Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 345: Galloping Through Space

Chapter 345: Chapter 345: Galloping Through Space

Hu Li was running, galloping across the vast sky.

The blazing fox fire streaked like a meteor across the sky, leaving a conspicuous blue flame trail. The silver-white Nine-Tailed Demon Fox shattered the layered clouds, continuously accelerating through the thick atmosphere of Taixu Star. The fox’s leaping steps were as graceful as a startled swan, elegant yet exuding an extreme wildness that seemed to transcend the world. With every step, she covered greater distances, until her entire form was enveloped in a thick layer of Protective Spirit Qi. Beyond this aura, the plasma flame streams generated by the violent friction with the atmosphere pierced into space like sharp swords.

Beside this sky-breaking demon fox was the Immortal Boat, also rapidly escaping the atmosphere. The Immortal Flying Boat, light as a feather, shrouded in streams of light, sped up past the top of the atmosphere while continuously emitting waves of Spiritual Power. It called out to Hu Li and Yu Sheng using Immortal Secret Technique: "That fairy upfront! Slow down a bit! There’s an Immortal Alliance lookout at the atmospheric boundary... Fairy, you’re speeding!"

"Savior~~ back home, going five times faster would be considered speeding~~" Hu Li was "running" in space, slightly turning her head back, her voice filled with the joy of finally being able to romp around after being cooped up at home for months, "The speed limits here are ridiculous!"

"When I say slow down, just slow down!" Yu Sheng, riding on Hu Li’s back, although surrounded by Protective Spirit Qi and shielded by the fox girl’s large tail beside him, instinctively tightened his grip on the silver-white fur. He yelled at the Nine-Tailed Fox, who had already entered a frolic state, "Isn’t the first cosmic speed enough for you to run?"

"Eh~ fine!" Hu Li controlled her speed slightly, but still playfully zipped around the Immortal Boat, looping up and down and all around it several times. Only when the latter issued a stern protest over the space communication did she obediently return to her "lane," grinning cheekily at Yu Sheng, "Savior, happy~"

"I can see that you’re happy." Yu Sheng looked at the space fox who was grinning at him, amused and helpless, and then his gaze involuntarily drifted into the distance.

They had already crossed the atmospheric boundary, beyond the final faint glow that might be the "Immortal Realm Barrier" over Taixu Star, leaving the dim light of the sky far behind as the dark, profound space came looming in.

But this was entirely different from the solitary space he once felt when merged with the "Order Pillar" (now the Otherworld Inn ship).

It was not merely because there was now a warm, lively big fox beside him, but also because this space was not empty—the spectacular "Scenery" centered around the Taixu Spirit Hub surged into Yu Sheng’s eyes, along with the endless distant starlight.

The horizon of Taixu Star emitting a faint glow gradually became a distant backdrop in sight, soon shrinking to a jewel-like magnificent planet. After swiftly passing through the near-Earth orbit, Yu Sheng saw many large, radiance-emitting structures. The Immortal Boat led the way, guiding Hu Li past some of these glowing masses, and Yu Sheng saw that they were floating pavilions and towers in space—majestic towers, bridges of light connecting palaces, and extensive man-made lands. On this land, there were even thick ecological domes, under which lakes, waterscapes, and lush trees could be vaguely seen.

These palaces and various sizes of "Space Floating Islands" just floated unsupported in the universe around Taixu Star, with numerous Immortal Boats and brilliant streams interwoven among them, seemingly forming a space logistics network, or business and travel flow.

Xuan Che’s voice crossed the space, directly reaching Yu Sheng’s ears from the Immortal Boat: "What we just passed by were the temples and buildings of the ’Lying Cloud Ten Halls’ air hub. Lying Cloud Ten Halls is a top sect in Taixu Spirit Hub, renowned for artifact refining and City Building, excelling in mechanical craftsmanship. Lying Cloud Ten Halls is both the name of their sect and refers to their ten floating grand halls in the clouds, which are the earliest permanent floating architectural complex on Taixu Star...

"Two-thirds of the spaceport structures and architectural giants in Taixu Star’s orbit were constructed by Lying Cloud Ten Halls.

"Those floating islands with ecological domes are mostly industries of the Yaolan Sect or Netherworld Valley. They cleaved mountains and broke land from the stars of Hanguang and Handing, dragging mountain ranges containing spiritual ore near the sun to refine with solar power. Once the ore veins were exhausted, they forged the remaining mountain slag into islands, dragged them to Taixu Spirit Hub’s orbit, and covered them with ecological domes to nurture mountains, forests, and lakes as settlements. In your Boundary Land terms, they are the largest ’mineral and real estate developers’ on Taixu Star.

"As for the Immortal Boats you see traveling between the great halls and floating islands, most are made by Hengxu or our Qianfeng Ling Mountain—though our Qianfeng Ling Mountain is known for our unrivaled pills and talismans, we have achievements in artifact refining as well. However, the path we take in artifact refining emphasizes being light and nimble, unlike the ’heavy industry faction’ of Lying Cloud Ten Halls, who easily build kilometers-long Star Shuttles or heavy star forts."

