The Star Chain bound Shi Ming, pulling him into the space behind the mirror.

The space behind that mirror was like a boundless Star Sea, a deep, vast universe.

Here, however, Shi Ming did not experience any abnormal reactions like suffocation or weightlessness. It was as if he were on solid ground. Aside from being unable to move, he felt no other discomfort. He didn’t know if this was the effect of the Dinglan Pearl or some other reason.

Starlight began to connect within his eyes, and a woman in a long dress appeared from the stellar orbits, as if sketched into existence.

The woman’s face was obscured by a veil of stardust, making it extremely blurry. She wore a magnificent long dress that graded from transparent at the bottom to a brilliant incandescence at the top, as if woven from starlight itself.

The dress was adorned with the twelve houses of the zodiac, formed by clusters of stars.

The woman drew closer to Shi Ming.

She reached out a hand.

Her cold palm brushed across Shi Ming’s forehead and cheeks, then moved down from his throat to his torso.

"An impressive physique."

"Physical Strength is actually at 86 points,"

"and even Endurance is nearly 100!"

"Spiritual Power... hmm? It’s actually undetectable?"

Even so, the woman seemed quite pleased.

Then, she seemed to remember something.

"My apologies, I forgot you can’t understand this language."

She paused, then repeated what she had just said in a language Shi Ming could understand.

Next, she scanned Shi Ming from head to toe.

"It’s all thanks to that lamp that you were able to come here."

"Otherwise, I would have truly missed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Human, you must be quite confused. Did I bring you here to kill you, or to eat you? Take a guess. If you’re right, I’ll let you go."

The woman’s voice sounded quite excited, as if she hadn’t spoken to anyone in a very long time. She was like a chatterbox, eagerly anticipating conversation.

’A beast in human form?’

Shi Ming’s thick brows furrowed!

BANG!

The Star Chain binding him shattered completely under the impact of a tenfold power burst he had been building up. With the Ice Blade in his hand, Shi Ming slashed out. For the last few seconds of the power-up, he moved at his top speed, hacking toward the woman.

Then, as the woman flickered away, he unhesitatingly activated his S-rank skill, Descent of the Titan!

This woman had previously tested him in the form of a giant scorpion, and now she had bound him in this strange space.

And she was babbling on in a language he couldn’t understand.

No matter what this woman’s motives were,

sitting by and waiting for death was not in Shi Ming’s nature!

He let out a low roar as the power in his body erupted. The hands on the Titan’s dial spun rapidly—CLICK CLICK CLICK! Pure black, mystical runes spread from his abdomen. They formed a pattern of three horizontal lines pierced by a single vertical one, avoiding only his right arm as they rapidly covered his entire body.

The brilliant starlight all around dimmed considerably!

Dark Body!

[Dark Body]

[Merge your body with the darkness. The darkness is your body, and you are the darkness. For 50 minutes, you can slip into shadows and move freely within them. You can also turn an area into darkness, making it your omnipresent domain.]

It was a god-tier assassination skill, but it wasn’t well-suited for the current situation.

But it was better than nothing!

The pupils in Shi Ming’s eyes expanded like Black Holes.

The light in this space seemed to have been sucked away, growing even dimmer and plunging into absolute darkness. Only the starlight on the woman’s body remained unaffected, shining as brilliantly as ever.

"What did you say? A beast?"

"Compared to me, you’re the one who looks more like a beast! Little Titan? Little Xuanwu?"

"Hahahaha!"

"You know, right now, you look like a tricolored zebra."

"Have you ever seen a zebra?"

The woman couldn’t help but chuckle.

Shi Ming frowned.

’You think your joke is funny?’

’How do I look like a zebra? We look nothing alike, okay?’

He threw a right punch, aiming for the woman’s veiled face. With Dark Body, he was omnipresent within the darkness, so the blow arrived in an instant and was impossible to evade.

A Star Chain flickered around the woman’s body, and she calmly blocked the punch.

Her chatterbox nature flared up again.

"Not bad! Very good! So strong!"

"Oh, right, what about that stone tablet you found? Where did you hide it?"

"Again! Again!"

"It’s been so long! Since I’ve gotten any exercise!"

"Time to get serious! I’m bringing out my weapon!"

The woman blinked. The starlight glowing on her clothes was drawn out, evolving in her hand like a celestial body. It shifted forms, at times a Treasure Pearl, then a long spear, then a longsword.

"I’ll use this one!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

In this mysterious region, like a corner of the cosmos, the two engaged in a battle of night and morning stars.

Darkness and starlight clashed in this unknown space. The stars flickered, flaring brightly then dimming, and the figures of the two fighters were almost invisible. At times they were locked in combat, at others they were as distinct as clear and muddy water.

This was the longest battle Shi Ming had ever fought.

...

「Thirty minutes later.」

"Alright, alright, that’s enough fighting."

"As expected of someone with such high stats!"

"I surrender!"

"If we keep fighting, you’ll never be able to leave this place!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Truce!"

The woman waved her sleeve, and countless points of starlight lit up, illuminating the still-dark world. Shi Ming once again felt space freeze. Even though he was in the darkness and his Dark Body was still active, he felt a sluggishness overcome him.

He struggled for a moment but made no further moves.

During the fight, he could sense that the mysterious woman hadn’t been using her full strength in any of her moves. It felt like a friendly match, or perhaps, more like a training session.

’Perhaps she really did have another purpose for bringing me here.’

The long dress the woman wore had dimmed considerably,

like a battery on the verge of dying.

With a casual wave of her hand,

twelve stone tablets appeared before Shi Ming.

"Look at that. I wasn’t paying attention, and now there are only a few minutes left."

Her voice was no longer teasing, but had turned serious.

"My time is limited, so I’ll be brief."

"Learn the language on these stone tablets, and you can leave this place and return to where you came from. This is the only way to leave."

"Ahem."

"I admit, your combat talent is excellent, and your power is immense."

"But from now on, brute force won’t be enough to leave this place. It will depend on your talent for language."

Her figure flickered a few times.

And then she vanished completely.

Then, abruptly, she reappeared.

"My apologies, I forgot to remind you: you are forbidden from telling a second person that you know this language."

Then, she flickered a few more times and was gone for good.

In the vast, starry space, only Shi Ming was left, staring blankly at the 12 stone tablets before him.

The script on these 12 stone tablets was from the same root as the text on the tablet he had just acquired from the Pyramid.

His Brain of Creation scanned the tablets, but there was no reaction.

’Hey, lady? You brought me here, and learning a language is one thing,’

’but the problem is, I can’t understand the textbook either!’