Chase

At the fringes of the Grand Elysium Star Domain, a lone dwarf planet slowly spun as it completed a rotation.

The atmosphere on this wandering star was extremely toxic; every other second, volcanos littering the surface of the planet erupted, spewing lava and noxious fumes into the air, with the latter resulting in a thick smog that obscured vision. Not surprisingly, no forms of life could be found on the planet.

However, an anomaly occurred at this moment as a body suddenly crashed on the scorched earth.

The body gingerly picked itself up. It was actually a human cultivator; tall, dark-haired and dressed in a grey battle robe. His facial features were symmetrical in sync, giving him an attractive bearing. But his most appealing features were his eyes; those greyish-brown pupils carried a hint of cunning charm.

"Damn!"

A sense of danger suddenly assaulted the unknown man's senses, and he instinctively reacted, vanishing from the spot. A moment later, lava erupted from the exact spot he previously stood on.

The man safely reappeared a couple of metres away, quickly retrieving an armour that looked like a spacesuit from his storage ring and putting it on.

"I can't stay here for too long, that goddamn wrench will catch up in no time," he said aloud as his thoughts raced. He instinctively glanced at his right hand, which was clenched tightly.

A cold glint flashed across his eyes as he opened his fingers, revealing a spherical object the size of a plum fruit. On his palm, it was glowing with a soft, golden light as he infused energy into it in an attempt to refine it.

This was a Supreme Primordial treasure, the type of which were rare even across the entire thirty-three realms. It was presently in Yi Ming's possession only because he stole it.

In fact, it was for this very reason that he was being chased at the moment. Unfortunately for him, unrefined Supreme Primordial treasures could not be kept inside storage spaces. Also, this one constantly emitted a unique energy signature that could be tracked via some special means. Yi Ming had offended a lot of individuals and organizations in the process of dubiously claiming his prize, so one could only imagine the outcome if he was caught.

His only way out of the situation was to refine the Supreme Primordial Treasure as soon as possible and fully integrate with the boundless power it contained. That way, his strength would be no weaker than his pursuers combined, and probably more.

"But at this speed, primary integration alone will take decades, if not centuries," Yi Ming muttered to himself, a frown forming on his lips as he calculated the urgency of the situation.

With a decisive thought, he retrieved a Star Chart from his storage ring.

Star Charts had multiple functions, but the primary use was to allow its users to be teleported anywhere via chaotic space tunnels, as long as the fixed space coordinate of the destination was known. Of course, the amount of energy requirement for each teleport was astronomical, and even at that, Star Charts capable of interplanetary teleportation were rare. But that wasn't a problem for Yi Ming; the Star Chart in his hand was at the level of a Saint Artifact, and he possessed a large amount of energy stones.

Yi Ming resolutely activated its teleportation function and the chart floated away from his grasp, exuding an intense spatial signature.

"I'll return to the Bone Valley first," he thought as he mentally inputted the relevant coordinates. "I know the place better than anyone else, so I'll have the homefield advantage." The Bone Valley territory was a burial zone for some former powerhouses of the Protoss Domain. A unique feature made it particularly dangerous; for some reason, the zone spawned animated zombies from the corpses buried inside, undead that wielded a great percentage of their original strength.

Yi Ming was soon enveloped by spatial energy as the Star Chart made to teleport him away when a soft voice suddenly traveled to his ears. At the same time, a newcomer appeared above the planet.

"Found you!"

Yi Ming stiffened, but it was too late. Energy condensed into a single finger which descended from above with the intention of exterminating him fully, body and soul.

The attacker, Li Mei intentionally used her full power, as she knew from experience how slippery her target was. Prior to this moment, Yi Ming had escaped from her grasp once already, so she was determined to end him this time. After his death, she could always retrieve the Supreme Primordial treasure, which by virtue of its durability, would not be damaged.

Coincidentally, the finger landed on Yi Ming's body at the very moment the Star Chart's teleportation process finally activated.

Boom!

A terrifying wave of energy swept out to the surroundings as an explosion occurred, leading to a chain reaction of eruptions on the planet itself.

Floating above the planet, Li Mei felt some danger. She quickly erected multiple layers of defence.

When the storm subsided, she scanned the planet thoroughly.

"My attack definitely hit him, but he's no longer on the planet," Li Mei's ocular spell allowed her to see the faint spatial traces left behind, making her deduce what means exactly Yi Ming had utilized in his escape. "It doesn't matter anyways, he couldn't have gone very far."

Li Mei knew that Star Charts made teleportation errors by default upon exposure to intense energy attacks, so Yi Ming was most likely presently lost in chaotic space.

From her storage ring, she retrieved her own Star Chart, also at the level of a Saint Artifact, and activated a function to display a list of planetary coordinates in the nearby domains. At the same time, she utilized several means to sense the direction from which the unique energy signature of the Supreme Primordial treasure was coming from.

After a short while, she got a read.

"Hhm? He's somewhere around the Great Sky River Domain?" Li Mei was rather surprised; she hadn't expected the Star Map to teleport Yi Ming that far away.

She made to leave in pursuit. As she did not have a coordinate of the specific location in the domain, she could only follow and slowly investigate from there.

Li Mei thoroughly scanned the lone dwarf planet one more time before she left, just in case Yi Ming left any hidden tricks. Afterwards, her Star Chart activated and she vanished from the planet.

*****

Encompassed in a protective layer and moving at light speed through a chaotic space tunnel, Yi Ming's countenance was warped in extreme pain.

That attack from Li Mei had been extremely vicious, instantly destroying his vital points and meridians and almost ninety-nine percent of his cultivation base upon impact.

As it was, the chaotic energy from the attack was still presently rampaging about in his body. The only thing keeping him conscious at this point was the last bit of his Willpower. And.....hhm?

"What the...?"

Yi Ming suddenly noticed that the Supreme Primordial treasure in his hand was vibrating softly. To his surprise, it started gobbling up the destructive energy torrent within him via the refinement link he had previously established. At the same time, a strange feeling appeared in his mind.

The treasure was integrating with him.

"A blessing in disguise?" As the thought flashed across Yi Ming's mind, he realized to his horror that his Star Chart was about to run out of energy. If this happened while he was still in the chaotic space tunnel, he would lose the protective spatial layer if provided and be annihilated instantly.

The problem was, the required energy stones were in his storage ring, which was inaccessible by default once one was within chaotic space.

Yi Ming took a gamble and quickly issued a mental command to the Star Chart to launch him out of the spatial tunnel immediately.