Firmament Sword

Xu Luo's heart trembled slightly. The voice was so unfamiliar; he was certain he had never heard it before.

Among his Seven Star Souls, Xu Luo was naturally most familiar with the first one to awaken, the Shaking Light Star Soul. Its desolate and ancient voice was unforgettable after hearing it just once.

The other Star Souls that awakened later rarely communicated directly with Xu Luo. The Jade Balance Star Soul, with its cold, feminine voice, had spoken to him a few times, but always as if devoid of any emotion.

Xu Luo had a feeling that most of the Seven Star Souls in his Dantian... seemed to be incomplete!

They weren't whole!

Take the Jade Balance Star Soul, for example. It was willing to pay a great price for him, even if it meant falling into a deep slumber.

That devotion... was profound.

So, the Jade Balance Star Soul cared for Xu Luo deeply. Yet, its voice was utterly cold, without a hint of emotion.

This gradually led Xu Luo to suspect that the Seven Star Souls in his Dantian were not whole, that they were all flawed in some way!

They shared the same origin as him, so they were naturally close to him. But because they were incomplete, they couldn't communicate normally.

Only the Shaking Light Star Soul seemed more complete. That's why it could express many emotions and communicate freely with him. Although the Phecda Star Soul and Tianquan Star Soul had also communicated with him, it was only through Divine Thought, and he could barely sense any emotion from them.

This was the first time Xu Luo had heard... a second voice, aside from Shaking Light, with clear emotion. The question was... who was it?

"I am Dubhe!" the boy's voice rang out again, as if it had read Xu Luo's mind and answered directly.

"Du... Dubhe..." Xu Luo was... utterly stunned!

He mumbled to himself, "Weren't you... asleep? Unawakened?"

"I sensed the aura of the Source of Creation, so I awoke. Fu, are you alright?" The boy's voice seemed to carry an endless, ancient sorrow.

'Fu...' Xu Luo repeated the name silently in his mind. To him... it was truly, quite unfamiliar!

He remembered the complex feelings he had when Shaking Light told him this name. He was just a person, a young nobleman raised in the secular world.

Through various twists of fate, he had embarked on this path of cultivation. But he never imagined that one day, he would go from being a person... to being a star!

"I... I'm okay, I guess," Xu Luo replied.

"Someone wants to kill you?" In his Dantian, the boy's voice seemed tinged with a hint of anger, but even more... a thick layer of disdain. He said coldly, "How naive!"

Just then, Li Kai'an's voice echoed again. "Kid, thirty minutes... just another thirty minutes! Then I can completely break through to the Seventh Layer of the Divine Power Realm! Once I do, I'll be sure to have a nice, long chat with you!"

Li Kai'an's eyes, fixed on Xu Luo, flickered with a light as bright as the stars in the sky!

'Beidou's Eighth Star! Has my luck finally turned after all this misfortune?' Li Kai'an was so overcome he almost wanted to weep with joy!

Ever since he was ambushed by Pang Xiaogou all those years ago and had a seal placed within his body, Li Kai'an hadn't known a single day of true happiness.

It wasn't that he hadn't considered a fight to the death—forcefully breaking the seal and then killing Pang Xiaogou to get his revenge. The problem was, not everyone possessed that kind of courage and determination!

It's better to live a miserable life than to die... That was the reality for most people!

Not to mention, he had his own family and so many relatives. Unless absolutely forced, who would do something that would bring ruin upon their own family?

Therefore, all these years, Li Kai'an had lived in a state of anger and suppression.

Until just a moment ago. When he discovered the Star Power emanating from Xu Luo's body, the shock and elation deep within him almost made him lose his composure on the spot!

'Beidou's Eighth Star, the one that practically all the experts of the Ancient Race Continent and the Sect Continent have been searching for, has just appeared right in front of me? And our paths have crossed so dramatically!'

'Are the heavens finally taking pity on me?' Li Kai'an felt ecstatic. He had even forgotten about Pang Xiaogou off to the side... The matter he had once considered a profound humiliation was now so trivial it wasn't even worth mentioning!

'In this world, what could possibly compare to Beidou's Eighth Star?' Li Kai'an looked at Xu Luo as if gazing upon a peerless treasure. The more he looked, the more he liked what he saw.

Pang Xiaogou was also starting to feel that something was off. He wondered, 'Why did Li Kai'an break the seal but not say a single word to me? He won't even... spare me a glance? This isn't right!'

Normally, anyone would have considered what happened a profound humiliation!

He was an esteemed Elder of the Honglou Sect who could have broken through to the Seventh Layer of the Divine Power Realm twenty years ago. Tricked by a naive child like him, he was subjected to a seal that would last a hundred years. One didn't need to think hard to imagine how intense his anger and hatred must be.

Therefore, whether Li Kai'an broke the seal actively or passively, Pang Xiaogou's name would surely be at the top of his kill list!

