Chapter 1045: Metal Broken Sword

"This... where am I?" Han Wuxian strained to lift his body, enduring searing pain in his arms and all over, eyes scanning the surroundings warily. Qinghe Xianzi's star‑map seal here had become extremely faint, almost undetectable, as if completely blocked by this dead‑silence land. The Golden Sun Burning Heaven force within his dantian grew sluggish and heavy, suppressed by the chaotic, frenzied, discordant energy in the air.

At that moment!

Wooo—Wooo—Wooo—

A series of low, lingering wails, as if from the nine‑dark hells, rose from all directions without warning! The sound did not travel through the air but struck the soul directly, filled with endless venomous resentment, pain, and madness!

With the wailing, the dead‑silence plain's scattered massive metal wreckage, broken weapons, even the bones buried deep beneath Mercury, began to exude thin strands of gray‑black mist! The mist quickly coalesced into twisted, vague, metal vengeful spirits radiating intense negative emotions and ferocious energy...

These spirits took varied forms: some resembled giant phantoms clad in tattered metal armor, wielding rusted great axes; some looked like ferocious steel beasts, their claws flashing cold light; others were merely vortices of twisted metal shards and resentful aura! Yet without exception they exuded a chillingly vicious aura, their hollow eye sockets fixed rigidly on the plain's sole living being.

"Roar!"

"Kill!"

"Hate!"

A chilling, chaotic, blood‑thirsty roar replaced the wailing! Hundreds, even thousands of metal vengeful spirits, like sharks sensing blood, surged with rolling gray‑black metal resentment, charging at Han Wuxian from all sides! Wherever the gray‑black aura passed, even the ashen Mercury ground seemed further darkened by corrosion!

Despair! A purer despair than when confronting the Sinful Spirits of Return to Ruins! In this dead‑silence wasteland, facing this boundless tide of vengeful spirits with a gravely wounded body, how can one resist?

Blood staining Han Wuxian's mouth corner, he slowly curled it into an almost feral curve. He struggled to straighten his body; though his arms throbbed with agony and were riddled with cracks, the runes on his Azure Sky Jade Sword Arm flickered under the spirits' provocation, emitting an unyielding, keen resolve.

"Afraid of dying?" he whispered to himself, his gaze fixed on the surging metal spirit tide, the flame burning in his eyes wilder than the spirits themselves!

"Afraid! But even more afraid of dying here in a pitiful way!" he answered himself.

"Then... kill!"

The cold metallic stench mingled with intense resentment, like a viscous toxic fluid, poured into Han Wuxian's mouth and nose, nearly suffocating him.

The gray‑black metal resentment tide, bearing hundreds, even thousands of twisted metal spirits, raged like an all‑consuming steel torrent, crushing from all directions! Rusted great axes, ferocious claws, spiraling metal shard vortices… each assault carried a cold death aura and a soul‑rending negative impact!

A dire predicament! More hopeless than the Eye of Return to Ruins! A gravely wounded body, alone!

"Kill!!!"

Han Wuxian let out a beast‑like roar from his throat!

No hesitation remained in his eyes, only a mad battle will to incinerate everything! Above his arms, the runes of the Azure Sky Jade Sword Arm burst into dazzling cyan‑gold light under the resentment's stimulus; at the wounds torn by spatial turbulence, pale gold blood mingled with jade fragments, ignited by this ferocious will, fueling the arm‑sword's power threefold!

He no longer retreated! Instead he faced the steel torrent head‑on, charging forward boldly!

"Golden Sun Burning Heaven·Furnace Body!"

Deep in his dantian, the Golden Sun power that had merged with the primordial Great Sun Burning Star Iron erupted regardless of his injuries! Scorching golden flames burst through his body, turning him into a towering golden furnace blazing amid the tide of resentment!

Where the golden flame passed, the cold metal resentment hissed, like melting ice being forcibly purified and vaporized!

"Azure Sky·Shattered Star Style!"

Both arms swung in unison! The arm‑swords, sheathed in dark‑gold star‑glow bone and coursing with jade sheen, became two cyan bolts that tore the dead silence! On the blade edges, the ultimate cutting sword intent blended with the furnace's fierce golden flame, slashing boldly!

Chira! Chira!

Two massive azure‑gold intersecting sword beams, like the Grim Reaper's scythe, cleaved fiercely into the surging spirit tide!

Boom! Boom!

Shrill metal‑cutting clangs and energy explosions detonated together! The few metal‑giant spirits at the front had their sturdy metal bodies ripped and sliced like rotten wood by the sword beams! The rusted great axe melted into molten iron! Countless metal shards and dissipating black resentment mingled with purified cyan smoke, spraying outward like a fountain!

Han Wuxian, like a burning meteor, slammed into the spirit horde! His form flickered ghost‑like amid the dense attacks; each dodge was perilous, tugging at his wounds as blood continuously seeped from his mouth corner and arm cracks! Yet every swing of his Azure Sky Jade Sword Arm produced a mournful wail of shattered metal—either piercing a steel beast spirit's core or cleaving a vortex of metal shards completely!

The battle instantly reached a white‑hot climax! Han Wuxian, like a death god dancing on a blade's tip, reaped spirits with each swing, yet his own body was battered by countless blows! The Golden Flame Furnace Body surged violently, the protective sword‑energy constantly torn apart! His wounds multiplied, blood staining his torn garments, then instantly vaporizing into scabs under the heat! The cracks in his arms, under relentless collisions, let more pale‑gold blood flow, and the newly formed jade bone emitted

Agony! Blood loss! Power draining rapidly! His Sea of Consciousness was battered by countless spirits' negative roars like boiling magma! Had it not been for the mighty will after Nirvana and the faint protection from the Star Core fragment resonance, he would have already collapsed!

Yet in Han Wuxian's eyes burned only the coldest, utmost killing intent! He could not fall! To fall would mean being torn apart, assimilated, becoming one of the countless metal spirits on this plain!

"Not enough! Still not enough!" he roared within. Though the golden flame and Azure Sky sword intent were strong, they consumed enormously; facing this near‑endless spirit tide was like a drop of water on a burning cart! He needed a more direct, more savage, more enduring power!

Just as he swung his arm again to cleave a charging steel beast, his body staggered from the massive impact, his back suddenly slammed into a hard object!

It was the massive metal broken sword, slanted into the Mercury ground like a mountain!

This sword had lain dormant here for countless years, its whole form forged from a strange metal dark as ink yet faintly veined with blood, scarred with terrifying claw marks and energy‑burn traces. Though the blade was broken, the remaining hilt and half‑blade still towered dozens of meters, exuding an ancient, unyielding sharp resonance and a tide of murderous aura!