Chapter 1062: Lament

The light of the Star Core Fragment was his last shield, and also a death‑hastening poison. It attracted even more dreadful covetousness, hastening the flow of his life.

Pitch‑black chains coiled around his limbs, the icy, bone‑piercing seal force seeped into his body, mixing with the cold poison and accelerating the freezing of his True Essence and soul. The suction generated by the dark vortex made him feel as if he were being torn to pieces, and the gray cloth pouch at his waist trembled violently, as if it might be ripped away at any moment.

"Can't… be… caught…" Xiao Ran's lingering will roared. To fall into the hands of these inscrutable, cold‑hearted Star Core Guards and become a living research subject? That is more terrifying than death!

He stared fixedly at the gray cloth pouch at his waist, watching the stubborn, flickering silver light inside that tried to protect him yet attracted greater disaster. A mad, resolute thought rose like a final burning flame within his soon‑to‑freeze consciousness.

Since the fragment wishes to protect… since its power can dispel the cold poison… rather than let it be taken, better… let both jade and stone burn!

He summoned the last sliver of power he could muster, drawn from the depths of his soul—not to resist the chains, not to fight the vortex, but to recklessly, madly drive the faint link in his Sea of Consciousness that is tightly bound to the Star Core Fragment!

He intends to actively trigger the vast yet uncontrolled power within the fragment, even if it shatters his body and scatters his soul, and will never let those people obtain it!

"Give me… explode!!" Xiao Ran let out a silent, hysterical scream in his mind!

Buzz!!!

The Star Core Fragment seemed to sense its master's resolve to let both jade and stone burn, and it froze abruptly! In the next instant, the previously contracted silver light, like a reflected flash, expanded severalfold in an instant.

The light was no longer pure silver‑white, but took on an unstable, destructive blazing white.

A wave of destructive energy, centered on Xiao Ran, erupted suddenly!

"Bad! He's trying to self‑destroy the fragment! Stop him quickly!" the lead Star Core Guard, horrified to the brink, could no longer care about "capturing a living specimen," thrust both hands forward, and a dark star‑light honed to perfection shot fiercely toward Xiao Ran!

The other two simultaneously launched their strongest attacks! The sealing chains tightened, and the suction of the pitch‑black vortex surged!

Boom!!!!

The blazing white destructive starlight, the dark sealing star‑light, the all‑devouring black vortex, and the uncontrolled eruption of Xuan‑yin cold poison within Xiao Ran… several terrifying forces collided with a thunderous clash on Xiao Ran's tiny "battlefield".

The dazzling light instantly devoured everything.

The raging energy shock, like an invisible tsunami, instantly emptied and erased the surrounding seawater, silt, and rubble, forming a huge, fleeting void!

Xiao Ran only felt his body and soul, torn and erased by these forces, like fragile glass, instantly riddled with cracks, and then… completely shattered!

Endless darkness and cold instantly engulfed his consciousness. In the final instant of his sinking awareness, he seemed to see a faint silver glimmer bearing his own aura, like a meteor, shooting out from the heart of the destruction and instantly plunging into the massive fissure below, reddened by earth fire…

Immediately after came utter, boundless deathly silence.

At this moment, he might be called the holder of "Earth Remains" or "Mountain", his form a streak of crimson‑gold shadow racing along the dim yet clearly directed stellar‑track markings on the furnace rock wall. The "Earth Remains" heavy sword in his hand hummed faintly, its blade streaming dark‑gold runes and crimson‑gold edges carving two conspicuous light trails in the dark water.

The newly born power surged endlessly within his body: divine metal as bone, Earth Vein as soul, stars as veins; every muscle contraction, every flow of mana, contained explosive force and earth‑like weight. He was no longer a wounded beast forced to struggle, but a reborn Earth Vein Walker!

The furnace exit was far from smooth. After the furnace's will fell asleep, the previously suppressed raging earth fire and chaotic Earth Vein qi raged again. Massive magma bubbles exploded beside him, scorching turbulence dragging shattered rocks roaring past. Yet at this moment Han Wuxian, facing the dangers that had once brought him to the brink of death nine times, seemed completely at ease.

He shifted his thoughts slightly, and the "Earth Remains" heavy sword made a gentle slash. No earth‑shaking sword qi erupted, only a condensed, tangible dark‑gold ripple spreading outward. Where it passed, the raging magma turbulence was halted as if by an invisible dam, calmly splitting to both sides; the falling boulders, upon touching the ripple, silently turned to powder and merged into the surging Earth Vein qi. This was his first application of the newly acquired Earth Vein will.

It was not a forceful confrontation, but a guiding and dissipating of Earth Vein power through his own will.

"Is this… the feeling of bearing and controlling…?" a flash of insight flickered in Han Wuxian's crimson‑gold eyes. Power was no longer merely a tool of destruction; it was an extension of his will, a bridge for him to comprehend and merge with this world.

Soon, he followed the guidance of the stellar markings, broke through the final layer of scorching water curtain, and returned to the cold, murky, destruction‑laden ruins of the trench.

The scene before him was shocking. Massive fissures, like snarling scars, spanned the seabed; dark‑red earth fire churned deep within the cracks, steaming up thick white vapor. Collapsed rock layers buried most of everything, leaving only broken walls, ruins, and the turbulent energy remnants of battle.

The air was saturated with deathly silence and the scent of sulfur.

Han Wuxian hovered above the ruins, his powerful divine consciousness spreading like invisible ripples. Instinctively, he was searching for something.

Xiao Ran's aura… had vanished. Or rather, it had become extremely faint and chaotic, like a dying candle in the wind, ready to be snuffed out. Within the lingering energy field drifted several completely different yet extraordinarily powerful auras: one was the familiar scent of Xiao Ran, bearing starlight and cold poison; another was a cold, dark aura with a star‑track‑like sense of order yet full of predation; and a third… pure destruction and Chaos, its source seemingly pointing to the massive earth‑fire fissure below!

"Xiao Ran!" Han Wuxian's heart sank. He was not where he had been!

The lingering energy field showed that an intense clash far larger than before had occurred here! That cold, dark aura carried obvious hostility and suppressive force… a new enemy?

Xiao Ran was gravely wounded and on the brink of death; how could he possibly resist?

Could it be…

Deep within the Sea of Consciousness, the Star Core Fragment that had fully merged with the will of the "Heart of Earth Vein" began to tremble violently without warning! This time, it was no longer resonance, but a… wail! a fierce lament as if a bloodline had been severed!