Transmigrating Into a Fantasy World: Signing in During Pregnancy, Reaching the Summit with My Childhood Sweetheart

116: Chapter 116: The Secrets of Celestial Craftsmanship and the Initial Fusion of the Star PivotIn the mountain hollow, a deathly silence replaced the previous roar of energy and threat of death. The out-of-control dark-eating star key lay quietly on the altar like ordinary iron, without a sound. Below the slope, the three from Tiangong Workshop slumped on the ground, gasping for air, their faces a mix of lingering fear, relief, and unmistakable astonishment.

On the high slope, Nangong Xuan used a branch to prop himself up, his face as pale as paper. The tearing sensation from his injured Divine Soul came in waves, making his vision darken. Su Muxue was in a slightly better state, but her Star Power was nearly exhausted. She stepped forward quickly to support Nangong Xuan, channeling a faint trace of Taiyin Star Power into his body to help stabilize his mind while warily watching the three people below.

”Thank you... thank you, Fellow Daoists... for saving our lives!” The elderly man with white hair and beard, supported by the young man and woman, struggled to stand and bowed deeply toward the slope. His voice was weak but filled with sincerity and the excitement of surviving a disaster. ”I am Lu Cheng, an outer sect Elder of Tiangong Workshop. These two are Disciples of the workshop, Qin Yuan and Liu Xuan.”

The young man and woman also hurriedly bowed, their faces still showing lingering shock, looking at Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue with gratitude and awe. They had witnessed these two suppress that terrifying ”evil thing” with mysterious methods; their strength was unfathomable.

Nangong Xuan caught his breath, suppressing the sharp pain in his Divine Soul. His gaze swept over the three, lingering for a moment on the shrinking black vortex on Elder Lu Cheng’s chest before he spoke solemnly: ”Elder Lu, there’s no need for such formalities. We were in the same danger; lending a hand was only natural. Why are you here? And how did you provoke this thing?” He pointed to the silent dark-eating star key on the altar.

Elder Lu Cheng gave a bitter smile, his face showing lingering fear. ”To be honest, we came to explore the ruins of an ancient ’Tiangong Annex.’ According to the workshop’s ancient records, this place was once the secluded cultivation site of a Senior expert from our Tiangong Workshop, and might contain some Artifact Refining Legacy. Who would have thought... just as we found this altar, which seemed to be the entrance to the annex, and before we could investigate, this thing suddenly erupted...” He pointed at the dark-eating star key, a flash of fear in his eyes.

”The suction it emitted was extremely bizarre, specifically devouring the essence and spiritual power of living beings. Magic Treasures and spiritual power shields collapsed almost instantly upon contact. We fought hard to resist, but still couldn’t escape... If not for you two Fellow Daoists appearing in time and using... that unique power to restrain this thing, the three of us would have turned into withered bones.” He looked at the now-dimmed chaos star core in Su Muxue’s hand, his eyes full of inquiry and disbelief. ”Just now... what Fellow Daoist activated, could it be the legendary... power of a nirvana star core?”

Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue both felt a stir in their hearts. The people from Tiangong Workshop were indeed knowledgeable, actually recognizing the nirvana star core.

”Elder has a keen eye.” Su Muxue did not directly deny it, only saying calmly, ”This item is indeed related to the power of stellar annihilation. Does Elder know the Origin of this key?” She steered the conversation back to the star key.

Lu Cheng took a deep breath, suppressing his shock, and his expression became solemn. ”If the ancient records I’ve read are correct, this item... is very similar to one of the legendary ’nine luminaries star keys’!”

His words were shocking. Although Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue had already speculated this, hearing it confirmed by another still shook their spirits slightly.

”nine luminaries star keys?” Nangong Xuan feigned ignorance and followed up with a question.

Lu Cheng nodded, his eyes showing reminiscence and longing. ”According to ancient rumors, the nine luminaries star keys were forged by the ancient ’Star Palace’ and are key tokens to opening some supreme Legacy or secret land. There are nine in total, corresponding to nine different stellar Origin powers. Each one possesses unfathomable power, but is also accompanied by great danger and Karma. Because their power attributes are so different, the methods to activate them have long been lost. Occasional discoveries in later generations were mostly regarded as ominous or uncontrollable forbidden items.”

