Chapter 364: Have You Ever Seen a Sky-Covering Beast Claw Descend from Outer Space?

"The limit has finally been broken…"

In the boundless, dark, and profound expanse where no air existed, in utter silence, beside a star that was missing half of itself yet, unusually, had not exploded and was still quietly radiating intense energy, within the starry sky where distant stars still twinkled brightly.

In the darkness, a mysterious beast silhouette slowly awoke from its slumber, and a pair of beast eyes, brilliant as blazing suns, suddenly lit up, as if two dazzling suns had abruptly appeared in this silent, lifeless starry sky! The beast's gaze burned as it watched the world barrier before it begin to tremble violently.

The "water ripples" that had once been as tough as bedrock had now lost all their function, trembling more and more violently.

"But, it's still not enough!"

Yes, even though the world's prohibition had been broken, it was still not enough for him to truly descend—his body was simply too massive! It was nearly two-thirds the size of the world he wished to descend upon.

But it didn't matter; he could inch his way in bit by bit.

Besides, this stretch of starry sky was almost devoid of living beings—there were no onlookers.

The next instant, the power of the Ancient Bell, emanating strange fluctuations, rippled, and a ferocious beast claw, as massive as a continent, pierced through the weakened world prohibition and reached into the world's interior.

……

Inside the world, high in the sky.

A grey moon hung high; a blood-colored night emerged.

Guyue, ancient as gods and demons, revealed the form of a True Immortal, crouching high above and looking down upon Ren Jian. The terrifying gravitational force representing the True Immortal's abyssal might crushed all living beings, as if they bore several mountains on their backs; the frail among them died on the spot beneath this terrifying power!

"Ant, do you know your crime?"

Gripping scarlet lightning, He looked down at the tiny figure below as if it were an ant. As His gaze fell, a gravity even more exaggerated—nearly tangible—than what ordinary beings endured crashed down!

In an instant, the base platforms, constructed from materials known in this world as divine gold and divine iron, instantly cracked with countless fissures, and the ground where the tiny beast silhouette stood caved in by a large chunk.

If even the base, which wasn't the target, suffered so, what of Baichuan, the main target?

His entire body, constructed from Desolate Gold, didn't hold for even a single breath before it became covered in countless fissures just like the base itself. The four claws, once powerful enough to pin down a Tier 5 desolate beast by force, let out a series of cracking sounds. The seemingly tiny figure swayed on the verge of collapse, pressed down toward the ground by an unknown force.

That force actually intended to forcibly make Baichuan kneel and submit to Him!

A gravity sufficient to crush a continent-level being to death pressed down on Baichuan inch by inch. He didn't end it in one breath—He seemed to want to see Baichuan's wretched submission.

Before the eyes of the entire world and all the resisters, He would forcibly subdue the figure they trusted and pinned all their hopes on, shattering all their beautiful dreams! Severing their will to resist and destroying His hard work!

"After this, the entire Zhenyu will finally be completely purged, becoming the safe base of our Lingneng Clan!" Watching all this, Zi Da, who was guarding his goddess and hurriedly calling for medical personnel, also raised his head and smiled. These stubborn tumors of the past would finally be eradicated!

He was about to be promoted; as this world's importance grew, so would his own standing!

By then, he would be one step closer to his goddess!

"That guy is done for. Of all the people he could have provoked, he just had to provoke that one."

Watching the swaying figure, some Lingneng Clan members shook their heads and said so. In their view, the True Immortal's strength meant: as long as the "Ancestor" doesn't appear and no equal-ranked being shows up, no one can match Him!

"Bai…"

Jin Yun'er gazed at the top of Jian Mu, which stood like a pillar supporting the heavens, at that tiny figure bearing endless weight. Her eyes reddened slightly. As she murmured, her consciousness jolted, and an inexplicable emotion drove her to gather strength once more, controlling the body Bai had entrusted to her, about to break free from that force's restraint!

"Damned Guyue, get up for me!"

The Mountain-Top God, rescued by several friends with their last remaining strength, opened his eyes and saw this scene!

The overwhelmingly domineering Guyue was actually suppressing the entire world alone!

"Damn it, get up, get up, get up!!! I am the Mountain-Top God! It's just the weight of a few hundred mountains!"

"I can't stop here!"

The Desolate God Tiger also muttered to himself. His black-and-white metallic body visibly flushed red, as if being forged in raging flames. That was Him pushing his power to the absolute limit, and strange sounds like a revving engine kept ringing out.

But a True Immortal was, after all, a True Immortal. If breaking free were this simple, then all living beings under the starry sky wouldn't chase after it so eagerly—it was the lifelong dream of all ordinary beings!

