Chapter 1204: Chaos of the Starry Sea

Han Li headed straight for Heavenly Star City without stopping at any of the islands along the way.

However, it wasn’t long before he noticed that the occasional cultivators he encountered on the road were all in a hurry. But if two unfamiliar groups of cultivators crossed paths, both sides would immediately become wary, and the atmosphere would grow tense.

This made Han Li frown slightly, sensing the turbulent undercurrents beneath the seemingly calm surface of the Star Sea.

As he approached the massive island where Heavenly Star City was located, the number of cultivators on the road gradually increased. In addition to the earlier standoffs, outright battles began to break out, with both sides fighting ruthlessly, intent on killing each other.

At first, Han Li paid little attention, but as he encountered more and more conflicts, he finally realized that most of these cultivators were likely involved in the struggle between the Star Palace and the Anti-Star Alliance.

Although the Anti-Star Alliance currently held the upper hand, the Star Palace had ruled the Star Sea for so long that countless sects and factions had deep ties with it. Normally, these connections might not be obvious, but now that the Star Palace was facing a life-or-death crisis, these forces were beginning to emerge.

This also suggested that the Star Palace was truly at a critical juncture. After all, any long-established power would only resort to mobilizing such forces if there was no other choice.

Of course, Han Li had no intention of blindly involving himself in the conflict between the Star Palace and the Anti-Star Alliance without first understanding the current situation in the Chaotic Star Sea. However, low-level cultivators, due to their status, rarely had access to accurate information. Thus, despite encountering many Foundation Establishment cultivators along the way, he did not stop to question them.

One day, as he was flying high in the sky as a faint streak of cyan light, he suddenly sensed something and turned his head to glance into the distance.

His flight path abruptly shifted, and he shot toward the direction he had just observed.

With his current cultivation, Han Li could cover vast distances in an instant. In just a few flashes, his cyan streak appeared over a spot more than ten miles away.

Looking down, his face revealed a faint, amused expression.

Below, in the lower sky, a black-robed elder and a fierce-looking burly man were locked in battle, one wielding a gleaming yellow flying sword and the other a green circular treasure.

Coincidentally, both were at the mid-Core Formation stage, and their treasures were evenly matched, resulting in a stalemate.

From Han Li’s perspective, unless one of them had some hidden trump card or secret technique, it would take at least half a day for them to determine a winner. And even then, it was unlikely that either could truly kill the other—most likely, one would simply flee in frustration.

Han Li’s sudden and eerie appearance directly above them naturally startled the two combatants. Their hand seals faltered as they both looked up.

When their spiritual senses swept over him, their expressions changed drastically.

Though Han Li had concealed his cultivation to the early Nascent Soul stage to avoid drawing too much attention, this was more than enough to intimidate two Core Formation cultivators.

Almost simultaneously, they retracted their treasures. The elder hastily bowed from a distance and said respectfully, “This junior, Bi Xun of the Soulfall Island, greets you, Senior. May I ask for your esteemed name? Is there anything this junior can do for you?”

The burly man, equally alarmed, also bowed repeatedly, his words dripping with flattery.

“There’s no need for you to know who I am,” Han Li said coolly, folding his arms. “I’ve been in seclusion for a long time and have some questions for you.”

“Senior, please ask anything you wish! This junior will answer truthfully!” The two men visibly relaxed upon hearing that Han Li only wanted information. The elder, in particular, was quick to respond.

Han Li nodded and proceeded to inquire about the major events in the Star Sea over the past century.

The elder and the burly man naturally assumed Han Li was some long-secluded Nascent Soul old monster and eagerly began recounting the events.

First, the chaos caused by the demon beasts seizing the outer islands and expelling human cultivators had erupted shortly after Han Li left the outer sea. Large-scale battles had broken out between human cultivators and demon beasts on more than a dozen islands.

Surprisingly, neither the Star Palace nor the Anti-Star Alliance had sent many forces to participate. Instead, rogue cultivators and small-to-medium sects with vested interests had gathered in large numbers on the islands with teleportation arrays, engaging in fierce battles with the demon beasts.

In reality, these so-called battles were little more than desperate defensive struggles, with human cultivators relying on island formations to hold their ground.

Only cultivators at least at the Foundation Establishment stage dared to participate. It was said that tens of thousands had gathered, with five to six thousand on each island.

Yet, as soon as the battles began, the islands were completely besieged by swarms of low-level demon beasts. The humans, initially confident, were quickly disillusioned. Within just half a month, all the islands had fallen.

Rumors claimed that the high-level demon beasts—those capable of human form—hadn’t even needed to intervene. The endless tide of low-level demon beasts alone had overwhelmed the island defenses.

