Chapter 1272

There was no earth‑shattering explosion, no dazzling flash to clash.

That snarling, lunging demonic shadow, the instant it touched the gray glimmer, froze as if a pause button had been pressed; the boiling demonic Qi and twisted resentment on its body, like ice and snow thrown into an invisible blaze, began to silently melt and evaporate. It was not destroyed, but smoothed by a deeper, more fundamental force, returning to the most basic state of stillness.

Where the gray glimmer passed, demonic Qi receded, the frantic will was forcibly brought to silence. It was like a silent brush, painting an absolute void onto the wildly colorful canvas of madness.

Yan Buji's lingering will let out a silent roar, a shock formed by pure spiritual fluctuations, attempting to shake Han Wuxian's mind. At the same time, more demonic thought fossil tentacles surged madly, intertwining with each other, their Dao Corrosion power linking to form a sky‑covering net, within which swirled runes of Devour and distortion, aiming to corrode and annihilate Han Wuxian together with the space he occupied.

"Only its form, not its spirit." Han Wuxian shook his head slightly, his gaze as calm as Gu Jing. He pointed his finger like a sword and made a gentle forward slash.

There was no dazzling sword light, only a more refined gray line extending from his fingertip. The gray line seemed to contain the truth of all endings in the world; as it sliced through, the massive law net formed by Dao Corrosion power was like meeting its nemesis, its threads snapping and dissipating, the runes on it instantly dimming and collapsing.

The gray line, its momentum undiminished, shot straight toward the hovering "Dao Corrosion Crystal".

"Buzz!"

The crystal quivered violently, its internal blood‑red radiance flashing wildly, trying to resist. Yan Buji's lingering shadow grew more solid, his hands forming a void, drawing forth the ferocious Silence Extinction power that had accumulated at the bottom of the demonic abyss for countless ages, shaping it into a dark red torrent of destruction that surged toward the gray line.

This is a head‑on clash of two kinds of Silence Extinction power!

One side is filled with negative emotions, plunder and distortion, the "Dead Silence".

The other side is ethereal and pure, representing the ultimate destination of all things and the background of law, the "Quiet Silence".

The dark red torrent collided with the gray thread.

The anticipated stalemate did not appear.

The dark red torrent, the moment it touched the gray thread, seemed to lose its supporting structure and began to disintegrate on its own. Its predatory nature was smoothed, its distortion corrected, its destructive nature led into ultimate "Silence". The gray thread, like a sea‑stabilizing needle and like the ultimate low temperature that melts all things, silently pierced the destructive torrent, its force unchanged, finally landing on the violently struggling "Dao Corrosion Crystal".

"Crack…"

A faint yet clear cracking sound rang out.

A tiny fissure appeared on the crystal's surface. The crack spread rapidly, the internal flowing blood‑red radiance seemed to find an outlet, surging violently, yet unable to break through the Silence power embodied by the gray line.

Yan Buji's lingering shadow let out a silent roar full of resentment and disbelief, beginning to become blurry and transparent. The surrounding demonic thought tentacles and demonic shadows, as if having lost their source, moved sluggishly, then crumbled one by one, reverting to pure yet non‑aggressive Silence Extinction energy that spread throughout the space.

Han Wuxian stepped forward, approaching the crystal riddled with cracks and dimmed radiance. He extended his hand and gently pressed it against the crystal's surface.

"Dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth. Frenzy returns to tranquility, distortion returns to straightness."

He whispered the chant, not a spell but an exposition of his own Dao.

The more refined "Return to Void" Dao rhythm, containing the thread of "Absolute Background" he had comprehended, flowed like warm spring water, slowly seeping into the crystal's interior.

The crystal's trembling gradually subsided; the surface cracks no longer emitted blood‑red demonic light, but instead revealed a deep gray sheen. The internal struggling, wailing phantoms faded one by one, the proud, painful visage also settled into calm, ultimately dissolving completely into pure Silence Extinction intent.

A quarter hour later, the once ominous and aberrant "Dao Corrosion Crystal" had completely changed its appearance. It became a transparent crystal about the size of a fist, wholly deep gray, its interior impeccably pure, devoid of any impurity, exuding a comforting, eternal sense of tranquility. It still contained massive Silence Extinction energy, but its nature had been purified from "corrosion and destruction" into "ending and serenity".

Han Wuxian could sense that this purified crystal possessed an extremely high energy tier and was indeed of the same origin as the "Silence Eye", only differing in form. If taken back to Ten Thousand Silence Mountain, it would greatly replenish Gu Jing's consumption, and might even cause the "Silence Eye" to undergo some beneficial transformation.

He carefully stored the purified crystal.

The moment the crystal left the ground, the bottom of the demonic abyss trembled slightly, the pervasive demonic Qi seemed to thin by a few degrees, and the incessant maddening whispers that had lingered weakened by more than half.

However, Han Wuxian did not let his guard down. He keenly sensed that beneath where the crystal had been taken, the pitch‑black mirror‑like rock bore a faintly emerging, extremely intricate ancient rune composed of countless fine lines. The aura emitted by this rune was older and more obscure than the previous Dao Corrosion Crystal, and… carried a hint of void and greed strikingly similar to Xu Jie.

"Is this… a seal? Or… a coordinate?"

Han Wuxian's pupils narrowed. He realized that Yan Buji's fall and the formation of this demonic abyss were likely no coincidence. Below, perhaps a being directly linked to Xu Jie was being suppressed, or perhaps this place was fundamentally one of the weak points where Xu Jie erodes this realm! Yan Buji's Dao Corrosion power may have become so extreme and corrosive only under some guidance or resonance.

He attempted to probe the rune with his divine sense, but felt a powerful suction and repulsion simultaneously, blocking his investigation, and a bone‑chilling will followed his divine sense, trying to inversely corrode him.

Han Wuxian immediately severed that strand of divine sense, his brows tightly knit.

The water here is deeper than imagined. With his current state and preparation, plunging recklessly into the secret of this rune is likely to end badly.

"The top priority is to first send the crystal back to Ten Thousand Silence Mountain, to stabilize the 'Silence Eye'." He suppressed his curiosity and made the most rational decision.

He gave the strange rune one last glance, committing its shape and aura to memory, then his form flickered, turning into a gray streak of light that raced upward along the original path. This time, the demonic Qi and demonic thoughts in the abyss seemed to have lost their core, posing no further threat to him, and were easily pierced by him.

Soon after, Han Wuxian's figure burst out of the demonic thought abyss, returning to the sky above the crimson wasteland. He glanced back at the fissure still roiling with demonic Qi, feeling no sense of ease.