Sovereign of the Ashes

When Sein met Gongsun Wudi, she was handling military affairs inside her imperial chariot.

Whenever she worked, the Princess wore a stern, icy expression that gave her a uniquely imposing aura.

After Sein entered, she did not even bother looking up. She simply pointed toward a corner of the chariot, signaling for him to sit wherever he liked.

The architecture and craftsmanship of the Martial Civilization were vastly different from those of the Magus Civilization.

Still, this enormous imperial chariot alone was essentially equivalent to a Magus Civilization space fortress.

For the foreseeable future, Gongsun Wudi would be living and handling official matters within this chariot throughout the journey.

The trip from the Martial Civilization to the Magus Star Domain was far from short, and Sein had no intention of wasting the time.

The Ashen Pirates, which he had previously absorbed, would also be traveling back with him on this return trip to the Magus Civilization.

Sein planned to spend most of the journey inside the laboratory aboard their spaceship.

Gongsun Wudi had likely already guessed that. Without raising her head, she said, “You and Mel may stay in my imperial chariot during the journey.”

“I’ll have my attendants prepare living quarters for both of you,” she added.

Compared to the battered spaceship used by a mediocre pirate crew, the princess’ imperial chariot was naturally far more comfortable.

Still, such an arrangement seemed somewhat inappropriate according to the Dawn Empire’s strict rules of rank and etiquette.

“Is that really appropriate?” Sein asked after a brief hesitation.

“It’s fine. Consider it a gesture of goodwill from the Dawn Empire toward our friends from the Magus Civilization,” Gongsun Wudi replied.

Meanwhile, Mel was already cheering in excitement.

Since the princess had already spoken, Sein could only accept her offer. “Then we’ll be in your care again, Your Highness.”

Gongsun Wudi merely hummed in response without lifting her gaze.

***

As the armies of the Dawn Empire and the Dragon Clan of the Immortal Realm began mobilizing one after another, the family legions of the various Spring Lords within the Myriad Springs Worlds had likewise completed their assembly.

On the eve of departure, Destruction Spring finally welcomed the return of his younger sister, Illusion Spring.

And just as expected, Illusion Spring had not returned alone. Beside her was a colossal fish.

The creature’s entire body radiated dense hydro elemental law, and its sheer size had already surpassed what most Astral Realm creatures could even comprehend.

Even Baxia was a size smaller than this colossal fish.

The boundless Astral Realm truly contained countless strange and unimaginable lifeforms.

One might think they had already seen the largest creature in existence, only to realize that even more massive beings still lurked in the depths of the universe, waiting to be discovered.

This colossal creature merely floated within the Astral Realm, yet its sheer mass and gravitational pull alone were enough to heavily influence the surrounding planes and nearby stretches of starry space.

It came from the Immortal Realm Civilization and was also Illusion Spring’s closest friend.

When Destruction Spring saw the colossal fish, he remained fairly calm. After all, this was not his first time seeing it.

What did surprise him, however, was that the fish seemed even larger than the last time they met.

Did this creature even have a limit to its growth?

It felt as though it could continue expanding forever.

Qiuniu, on the other hand, had not returned to the Immortal Realm Civilization for quite some time. The sight of this fish—now already an overlord—clearly caught him off guard.

“Is that... Kun?” Qiuniu asked uncertainly.

As a being who had existed since the ancient era of the Immortal Realm, Qiuniu naturally remembered many of the rare species born of Primordial World.

To possess such a terrifying size... even the Black Tortoise Clan of the Immortal Realm likely could not reach this level.

Only Kunpeng... could theoretically achieve that.

After hearing Destruction Spring’s confident confirmation, Qiuniu could not help but sigh.

“Hundreds of thousands of years ago, Yao Master Kunpeng attempted to break through into the Sage Realm but ultimately failed. His primordial spirit split into two separate beings, becoming Kun and Peng. I never expected that although the Yao Master failed to reach that realm, his two fragmented primordial spirits would each eventually succeed.”

Then Qiuniu frowned slightly and continued in confusion, “But... why has she still not undergone her metamorphosis?”

Naturally, Destruction Spring had no answer to that question either.

He was never the type of Spring Lord who enjoyed thinking too deeply about complicated matters.

Laughing heartily, Destruction Spring replied, “Kun and Peng no longer have much to do with their original predecessor. They are now completely independent entities who merely inherited part of the Yao Master’s memories and cultivation legacy.”

“Since my little sister brought Kun here personally, the Nuwa Palace of the Immortal Realm Civilization will definitely become involved in this war. I’m just curious whether Sage Nuwa and Sage Fuxi will personally take action... as well as the other powerful figures within the Nuwa Palace,” the Rank Eight overlord added with a chuckle.

Qiuniu merely shook his head and chose not to comment further.

Illusion Spring herself was already an extremely unique Overlord, wielding the power of Illusory Law. Among all the overlords nurtured by the Spring Ancestor of the Myriad Springs Worlds, her law power was undoubtedly the most unusual.

Destruction Spring was already a rather unique existence himself; otherwise, he would never have reached Rank Eight.

But when it came to the power of laws, Illusory Law was even more mysterious and difficult to comprehend.

A rainbow-colored arc suddenly appeared across the starry sky, directly above Kun’s back.

Soon after, Illusion Spring’s voice echoed through the surrounding space.

“The Magus Civilization is under a joint assault from the Gallant Federation and the Amenkha Empire? Then I must join this war and help the Magus Civilization!”

Then her tone suddenly changed.

“Huh? What a cute little turtle.”

Unlike Destruction Spring, who identified himself as male, Illusion Spring was female.

A layer of rainbow light immediately wrapped itself around Tourmaline.

Qiuniu sensed no hostility from Illusion Spring and therefore made no move to stop her.

Suspended within the rainbow light, Tourmaline curiously looked around at her surroundings.

Compared to Illusion Spring, whose Illusory Law felt strange and elusive, Kun’s dense water aura and gentle law fluctuations actually left Tourmaline with a much better impression.

Almost immediately, Tourmaline transformed into her dragon-turtle form. She stretched out her claws, poked curiously at the rainbow light surrounding her, then waved her limbs excitedly toward the colossal fish ahead.

Illusion Spring tactfully lowered Tourmaline onto Kun’s head.

Tourmaline, who would already be considered a colossal creature on most planes, suddenly looked somewhat petite atop Kun’s colossal body within the Astral Realm.

The fish known as Kun also appeared rather curious about Tourmaline.

Her massive tail slowly swayed, and dense waves of water vapor energy spread outward like an endless tide, washing across the Myriad Springs Worlds.

Fortunately, the Myriad Springs Worlds was itself a vast hydro-attribute world cluster.

Kun’s arrival not only caused little disruption but even brought benefits to many of the Spring Lords within the region.

Had this instead been a pyro-attribute world cluster, a casual flick of Kun’s tail alone might have brought devastating disaster to countless pyro-attributed lifeforms.

Kun did not even need any special combat abilities or profound origin laws.

Her sheer size and physical presence alone were enough to give even overlord-level beings of the same rank an enormous headache.

Illusion Spring’s voice echoed directly within the minds of Destruction Spring and Qiuniu.

“My own legions aren’t particularly numerous, but Kun brought along a small contingent of sea races and Yao legions from the Immortal Realm. Let us set out!”