The human forces in the outer sea were simply no match for the demon beasts. They were forced to retreat to the inner sea, destroying the teleportation arrays to the outer sea and temporarily abandoning all their holdings there. Once again, the outer sea had become the domain of demon beasts.

Of course, humans wouldn’t truly give up the outer sea. Given a few hundred or even a few thousand years, they would likely return. The endless supply of demon cores in the outer sea was far too important to the cultivation world of the Chaotic Star Sea.

Another matter that caught Han Li’s attention was the death of the Twin Saints of Heavenly Star several decades prior.

However, the couple hadn’t died of natural causes. Instead, they had suddenly stormed the Anti-Star Alliance’s headquarters one day, using the power of their Magnetic Divine Light to slaughter several Nascent Soul cultivators—both righteous and demonic—forcing Wan Sangu and Six Paths True Devil, who had been in secret discussions, to emerge in fury.

In the minds of these two top cultivators, the Twin Saints should have been unable to leave Heavenly Star City due to the Magnetic Divine Mountain. Thus, they were caught completely off guard.

But what happened next was beyond anyone’s expectations.

The moment the Twin Saints saw Wan Sangu and Six Paths True Devil, they made no attempt to engage in a prolonged battle. Instead, they used some bizarre secret technique to detonate the Magnetic Divine Light they had cultivated for centuries within their own bodies. The resulting explosion was so powerful that it reduced most of the Anti-Star Alliance’s headquarters to ashes.

Wan Sangu and Six Paths True Devil, being at the epicenter, perished instantly—their Nascent Souls unable to escape.

Thus, both the Anti-Star Alliance and the Star Palace lost their most powerful figures. At the time, the Anti-Star Alliance was in an even worse position, having also lost several elders and a large number of Core Formation cultivators in the explosion.

For the next two to three decades, under the leadership of the Star Palace’s new master, Ling Yuling, the Anti-Star Alliance was pushed back, losing many islands and territories.

Had it not been for the fact that the righteous and demonic sects within the Anti-Star Alliance were on the Star Palace’s kill list—forcing them to grit their teeth and hold on—the alliance might have collapsed entirely.

Just as the Anti-Star Alliance was on the verge of defeat, an unexpected twist occurred.

The sect master of the Myriad Laws Sect, Wan Tianming, miraculously broke through to the late Nascent Soul stage during this crisis, becoming a new Great Cultivator.

This abruptly reversed the situation. With his late Nascent Soul cultivation, Wan Tianming quickly consolidated the forces of both the righteous and demonic paths, becoming the undisputed leader of the Anti-Star Alliance. In subsequent battles with the Star Palace, he personally killed several Star Palace elders, greatly boosting his prestige.

Over the next few decades, the Star Palace, lacking a Great Cultivator of its own, was unable to counter Wan Tianming’s offensives. The Anti-Star Alliance regained lost ground, gradually encroaching on the Star Palace’s outer islands. Before long, the situation became even worse than it had been under Six Paths True Devil and Wan Sangu.

Recently, the Anti-Star Alliance had even managed to open a path to Heavenly Star City and issued the Anti-Star Decree once more.

All sects that received the decree were forced to declare their allegiance. Those who refused to join the assault on the Star Palace would be treated as enemies and exterminated. The Anti-Star Alliance was clearly preparing for a full-scale attack.

After Wan Tianming annihilated several sects that were close to the Star Palace, the entire Star Sea descended into chaos.

Sects supporting the Star Palace, those defecting to the Anti-Star Alliance, and those attempting neutrality or profiting from the chaos all began taking action. Some locked down their islands with formations, others fled to Heavenly Star City for refuge, and still others took advantage of the turmoil to expand their territories.

At this point, the Chaotic Star Sea was in complete disarray.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Star Alliance’s forces were gathering on islands near Heavenly Star City, seemingly mobilizing all their strength for a decisive battle.

It appeared Wan Tianming had no intention of prolonging the conflict—he aimed to take Heavenly Star City in one fell swoop and eradicate the Star Palace once and for all.

As for when the battle would begin or how many cultivators had gathered near Heavenly Star City, the elder and the burly man could offer no concrete answers.

While most cultivators sought to avoid the conflict, many rogue cultivators and factions had no choice but to participate. Whether they would side with the Star Palace or the Anti-Star Alliance was anyone’s guess.

With waves of spies from other factions also flooding the area, the waters around Heavenly Star City had become a vortex of chaos, with skirmishes and assassinations occurring everywhere.

And the closer one got to Heavenly Star City, the worse the situation became.

Having obtained the information he needed, Han Li stopped questioning the two men and fell into deep thought.