CHAPTER 468: CHAPTER 468 STARLIGHT ARRAY_1

The lanterns weren’t expensive. For a popular tourist destination like Sea Temple Island, the price was very reasonable at only twenty yuan each, and they were even made from biodegradable, environmentally friendly materials.

Ruan Tang bought two lanterns.

She handed one to Xu Lai. "Here. Write down your wish, then you can choose to release it into the sky or set it afloat on the sea."

Xu Lai picked up the pen and paper and fell into deep thought. What wishes do I have? It seems there’s nothing I desire anymore. Power over all creation? Wealth that surpasses all in the universe? Or perhaps a partner or children?

Xu Lai had all of these things, and he was very content with them, unable to find a single fault.

Ruan Tang had already written her wish and released her lantern. "If you don’t know what to wish for," she said softly, "write down a regret—something you always wanted to do but couldn’t."

Regrets...

Xu Lai was silent for a moment before he wrote down a single line: *I hope my old friends are still as they were.*

These old friends... he was naturally thinking of his master, his senior sister, and his two senior brothers from the Old Heavenly Court’s sect gate.

As Xu Lai released the lantern, its flickering candlelight resembled the laughter and pleasant chatter deep within his memories—visible, yet elusive. It was just like the hope in his eyes.

The rest of the Lantern Festival activities were much more interesting. Xu Lai and Ruan Tang solved lantern riddles together and watched as the sky filled with lanterns drifting far away. Many people also chose to let their lanterns float out on the sea.

From a distance, the surface of the sea was dotted with points of starlight.

Around nine o’clock, the sea breeze began to pick up, and the tourists gradually dispersed. However, their daughter still hadn’t returned.

"Where did Yiyi go?" Ruan Tang frowned slightly.

Xu Lai released his Divine Sense and was instantly stunned. "It seems she’s not on the island..."

Yiyi, along with Yun Jin and Beibei, had somehow ended up on another small island three hundred nautical miles away. The island was tiny, less than ten square kilometers, and completely devoid of life. There wasn’t a single plant or small animal, only a bare mountain peak.

"No, they’re trapped!"

Observing carefully, Xu Lai noticed the small island was shrouded in mist. Starlight poured down vertically onto it, like a river of stars flowing from the heavens.

That’s a Starlight Formation!

The Starlight Formation originated from a supreme sect in the depths of the universe called the Star Origin Sect, a name signifying the birthplace of starlight. This sect didn’t cultivate Divine Skills; they mastered formations, and the Starlight Array was their sect-defining technique. A complete Starlight Array, requiring only ten early-stage Immortal Venerables, could trap and kill a peak Quasi-Emperor!

Unfortunately, several epochs ago, the sect threw its full strength into an assault on an Emperor Realm powerhouse. That Great Emperor slaughtered them until their blood stained the cosmos, and their entire lineage was wiped out. Since then, this sect was no more in the Immortal Domain.

In his early years, long before becoming an Emperor, Xu Lai had been obsessed with formations. He once read an evaluation of the Star Origin Sect in an ancient text.

The Starlight Array was, without a doubt, the number one formation in the Immortal Domain for the last one hundred epochs!

The furthest, universally acknowledged period the Immortal Domain could trace its history back to was one hundred epochs. The history before those one hundred epochs seemed to have been abruptly severed. There wasn’t the slightest record, not even among the ancient Tao Lineages and terrifying Holy Lands whose legacies spanned dozens of epochs. The ages before those one hundred epochs should have been even more glorious, leaving behind countless civilizations, yet they were forgotten. Even someone like Xu Lai could only speculate and deduce what might have happened in that lost time.

Although the description of the Starlight Array in the ancient text was somewhat exaggerated, it was enough to hint at the formation’s incredible power.

Xu Lai was surprised. He never expected to see this formation on Earth. Although the formation was clearly ancient, showing signs of being at least a hundred thousand years old and somewhat damaged, it still possessed the terrifying power to trap and kill a Celestial Venerable.

"Come on, I’ll take you to our daughter."

