Chapter 1153

Getting closer, he finally saw clearly that it was an extremely crude and dilapidated small wooden boat. A rust-spotted bronze oil lamp hung at the bow, its dim yellow light emanating from within. On the boat sat a figure wearing a raincoat and a bamboo hat, his back turned to him, utterly still, as if a statue that had existed since ancient times.

A ferryman? In this place?

Han Wuxian halted warily ten zhang before the boat, the Silence Extinction sword intent silently condensing. He could sense that beneath the raincoat and bamboo hat was not a physical body, but an extremely refined existence formed from pure soul power and stellar obsession merging together… a special existence. Its power was immeasurably deep!

It seemed to sense his arrival, and the ferryman slowly, extremely stiffly turned his head.

Under the bamboo hat was not a ferocious ghostly face, but a blurred visage, as if condensed from starlight and mist. Only a pair of eyes—clear, weathered, yet bearing an indifferent gaze that had seen through myriad ages of reincarnation—quietly regarded Han Wuxian and the flowing light of the Patrol Star Torch in his hand.

At the moment their gazes met, Han Wuxian felt his very soul as if laid bare, all secrets laid bare before those eyes, nowhere to hide.

The ferryman stared at him for a long while, as if confirming something, then raised a hand condensed from starlight and pointed toward a direction.

Following his gaze, Han Wuxian saw in the distant lake center a huge, broken black stone tablet, like a silent beast, standing beneath the starry sky. The tablet's surface was covered with countless mysterious stellar markings, but its upper half seemed to have been shattered by some tremendous force, the fracture retaining terrifying Law Fluctuations that made the heart palpitate.

The Patrol Star Torch projected the image of the "Return to the Void Tablet" from the brand, which faintly overlapped with that broken tablet!

And the direction the ferryman pointed was exactly where that broken tablet lay!

Was it showing the way?

Han Wuxian's heart filled with doubt; he tried to send a benevolent inquiry via his divine sense: "Senior…?"

But the ferryman seemed not to hear, merely maintaining the pointing pose, like a preset program, with no further reaction. Only the dim yellow oil lamp at the bow flickered slightly.

Seeing that communication was impossible, he had no choice but to follow the guidance.

Han Wuxian pondered a moment, then bowed slightly toward the ferryman, carefully skirted the small boat, and continued swimming toward the direction of the lake-center broken tablet.

The closer he got to the tablet, the colder the surrounding lake water became, and the stellar power grew denser, almost condensing into substance. At the same time, a deeper, more unsettling polluted aura began to seep up from the lake depths.

It was a frigid, deathly Nine Nether pollution sharing the same source as the depths of the Return to the Void Tablet! Like black ink, it seeped thread by thread from certain fissures at the lake bottom, contaminating this stellar lake and clashing violently with the pure stellar power.

The light of the Patrol Star Torch grew even more brilliant, automatically purifying the approaching pollution, emitting a faint "hiss" sound.

Finally, he reached the lake's center.

Up close, the broken tablet was even more majestic and shocking, towering a thousand zhang, as if supporting this subterranean starry sky. The tablet was made of an unknown material neither metal nor stone, icy and hard, its surface etched with countless intricate stellar trajectories and ancient maxims, exuding a vast and mighty stellar Dao resonance. But the shattered upper half made this resonance incomplete, filled with tragedy and regret.

And on the tablet's base, in the most prominent position, was carved a huge relief!

The content of the relief caused Han Wuxian's breath to catch!

It depicted a collapsed starry sky, countless stars falling like rain. At the center of the starry sky, a towering figure held a broken, hole-ridden strange staff, fiercely plunging it into a boiling mass of dark-purple pollution mixed with stellar fragments—a terrifying energy vortex!

Below that towering figure, the relief also carved countless tiny cultivators clad in star-patterned battle armor, forming a grand mysterious formation; all their power converged toward the center, pouring into the broken staff. Their faces were blurred, yet they exuded a resolve and tragedy.

Even more shocking to Han Wuxian, in a corner of the relief was etched a complete bronze lamp burning fiercely—the Patrol Star Torch! The lamp's light turned into a pillar of light enveloping some cultivators, as if granting them final shelter and strength!

