Chapter 1021: Press On

Detonate this massive array of the Observatory Platform that has gathered the power of the nine‑star cores and is running at full speed! Detonate this core node that connects to the Star Sea Map and is filled with raging stellar energy!

"Give me... explode!!!"

Han Wuxian let out a silent, hysterical roar in his mind!

Buzz!!!

The star‑binding rune, forcibly infused with alien power, instantly flared with a blinding, unstable red light! The entire Observatory Platform quaked violently, like a volcano about to erupt! The silver starlight flowing across the platform turned wild and chaotic, and countless precise runes emitted strained wails!

The massive silver light pillars that, supported by nine colossal columns, enshroud the Star Sea Map also twisted and rippled violently! The chaotic starlight at the core of the Star Sea Map seemed intensely stimulated, churning even more fiercely and emitting heart‑pounding destructive energy surges!

"Are you mad?!" Ling Xuzi's pupils contracted sharply, and his face showed, for the first time, a look of sheer terror! He reached for Han Wuxian's massive stellar hand, but the sudden energy upheaval made his grasp falter slightly!

He could never have imagined that this lunatic would dare to detonate his own power at the core of the Observatory Platform, trying to perish together! It was as if he were dragging the entire Observatory Hall to its doom!

Just as Ling Xuzi's mind was violently shaken and, subconsciously, he tried to stabilize the formation and suppress the riot!

Boom—!!!

A deafening, star‑bursting roar erupted at the center of the Observatory Platform!

It wasn't that Han Wuxian successfully detonated the entire array; rather, his act of blasting his own power into the star‑binding position was like tossing a red‑hot branding iron into a set of precisely turning gears! The raging energy instantly disrupted the balanced output of the nine‑star core power, causing the crystal core atop one of the colossal columns to flare uncontrollably, surging wildly!

The crimson, destruction‑laden stellar fire, like an out‑of‑control fire dragon, burst violently from that column! It instantly devoured a vast nearby area!

"Bad! Fire Star imbalance!" Ling Xuzi's face turned ashen; he could no longer attend to Han Wuxian, and his hand seals frantically shifted as he tried to control the runaway Fire Star power and stabilize the other star cores!

Inside the entire Observatory Hall, a shrill alarm blared instantly! The red light flickered wildly!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The wildly out‑of‑control crimson flames raged like an angry fire dragon across the Observatory Platform! The scorching heat turned the cold stellar stones a glowing red and melted them! The violent energy shockwave swept in all directions!

The starlight chains binding Han Wuxian snapped more than half in an instant under the sudden energy impact!

Opportunity!

Han Wuxian's eyes flashed with blood‑red light! The instinct to survive overwhelmed all the excruciating pain! He couldn't even attend to the fresh fractures in his arms or the sea‑of‑consciousness‑rending agony; with his last ounce of strength, he thrust his legs powerfully against the ground!

"Crane‑Step Cloud‑Walking!" The shattered movement technique was forcibly activated!

Puff!

He shot out like a fish freed from a net, propelled by the blast wave, leaping violently from the groove of the star‑binding position!

It was precisely beneath the Star Sea Map, where the Fire Star column had gone out of control, causing the energy barrier to surge violently!

Chaos! Extreme heat! Energy turbulence! Blinding red light and alarms!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye!

Ling Xuzi was fully occupied suppressing the runaway Fire Star power, with no time to spare! The two Star Scar Guards were also forced to retreat repeatedly by the sudden explosion and uncontrolled flames!

Han Wuxian's figure appeared tiny and fragile amid the raging flames and energy turbulence, like a moth diving into fire. All he could see was the Star Sea Map just within reach!

Just as he was about to collide with the twisted, undulating energy barrier surrounding the Star Sea Map, the blood‑stained corner of his mouth curved into a mad grin.

He extended his right index finger—barely functional, riddled with cracks and dripping blood—and, with his last shred of will and remaining strength, struck hard at a specific stellar rune node on the edge of the Star Sea Map that was unusually active amid the chaotic energy turbulence!

It was not an attack, but an activation!

It activated the preset back‑door left by the Azure Lotus Fairy in his Star Map imprint—a hidden gateway that could only be triggered upon contact with the Star Sea Map itself while in a state of extreme energy disorder!

Buzz!

The instant his fingertip touched the cold flesh of the Star Sea Map!

A gentle yet incredibly resilient stellar power, bearing a familiar aura, surged instantly from within the Star Sea Map, enveloping Han Wuxian's body! This force was starkly different from the surrounding raging star‑core power, brimming with protection and guidance!

The chaotic starlight on the surface of the Star Sea Map flashed violently, and a portal woven of starlight—wide enough for only one person—suddenly opened before Han Wuxian! Beyond the portal was not the Observatory Hall, but a deep, swirling conduit of countless stars... a spatial passage!

"Xiruo... wait for me..." Han Wuxian used his last fragment of consciousness, silently chanting the name, his body like a kite with its line cut, yanked abruptly into the starlight portal by the protective force!

The portal snapped shut the instant he entered!

Boom—!

The uncontrolled Fire Star flame completely devoured the spot he had just occupied, melting the stellar crystal into a pool of crimson magma!

"No!!!" Ling Xuzi watched Han Wuxian vanish into the strange portal opened by the Star Sea Map, letting out a roar of extreme shock and anger! He sensed a clear, brief instability in the chaotic seal of the Star Sea Map's core!

"Seal the Hall! Raise the highest alert! Search! Find that worm for me! He's still inside the hall! He can't have gone far!" Ling Xuzi, looking frantic, let his powerful divine thought sweep the entire Observatory Hall like a storm! He refused to believe that a gravely wounded, dying Golden Core could truly escape! That portal must be some short‑range teleport or spatial concealment!

The entire Observatory Hall was instantly sealed completely, the shrill alarm echoing to the heavens, and countless powerful auras were roused from everywhere, swarming toward the core area!

However, no one knew.

Deep within the swirling chaotic starlight at the core of the Star Sea Map, an extremely faint aura belonging to Han Wuxian, like a stone dropped into the abyss, slipped silently along a pre‑set, ultra‑secret starlight trajectory toward some distant, unknown coordinates...

His body teetered on disintegration as the spatial passage tore at him, his consciousness sinking fully into darkness. Only the broken ends of his arms, bones forcibly reshaped amid the destruction, riddled with cracks yet faintly pulsing with newborn starlight, testified to the brutal price of this mad gamble and... a sliver of faint hope.

A fragment of the Star Sea Map's secret has been glimpsed by him; the pursuit by the Ascendant Bright Sect will never cease.

And ahead of him lies either an unknown abyss, or... the shore of hope?

Han Wuxian doesn't know, yet he still chooses to move forward.