Xu Lai took Ruan Tang’s hand, and their figures flickered and vanished. When they reappeared, they were on the small island, bathed in starlight.

Ruan Tang was dumbfounded. Standing on the island, she had a crystal-clear view of the stars in the sky that should have been impossibly distant. The light cast by the stars formed a veritable waterfall hanging high above the Nine Heavens, its flowing currents shimmering with mysterious and unpredictable colors.

The island was barren. Aside from a single mountain peak, there was nothing.

Yun Jin, Yiyi, and Beibei were relentlessly attacking the starlight barrier, trying to break out, but their efforts were destined to be in vain. Though the array was damaged, it could still trap and kill a Celestial Venerable. Let alone three young girls new to cultivation, even the Celestial Venerable Realm elders from the great sects of the Immortal Domain might not be able to break free. They might even die here, filled with bitter regret!

"Daddy!" Yiyi spotted Xu Lai and Ruan Tang. Her big eyes welled with grievance, and she opened her arms to rush toward them.

But she suddenly thought of something, stopped in her tracks, and said cautiously, "Daddy, Mommy, Yiyi doesn’t know what happened! We were suddenly teleported here! We definitely didn’t sneak away from Sea Temple Island, and we weren’t trying to go to Sea City to play..."

Xu Lai: "..."

Ruan Tang: "..."

Ruan Tang held Yiyi, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "It’s fine as long as you’re all right. Don’t be scared."

"Supreme Emperor, it’s my fault," Yun Jin said, her head hung low as she walked toward Xu Lai, her small face filled with self-reproach. "I thought that with my Peak of Golden Core cultivation, I could roam Earth freely. I was planning to take Sister Yiyi to the nearby Sea City for a look, but I never expected we’d get trapped here. I can’t even send out my Divine Sense."

Xu Lai didn’t blame Yun Jin. When I was at the Golden Core Stage, I was even more arrogant, already starting to scheme against supreme sects. He just shook his head, indicating that it was no big deal.

Little Glutton said, looking troubled, "Supreme Emperor, what is this formation? It seems incredibly powerful."

"The Star Origin Sect’s Starlight Array," Xu Lai said calmly. "With ten early-stage Immortal Venerables, it can slay a peak Quasi-Emperor."

HISS.

Yun Jin was shocked.

Both Artifact Refining and Alchemy had ten grades. The pinnacle for an Artifact Refiner is a Quasi-Emperor Artifact, and the summit for an Alchemist is a Quasi-Emperor Elixir. Similarly, cultivation has ten great realms, culminating in the peak Quasi-Emperor.

As for why the final goal isn’t an Emperor’s Weapon, an Emperor’s Elixir, or the Emperor Realm itself—it’s because only one person might achieve emperorship in a million years. The Emperor Realm may seem like the true pinnacle, but for cultivators, it is The Other Shore—a destination they can never reach in their lifetime. It is like flowers in a mirror or the moon’s reflection on water: visible but untouchable. In fact, the vast majority of cultivators can’t even catch a glimpse of it.

In the Immortal Domain, aside from the Emperors who are as elusive as a Divine Dragon showing its head but never its tail, a peak Quasi-Emperor represents the strongest fighting force. There are only a handful of them in any given epoch.

And this formation right here can actually slay a Quasi-Emperor? How could a formation like this possibly be unknown!?

Ignoring the stunned Yun Jin, Xu Lai spoke a few words to Ruan Tang and the others, then began to circle the small island. His own mastery of formations was considered top-tier in the Immortal Domain, so he was exceptionally curious about this array that he had only ever read about in ancient texts.

"These three million array patterns are peculiar... they’re ethereal, as if constructed from the stars themselves." After studying it for a moment, Xu Lai suddenly froze. No, that’s not right... this array... it has no array patterns!?

Array patterns are the very foundation of a formation. Without them, an array could never take shape. Could it be that the Star Origin Sect’s formations blazed an entirely new path? A boundless brilliance reflected in Xu Lai’s eyes.

"Fellow Daoist, you have a keen eye."

From atop the island, a spectral voice drifted over, seeming to emanate from the very depths of the Netherworld.