Alex: "Umm... What are you doing?"
Without turning her head, Serena spoke softly, "Although the Nine Great Heaven Seals is only a True-ranked formation, it is one that was born naturally. This is the lowest rank of formations and treasures that still contain traces of the Heavenly Dao. By comprehending this formation, one can touch upon that trace and attempt to grasp it. Even if you fail, the benefits you gain will be beyond imagination."
"So, I'm trying to restore the seals again."
"That is to say, although the Nine Great Heaven Seals are completely destroyed, as long as I can restore even one-third of the formation, I can try to awaken its dormant trace of Heavenly Dao and draw upon its power, even if only temporarily."
Not just Alex, even Cyr was astonished, not expecting Serena to be so capable and knowledgeable. In the end, he repeated his question again, but this time, his voice was low, "Who exactly are you?"
Serena didn't respond to Cyr. Instead, she focused entirely on restoring the Nine Great Heaven Seals. Yet, midway, her actions abruptly halted. She turned her gaze toward Alex, her brows furrowing in confusion.
"I don't sense the Stone of Immortality on you, so it's unlikely that you possess it. However, why does your body carry such dense vitality? Especially your hand... It's brimming with traces of extreme life force, as if you've been holding something extraordinary for some time with that hand. Could it be that you once came into contact with the Stone of Immortality and passed it on to someone else? If that's true, it seems you have no idea of the treasure's true value."
"What did you say?" ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ɴovᴇl_Firᴇ.ɴet
Alex was stunned, but before he could utter a word, Cyr suddenly exclaimed and flashed in front of him. Without hesitation, he seized Alex's hand and looked at it with fierce intensity. His eyes reddened with barely restrained greed as he sensed the overwhelming vitality on Alex's hand. This vitality was far too dense and far too pure. Clearly, Alex must have held something extraordinary not long ago that left behind a lingering trace.
"You... Did you really come in contact with the Stone of Immortality?"
Alex felt a throbbing headache, never expecting Serena to actually notice the faint trace of vitality left behind by the Stone of Immortality. What unsettled him even more was Cyr's reaction. His once calm demeanor had shattered completely, replaced by the crazed look of a man who had just lost his most precious treasure. The way Cyr glared at him made it seem as if he were accusing Alex of stealing something irreplaceable.
Fortunately, Alex possessed another treasure that could serve as the perfect explanation for the dense vitality lingering on his hand.
"Stone of Immortality? What's that?" Alex feigned confusion, then continued with a sharp edge in his voice. "The vitality you sensed is indeed from an extraordinary treasure I obtained earlier, but it's not some stone. And I have no reason to tell you what it is. Why should I explain what I've gained?"
While speaking, he released traces of Chaos Energy, silently observing the situation in the small cave where Xin was refining the Extreme Life Blue Lotus.
It seems Cyr and Serena came in a hurry, so they didn't notice Xin at all. By now, Xin had completely refined the lotus and had left the cave.
Seeing the cave empty, Alex silently heaved a sigh of relief. He had already decided to reveal the Extreme Life Blue Lotus if Cyr tried to force him. This was the treasure he had in hand that could serve as the perfect explanation for the dense vitality lingering on his hand.
Serena didn't mind Alex's words. After all, who, in their right mind, would tell others about the treasure they have obtained?
Cyr, on the other hand, was visibly stirred. A powerful aura was on the verge of erupting from his body, but just as it was about to break free, he suddenly frowned and forcefully suppressed it, restraining all his earlier impulses.
Alex was left confused. He had been certain Cyr was about to lose control and attack, but the abrupt withdrawal made him frown in puzzlement. His confusion deepened when Serena also halted what she was doing, her expression turning solemn as she fixed her gaze in a particular direction. At that moment, Alex realized that something big must have happened, or was about to happen, to make two such formidable figures stop everything and shift their focus elsewhere.
Alex also turned his gaze in the same direction, but to his disappointment, he could neither see what they were looking at nor sense the slightest fluctuation. In his eyes, everything appeared calm and perfectly normal, as if nothing unusual existed there at all.
"It didn't surprise me that Cyr could sense something happening in the far distance, far beyond the range of my perception. After all, he is a Saint Foundation Stage warrior. But Serena… she's just a Life Creation Stage warrior, only one stage above me. How can she sense the same thing as Cyr? And if she can, then why can't I?"
Alex mused inwardly and tried his best to sense things Cyr and Serena were looking at. However, he failed.
A few hundred light years away from the Immortal Heaven World, deep in the endless void of the Astral Sea, a massive planet could be seen floating alone. It was a dead planet. Its surface was cracked, hollow, and gray like lifeless stone. For trillions of years, it had drifted in space without making a sound.
But suddenly, something strange happened. From within the depths of the planet, faint traces of vitality began to stir. Tiny threads of green light flickered across its broken surface, vanishing just as quickly as they appeared. Then, in the stillness of the void, a sound echoed.
It was the sound of a heartbeat.
The sound was deep and powerful, as if it came from the very core of the planet itself. With each beat, invisible ripples spread out into the surrounding void, disturbing the silence of space.