Here, the void was no longer an endless expanse of misty bleakness. Instead, streaks of radiant rainbow light resembled colossal curtains, stretching for dozens or even hundreds of kilometers.
Even though the scene was magnificently unmatched, it revealed violent energy eruptions. Even the mightiest aeronautical vessels could do naught but carefully proceed—otherwise, they would find that hulls durable enough to withstand the blows of dukes proved fragile before these ribbons of radiant light, easily crushed and warped beyond recognition.
Fortunately, the dragon-hulled vessel was built using the remnants of the earth-dragon. Under the command of Qian Ye, the spirit of these dragons gradually revived. Especially due to discoveries made while within the New World, many new organic forms now covered more than half of this dragon-ship’s hull.
Indeed, the very bodily essence of a void beast is the best form of protection against such storms and radiant light. As the dragon-haul passed effortlessly through these beams of rainbow luminosity, even the occasional brush resulted merely in tremors rather than significant damage.
Watching the dragon-haul move gracefully amidst the ribbons of color, Howard sighed, “Back during the battle over Floating Grounds—the devastation cost us two ducal flagships—I found that nearly impossible to believe. But now, losing was truly the expected outcome.”
Lady Nightgaze surveyed layers of glowing, undulating curtains of rainbow-colored beams, before asking abruptly:
“I wonder, how did you discover this passageway in the first place? Surely the fleet ships of Clan Bearn weren’t able to sail here?”
Face faintly flushed beneath his beard, Howard answered:
“To tell you the truth, I was clashing against one of the previous two ages of mankind’s heavenly kings. My fleet was scattered—myself wounded. With no better options, my escape led me here. I happened to be using a far-nimble scoutship at the time, ideal for dodging and defense. Through fortune’s favor alone, I unknowingly found this route in.”
Just as he finished speaking, Qian Ye—whose consciousness remained linked constantly to this awakened spirit of the earth-dragon—suddenly interrupted, declaring firmly:
“The path! It has appeared.”
Before Valhalla, numerous layers of radiant rainbow curtains retracted like drapes, revealing passage. Amidst this complex interlacing luminosity from multiple glowing veils, a steady course remained unshaken. Further in the distance, at the very end of the void, the dim red presence of Xiri Continent already emerged faintly visible.
At once, Valhalla picked up speed, heading towards Xiri. As the massive warship broke forth from those cascading radiant veils, the Xiri Continent now fully unfurled itself within eyesight.
Within the void itself, the horrifying potency from the sunlight was palpable—even if the celestial remained distant. Now, however, powerful individuals could observe faint visions of unusual phenomena previously impossible from mere continental observation.
Towering fiery flares erupted periodically from the Sun’s surface—but no normal blood-red flames these: their perimeters instead veiled in ghostly dark. When such a solar jet erupted—no longe than expected thereafter came roaring violent waves of heat and primal winds, even shaking Valhalla fiercely from within its sturdy depths.
Fiery gusts of force and ravaging torrents of power surged forth, scouring Xiri’s surface and stirring vast, glooming crimson hued vaporings aloft. These were unlike twilight skies upon middleground realms. What Qian Ye now witnessed was not merely atmosphere aesthetics: those were true living flames.
These torrents, charged within the very aura surrounding them, pressed downward—penetrating protective layers as though scalding over every inch of their world. Through the clear-sighted abilities granted to Qian Ye, streams of surrounding dark essence visibly fled deeper towards interior layers, scorched fiercely from the relentless bombardments.
A portion of these primal winds induced via solar wrath remained blocked upwards by higher layers of Earth above; the remainder cascaded lower across landmasses—arriving at the radiant veil belts weakened substantially. Upon hitting void-born aether at those levels, violent interaction erupted brilliant rainbow veils sky high across entire spans—as thus, the otherwise apocalyptic blasts were mollified nearly unto gentleness.
