Chapter 141: Chapter 141: The Wishing “Pond
The Star Sea realm was not located anywhere specific and didn’t even have a real passageway.
One only needed to concentrate within the Purple Tenuity Palace, focus their beliefs on the mask, and silently chant “Star Sea realm” to directly enter it, a method that had already gone beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Zhou Heng, following this sensation, stepped into a stretch of starry space, and to his amazement, he saw that it was an infinite expanse of darkness, with an incredibly gigantic fireball suspended in the void in the distance.
Even though he knew there was a dazzlingly vast distance between him and this great fireball, just by looking at it, he could feel that it contained an immensely vast amount of energy.
“What is this, a star?!” Zhou Heng exclaimed in shock, his face showing an expression of disbelief.
He had originally thought that the so-called “Star Sea realm” was just a name and that it would be an independent space similar to You Ziheng’s cave dwelling.
But now, it seemed that this was not the case.
This Star Sea realm actually contained stars, though whether they were real or not, Zhou Heng wasn’t sure, as he looked in other directions to find similar fireballs at distances too far to discern clearly.
“Quite shocking, isn’t it?” The Zhou Tian Boundary Officer came to Zhou Heng’s side and smiled, “See that great fireball? In the outer star space, such fireball-like celestial bodies commonly exist.
“Don’t think of it as just a fireball that doesn’t seem very big; it’s only because we are so far away. This great fireball holds extremely terrifying power.
“If it fell into the world, it could burn mountains and boil oceans.”
Burn mountains and boil oceans?
Zhou Heng was taken aback and turned his head to look at the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer.
What the heck.
This is a star, right? Is that all it can do, burn mountains and boil seas??
Maybe it just looks like a star?
Could there be a fundamental difference?
Indeed, that could be possible.
“No need to be surprised, there are far too many similar fireballs in this Star Sea realm.” The Zhou Tian Boundary Officer smiled, patted Zhou Heng’s shoulder lightly, and said, “Come, let’s go to the Wishing Pool.”
As he spoke, Zhou Heng saw the great fireball speeding away, and in the blink of an eye, it was reduced to a mere speck of light, then after a little while, he discovered more and more specks forming a long river.
Eventually, the nearly infinite points of light gathered into a silver river stretching across the dark cosmic starry sky, much like a starlit Milky Way.
“Holy shit…” Zhou Heng nearly cursed aloud at the sight. What the hell was this? This was a galaxy containing who knows how many billion stars!
The Milky Way was just like this!
This must be fake, definitely not as vast as a true galaxy, absolutely not.
The scene before him completely overturned his previous understanding of the world.
A person who had lived for twenty-one years in Earth’s technological society and barely three years in this world, whose interactions with martial artists were mostly at the “Wuxia” level, and the strongest had only reached the level of moving mountains and filling seas—
Suddenly witnessing the endless stars gathering into a river before his eyes, seeing the dark and profound, boundless universe.
Such a feeling was truly indescribable in words.
“If this is really in cosmic space, then how can I still breathe, still talk, still feel as if I’m on solid ground?” Zhou Heng suddenly realized something and became puzzled.
However, the moment his spirit concentrated, he immediately sensed an invisible barrier wrapping around him and the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer, completely isolating them from the outside world.
It was because of this barrier that he had not noticed anything abnormal.
And it was because of this barrier that all kinds of harmful rays and so forth were kept outside.
The Boundary Officer’s rapid movement just now must have been aided by the power of this barrier.
After all, he had gone from a place where he could see a star like a fireball, to here where what he could see had turned into an endless sea formed by those points.
Such a span of distance was truly too exaggerated.
If one were to measure by the actual scale of the universe,
just now, within the Emperor’s Inner Court, Zhou Heng had been carried across countless tens of thousands of light years in an instant.
For someone of Fourth Rank martial artist, this was completely impossible.
“That was a star river, made up of hundreds of billions of giant fireballs like the ones we just saw, and some other celestial bodies. Hmm, I guess explaining more would be beyond your understanding,” realizing Zhou Heng might not yet have touched upon this knowledge, the Emperor’s Inner Court refrained from further details, “You only need to know that this star river is actually one of many that flow out from the Wishing Pool.”
“…” Hearing this, Zhou Heng fell into a long silence. A star river flowing out?
What on Earth was the Wishing Pool?
With such doubts, he arrived with the Emperor’s Inner Court at a jade terrace built within the profound emptiness of space.
This jade terrace was about nine feet long, six feet wide, and twelve feet high, suspended motionless in the void.
Neat jade steps led upward from the bottom to the top of the terrace.
Zhou Heng and the Emperor’s Inner Court stepped onto the jade stairs and climbed up to the terrace, then he suddenly found the scene before his eyes change dramatically, revealing sights previously unseen.
He saw that the previously empty universe was now filled with a shimmering giant star ocean, suspended in the void, vastly larger than any star river Zhou Heng had seen before.
Thousands, even tens of thousands, or more tributaries of star rivers flowed out from this giant star ocean, each enacting different rules and principles, radiating diverse glows.
“Do you see it?” The Emperor’s Inner Court looked at Zhou Heng, pointing to the immense star ocean, and smiled, “This is the Wishing Pool.”
“The, the Wishing Pool??” Although Zhou Heng had already heard this term, hearing it now still felt unbelievably incredible. His expression was one of shock as he said, “Does the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer manage this, this so-called ‘Pool’??”
A damned Wishing Pool.
Who has ever seen a “pool” larger than countless tens of thousands of galaxies??
It’s preposterous.
“Not at all,” the Emperor’s Inner Court shook his head with a light laugh, “Of course, that is not our term for it. The Wishing Pool is a name left by the Ziwei Master; how could we dare to change it lightly?”
“The name given by the Ziwei Master? That makes sense,” Zhou Heng slightly nodded upon hearing this.
That way, it seemed more acceptable. For a supreme authority like the Ziwei Master of the North Pole, the master of stars, naming such a star ocean a ‘pool’ didn’t seem wrong at all.
“However, for us, the effect of this star ocean is indeed no different from a Wishing Pool,” the Emperor’s Inner Court said with a slight smile, continuing to explain to Zhou Heng:
“Our official members have the chance to come here once every three months. By stepping onto the jade terrace and silently reciting their wishes in their hearts, if the Wishing Pool acknowledges the wish, you will naturally know how much good deeds are needed to fulfill that wish.”
“If there’s only one chance every three months, what if the wish recited this time is not acknowledged?” Zhou Heng asked.
“Then you can only wait to come back after three months to change the wish,” the Emperor’s Inner Court said, “So before you really make a wish, you must think carefully, it’s not good to waste the opportunity.
“Hmm, I’ve also accumulated some tricks over the years. The more accurate the description of the wish, the clearer the logic, the more it conforms to reality, and the smaller and more detailed it is, the more likely it is to be acknowledged.
“Of course, aside from those overly outrageous wishes, like becoming Divine First Rank, ruling the world, or immortality, which are definitely not going to be acknowledged, even if it’s a concise and precise description, there’s a good chance it will be acknowledged.
“Ziwei, you can try,” the Emperor’s Inner Court encouraged.
“But I’m not yet a full member,” Zhou Heng frowned and said.
“You have obtained the position of Star Officer, so you are actually an official member already, just lacking completion of three tasks, and the organizational procedure has not been concluded,” the Emperor’s Inner Court explained with a smile, “Therefore, you can try making a wish.”
“Alright,” Zhou Heng nodded, gazing at the vast and boundless star ocean, which was curiously called a “pool,” he focused his mind and fell into deep thought.
What wish should he attempt to make?
And how should he describe it?