'But why... won't he even spare me a glance? Doesn't he have anything to say to me?' Pang Xiaogou's gaze darted back and forth between Xu Luo and Li Kai'an, his face a mask of confusion. Suddenly, through the energy field, he seemed to sense a strange aura. Pang Xiaogou's expression... instantly changed!

"Beidou's Eighth Star!" Pang Xiaogou almost shouted aloud. It wasn't that he lacked composure; it was just... this matter was too bizarre, too unbelievable.

How could Beidou's Eighth Star—the one sought by experts from both the Ancient Race Continent and the Sect Continent—possibly be here? Right before his very eyes!

The shock and astonishment deep in Pang Xiaogou's heart were no less than Li Kai'an's.

Martial Artists were extremely sensitive to auras. He hadn't sensed it before mainly because the cave had become Li Kai'an's domain, making it difficult for other auras to penetrate. Plus, Pang Xiaogou hadn't even considered the possibility, so he hadn't been paying attention.

Now, Pang Xiaogou finally understood why Li Kai'an showed no signs of anger or resentment despite having forcibly broken the seal to break through to the Seventh Layer of the Divine Power Realm, a process that cost him immense longevity and power.

'With Beidou's Eighth Star, as long as you refine him into a Peerless Treasure Medicine, what is there to fear?'

Pang Xiaogou felt his heart begin to THUMP wildly. He could barely suppress the urge to claim Beidou's Eighth Star for himself.

At that moment, Li Kai'an's voice, as cold as ice, spoke a sentence that was like a bucket of frigid water poured over Pang Xiaogou's head, causing his heart to sink to the depths of despair.

"Pang Xiaogou, I have not forgotten how you wronged me back then, planting a seal in my body that suppressed me for a good twenty years. If you make any move right now, I guarantee you won't live to see the next hour!"

"What do you want?" Pang Xiaogou's hand slipped into his robes. There... was a treasure gifted to him by his great-grandfather, a relic from their ancestor. But he couldn't be certain that wielding this treasure would be enough to kill Li Kai'an in a single blow.

"I don't want anything. Put away that thing in your robes. It's not weak, but it can't kill me. The moment you move against me, there... will be no room for negotiation," Li Kai'an said coldly. "What I want is simple. This person, plus the treasure underground. I won't kill you. In the future, I'll even help you ascend to the position of Sect Leader! You know what you should do, don't you?"

"This person... I want a piece of him. And the treasure underground, I want a piece of that too." Pang Xiaogou licked his lips and spoke slowly. "You should know that you had ill intentions when you wanted Old Baldy Ridge back then. You knew there was a treasure here and tried to deceive my great-grandfather. So, me placing a seal on you wasn't really harming you. At most... it was just a little retaliation. In that regard, we're even. And over these years, you know full well how my Pang Family has treated you. We've never been stingy with resources, even providing many peerless rarities. You can't deny that, can you?"

"Heh... I didn't expect you to be so greedy. A young man who's too greedy will surely come to a bad end." Li Kai'an glanced at Xu Luo, who was still struggling to break through his energy field, and said lightly, "You should understand that not killing you is already a great mercy, a gesture of respect for your great-grandfather. And you still want to negotiate with me? I won't agree. At worst, I'll just kill you both in a moment, then take this person and flee to the ends of the earth. I can always come back for the treasure later... Hmph, the treasure under Old Baldy Ridge... isn't so easy to obtain!"

"If you kill me, my great-grandfather will never let you go. This world may be vast, but there are few places to hide. You should understand that. To be honest, even if Beidou's Eighth Star can bring you a heaven-sent opportunity, it still takes time to refine him!" Pang Xiaogou said calmly. "And I... am precisely the person who can give you cover and that time! Think about it. You only need to give me a small piece, and I can provide you with the most perfect protection. You don't have to worry about me harming you again. Would you really... give me that chance a second time?"

Pang Xiaogou had finally laid all the cards on the table. Li Ye's expression didn't change much; he had known for a while that Xu Luo was Beidou's Eighth Star. But Li Hua, on the other hand, was completely stunned.

He never imagined that the young man who had come with his brother to rescue him was actually the legendary Beidou's Eighth Star that everyone was talking about!

Li Hua stared at Xu Luo in shock, a sense of pride swelling in his heart: 'My own brother... is friends with the world-renowned Beidou's Eighth Star!'

"No. I still don't trust you. For me, only a dead man is truly safe. My promise not to kill you is already giving you immense face!" Li Kai'an refused to budge. He knew the value of Beidou's Eighth Star all too well. If it could be traded, he believed that the Sect Leader would agree without hesitation, even if the price was the entire Honglou Sect!

Even if he wanted to become the Sect Leader of the Liejiang Daoist Sect, he was sure they would agree as long as he handed over Beidou's Eighth Star!

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