The Imperial Palace
Under the cover of night, the observatory stood like a mountain peak within the palace grounds. Atop the platform, the Star Crown Sect Master wore flowing purple robes that rustled in the night breeze.
Three hundred ever-burning lamps, crafted from thousand-year-old starlight grass, were suspended in midair by iron wires, encircling the entire observatory.
A faint violet glow shimmered across the surface of the lamps. When Xu Xingquan released his martial soul, the lamps began to hum with a buzzing vibration. From each flame leapt golden fire three inches high, and countless stars spilled forth, enveloping the entire platform in a projection of celestial light, as if the heavens had descended to earth.
One characteristic of astrological martial souls was that their power greatly increased in environments rich with starlight.
With the burning of thousand-year-old starlight grass, the concentration of starlight instantly reached its peak. Medicinal herbs like Ice Essence Ginseng created a low-temperature environment, slowing the rate of energy dissipation.
Far away, Xu Xiaoyan and two other disciples of the Star Crown Sect stood quietly, viewing this as a rare opportunity.
For instance, under the starlight, Xu Xiaoyan suddenly clutched her chest and staggered back two steps. Uncontrollably, her Starlight Ice Staff manifested before her.
The hexagonal ice crystal at the top of the staff voraciously absorbed the scattered starlight, and within the crystal, a golden vortex appeared. She felt her soul power boiling through her meridians, as if it were about to break through some kind of barrier.
Her eyes shone like starlight as she thought: 'If I could maintain the surrounding starlight, my martial soul would surely evolve.'
However, the starlight grass being burned now represented years of stockpiled resources from both the Tian Dou Empire and the Star Crown Sect. Maintaining such an environment for an extended period would require unimaginable manpower and material costs—it simply wasn't feasible to expend everything for her alone.
"Northern Big Dipper Pivot, Purple Forbidden Enclosure stirs!"
Xu Xingquan formed the Starry Seal, a hereditary soul skill, with both hands. His nine soul rings lit up simultaneously, and the starlight energy converged into his Derivative Star Chessboard martial soul, transforming into black and white chess pieces that fell onto the board.
Above the chessboard, the starlight coalesced into a shape resembling an armillary sphere. The once tranquil chess pieces now resembled real stars, simulating reality as they began to rotate counterclockwise. Countless stars trailed tails of light as they plummeted toward the board, condensing into liquid starlight on the jade-like chessboard.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The crisp sound of falling chess pieces echoed through the night. If viewed from above, the pieces would gradually form a map.
"Dubhe, Merak, Phecda!"
Each time Xu Xingquan called out the name of a star, a chess piece transformed into the illusion of a city. When the ninth star, "Alioth," fell into the northwest corner of the chessboard, the entire board suddenly revealed a map of the Tian Dou Empire's territory. Above each major city floated its corresponding auspicious star.
Inside Shrek Academy, Gu La was awakened by an inexplicable premonition. Using telekinesis, he flew out of his room and landed barefoot on the roof.
The bricks beneath his feet were visibly crystallizing, with dark red veins spreading across the building's surface like magma.
Gu La gazed into the future and obtained his answer: 'Using brute-force enumeration… No wonder they had to collaborate with the Tian Dou Empire.'
"But I still don't want to expose myself."
Gu La was powerless against the characteristics of others' martial souls. Pure probability calculations—even the identity of the Chosen One couldn't help him here.
"But who gave you the audacity to recklessly calculate the whereabouts of a god…"
Gu La activated Groudon's divine authority, linking himself to the Earth. His mortal status approached that of a Groudon clone.
And the consequence of calculating a god's location—suddenly, a blood-red fissure tore open in the sky above the observatory, staining all the starlight crimson.
Substantialized pressure descended like divine retribution. The chessboard before Xu Xingquan emitted a brittle cracking sound, like shattering porcelain. The starlight-formed chess pieces exploded one after another, and the splintered star fragments ignited eerie black flames in the air.