This relief clearly recorded the tragic "Starfall War" of that year, documenting the moment the Patrol Star Torch's master and countless cultivators sealed (or opposed) the pollution core!

And upon the relief, those stellar trajectories, the cultivators' formation runes, the burning state of the Patrol Star Torch—all contained some supreme great Dao law! Especially the central act of the Patrol Star Torch's master thrusting the broken staff into the pollution core, which embodied an ultimate realm of destroying myriad laws and guarding the stellar universe!

Han Wuxian felt a sudden enlightenment; he immediately sat cross-legged before the tablet, placed the Patrol Star Torch before him, and immersed his consciousness completely in this huge relief.

His body's Return to the Void Sword Core and the Patrol Star Torch resonated simultaneously, the brand on his brow blazing hot as fire.

In an instant, his consciousness seemed to have traversed countless ages, returning to the battlefield of that earth-shaking great war!

He "saw" countless cultivators annihilated like moths to flame in the pollution black tide!

He "heard" the lament of collapsing stars and the roars of the guardians!

He "felt" the supreme will of the Patrol Star Torch's master burning himself to death in a final strike!

And… the terrifying law triggered when the broken staff plunged into the pollution core—originating from the cosmic source… the ultimate law of Silence Extinction dancing with the stars!

This tablet was not merely a monument, but also an inheritance brand! A supreme inheritance left by the Patrol Star Torch's master and countless fallen warriors concerning the Dao of stars and Silence Extinction!

Boom—boom—boom!

In Han Wuxian's sea of consciousness, it seemed as if billions of stars were being born and dying! Countless fragments concerning stellar motion, spatial transformation, and the true meaning of Silence Extinction surged in madly! His newly born Sword Core, fused with a trace of reincarnation essence, under this vast inheritance's impact, ran, transformed, and sublimated at an unprecedented speed!

The cracks on the Sword Core were instantly smoothed! It became more refined, more profound! Within the gray-white Silence Extinction power, specks of starlight naturally arose, as if a miniature galaxy had been refined into the Sword Core! His comprehension of reincarnation law also surged, and his harmony with this environment became even more perfect!

His aura rose at a visible speed, breaking through the bottleneck and charging straight into Divine Transformation! And not merely the early stage of Divine Transformation, but under this vast inheritance's infusion, he steadily advanced toward higher realms!

At the same time, the Patrol Star Torch before him erupted with unprecedented light; the dim runes on the lamp were activated one by one, becoming more complete, and the stellar might it emitted grew more vast and pure!

However, just as he was immersed in the inheritance, his cultivation rising step by step at a critical moment

An abrupt change occurred!

The Nine Nether pollution seeping from the lake bottom, originally suppressed by the Patrol Star Torch's light, seemed stimulated by this sudden surge of stellar power and turned violently berserk!

Gurgle—gurgle—gurgle!

The lake surface boiled! Countless thick, ink-like streams exuding utter cold and deathly silence surged like volcanic eruptions from several fissures at the lake bottom, quickly polluting vast areas of the lake! These black airs coalesced into countless ferocious tentacles made purely of pollution, bearing the malice to annihilate everything, and fiercely entwined Han Wuxian, who was receiving the inheritance, and his Patrol Star Torch before him!

Even more terrifying, the fracture on the tablet recording the Starfall War began to seep, from within its terrifying Law Fluctuations, a thread of even purer, even older dark-purple pollution! These pollutions seemed to possess consciousness, emitting soundless shrieks, like bone‑deep maggots, spreading across the tablet's surface, wildly contaminating those ancient stellar markings, attempting to tarnish and distort this inheritance!

In the heart of this stellar lake, inheritance and pollution launched a fierce contest!

Han Wuxian abruptly opened his eyes; the stellar river illusion in his eyes shattered, sharp light flashing!

He was at the crucial juncture of receiving the inheritance—how could he allow pollution to interrupt?!

"Get lost!" he spat out a cold angry roar, his newly born cultivation, fused with stellar and Silence Extinction power, exploding as Divine Transformation!

He pointed his finger like a sword and fiercely slashed at the surging pollution tentacles!

A terrifying sword aura interwoven with gray‑white and starlight, entwined with traces of reincarnation essence, tore the lake surface, bearing dual powers of purification and annihilation, and fiercely slashed at the pollution covering the sky!