Chapter 1191: The Jet‑Black Crystal

Below, representatives from the major sects of the Heavenly Barrier Realm gathered, their positions clearly divided, and they were arguing incessantly. An arrogant‑faced early‑stage Void Refinement elder of the Imperial Peak Sect was loudly proclaiming his "conditions".

Han Wuxian's appearance instantly drew everyone's gaze.

"Han Wuxian!"

"Is he the Han Wuxian who slashed the Void Refinement with a sword?"

"So young! Aura… unfathomably deep!"

Han Wuxian hovered mid‑air, his gaze calmly sweeping the whole assembly before finally settling on the Imperial Peak Sect elder.

"Is it you who wants me to hand over the inheritance?" Han Wuxian said lightly, his voice not loud yet clear enough to cut through all the clamor and reach everyone's ears.

The Imperial Peak Sect elder, swept by Han Wuxian's gaze, suddenly felt as if a primeval ferocious beast were staring at him, his scalp tingling, but relying on his side's numbers he forced himself to stay composed and said, "Comrade Han, that is mistaken! It is not a demand, but a call to pool resources and jointly resist the great calamity! Since you have obtained this opportunity, you ought to act for the world…"

"Heh."

A light laugh interrupted him.

Han Wuxian slowly raised his hand and, with a light finger, pointed at a trial‑sword stone peak a hundred zhang tall on the edge of the plaza below.

There was no flash of spiritual light, no surge of aura.

Only a barely visible gray‑white ripple, so fine it was almost invisible, flickered and vanished.

The next moment, under countless horrified gazes, that immensely hard, millennia‑worn trial‑sword stone peak began at its summit to silently turn into the finest dust, drifting away with the wind.

In less than three breaths, the entire stone peak vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.

The whole venue fell into dead silence.

The sound of a pin dropping could be heard.

All cultivators, regardless of their level, felt a chill surge from the soles of their feet straight up to the celestial spirit crown!

What kind of technique is that?! Not even ordinary Void Refinement can achieve it!

Han Wuxian withdrew his finger, his gaze again falling on the Imperial Peak Sect elder, still calm: "Now, do you still want it?"

The elder's face turned deathly pale, cold sweat instantly soaking the back of his robe, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

Han Wuxian's gaze swept the assembly, his voice icy: "The great calamity approaches; I have no time for scheming with you. Those who wish to stay and resist together are welcome at the Star‑Axis Pavilion. If anyone harbors ulterior motives or lags behind…"

He paused, his tone grim: "Just like this peak."

The overwhelming pressure, as tangible as solid, enveloped the whole area, carrying the terrifying sword intent that had just erased the stone peak, causing everyone's spirit to tremble and leaving no spark of resistance.

Before absolute power, every scheme appeared laughable.

"We… are willing to follow Comrade Han's command! To jointly resist the great calamity!" Finally, a sect representative was the first to bow and declare.

"Will obey the command!"

"Jointly resist the great calamity!"

More and more people lowered their heads in submission, including members of the Imperial Peak Sect and the Dark Nether Dao.

Han Wuxian gave a slight nod, the pressure receding: "If so, from this moment, we shall form the 'Calamity‑Resistance Alliance', centralize all resources, and have every action obey command. Those who defy the order will be dealt with according to the alliance's rules!"

He said no more, his figure flashed and vanished.

Leaving behind a plaza filled with agitated, terrified leaders from all sides.

After this incident, the formation of the Calamity‑Resistance Alliance faced no further obstacles, its efficiency astonishing. The entire Heavenly Barrier Realm's power finally began to coil into a single rope.

One month later, everything was ready.

Han Wuxian entrusted the alliance's affairs to Tian Shuzi, Yun Chen, and several venerable senior ancestors of top sects to co‑manage. He himself prepared to go personally to the most dangerous—and perhaps most crucial—place, the Imperial Peak Abyss!

Accompanying him were only a handful: Elder Mu Yan, versed in ancient seals; the chieftain of the Fire Li tribe, skilled at probing and dismantling mechanisms; and Qinglin, who was determined to follow out of gratitude.

Before departing, Han Wuxian once again looked up at the rift in the sky.

