Chapter 1120: Array Pattern

He dared not remain in place. Bearing the piercing pain in his chest and the numbness in his right arm, he struggled to crawl to the wall corner, cramming the several slightly larger star crystal fragments into his bosom. The cold touch against his skin brought a faint sense of safety.

His gaze swept the room. The platform with dim runes, the twisted components……there was no exit here! The only entrance was the sloping passage leading down to the Cold Pool!

Cold Pool! The viscous, icy, chaotic-energy liquid had become the sole barrier! The aura of the filthy will seemed to be wary of the chaotic energy in the pool water, the speed of its seep-in markedly slowed. Perhaps diving into the pool bottom could temporarily interfere with its lock-on?

No better choice remained! Han Wuxian gritted his teeth, using hands and feet to crawl back to the sloping passage entrance. He took one last look at this relatively "safe" small room, drew a thin breath of icy air, then lunged down into the passage!

The viscous, icy, pale-blue liquid enveloped him again. The piercing cold and the corrosive sensation of chaotic energy intensified instantly, nearly suffocating him. He endured the discomfort, like an injured fish, struggling to dive deeper into the pool bottom. Relying on the faint glow emitted by the pool water itself, he struggled to discern direction, swimming toward the area where, in his memory, more star crystal fragments and huge metal wreckage lay scattered on the pool floor.

For every foot he descended, pressure increased a notch and the cold grew worse. The star-map fragments on his chest continuously emitted a faint warmth, resisting the external chill and laboriously converting the energy seeping from the star crystal fragments in his bosom, sustaining the last vestige of his vitality.

Boom—

A sound far more violent than before, like a muffled thunder, pierced the thick metal bulkheads and the viscous pool water, slamming hard into Han Wuxian's heart! The entire vast cold-pool space shook violently! The pool water churned wildly, forming chaotic vortices! Above, the metal dome seemed to twist and deform slightly!

"Not good! The bulkhead is about to break!" Alarm bells rang in Han Wuxian's mind! The impact of the filthy will grew fiercer each time! This last refuge was about to collapse!

He struggled with all his might to swim, finally reaching the anticipated area. Nearby lay beneath a huge, collapsed metal framework; within its twisted gaps lay scattered many star crystal fragments of various sizes, emitting a faint starlight. At the same time, in the thick silt of the pool bottom, some peculiarly shaped metal artifact remnants seemed half-buried, one resembling a severed metal arm whose tip was not a palm but a strange device riddled with holes.

Just as he reached out to grasp a larger star crystal fragment,

Crack!

A grating metal-tearing sound, like a death knell, rang out clearly from above!

Immediately after, a thick, suffocating, quasi-substantial filthy black aura, like viscous ink, surged down from a huge rent in the dome! Wherever it passed, the pool water emitting a faint blue glow was instantly contaminated, dulled, and even emitted a hissing corrosive sound! Even the chilling energy of chaos could not fully block this contamination emanating from the Nine Abyss Core!

The black aura was not spreading mindlessly. It coalesced like living tentacles, swiftly gathering and swirling in the churning pool water, faintly tracing a blurred, twisted outline brimming with endless malice and thirst! A pair of hollow, mad eyes formed purely of filthy deathly energy instantly locked onto Han Wuxian in the silt at the pool bottom!

Roar!

A voiceless, soul‑shaking mad howl surged forth! Han Wuxian felt as if struck by a heavy hammer, his vision blackened, fresh blood again seeping from his seven orifices! The star crystal fragments in his bosom flared wildly, the star‑map shards on his back erupting with unprecedented scorching heat, desperately guarding his last vestige of consciousness!

No escape, no evasion! The filthy will at last tore through the final barrier, manifesting a fraction of its power and descending!

Han Wuxian despaired as he saw the mass of condensed filthy black aura coalesce into several more substantial black tentacles exuding an aura of annihilation, ignoring the viscous pool's resistance, shooting toward him like arrows loosed from a bow! Their speed far exceeded the reaction limit of his wounded body!

The shadow of death completely engulfed him!

At the very instant his consciousness was about to be utterly drowned by despair, a flash from the corner of his eye caught the half‑buried metal arm remnant in the silt! At the moment the filthy black aura descended, the extremely faint residual rune circuits within that strange device riddled with holes at the arm's tip seemed to be stimulated by the overwhelming filthy deathly energy, flickering for a split second…

That flickering rune pattern… bore a faint resemblance to the lines of the immense star‑pattern magic array beneath the crystallized skeleton on the Star Skeleton Core Platform before! It was… an ancient, pure array pattern used to control or guide some stellar power!

A mad thought flashed into Han Wuxian's chaotic mind like lightning! That skeleton! That final mechanism! That shaft that had brought him here! This shattered metal arm… they belonged to the same system! A system that resisted pollution and guarded the core!

No time to think! His body erupted in a last‑ditch, beyond‑limits instinct in the dire strait! He abandoned grasping the star crystals and gave up futile evasion! He lunged at the half‑buried metal arm remnant in the silt, mustering all his remaining strength and the faint star power he had just drawn, slamming his right palm onto the hole‑riddled strange device at its tip! Simultaneously, he forcibly drew upon all the power of the star‑map fragments on his back, unreservedly "infusing" it into that icy metal!

"Open up for me!!!" Han Wuxian let out a silent roar in his mind!

Hum!!!

A hum far deeper, older, and more shocking than any previous sound burst forth from the depths of the shattered metal arm remnant!

At the spot Han Wuxian struck, those holes suddenly blazed! Not the weak flicker from before when stirred by the filth, but a pure, steadfast sapphire‑blue starlight born of unyielding will! This light instantly spread across the entire residual arm, the lingering, long‑severed rune circuits within being forcibly connected and ignited by the same‑source power from the star‑map fragments and Han Wuxian's death‑defying will!

A barrier formed of countless specks of sapphire‑blue starlight—fragmentary yet incredibly resilient—spread like an upturned translucent bowl, instantly centering on the metal arm remnant and expanding outward several feet!

Poof! Poof! Poof!

Several filthy tentacles slammed hard against the suddenly arisen star‑pattern barrier! The barrier shuddered violently, sapphire‑blue starlight and filthy black aura wildly annihilating and canceling each other, emitting a sickening hiss! The barrier's surface instantly spider‑webbed with cracks, as if it would shatter the next second! The tremendous impact transmitted through the barrier struck Han Wuxian like a lightning bolt; his right‑arm bones groaned under the strain, and he and the metal arm remnant were slammed into the pool‑bottom silt, blood gushing from his mouth!

The barrier teetered on the brink of collapse!

【33> Yet it ultimately blocked that fatal blow!

However, it ultimately blocked this fatal blow!