Chapter 1020: Break and Then Rise

Han Wuxian performed two actions that were almost impossible to accomplish:

Drawing light into his arm, break and then rise!

He redirected this massive force, which erupted and blended his own origin, the star map imprint, and the resonance of the Star Sea Map, not for defending or attacking the source beam, but like a breached dam, he boldly channeled it toward his two severed arms that had been shattered by Silence Extinction starlight yet tenuously reconnected by the stimulation of stellar power!

"Aaaah!!!" indescribable agony instantly engulfed him! It was as if billions of red‑hot steel needles frantically churned and pierced every inch of the fractures in his arms! The newly rejoined fragile meridians were torn apart inch by inch by the onslaught of this raging power!

At the same time, the destructive energy belonging to the Silence Extinction starlight, like maggots on a heel bone, was wildly washed away, expelled, and erased by this even purer, more powerful homogenous force! The shattered arm bones, under the grip of the raging energy, were forcibly squeezed and reshaped as if by an invisible giant hand!

This is a process of breaking and then rising, a forced rebirth amid destruction! The pain is enough to make anyone collapse instantly!

Using the source's power, he reversely peeks at the star map!

At the same time, he split off a strand of his purest divine thought, like the most cunning venomous snake, and surged upstream along the connection channel forcibly created by the source beam! It was not resisting the beam's analysis, but actively embracing and merging with it!

With the aid of the "Bridge" that Ling Xuzi personally constructed, driven by the Nine Luminaries Star Core and the Observatory Platform formation, which leads straight to the chaotic region of the core of the Star Sea Map, his divine thought, like a water droplet joining a torrent, silently surged upstream, aiming directly at the chaotic seal of the core of the Star Sea Map!

He intends to use the enemy's hand to glimpse the deepest secret of this priceless treasure!

All this occurs in the instant the source beam is about to reach the target!

"What?!" Ling Xuzi's indifferent expression froze instantly, replaced by unprecedented horror! He clearly sensed the power erupting within the target, its purity and the ancient star map's majesty far exceeding his estimate!

This is certainly not something a gravely wounded, dying wreck could possess!

Got tricked!

What shook him even more was that he felt his emitted source beam, upon contacting the opponent's erupting power, did not parse or destroy it as expected, but rather seemed... to be actively accepted and guided by the opponent?!

Moreover, an extremely covert yet purpose‑driven divine thought was flowing along the beam's channel, eroding backward!

"You scoundrel! How dare you!" Ling Xuzi roared in fury, the terrifying oppressive pressure of a mid Nascent Soul exploding, attempting to forcibly sever the source beam and crush the upstream divine thought!

But it was too late!

Boom!!!

The refined silver source beam finally struck Han Wuxian's chest with force!

The raging analytical power surged into their body instantly!

The agony blackened their vision, blood spurted wildly! Their body was hammered as if by an invisible giant hammer; had it not been restrained by starlight chains, it would have been blasted away!

Yet at the very moment this destructive impact erupted!

Han Wuxian's upstream divine thought, riding this once‑in‑a‑millennium "tailwind" of the beam's channel, like the tiniest speck of dust, successfully pierced the dense, impenetrable chaotic starlight seal of the core of the Star Sea Map!

It glimpsed the hidden... fragment of truth within!

An image, like a brand, instantly etched into their mind:

It was not a concrete treasure map, but a fragment... a shattered, star‑blood‑flowing cosmic scar! Countless massive star fragments floated in the dead silence of the void, forming an endless wasteland.

At the deepest part of the ruins, a vaguely visible vortex of unimaginable size, composed of pure darkness, could be seen!

At the vortex's center, a faint yet utterly pure golden light flickered stubbornly like a dying candle in the wind, emitting a warm, purifying, yet endlessly sorrowful aura! That golden aura... was of the same origin as the star map imprint entrusted by the Qinghe Fairy

—and even faintly resonated with his own light‑path origin!

However, the glimpse lasted only an instant!

"Get out!" Ling Xuzi's roar, a mix of shock and anger, exploded like nine‑heaven thunder within Han Wuxian's sea of consciousness! A terrifyingly supreme divine thought shock surged along the source channel, striking fiercely!

Poof!

Han Wuxian's divine thought shattered instantly like fragile glass! The violent backlash caused blood to flow from all seven orifices, their sea of consciousness pierced as if by ten thousand needles, the pain far exceeding that of the flesh! The backlash from the forced glimpse, combined with the frontal impact of the source beam, left them gravely wounded and on the brink of death!

Crunch! Crunch!

Worse still, a nauseating cracking sound came from his arms! The arm bones that had been forcibly reshaped under the raging power, fragile as they were, along with the newly formed meridians, showed signs of breaking again under this double destructive impact! The agony flooded him like a tide!

"Ugh!" Han Wuxian let out a dying wail, their body convulsing violently, blood staining the star‑glow crystal beneath them.

"Looking for death!" Ling Xuzi's face turned iron‑blue, murderous intent blazing in their eyes.

He never imagined that his meticulously prepared source analysis would be turned against him, nearly allowing a glimpse into the core secret of the Star Sea Map! It was an unprecedented humiliation!

He no longer hesitated, spread his five fingers like a rake, and clenched a fierce grip at Han Wuxian through the air! A silver giant hand, formed from pure stellar power, materialized out of thin air, bearing the force to crush everything, and slammed down onto the dying Han Wuxian on the Observatory Platform! He intended to crush this audacious insect into dust!

The shadow of death had never been so real and close!

Han Wuxian was drenched in blood, the newly formed bones and meridians in both arms moaning in agony, on the verge of a second collapse; their sea of consciousness was tossed about by the backlash, and the stellar giant hand that Ling Xuzi seized in anger blocked every avenue of evasion, bearing the absolute power of a mid Nascent Soul and crushing down!

Desperate situation!

Yet, at this hair‑raising, seemingly hopeless instant, deep within Han Wuxian's eyes, which had grown somewhat vacant from the excruciating pain and blood loss, a near‑mad, resolute radiance suddenly erupted!

"You think you can kill me? Not so easy!" A thought driven to the brink of madness exploded in his mind!

He no longer tried to stabilize the collapsing arms; instead, he poured all remaining power—the arm strength that had just forcibly re‑linked a strand of light's origin amid the pain, the divine thought still tenacious despite the backlash, and the resonant force within him derived from the Qinghe Fairy's star map imprint—

All, without reservation, like igniting his own essence, he poured them madly into the 'Star‑Guiding Slot' groove of the Observatory Platform beneath his feet!

The goal was neither attack nor defense, but to detonate!