Chapter 1277

Fresh blood again spilled from Han Wuxian's mouth corner, his bones emitted faint cracking sounds, his spirit-soul was as if thrown into a stellar furnace, bearing the pain and despair of the instant when hundreds of millions of stars fell. This pressure was far purer, far older, and even more……despair-inducing than when facing the Xu Jie predators before!

He painfully lifted his head, through the distorted space, and locked gazes with those eyes formed from condensed stellar ember.

No words, no intention to communicate. In those eyes there was only pure, cold, ant-like indifference, and a kind of……resentment from disturbed slumber.

Immediately after, a giant palm formed from countless stellar fragments, destructive ripples, and Silence Extinction, as if crossing time and space, slowly emerged from that absolute darkness, gently pressing down toward Han Wuxian's position!

This press, though seemingly slow, sealed off all of Han Wuxian's evasion space. Where the palm passed, space shattered bit by bit, reduced to the most basic energy particles, then completely devoured and assimilated by the Silence Extinction emanating from the palm itself. This is not an attack, but……an 'erasure'! To completely erase Han Wuxian and the area he occupies from this world's history!

The shadow of death was unprecedentedly dense!

Han Wuxian's heart almost stopped beating, his spirit-soul wailed. He clearly knew that, even at his peak, with his current state he absolutely could not withstand this palm head-on! This is an absolute gap in rank and power level!

Escape? Nowhere to escape! The laws of this valley have been completely controlled by that awakened will!

Block? With what to block? All his means, before that palm representing the will of stellar extinction, appear so feeble and impotent!

Could it be that just after finding a sliver of breakthrough opportunity, he is to fall here?

No!

Strong will to survive and unwillingness, like the last flame, frenziedly burned in Han Wuxian's Dao Heart! He cannot die here! Myriad Silence Mountain needs him, that heaven and earth need him to oppose the Xu Jie! He has not yet reached the end of the Return to the Void path!

In the flash of lightning and sparks, he discarded all fear and distractions; the Heart Mirror operated at an unprecedented speed, reflecting the crushing destructive palm approaching, reflecting his own Dao Foundation on the verge of collapse, reflecting the restless Star Core Silence within, and furthermore reflecting…… all his comprehension of Silence Extinction gained along his journey!

The Silence of Myriad Silence Mountain, the Devour of Xu Jie, the Collapse of Starfall Valley…… and also, that which runs through from beginning to end, serving as the foundation of all existence and non-existence…… the Background!

"My Dao is not destruction, not termination, but…… bearing!"

"Bearing life, also bearing death! Bearing existence, also bearing emptiness!"

"Starfall is Silence, soundless silence is Silence, Xu Jie Devour is also Silence!"

"Myriad Silence returns to the ancestral, all enter my embrace!"

Blessing arrives at the mind, sudden enlightenment in dire straits!

Han Wuxian abandoned all forms of resistance and defense, instead completely letting go of his own Return to the Void Dao Foundation! He fully released that restless Star Core Silence, taking its terrifying material Silence Extinction power, and combined it with the Silence of Silence from Myriad Silence Mountain within his Dao Foundation, the Devour Silence refined from Xu Jie predators, and the most fundamental trace of Absolute Background essence, forcibly fusing them!

This is not a simple stacking of power, but a collision and integration of concepts! It is a grand gamble he undertook at the brink of life and death, using his Dao Heart as a crucible and his lifetime of comprehension as fuel!

"Boom!!"

His innards seemed to split heaven and earth! Different Silence Extinction powers clashed and tore wildly, seeking to utterly annihilate his flesh and soul. But within this ultimate chaos and destruction, that thread of Background essence played a key role. It did not engage in the struggle, merely like an endless canvas, silently bearing all this fury and chaos, maintaining a fragile balance, preventing this terrifying fusion from collapsing instantly.

A wholly new, ineffable aura emanated from Han Wuxian. It still belonged to the realm of Silence Extinction, yet no longer leaned toward any specific form. It possessed the weight and finality of starfall, the ethereal nature and law of the Silent Eye, and even a hint of Xu Jie Devour's tyranny, but all these qualities were embraced and governed by a deeper, more ancient, seemingly existent since the world's birth Void Background.

