Chapter 478: Detoriation

She had never heard of Void Sovereign before, Stan’s question made her wonder...

’This Void Sovereign, who was he? And why was Stan suddenly asking her about him?’’

A faint uneasiness settled in her heart.

’Could this be connected to Stan somehow?’

’Was there something he knew that she didn’t?’

Or was he simply trying to determine whether she possessed information about a figure he had encountered?’

Her heart shook as she thought of something, ’Or Is Stan The Void Sovereign... Is he asking simply to know if I know his title?’

She couldn’t be certain but one thing, however, was obvious.

If a person existed who could be referred to as the "Void Sovereign," there had to be a history behind such a title.

And high chance Stan was Void Sovereign, he had to get refrencing himself..

Her heart was shaken, she had already known that Stan was extraordinary. In fact, she had long since stopped trying to measure his potential using ordinary standards.

Yet every time she ’discovered’ another layer of his secrets, she found herself forced to reconsider everything she thought she knew about him.

The existence of this chamber alone was enough to prove that Stan’s secrets ran far deeper than she had imagined.

Before she could say anything else, a faint hum suddenly echoed through the chamber.

The sound was subtle, almost imperceptible, but the moment it appeared, both of them reacted.

Camilla’s expression changed as she immediately turned toward the source. "What was that?"

Stan did not answer immediately. His eyes had already locked onto the far wall.

At first, nothing seemed unusual. The wall remained completely dark, its surface appearing smooth and featureless. Then, without warning, a faint line of light appeared across it.

A second line emerged.

Then another.

Within moments, hundreds of luminous lines had begun spreading across the wall. They intersected with one another in increasingly complex patterns, forming an enormous lattice of glowing symbols. What had initially looked like random threads gradually revealed itself to be a gigantic formation composed of countless interconnected runes.

Camilla instinctively took a step backward.

"What is that?"

Stan remained silent. His attention was completely focused on the formation.

The lattice continued expanding until it occupied almost the entire wall. At its center, the countless lines suddenly converged, and a massive spherical projection emerged from the formation.

The image slowly rotated.

Camilla’s eyes widened. "That’s..."

"Earth," Stan said.

The blue planet revolved silently within the projection, surrounded by the endless darkness of space. From this distance, it looked almost peaceful, completely unaware of the immense structure surrounding it.

But Camilla quickly noticed that Earth was not alone.

Seven brilliant nodes appeared around the planet, each one connected to Earth by enormous strands of light. They were positioned at seemingly distant locations, forming a vast network that covered the entire planet.

Yet the seven nodes were not the most frightening part.

Surrounding the entire structure was a colossal formation.

It was ancient.

Enormous.

And, most importantly, dying.

Camilla’s expression gradually hardened as she stared at the projection. Even without understanding the formation’s purpose, she could sense that something was deeply wrong with it. The enormous structure surrounding Earth was riddled with faint distortions, and countless energy pathways were flickering irregularly as though they were struggling to maintain their functions.

"What am I looking at?" she asked quietly.

Stan stepped closer to the projection.

"The formation protecting Earth."

Camilla frowned. "Protecting it from what?"

"Everything outside."

His answer was simple, but the implications behind it caused Camilla’s expression to change.

She looked at Earth again.

The seven anchor nodes pulsed weakly, their brilliance fluctuating at different intervals. Some remained relatively stable, while others flickered so badly that they seemed moments away from extinguishing. The formation surrounding them was even worse. It was not physically damaged, but countless cracks had appeared throughout its structure.

They were not ordinary cracks.

They were Dao cracks.

The formation had been constructed from an intricate network of laws and energy pathways, and after countless years of continuous operation, those pathways had begun to deteriorate. Every cycle of energy through the formation placed additional strain on its already weakened structure.

Stan narrowed his eyes.

Since obtaining the Void Sovereign’s inheritance, his understanding of the Dao had increased dramatically. He was still far from comprehending everything contained within the ancient formation, but he could now recognize fragments of the information encoded within its structure.

Decay. Instability. Structural degradation. Projected collapse.

His expression gradually became solemn. "The decay rate increased."

Camilla immediately looked at him. "What does that mean?"

Stan’s eyes remained fixed on the formation. He watched as several strands of light weakened before recovering, only to flicker again moments later.

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then another series of ancient symbols appeared across the projection.

His gaze moved rapidly across them, deciphering what he could.

The information caused his expression to change slightly.

"The formation was approaching its limit and it’s getting worse with each passing day..."

Stan raised his hand and pointed toward one of the sections surrounding Earth. "This is worse than I expected."

The moment his words fell, the projection changed again.

A thin line appeared beside the formation. It represented the remaining stability of the entire structure.

At first, the decline was almost impossible to notice. The line moved downward at an extremely slow rate, suggesting that the formation still possessed an enormous amount of remaining energy.

Then the decline accelerated.

Camilla’s expression became increasingly serious as she watched it.

"How much time does it have left?"

"2-3 months."

Stan’s voice remained calm, but his eyes had become considerably colder. He continued examining the formation, following the movement of its energy pathways and comparing their current condition against the information left behind by the Void Sovereign.

"The problem isn’t simply that the formation is weakening," he finally explained. "Its rate of deterioration is increasing. Every damaged section places additional pressure on the remaining structure, and that pressure accelerates the degradation of the other sections."