đź“– Chapter 966 - Coming Down, or Not?
When a wielder of a Planetary Nascent Soul was close to a Planet, they would grow stronger. Moreover, this effect could be stacked almost limitlessly as long as there were more Planets nearby.
However, the Starfall Realm itself wasn’t a Planet, but rather a certain region of the void. The countless Planets in the vault of heaven had hidden themselves away, with only the singular Dao Planet revealing itself. Thus, the blessing that the Planetary Nascent Soul provided to Wang Baole wasn’t as great as one might imagine.
However… earlier, when he had been about to unleash the Planetary Nascent Soul but had been interrupted by the blessing of the world’s gratitude, Wang Baole’s soul had entered a mysterious state. He felt himself ascend through the sky, saw all the Planets that had hidden away, and even felt as if he had become a Planet himself. As that scene appeared in his mind, the power of his Planetary Nascent Soul suddenly surged. His cultivation base circulated at high speed, and he raised his hands toward the sky. At that moment, a rumbling sound echoed from the vault of heaven.
At the same time, the light in Wang Baole’s eyes intensified, and even his body began emitting rays of bright light. The light became more and more dazzling, until it finally drowned his entire body. He began to float upward, continuing to give off rays of blinding light.
As he rose into the sky and the light coming from his body became brighter and brighter, the rumbling echoing through the vault of heaven became louder and louder. The countless Planets that had dimmed and hidden away with the descent of the Dao Planet seemed to be resonating with Wang Baole, and they also gradually began to shine.
This light was very faint, and as soon as any of the Planets dared to shine, the Dao Planet would suppress them almost instantaneously. However, as Wang Baole continued rising higher and higher, as the light around him grew brighter and brighter, and as the feeling that he had become a Planet grew stronger and stronger… the vault of heaven began to transform!
More and more Planets that had originally been hidden away reappeared, the vault of heaven refilling with more and more shining points of light. It was as if the Planets wanted to work together with Wang Baole to overcome the domineering Dao Planet. However, the Dao Planet’s suppression also became stronger at that moment.
If the Dao Planet had previously only been disdainful of Wang Baole, then now, it had already become uneasy. From the Dao Planet’s point of view, Wang Baole was no longer a cultivator, but a Planet. Thus, his actions were a challenge to its supreme status.
And that was because… the true essence of the Planetary Nascent Soul was something that Wang Baole had never discovered, or even imagined. To a certain extent, the Planetary Nascent Soul was… a Planet!
It didn’t have the physical form of a Planet, but essentially, it was no different from one!
And thus, Wang Baole’s attempt to obtain the Dao Planet was no longer a cultivator trying to breakthrough; it had become a struggle between two Planets. If the world of Planets was compared to an empire, then the Dao Planet was the emperor, and Wang Baole represented a peasant leading an uprising against the tyrannical ruler.
This scene was unimaginably shocking to all the onlookers!
All the paper human cutouts in the plaza were shaken, and the scholarly cultivator and the young man in black both inhaled sharply. The little girl was struck dumb, and the bell girl was utterly aghast.
Even the Starfall Emperor took a few steps forward, with eyes full of disbelief.
“It’s actually the Planetary Nascent Soul!!”
The Planetary Nascent Soul, one of the five legendary Nascent Souls of the Never-Ending Dao Domain, naturally had its wondrous aspects. Outsiders couldn’t detect it at all, and even the Starfall Emperor had been unable to notice it.
Naturally, with even the red-lined paper human cutout like this, all the others could only be even more astonished. Although they gradually understood the reason this was happening, the shock in their hearts didn’t dissipate at all. On the contrary, it grew even more intense, and that was because… at that moment, Wang Baole’s body gave off even more dazzling light up in the vault of heaven. All the Planets in the sky seemed eager to struggle against the Dao Planet’s suppression, and if they wanted to raise a rebellion, they needed a leader!
The Dao Planet obviously noticed this, and its anger grew even more intense. Even more dazzling light erupted from it, shaking the entire vault of heaven, as if it were decisively stomping down on those rebellious Planets.
Seeing the Planets about to be suppressed once again, Wang Baole suddenly raised his head. His eyes glowed as he opened his mouth, and his words echoed throughout the whole world!
