Chapter 406: Entering the Divine Realm

The Divine Realm is vast, bordering on the infinite, with the Blood Blade Divine Court’s territory occupying a staggering thirty percent of it!

To facilitate governance, the Blood Blade Divine Court divided its dominion into nineteen domains! Each domain is far larger than the ‘Boyo Empire’ that lies behind the Earth Shrine, and the rulers of these domains hold exalted statuses—either as Four Heavens Realm Gods or as mighty powerhouses.

“It’s too vast. Countless deities likely spend their entire lives confined within a single domain,” Dongbo Xueying mused silently as he traversed the void, employing the techniques of his ‘Spatial Divine Heart.’ “Though my ancestors from the Xia Clan journeyed far and wide after entering the Divine Realm, most remained within the boundaries of Anhai Domain.”

Anhai Domain—one of the Blood Blade Divine Court’s nineteen domains.

Dongbo Xueying had emerged from the Material World within Anhai Domain. The ‘Cloudsea Emperor’ was currently imprisoned on a mineral-rich star called ‘Frostiron Star’ in the Celestial Phenomena Starfield, also within Anhai Domain.

“First, I must travel.”

…

Traveling in the Divine Realm is no easy feat, which is one reason many deities rarely leave their home domain in their lifetimes.

“Whoosh.”

After spending over two days traversing the starry void—thanks to the detailed star maps provided by Redstone—Dongbo Xueying finally located the nearest inhabited planet, ‘Wu Chang Star.’

“Finding an inhabited planet is no small task,” Dongbo Xueying observed as his divine sense effortlessly enveloped the planet. With a diameter of just over eighty thousand miles, Wu Chang Star hosted billions of humans, and the ratio of transcendents here was noticeably higher than in mortal worlds. “Found it—the spatial teleportation array.”

With a single step, he arrived at a desolate plain where an ancient array lay inscribed.

“Let’s go.”

His fiery divine power surged forth, activating the array. Ripples of energy swirled around him, distorting space and time.

For a breath, he felt as though trapped in quicksand, the very fabric of space solidifying around him.

Then, the scenery shifted.

“What an enormous city!” Dongbo Xueying marveled at the colossal metropolis floating in the void, surrounded by stars that seemed like mere ornaments. By his estimation, this thunder-wreathed city spanned hundreds of millions of miles in length and width, towering over ten million miles high.

Compared to it, the nearby stars were mere specks.

The sheer scale of this thunderous city suspended in the cosmos exuded an oppressive aura.

“Brother, this is the capital of the Southern Thunder Starfield—Nanting City,” a voice called out beside him.

Turning, Dongbo Xueying saw a group of armored soldiers—all deities, with the lowest at late-stage godhood. Their leader, a divine general, spoke politely, sensing Dongbo Xueying’s peak godhood aura. “Where might you be headed, brother? To Nanting City, or elsewhere via transfer?”

“To the Celestial Phenomena Starfield,” Dongbo Xueying replied with a smile.

“That’s quite a distance from our Southern Thunder Starfield. The fare is thirty divine crystals,” the general said. “Please wait a moment while we adjust the array.”

“No rush.” Dongbo Xueying flicked his wrist, sending thirty divine crystals floating toward the general.

With a flash, another figure appeared—a gray-robed man, an ordinary deity who glanced around warily.

The general frowned and barked, “This is Nanting City of the Southern Thunder Starfield!”

“I—I just want to go to Nanting City,” the man stammered.

“Move along!” the general snapped before turning back to Dongbo Xueying. “Look at him, all nervous. Probably some newly ascended deity from a backwater planet who stumbled into the array by accident.”

…

After exchanging a few words with the general, Dongbo Xueying—whose mastery of the ‘World Divine Heart’ granted him extraordinary insight—casually observed the layout of Nanting City and gleaned fragments of the grand spacetime array’s mysteries.

*Whoosh.*

After paying thirty divine crystals for the journey from the Southern Thunder Starfield to the Celestial Phenomena Starfield, Dongbo Xueying purchased detailed intelligence at the Celestial Phenomena City’s Spacetime Temple. Another two divine crystals took him to ‘Dark Tune Star’ within the starfield, and after six more days of travel, he finally reached his destination—Frostiron Star.

“Frostiron Star—here at last!”

Dongbo Xueying gazed at the distant black planet wreathed in an aura of bone-chilling cold. With a diameter of merely eight thousand miles, Frostiron Star hosted a massive fortress that sprawled across most of its surface.

“Frostiron Star is a mineral planet,” Dongbo Xueying recalled from the intelligence he’d acquired and the information provided by the Purple Thunder Emperor. “Its gravitational force alone would crush a flying-tier transcendent. The extreme gravity nurtures ‘Frostiron Ore,’ a precious resource—each chunk weighs as much as a mountain, making mining arduous. This planet is controlled by the ‘Blackbone Mountain,’ which built this fortress to encase the veins. The miners labor inside.”

Frowning, Dongbo Xueying focused his keen vision on the fortress’s main gate, where a massive, shaggy humanoid beast lay sprawled. According to the Spacetime Temple’s records, this creature was a ‘Molou Beast’—a formidable Divine Realm entity. Once fully matured, it was nearly invincible among deities, capable of slaying peak godhood experts with a single swipe.

The Molou Beast served as the fortress’s gatekeeper, ensuring no one entered without facing its might.

“They say its strength is boundless, its body indestructible, and a single slap can kill a peak godhood expert,” Dongbo Xueying mused grimly. “And inside the fortress, countless arrays await—some personally laid by the Blackbone Mountain’s master.”

The master of Blackbone Mountain was a One Heaven Realm God.

Of course, he wouldn’t personally guard a mere mineral planet.

…

Within Frostiron Star’s fortress, security was airtight.

Layers upon layers of guards stood watch, with multiple checkpoints manned by peak godhood experts overseeing the miners.

“Dig! Keep digging! Meet your daily quota, or this is what happens!” A six-armed, grotesque deity lashed a whip across a young man bound to a post. Bloodied and with his divine power sealed, the youth could only endure the torment, his cries for mercy ignored.

*Crack! Crack! Crack!*

Each strike carried divine runes that seared into his flesh, eliciting agonized screams. “Spare me! I’ll make up for it tomorrow, I swear!”

“Tomorrow is tomorrow. Today is today.” The six-armed overseer continued mercilessly.

Nearby, miners handed over their storage treasures for inspection.

“Pass.”

“Pass.”

“This one’s twelve short. Drag him over.”

Among them, the Cloudsea Emperor moved mechanically, his face numb with resignation. Blackbone Mountain set quotas based on individual strength, pushing them to their limits. There was no rest—only endless toil. Falling short meant punishment, and the whip was the mildest form.

The deeper the deficit, the harsher the penalty. Those deemed lazy would have their souls extracted for eternal torment.

“There’s no hope,” the Cloudsea Emperor lamented silently. “The fortress is impregnable. We’ll dig forever, told that once Frostiron Star’s veins are exhausted, we may join Blackbone Mountain. But they’ve been mining here for over sixty million years. Who knows how much longer?”

Despair and helplessness weighed on him.

Unbeknownst to him, Dongbo Xueying—summoned by the Purple Thunder Emperor’s plea—had journeyed across the cosmos and now hovered in the void beyond Frostiron Star.

…

“Hmm.”

In the dark expanse, Dongbo Xueying ran through his plan multiple times in his mind.

“Let’s do it.”

His eyes flashed with cold determination before he vanished, streaking toward Frostiron Star.