Chapter 532 - 370: Eternal Star Dome, Corrupt Monarch

Ian stood on a cliff at the edge of the old capital, a dense, dark purple mist swirling below his feet.

The mist billowed from time to time, emitting a sickening stench. Ordinary vision could not penetrate it for more than a hundred meters.

But Ian was entirely unaffected. His Gravity Perception swept through the depths of the mist.

Countless shattered fragments of Floating Cities, like toys carelessly tossed aside by a giant, hung suspended upside down in the air.

Enormous metal skeletons were twisted and warped, their surfaces covered by a thick fungal blanket. Occasionally, a dim red light flickered from deep within.

A low rumble echoed from the distance. Some of the Floating Cities were still maintaining minimal operations.

"Ian, the contamination here is ten times thicker than it was outside."

Gaga’s small head poked out from the shadows. It hated this sticky, humid environment. It felt awful.

"Hn," Ian grunted in response, stepping into the mist.

The instant the mist touched his skin, a faint, stinging pain pricked at him.

It felt as if countless tiny needles were trying to burrow into his pores.

Moreover, twisted images began to surface in the depths of his consciousness.

Survivors from underground dissolving into pus and blood amidst their wails; the Star Barrier of Deep Rock City shattering like glass; the despair in Lumina’s eyes...

Countless faces, twisted in agony, surged toward him from all directions, letting out silent shrieks.

They tried to stir the fear, pity, and doubt within Ian’s heart...

Within his Sea of Spirit, a golden halo pulsed gently. All the illusions instantly shattered and dissipated, his consciousness returning to clarity.

A flicker of coldness crossed Ian’s eyes. ’Still using these petty tricks. How laughable.’

As if sensing its illusions were useless, the mist began to grow even thicker and stickier.

Deep within, countless crimson pinpricks of light ignited—so many, so densely packed, they were impossible to count.

Even the weakest of the Mutant Beasts were Level Three, with a considerable number of Level Three Peak creatures mixed among them.

They didn’t pounce at once. Instead, they prowled and circled within the mist like a pack of wild dogs, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

’To not know fear... how pitiful.’

Ian hovered in midair. As he slowly raised his hands, the Thermal Energy Rule was compressed and condensed to its absolute limit.

A thousand degrees, ten thousand, a hundred thousand... The surrounding mist recoiled as if in flight.

Light itself began to bend, forming bizarre, concentric halos.

"Red Blade Rain." Ian’s arms shot out to his sides.

HSSSSSS!!!

A thousand beams of crimson light erupted from his palms.

In the air, each beam of light rapidly coalesced, forming a three-meter-long Crimson Spear.

The shafts flowed with a molten luster, and the space around their tips warped slightly. Their temperature could vaporize steel in an instant.

A thousand spears materialized in midair, like a crimson starfield.

Ian thrust his hands down.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!

The sound of rending air became a single, continuous roar as the thousand Red-Pointed Spears became a crimson meteor shower, plunging into the mist below.

The spearheads tore through the air, creating a deafening sonic boom.

The first Long Spear plunged into the mist.

BOOM!!!

A crimson light exploded, blooming like a flower of flame.

Wherever the light passed, the dark purple mist vanished as if it were melting snow.

All Level Three Mutant Beasts within the blast radius were instantly vaporized from the inside out, unable to even utter a cry.

Followed by the second, the third, the fourth...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The explosions merged into a single, unending roar.

Crimson light blossomed one after another within the mist, illuminating the entire old capital as if it were broad daylight.

In an instant, an area stretching for a thousand li was covered by the Red Spear Rain!

With every spear that landed, the mist was dispersed and the Mutant Beasts were purified.

Merely three breaths later, the Red Spear Rain ceased, and the aftershocks of the explosions slowly faded.

The sight before them made even Gaga, who was watching from the side, gasp.

A massive, thousand-li-diameter hole had been violently "torn" into the dark purple mist that had been as thick as ink.

The air within the hole was crystal clear, without a single trace of contamination to be felt.

The ground below was pockmarked with thousands of charred craters. The bottom of each crater was as smooth as a mirror, its surface coated in crimson, glass-like crystals.

All the Mutant Beasts had been annihilated, leaving not even Ashes behind.

’Cleanup complete.’

Ian lowered his hands, his gaze shifting to the depths of the mist. A massive spatial rift stretched across the center of the ruins.

Along the rift’s edge, chaotic streams of dark purple Energy writhed like Tentacles, attempting to Devour any matter that drew near.

He knew the great beast from before was within this isolated fragment of space—or rather, that the Eternal Star Dome itself was a Half-Plane, separate from the Main World.

"Be careful."

Ian instructed Gaga, then his figure flickered and vanished into the rift.

As the turbulent Energy touched his body, it was forcibly warped and repelled by the Gravity Rule.

After passing through the spatial barrier, the scene before him changed abruptly.

At the entrance to the rift, two Petrifying Lizards, each over fifty meters long, snapped their heads up.

Their bodies were covered in grayish-white Rock Shells, their pupils a deep crimson. Corrosive slime dripped from their maws.

Their auras marked them as Level Four Initial Stage, but before they could even roar...

Ian had already raised his right hand. A Miniature Sun formed in his palm before splitting in two.

They became two fist-sized spheres of light that shot with pinpoint accuracy toward the two lizards.

With two soft thumps, the spheres of light sank into the lizards’ foreheads and detonated from within.

Blinding white light burst from their eyes, mouths, and the seams of their Shells.

Three breaths later, the light faded, leaving behind only two grayish-white Soul Gemstones.

Ian collected the Gemstones, his gaze sweeping across the interior of this spatial fragment.

The sky was fractured with countless spatial rifts. Through them, one could see the dark Void and the faint glimmer of distant star-rivers.

On the Earth below, a city of breathtaking magnificence lay in silence.

Silvery-white High Towers, the tallest of which soared over three thousand meters, their spires piercing the fractured sky.