if there’s any way to break through this formation first,” Jian Chen said.
“We’re extremely familiar with it. Master, walk according to the steps we dictate,” Zi Ying said.
Jian Chen nodded slightly, before turning to the three others. “I have a way to break through the formation. Seniors, please follow me from behind and imitate my footsteps.”
With that, the three of them stared at Jian Chen in amazement. They clearly were extremely astonished and skeptical about Jian Chen’s ability to break through the formation.
The three of them hesitated for a while, before they all followed behind him. They decided to trust Jian Chen this once to see if he had a method to break through the formation or not.
“Pay attention to my footsteps. You must not take a step wrong. If you do, you won’t be able to break out.” Jian Chen warned everyone, before using his mind to communicate with the sword spirits. He began to step back and forth with an extremely profound method according to the sword spirits.
There were forty-nine steps required in total to walk out from the formation. When he took the eighth step, the surroundings immediately began to change. He discovered that he had actually arrived in a vast starry sky.
Afterward, Rui Jin, Hei Yu and the Heavenly Enchantress all appeared behind Jian Chen. When they realized they were now in a vast starry sky, they all stared blankly. They were extremely shocked.
“This really is a mystical set of steps. I’ve only walked about in the radius of ten meters, yet I’ve actually arrived in this place. Is everything before me an illusion or have I really come to outer space?” Hei Yu said in shock. He could not tell whether what he saw right now was real or fake.
Jian Chen observed the surroundings. He furrowed his eyebrows and closed his eyes in thought. “It’s not an illusion. It’s real. We’ve really come to outer space. The formation was cast down by someone great with terrifying abilities. He used a formation to connect a part of the outer space, before forming a bridge into somewhere unknown. The steps we’re taking right now to walk out of the formation just happens to match the bridge that leads to the other side. Every step matches perfectly with an extremely crucial point of the bridge. Stepping wrongly would be like stepping off the bridge and falling into the water.”
“If we fall off into the water, what would be the outcome?” Rui Jin asked with a deep voice. Although what Jian Chen said was like a fictitious story to the three of them, they believed it firmly.
After communicating with the sword spirits, he explained the information he had learned from them. “I don’t know too. This formation connects worlds; it takes up an extraordinarily vast space. Everything before us is real. We’ve followed the bridge and arrived in outer space and only by following it can we reach the very end successfully. If we take a step wrong during this time, perhaps we will return to the Lunastron Pit, or maybe we will directly become lost in the vast outer space, never able to find the way back ever again.”
Hearing Jian Chen’s words even Rui Jin and Hei Yu who were Ninth Heavenly Layer Saint Kings had a change in expression. They were extremely powerful but that was only on the Tian Yuan Continent. In outer space, they would seem insignificant.
This was because outer space was not a place that even Saint Emperors dared to carelessly set foot in; at least, they did not dare to travel too far in it. Otherwise, they would lose their sense of direction and even lose the ability to distinguish between left, right, up or down.
“It really is difficult to imagine just how terrifyingly powerful the person who cast this formation down was. He actually extended it into outer space. Unbelievable.” Hei Yu sighed in amazement, his voice filled with sincere respect and admiration.
“What ability. Even Saint Emperors are far from being able to do something like this. Perhaps only those who have surpassed Saint Emperor can do this. I just wonder if all of this has anything to do with the Winged Tiger God,” Rui Jin said with a deep voice.
“Let’s not talk about this for now. Everyone follow my footsteps closely. Don’t deviate from them or it’ll be dangerous,” Jian Chen said solemnly, continuing on his way with profound steps.
All of them immediately shut up, carefully following Jian Chen’s steps in the empty space. With every step they took, the surrounding starry space would undergo some minute changes, as if they had traversed an extremely great distance with each step.
When the four of them took the thirteenth step, the scene before them suddenly changed. The starry space around them disappeared and they had arrived at a circular tunnel ten meters in diameter. It was chaotic around the tunnel, with nothing that could be seen.
“This is the spatial tunnel,” Jian Chen said with a deep voice.
“What spatial tunnel?” The Heavenly Enchantress asked subconsciously out of curiosity. This was the first time she had ever heard of something called a ‘spatial tunnel’.
“I don’t know either.” Jian Chen shook his head. He had obtained all this information from the sword spirits. Everything here was extremely unfamiliar to him and most of it had even surpassed the range of his knowledge.
The Heavenly Enchantress, Hei Yu and Rui Jin all rolled their eyes at Jian Chen. They all secretly swore. “Since you don’t know, how’re you able to name it?”
They traveled through the tunnel step by step. When they reached the fortieth step, the tunnel suddenly began to tremble violently. Soon afterward, a powerful storm of energy suddenly appeared far away and quickly rushed toward the group.
Jian Chen’s expression changed abruptly. He cried out, “Crap, we’ve encountered a spatial storm, that’s quite common among the stars. We need to enter quickly!” With that, Jian Chen’s footsteps suddenly sped up, quickly advancing forwards.
The three of them behind also became extremely grim. They all followed Jian Chen closely. None of them had any idea whether they could return back to where they came from after becoming lost in the vast, endless space.
The spatial storm rushed toward them from behind, quickly surging at the four of them. It forced the four of them to advance as fast as they could. Right now, Jian Chen completely ignored the three behind him. He took several steps consecutively, completing the forty-ninth step very quickly.
As the last step fell, Jian Chen’s vision suddenly opened up. The spatial tunnel and the spatial storm that surged behind him all disappeared, as if he had arrived in a different world. It was extremely peaceful in the surroundings, without any dangers.
Jian Chen had no time to observe this foreign world. He hurriedly turned around to look back and only saw a ripple in space. The purple-dressed Heavenly Enchantress appeared before Jian Chen, slightly panic-stricken. Her forehead was wet with sweat, clearly due to being overly anxious.
When she saw that she had finally left the damned spatial tunnel, the Heavenly Enchantress immediately relaxed slightly. She roughly scanned the surroundings, before turning around and looking backward, waiting for Rui Jin and Hei Yu.
Very quickly, ten seconds passed. However, Rui Jin and Hei Yu did not appear before Jian Chen and the Heavenly Enchantress.
Jian Chen’s complexion became ugly. He felt an ill-omen and said with a deep voice, “Have the two seniors been sucked into the spatial storm?”
The Heavenly Enchantress’s complexion also changed slightly. After a while, she said, “Let’s wait here for a little longer. With their strength as Ninth Heavenly Layer Saint Kings, they shouldn’t face dangers that are too great.”
Afterward, Jian Chen and the Heavenly Enchantress waited for another two hours. However, Rui Jin and Hei Yu still did not arrive.
“Looks like the two of them really can’t make it,” Jian Chen said hoarsely as he sat on the ground with his legs crossed. His complexion was not very great. Although he had only met Rui Jin and Hei Yu recently, they had helped him after all. It made Jian Chen feel rather horrible. Moreover, losing them was equivalent to losing two extremely powerful experts.
The Heavenly Enchantress sat silently nearby with her zither in her hands but she was stern. In this foreign world, there were an unknown number of dangers. Without two Ninth Heavenly Layer Saint Kings, their future journey would be extremely difficult or even life-threatening.
“Sigh, I should’ve sucked them into the artifact space. Why didn’t I think about it back then?” Jian Chen smacked his head regretfully.