Chapter 240: Chapter 240: The Vanished Tian Ji Star
“Tian Ji Star, disappeared?” Zhou Heng frowned as he looked towards the inner circle of the Five Emperors, “What does this mean?”
“It means that the orbit of the Tian Ji Star Envoy has deviated, and its connection to the Chart of Celestial Orbits has been severed,” explained an individual from within the Five Emperors’ seating area. “In other words, we can no longer determine the status of the Tian Ji Star Envoy now.”
“Why would this happen?” Zhou Heng’s gaze was fixed on the Chart of Celestial Orbits as he said in a deep voice, “Elder, has the disappearance of a star position and the severance of its orbital connection ever occurred before?”
“It has never happened before; this is the first time,” the person from the inner circle of the Five Emperors shook their head and said, “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be in such a panic. I have already informed The Supreme and Tianyi, but even they are at a loss.”
“Aren’t there other Celestial Men? What about the seniors Tianyi and Azure Dragon?” Zhou Heng asked in confusion.
“The two leaders and several other Celestial Men are all still in the West Wasteland and cannot extricate themselves,” the person from the inner circle of the Five Emperors said helplessly: “Middle Third Rank have no way to intervene with the Star Gates, so I could only think to turn to you, the Star Master.”
“What should I do?” Zhou Heng asked without hesitation.
“Later, you’ll go to the Star Gate and try to perceive the world where Tian Ji is,” the inner circle individual explained. “The world that Tian Ji went to is rather unique; we don’t have a confirmed spiritual guide for that world, so we must search in this manner.”
“What was Tian Ji’s mission this time?” Zhou Heng looked towards the individual from the Five Emperors’ inner circle and asked, “Didn’t she travel between the worlds through the Star Gate by using the world path spiritual guide?”
“No,” the person shook their head and said, “At this juncture, there’s also no need to keep you in the dark, Star Master. The world that Tian Ji went to is one of the world clusters that only the Big Dipper Seven Star Envoys can access.
“You know that within our Zhou Tian Boundary Officer, the positions of Star Positions are divided between Star Officers and Star Envoys. There are thirty-nine Star Officers in the Purple Tenuity Palace, but there are far more Star Envoys.
“Although in terms of identity and various organizational powers, Star Envoys and Star Officers are the same—rules set by the two leaders—on the Chart of Zhou Tian’s Celestial Stars, Star Envoys are subordinates to Star Officers, and such distinction cannot be directly changed.
“Whether it is the inheritance of Martial Arts or the degree of control over the Chart of Zhou Tian’s Celestial Stars’ power, Star Envoys are far inferior to Star Officers. To enter the Purple Tenuity Palace, Star Envoys must be led by a Star Officer; even their killing power against ghostly creatures and Evil Creatures is lower than that of Star Officers…”
“There is a way for Star Envoys to be promoted to Star Officers, right?” Zhou Heng suddenly understood everything and said, “Was this mission for Tian Ji’s promotion to Star Officer?”
“Exactly, she aims to be promoted to a Big Dipper Star Officer,” the individual from the inner circle of the Five Emperors nodded and said, “As long as the Star Envoy has not yet reached the Secret Six Rank, and there is a vacancy in the position of their superior Star Officer.
“Star Envoys will have one opportunity to be promoted to the corresponding Star Officer by completing a specific task. Tian Ji is one of the Big Dipper Seven Star Envoys, so her path to promotion is naturally as a Big Dipper Star Officer.”
“Can’t the world of the promotion mission be confirmed?” Zhou Heng frowned and said, “Hasn’t there been any other Big Dipper Star Envoys who tried to complete the mission for promotion to Star Officer before?”
“Of course there have been,” the person from the inner circle replied. “In fact, before her, Tian Xuan, Tian Quan, Kaiyang and others have attempted it, and in the past three thousand years, there have been four Tian Ji Star Envoys who have tried to be promoted.
“Without exception, they all failed. However, from the numerous Star Envoys’ promotion tasks over the past three thousand years, we’ve also learned some things.
“It can be confirmed that Star Envoys of different Star Positions will enter different worlds and the same Star Position, if at different Cultivation Realms, will enter different worlds, too. Consequently, the tasks are also wildly different and very complex.”
