Chapter 573 - Soul-silencing Star

Chapter 573: Soul-silencing Star
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The Void Map was actually a map of Star Areas. However, even though the Four Eastern Regions had a complete Void Map of the Infinite Star Sea, it was out of date.
It was inherited from antiquity times and therefore reflected the entire Infinite Star Sea, but of that time, and it sure had changed quite a bit.
But still, people in the Heaven Realm were not aware of those changes. In fact, their Void Map was quite different from the one in the hands of the five biggest sects.

The Purple Scorpion Sea Area and the Milky Way Star Area had already occupied and exploited Infinite Star Sea!
said Zhou Bao, looking at the map and smiling bitterly.
The difference in power between the two Star Areas was very obvious just looking at the map.
The Milky Way Star Area was more centralized than the Purple Scorpion Sea Area. Many of the different powerful groups within the Milky Way Realm were far more powerful than those in Heaven Realm, but they were nothing compared to the Purple Scorpion Sea Area.
The Purple Scorpion Sea Area belonged to the Alliance of 13 Realms, and each realm contained many powerful groups. The continuous alliances and conflicts between those groups had brought Infinite Star Sea into a total mess.
None of that could be seen from the Void Map that the Seven-deity Regions had. Instead, according to the Void Map provided by Taoist Tian Zhao, the Infinite Star Sea belonged to someone.
If that Void Map was correct, then the east part of Infinite Star Sea would belong to the Alliance of 13 Realms in the Purple Scorpion Sea Area, while the west part would belong to the Milky Way Realm in the Milky Way Star Area.
Lastly, the center of Infinite Star Sea would be the biggest forbidden ground — the sealed land of the Primordial Demon.
Even though the Infinite Star Sea was divided into those main regions according to that map, they did not have total control over their whole land.
Infinite Star Sea was incredibly huge, and practitioners from the two main powers were all over Infinite Star Sea. However, unlike what people had believed, they could not control every inch of land. Within the huge Star Sea, there were still many forbidden grounds where ordinary practitioners could not enter.
Furthermore, many other powerful groups were also present in there, such as the Dark Sect. Besides, there were still some unexplored mysterious places where different spaces overlapped. They were empty and hollow.
The biggest forbidden ground in Infinite Star Sea, needless to say, was the land where the Primordial Demon which had been sealed. However, there were thousands of forbidden grounds, big and small, some of which were known to the practitioners of the two Star Areas, but some were a complete mystery to them. Schools of the two main areas, when needed, would send their competent subordinates to explore these grounds and try to discover the secrets there.
Some of the forbidden grounds had already been explored many times and the ones that were proved to be less dangerous were called small forbidden grounds. Some other forbidden grounds were used by powerful groups and schools to train their younger disciples. They could be explored and explorers managed to go back in the end, but always with some kind of injuries. Even practitioners in the Lord of Heaven Realm dared not go too deep inside. These places were called big forbidden grounds. The third kind of forbidden ground was called death place, where no one could come out alive, including the people in the Lord of Heaven Realm.
Soul-silencing Star was one of the big forbidden grounds.
Located in the southeast of Infinite Star Sea, this forbidden ground was controlled by Alliance of 13 Realms. However, since there was nothing valuable there, they had no interest in it.
The Soul-silencing Star might be worthless to the Alliance, but to Zhou Bao, it was not only the nearest big forbidden ground but also the most useful one.
That’s because the Soul-silencing Star was famous for its toxicity.
Zhou Bao’s Infinite Poison Banner was a very handy celestial device that would get benefitted from that place. It grew very fast and became easier to use and more powerful as it absorbed more toxicity.
Thousands of years of exploration had proved that Soul-silencing Star contained a huge amount of toxicity. Once caught in, even a Lord of Heaven might be severely hurt, let alone an ordinary practitioner. The Alliance of 13 Realms once organized a group of Lord of Heavens with the Highest Heaven Celestial Device to break into the Soul-silencing Star and see if there were any treasures in that toxic star. However, they came back empty-handed. Moreover, the Highest Heaven Celestial Device they took broke down after not too long. After that, profiting from that star was no longer in the mind of anyone.
Of course, there were some exceptions: for people who were practicing with really toxic celestial devices or highly toxic cultivation methods, like Zhou Bao, Soul-silencing Star was the best place for it. However, there was something to take into consideration: people who dared to practice there ended up poisoned to death and their celestial devices destroyed.
After knowing that, no one dared to practice even near Soul-silencing Star for 100,000 years. That was also why it was surrounded by complete emptiness. On the Void Map, it was represented by a huge red dot.

