Chapter 1085

His words had just fallen when a commotion suddenly came from outside the hall. A disciple came rolling and crawling in, his face ashen as paper: "Vice… Vice Peak Master! Down below… the mountain gate's protective formation down below has been shattered by a single sword!"

The purple‑robed man sprang to his feet, and the jade pendant at his waist instantly shattered.

That was the communication jade linked to the Main Peak Grand Formation; when the jade breaks, the formation breaks. He rushed out of the hall, only to see the clouds and mist outside Azure Scale Peak already torn apart, a black‑clad figure slowly walking toward him, a short blade in his hand glimmering with specks of starlight in the sunlight—it was Han Wuxian.

"You're earlier than I expected." Han Wuxian lifted his gaze to the hall on the peak, the Shatterstar Blade spinning lightly in his palm, "Descendant of the Azure Scale Old Monster, is that all you've got?"

Killer intent flared in the purple‑robed man's eyes; azure scales exploded across his body, forming a scale‑armored cape several zhang long: "You little bastard, daring to break my Azure Scale Peak's Grand Formation—I will today annihilate your body and soul!"

Han Wuxian gave a light laugh, his stellar power suddenly erupting; Dark Gold Material condensed behind him into a vast stellar silhouette, the silhouette holding a long bow, an arrow nocked, pointing straight at the heavens.

"Annihilation of body and soul?" He raised his hand to grip the Shatterstar Blade, which hummed, "I'll return those words to you unchanged."

Before his words finished, the stellar silhouette released the bowstring; a brilliant starlight shot like a meteor toward the Main Peak Hall. The purple‑robed man roared, his azure‑scale cape transforming into a giant serpent, opening a blood‑filled maw to meet the starlight.

In a tremendous roar, the entire Azure Scale Peak shook violently; the pavilions halfway up the mountain collapsed at once. When the smoke and dust cleared, Han Wuxian stood already on the square before the hall, the starlight on his Shatterstar Blade burning ever brighter.

Around the square, countless Azure Scale Peak disciples brandished spears and closed in, their eyes flashing with a mad red light.

This was the sign of the blood pact driven to its extreme. Han Wuxian swept his gaze over them, suddenly recalling the disciples begging for mercy in the mountain hollow; a faint stir of stellar power at his fingertips sent three star sigils flying silently, landing on the brows of three disciples.

"Wake up and get lost." His voice was soft, yet it reached every ear clearly. The three disciples' bodies jerked; the red light faded from their eyes, they looked at their frenzied companions, fear showing on their faces, and finally gritted their teeth and fled madly down the mountain.

Seeing this, the purple‑robed man bellowed: "Traitors! All must die!" He formed seals with both hands; the square's ground suddenly split open, countless azure poison vines burst from the earth, winding toward Han Wuxian.

Han Wuxian tapped his toes, weaving through the poison vines; each swing of his Shatterstar Blade brought forth a shower of starlight. The vines snapped on contact, their toxic fluid purified by stellar power, leaving not a trace of foul odor.

"Is that all you can do—dodge?" the purple‑robed man sneered, slamming both hands onto the ground; suddenly an altar rose in the center of the square, its surface etched with blood‑red runes—the forbidden art of Azure Scale Peak, the "Myriad Poisons Heart‑Devouring Formation."

As the runes flared, Han Wuxian suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his heart; his stellar power showed signs of disorder. He lowered his gaze to his chest; the Dark Gold Material was warming slightly, the Stellar Earth Seed within contending against the altar's evil force.

"Do you feel it? This is the source of the Bone‑Eating Azure!" the purple‑robed man laughed maniacally, "No matter how profound the Star‑Celestial Sect's arts, they cannot block this poison that specifically counters stellar power!"

Han Wuxian's brows furrowed slightly; he could sense that beneath the altar, the earth veins indeed held a thread of extremely pure azure toxin, constantly seeping through the formation to erode his meridians. Yet oddly, whenever the toxin neared the Stellar Earth Seed, it was silently decomposed—though the decomposition process caused intense pain.

