"Humanity has spent millennia developing technology, believing they have mastered everything and hold the truth. They have overthrown the legends of the past, broken ancient myths, and dismissed all mythologies as mere fantasies of their ancestors.
Yet when they stepped out from Blue Star into the cosmos, they turned back to search for traces of those Immortal Divines!"
"How ironic, how amusing."
The man's voice was ethereal, very hollow, sounding like numerous voices overlapped with his, encompassing men and women, young and old, extremely eerie.
He looked at the sky as if peering through the firmament to see the stars of the universe. His eye sockets showed no whites, just a deep black residing within, filled with indescribable disdain.
As for his words, the other person showed no reaction, still eating the wontons from the takeout box voraciously.
He ate while complaining softly.
"This isn't wonton, it's like a dumpling, what's going on? I clearly noted that I wanted wonton. Damn, these vendors really fool people these days. Last time they gave me little dumplings, now it's dumplings. Do they really think I can't tell the difference?"
Hearing this man's muttering, the gloomy-faced man suddenly turned dark and swung a slap.
Instantly, an evil wind surged in the entire Ancient Forest, wailing seemed to arise from all directions, as if hiding the world's various sufferings within.
Vaguely, it seemed as if countless pale hands surged from the void around, pressing towards the man eating the takeout.
Yet, the man watching this eldritch scene wasn't in the slightest panic. He simply lowered his head, using chopsticks to quickly shove all the wontons into his mouth.
Just in time before those countless hands enveloped him, he tossed the takeout box away.
Behind him, human figures suddenly emerged, some of stunning beauty, some hunched and decrepit, some exuding majesty, some with shifty appearances. These figures were outlined in golden lines, carrying an inexplicable power. Accompanied by the man's grin, they all lifted their heads, their appearances shockingly identical to this man's!
Golden light rippled, appearing both divine and human. As those golden figures emerged, they instantly erased all the eerie wind and ominous aura.
"Bai, you're in quite a foul mood lately. Could it be because you and Hei weren't assigned to the same city?"
The man wore a mischievous grin as the phantom figures behind him vanished.
"Lin Feiyang, stop laughing and joking around, and don't call me Bai. Use my full name, Bai Shuang!"
Bai Shuang said displeasedly, but the cold aura around him had already dissipated.
"I'm not saying you're Bai, but look at what you said earlier. So ridiculous, so sarcastic, all mysterious like a kid with adolescent delusions. Honestly, aren't you human too, casually criticizing humanity for being blindly arrogant."
Lin Feiyang mimicked Bai Shuang's earlier tone but in an exaggeratedly mocking manner, sounding highly provoking.
Bai Shuang's face, originally very pale, now began shifting towards the color of a black pot, his fists clenching tightly, an eerie distortion surrounding him as if countless pairs of ghastly green eyes were about to emerge in the darkness.
"Stop lamenting your profound truths. If it weren't for humanity reaching beyond the Star River through technological advancement, protected by the Martial Gods, they'd have never touched the remnants of Immortal Divines."
"Who would've thought that outside the Third Star System, the remnants of Apollo's Sun's Crown could be found, that the Yin Department of Ten Commanders' mansion could be discovered in a subspace rift, and that a fragment of Taiyi's ode could be found on an extinguished sun."
"The children stepping out from Ancestor Star explore the world, but they find that everything profound and mysterious already had omens back home. Isn't this another form of cycle?"
Lin Feiyang suddenly became serious, causing Bai Shuang, who was previously boiling with anger, to calm down.
"Do you have a sentimental side too?" Bai Shuang asked.
Lin Feiyang pouted, "No, you really don't understand what it means to control one's temper!"
But of course, he wouldn't say such words aloud.
Bai Shuang said, "The movement from the ruins of Douluo Palace is too great this time. All races across the universe have seen that star map that illuminates everything, and the Federation's years of concealment have all unraveled."
"Isn't that great?" Lin Feiyang lazily sat on the ground.