At this moment, the world's gaze focused here, on that tiny figure—some with hope, some in despair.

And what about Baichuan, the focus of it all?

At this moment, his entire body's strength was desperately resisting the crushing gravitational pressure. He felt as if he were bearing the weight of an entire world! His body began to fail and crack, spilling copious amounts of oil-like liquid, but he paid it no heed. It was merely the weight of one world—he had borne such weight before.

He slowly raised his head. Those pale-white, somewhat shattered eyes spilled large amounts of oily liquid; he looked utterly wretched. But within those eyes burned an ember even Guyue couldn't comprehend! That flickering ember was like an undying fire, eternal and everlasting, yet also like a single spark capable of starting a prairie fire, containing power enough to burn everything!

He barely managed a savage grin and shouted up at the figure above: "I wonder, have you ever seen a sky-covering claw descend from outer space?!"

"What???"

Guyue was first stunned by the words from the figure He had regarded as a tool to vent His anger upon, not understanding what was meant—but the next instant, He understood!

"Boom—!"

A roar even greater than when the world itself shattered suddenly rang out, and the world was torn open!

Like tearing cloth, with a "siiip," a sky-obscuring beast claw ripped through the world's barrier, its cold-gleaming claws, seeming capable of tearing through anything, stabbing into the world's interior!

In an instant, with the appearance of the sky-covering beast claw, the blood-colored night shattered and could no longer maintain its oppressive scene. Chaotic electromagnetic storms from beyond the domain ravaged everything between the beast's claws.

The gravity that had suppressed everything moments ago completely lost its effect under the counteraction of the even more exaggerated gravitational force from the sky-covering beast claw.

From beyond the starry sky, that sky-covering beast claw slowly pressed down, carrying electromagnetic storms capable of destroying everything.

The sky lost its function and ceased to exist. Chaotic energy streams from the starry sky and all manner of harmful high-energy radiation poured into the barrierless world's interior along with that beast claw!

All things were annihilated; the earth turned to dust, rising high to obscure everything around.

"What?! A-a Star Beast?!!"

"No, impossible!!"

A sudden scream rang out—it came from Zi Da and the other Lingneng Clan members who had been wearing smug smiles moments ago.

"Could it be that the matter with that little whelp has been exposed?"

"No, that shouldn't be… it's just an ordinary unmarked offspring…"

Watching the world-destroying claw shadow inch closer, someone's legs went weak and they slumped against the wall, muttering in disbelief.

"No, wait—that's not a Star Beast!"

Guyue, who had been briefly panicked by the sight, calmed down. He didn't sense that ancient aura from the other party, so it absolutely wasn't a Star Beast!

But a form like this was nearly that of a Star Beast! It must certainly be connected to Star Beasts.

Let me test it first!

Guyue's expression grew solemn. The scene of the blood-colored night reappeared, and a strange beast-shadow stretched out from within the Grey Mist, carrying with it endless Grey Mist as it surged upward to meet the attack.

Amidst the bizarre roars, that strange beast-shadow collided with the descending beast-claw!

In an instant, heaven and earth fell silent. A scene of destruction appeared — a ring of solid atmosphere formed at the point where the two made contact, then was blasted apart, sweeping out toward all eight directions.

Within this, endless electromagnetic storms scattered in all directions, transforming into pools upon pools of violent lightning that fell toward every side, spewing out dense currents of electricity that ravaged the region. Surely, if left unattended, these lightning pools would remain as lingering poisons for a thousand years with no difficulty.

And that beast-shadow within the Grey Mist, under the force of this impact, was sent flying backward uncontrollably, actually breaking free from the Grey Mist's concealment and revealing its true form — it was a bizarre worm with a pair of small claws!

On its slender dark-grey body, beneath its belly, there were bizarre great mouths layered one within another, stretching from head to tail! On that strange head covered in a great deal of brilliant, crystalline grey crystals possessing an unusual beauty, a pair of crimson small eyes flickered with ferocious and violent flames. Beneath its head, a pair of small claws continuously opened and closed, grasping at the air, actually tearing up terrifying scratch marks.

"Wait, that's a Star-Devouring Worm?!"

Baichuan, who had just retracted his Sky-Covering beast-claw and barely thrust his head back in, had his pupils contract. He didn't even have time to marvel at the power of a True Immortal — even wrapped in the power of the Ancient Bell, he had been jarred until his limbs went weak and numb — when he suddenly saw the figure that had been knocked out of the Grey Mist by his own claw, and it gave him an extremely familiar feeling!

He recalled for a moment, and actually discovered it was extremely similar to the Star-Devouring Worm in his memory!

What situation is this??

Baichuan was bewildered. According to his understanding, shouldn't the Star-Devouring Worm merely be an Earth Immortal race possessing LV5 (planet) level abilities?

