Divine Emperor of Death

Chapter 5296: Retreating From The Hydra Realm

In the space above the Six-Headed Hydra Upper Realm, a deep red star hovered in the endless cosmos. Its surface was coated with a bit of a dark hue, the corona splashing and shifting throughout the surface.

At this moment, a dark streak of astral light surged from below, landing on this star named the Western Nightfall Flame Stage.

Fairy Qiyra Darkstar’s figure crashed into the corona, causing the red burning sphere’s surface to fold like a paper lantern. Space inverted at that moment, supporting her momentum. Forget flames. The heat alone should’ve roasted an Immortal King to death, but she remained unharmed, her figure clad in starlight.

From the feeling she got from the star, she recognized it was a fire attribute star with darkness properties.

But at that moment, Fairy Qiyra Darkstar felt an inevitable pull as though she was being split into two. The scenery around her changed, and she got entrapped in an illusory maze formation.

It appeared to be a volcanic valley.

There were many dangers like a flowing molten river and meteors striking the land, all of which would’ve made an Empyrean huddle with fear but not her.

"Paltry tricks to keep us here. As expected, they couldn’t build powerful formations in a short amount of time in nearly every star."

Fairy Qiyra Darkstar’s voice echoed with contempt as she released the First Dark Apostle, who instantly grimaced at the heat.

But ultimately, she was a Peak Exalt figure at the layer limit. The star was only at the peak of the Empyrean Grade. The heat made her sweat, but it was unable to harm her. Any Exalt would be able to survive in this heat as long as they didn’t overstay.

She didn’t talk and cast hand seals, unlocking the maze formation as though she was unraveling something by moving a curtain as she moved her hands to the front and parted the air to the side. The maze formation began quivering before cracks began to form everywhere.

"That’s enough. Come back."

Fairy Qiyra Darkstar raised her hand, showing her finger, which had the astral spatial ring.

The First Dark Apostle, Miraele, turned to look at Fairy Qiyra Darkstar. She purposefully stood as though she was delaying them, making Fairy Qiyra Darkstar’s expression turn cold. She was about to spit out elegant-sounding curses when her eyes squinted.

At that moment, a black-robed figure emerged from nowhere and swooped in, grabbing the First Dark Apostle and leaving with frightening speed.

"Not bad, you weren’t instantly willing to abandon me... but our cooperation ends here. Do your best to not interfere with our business. Also, escape before this star explodes."

Amidst the breaking illusory maze formation, Leader Arnoxin grabbed his wife and left like a specter, not even speaking a word. He zoomed in from one space to another, leaving through unknown means that may have involved a replica.

Only First Dark Apostle Miraele’s voice echoed with amusement.

Fairy Qiyra Darkstar no longer delayed as she also finished absorbing a large amount of astral energy from the star using her Starlight Devouring Veins. With her energy for this move replenished, she dissolved into a narrow beam of condensed astral radiance, turning into a body of pure intent.

She shot outward to another prefixed stellar astral coordinate that she could sense through her physique.

No matter where an astral star was within a certain range that was huge, she would know.

If Calypsea was the devourer of Realm Cores, then she was the devourer of Astral Stars.

She traveled like a beam of light, instantly departing the space she was in, leaving behind the Six-Headed Hydra Upper Realm’s vicinity!

*Whoosh!*

At that moment, Zest Hyluan and the others appeared, barely catching the moment the beam of light erupted and completely left the horizon.

"How fast!" He exclaimed.

The others also looked dumbfounded, including the Celestial Transcendent. He shook his head, finding it acceptable; it was no wonder this Divergent never got caught. Although this divergent physique wasn’t new to them, they had never let anyone of this physique reach the Exalt Stage.

They’d usually form a connection to an astral star and reveal themselves as though they were lighting up a beacon. Those poor fellows didn’t even have the chance, but as expected, a Divergent grown up in a Divergent power was different, able to grow safely and become this strong and hard to catch.

And the most mind-boggling thing was that astral spatial ring.

How did she make that and allow the others to momentarily attain astral forms?

He felt like if the Astral Night Demoness didn’t care about others, then she wouldn’t have made such a thing.