"Since the Federation first discovered the Immortal Ruins in the Star River, they began sealing Ancestor Star, suppressing its Martial Arts Dao fortune under the guise of protection. In reality, how many New Star individuals call the humans on Ancestor Star primitive, and in their eyes, people on Ancestor Star are no different from monkeys? Compared to your earlier adolescent rant, don't you think internal strife is the real joke here?"
"Now although Ancestor Star is exposed to the gaze of all heavens, at least it lives in a real world."
Hearing Lin Feiyang's words, Bai Shuang showed a hint of helplessness on his face.
"It's an unavoidable situation. Your kind of Dao is oriented towards the human world, which is why you have such insights. But to the Federation, even though Ancestor Star has billions of people, compared to the fifteen planets and fifteen star systems with trillions of people under Federation control, Ancestor Star is too small.
In weighing the pros and cons, the sacrifice of Ancestor Star is inevitable. After all, Ancestor Star may hide secrets concerning the rise of humanity."
"Moreover, the Federation is now preparing to open up the Martial Arts Dao and will release large amounts of resources to cultivate Martial Artists. It's quite a breakthrough moment." Bai Shuang remarked.
"Do you even believe that yourself?" Lin Feiyang gave Bai Shuang a sideways glance.
"Ancestor Star has an inherently strong suppression on any non-native entities. Martial Artists sent by the Federation have their strength suppressed to a tenth. Now that Ancestor Star is being watched by all races, the Federation had no choice but to commence the Martial Arts Exam."
"Moreover, this Martial Arts Exam is conducted under the divination of a Celestial Being Grandmaster. He has found a way for New Star Martial Artists to avoid Ancestor Star's suppression, by engaging in the Martial Arts Exam and letting New Star prodigies under twenty absorb Ancestor Star's fortune to gain its recognition."
"In essence, this Martial Arts Exam was originally just a method for young scions of influential families to absorb fortune, using the entirety of Ancestor Star as a stage."
"But that also makes it rather dull," Lin Feiyang said meaningfully.
Beside him, Bai Shuang instantly sensed something amiss. Lin Feiyang was known for his eccentricity; they had come together to North Sea to arrange the Martial Arts Exam, everything was going smoothly, they were about to announce the exam—could it be he's going to go crazy now!!
"Lin madman, what are you planning!!"
"I'm planning nothing! Just placing a bet. If a commoner who just began touching Martial Arts Dao steps over everyone else's head during this chance where New Star prodigies try to absorb fortune through the exam, think how much fun that would be."
Lin Feiyang said this, raising his gaze and looking towards a certain direction, his smile beaming.
"No really, what have you done now?" Bai Shuang had none of the earlier dark aura, genuinely afraid of this madman causing trouble.
"Bai, let me ask you, if I subconsciously don't want others to see me, can ordinary people see me?"
"Absolutely not. Though we are suppressed on Ancestor Star, your Heart and Spirit have reached the level of seeing the Other Shore. To ordinary people, you're like a god, a mere unintentional thought enough for them not to see you." Bai Shuang confidently stated.
"What if I told you a child who has never cultivated Heart and Spirit once saw my true form, what would you think?"
"For ordinary people's Heart and Spirit height compared to you, it is like a mayfly beneath the Sea of Suffering at the Other Shore, non-existent, like dust."
"Though you didn't deliberately conceal, even subconsciously, one would need at least to reach an impeccable Heart and Spirit to see you. According to what you said, an untrained person seeing you means… they're born with an impeccable Heart and Spirit, a talent so rare it's hard to find even a few in the entire Federation!"
Bai Shuang's voice trembled softly.
The way Lin Feiyang spoke now was as absurd as saying an ant understood quantum mechanics.
Looking at Bai Shuang's expression, Lin Feiyang smiled without a word, but behind that smile seemed to hide something.
"Su Tu, my student, your teacher sees great potential in you. Let's see how far you can go."