But why had a creature that looked exactly like a Star-Devouring Worm actually appeared on this True Immortal before him, and with an extraordinarily powerful feeling about it? Was it a special individual breakthrough that occurred by chance? Or was there some discrepancy in his understanding?

Were the Star-Devouring Worms even more exaggerated than he had imagined?

Before Baichuan could think further, the other party, Guyue, had recovered his breath and moved.

"So it's an outer demon that has delusions of invading the world!"

Looking at those beast-pupils that pierced through the world's barrier, golden as a blazing sun, yet giving him an extremely familiar feeling, Guyue suddenly reacted. No wonder! No wonder that dying Spirit... actually dared to make such a reckless gamble — it was he who had underestimated the other party.

But Spirit... is this your final trump card?

Watch how I shatter all your hopes!!!

In the next instant, Guyue suddenly let out a long howl, fully revealing his true form — that is, the posture in which True Immortals generally battle within the Xingkong.

Guyue, having fully revealed his true form, was no longer the divine-demon posture bearing a grey moon on his back, but had merged himself into that grey moon, becoming a bizarre creature — the upper half was his bare humanoid body, the lower half was that grey moon. Upon the moon's body coiled an incomparably powerful "Star-Devouring Worm," and endless figures resembling "Star-Devouring Worms" transformed into tentacles that flew about. Boundless Grey Mist swirled around him, actually dyeing the world into his own color.

A strange, scorching light suddenly blazed forth, covering the endless Star-Devouring Worm tentacles like a thin Membrane, transforming into ten thousands of long spears that pierced through the air, attacking directly toward Baichuan, who was still trapped within the world's barrier in the heavens.

Baichuan's eyes narrowed. He raised his claw and pressed down, and endless purple-gold flames ignited between his claws, spreading across the entire heavens. That was the terrifying fire his 【Treading Flame】 had been brewing for a long time — it not only burned matter but also scorched Spirit!

He had once tested the force of a single strike — it was enough to turn the entire surface of an ordinary lifeless planet into a sheet of glazed glass! Smaller ones were simply slapped apart!

At the same time, he weakened the coverage of the Ancient Bell's power, wanting to personally experience the power of a True Immortal!

Just how great was the gap between himself and a True Immortal — once it proved impossible to overcome by force, he would not prepare to enter the world's interior, but would take everything and slip away first.

A strategic retreat — is it shameful? Not at all shameful!

In a brief instant, the two forces collided with a thunderous crash.

"Pfft! — Splash splash splash..."

A sound like a river rushing forth arose.

The Ancient Bell's power, already thin under Baichuan's deliberate weakening, shattered and vanished in an instant. The endless flames he had raised vanished right after. The Sky-Covering beast-claw was directly shattered, and endless blood carrying a golden hue gushed forth violently, transforming into a surging ocean that fell toward the earth. Countless plants were directly withered by the radiation of the powerful energy within it, and animals were as though they had been scorched!

That was because the energy within his blood was too violent and abundant! The flesh and blood of a planet-sized creature was not something just anything could withstand.

However, Baichuan had no Time to attend to all this. He was stunned, not noticing that within that blood, as though stimulated, energy beyond his imagination gushed forth, suddenly raising this world's energy level by a tier.

At this moment, even with a great enemy before him, he had no mind to attend to it!

This was not to say his confidence had been shattered. The power of a True Immortal was indeed strong — that force carried an extremely intense nature, easily defeating the flames he took pride in, as well as that hard, thick, and incomparably tough hide.

Like a scorching fire-knife passing through butter — and that butter further transformed into its fuel to deal with him in return.

Rather, his current state was somewhat off!

Without the protection and isolation of the Ancient Bell's power, after his body truly came into contact with this heaven and earth, a change beyond his expectations appeared!

Heat! An unimaginable sensation of heat and bursting surged throughout his entire body!

He, who had not felt heat for an immeasurably long Time, once again felt "heat"!

No, that was not heat!

Rather, it was some excessively intense energy bursting within his body. At this moment, he was as though he had become a powder keg. His entire body, under the reaction of some unknown substance from the outside world, had actually been ignited throughout — every location, from scales, flesh, and bone, down to every single cell, was as though it had become a peculiar fuel, just like placing fuel into a nuclear fusion energy furnace, completely operating and transforming into endless energy that erupted forth.

And the Burst of this force at this moment was even more terrifying than nuclear fusion!

That was a terrifying energy far exceeding what a star emits!

What this energy actually was, Baichuan still did not know.

But he knew that it absolutely was not him breaking through on the battlefield!

Because he could clearly sense that it was……

……

(End of this chapter)