Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

As one astral gate after another opened, the astral gates within Long Chen’s Dantian also quivered. His entire starry sea started to shake eventually.𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

When the fourth astral gate opened, Long Chen stopped and closed them all.

“This path should work in theory, but it’s still too early.”

Long Chen sighed inside. Just now, he had clearly sensed a reaction from his starry sea. But this cultivation method had a fatal drawback—his starry sea and the starry sea of the nine heavens mirrored one another, resonating like twin reflections.

The flow of power between them wasn’t one-way; it was a constant exchange. As the astral energy of the heavens poured into his Dantian, his own astral energy flowed outward to the nine heavens, forming a loop.

Long Chen was the vessel and conduit for this exchange. Without immense pressure to contain such forces, the balance would shatter.

Right now, his body simply couldn’t bear it. If he forced it, he would suffer some injuries.

Still, the test wasn’t fruitless—he had clearly felt his starry sea grow stronger, not just in quantity, but in quality. The improvement was real.

But there was no need for haste. The method was there, and that was enough for now.

When Long Chen awoke from seclusion, three days had passed. Outside, Meng Qi and Cloud were patrolling, ensuring no one disturbed him.

The moment his eyes met Meng Qi’s, he was about to speak. However, Cloud suddenly glanced between them and said, “Big Sister Meng Qi, Big Brother Long Chen, do you feel like Cloud is just an extra here?”

Long Chen froze in embarrassment. This little girl had grown sharper.

He quickly grabbed her hand with a smile. “How could that be? Cloud is my best, smartest, most obedient little sister—”

Before he could find a polite excuse to send her away, Cloud grinned. “Good! Big Sister Meng Qi and I have lots to talk about with you!”

Long Chen was left speechless, while Meng Qi merely smiled knowingly. There was no hiding his thoughts from her.

High atop a mountain peak, Cloud chattered endlessly for an entire day before finally tiring out and falling asleep in Long Chen’s lap.

Long Chen and Meng Qi leaned against each other, watching a distant river flow through a forest. Specks of sunlight scattered through the water, making it look golden.

Long Chen slowly turned to look at Meng Qi. The river’s light reflected on her face, and her eyes seemed to hold the flicker of distant stars. This kind of light was something he had seen in Little Crane’s gaze. Looking at her perfect profile, he felt as if this was all a dream, a wonderland where every ugliness in the world had vanished.

From the moment he had first seen Meng Qi again, his world had been brighter.

With her by his side, Long Chen feared nothing. In the past, he had always been the one giving others a sense of peace and safety. But between him and Meng Qi, it was the opposite—she was his safe harbor.

He smiled. Looking at her face and smelling her fragrance, he lost himself in this sense of peace.

Meng Qi was gazing into the distance, seemingly thinking of something. She didn’t even notice that Cloud had finally fallen asleep.

When she noticed Long Chen looking at her, she turned toward him and smiled. She pressed her forehead against his and whispered, “I missed you!”

As he leaned forward, she placed a finger to her lips and pointed at Cloud, shaking her head. Her meaning was clear—don’t move, or they’d wake her.

Long Chen smiled awkwardly.

After that, Meng Qi reached out and rubbed his face. She gently kissed him.

“When Cloud wakes up, we’re going to leave,” Meng Qi said.

Long Chen was startled. “What? Why are you leaving?”

“You have too many burdens,” she said softly. “I can’t share them, but I won’t be your burden either. Cloud has inherited the Primal Chaos Vermilion Bird’s legacy, so we won’t be in too much danger. I plan to gather our sisters and the Dragonblood warriors. I’m sure they’ve all entered as well. If they’re in danger, we can help. With our numbers, we can seize more legacies and kill more of the other world’s devils.

“Then you can peacefully search through the heaven region’s battlefield. I believe that from the moment you stepped in, you became this battlefield’s main character. And the main character has to see it through.”

Hearing that, Long Chen felt a wave of emotion. Meng Qi always thought of him first, as if her entire world revolved around him.

He wanted to ask where she had been all this time, to tell her everything he had endured. He wanted to simply be with her—the woman who had worked silently in his shadow.

While Long Chen didn’t want to part, he knew that she was right. The heaven region’s battlefield would decide the future of the nine heavens and thus their own.

If the nine heavens were destroyed, where would they go? Hence, Long Chen had to fulfill his mission.

They sat in silence, holding hands, for a long time. Meng Qi’s gaze was filled with love and pain; she knew his burdens were his alone to bear. This was the only way she could help him.

Soon, Cloud woke up. Upon learning that they had to go, the little girl cried and cried. She held onto Long Chen’s hand and refused to let go.

Eventually, Meng Qi whispered something to her, and she finally stopped crying. However, she was clearly reluctant to leave.

Long Chen hugged Cloud and softly comforted her. “Don’t worry, we’ll definitely meet again within the heaven region’s battlefield.”

After that, Cloud transformed into her Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow form, tearing through space with Meng Qi on her back.

Meng Qi didn’t look back or say goodbye. She couldn’t. If she did, she would cry—and that would only make it harder for him.

When they were gone, Long Chen felt a bitter ache. From the mortal world to the immortal world, he had grown countless times stronger. Yet even now, he felt like a puppet on the strings of fate—adrift like duckweed in a river... He couldn’t even stay beside the woman he loved.

That feeling made him feel profoundly powerless. He felt like he had changed, but also like nothing had changed at all.

“I’m still not strong enough. But soon... I will stand at the peak of the nine heavens and ten lands. The peak is right in front of me!”

He clenched his fists, his eyes blazing with determination. Victory was within reach, and Meng Qi had never once complained while supporting him. How could he start to complain now?

Unfurling his Kunpeng wings, Long Chen soared into the sky and vanished into the distance.