He looked at the dark-eating star key on the altar and sighed. ”The power contained in this key—dark, devouring, and deathly—should belong to the ’dark-eating’ category. Looking at its state, I’m afraid it is heavily damaged, and its Core runes are chaotic, which led to the power going out of control and backfiring on any living being that approached.”

”Star Palace... nine luminaries star keys...” Nangong Xuan pondered for a moment and continued to ask, ”Does Elder know the whereabouts of the other star keys? Or... where that so-called supreme secret land is?”

Lu Cheng shook his head. ”The nine luminaries star keys are scattered across various worlds, and their whereabouts are a mystery. As for the secret land... the legends are even more ethereal. Some say it’s deep within the Nine Heavens Star Sea, others say it’s in the Nine Nether Gui Xu; no one knows the exact location. Tiangong Workshop has also sought related clues throughout the generations, but with little success. We only know that gathering all nine keys might reveal the final answer.”

He paused and looked at Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue, saying sincerely, ”Since you two Fellow Daoists can suppress or even initially subdue this dark-eating star key, you must have a deep connection with the Star Palace or carry a special mission. I dare not pry into your secrets; I only wish to thank you again for saving our lives. If you are interested in exploring the secrets of the star keys, I can provide some fragmented star charts regarding the locations of Star Palace ruins collected by our workshop as a reward. Although they are ancient and their authenticity is hard to verify, they might save you some time.”

This was undoubtedly providing help when it was most needed! Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue were worried about the road ahead being unclear. Although they had the world key to guide the general direction, having a more detailed map would naturally be better.

”In that case, thank you, Elder.” Nangong Xuan cupped his hands.

”It’s only right.” Lu Cheng gestured to his Disciple Qin Yuan to take out an ancient skin scroll, neither metal nor jade, from a damaged Storage Pouch and respectfully handed it to Nangong Xuan. ”This is a rub-copy; the original is kept in the workshop. It marks several locations of ruins suspected to be branch palaces or observation points of the Star Palace. But with the passage of time, many may have been destroyed, so it’s for reference only.”

Nangong Xuan took the skin scroll; it felt cold to the touch. It was outlined with dark silver lines showing simple mountains, rivers, and starry sky patterns, dotted with several ancient stellar symbols. It indeed bore some resemblance to the star chart they had seen in the Night Watcher Ancestral Shrine, yet it was more complex. He put it away solemnly. ”This map is very useful. Thank you.”

By now, Liu Xuan had briefly treated the wound on Lu Cheng’s chest. Although the black vortex was temporarily suppressed, he still needed to find a place to rest and remove it as soon as possible. Lu Cheng’s face was still very pale. He looked at the altar and said hesitantly, ”Fellow Daoists, this dark-eating star key... how do you plan to handle it? This item is exceptionally dangerous. Although it is temporarily silent, I fear it won’t stay that way for long.”

Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue looked at each other. They naturally wanted to take the star key, but how to safely collect it was a problem.

Su Muxue thought for a moment and raised the chaos star core in her hand again. She tried to use the mark on her forehead to guide a faint trace of Taiyin Star Power, mixed with her thoughts of concern for Lin Mo, and slowly injected it into the star Core.

As if sensing her intent, the chaos star core emitted a faint light once more. A gentle nirvana force field, carrying a sense of soothing and inclusion, slowly covered the dark-eating star key on the altar.

This time, it was no longer suppression, but... attraction and Fusion.

The greyish dark-eating star key trembled slightly and actually floated up on its own, slowly flying toward the chaos star core. The moment it touched the nirvana force field, its dust-like color faded, revealing its dark gold body once more, but its light was restrained, with no more violent intent. It circled the chaos star core three times and finally turned into a streak of dark gold light, silently merging into the chaos star core!

At that moment, the light of the chaos star core flared slightly, and its color seemed to become deeper and more chaotic. The trace of ”Gui Xu” intent inside seemed to have absorbed some supplement, growing a bit stronger and transmitting a sense of mixed satisfaction and drowsiness before falling silent again.

