Chapter 1044

"Returning to Void is also within the star sea," her cold voice, like a decree of cosmic law, rang across this desperate land, "The core has returned, the star chart reclaimed. This realm… shall be Silence!"

As her final word fell, the star array spun to its limit and suddenly stopped! An indescribably condensed, azure‑blue beam that seemed forged from billions of stars shot out from the array's center like a divine spear of creation.

The target was not the three‑headed fiend spirits, but the Returning to Void vortex core behind them that Devours all.

Hiss!!!

The azure‑blue beam silently pierced the viscous Returning to Void Power, striking with pinpoint precision the absolute void at the deepest point of the vortex.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment, a ten‑thousandth of an instant.

Next!

Boom—boom—boom—boom!!!!

An indescribable, terrifying roar as if the universe itself were cracking erupted thunderously from the deepest part of the Returning to Void vortex.

The silent, rotating, all‑devouring dark vortex, like solid ice plunged into red‑hot iron, quivered and twisted violently! The absolute void at its center was forcibly torn open by the azure‑blue beam! Countless azure‑colored spatial fissures spread out like a spider's web from the point of impact, raging across the entire vortex.

"No!!!" the three fiend spirits let out a howl of ultimate despair; their bodies, eroded by the azure light and torn by the spatial fissures, collapsed like sandcastles! The star‑skeleton lava, Returning to Void black mist, and polluted shadows that composed them vaporized and vanished.

The entire Returning to Void Eye fell into unprecedented Chaos and collapse! Spatial fragments peeled off and splattered like glass! The terrifying suction instantly turned wildly Disorderly! Countless star fragments dragged into the uncontrolled energy storm were shredded into powder.

"Go!" the Qinghe Fairy's voice carried a barely perceptible urgency, clearly reaching Han Wuxian's and Yun Li's ears amid the chaotic energy storm. The star array's light before her rolled up, instantly enveloping herself and the newly mobile Yun Li.

Han Wuxian's reaction was equally swift!

At the instant the Returning to Void vortex collapsed and spatial fissures spread, he unhesitatingly fully activated the Azure Sky Jade Sword Arm! Azure‑colored runes on the arm‑blade burst with unprecedented light, forming a condensed protective sword aura, while he kicked a soon‑to‑shatter star fragment beneath his feet; his body shot forward like an arrow toward the Qinghe Fairy's star‑array light.

However!

Just as he was about to reach the azure‑blue star‑array light, a massive black rift of pure spatial turbulence, like the gaping maw of a devouring beast, suddenly tore open between him and the array without warning!

"Damn it!" Han Wuxian's pupils contracted! He forced his body to twist, crossing the Azure Sky Jade Sword Arm to block, driving the protective sword aura to its limit!

Boom!

The raging spatial turbulence, like billions of cold razors, slammed into the azure‑colored sword aura! The screeching cut made teeth ache! The aura quivered violently, instantly riddled with fissures! The massive impact hurled him far away!

Puff!

Han Wuxian's throat went sweet, and a spray of blood mixed with organ fragments erupted violently! Sharp pain shot through both arms; the newly formed Azure Sky Jade Sword Arm's surface bore several bone‑deep cracks from the spatial turbulence! Pale‑golden blood mixed with jade shards seeped out!

He was like a kite with its line cut, swept by the uncontrolled spatial storm toward the opposite direction of the Qinghe Fairy's star‑array light, toward a more chaotic, deeper edge of the Returning to Void, flung away at high speed.

The azure‑blue star‑array light flashed, and the Qinghe Fairy vanished instantly at the collapsing vortex's edge, leaving only a faint azure after‑image.

Han Wuxian's figure was completely devoured by the raging spatial turbulence and collapsing darkness, disappearing into the endless abyss of the Returning to Void Eye.

A cold, dead‑silent, boundless tearing sensation…

Consciousness floated amid agony and dizziness. Han Wuxian felt his body like a broken doll, torn and flung by countless invisible giant hands. The pain from the Azure Sky Jade Sword Arm constantly assaulted his nerves; the few wounds on his arms ripped by spatial turbulence kept bleeding pale‑golden blood under the assault of the raging energy.

If not for the indomitable golden-body foundation after Nirvana and the star‑radiance skeletal fusion of his arms, he would have already been torn to pieces.

He had no idea how long he drifted in the chaotic void; time had lost meaning.

Suddenly!

The raging spatial turbulence that enveloped him suddenly stalled! An unimaginably heavy, soul‑freezing pressure slammed from all directions without warning!

Bang!

Han Wuxian was struck as if by an invisible giant hammer, his body uncontrollably hurtling toward a gray, dead‑silent region below, plummeting like a meteor!

Boom—!

He slammed heavy onto a cold, dead‑gray, hard "ground"; the massive impact forced another spray of blood, his whole skeleton moaned, and the arm wounds seemed to widen a bit. The "ground" beneath was not soil or rock but a strange, cold, smooth substance like solidified mercury, exuding a chilling, oppressive feeling.

He struggled to lift his head, and the sight before him took his breath away.

The sky was lead‑gray, heavy and low, devoid of sun, moon, or stars, only a solidified chaos. The air was thick with unbreakable dust and a rust‑like, decaying stench; spiritual energy was so thin it was almost nonexistent, replaced by a chaotic, frenzied, unsettlingly discordant energy.

He was in an endless, dead‑silent "Mercury Plain"; the ground of solid‑mercury‑like substance was cold and hard, reflecting the faint light of the lead‑gray sky. The plain was not empty, but littered with countless gigantic, grotesque metal wrecks.

Broken, mountain‑sized metal greatswords lay skewed in the ground, their blades scarred with terrible claw marks and energy burns, rusted and exuding a cold, sharp after‑taste. Shattered massive shields, like collapsed walls, bore faded, illegible runes.

Countless oddly shaped, dulled massive metal skeletons littered the area, some hundreds of zhang tall like the remains of prehistoric dragons! Farther away, faint outlines of ruined massive structures—entirely forged from dark black iron or an unknown exotic metal—loomed, broken and ancient, their broken walls like the fangs of a giant beast pointing at the gray sky.

Dead silence! Absolute dead silence! No wind, no insects, not even a sense of time's flow.

Only a sorrow, despair and… resentment that has settled over countless ages, like an invisible dense fog, pervades every inch of space, weighing heavy on the heart.