Chapter 1122

Ugh! Han Wuxian only felt his body and soul about to be torn apart by this violent suction! Before his eyes was endless blazing white and chaotic pale blue light spinning wildly! The filthy tentacles that had pierced his chest, under the scouring of violent energy, violently trembled; deathly energy frenziedly annihilated, emitting a shrill wail, and was actually forcibly "pulled" out of Han Wuxian's body by this terrifying force originating from the pool bottom itself! It brought out a large clump of flesh mixed with starlight and foul blood.

The intense pain almost made him faint, but it also let him escape the most deadly binding!

At the very last instant before being completely devoured by the whirlpool and his consciousness falling into darkness, Han Wuxian burned the last trace of his lucid will, relying on the instinct brought by the Star Torch General, and thrust out his nearly crystallized, crack-riddled right arm toward a piece of metal debris swirling in the energy turbulence at the edge of the whirlpool, which emitted relatively pure starlight.

His five fingers clenched tightly onto that warm fragment!

The next second.

Heaven spun and earth turned! Space seemed to be kneaded, stretched, folded! The violent energy turbulence was like billions of bone-scraping steel blades, madly tearing at his shattered body! He felt like a speck of dust thrown into a furnace, and like a lone boat caught in a stellar storm, about to be utterly annihilated at any moment. Only the warm fragment clutched tightly in his hand, and the last faint trace of connection left by the star chart fragment on his back, became his sole anchor in the endless chaos and pain.

No one knew how long had passed—perhaps an instant, perhaps eternity.

Plop!

The sound of him heavily plunging into liquid again, but the feeling was utterly different. No longer the viscous, bone-chilling cold marrow, but icy water reeking of strong fishy saltiness! The tremendous impact made him spit blood again, and the icy water instantly flooded his mouth and nose.

"Cough cough cough!!" He violently choked, struggling to surface.

The bone-chilling cold remained, but it was no longer the harsh cold of energy erosion; it was the genuine, water-born chill. The air was damp and murky, reeking of rotting aquatic plants and silt, and… a faint yet genuine trace of heavenly earth spiritual energy?

Han Wuxian struggled to open his eyes, smeared with blood and filth.

Before him was no longer that vast, oppressive, metal-filled dead silence of the cold pool.

But rather… an expanse of dark, murky water stretching beyond sight!

Thick, decaying algae and aquatic plants floated on the surface like a dirty green blanket. In the distance, looming were the crooked, collapsed remnants of massive stone pillars, covered in slick moss and barnacle-like parasites. Further away, the shattered outlines of wildly different buildings could be faintly seen half-submerged in the water, exposing ferocious breaks. The sky was leaden gray, low-hanging heavy clouds, oppressive enough to make one breathless, with no sun, moon, or stars visible—only a pallid gray haze.

Icy raindrops fell pattering down, striking his scalding, agonizing body.

Where… is this?

Is this the unknown land reached by the "Flood Discharge Star Road"? Another corner of the ancient ruins? Or… have we completely left that terrifying star remains region?

Han Wuxian didn't know. He drifted in the icy, foul-smelling water, his body like a rag doll thoroughly crushed and barely patched together. The wound on his chest gaped grotesquely outward, mixed with starlight, foul blood, and lingering deathly energy; each breath brought tearing agony. His right arm had lost all sensation, presenting a bizarre crystallized state, covered in spiderweb-like cracks, as if a touch would shatter it completely. The star chart fragment on his back lay inert as a stone, with only a faint warmth barely perceptible, proving it had not yet gone out completely.

Within him, although the most deadly tendrils of the Nine Nether deathly energy had been pulled out, the lingering contamination clung like a bone-eating worm, still eroding his remaining vitality, engaged in a tug-of-war with the faint stellar force left in the star chart fragment. Worse still, the primordial deficit caused by burning his lifeblood essence was like a vast black hole, dragging him toward total exhaustion of oil and wick.

He barely lifted his still-movable left hand, looking at the thing he was gripping tightly in his hand.

It was a dark-gold metal fragment the size of a palm, with irregular edges, its surface covered in mysterious ancient star patterns. At its center was inlaid a small crystal the size of a pigeon's egg, emanating a warm, pure starlight. It was precisely this fragment that, during the final violent transmission, seemed to have offset part of the spatial tearing force for him.

"A relic of the Star Torch General...?" Han Wuxian thought vaguely, his consciousness drifting amid intense pain, cold, and extreme weakness.

Just then

Splash!

Not far away, the murky water surface suddenly burst open! A huge, dark-blue back fin covered in slick scales, like a blade, sliced the surface silently and swiftly approached his drifting position!

A chilling, hungry intent, reeking of primal predator, instantly locked onto this mass in the water emitting bloodiness and faint energy—the 'food'!

Just escaped a desperate situation, only to fall into a deadly trap!

Han Wuxian's heart sank to the depths. He could barely muster the strength to move a finger. Watching the rapidly approaching back fin, he twisted his mouth into a bitter, desperate arc. Could it be that after exhausting everything, burning his essence blood, he would still end up buried in this unknown filthy water, becoming a monster's belly meal?

No! He cannot die here!

The will to survive was like a last spark, flickering stubbornly in the ashes of despair. He clenched tightly the warm Star Torch fragment in his hand, feeling the faint warmth transmitted from the pure starlight crystal. Perhaps… this was his last source of strength?

The sound of the back fin breaking the water was already at arm's length! Beneath the murky surface, a huge maw bristling with fangs, large enough to swallow him whole, suddenly opened, reeking of strong fishy stench, lunging to devour!

An icy fishy wind blasted his face! Beneath the murky water, the maw bristling with interlocking fangs, as large as a grindstone, had already opened; its dark throat like the gateway to hell! The intense stench of decay and primal hunger almost coalesced into substance, threatening to freeze Han Wuxian's shattered soul!

Strength? None! Spiritual power? Exhausted! Body? A rag bag on the verge of collapse!

Only the Star Torch fragment clenched in his hand, the pure star core crystal embedded within, emitted a weak yet steady warmth, like the sole point of light in a dark abyss.

Cannot die! Absolutely cannot die here!

At the one-ten-thousandth of a moment when the fanged maw was about to close and completely devour him, Han Wuxian's lingering will issued a roar beyond limits! This was not a plea for power, but the most instinctive, frantic cry for "Existence" itself! He poured all his unwillingness, all his despair, and the last spark of life left after burning his essence blood, entirely into the left hand gripping the fragment.

Hum!

The Star Torch fragment responded!

Not a world-shaking explosion, but a resonance awakened after eons of silence by a will of the same origin! The pigeon-egg-sized pure star core crystal at the fragment's center suddenly burst forth with unprecedented radiance! No longer a gentle warm glow, but a blazing, pure light carrying the will to pierce all impurity!

A beam of incandescent white starlight, condensed to the extreme and only as thick as a finger, like a divine punishment spear, shot forth without warning from the tip of the star core crystal!

There was no world-shaking sound, only a strange 'hiss' as space was instantly pierced and annihilated!

Time seemed to solidify.

That beam of incandescent white starlight, with pinpoint accuracy, shot deep into the water monster's maw, straight to the end of its dark throat!