Eight massive, hideous limbs emerged from the vortex, each one covered in rows of chilling barbs. Just as they were about to strike down, the Four Divine Beasts unleashed their ultimate attacks, blasting toward the limbs.
Then came a storm of lightning and thunder.
Behind the red protective barrier, Qin Sang watched the battle unfold and once again marveled that this was truly a fight on an entirely different level.
At that moment, the eight limbs that had been under attack finally revealed their full form.
It was a giant spider. Above its eight massive legs sat a huge insectoid body with a swollen, elongated abdomen. Where a spider’s head should have been was instead a human head—a female, with a terrifying appearance. Her face was a sickly blue-black, her hair long, her teeth sharp and pointed. Her two eyes burned crimson.
“Tens of thousands of years have passed, and I’ve still found you. This time, you and the humans will all die.”
With those words, the giant spider-woman’s abdomen pulsed, and spider eggs poured out, hatching on impact. Each hatchling was three to five meters in size. The moment they emerged, they began devouring everything around them—mutated plants, mutated animals, anything they could consume. And humans, of course, were on the menu.
But neither the mutated plants, nor the mutated animals, nor the humans would sit idly by and wait to be eaten.
In an instant, a new battlefield erupted below.
The great boss fought above, while life on the ground clashed below.
Qin Sang and her group didn’t hide—they took up their weapons and charged at the enemy.
These hastily spawned spiders weren’t particularly strong in combat, but they were highly venomous. Frowning, Qin Sang used ranged attacks to take one down, only to find that it had no energy core.
Damn it. It was just an empty shell. No wonder it could fight right after hatching—it was probably a disposable combat Zerg.
Indeed, Qin Sang glanced up at the spider-woman still endlessly spawning eggs and guessed that this must be the Zerg Mother, a common figure in Zerg-themed novels.
These hatched spiders were likely disposable combat units. There might be other types with different functions, but for now, all that had appeared were combat forms.
The Four Divine Beasts had shown up at this critical moment, and Qin Sang figured they wouldn’t let the Zerg Mother run rampant for long.
And sure enough, just as the ground forces were locked in brutal combat, the battle above suddenly shifted.
The Zerg Mother seemed to have gained the upper hand, binding the Four Divine Beasts with spider silk, as if about to drain them dry.
Seeing this, many humans looked devastated, as if the sky were falling. But Qin Sang knew things wouldn’t be that simple. And indeed, just as the Four Divine Beasts were about to be dragged to the Zerg Mother, they each released glowing arrows in four different colors. The moment these arrows touched the Zerg Mother, they transformed—from four arrows into four rings that wrapped tightly around her.
A piercing shriek—so agonizing it rattled the soul—rang out. The Zerg Mother began to struggle violently, but the seemingly ordinary rings didn’t budge. In fact, the more she fought, the tighter they bound her. Her eight legs were all pinned down, completely immobilized.
Seeing this, the spiders on the ground all rushed toward the Zerg Mother. They had no wings, but they piled on top of each other, forming a towering pyramid.
Humans, mutated plants, and mutated animals were no fools. Seizing the moment while the spiders were frenzied, they launched attacks on the spider mountain.
The Zerg Mother was under attack above, and the spiders were being slaughtered below. Qin Sang shot down one spider after another with her arrows, each shot landing with satisfying precision. The spiders, wholly focused on rescuing their mother, made no effort to dodge. So not only Qin Sang, but everyone else—humans, mutated plants, and mutated animals alike—fought with wild abandon. It was, without a doubt, the most satisfying battle they’d ever had.
Then, the Zerg Mother let out another piercing scream. In response, all the spiders began to self-destruct with a series of pop-pop-pop sounds, spraying venom in every direction.
Seeing this, Qin Sang quickly retreated with her group. At the same time, a translucent barrier formed around her body. It was unusually large, large enough to cover everyone nearby. Others also generated barriers—some small, just covering themselves, others larger, covering four or five people.
But no one’s shield was as massive as Qin Sang’s—it enveloped fifty to sixty people.
The barrier radiated outward from Qin Sang herself. She only realized what had happened after it was already deployed. If she wasn’t mistaken, this barrier was formed using the energy within her body.
So—had she just unlocked a new special move?
At the same time, as the spiders self-destructed, the colossal Zerg Mother above also began to explode. But its explosion was contained by the rings.
