After a few minutes,
Everyone's attention shifted toward the woman who walked calmly out of the house. Not a single scratch could be seen on her body, no hair disheveled or anything. She was completely unharmed, and her composure made the onlookers even more unsettled. Their confusion deepened as murmurs spread through the gathered crowd, each person trying to make sense of what had happened inside.
"Strange… I don't see anything abnormal about her appearance. Did nothing happen in there?" a disciple muttered, his brows furrowed in bewilderment.
"I don't think so," another replied hesitantly. "Otherwise, why would she just walk out like that? Something must've happened inside… something we don't might be missing out."
"But what exactly? Could we… maybe try that trick too?" someone whispered, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"If we can even find out about it, that is…" another disciple followed suit.
"I think I know what happened," one of the disciples suddenly said, his tone steady. His words silenced the others, their eyes turning toward him in unison.
"What do you think happened?" another asked, leaning closer.
"Don't you guys remember how Elder Mo didn't say a single word when that Yang Zhai spoke so highly of himself? She personally chose him," the disciple explained. "That's probably why. He might've introduced himself and shown the woman some kind of token or technique given to him by Elder Mo. That alone would be enough."
"Mmm… that actually makes sense. No wonder she left unharmed too and Yang Zhai stayed inside," someone agreed, nodding thoughtfully.
"I'm still confused though," another added after a pause. "Should we fight… or not?"
But before anyone could decide, they noticed something unusual. The woman who had just exited the house walked straight toward another building and knocked firmly on its door.
A man in his thirties stepped out with a frown, irritation clear in his voice as he said,
"I told you already, I'm a rank 4 cultivator! Leave me alon—"
He froze mid-sentence as his eyes landed on the person standing at his door. His face stiffened, and whatever he was about to say died in his throat. He was the same man whose door Yang Zhai had knocked on earlier.
"Yeah, I know you're a rank 4 cultivator," the woman said evenly. "I'm a rank 4 cultivator too. Come out. I want to challenge you for this house."
The man: *...*
He was so shocked that even the emoticon got changed.
Everyone watching: "..."
"Since when did you leave the clan that you had to join again? This is supposed to be test for the newly joining desciples…" the man asked, genuine confusion flashing across his face.
The woman's eyelids trembled slightly when she heard his words.
"Are you coming out or not?" she asked flatly.
"Sigh… why me? Choose someone else," he muttered, clearly frustrated.
"Isn't that obvious? I have a bone to pick with you. That's why," she replied as she thought, I am still frightened from what happened inside, no matter how much I try to calm myself, I can't. Weng Song is the strongest here, I must defeat him in order to regain my confidence.
"Fine, fine… I'm coming out." He finally stepped outside, and a battle erupted between the two without any further ceremony.
The newly joined disciples stood there silently, their expressions blank and dumbfounded. None of them fully understood what was happening—it all felt sudden and out of expectations.
Wasn't Yang Zhai and them supposed to be fighting? So how come the seniors ended up fighting each other instead?
Inside one of the houses,
Yang Zhai sat cross-legged in meditation. But his focus abruptly entered inward right after he noticed something stirring deep within his void. His consciousness immediately entered that space.
Two black suns floated silently in the void, their ominous rays dominating the dark expanse of the void formation. Though the aperture sun had once been small during refinement, it now stood equal in size to the black sun. The connecting lines around them quivered violently, as if they could snap away from the formation at any moment.
Even though both suns were born from his innate Cultivation DNA, the moment their rays met, fierce collisions erupted. Violent waves rippled through the void, their destructive force far surpassing the silent power emitted by the black sun.
"Sigh… even if these lines won't be destroyed by these forces, if this keeps going, the connection between them, and the formation will tear apart," Yang Zhai thought grimly. "Those unpurified rays and waves will flood into my body and destroy me from the inside. I need to suppress them."
"However," his expression sharpened, "this isn't even the most worrisome part…"
As the two suns drifted slowly, their immense gravities intertwined, each pulling on the other.
"If this continues, they'll settle into an elliptical orbit—with unimaginable consequences," he thought. "I'm not worried about an immediate collision as they are showing signs of entering an orbit. Nor am I worried about them be destroyed as the black suns can't be destroyed unless I will it. But if they enter a state of Mass Transfer or, worse, a Merger… that would be catastrophic."
"In both cases, I would lose the core material needed to refine the Aurora. But more than that, the merged sun would grow far too powerful. The formation lines holding back the violent rays might snap, and the entire void could collapse. But would they even enter such a state against my will? If they merged, would that count as one being destroyed? No… a merger can't be the same as destruction. But a Mass Transfer could count as the donor being lost entirely."
