Chapter 17: Dancing on the Event Horizon
Location: The Astral Tomb – Sector 4 (The Graveyard)
Space was silent, but the mana screaming through the void was deafening.
Jiang Chen floated in the center of the asteroid belt, his body radiating a purple gravitational field so intense that light itself bent around him. He was a human black hole.
SCREECH!
Hundreds of Astral Rays—translucent, bone-armored space predators—were dragged helplessly toward him. They flailed their fins, trying to Phase Shift, but the Grandmist gravity locked them in the physical plane.
"Delivery for the Queens," Jiang Chen grinned, clenching his fist. "Order up."
"I hate seafood," Mo You muttered, blurring into motion.
She didn't run; she flickered. In the zero-gravity environment, the Shadow Dragon was in her element. She kicked off a floating rock, turning into a spiraling drill of darkness.
SPLAT. SPLAT. SPLAT.
She tore through the cluster of Rays like a chainsaw through jelly. Every time her obsidian daggers slashed, a monster disintegrated into sparkling blue dust.
On the other side, Feng Xi was acting as a stationary turret.
"Solar Gatling!"
She pointed both index fingers. Rapid-fire beams of concentrated sunlight shot out, piercing the skulls of the Rays with surgical precision.
PEW-PEW-PEW.
"Ten points! Twenty points! High score!" Feng Xi cheered, spinning in mid-air.
In less than a minute, the swarm was reduced to a cloud of glowing particles.
Jiang Chen opened his inventory.
[Auto-Loot Active]
[Acquired: Astral Bone x400]
[Acquired: Cosmic Dust x50kg]
[Acquired: Trace Star Metal x10]
"Small fries," Jiang Chen noted. "Not enough for the Citadel upgrade."
He looked deeper into the debris field. The massive, throne-sitting entity he had spotted earlier—the Stellar Lich—was slowly standing up.
It stood twenty meters tall, its armor crafted from the hull of a crushed frigate. Its eyes were two swirling vortexes of purple energy. Around it, three corpses floated, tethered to the Lich by glowing necrotic chains.
Jiang Chen zoomed in with Grandmist Perception.
[Target Analysis]
[Corpse 1: Professor Zhang (S-Rank)]
[Corpse 2: Researcher Li (A-Rank)]
[Corpse 3: Professor Brown (S-Rank)]
"Dean Star was right," Jiang Chen's face went cold. "The missing team. They aren't just dead; they've been turned into puppets."
The Stellar Lich raised a massive, skeletal hand.
"MORE... BIOMASS..."
The voice was telepathic, grinding inside their skulls like tectonic plates.
"WELCOME... TO... THE... GRAVITY... WELL."
The Lich clenched its fist.
VWOOM.
The space around Jiang Chen warped. A sphere of absolute darkness—a miniature singularity—formed instantly around the trio.
[Warning: High-Tier Gravity Spell Detected.]
[Spell: Event Horizon.]
[Effect: Crushes all matter within 100 meters into a singularity.]
"My hair!" Feng Xi yelped as the gravity tried to flatten her beautiful golden locks. "He's ruining my volume!"
"He's trying to spaghettify us," Mo You hissed, struggling to lift her daggers against the crushing pressure. "Husband, this gravity... it rivals a Neutron Star."
Jiang Chen felt his bones creak. His Void Walker Suit flashed red warnings. The pressure was immense—enough to turn a tank into a soda can.
But Jiang Chen just smiled.
"You want to play with gravity?" Jiang Chen whispered, his eyes turning purely purple. "You're playing with the ancestor."
[Grandmist Art: Sovereign's Law - Inversion.]
Jiang Chen didn't fight the gravity. He reversed it.
He pushed his own Grandmist energy outwards, creating a "White Hole" effect.
BOOM.
The singularity imploded. The crushing force instantly flipped into a repulsive force. The black sphere shattered like glass.
The shockwave blasted outward, hitting the Stellar Lich. The massive boss stumbled back, crashing into its throne of scrap metal.
"IMPOSSIBLE..." The Lich telepathically recoiled. "YOU... CONTROL... THE... ORIGIN?"
"I own it," Jiang Chen shot forward.
He activated the thrusters on his suit. Nightfall was drawn, glowing with a tricolor aura.
"Mo You! Take the left! Sever the puppet chains!"
"Feng Xi! Blind him!"
"On it!"
Feng Xi flew above the Lich. She spread her wings, turning into a miniature sun.
"Solar Flare: Supernova Mode!"
A flash of blinding white light illuminated the entire asteroid belt. The Lich roared, covering its vortex eyes. The shadows cast by the debris became razor-sharp.
Mo You used those shadows. She shadow-stepped directly onto the Lich's shoulder.
SLASH. SLASH. SLASH.
Her daggers severed the necrotic chains connecting the human corpses to the Lich. The bodies of the professors drifted away, lifeless but free.
"My puppets!" The Lich screeched. It tried to grab Mo You, but she was already gone, dissolving into mist.
"Look at me," Jiang Chen's voice came from directly in front of the Lich's face.
The Lich looked down.
Jiang Chen was floating inches from its helmet.
"You have something I need," Jiang Chen said.
He raised Nightfall.
[Trinity Art: Star Breaker.]
He thrust the sword.
It didn't cut the armor. It punched through it. The blade sank deep into the Lich's chest, piercing the glowing core that powered its undead existence.
"Devour."
The Chaos Sutra activated.
A vortex formed in Jiang Chen's palm. It latched onto the Lich's core.