The Imperial Peak Abyss, situated in the heart of the Central Region of the Heavenly Barrier Realm, has long been a dreaded place of extreme peril. Legends say it was once the core of an ancient cataclysmic battlefield, its space shattered and its laws still wildly chaotic, spawning countless dangerous spatial rifts and turbulent energy flows, as well as terrifying malicious spirits born from ley‑line anomalies that now dominate the area.

Han Wuxian's party used a long‑range teleportation array to reach the outskirts of the Imperial Peak Abyss.

The moment they appeared, a violent chaotic energy storm slammed into them, laced with spatial shards and mournful shrieks of malicious spirits. Ordinary Transformation to Divine cultivators here would likely struggle even to maintain their protective aura.

Elder Mu Yan immediately summoned a simple wooden shield, emitting a soft cyan glow that protected the group and absorbed most of the impact. The Fire Li chieftain cautiously surveyed the distorted lights and the intermittently flashing black fissures around them.

"What a ferocious place!" Qinglin said, gripping a long spear, his expression solemn. "The Silence Extinction death aura here is not as dense as that of the Cangwu Realm, yet it is far more violently chaotic, and… it seems to have merged with an extremely strong grudge and battle will, causing a mutation."

Han Wuxian gave a slight nod; his perception was the sharpest. Though the energy here was chaotic, the core of the source star could still be sensed as a faint pull pointing toward the abyss's heart, resonating from the black token and the sky rift.

"Stay close to me." he said calmly, the invisible Return‑to‑Origin sword domain around him naturally expanding, silently erasing or deflecting the incoming turbulent energies and spatial shards, carving a relatively stable path.

He first flew toward the depths of the abyss, with the others following closely behind.

The deeper they went, the harsher the environment became. Massive spatial fissures, visible to the naked eye like black scars, scarred the void, devouring all light and energy. Violent thunder, bone‑gnawing cold winds, scorching poisonous flames, and other destructive energies of various attributes erupted at random. Occasionally, malicious spirits wholly formed from chaotic energy and grudges surged forth, their strength comparable to Transformation to Divine, ferocious beyond measure.

Yet these hazards were as good as nonexistent before Han Wuxian.

He need not even act; merely by the Return‑to‑Origin sword intent flowing around him, the attacking malicious spirits were like moths to flame—vanishing upon approach. The raging turbulent energies entering the sword domain also quickly became tame and subsided.

Elder Mu Yan and the Fire Li chieftain watched in alarm, gaining a more direct understanding of Han Wuxian's power. In Qinglin's beautiful eyes, a cascade of astonishment shone.

The journey was full of awe but without peril, and the group kept descending.

After an indeterminate time, the surrounding chaotic energy suddenly thinned, and the space oddly steadied. Yet a deeper, more heart‑pounding pressure rose from below.

They reached the deepest part of the Imperial Peak Abyss.

Before them stretched an immensely vast, relatively flat black plain. Upon it stood countless gigantic, broken stone tablets and pillars, along with ancient, decayed colossal skeletons and weapon fragments, as if a forgotten ancient battlefield lay there.

In the exact center of the battlefield rose a towering nine‑tier altar forged from some dark, somber metal!

The altar's design was primitive and fierce, bearing some resemblance to the one in the Cangwu Realm, yet far larger and more complete! Its body was etched with countless twisted, writhing Eternal Darkness runes, now emitting a faint gray glow that subtly echoed the sky rift.

Even more startling, atop the altar floated a crystal the size of a house, slowly rotating, its whole body jet‑black! Within the crystal seemed to be a condensed, death‑silent starry sky, exuding an ultra‑pure Silence Extinction aura far surpassing anything outside.

It was this power, serving as the 'Anchor Point', that communicated the external Silence Extinction tide and sustained the sky rift's existence!

"That's it!" Elder Mu Yan's voice was hoarse. "That altar and the black crystal are the Anchor Points of the 'Cleanup Protocol'!"

However, the crowd's gaze was swiftly drawn to the scene before the altar, and their hearts sank abruptly.

All around the altar, thousands of figures knelt in a black mass! They were not Eternal Darkness cultivators or Silence Extinction beasts, but living cultivators and mortals from the various provinces of the Heavenly Barrier Realm!

These people stare blankly, their faces twisted, as if bearing great pain; their life force is being forcibly drawn out by an invisible power, turning into pale white streams that flow into the black crystal above, becoming the nourishment that sustains the "Anchor Point" operation.