Chapter 518 - 364: Eternal Fierce Sun

Ian hovered above Deep Rock City, his robes whipping loudly in the fierce wind.

His eyes were slightly closed as his immense, suffocating Spiritual Perception spread silently downward.

Rock, soil, ore veins... The complex structure of the Underworld was laid bare in minute detail before his Perception.

Two thousand meters, three thousand meters, four thousand meters... His Perception continued to sink deeper.

Finally, at a depth of roughly five thousand meters, his "vision" touched upon a vast "void."

It was a massive underground cavern hundreds of miles across, enclosed by a translucent Barrier through which silver Starlight flowed.

Like a gigantic, inverted Crystal bowl, it sealed the entire cavern completely.

Starlight flowed across the Barrier, forming intricate Defense Arrays that sealed it off from the corruption of the Abyss.

Ian opened his eyes, a fiery glint flickering in the depths of his pupils.

"Interesting."

’The strength of this Barrier is already approaching the Level Four threshold, and that Energy fluctuation...’

’Starlight Power? A Power distinct from the Wizard System.’

His Spiritual Power continued to spread silently, like the finest of threads, slipping through the tiniest gaps in the Barrier’s energy flow without causing the slightest disturbance.

Soon, the scene within the Barrier unfolded in his Perception.

A massive city, a combination of a natural cavern and artificial excavation, came into his "view."

Streets crisscrossed below, with tiered residences carved into the rock walls. The central district even featured a small ecosystem built with geothermal heat and fluorescent plants.

By a rough estimate, over a hundred thousand humans lived here. Their auras were mostly faint, tinged with the weariness of long-term hardship.

At the center of this underground city, within a castle built of grayish-white rock, he detected an Energy fluctuation clearly stronger than the others.

It belonged to a woman, whose aura was comparable in strength to a Tier Three Wizard. Her Energy Core was suffused with pure Starlight Power, from the same source as the outer Barrier.

’Looks like she’s the leader here,’ Ian thought.

His Perception swept over every stone house, every passageway, every corner.

The elderly were coughing, women were mending tattered clothes, and children were helping with chores. Some of the children limped, their bodies marked with distinct, dark purple patterns.

Corruption. Everyone was tainted by it.

Around 120,000 to 130,000 souls, crammed into this underground city like a colony of ants forgotten in the darkness.

Having gained a general understanding of the situation, he withdrew his Perception.

A dozen or so Mutant Beasts were slowly approaching, their scarlet eyes filled with greed.

Attracted by the fluctuation of Spiritual Power Ian had just released, they were closing in from all directions.

’Might as well clean them up.’

Ian raised his right hand, palm facing down, and the Gravity Rule spread out silently.

Within a hundred-kilometer radius, every Mutant Beast roaming the surface or wandering through shallow caves—regardless of their twisted forms or their level of strength—suddenly froze stiff.

The next second, their bodies instantly imploded and burst apart under a sudden, terrifying spike in Gravity!

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

A few muffled explosions echoed across the surface, and then all was dead silent.

All the Mutant Beasts had been reduced to pools of purple gore, which then completely evaporated in a flash of Purification Golden Light.

Having done this, he stepped forward, and a silver light appeared beneath his feet.

The light extended downward, cutting through the rock like an invisible blade and carving a perfectly straight tunnel.

Three steps later, he was standing before the Star Barrier five thousand meters beneath the surface.

He had no intention of Concealment, so he released a tiny sliver of his aura.

VMMMM!

The release of that single sliver of aura was like a boulder dropped into a placid lake.

The sturdy Star Barrier flared with a blinding silver light and began to tremble violently, emitting a low hum as if it were about to collapse under the strain.

In the central castle of Deep Rock City, Lumina was jolted from her Meditation, her heart seized by an invisible hand, leaving her breathless.

’Something’s here. Something’s coming.’

A pressure as vast as the Abyss and utterly beyond comprehension had pierced the Star Barrier and descended directly upon her Sea of Spirit.

That pressure carried with it the Gravity of a star, a blazing light, and a pure aura that made all corruption tremble instinctively.

’An attack?! No... a being of this caliber...’

Lumina’s heart pounded wildly, and cold sweat instantly drenched her back.

She bolted from the Meditation Room, screaming into the castle’s Communication Array as she ran.

"Highest alert! All combat personnel to your positions! An unclassifiable entity is approaching the Barrier!"

At the same time, she sprinted desperately toward the Barrier’s control hub.

However, just as she issued the order, she saw a terrifying scene reflected in the control hub’s Crystal.

Outside the Barrier, a young man with black hair and black eyes, dressed in golden robes, was calmly "walking" through it.

The Star Barrier, strong enough to withstand a sustained bombardment from a Level Four Mutant Beast, was like nothing before him.

The moment his body touched the Barrier’s membrane of light, it parted to either side like ripples in water.

There was no resistance, no counter-attack. He simply "passed" through and came to a stop in the air above the central plaza.

Lumina felt a deathly chill, her limbs stiff and cold.

She met his gaze—calm and profound, yet it made her very Soul tremble.

She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to fly up and face the uninvited guest, simultaneously waving away the guards who were scrambling to assemble.

The closer she got, the more Lumina could feel the Starlight around her trembling, cowering like a rabbit before its natural predator.

She wanted to turn and flee, but her body wouldn’t obey. She wanted to speak, but her throat felt as if it were choked shut.