The Four Divine Beasts, having long since broken free of the silk, began channeling energy into the rings. A brilliant radiance spread across the sky, illuminating the darkness that had shrouded the heavens for so long.
Many people were forced to shut their eyes from the intense light. But Qin Sang, experienced as she was, had already covered her eyes with energy. And in doing so, she saw clearly what lay beyond that dark canopy.
It was a dazzling, star-studded Milky Way.
The galaxy was thick with stars, breathtakingly beautiful. Yet within that beauty, countless black vortexes dotted the expanse.
Qin Sang recognized them instantly. These were the black holes left by the spatial passages. The Zerg Mother had emerged through one of them. And these holes were not naturally formed by the universe.
The thought sent a chill down Qin Sang’s spine.
Had they just defeated one Zerg Mother—only to face countless more to come?
—
“Yes…”
Suddenly, a voice echoed in Qin Sang’s mind. It was ethereal and distant—as if speaking right beside her ear, yet also from somewhere far beyond the stars.
She couldn’t tell who or what had produced that voice. All she knew was that it didn’t frighten her.
“You are very perceptive, human.”
Qin Sang took a deep breath and asked softly, “Are… are you the will of Blue Star?”
The owner of the voice seemed somewhat surprised—because for the first time, its tone carried a hint of fluctuation.
“Yes, human. I am the will of Blue Star. The Vermilion Bird must have mentioned something to you, didn’t he?”
Qin Sang: …
At that moment, the energy core from the Zerg Mother’s brain was forced out by the glowing rings and suspended high in the sky.
Qin Sang glanced up. That core was so massive—she couldn’t have even dreamed of something like it.
And then, the Blue Star will that had spoken to her just moments ago spoke again.
But this time, its voice wasn’t meant for her alone. This time, it resounded across the entire planet.
—
“Humans…”
The ethereal, distant voice boomed in everyone’s ears. They hadn’t even had time to celebrate the Zerg Mother’s death before this new voice rang out, putting them all on high alert once more.
At that same moment, the Four Divine Beasts dismembered the Zerg Mother’s corpse and extracted a mass of energy. Along with the energy core, it was suspended high in the sky.
Then, a massive blue light orb materialized in front of the core and the energy mass. The Four Divine Beasts spoke to it in unison: “Will of Blue Star, we have succeeded.”
The words “Will of Blue Star” instantly put all of humanity at ease.
“You have done well,” the voice of Blue Star said.
“Humans, I am sure you have many questions.” As it spoke, a blue light screen suddenly appeared across the dark sky.
Everyone looked up at the screen.
And Qin Sang heard Grandpa Goose’s voice: “Watch, little Sang Sang. The truth you’ve been wanting is about to unfold.”
Qin Sang: … Heavens knew she had long wanted to learn the so-called truth of this world. But Grandpa Goose had always avoided the topic. Now he popped up with this line, acting as if he’d been generous all along.
So she rolled her eyes and shot back: “Grandpa Goose, you’re not the one telling me this.”
Grandpa Goose: “Hey, hey, hey…”
Qin Sang ignored him and focused her gaze on the blue screen.
The screen was now playing like a documentary.
It began with a blue planet. Zooming in, there were blue skies and white clouds, lush green vegetation, and towering mountains everywhere.
It was a thriving ecosystem that nurtured countless animals. These animals began to evolve after absorbing ambient energy, eventually becoming various mutated plants and mutated animals.
Humans appeared alongside this evolution. At first, humans and the mutated beings competed for survival.
But then, without warning, an alien race invaded—and that rivalry quickly transformed into cooperation.
Humans could cultivate and unlock spirit beast spaces. Mutated plants and animals could sign contracts with humans and live within these spaces, accelerating their evolution by hundreds of times compared to the wild.
Through this contract-based relationship, both humans and their spirit beasts grew rapidly stronger, giving them a massive advantage in resisting foreign invasions.
Eventually, the invaders were driven off Blue Star.
However, as a low-level plane with the most pristine ecology and abundant energy, Blue Star was destined to be a coveted prize. It attracted the greed of many higher-level planes—some lacking natural life, others desperate for energy. They all hungered to plunder Blue Star’s resources.
After repelling invaders time and again, Blue Star’s ancestors knew they couldn’t just wait passively for the next attack. But back then, the number of spirit beast masters on Blue Star was still far too small—human populations weren’t yet counted in the hundreds of millions.