It is indeed a really weird planet!

It was just an ordinary planet standing in the middle of the empty and hollow void and surrounded by crimson airflow, yet it made Zhou Bao frown now that he was in front of it.
Just as it was said in the legend, Soul-silencing Star was a planet made up of highly toxic gases. There was nothing except poison; no fragments of space or rules of time. Everything was hollow.
Zhou Bao squinted his eyes as he thought,
It’s impossible! It’s totally impossible! Such strong poison could definitely fuse space, as well as my Infinite Poison Banner. But how do they still exist in the hollow? The space rampart is not strong but rather thin. I can destroy it with just one fist. The poison on this planet is several times stronger than that of my Infinite Poison Banner. How could everything stay so calm and not being corroded? There’s something wrong here!
He shook his hand, and the light cyan Infinite Poison Banner unfolded again and flew toward Soul-silencing Star.
This time, his Infinite Poison Banner stretched to almost one thousand feet wide. But compared to the entire Soul-silencing Star, it was still too small, like a tiny drop of water against the vast ocean.
The cyan banner began to billow when approaching the toxic star. Zhou Bao steered it toward the livid smoke in the sky at full speed.
Boom!
When the Infinite Poison Banner threw itself toward the livid smoke, Zhou Bao, who was mind-linked with it, felt a bang on his head. He felt as he had become the Infinite Poison Banner, watching a large amount of poison gas surging toward it and then absorbing it.

Hu, hu, hu, hu, hu—!
Thick livid gas was condensed into liquid and formed streams of venom, pouring into the Banner.
Infinite Poison Banner absorbed the poison wildly and began to glow as if it had swallowed some tonic. Three talismans gradually appeared, rolling and changing as if they were alive.
Images of ancient times were timidly starting to appear on the three talismans: wild beasts, spiritual creatures, and even fierce beasts vividly showed in the flame of the talisman formation. Some eccentric creatures seemed to have become alive and they began to jump as if trying to rush out and become real living creatures.
Only one of those strange creatures seemed familiar to Zhou Bao. He searched in his mind and realized that it was the poisonous beast that the Poisonous Dragon Emperor in the antiquity times used for pulling carriages. There were thousands of them glimmering in the flame of the talisman formation. It was one of the most inferior creatures. Other weird ones were out of his imagination, but judging from their shapes, actions, and expressions Zhou Bao understood that they were of superior intelligence and high toxicity.

Hiss!
while he was lost in his mind, Zhou Bao sensed a sudden pause of the venom absorption by his Infinite Poison Banner followed by a sudden pain in his head. A strong feeling of repletion, together with powerful energy, filled his body. The talisman formation on the Infinite Poison Banner sparkled with ecstasy while digesting the energy. However, it had reached its limit and could not take any more in. Zhou Bao knew that if this continued, the Infinite Poison Banner would explode and the poison released would probably hurt him.

I’d better stop now. Anyway, I’ve already benefited enough!
Zhou Bao let out a soft sign and folded the still glittering Infinite Poison Banner. He looked at it and smiled bitterly. Three talismans on the banner showed a sign of infusion. Once the three talismans fused together to form an immortal character and after a laborious and hard process, it would become a fairy weapon.
Fairy weapon was totally different from pure Yang celestial device. His Infinite Poison Banner, in terms of both material and refining technique, was still far from a fairy weapon.