His Return to the Void Dao Foundation underwent an essential transformation at this moment! No longer merely moving toward termination, it became…… the destination and background of Myriad Silence!

At that very moment, the star-destroying giant palm pressed down.

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

When the giant palm touched the newly born, chaotic gray Dao pattern realm surrounding Han Wuxian, its terrifying star-destroying Silence Extinction power, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, was actually gently…… absorbed by that realm!

Yes, absorption! Not opposition!

The awakening will seemed to slightly pause, and in those eyes condensed from stellar remnant fire, a flicker akin to emotion appeared for the first time—an incredulous…… astonishment.

It felt that its power capable of erasing a realm of heaven and earth, upon contacting the other's strange domain, was like a water droplet merging into desert, being encompassed, resolved, and…… assimilated by a force of the same origin yet more essential! The other did not resist, but opened its embrace, taking its attack as "accepted" into itself!

Han Wuxian clenched his eyes shut, his whole body trembling violently, gray qi constantly leaking and receding from his seven apertures. Forcibly absorbing such a vast amount of star-destroying Silence Extinction power pushed his load to the limit; his newly born Dao Foundation trembled violently, as if it might burst at any moment. But he gritted his teeth and endured; the Heart Mirror firmly guarded the last spark of mental clarity, guiding this external force to merge into his chaotic Myriad Silence Background.

The giant palm slowly dissipated, its power entirely swallowed by Han Wuxian.

In the valley's depths, the astonishment in those stellar eyes gradually turned into a deep…… stare. It no longer attacked, merely silently "gazing" at Han Wuxian, as if scrutinizing an unprecedented…… anomaly.

After a long while, an ancient yet weary mental ripple, like traversing myriad ages of starry sky, slowly entered Han Wuxian's sea of consciousness, carrying a hint of doubt, a hint of inquiry, and also a hint of…… ineffable complexity:

"You…… are not the Silence of this realm……"

"What…… is the name of your Dao?"

Han Wuxian slowly opened his eyes; his vision was a sheet of chaos, as if star rivers flowed, myriad things rose and fell, ultimately returning to a profound, bottomless gray dimness. He wiped the blood from his lips; though his breath was weak, his gaze was unprecedentedly firm and profound. Facing those stellar eyes, he responded with divine sense, his voice calm yet bearing the weight of proclaiming his Dao:

"My Dao…… Return to the Void."

"It can also be called…… the Foundation of Myriad Silence."

Silence

The Starfall Valley fell into a deathlike silence. The awakening will no longer spoke, merely deeply "gazing" at Han Wuxian once; in that gaze seemed to be reminiscence, realization; finally, all emotion faded, returning to the ancient dead silence.

The next moment, those eyes formed from condensed stellar remnant fire slowly…… closed.

The terrifying pressure that had permeated the entire valley receded like a tide, as if it had never appeared. Only the deeper darkness in the valley's depths proved that what had just occurred was not an illusion.

Han Wuxian knew he had won the wager. Not a victory, but by his newly born, Myriad Silence‑encompassing Dao, he gained some degree of…… acknowledgment from that ancient will, or rather, a temporary non‑interference.

He dared not linger, enduring his body on the verge of falling apart and his boiling Dao Foundation, exhausting his last strength to become a barely perceptible gray streak, stumbling out of the Starfall Valley.

Long after he departed, deep in the valley came a sound extremely faint, as if a sigh accumulated from myriad ages of star‑dust:

"Variable…… appears again……"

"This tribulation…… perhaps not…… the old tribulation……"

At this moment Han Wuxian had already fled tens of thousands of li, found a hidden cave, and immediately entered the deepest meditative state. He needed time to fully digest and stabilize the transformation brought by this brush with death, as well as the Star Core Silence truly fused into his Dao Foundation, and the immense star‑destroying Silence Extinction power he had forcibly absorbed.

His Dao of Return to the Ruins was already different. The embryonic form of the base of myriad Silences began to show signs. And the road ahead, that ultimate endless sea eye, seemed to also stir up even more turbulent undercurrents because of the growth of this 'variable'.