"I see now; what the Azure Scale Old Monster left behind years ago was not merely poison arts." Han Wuxian suddenly understood: the earth veins beneath this altar actually share the same origin as those of the Star‑Sink Secret Realm, merely contaminated by poison for ten thousand years. His Stellar Earth Seed, inherently a union of stellar and terrestrial essences, was now being drawn by this same‑source earth‑vein power.

"Since they share the same source, they shall be mine." Han Wuxian ceased dodging, plunged the Shatterstar Blade into the ground, and his Earth Vein Classic ran wildly. In an instant, the earth veins beneath the square began to tremble; the contaminated spiritual power, instead, flowed upward along the blade and surged into his body.

The smile on the purple‑robed man's face froze: "Impossible! How can you—"

"Nothing is impossible." Han Wuxian closed his eyes, feeling the earth‑vein power within him grow ever purer—the purified toxin turning into the purest spiritual power, merging with the stellar‑marrow origin; the contents of the Earth Vein Classic flashed through his mind, and he finally grasped the true essence of the Star‑Celestial Sect's "nurturing stars with earth": to purify all impurities and return to the origin.

When the last thread of contaminated earth‑vein power was purified, Han Wuxian flung his eyes open; his crimson‑gold pupils seemed to hold the birth and death of stars. He drew the Shatterstar Blade; its starlight had condensed into substance, like a miniature galaxy.

"Azure Scale Peak, it's time to be leveled."

The instant his words fell, he vanished from the spot. The next second, the altar in the square's center exploded with a boom, the purple‑robed man's death‑rattle cut short. When Han Wuxian reappeared, he held an additional azure scale stained with blood.

It had been pried from the purple‑robed man's brow; together with the earlier scale taken from the azure‑robed elder, they fit together to form half a ghostly face.

The poison vines on the square withered instantly; the encircling disciples' red light faded, and they collapsed one after another. Han Wuxian didn't even glance at them, turning and heading toward the rear mountain.

According to the map, deep within Azure Scale Peak's forbidden zone lay a secret passage leading to the Myriad Poisons Valley.

The Shatterstar Blade traced a chilling arc in the sunlight, cleaving the boulder blocking the road into powder. Han Wuxian's figure disappeared at the end of the mountain trail, leaving only a whisper carried on the wind:

"Myriad Poisons Valley, I have arrived."

The miasma of the Myriad Poisons Valley was thick as unmixable ink; Han Wuxian held the Shatterstar Blade before him, stellar power flowing along the blade to form a pale gold barrier around him. Any toxic mist capable of corroding a cultivator's gang qi, upon touching the barrier, turned into wisps of green smoke—not even qualifying to approach his robes.

"The Star‑Celestial Sect's secret art is handy for poison defense." He snorted, pinching and crushing a poisonous moth that lunged at him. The phosphorescent dust on the moth's wings bore a faint azure glow, sharing the same origin as the Bone‑Eating Azure, though its toxicity was a hundred times weaker.

He had no interest whatsoever in the rise and fall of the Star‑Celestial Sect. Inheriting the legacy was merely an accident; of the sect's secrets circulating in the information streams, he retained only what pertained to the Azure Scale Old Monster—such as this Myriad Poisons Valley, which was in fact the old monster's lair, remodeled after his defection using the Star‑Celestial Sect's earth‑vein arcane method.

"Azure Scale Peak is just a bunch of clowns; the real debt must be settled at the source." Han Wuxian followed the blood‑red markings on the map, his feet sinking into the soft, decay‑rich mud that emitted a grating "creak‑creak". The Stellar Earth Seed within him warmed slightly—a sign that he was nearing the same‑source earth veins, and also a warning that a strong aura of Bone‑Eating Azure lingered nearby.