Chapter 138: Catastrophe of the Star Graveyard, The Void Sea Approaches

The resolute shriek and sacrifice of Ying Shi were like lighting the final fuse.

At this moment, the entire Blood Shark Island seemed to transform into a scarred and maddened star-beast, jolted awake from an ancient slumber. The earth trembled violently, mountains collapsed, and the ground split apart. Countless bottomless fissures spread wildly from the center of the island in all directions, as scorching, filthy star-evil energy erupted like a fountain, shooting straight into the sky!

The "thump-thump" sounds coming from deep within the island struck everyone’s hearts like hammer blows. It was not a heartbeat, but the doomsday roar of the star-evil death energy and Void Abyss demonic energy that had accumulated for ten thousand years at the core of the Star Graveyard, now completely frenzied, boiling, and about to break through its final shackles under the catalysis of Ying Shi’s origin sacrifice!

The sky darkened instantly. It was not dark clouds, but endless, turbulent dust and energy mixed with dim starlight and pitch-black demonic energy that obscured the sun. The sea surged with ten-thousand-foot waves; the seawater was evaporated and ionized by the terrifying energy, turning into violent thunderstorms and acid rain that swept in all directions!

"Stop it quickly!" North Star’s eyes were splitting with rage. Ignoring the remaining demonic creatures, his Seven Star Sword transformed into a brilliant sword rainbow that tore through the heavens, attempting to slash at the torrent of demonic energy surging toward the core node. Ling Shuang also exerted her full strength to activate the Profound Ice Heavenly Net Array, trying to freeze and delay the flow of demonic energy.

Yan Gang roared, his body manifesting as a hundred-foot giant spirit, his twin hammers smashing toward the center of the island like falling stars, attempting to forcibly shatter the ground and destroy the node.

But, it was too late.

The chain reaction triggered by Ying Shi, at the cost of its entire origin as a mid-stage Soul Transformation demonic commander and combined with the contingency it had long laid at the core of the node, far exceeded everyone’s expectations in speed and scale. It was not merely a simple energy explosion, but one that had triggered the fundamental laws of the entire "Star-Evil Graveyard" and "Demonic Node," causing them to completely lose balance, run wild, and enter an irreversible, self-destructive ultimate release!

Zhao Yuan merged with his sword, his gray-white Nirvana Sword light arriving first despite being launched later. It slashed into the torrent of demonic energy formed by Ying Shi, indeed extinguishing a large portion of the demonic energy and even wounding its core origin, but it ultimately failed to completely stop that resolute sacrificial will and the resonance of the node’s core.

"Senior Lin!" Zhao Yuan shouted urgently. He felt that the destructive power deep beneath his feet had already taken shape and was about to erupt like a volcano! Its power was likely enough to completely wipe the entire Blood Shark Island and the surrounding hundreds of miles of sea from the map!

Lin Xuan’s expression was unprecedentedly grave. His Chaos Tribulation Power was the most sensitive to crises. At this moment, he clearly "saw" that deep within the island’s core, an extremely unstable "destruction singularity," twisted and fused from pure star-evil, dead sword intent (polluted), and Void Abyss demonic energy, was expanding crazily! Once it exploded, it would not only cause terrifying physical destruction but also release massive amounts of "End-Time Dao Rhyme" and "Demonic Erosion Laws" capable of polluting souls and eroding Dao foundations, with an immeasurable range of impact!

In his current state, even if he exerted his full strength to manifest the Chaos Tribulation Domain, it would be difficult to completely swallow and neutralize this impending destructive energy, which was comparable to a strike from a peak Soul Transformation or early Void Refinement expert. Resisting it head-on would surely result in severe injury and might even affect Zhao Yuan behind him and Eunuch Wei and the others further away.

In a flash, thoughts raced through Lin Xuan’s mind. The Chaos Tribulation Dao encompasses all laws and can also derive all laws. Faced with this kind of mutually destructive, law-level self-detonation, simple attrition or absorption was not the best strategy. Perhaps… it could be guided? Or, fight fire with fire?

He looked sharply at the "Silent Shadow" divine sword in Zhao Yuan’s hand, then at the "Star-Evil Graveyard" beneath his feet that was about to collapse, and an extremely bold, even crazy, idea instantly took shape!

"Zhao Yuan! Fully activate 'Silent Shadow' and trigger the connection between the 'Nirvana Sword Intent' you received and the origin of the Star-Evil Graveyard below!" Lin Xuan’s speech was rapid, his voice carrying unquestionable decisiveness. "Do not resist that destructive power; try to… use the sword as a guide, control it with your intent, and lead the erupting energy toward… the 'direction' where the Void Abyss demonic energy is densest and most tightly connected to the node!"