So the Will of Blue Star, together with the Four Divine Beasts of that era, led their respective clans—alongside human spirit beast masters—in running countless simulations of Blue Star’s future, numbering in the billions.
Based on the final simulation results, both the spirit beasts and humans set their plan in motion. Combining the power of all humans and spirit beasts, they constructed a massive energy-sealing array around Blue Star. As long as this array existed, Blue Star’s presence would remain hidden from other planes and other worlds.
After the sealing was complete, many spirit beasts, having expended too much energy, reverted to spirit beast eggs.
At that time, the power of the Four Divine Beasts had been reduced to barely a fraction of what it once was.
With what little energy remained, they constructed four secret realms and gathered the spirit beast eggs into them according to species. Then, the Four Divine Beasts, along with the four secret realms, entered a sealing phase.
After that, the human world entered an era of spiritual decline. Energy gradually faded away. As human spirit beast masters disappeared, the very existence of the profession was forgotten.
Upon the death of a human spirit beast master, their inner spirit beast space would be released. Each time one was released, the Will of Blue Star would collect it.
Over time, countless spirit beast spaces were fused together by the Will of Blue Star into identical storage spaces.
These storage spaces were then sealed within countless jade artifacts by the Will of Blue Star.
And so, time slowly moved toward the node predicted by the simulations.
When the time came, the seals on the jade storage spaces were undone. Humans inadvertently dripped blood onto them, forming a bond. The storage spaces entered their minds, slowly nourishing them—ultimately with the goal of awakening their own spirit beast spaces.
And when the four secret realms required vast amounts of energy to revive the spirit beasts, these storage spaces would be recalled from the humans’ minds to provide that energy.
After watching this hidden history—spanning tens of thousands of years—every human was utterly stunned.
“Now, humans. We will reseal the sky.”
As the Will of Blue Star spoke, the Four Divine Beasts moved to the four cardinal directions. Between them floated the energy core and the energy mass left by the Zerg Mother’s corpse.
In an instant, those things transformed into a massive energy orb.
At the same time, many people noticed that the energy cores they’d left outside were turning into beams of light, flying toward the energy orb.
Some were startled at first, then quickly pulled out every energy core they had stored in their spaces. Those, too, transformed into streams of light soaring skyward.
Though each beam was small, together they grew in number.
Gradually, the entire sky became a sea of light.
When all the light connected, a complete, unbroken sky once again hung high above.
Blue skies and white clouds returned. Humanity cheered.
“Humans, the energy-sealing array cannot be restored.”
The jubilant crowd fell silent once more.
Sensing their thoughts, the Will of Blue Star said directly: “You have spirit beasts. They will protect Blue Star alongside you.”
At the words “protect,” the more perceptive among them understood that the danger had not truly passed.
“Yes. The sealing array is gone. The Zerg may find their way here again, and so may other planes—it’s only a matter of time. Before that day comes, humans, you must strengthen yourselves. The next time enemies arrive, you must not only defend—you must strike back, all the way to their home planes…”
—
A month had passed since the appearance of the Will of Blue Star.
During that month, the entire planet had entered an era of peace. No one stirred up trouble; no one caused destruction.
Everyone celebrated the victory.
And everyone silently prepared for what lay ahead.
Because they all knew—the next battle likely wouldn’t be too far off.
The four stone gates continued to hover in the sky. Anyone who wished to contract a spirit beast could enter and find one suited to them.
Qin Sang, along with her family and friends, attended a grand village feast.
Yes—the village had organized a massive communal meal. Most of the ingredients came from mutated plants, providing fresh produce. Meat, however, was still scarce. Most wild mutated animals could not be eaten.
Only a small number of ordinary animals were raised by the authorities.
Still, that didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm. Many brought out their treasured reserves—cured fish, preserved meats, salted duck eggs, dried seafood—adding even more flavor to the feast.
Qin Sang’s family sat at a table with Xu Lin and Fa Ge. They ate and chatted, the conversation circling around one question: what now?
“What are we going to do?” Qin Sang looked at Fa Ge’s troubled expression.
“Just wing it! We’re going to fight sooner or later anyway. In the meantime, we just focus on getting stronger!”
Xu Lin laughed along: “No matter what the future holds, as long as we work together, we won’t lose.”
With that, he looked at Qin Sang.
She blinked at him, tilted her head, and rested it on her mother’s shoulder, smiling back at him.
The future…
No matter what came, they were family—and they would never be apart.
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