Chapter 1183: Puppet

Starlight swirled, and time and space shifted.

Han Wuxian felt as if he were passing through a corridor woven from endless starlight, his body enveloped and pulled by a gentle yet irresistible force. Around him, dazzling colored patches and twisted light and shadow rushed backward at high speed, his perception grew hazy, and only the Source Star Core in his dantian resonated faintly with the Star Gate, preventing him from losing his bearings.

He could not tell how long had passed—perhaps an instant, or perhaps ages.

Suddenly, the pulling force vanished beneath his feet.

A strong vertigo assaulted him; even with Han Wuxian's perfected divine transformation cultivation and his robust spirit, he swayed before steadied himself. He instantly, cautiously, opened the Homecoming Void Sword Realm, his divine sense sweeping outward like a tide, while he quickly surveyed the surroundings.

Before him was neither the celestial abode he imagined, nor an ancient secret realm, nor a treacherous wasteland.

But a… incomparably desolate, dead‑silent, shattered ruin.

The sky was an eternal dusky yellow, with no sun, moon, or stars visible, only murky light of unknown origin barely illuminating the ground. Beneath his feet lay cracked, dark‑red soil, scattered with massive twisted black monoliths and countless building fragments of indiscernible material. These remnants bore an ancient, peculiar style, unlike any known civilization of the Tianyuan Realm; most had been eroded by wind and sand into broken walls, telling of endless ages.

The air was suffused with an extremely thin yet unusually heavy ancient aura, intermingled with an even denser… Silence Extinction death aura! This death aura, sharing its source with Eternal Gloom's power, was more primal and pure, as if it were the ultimate end of all Silence Extinction, causing the spirit to throb with sharp pain and discomfort.

From a distant gaze, the land rose and fell in ridges and valleys, with no vegetation or water in sight, and no sign of life at all. Only a howling dry cold wind rose, kicking up red dust and emitting a wailing sound like lamenting souls.

So this is the so‑called "Ancestors' Ancestral Land" and "Dao Source Secret Realm"?

How could it be such a dead‑silent, ruined world? Were the ancient sages of the Star Palace from here? Or did something happen here that utterly doomed everything?

Han Wuxian furrowed his brows, doubts sprouting in his mind. The Source Star Core rotated slowly within his dantian, emitting a gentle clear radiance that helped shield him from the death aura's erosion, and it sent a faint sense of sorrow and tremor, as if originating from deep within his bloodline.

He tried to sense the Star Gate he had come through, but found that the connection had become extremely weak and unstable, as if separated by endless distance and countless barriers. In the short term, returning by the original route seemed unlikely.

Since he's come, he'll make do.

Han Wuxian gathered his mind, raising his vigilance to the highest. This place was bizarre; he could not be careless. He chose a direction, his form like a phantom, slipping forward silently, while his divine sense spread to its limit, probing for any possible clues or dangers.

After traveling less than a hundred li, his divine sense suddenly caught an extremely faint energy fluctuation emanating from a relatively intact ruin ahead.

He immediately altered course, and after a few rises and falls arrived at that ruin.

It seemed once to be an altar‑like structure, now largely collapsed, leaving only a pedestal and several broken massive pillars. Beneath a toppled stone column, Han Wuxian saw a seated skeleton.

The skeleton was not human; its bones were dark‑gold, towering and robust, with a pair of horns on its head, and even after endless years of death it still exuded a fierce aura. It was covered with armor fragments long since weathered away, and on the ground before it, some dried dark liquid had etched several twisted, struggling ancient runes.

That faint lingering soul‑will, it was emanating from the skull of this skeleton.

Han Wuxian approached, and the lingering soul seemed to sense the living breath, especially detecting the Source Star Core within Han Wuxian that was of the same origin yet different, causing a sudden surge. A fragment of disjointed, desperate, unwilling thoughts forcibly rushed into Han Wuxian's sea of consciousness.

The thought stopped abruptly there, and the final lingering soul completely dissipated, turning to nothing.

Han Wuxian stood in place, digesting this brief information.

Betrayal? Falling stars? Homecoming Void devouring? Stopping them? The gate cannot open?

These fragmented pieces of information faintly echoed the warning of Xuanji and the scheme of Eternal Gloom, yet were even more enigmatic. The owner of this skeleton seemed to be a "native" of this place; whose "they" did he refer to? Eternal Gloom? Or someone else?