“Planets, if you don’t appear now, then when will you appear?!” With those words, Wang Baole lifted his right hand and the Planet-Guiding Drumstick was instantly suffused with his light. With a wave of his hand, the drumstick shot out like a shooting star, heading straight toward the Heavenspan Drum in the plaza below.
It arrived in an instant, and with its arrival came… the eighteenth strike!!
The sound of the drum echoed throughout heaven and earth. It could be said to be the eighteenth beat, or it could be said to be… an endless number of beats. Once the first strike landed, drumbeats continued to echo out one after another, rumbling out in all directions with terrifying momentum.
The vault of heaven instantly changed drastically and even seemed to have flipped upside down. Enormous cracks filled the sky that seemed to be splitting apart; however, these cracks weren’t real but rather manifestations of the Dao Planet’s suppressive force. At the same time, unimaginable rumbles, like the roars of the Planets, exploded out from the vault of heaven!
As all living beings watched in horror, the sky completely transformed. Within the vault of heaven, countless Planets appeared one after another, and soon the entire sky was filled with them. No matter how furiously the Dao Planet worked to suppress them, it was unable to fulfill its desires. That was because, among the countless Planets that now filled the vault of heaven, there weren’t only the insignificant Mortal Planets, Spirit Planets, or Immortal Planets. There were also… Special Planets!
Thousands of Special Planets revealed themselves, with all nine grades making an appearance. All thirty-seven first-grade Planets appeared in an unprecedented event, and every single one of them shone brightly. To describe the current vault of heaven as an ocean of light might not be completely accurate, but it was at least very close!
The Dao Planet was evidently enraged by all of this. Feeling that its supremacy had been challenged, its fury exploded, and it finally revealed its true self completely. Endless rumbling filled the sky, and an immense suppressive force erupted from the Dao Planet, causing the vault of heaven to twist and distort. The countless Planets couldn’t hold on and rapidly dimmed one after another. Even the Special Planets were about to lose their light, but that was when…
A certain Planet began rising from the east, like the morning sun. This Planet was second only to the Dao Planet in brightness, and an ancient aura spread throughout heaven and earth as it made its appearance. It was like a king from the border returning to the imperial capital, with boundless brilliance that wiped away the Dao Planet’s suppression in its region of the sky!
Then came the second Planet carrying an ancient aura, then the third, fourth, all the way to the ninth. Eight of them locked down the eight directions, and the last one appeared in the very center of the sky, as if facing off against the Dao Planet directly!
“Ancient Planets!” The Starfall Emperor murmured. Everyone who knew about the Ancient Planets felt their hearts pound at this scene.
That was because, in the historical records, Ancient Planets… were also legends, just like the Dao Planet. Ancient Planets were Planets that had already failed to become Dao Planets but were unwilling to give up. Their existence… seemed to precede even the formation of the Starfall Empire!
It could be said that they had only failed to advance due to luck. With great enough luck, it wasn’t impossible for an Ancient Planet to become a Dao Planet.
The reason why the Dao Planet, which carried the natural law of paper, was able to become a Dao Planet in the first place was because it was lucky enough to be recognized by the Starfall Empire, and had been blessed by the will of the Starfall Realm. Only then had it been able to become a Dao Planet!
Thus, Ancient Planets were considered superior to all other Special Planets, second only to the Dao Planet. And today… the nine Ancient Planets and the singular Dao Planet of the Starfall Realm all appeared at the same time. This was unprecedented throughout all of history!!
Countless Planets shone in the vault of heaven, creating a scene that couldn’t be described with words. All the onlookers were completely struck dumb, and their minds could barely process what was happening in front of their eyes. Standing in the middle of the vault of heaven, Wang Baole stared up at the bright sky that was filled with innumerable Planets.
He looked at the countless Planets on the outside, looked at the thousands of Special Planets forming an inner circle, looked at the eight Ancient Planets ruling the eight directions, looked at the ninth Ancient Planet at the center of the sky, and looked at… the Planet surrounded by all the others, the Starfall Realm’s one and only Dao Planet. Opening his mouth, he finally spoke.
“This time, I didn’t get any outside help. Are you coming down… or not?”