The Lich shrieked as its essence—the condensed gravity, the star metal, the necrotic mana—was violently sucked out. Its massive metal body began to rust and crumble in seconds.
"THE... VOID... WILL... FIND... YOU..."
"Let them come," Jiang Chen twisted the sword. "I'm hungry."
CRUNCH.
The Lich's body exploded into dust.
Remaining floating in space was a fist-sized, pulsing silver heart. It was heavy, warping the light around it.
[Item Looted: Heart of the Star (SS-Rank Material)]
[Description: The core of a dead star. Infinitely dense. Perfect for territory building.]
Jiang Chen grabbed the core. It was heavy, even in zero-G, but his Grandmist body absorbed the weight effortlessly.
"Objective complete," Jiang Chen tossed the core into his inventory.
He looked over at Mo You, who was securing the bodies of the professors.
"They have been dead for days," Mo You reported, floating over with the three corpses in tow. "Their souls were consumed by the Lich. But we retrieved the bodies for burial."
"Good," Jiang Chen nodded grimly. "Dean Star will want closure."
"Husband!" Feng Xi waved from a nearby piece of wreckage. "Look what I found! The Lich was guarding a chest!"
Jiang Chen flew over.
Floating behind the destroyed throne was a heavy, black metallic case. It bore the insignia of the Global Alliance Science Division.
"This isn't loot," Jiang Chen frowned. "This is what the researchers brought with them."
He tapped the lock.
[Access Granted: Dean's Keycard.]
The case hissed open.
Inside, resting on black velvet, was a single, jagged shard of purple crystal.
It wasn't Grandmist purple. It was a violent, sick purple.
[Item Analysis]
[Shard of the Void God]
[Warning: Do not touch with bare skin. Induces immediate corruption.]
Jiang Chen stared at it.
"Why..." Jiang Chen whispered. "Why were University researchers carrying a piece of a Void God into a dungeon?"
"They weren't studying the dungeon," Mo You realized, her eyes widening. "They were trying to feed the shard. They used the Lich's gravity to try and wake it up."
"Traitors," Jiang Chen slammed the case shut. "Someone in the Alliance wants to summon a God."
He secured the case in his safest inventory slot.
"We're leaving," Jiang Chen commanded. "I need to have a very serious conversation with Dean Star."
Location: The Academy - One Hour Later
Jiang Chen walked into Dean Star's office, threw the three ID tags on the desk, and slammed the black case down next to them.
Dean Star looked at the tags. His expression didn't change, but the temperature in the room dropped.
"They are dead?"
"Dead and turned into puppets," Jiang Chen said coldly. "But you knew that might happen. What you didn't tell me... was this."
He pointed at the case.
Dean Star sighed. He waved his hand, sealing the room with a soundproof barrier.
"You found it."
"A Shard of a Void God," Jiang Chen crossed his arms. "Care to explain why your staff was trying to hatch a world-ending monster?"
"Not my staff," Dean Star said wearily. "The Vice-Chancellor's staff."
"Internal politics?"
"Worse. Ideology." Dean Star rolled his wheelchair to the window. "There is a faction within the Alliance. They believe humanity cannot win the coming war. They believe our only survival lies in... assimilation. They call themselves the Cult of the Hollow."
"And they are in the University?"
"They are everywhere," Dean Star turned back. "I sent that team to investigate the tomb because I suspected they were up to something. I didn't expect them to bring a Shard."
Dean Star looked at Jiang Chen.
"Keep the Star Metal. You earned it. But that case... leave it with me. I will destroy it."
Jiang Chen hesitated. Then he nodded. "Fine. But if I see another Void monster on campus, Dean... I'm burning the school down."
"Fair enough," Dean Star smiled slightly. "Go. Your territory upgrade awaits."
Location: Sky Island – Villa No. 1
Back in his villa, Jiang Chen didn't waste time.
He stood in the center of the courtyard.
[Territory Building: Phase 2]
[Material: Heart of the Star (Detected)]
[Initiate Upgrade?]
"Yes."
Jiang Chen crushed the silver heart in his hand.
VRRRM.
Liquid silver energy poured out, sinking into the ground of the floating island.
The island began to change. The dirt turned into a metallic, silver soil. The gravity stabilized to a perfect constant. A shimmering silver dome rose over the villa, blocking out all surveillance and psychic probes.
[Upgrade Complete: The Astral Fortress (Rank SS)]
[New Feature: Gravity Training Room (Up to 100x Earth Gravity).]
[New Feature: Star Metal Walls (Immune to S-Rank physical attacks).]
"Perfect," Jiang Chen grinned.
"Husband!" Feng Xi shouted from the living room. "Come quick! The news!"
Jiang Chen walked inside. Mo You and Feng Xi were watching the holographic TV.
[BREAKING NEWS]
[The Global Alliance Announces the "Inter-Academy Tournament"]
[This year, the location has been changed.]
[The Tournament will be held in the "Neutral Zone" – The Border of the Void.]
"The Border?" Jiang Chen frowned. That was the front line of the war.
The announcer continued.
[Special Rule: Freshmen are allowed to participate.]
[Grand Prize: A Title of Nobility... and a Planet.]
Jiang Chen's eyes lit up.
"A planet?" Mo You asked.
"A planet," Jiang Chen confirmed. "A real one. Not a dungeon."
He looked at his wives.
"Pack your bags, ladies. We're going to win a planet."
[Arc 2: The Academy of Gods - CONTINUES]
[Next: The Tournament Selection & The Return of an Old Rival.]