In Qian Ye’s gaze, the flaming gouts emitted from the fiery sphere overhead weren’t simple—they blended a mixture containing both DAWN and NIGHT essence. However, no matter their form, each stream remained ablaze intensely.
Finally reaching Xiri itself, the solar wind-induced energies split apart their darkness from daylight: most day-force remained anchored to the surface. Black essence descended further into strata below—filtering downward layer upon layer. For civilizations within Earth’s lower regions, this sinking darkness provided their very base sustenance supporting numerous sentient forms of life dwelling below.
As Xiri finally emerged right ahead, Qian Ye came to understand—why for millennia neither the Evernight, nor humankind in ascension—had ventured in development of this topmost stratum’s lands? Compared even to the New World’s harshness, the brutal conditions prevailing here surpassed such.
Even standing still was arduous upon this land.
Cascading day-essences accompanied by those solar gales lingered within Xiri’s boundaries far denser than any lands lying beneath—darkness-clans even at ducal strength suffocating here, as if within searing purification flames. Forced constantly into inhaling nothing but Day-essence: how painfully agonizing would it be? And not just passive: this DAWN-essence burned perpetually, unrestrained—devastating merely to reside in it’s embrace.
Indeed, only when reaching the pinnacle as Elder Dark Prophet did Howard attain enough understanding behind creation’s laws so as to partition a small personal zone safe for survival—even then, limited in time spent thereat.
For mankind, such concentrations might appear valuable indeed—but in truth held power more dangerous than that typical found within the void’s aetherial fields. Most warriors couldn’t absorb or control it safely.
Considering further, Qian Ye finally recalled—the single discipline he practiced called “Battle Fierce Art” remained capable of harnessing such power directly from that surrounding blaze. In the Empire’s other noble houses, there were likely some rare combat disciplines which could potentially also tap DAWN essence here. Yet certainly, if any at all were viable—their training conditions required near impossible thresholds, unattainable for the vast majority of mortals.
Furthermore, every essence type within Xiri remained ablaze constantly—subject intermittently to solar flare attacks. Such a relentless environment severely challenged humanity’s already fragile physical form. Between equally matched warriors standing across this brutal field, the evernight clansman—blessed inborn hardy resilience—could perhaps remain within longer than his mortal rivals.
If such was this continent’s nature—imagine how much more extreme the even more sky-tucked layers remained?
Indeed could any dwelling place truly exist where Kind Blood could survive within layers even beyond this pinnacle?
All the while Howard narrowed his gaze toward faraway Xiri.
Suddenly interrupting: “Turn five degrees to the right!”
Crewmen looked instinctively toward Qian Ye; at his slight nod:
“Adjust starboard by fifth angle!”
Navigators adjusted course.
Soon after:
“That’s too much! Back two degrees!”
“Port by second angle!”
The grand Valhalla shifted course like an enormous leviathan gliding between tides with elegant grace, adjusting steadily towards the Xiri shoreline. Piercing into atmospheric perimeters around Xiri—the outline sharpened vividly: in the distant corner—surprisingly, a touch of green flared suddenly upon Qian Ye’s retinas.
Could it be?
Upon a continent of fiery sun, here—was life, showing green.
Green meant potential living existence amidst this harshest backdrop.
Again, Valhalla reoriented trajectory—aiming directly toward that unexpected hue. On viewer optics before their gathering, this verdant corner expanded continuously—becoming ever-crisper.
Coming nearer, they made out a colossal valley at the corner of Xiri. Enclosed by formidable cliff walls surrounding all sides, winds laden heavy with solar intensity struck upon these walls—an immense curve formed, allowing these super-heated surges to leap overhead, escaping off planet.
The whole area lay encased inside this flame-curtained valley—if not for superhuman visual capacities akin to Qian Ye’s extraordinary perception, its distinguishing character would be indistinguishable to even an experienced explorer. Even Howard probably remained unaware if not for the fateful mishap guiding him here during initial exile.
The mighty vessel plunged silently beneath the veil of flame—descending gently upon this valley.