He crouched, carefully examining the runes etched in blood. Though he had never seen these runes, with the aid of the Source Star Core he strangely grasped the meaning of the two most frequently repeated symbols.

"Ritual" and "Escape"!

Were they sacrificing something? Or warning later arrivals to flee?

Han Wuxian's mood grew heavier. This so‑called ancestral land seemed to conceal immense horror and tragedy.

He rose, ready to continue exploring, when a faint, sand‑paper‑like rustling sound suddenly came from afar!

The sound came from several directions, rapidly approaching!

Han Wuxian's gaze hardened; in an instant he gathered all his breath, his form merging into the shadow of a massive stone, the Homecoming Void Sword Intent coiled within, like a crouching leopard.

Moments later, a dozen dark silhouettes appeared at the far edge of his view, racing toward the ruin at breakneck speed.

Even Han Wuxian felt a chill up his scalp when he saw the shapes of those shadows.

They were not living beings, but twisted puppets assembled from assorted creature bones, shattered armor, and rocks… puppets! Their eye sockets blazed with a faint blue soul‑flame, surrounded by pure Silence Extinction death aura; their movements were stiff yet incredibly swift, emitting a tooth‑aching "ka‑ka" sound.

At the center of these skeletal puppets clustered a "person" clad in a tattered gray robe, gaunt as a twig. His face was withered, skin ashen, eyes hollow, with only two faint red glimmers flickering. He wielded a White Bone Staff, its tip set with a black crystal that constantly drew surrounding death aura, strikingly similar to the crystal used by Eternal Gloom, yet far more primitive and rough.

These monsters clearly detected the faint ripple generated when the lingering soul dissipated, and were drawn toward it.

The gray‑robed figure lifted his White Bone Staff, pointing toward the massive stone where Han Wuxian hid, and uttered a hoarse, unpleasant syllable.

At once, the dozen skeletal puppets' soul‑flames flared, all turning together, emitting a silent roar as they lunged! Their speed was astonishing; claws tore the air, trailing streaks of gray‑black death‑aura brilliance!

Han Wuxian no longer concealed himself!

At the instant the puppets closed in, his form flashed like lightning, bursting from the shadows! He didn't even draw the Homecoming Void Sword; instead he thrust his fingers like a blade, delivering a silent hand‑slash!

Sizzle!

The gray‑white Silence Extinction Sword Essence flashed and vanished!

The three puppets at the front were sliced as if hot knives cut butter, instantly cleaving them cleanly! Their skeletal and rocky bodies silently vanished, the soul‑flames in their eyes wailing but being snuffed out before a sound could escape!

Han Wuxian's figure never lingered, darting through the puppet horde like a phantom, his fists, palms, and kicks all becoming lethal weapons! Each strike precisely extinguished a puppet's core soul‑fire!

These puppets' strength was roughly at the Nascent Soul stage, yet they were fearless of death, their death aura highly corrosive, making them a nightmare for ordinary cultivators. In front of Han Wuxian, however, they were as fragile as paper!

In just three breaths, the dozen ferocious skeletal puppets that surged forward turned entirely to dust, scattering in the wind!

Only then did the gray‑robed figure with the White Bone Staff seem to react, the red glimmer in his hollow eye sockets flickering violently, as if sensing fear, he roared, swung his staff, gathering a dense death shockwave that shot toward Han Wuxian!

Han Wuxian neither flinched nor dodged, and made no defensive stance.

That death shockwave, which would make a Transcendent cultivator flustered, when it came within three feet of him, was silently devoured and broken down by an invisible Homecoming Void force field, turning into pure death‑aura energy, which was instead absorbed and transmuted by the Source Star Core.

"Uh…" the gray‑robed figure let out an incredulous wheeze.

Han Wuxian stepped forward in a single stride, instantly appearing before him, his cold gaze fixed on the two red glimmers.

"Who are you? What is this place? Where is Eternal Gloom?"

He asked directly with a divine thought, laden with overwhelming spirit pressure.

The gray‑robed figure's body trembled violently, as if trying to resist, but before Han Wuxian's unfathomable aura and the fully restrained power, he finally yielded. He rasped, haltingly replying with a divine thought; his words were ancient and obscure, yet with the aid of the Source Star Core, Han Wuxian barely grasped their meaning.