“Star Envoys of the same Star Position go to different worlds?” Zhou Heng was astonished to hear this. If that was the case, how many worlds would correspond to the promotion task of one Big Dipper Star Officer?
No wonder the person from the inner circle said it was a “world cluster” earlier. To search for Cheng Jianjian in so many worlds was truly like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“Indeed,” the person in the inner circle nodded and said, “Exactly because of this, without the aid of a star track, it’s presumed that only powers of Upper Third Rank could possibly find Tian Ji’s current whereabouts through their control over the Chart of Zhou Tian’s Celestial Stars.
“However, your star position is that of Ziwei the Great Emperor, the master of all stars, so perhaps there will be some differences. And since you have a close relationship with Tian Ji, I thought that maybe you could perceive the Star Gate to find where Tian Ji is.”
“I will try at the Star Gate,” Zhou Heng nodded and said.
“Star Lord, please follow me,” said the Five Emperors Inner Seat without hesitation, decisively leading Zhou Heng towards the location of the Star Gate.
After all, nearly two hours had passed since Tian Ji lost contact, yet they still hadn’t clarified the specific situation, and they couldn’t delay any longer.
Zhou Heng and the Five Emperors Inner Seat quickly arrived at the deepest part of the Ziwei Palace.
There stood a gate entirely forged of starlight, surrounded by a mysterious and majestic purple aura, with a center where the brilliance of stars swirled like a vortex, leading to the unknown.
“Star Lord, this is the Star Gate,” the Five Emperors Inner Seat said gravely, “If you can sense Tian Ji’s aura, I will be able to locate the world she is in, establish the pathspirit guidance, and then we can focus our efforts on rescuing her.”
“Good,” Zhou Heng nodded lightly and stepped forward, casually asking, “Senior seems to place great importance on Tian Ji?”
“Of course, in the past year alone, Tian Ji has killed two hundred and seventy-six ghosts and eliminated thirty-five evil creatures,” the Five Emperors Inner Seat said with some emotion,
“She’s as if she harbors a huge grudge against these ghosts and evils, almost every day on the path of slaying ghosts and vanquishing evil. There are not many people in the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer crew, and even fewer who devote themselves to battling evil as she does.”
Zhou Heng paused slightly upon hearing this, never having considered that Cheng Jianjian might have such a side to her.
After all, the Cheng Jianjian he knew was always bright and lively, sunny, and bursting with vitality.
Or was this her aspect as a Tian Ji Star Envoy?
Suddenly, Zhou Heng realized he actually knew very little about Cheng Jianjian, only that she was the seventh-generation disciple of the Pure Yang Palace, a personal disciple of Qi Rui, the master of Jade Qiong Peak, highly talented, excellent in martial arts, fond of candy, sensitive to pain…
But her background, her parents, her past experiences… how she became a Tian Ji Star Envoy for the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer, how she entered the Pure Yang Palace to become a disciple of Qi Rui… he seemed not very clear about any of these.
In this moment of realization, Zhou Heng had already arrived in front of the Star Gate.
He gently closed his eyes, spreading his consciousness, attempting to connect with the Star Gate.
Zhou Heng soon felt countless rays of light and brilliance intertwining within his sense of the divine, a complex array of information that was incredibly chaotic.
The position of Ziwei the Great Emperor, the lord of all stars, was truly extraordinary. Ordinary Star Officers could hardly detect any information in the Star Gate, but he was like browsing through his own bookshelf, able to view various kinds of information.
However, with so much information, so overwhelming and without any pattern, he couldn’t filter out any meaningful details.
“Continuing this way, it’s impossible to find her whereabouts,” Zhou Heng realized this approach was futile. He felt a sudden anxiety but then had a flash of inspiration, thinking of the moment when Cheng Jianjian had bid him farewell earlier.
Immediately, he took out a piece of candy from his Qiankun pouch, or more precisely half a wrapped piece of candy, which Cheng Jianjian had left for him.
And Cheng Jianjian had made an agreement with Zhou Heng that the next time they met, she would ask for the other half of the candy.
“If I use this as a guide…” Zhou Heng placed the candy in his palm, closed his eyes again, and focused his spirit. A torrent of information surged towards him once more.
But this time, amidst the endless torrent of information, there was a streak that carried a hint of sweetness. It was from a vastly distant world, enveloped in starlight.
“I’ve found it!” Zhou Heng suddenly opened his eyes.