On the observatory, Xu Xingquan's pupils trembled violently as he spat out a mouthful of blood.
The Derivative Star Chessboard shattered instantly, its origin essence plummeting: jade chessboard… black stone chessboard… broken wooden chessboard…
At the limit of the fall, the heaven-and-earth rules governing martial souls intervened to save him. The three hundred ever-burning lamps bore part of the cost, preserving his life.
"Sect Master!"
Seven protective stars illuminated around Xu Xingquan as he stepped onto the observatory. However, the moment he touched a fragment of the shattered chessboard, black flames engulfed him.
The flames traveled upstream along the starlight trails, burning gaping black holes into the star chart spread across his back.
The backlash reverberating through heaven and earth instantly gravely wounded him. He was flung backward, crashing into the ground and shattering several lamps, his survival uncertain.
This stopped Emperor Xue Ye, who had intended to save Xu Xingquan, forcing him to release healing soul skills from afar.
As soon as his Swan martial soul unleashed the healing skill, he noticed an alarming drain on his soul power. To his horror, the healing energy, upon touching the injured, transformed into violent backlash, threatening to rebound onto himself.
He quickly stopped, just as the last ever-burning lamp flickered out. On the observatory remained only the cracked, decayed wooden chessboard.
Xu Xingquan knelt amidst the ashes of star fragments, his once jade-like hands now covered in bark-like wrinkles. This ninety-five-level Super Douluo now radiated soul power fluctuations of less than thirty levels.
"Sect Master! Elder!"
Xu Xiaoyan and the others finally reacted, rushing to check on Xu Xingquan's condition.
Kilometers away, Gu La observed the outcome as the crystallized architecture beneath his feet returned to normal.
Gazing at the lightening eastern horizon, his eyes glimmered with molten gold: 'The cost of the next calculation won't be limited to just the degradation of a martial soul.'
Last time, the Silver Dragon King suppressed him with divine rank; this time, he reversed the roles. Gu La was satisfied with the result, his expression as indifferent as the heavens and earth. He returned to his dormitory to continue sleeping.
On the observatory, Emperor Xue Ye's expression darkened—he had lost the gamble.
"Even the Star Crown Sect, renowned for divination, couldn't locate Oak. What level of strength does he possess?"
Thinking of the numerous precious materials expended for this calculation, Emperor Xue Ye's heart bled. His breakthrough had already consumed much of the royal treasury, and this expenditure left the Tian Dou Imperial Family utterly impoverished.
Xu Xingquan struggled to rise after enduring the divine backlash, wincing at the sharp pain coursing through his meridians. He shook his head with a bitter smile: 'This time, I've lost both my dignity and my strength.'
His martial soul still existed but had regressed to a subpar level. He could no longer use soul power, and even if he could, his martial soul wouldn't withstand more than a few activations.
Only his Titled Douluo-level body remained, with combat strength likely surpassing only a Soul Sage who refrained from using their true martial soul form.
He slowly descended the observatory. Emperor Xue Ye maintained the magnanimity expected of an emperor, though his heart bled. For the sake of the Star Crown Sect's reputation, he managed a smile.
"Sect Master Xu…"
"Your Majesty need not say more. It was my arrogance that underestimated Oak. The Star Crown Sect will compensate for some of the materials."
"Additionally, based on my calculations, there is roughly a seventy percent chance that Oak resides within Tian Dou City. As for the specific location, Your Majesty must decide."
Xu Xingquan was adept at the art of mysticism, leaving his words ambiguous to give Emperor Xue Ye hope while retaining a fallback position.
Upon hearing this, Emperor Xue Ye's smile became significantly more genuine: "Sect Master Xu, you're too hard on yourself. The failure of the divination cannot be blamed on you. As for compensation, there's no need to dwell on it. I hope to continue collaborating with your sect in searching for Oak. What are your thoughts, Sect Master?"
Having invested so much, Emperor Xue Ye was unwilling to accept defeat.
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