The Celestial Transcendent then looked in the other direction, knowing the Heavenly Blight Hall’s Leader had personally acted and saved his First Dark Apostle. In that case, it would be futile to follow them as he knew chasing the two of them would be incredibly taxing at this moment. If they weren’t also good at their escape methods, how could they have survived this long?

He could also tell that they knew he would prioritize following the Divine Emperor of Death over them.

He sighed lightly before patting Zest Hyluan’s shoulder.

"We failed to mark them. It’s up to you now."

"Don’t worry. We’ll catch them and save your son-in-law." Zest Hyluan patted his chest.

"..."

The Celestial Transcendent gazed at him with a strange gaze before sending a physical soul transmission.

"Let’s not force them. I don’t want to retrieve a corpse. We’ll just swoop in, take that foolish brat my daughter wants no matter what, and leave."

Zest Hyluan nodded briefly.

He closed his eyes, caught the disturbance in the distance with his senses resonating with the spatial layers, and found her. The narrow beam of light shooting through space didn’t create much disturbance, and others would find it hard to notice, but it couldn’t escape his gaze.

The five of their figures flickered, and they zoomed in towards the distant star, leaving one afterimage after another in the vast space as they followed after a streak of black-purple light.

Although he wasn’t as fast as Fairy Qiyra Darkstar, he was still fast enough to follow.

"Left... the calamity left the realm..."

Near the place where the Divergents and the peak experts clashed, there were already hundreds gathered, but Zest Hyluan’s teleportation couldn’t take many, so they had to stay behind. However, they were more than happy to stay as they rejoiced that the Desolate Divergent finally left the realm.

"Shut up! If we don’t end the Divergents, it’ll come back to bite us later." The elders berated them, but they were also full of smiles as though they had suppressed a calamity from breaking out.

They watched as the streak of light and the afterimages quickly vanished from their gazes, making them all sigh.

They felt like they had won as they drove the Divergents out, but at what cost?

But then-

*Booom!!!~*

The Western Nightfall Flame Star abruptly exploded, causing everyone’s eyes to widen in shock.

How did that happen!?

In the next few moments, a tsunami of shockwaves hit them, sending them flying towards the realm as though they had their strings cut.

But in the end, the elders made a move to let them regain their balance.

In the vast space, Fairy Qiyra Darkstar also noticed the explosion of the star.

She didn’t turn to look back and continued ahead. Within a few minutes, she landed on another star, her cold and ancient astral body absorbing the astral energy from the stars. She was like a celestial deity, causing the star to dim slightly in her presence, even showing faint cracks of silver lines spreading across the surface of the sun.

Qiyra Darkstar’s minute amount of astral energy, compared to her immortal energy, was filled once again. Her Starlight Devouring Veins were like a devouring black hole, absorbing all the astral energy for herself and even capable of containing surplus for a short period of time.

Her stay in the star merely lasted for a few seconds, longer than the usual one second because of the load she was carrying. After all, there were too many peak experts in her astral spatial ring. After she was done, she leaped again.

From star to star, she jumped precisely.

If anyone could observe her path, they would see a straight, ruthless trajectory cutting across astral space. She was like an arrow aimed unerringly at a single point in subsequent locations.

Her silver pupils glowed brighter with each transition.

Star after star, she traversed incredibly fast, making her way towards the place they had previously planned to land.

Her power was different than spatial tunneling, yet its speed had surpassed any spatial traveling methods available in the Second Layer so far. It was the kind of technique only she could use since she could siphon astral energy incredibly fast and store plenty. It was a technique only she could emulate with her powerful cultivation that could withstand the heat and cold of the stars in this layer.

There was no sign of enemies, but she knew the chances that they were being followed were high.

She had long left the confines of the Six-Headed Hydra Upper Realm, jumping from one star to another. If an Exalt were to follow her now from that realm just by flying alone, it would take at least dozens of years. But for teleportation, there shouldn’t be much difference. They could catch up within a few hours as long as they could follow her trace, which was already very difficult to follow because the stars alone would conceal her tracks.

But this time around, with an ancestor of the Hyluan Family or even the Atlas Family in the ranks, she didn’t let her guard down.