Yu Sheng listened to Xuan Che’s explanation, gazing through the "Protective Spirit Qi" around Hu Li at the retreating halls, floating islands, and ships, too preoccupied to speak.

He felt overwhelmed, astonished by everything he saw and heard.

"... It really is a vast empire," he couldn’t help but remark, "Honestly, when I first saw those special ’floors’ in the Special Service Bureau building, I thought that was already grand enough..."

"Mr. Yu gives too much credit. These ’Scenery’ of Taixu Spirit Hub were not built overnight, but are the crystallization of many generations of dao friends. As for ’grandeur’... you probably haven’t seen those ’big guys’ truly hidden by the Special Service Bureau—if you really discuss ’grandeur,’ Boundary Land doesn’t occupy the ’Universe Hub’ position for nothing."

For a moment, Yu Sheng didn’t reply, just speculating on what the "big guys" hidden by the Special Service Bureau might look like, and imagining what the "Council Control Zone" that Baili Qing once mentioned might be like outside the Boundary Land. As he was lost in these wild thoughts, the Immortal Boat and Hu Li began accelerating once again.

Hu Li’s Protective Spirit Qi and some "Otherworldly Immortal Technique" offered protection, so Yu Sheng barely felt any discomfort from the repeated accelerations. He only sensed a slight tremor beneath him as those orbiting facilities near the Taixu Spirit Hub quickly turned into distant points of light, vanishing within the backdrop of starlight.

Just then, Yu Sheng glimpsed something flickering across the distant space from the corner of his eye.

Even with Yu Sheng’s current dynamic vision and acute perception far beyond human capabilities, he could only vaguely discern an astonishingly large grayish-white structure, resembling a massive stele standing in space, surrounded by twinkling lights and several buildings that seemed to have been added later.

Lacking reference objects, Yu Sheng couldn’t judge the size of the fleeting giant stele, but just by observing the general form of those surrounding buildings, he felt the dimensions of that "stone stele" might be unimaginably large.

"What was that just now?!" Yu Sheng instinctively asked.

Xuan Che quickly responded: "You mean that giant stele we just passed by? That’s the Qianyuan Stele."

Yu Sheng was very curious: "The Qianyuan Stele? What’s its purpose?"

"...I don’t know."

"Huh? You don’t know?"

"Indeed, I don’t know," Xuan Che explained, "The Qianyuan Stele is considered one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the Taixu Spirit Hub and even the entire Feiyu Star Domain. No one knows where it came from, who built it, or how long it has stood in this void—since the world’s reshaping, when the cultivators on Taixu Star first ventured from the land, that giant stele was already standing in the high orbit above the Taixu Spirit Hub."

Xuan Che paused, probably organizing his thoughts, before continuing: "Some speculate that the stele was crafted by ’Divine Beings’ during ancient times, intended to record the truths of the great Dao during the world’s primal opening. Others guess it was once part of an Ancient God’s tomb, shattered by the great disaster of annihilation, with only the stone stele drifting in orbit—there are countless speculations, but none have been confirmed.

The Qianyuan Stele is extremely solid, its surface made of a layer of impenetrable alloy, with formidable restrictions inside, so top-tier powers cannot casually probe it with their Divine Sense. Over the centuries, many have tried to unravel the stele’s secrets on the Taixu Spirit Hub, but none have succeeded—those with luck returned empty-handed, while the less fortunate even perished after recklessly investigating. Over time, no one dared to pursue its mystery further.

Gradually, the Qianyuan Stele became a ’Holy Land’ near the Taixu Spirit Hub. People said the giant stele is an ’Ancient Legacy’ left from the old world, transformed into a Barrier by the Divine Beings’ mass self-demise to combat the annihilation disaster. Although this Barrier also failed to withstand the catastrophe that overturned all realms, when the Ancient Holy Spirit reshaped the world, it was restored as a tribute... there are various tales, but all agree on one thing: the ’Qianyuan Stele’ is the supreme treasure of Taixu.

The result is as you see it—we’ve constructed numerous outposts around this ’Space Lone Stele’ far from the Taixu Spirit Hub, turning it into a ’lighthouse’ beside our mother planet. To this day, it remains the most important beacon for Immortal Boats and Star Shuttles as they return to the Taixu Spirit Hub."

"So that’s how it is..."

Yu Sheng muttered, his mind thrumming with countless imaginings sparked by Xuan Che’s stories and legends. He turned to take another look at the mysterious giant stele floating in space but couldn’t see it anymore.

Afterward, he again felt the slight tremor beneath him.

Hu Li was still running through space but had noticeably slowed down, several fox tails adjusting the angle of Fox Fire’s jets, seemingly preparing for a trajectory change.

A silvery glow appeared at the edge of his vision.

The largest natural satellite in the sky above Taixu Spirit Hub, "Taiyou," one of the three moons, was now upon them.