Zhao Yuan instantly understood Lin Xuan’s intention, his pupils shrinking. This was to… borrow force to strike, or even "frame" the demons?! To forcibly guide and divert the destructive energy of the Star-Evil Graveyard’s self-detonation through the natural connection between the "Silent Shadow" sword and the star-evil origin, as well as the Nirvana Sword Intent’s characteristic of severing and reconnecting "connections," and blast it toward a certain "coordinate" where the Void Abyss demonic consciousness body might be located, which was connected to the node?!

This required a profound understanding of Nirvana Sword Intent, control over the "Silent Shadow" divine sword as if it were an extension of his own arm, and even more, an incredible ability to predict and guide energy flow and spatial laws! If any link failed, not only would the guidance fail, but he himself might be torn apart by the backlashing energy!

But, there was no retreat now!

"This junior… obeys!" A resolute light erupted in Zhao Yuan’s eyes; he chose to trust Lin Xuan unconditionally. He gripped "Silent Shadow" tightly with both hands. On the blade, dark gold and gray-white light shone in tandem, injecting all the Nirvana Sword Intent he had just acquired into it without reservation, while also attempting to communicate with the depths of the sword spirit to resonate with the eternal resentment and dead silence of this star graveyard!

The "Silent Shadow" divine sword emitted an unprecedented hum, the blade trembling slightly as if it too were excited, longing for an ultimate "blooming" that would cause the stars to return to silence!

Lin Xuan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the injuries and exhaustion within his body, and his hands rapidly formed seals. The Chaos Star manifestation behind him appeared once more, though it was much dimmer than before. He did not use his remaining Chaos Tribulation Power for defense or attack, but instead transformed it into countless, extremely fine gray-purple runes. Like the most skillful weaver, he quickly wove a huge, profound "Chaos Tribulation Power Network" between the virtual and the real, around Zhao Yuan and in the void ahead where the tip of the "Silent Shadow" sword pointed.

This network was not meant to block the energy, but to "channel" and "redirect" it! It was like opening a temporary "river channel" for a raging flood, pointing toward a specific target!

At the same time, the tremors of the island below reached their peak!

"BOOM——!!!"

A roar beyond description, as if billions of stars were extinguished in the same instant! In the center of Blood Shark Island, the earth shattered and collapsed completely like a fragile eggshell! A pillar of energy with a diameter of over a thousand feet, mixed with gray-white star-evil, pitch-black demonic energy, and destructive light and heat, erupted from the depths of the earth, shooting straight into the heavens! Wherever the light pillar passed, space shattered inch by inch, laws collapsed, and all things were annihilated!

The destructive energy shockwave, like a world-ending tsunami, spread crazily in all directions!

The first to bear the brunt were Lin Xuan and Zhao Yuan, who were closest!

However, at the critical moment when the destructive light pillar rushed out of the earth’s core and was about to explode completely—

The point of gray-white light at the tip of the "Silent Shadow" divine sword in Zhao Yuan’s hand suddenly brightened to the extreme, as if it had transformed into a miniature "Nirvana Singularity"! Following the supreme mystery of the sword intent inheritance—which could sever everything and also connect everything (in the way of Nirvana)—he aimed the sword tip at the central node of the "Chaos Tribulation Power Network" that Lin Xuan had laid out before him, and then… gave a light thrust!

Not a slash, but a guide!

"Nirvana Sword Intent: Star Fall Return to Void Guidance!"

"Hum——!"

An extremely condensed, yet seemingly energy-level-defying, thin line of gray-white sword intent shot out from the tip of "Silent Shadow," precisely sinking into the center of the Chaos Tribulation Power Network. In an instant, the entire network shone brilliantly, the gray-purple Chaos Tribulation Power and the gray-white Nirvana Sword Intent intertwining and resonating in a profound way!

Immediately after, the pillar of star-evil demonic energy that had shot into the sky and was about to indiscriminately destroy everything seemed to be subjected to some irresistible attraction and guidance. A portion of its most core, most violent energy flow suddenly veered, as if moved by an invisible giant hand, and crashed into the "Chaos Tribulation Power Network" laid out by Lin Xuan!

"Rumble——!"

The network trembled violently, its light flickering. Lin Xuan groaned, blood spilling from his nose and mouth; he was clearly bearing unimaginable pressure. But his eyes were firm, his hand seals shifting as he forcibly maintained the stability and channeling of the network.

The destructive energy guided into it, under the "redirection" of the Chaos Tribulation Power Network and the "pointing" of the Nirvana Sword Intent, did not explode within the network. Instead, following the "channel" preset by the network, it transformed into a gray-black energy torrent, compressed and condensed several times over. It tore through the void along the direction of the mysterious "coordinate" "marked" by Zhao Yuan’s sword intent, and vanished in an instant!

It was guided toward… a deep dimension or distant coordinate where the Void Abyss demonic consciousness body might exist, connected to this node!