"No," Yang Zhai decided coldly. "I can't risk it. Even if they don't merge, they're clearly trying to form a Binary State. If that happens, the tidal distortions and wind collisions will perpetually destabilize and tear my void formation apart over time."
He opened the inheritance space and entered it before he sat down and took a deep breath and fully focused his will.
Yang Zhai extended his consciousness into the trembling lines, strengthening their connection bit by bit. Gradually, the violent shaking began to subside, and he felt a faint wave of relief. The suns were not hurtling toward one another but slowly beginning to spiral into an orbit, giving him precious time.
"The collision of their rays and winds…" he realized, "it's creating a barrier. That pressure is forcing them into an orbit instead of letting them crash into each other head-on."
The space between the two suns was not empty. Their immense radiation and winds collided in the middle, creating a blinding, high-pressure zone of heated plasma. That zone acted as a powerful cushion. This cushion pushes them back against their gravitational pull, slowing their direct fall and steering them into a stable orbit around each other instead of allowing a head-on collision.
The power required to sustain this state was immense, almost beyond his imagination. As for why the suns weren't being destroyed by such immense forces, the first reason was simple: the black suns were powerful enough to maintain their form unless their owner willed otherwise.
And even if that weren't the case, a sun was a natural equilibrium of forces. Its own gravity constantly worked to collapse it, while its internal heat and pressure pushed just as fiercely to expand it. This push and pull created a stable state. The external forces would take a very long time to destroy it—slowly peeling it apart layer by layer—so long as they didn't collide directly.
If that power was ever released into his body… he wouldn't survive a second, Yang Zhai knew. A direct collision between these two was something he couldn't allow—not even once.
He pushed deeper, sending his consciousness towards the black suns—only to be ripped apart by a violent wave.
His eyes forcefully opened as blood spilled from his mouth.
"Not good," he gasped. "This is far stronger than I expected… even my consciousness can't withstand that extremity. I knew it would be dangerous, but not to this level. If this continues, it'll tear the entire void formation apart."
Wiping the blood from his lips, Yang Zhai closed his eyes again, returning his consciousness into the void. For now, he had no intention of backing down.
!<-<-<-§!§->->->!
P.S. I tried to keep everything as simple and clear as possible. The goal was to make it easy enough that even someone with no background in this kind of study could understand it without struggling… or at least, I think so.
1- This second Black Sun is created from the aperture and is one of the core material for the Aurora.
2- I also intercepted and removed the term "Stellar" from "stellar wind collisions" since it gave off too much of a Sci-Fi vibe, which didn't fit well with the flow of the narrative. I did the same with "Binary System," replacing it with "Binary State" to keep things simpler and smoother.
[3- Binary System: Two stars locked in a mutual orbit.
4- Mass Transfer: One star strips material from the other.
5- Merger: Two stars collide and combine into one.
6- Supernova/Kilonova (Explosion): The final, explosive death of a star or the merger of stellar remnants.]
IRL — In Real Life Terms
P.S. Again. By the end of this novel, I might just end up calling myself a teacher…
AuthorLogical: "..." Are you actually serious right now? Stop wasting time here and go write the damn chapter.
AuthorWannaBeTeacher: I did though…
AuthorLogical: And what was that line—"The emoticon got changed"? Couldn't you have just put that at the end? Are you trying to write a serious novel or a comedy skit?
AuthorWannaBeTeacher: Uh…
AuthorLogical: And since when did the characters start breaking into the third dimension? Even the emoticon changed!
AuthorWannaBeTeacher: Wait, wait. You just said "break into the third dimension." Doesn't that mean the characters are 2D? But… do they even exist though, even in 2D? Aren't you "AuthorLogical"? So explain it to me. Besides, did he really break into the 3rd dimension though?
AuthorLogical: *...*
AuthorWannaBeTeacher: Bro got so shocked that even the emoticon got changed again.
AuthorLogical: "...*
AuthorWannaBeTeacher: Bro, are you oka—yy
AuthorIRL: Maybe he got confused and shocked at the same time.
AuthorLogical: " … *
AuthorWannaBeTeacher: *...*
AuthorIRL: *...*
AudienceHadToInterfere: Alright, stop it. You're overdoing it. It's getting embarrassing now.
AuthorWannaBeTeacher: What again…
Audience: *...*
Chapter Name- Black Sun Extremity