Chapter 1073

The instinct to survive overwhelmed the whole‑body, tearing pain. Han Wuxian struggled, using the broken "Earth Remains" greatsword as support, and painfully rolled over. He lay prone on the cold rock, his cracked hands pressing hard against the rock beneath him.

"Guide…!" he roared in his mind, the fused Earth Vein Heart Will in his Sea of Consciousness being forced to the limit, flickering like a dying candle in the wind, yet clinging tightly to the faint resonance below!

One time, two times… like the most devout believers knocking on the sleeping deity's door.

Finally!

Hum…!

The dark‑red stellar fragment beneath him seemed to have its instinct awakened by this shared will! A faint yet exceedingly pure, dark‑gold energy stream bearing the ancient aura of the stars, like a sweet spring rising from deep earth, pierced the heavy rock layers and slowly seeped into Han Wuxian's palms pressed against the stone!

This energy was not the raging Earth Vein source power, but a more refined, more ancient star‑core essence that seemed to have precipitated when the stars were first born! Once it entered Han Wuxian's depleted meridians, it instantly bestowed an indescribable nourishment and repair!

It was as if parched, cracked earth received a heavenly rain! The minute fissures on the divine‑golden bone greedily absorbed the essence, emitting an almost imperceptible healing sound; the nearly exhausted Stellar Vein, like a dried riverbed, regained a trickle of flow and began to pulse weakly; even his shattered internal organs, bathed in this ancient‑life‑infused essence, felt the excruciating pain ease slightly!

Although this energy was extremely weak, far from restoring his combat power, it was like forcibly injecting a strong‑heart dose into a dying person! The sense of suffocation lessened, and the sting of his body exposed to the universe's deep cold and radiation was largely shielded by this gentle, heavy essence energy!

"There… is hope!" a blaze of ecstatic joy ignited in Han Wuxian's heart. He greedily drew the life‑saving essence, while bearing the excruciating pain, and with the slivers of restored strength carefully guided the essence, forming on his body an extremely thin yet unusually resilient dark‑gold energy membrane, like the earth's amniotic layer, barely separating him from the lethal vacuum.

He dared not relax at all; his divine thought was like the most vigilant hound, constantly sensing any movement around him. Though the Star‑Axis Guard had been lured away by Xiao Ran, it could turn back at any moment! He must quickly regain mobility and find a way out of this dead‑silence star region!

Time passed in absolute Silence, with only the faint sensation of the star‑core essence trickling and his own heavy heartbeat.

Just as he felt a sliver of strength return, enough to sit up with difficulty and contemplate using this fragment core as a springboard to escape,

Hum!!!

That cold, dim scanning wave, like a festering ulcer on bone, once again enveloped the area without warning! Moreover, this scan was even more precise and penetrative, like countless icy probes stabbing every inch of space!

Han Wuxian's hair stood on end!

The Star‑Axis Guard returned, and had locked onto this area!

"Weak life response detected! Coordinates locked! It's that scrap!" a cold voice rang directly in his Sea of Consciousness, with a cat‑and‑mouse teasing tone and a hint of irritated mockery.

It's over! I've been discovered!

Han Wuxian's heart instantly sank to the bottom of a valley. In his current state, he couldn't even trigger the "Earth Remains" to create Chaos! Facing three Star‑Axis Guards at full strength, he didn't even have the right to struggle!

Three dim silhouettes appeared like specters in the void above the massive fragment. The leading Star‑Axis Guard stared down with icy eyes at Han Wuxian, who was sprawled on the rock like an ant, his gaze showing no ripple, only a detached indifference as if dealing with trash.

"Target 'Anomaly' aura completely vanished within the 'Chaos Turbulence', likely spatial exile or Silence Extinction. This ant is now valueless."

The leader coldly pronounced, "Eliminate."

He didn't even bother to lift a hand, merely indicating with his gaze.

A Star‑Axis Guard stepped forward, extended a finger, and at its tip gathered a pinpoint of darkness‑extreme starlight. Though tiny, the starlight radiated a destructive aura capable of piercing stars! It locked onto Han Wuxian as if targeting a dead object.

The breath of death, cold and bone‑piercing, instantly engulfed Han Wuxian completely. He could even see that speck of destructive starlight slowly ignite on the other's fingertip, the death countdown audible.

Unwilling! Anger! Worry over Xiao Ran's whereabouts! Hatred at his own helplessness! Countless emotions instantly overwhelmed Han Wuxian's reason!

"Roar!!" his crimson‑gold eyes were instantly flooded with a mad blood hue, emitting a silent roar that rose from the deepest soul! He no longer cared about injuries or consequences, pouring the newly regained sliver of strength together with the last remnants of Earth Vein Heart Will, the Stellar Vein source, and the star‑core essence transmitted by the fragment core beneath him, unreservedly, like a volcanic eruption, into the palms he pressed against the rock!

"Die… together!"

This time, it was no longer guidance, but… plunder!

He no longer gently drew the star‑core essence, but used his own near‑collapse power as a fuse, with Earth Vein Heart Will as a bridge, forcibly detonating the sleeping, vast star‑core essence within the massive fragment core beneath him!

Boom—boom—boom!!

The entire massive dark‑red stellar fragment, like an ignited powder keg, expanded violently from within outward in a silent roar! An indescribable terrifying energy storm, bearing the will of Stellar Silence Extinction and Earth's collapse, erupted instantly at the fragment core!

The destructive starlight aimed at Han Wuxian hadn't even been fired when it was instantly swallowed and erased by the sudden, unimaginably massive energy shockwave!

"What?!!" the three Star‑Axis Guards' faces showed terror for the first time! The starlight armor on their bodies instantly emitted their strongest defensive radiance!

But it was too late!

The silent erupting energy storm, like the roar of a cosmic beast, instantly swept over the entire fragment and the surrounding space! Under the terrifying internal pressure, the massive stellar fragment swelled like an over‑inflated balloon, its surface instantly riddled with countless huge cracks, and then

Boom!

Completely disintegrated!

Shattered!

Countless rock fragments of varying sizes, mingled with destructive energy torrents, like cosmic‑scale shrapnel, were hurled indiscriminately in all directions, including toward the positions of the three Star‑Axis Guards!

Puff! Puff! Puff!

The three Star‑Axis Guards, caught off guard, were struck as if by an invisible giant hammer! The foremost guard, who had gathered the destructive starlight, bore the brunt; his starlight armor shattered like paper, and his body was instantly hit by several massive fragments bearing destructive energy, flung violently like a torn sack, rolling in the vacuum, with eerie blue blood gushing like a fountain from the broken armor, his breath instantly collapsing to the limit!

The other two were also in a sorry state, struck by the raging energy shockwave and countless flying shards; their starlight armor flickered violently, riddled with cracks, their bodies were hurled forcefully and instantly vanished into the chaotic shrapnel storm and energy turbulence!

Han Wuxian, who was at the very core of the explosion, was hurled violently the instant the star‑core essence detonated, by an unimaginably massive force! He felt like a leaf caught in a cosmic storm, his bones seeming to disintegrate completely, his consciousness plunging instantly into utter darkness amid the excruciating pain and the frenzied tearing of energy.

But in the final instant before completely losing consciousness, he vaguely sensed a warm, heavy, dark‑gold fluid imbued with ancient stellar aura, as if alive, automatically enveloping his shattered body. This fluid seemed to originate from the most refined part of the broken fragment core, and amid the chaotic storm he had triggered, it instinctively attached to his own near‑disintegrating "container" that had merged with the Earth Vein Heart Will…

Immediately after came utter, boundless darkness and deathly silence.