This scene left Lu Cheng and the others dumbfounded. They had never seen such a ferocious object be so easily ”devoured” and merged by another item!

”This... this nirvana star core can actually fuse with other star keys?” Lu Cheng exclaimed in shock, his gaze toward the chaos star core full of awe and reverence.

Su Muxue was also slightly stunned. She had only tried to communicate; she didn’t expect Lin Mo’s star Core to complete the Fusion on its own. She could feel that some subtle changes had occurred inside the star Core, forming a strange symbiotic state with the dark-eating star key, as if they were originally one.

A sharp light flashed in Nangong Xuan’s eyes as he fell into thought. The nirvana star core was formed by Lin Mo merging a world key fragment, so it might inherently possess some characteristic of a ”star key,” or even be an existence of a higher level, thus being able to unify other star keys.

This was undoubtedly good news, meaning their process of collecting star keys might go more smoothly.

Having collected the star key, the matter here was temporarily concluded. Lu Cheng and the others were seriously injured and needed to leave for healing. Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue also needed to find a place to recover.

The two sides briefly discussed and decided to leave this deathly mountain range together and head to the nearest human gathering point—a small Cultivator outpost known to Lu Cheng called ”Grey Rock Town.”

On the way, Nangong Xuan struggled along while dividing his attention to study the skin scroll star chart. With his powerful Divine Soul and initial understanding of stellar Formations, he quickly identified several markers that might be related to the ”Nine Luminaries.” One of the markers’ locations actually roughly coincided with the direction guided by the world key fragment in their hands!

”Grey Rock Town... seems to be on the path to that marker.” Nangong Xuan’s heart stirred. Was this a coincidence, or some kind of divine guidance?

A few days later, when the group finally walked out of the deathly range of the Black Stone Mountain Range and felt the reappearance of thin but normal Spiritual Qi in the air, they all felt as if they were seeing the light of day again.

Grey Rock Town was situated at the foot of a massive grey rock mountain range, built from rough stones. It wasn’t large, and the cultivation levels of the Cultivators there were generally not high, mostly in the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment Stages, trading, resting, or exploring the surrounding mineral resources.

Lu Cheng clearly had some prestige in the Tiangong Workshop. After showing his identity, he quickly found a quiet courtyard in the town to settle down.

Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue also rented an adjacent stone house and began secluded healing.

With a normal environment of thin Spiritual Qi, the two’s recovery speed increased significantly. Nangong Xuan used the Nirvana Dao Rhyme to temper his Divine Soul and repair the injuries, making his Divine Sense even more pure. Su Muxue absorbed the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and faint Starlight to nourish her Taiyin Immortal Body, and the mark on her forehead became increasingly clear and vivid.

During this period, Lu Cheng sent someone with some healing Medicinal Pills and detailed information about the surrounding area as a further expression of gratitude.

Seven days later, Nangong Xuan’s Divine Soul injuries were fully healed. He had even gained a blessing in disguise; while resisting the devouring power of the dark-eating star key, he had gained new insights into the ”purification” and ”defense” aspects of the Nirvana Dao Rhyme. Su Muxue’s Star Power had also recovered by seventy to eighty percent, and her Taiyin Origin, nourished by the nirvana Starlight, was even more stable and profound than before her injury.

On this day, while the two were regulating their breathing, the chaos star core kept close to Su Muxue’s body suddenly stirred again!

This time, it wasn’t sensing another star key, but transmitting a message from Lin Mo that was much clearer than before!

”...Fusion... Dark-eating... Completion... Perception... Enhanced...”

”...Star chart... Direction... Confirmed... Next... ’mars’... Aura... Violent... Scorching... Great Danger...”

”...Recovery... Needs time... Energy...”

In the intermittent thoughts, a blurry star chart trajectory was mixed in, pointing directly to the marker on the skin scroll that matched the world key’s guidance! And Lin Mo’s star Core, after merging with the dark-eating star key, seemed to have improved its abilities, gaining a vague Perception of the attributes of the next target star key!

mars key? Violent and scorching? Great danger?

Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue looked at each other, their expressions grave.

The road ahead was definitely not an easy one.

But the direction was now clear.