Chapter 1118: Indentation

Plop!

The bone‑chilling, viscous liquid instantly engulfed Han Wuxian's battered body, and the massive impact nearly shattered his already near‑collapse bones and sinews. He choked a harsh cough; the liquid was not water, carrying a strong energy aura and the metallic, rusted stench, exceedingly cold, piercing to the marrow. The viscous resistance sharply slowed his fall, yet it was like sinking into quicksand, each struggle draining his remaining vigor.

"Cough, cough, cough…" he coughed violently, the spurt of blood quickly diffusing and fading in the faintly blue‑glowing liquid. His consciousness wavered under the twin onslaught of excruciating pain and cold. He forced himself, driven by near‑instinctive survival will, to paddle with his almost‑numb arm, and at last, before suffocating, he thrust his head above the surface.

"Hoo… hoo…" his heavy, labored breaths echoed in the death‑silent darkness. He greedily inhaled the thin, icy air tinged with lingering strong energy radiation; each breath tugged at his wounds, bringing a tearing pain.

Looking up, the darkness above was bottomless. The vertical well entrance that had "saved" him had already vanished from sight, as if it had never existed. Only the ripple he created when he struck the liquid still shimmered with a faint blue halo, the sole source of light in this endless darkness.

By this dim light, Han Wuxian barely discerned his surroundings. He lay at the bottom of an enormous hemispherical sealed chamber. The four walls were made of a strange metal, cold and smooth, scarred by ages, flickering with a dim phosphorescence. Beneath his feet was the viscous pale‑blue liquid, exuding a chilling dread and a vast yet chaotic energy ripple.

It seemed to be an extremely ancient and precious "Earth Vein Cold Marrow" or "Star‑Condensed Liquid", containing pure energy yet rendered wild and hard to absorb by age and some contamination. The pool bottom was littered with numerous twisted, broken metal components, of a substance neither metal nor jade, incredibly hard, bearing faint rune markings, evidently once parts of a formation array.

Even more striking were several massive, long‑dull crystal shards, their edges sharp; even in fragments, their interiors seemed to trap solidified starlight, emitting a faint yet pure energy aura.

These are "Star Core Fragment" or "Star Crystal"!

"This place... is far from an ordinary cave‑maiden ruin!" Han Wuxian's heart shook violently. This massive metallic void, the strange condensed‑liquid pool, the scattered treasure components and star‑crystal shards—all signaled that the site had once been part of a colossal, unimaginable Immortal‑Path engineering core, perhaps a lost ancient sect's core forbidden zone for drawing and refining stellar power, or perhaps a peerless strongman's defiant formation hub built to break through realms. Its scale and craftsmanship far exceeded the understanding of a Hua‑Shen cultivator such as himself.

Bone‑chilling cold, chaotic energy. Worse, he felt the chaotic energy in the pool threading its way into his shattered body, clashing with the lingering power of the star‑map fragments inside him and the filthy Nine‑Nether Death Aura, producing a maddening, ant‑like sting. He must leave this cold pool as soon as possible!

He gritted his teeth against the excruciating pain and weakness, like a wounded fish, laboriously inching through the viscous liquid toward the nearest wall. Each stroke tugged at wounds deep enough to see bone; blood seeped out, spreading in the pale‑blue glow, only to be swiftly eroded and extinguished by the pool's chaotic energy. Covering a few dozen zhang took him nearly half an hour, draining his last ounce of strength. At last, his fingers brushed the cold, smooth metal wall.

The wall surface was unusually slick, offering almost no foothold. Han Wuxian tried several times, but his gravely wounded body could not support a climb. Despair surged again. Could he, having just escaped the filthy tentacle's killing blow, now be drained of his final spark in this cold energy pool?

Just as his consciousness was about to fully sink, his gaze unintentionally swept over the shadowed junction of wall and floor. There, the surface seemed not entirely smooth, faintly… a depression?

A thought sparked within him; he inhaled a deep breath of icy air and plunged forcefully into the viscous liquid. The pale‑blue glow at the pool's bottom brightened slightly; he endured the bone‑piercing cold and the searing pain of energy erosion, swimming toward it. Near the base of the wall, he indeed found a half‑human‑tall arched recess entrance! The entrance was half‑covered by several massive twisted metal components; without sinking to the bottom and probing carefully, it would have been nearly impossible to spot.

The survival instinct drove him again. He strained to shift the heavy metal wreckage, revealing the full entrance. A still colder, drier draft, thick with dust and rot, surged out from within.

Han Wuxian struggled upward into it. Inside lay a narrow, upward‑sloping passage, also forged from that strange metal, its interior coated with thick dust that glimmered faintly. He used hands and feet, crawling like a worm, each movement leaving a blood‑stained trace. The passage was short; after climbing roughly a dozen zhang, the view opened brightly.

He entered a relatively small metal chamber. All four walls were covered with dense, long‑faded rune circuits; at the center stood a severely damaged circular platform, its surface also etched with intricate star‑pattern diagrams, now entirely dim and riddled with cracks. In one corner lay a pile of similarly twisted metal components and a few smaller star‑crystal fragments.

Most importantly, the room was dry! Though the air was thin, cold, and dusty, at least the deadly energy‑cold pool was gone.

Han Wuxian collapsed onto the cold metal floor, gasping heavily like a fish out of water. The intense pain and extreme weakness surged over him like a tide, his vision flickering black. He felt like a cracked porcelain jar, ready to shatter at any moment. The star‑map fragments on his back remained heavy, emitting a faint but steady warmth, as if they were his sole link to this icy, dead silence and the core of his remaining inner power.

"Can't sleep... can't sleep..." he bit his tongue, using the sharp pain to keep a sliver of clarity. The strong will of a Hua‑Shen cultivator took effect now. He laboriously sat up, knees drawn, back against the cold metal wall.

He tried to circulate the faint remaining spiritual energy within. Agony! His meridians felt as if pierced by countless red‑hot steel needles! The dantian's Qi sea was utterly dead, as if frozen and polluted by that Nine‑Nether Death Aura and the chaotic Space Power. Forcing cultivation would only hasten his collapse.

"Damn it!" Han Wuxian growled low, his blood‑smeared face full of despair. He could not heal, could not restore spiritual energy, not even open his storage vessel to retrieve pills. He was now a hundred times more fragile than an ordinary mortal!