Without hesitation, Qian Ye was the first to step forth: expecting unbearable heat beyond tolerance; to his amazement, what met him here instead was a faint breeze—delightfully chill.
Glancing up, he noticed the upper canopy still played its role beyond flame curtains, diffusing harmful levels of radiant fury while also diminishing scalded light intensity to tolerable levels—a miracle enabling a fragile sanctuary, barely survivable by ordinary blood-line beings.
Countless tunnel-like hollows pierced rock-faces—some large enough spanning forty-some feet in diameter, smaller nooks numbering into ten’s. Forested like a hive, enormous arburs stretched forth, twisting skyward through those openings in stony barriers. Such resilient flora thriving under such deadly conditions made one wonder the tenacity of true life.
Upon the earth he watched as short coarse grass spread its dense cover—its red-tinged blades toughened and rigid, unlike anything from his homeland.
He stretched forward with clenched palms: waves of crimson life energy erupted, locking local spatial energy into an instant stasis—exposing even minute strands of Void energy meandering throughout.
While nearly undetectable by most vampiric senses normally; for Qian Ye however it presented another matter entirely. These void currents were extremely deadly to standard nightkin, even if only existing weakly. Only nobiles could live safely here long-term—though even lesser-bloods might endure shorter stays under tolerable risk.
Approaching Qian’s flank quietly, Howard reached toward ground and grabbed up a nearby stone. He clenched and crumbled it between calloused digits—the falling fragments glowing brilliantly between fingers. Inside, embedded luminescence sparkled, the entire unassuming mass proving an incredibly resource-rich vein of rare minerals!
“These lands—though desolate—conceal treasures in quantity rare beyond dreams. In our past they held little importance. Now though? Perfect as the foundation of clan revival.”
Though Qian’s geological knowledge stayed incomplete at best—his experiences stemmed partially from his tenure supervising base establishment back in mining provinces—later gaining practical skills while exploring the new worlds he uncovered. But these exotic mineral compositions remained far outside his domain.
Right now his entire mind was consumed contemplating defenses—in anticipation of pursuit he expected soon after arriving.
For Qian himself it was relatively easy—to vanish undetectably even before the Demon-Lord might detect his trail. Yet something this sizable, Valhalla herself—bearing not only legions aboard, but also countless noble bloodliners directly in tow—defiantly resisted being completely masked; hiding an entire presence from the senses of any Saint-tiered darkness being—completely impossible. Before long, no matter how one tried—they should expect demon-armies to rise over the skyline, hunting without reprieve.
Fortunately, routes connecting up into Xiri’s heights were very limited, making terrestrial approaches totally impractical for invader’s fleets. That previously discovered path Howard shared was extremely arduous: any great armada attempting traversal could face catastrophe. Passage possible only via solitary, widely separated runs—greatly reducing enemy efficiency.
Besides—those fire-veil barriers surrounding our sanctuary were no easy crossing point for enemy war-vessels. This natural defensive layer effectively kept smaller attacking craft away—as a matter of fact, the massive Valhalla war-vessel would have no trouble felling whatever heavy vessels managing entry.
With the valley’s heights safely sealed off, attackers could only land at ground-edge extremities before attempting slow and brutal ground advances upon defensive barriers below.
Now Qian moved with flickering motions, patrolling the edges of this valley.
Beside him moved his ally; while Howard walked side by side—reminiscing over his last survey data as he added:
“At center of the valley—an unbroken plateau of natural rock remains, steeped long-term within this void essence. Its entire surface has metamorphosed into an indestructible form resembling some impossibly sturdy artificial合金—a perfect place for fortress base foundation. We should build it directly upon there—a place fortified naturally before construction even begins.”
However—looking upward Qian Ye smiled—not to plateau—his gaze was fixed upward beyond:
“No—we should construct defenses *there*” —gesturing high at cliff faces sharp enough cut air itself with sheer vertical might.
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