The Starbound Realm had changed.
Gone were the shimmering skies and celestial pathways. Now, Tianming and Mu Yuelan stood at the mouth of a vast chasm — a gaping void that devoured all light. The air was heavy, thick with ancient energies and whispers that clawed at the edges of sanity.
Behind them, the gates to the sixth trial sealed shut with a final clang. Before them, the darkness awaited.
"This is it," Tianming whispered.
Yuelan's grip on her blade tightened. "The final trial."
> [System Notification: Starbound Trial Seven Initiated — Domain: Nullspace] [Objective: Survive and Confront the Moonbane] [Warning: Nullspace suppresses cultivation. External spiritual sources inaccessible. Initiating internal reservoir augmentation... Complete. Estimated survival time: 4 hours]
A hush settled over them as they stepped into the void.
---
I. Nullspace
The moment they crossed the threshold, gravity twisted. The ground beneath their feet dissolved into a reflective membrane, and their bodies felt weightless yet heavy — like dreams pulled down by chains.
Tianming immediately noticed a difference. The ambient qi that normally flowed around him was gone. His connection to the spiritual realm was muted. His cultivation base dimmed to a flickering lantern in a sea of darkness.
> [Status Alert: Power Suppression 73%. System Enhancements Locked: Lunar Synergy Mode, Starfield Displacement, Spirit Mirror Sync.]
"We're on our own," he muttered.
Yuelan's breath fogged the air. Her frost essence pulsed dimly. "There's no ice here. No water. Just the Void."
Suddenly, the terrain shifted. A path unfolded beneath them, lit by pale white stones — ancient bones fossilized in starlight. With each step, their minds were assaulted by illusions: voices from the past, fears unspoken, regrets buried deep.
Tianming saw his mother's death again.
Only this time, he saw her screaming his name as shadows dragged her into a rift.
He clenched his fists. "It's not real."
> [Cognitive Stabilizers Active. Lucidity at 94%. Continue forward.]
They reached a bridge suspended over nothingness. At its center stood a figure cloaked in black flame. A mirror mask obscured its face, and from its back sprouted wings of inverted stars.
"The Herald of the Moonbane," Yuelan whispered.
The figure raised a hand, and their vision shattered.
---
II. Fractured Battle
Tianming found himself alone.
The landscape was gone. In its place: a field of ash and broken memories. The sky was a cracked mirror. He stood with his blade drawn, but something was off. His arms felt wrong. Heavy.
Then he saw it.
Across from him stood another Li Tianming — but twisted. Eyes glowing red. Skin like cracked porcelain. Aura choked with malice.
The doppelgänger smiled.
"You've always feared me. The failure. The one who didn't rise. The one they all laughed at."
Tianming didn't speak. He charged.
Their blades met in a storm of sparks.
The battle was brutal. Each strike tore through illusions, memories, and fragments of his own mind. The corrupted Tianming fought with ruthless efficiency, exploiting every weakness.
But Tianming was no longer that same boy.
He gritted his teeth, recalled every hardship, every fall, every tear — and used them.
With a roar, he activated the one system function still partially available: Soul Temper.
His blade burned with the fire of will, and he struck true.
The double screamed as it disintegrated into ash.
> [Trial Progression: Psychological Trial Complete. Rejoining team member...]
---
III. Yuelan's Trial
Yuelan's test was more insidious.
She found herself in the ruins of her sect, standing before her family's graves. The wind whispered her failures.
"You left them. You survived while they died."
Shadows formed the faces of her kin. They stared, wordless and accusatory.
She fell to her knees.
Then the cold returned.
Not the chill of fear — but the frost of resolve.
She rose, blade in hand.
"No more ghosts. I carry you with me — not in shame, but in strength."
She cut through the illusions.
> [Trial Progression: Psychological Trial Complete. Rejoining team member...]
---
IV. Convergence and Confrontation
Tianming and Yuelan opened their eyes — back on the bridge.
The Herald was gone.
And in its place rose the Moonbane.
It was a creature of cosmic horror. Its body was composed of writhing tendrils made of inverted stars and dark mist. Its mouth was a vertical slit that opened into endless screams. Eyes orbited its head like moons, and in its chest pulsed a core of abyssal energy.
> [System Override Initiated. Releasing Limiters. Activating Forbidden Protocol: Apex Mode — WARNING: Strain on Host Mind and Body Approaching Critical Threshold.]
> [Skill Unlocked: Astral Dominion — Limited Use: 1 per 24 hours]
Tianming's body surged with power. His aura ignited in silver and blue.
Beside him, Yuelan called upon the deepest reserves of her frost essence. Her blade grew — a greatsword of pure winter moonlight.
The Moonbane screeched and lunged.
The battle began.
---
V. The Apex Battle
It moved like a storm — warping space with each motion. Its tendrils lashed out, cutting through the void. Tianming dodged, barely keeping up. His system mapped its movements in real time, but even that wasn't enough.
> [Astral Perception: Enhanced]
He blinked left, slashing at one of the Moonbane's limbs. It split, only to reform instantly.
Yuelan struck next, encasing a segment in frost — slowing its regeneration.
"Together!" she shouted.
They coordinated their strikes — one freezing, one shattering. The Moonbane shrieked. Its eyes glowed with hatred.
Then it changed forms — collapsing into a ball of anti-light before expanding in a nova of entropy. Space twisted. Time slowed.
Tianming coughed blood. "This... thing is a fragment of the Void itself."
> [Astral Dominion Engaged. Warning: Neural Load at 89%. Host fatigue approaching lethal threshold.]
Tianming roared, his blade shifting into Heavenpiercer Mode — a temporary form granted by the system.
He blinked forward and drove it into the Moonbane's core.
Simultaneously, Yuelan unleashed Frozen Eclipse — a finishing move fueled by the last of her qi.
Their attacks connected.
The core cracked.
The Moonbane let out a final, gurgling scream — and exploded into starlight.
Silence.
---
VI. Ascension
The Void began to collapse.
A staircase of stars formed beneath their feet, leading upward.
> [Trial Complete. Host Qualified for Celestial Throne Initiation. System Upgrade Pending. New Realm Access Granted: Heaven's Vault]
Tianming fell to one knee, gasping.
Yuelan helped him up.
They looked at each other, exhausted but alive.
He grinned. "So... want to do it again?"
She laughed softly. "Ask me after a thousand years of rest."
They ascended.
Above them, the stars aligned — not in patterns of old, but new constellations formed in their honor.
---
[End of Chapter 16: The Void Beneath the Stars]