Chapter 1069: Rebirth

The phantom chains of the "Earthly Skeleton" entwining the body silently dissipated, the heavy sword emitted a weary yet relieved low groan, and its light completely dimmed.

Han Wuxian's hand pressed on Xiao Ran's chest felt no longer a destructive clash backlash, but rather a… vast, stable, pulsating with infinite possibility new birth! Like a dormant volcano, within surged a brand‑new, even more terrifying power!

His will, stretched to the limit, suddenly loosened, the last strength supporting him as if drained. Pfft! A large mouthful of blood tinged with dark gold radiance spurted out; Han Wuxian's towering frame shuddered, the crimson‑gold light fully retracted, his body covered in spider‑web‑like cracks, his breath waned to the extreme, barely able to stay aloft. Yet his crimson‑gold eyes locked fixedly ahead, bursting with unprecedented joy and shock!

Success! … Actually, we really succeeded!

The body floating in the air slowly sank back into the Dark Gold Essence Pool. The gentle source energy within the pool, as if finding its home, spontaneously nourished this newly formed vessel.

The newly formed body lay still in the Essence Pool, like a perfect artifact forged by a divine artisan who poured heart and blood. Its skin showed a deep dark‑silver base, faintly flowing with crimson‑gold and azure starlight. Muscle lines were smooth yet held explosive power, bones seemed cast from stellar divine gold, exuding an inward, heavy pressure. Most astonishing was his hair: no longer black, it had turned into a silver‑white like flowing star sand, the tips faintly tinged with icy blue.

An indescribable aura emanated from him. It bore the earth's heavy weight, the star‑filled vast depth, and a trace of inescapable profound yin cold; the three perfectly merged, forming a unique and mighty life magnetic field! This field subtly resonated with the whole Earth Vein Core Space, as if he were the offspring nurtured by this ancient land.

Han Wuxian struggled to sit cross‑legged, ignoring his own injuries, his divine sense cautiously probing the newly formed body in the pool.

At this moment

His tightly shut eyelids twitched slightly.

Long, silver‑white lashes forged like star sand slowly lifted.

A pair of eyes opened.

Those were no longer Xiao Ran's originally clear or cold‑tinged eyes.

They were a pair of eyes… as if the entire starry sky and polar abyss were simultaneously contained within them!

The deep pupil color was like a cosmic darkness that could swallow all light. Upon this dark backdrop, countless fine, brilliant specks—like living things—slowly drifted, forming a miniature, ever‑fluctuating star river! And at the river's deepest point, two points of icy‑blue light, condensed like ancient frost, glimmered like the star river's cold core, emitting a soul‑shivering chill… and an aloofness that perceives all things.

At the instant those eyes opened, the entire Earth Vein Core Space seemed to faintly pause for a moment. The distant surging earth‑vein currents appeared to slow their flow, and the rich earth‑vein qi in the air spontaneously gathered toward the owner of those eyes.

Bewildered… absolute bewilderment, like a newborn infant, occupied the first moment of these star‑abyss ice eyes. No memory, no cognition, only a blank slate.

But this bewilderment lasted less than a breath.

The next instant, countless shattered light‑images flashed across the flowing star‑river pupils! Destructive explosions, icy chains, black whirlpools, the resolve to perish together… and finally, a hand—bearing the earth's weight and the star's warmth, gripping him tightly and pulling him from the endless icy abyss… a crimson‑gold hand!

"Han… Wuxian…?"

A hoarse, dry voice, as if unused for countless years yet bearing a strange metallic texture and soul resonance, was difficultly uttered from the newborn's throat.

At the instant that voice sounded, the bewilderment in those star‑abyss ice eyes receded like a tide, replaced by a vicissitude born of ages of sinking and ruin‑rebirth… and… a crystal‑clear light of cognition that re‑anchored the "self".

He slowly raised a hand, gazing at the brand‑new palm forged from stellar divine gold and earth‑vein essence, flowing with dark‑silver starlight and yin‑blue chill. His fingers slightly curled, feeling the vast, unfamiliar yet perfectly attuned power surge within, sensing the aura coiled at his fingertips—capable of freezing souls and incinerating all things…

Finally, his gaze passed his own hand and fell upon the figure by the pool's edge—breath feeble, body bathed in gold‑blood, yet fixing him with a pair of crimson‑gold eyes blazing with joy and fatigue.

Their four eyes met.

Deep within Xiao Ran's star‑abyss‑like pupils, the two azure specks representing the core of his will flickered violently. A thread of immensely complex emotion—mixing the throb of having survived calamity, the shock of guarding the person before him at any cost, and the huge impact of rediscovering the "self"—like a stone dropped into an ice lake, sent faint ripples across his indifferent pupils.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but ultimately merely gave the figure by the pool—who had almost burned himself out for him—an extremely slow, utterly solemn nod.

Everything, conveyed without words.

Han Wuxian gazed at those familiar yet strange star‑abyss ice eyes, at that solemn nod, and his perpetually tensed heartstrings finally loosened. A weary yet exultant smile finally blossomed on his blood‑stained lips.

At this moment

Boom!!!

The entire Earth Vein Core Space violently shook without warning! It was not an uprising from the lower earth‑vein currents, but came from… above! From the direction of the lava channel they had entered by!

An icy, dark pressure, laced with intense spatial rending and a star‑order‑seizing will, struck like an invisible hammer upon the rock layers atop the space! At the same time, a cold intent brimming with killing intent and greed pierced the thick rock layers and chaotic energy barrier, ringing clear as a venomous snake in both their seas of consciousness:

"I've found you! Insects! And… that remnant which ought not to exist, the 'anomaly'! Hand it over! Otherwise… this place will be your burial ground!"

It was the Star Pivot Guard! They actually followed the lingering traces and some secret art, pursuing them beyond the Earth Vein Core Space! They even spared no effort to violently strike the Space Barrier!