Chapter 1266: Dread It May Be a Great Tide

Having received the torrent of lawic information transmitted by the ancient guardian, Han Wuxian fell into deep digestion and comprehension. That information was not a concrete cultivation formula, but rather the operating principle of the Silent Eye, the nature of the Silence Extinction origin, and the various profound methods for identifying, resisting, and even purifying the Devour Silence Demon Spirit's intrusion. Its level was so high, involving the very essence of the law, far beyond what he had previously learned.

The "Heart Mirror" operated at an unprecedented speed, decomposing, absorbing, and reconstructing the torrent. Han Wuxian seemed to personally experience the Silent Eye's millennia‑long guardianship, witnessing countless Devour Silence Demon Spirits surge like tides and be repelled by pure Silence Extinction gray light. He understood why this Beilin existed not merely as a seal but as an anchor, radiating the Silent Eye's power to stabilize a broader expanse of worldly silence.

At the same time, he perceived the crisis's severity more clearly. As the elder said, the Silent Eye's power has indeed been slowly waning over the ages, while the Devour Silence Demon Spirits' assaults grow stronger each time. As one diminishes and the other expands, the defenses have become precarious.

A few days later, Han Wuxian slowly opened his eyes; the chaotic hue in his pupils seemed more restrained, bearing a few more shades of weathered tranquility. He looked at the elder, still seated like a stone statue, gave a slight nod, indicating he had already grasped the basics.

The elder gave no sign, but the gray vortex above the Gu Jing quivered slightly, shedding a filament‑thin yet utterly pure primordial Silence Qi, which drifted slowly toward Han Wuxian.

It was a form of acknowledgment, also a kind of entrustment.

Han Wuxian did not decline; he summoned his own Returning to Void Qi, carefully accepting and merging that strand of primordial Silence Qi. In an instant, he felt his connection to the Gu Jing, to the Beilin, and even to the entire Ten Thousand Silence Mountain become tighter and clearer! He seemed able to "hear" the Silent Eye's heavy breath like a weary giant, to "see" the invisible network formed by the Beilin's anchor points, and even vaguely sense, in a distant unknown dimension, the unsettling covetous ripples emanating from the place called Xu Jie.

He officially became part of this ancient defense line.

Each day, using his Returning to Void Power infused with the primordial Silence, he nurtured and reinforced the stone tablets that served as anchor points. This process was not merely feeding energy; it required exquisitely adjusting his own power's frequency to perfectly resonate with each tablet's unique "Silence Extinction Mark", repairing the minute damages left by time and erosion.

At the same time, he had to patrol the invisible network formed by the Beilin, promptly detecting and handling the Silence Extinction ripples and spatial folds generated by fluctuations in the Silent Eye's power. If left unguided, these naturally occurring phenomena could evolve into new hazards or be exploited by Devour Silence Demon Spirits as invasion springboards. Han Wuxian used himself as a conduit, guiding and smoothing these unstable energies, or channeling them into the Gu Jing's vortex to become nourishment.

The work was tedious and mentally draining, yet demanded extremely precise control of power. Han Wuxian enjoyed it, seeing it as an excellent chance to forge his Returning to Void Path. He could feel that through this day‑after‑day "maintenance", his understanding of Silence Extinction power grew ever purer, his manipulation ever finer, and the Heavenly Dao Forbidden Seal at his forehead remained silent even in this "beneficial" task.

With the elder's inheritance and the boost of primordial Silence, Han Wuxian's perception of Devour Silence Demon Spirits sharpened severalfold. He could detect them early, even as they first attempted to pierce the dimensional barrier before fully manifesting.

That day, while Han Wuxian was reinforcing a stone tablet at the edge of the Beilin where cracks were faintly visible, a sudden warning flare rose in his mind!

Through his link with the primordial Silence, he "saw" a weak spot in the space surrounding Ten Thousand Silence Mountain, where an extremely concealed, icy Devour‑laden pale‑blue ripple was silently seeping in like mercury!

The scale was small, far less than the previous incident, more like a probing reconnaissance.

"It's coming!" Han Wuxian's gaze hardened, yet he did not immediately alarm the elder guarding deep within. He decided to handle this small‑scale intrusion alone, testing the results of his recent efforts.

His body remained still, but his mind was already linked to the entire Beilin network. As his thoughts shifted slightly, several stone tablets near the intrusion point silently emitted a faint gray light, interlinking and instantly forming an invisible Silence Extinction Barrier that firmly blocked the attempting pale‑blue ripple!

The pale‑blue ripple collided with an iron plate, twisting violently, seeking a gap, only to find itself seemingly trapped in a viscous mire that constantly eroded its existence—this was the Silent Field that Han Wuxian had guided the Beilin's silence to form!

Simultaneously, Han Wuxian raised his hand to subtly draw; the gray vortex above the Gu Jing shed a slender stream, which he condensed at his fingertips into a Gray Rune. Though the rune appeared simple, it contained pure purification and Returning to Void Power.

Go!

He snapped his finger, and the Gray Rune instantly traversed space, appearing above the struggling pale‑blue ripple and lightly imprinting it.

No explosion, no bright flash.

The pale‑blue ripple, like an ice block thrown into raging fire, emitted a silent, mournful shriek; under the Gray Rune's influence its structure rapidly disintegrated and purified, the faint Devour intent from Xu Jie being completely erased, ultimately turning into a pure yet cold, ownerless Silence Extinction energy that the surrounding Beilin quietly absorbed, slightly strengthening the barrier there.

The whole process was clean and swift, silent. From detection to resolution took only a few breaths.

Han Wuxian slowly withdrew his cultivation, feeling the new connotation embedded in that rune, born from his fusion with the Silent Eye's power, and felt a slight joy.

"Use stillness to restrain motion, use silence to transform devouring… this method works."

He not only successfully repelled the intrusion but also extracted a strand of the purified Devour Silence energy's characteristics, enriching his understanding of the diversity of 'Termination'. This was far more than ten times as efficient as merely secluding himself for enlightenment.

However, he also knew this was only a small‑scale probe. The real test lay ahead.

In the ensuing months, similar probing incursions occurred several times, growing in scale and becoming increasingly bizarre. Sometimes they seeped in dispersedly, sometimes they focused on a single point. Relying on his ever‑refined control and the Beilin network's support, Han Wuxian repeatedly crushed and purified the invading Devour Silence Demon Spirit scouts.

He was like a patient hunter, and with each clash he continuously gathered information on Devour Silence Demon Spirits and Xu Jie. He discovered that these demon spirits were not wholly mindless; they seemed driven by a higher will and harbored great hatred and greed toward worlds brimming with 'vitality' and 'activity'.

"Feeding on 'Silence', hating 'Life'… could this Xu Jie be a world heading toward extreme 'hot silence' or some eternal stagnant apocalypse?" Han Wuxian speculated. If so, its erosion of other worlds might be understood as an instinct to spread its own desperate fate.

That day, after Han Wuxian once again purified a slightly stronger Devour Silence intrusion, the elder who had remained as silent as stone suddenly spoke slowly, his voice still dry yet bearing a hint of gravity:

"Those… probes will end… next time… may be a great tide…"