Although it only guided a portion of the core energy of the destructive light pillar (the majority of the energy still exploded on Blood Shark Island), its power was still enough to make any Soul Transformation cultivator turn pale!

All of this, while complex to describe, actually happened within a mere breath or two after the eruption of the destructive light pillar.

Having lost the most core, most "directional" portion of its energy, the destructive light pillar that exploded on Blood Shark Island, while still terrifyingly powerful—wiping the entire island from the sea surface, forming a huge crater thousands of feet deep with magma and chaotic energy flowing at its edges, and triggering a super tsunami and energy storm that swept across thousands of miles—had its "qualitative" threat, especially the "End-Time Dao Rhyme" pollution targeting souls and Dao foundations, significantly weakened due to the transfer of the core Nirvana Sword Intent and part of the Void Abyss demonic energy origin.

Lin Xuan and Zhao Yuan, located at the edge of the explosion and at the "starting point" of the guidance channel, still suffered a terrifying impact. The Chaos Tribulation Power barrier Lin Xuan had erected shattered instantly. He and Zhao Yuan were thrown away like kites with broken strings, covered in blood, with countless broken bones, their auras withered to the extreme, both falling into a deep coma.

But, they were still alive! They had not been directly annihilated by that core destructive energy!

In the distance, Eunuch Wei, North Star, Ling Shuang, Yan Gang, and others, who were struggling against the tsunami and energy storm while attempting to evacuate, saw the destructive torrent being guided away, as well as Lin Xuan and Zhao Yuan, who were severely injured and dying but miraculously not completely swallowed. They were all shocked, overjoyed, and felt a lingering fear.

"Quick! Save them!" Eunuch Wei shouted hoarsely. Ignoring his own injuries, he pushed his Soul Transformation cultivation to the limit, braving the violent energy turbulence, and rushed toward the direction where Lin Xuan and Zhao Yuan had fallen.

North Star and the others hurriedly followed.

And just as Blood Shark Island was destroyed, Lin Xuan and Zhao Yuan were rescued, and everyone was resisting the aftermath of the disaster while urgently evacuating this sea of death.

In an infinitely distant place, in an unknown layer of void dimension, deep within a "Void Abyss Demonic Sea" filled with eternal darkness, chaotic whispers, and endless desire for consumption.

In a terrifying "palace" composed of countless wriggling demonic flesh and twisted laws.

A huge demonic shadow, coiled on a throne of bones, with an aura thousands of times more powerful than the Ying Shi demonic commander, suddenly opened countless compound eyes! In every compound eye, the scene of stars collapsing and all things returning to the void was reflected.

"Hmm? My 'Star-Evil Coordinate'… was detonated? And it even tried to… reverse-pollute this seat?" The demonic shadow whispered in a voice that seemed to come from the lowest level of the Nine Netherworlds, mixed with anger and a hint of interest. "Interesting… mere ants of the lower realm, bearing the variable of Chaos, actually able to touch the fur of 'Tribulation,' and even possessing a trace of 'Nirvana' sword intent… guiding the end-time power of the Star-Evil Graveyard toward my 'Observation Outpost No. 7341'…"

One of its compound eyes pierced through the endless void, as if seeing the demonic abyss outpost that was being impacted by the torrent of destructive energy and was teetering on the brink of collapse.

"Losing an outpost is insignificant. But these two variables… especially that brat who has embarked on the Chaos Tribulation Dao, and that 'Silent Star Nirvana Sword' that has just awakened… must be erased, or… captured."

The demonic shadow slowly raised an arm composed of countless tiny demonic insects and pointed lightly at the void.

A more obscure, deeper demonic thought, carrying an absolute command will, spread quietly like an invisible ripple toward the world coordinate where Lin Xuan and the others were located.

"Transmit my decree: Initiate the third stage of the 'Erosion World' plan. Lock onto the 'Tianyuan-Han Hai' realm coordinates. 'Greedy Devourer', 'Filthy Soul', you two prepare. Within a hundred years, find a stable channel, descend upon that realm, capture the variables, and harvest the remaining luck and origin of that world."

Within the Void Abyss Demonic Sea, more terrifying existences were startled, emitting hisses and roars in response.

The Battle of Blood Shark Island had temporarily come to an end. The demonic nest was destroyed, Ying Shi was executed, Xing Lan was nowhere to be found in the final explosion (suspected to have been torn apart by energy turbulence or escaped into a spatial rift), Zhao Yuan had obtained the complete inheritance, and Lin Xuan’s Chaos Tribulation Dao had begun to show its prowess.

But, a larger shadow had already been cast from the depths of that endless demonic sea toward this world that had just experienced a catastrophe and had not yet recovered its vitality.

The storm in the sky gradually subsided, but beneath the sea, the undercurrents were even more turbulent.

(Volume Four [Han Hai Wind and Clouds] End)