Chapter 163: The First Sound of Tribulation Force

As the Chaos Tribulation Pupil opened for the first time, the space-time within the Star-Fixing Hall seemed to freeze for an instant.

Those eyes, reflecting the vortices of the world's birth and destruction, were initially somewhat dazed and hollow, as if the consciousness that had slept for eons had not yet fully found its anchor. But after only a moment, the chaotic light halos in the depths of the eyes suddenly contracted and condensed, turning into two points of cold, indifferent, deep gloom that seemed capable of perceiving the end of all things.

There was no earth-shattering explosion of momentum, no vast tide of energy. Lin Xuan still lay quietly in the jade pool's spirit liquid, the gray-purple patterns like cracks on his body slowly smoothing out and fading, leaving only a layer of extremely faint, flowing chaotic light on the surface of his skin. At his heart, the rotation of the Chaos Tribulation Crystal had stabilized, and with every pulsation, it drew the surrounding heaven and earth origin energy to circulate, return to ruins, and regenerate in a mysterious rhythm.

His awakening was not a violent release of power, but a... redefinition and control of the surrounding "tribulations" and "anomalies" by existence itself.

His gaze turned slowly, first landing on Zhao Yuan, who was unconscious beside the pool, his aura weak but carrying a trace of strange resonance. The chaotic vortices in Lin Xuan's eyes accelerated slightly, as if analyzing something. He saw the newborn Nascent Soul in Zhao Yuan's body, covered in fine cracks and stained with a trace of stubborn dark-purple aura; he saw the "Demon Seed" deep in his consciousness sea, sealed by heavy sword intent and star power, yet still emitting ominous fluctuations; and he also saw "Silent Shadow," which Zhao Yuan held tightly, its sword body flowing with the gray-blue-gold three-color faint light.

"Annihilation... stars... and a trace of... my tribulation force?" A low, hoarse voice, as if it had not been opened for a long time, sounded from Lin Xuan's throat, carrying a strange metallic friction texture. He raised a hand, and a wisp of gray mist chaotic airflow separated from his fingertip, exploring toward Zhao Yuan as if it had life.

The moment the chaotic airflow touched Zhao Yuan's body, the Nascent Soul that was on the verge of collapse in Zhao Yuan's body shook violently, and the cracks on its surface actually began to heal at an extremely slow speed under the nourishment of the chaotic aura! The stubborn dark-purple aura was like meeting a nemesis, emitting a silent scream, rapidly retreating and fading. The "Demon Seed" in the consciousness sea trembled madly, the sealing chains clattered, shrinking itself to the deepest part, trying its best to hide its existence.

"Demon Abyss... Rebirth Sect... information toxin... parasitic Dao foundation..." Lin Xuan's Chaos Tribulation Pupil seemed to be able to directly read the information fragments remaining in Zhao Yuan's body and soul, instantly understanding many things. He frowned imperceptibly. He withdrew the chaotic airflow from his fingertip. "The foundation is damaged, the Demon Seed is deeply planted, it needs to be done slowly."

His gaze then turned to the outside of the hall. His vision seemed to penetrate the thick hall walls and layers of formations, directly "seeing" the hideous spatial crack in the southeast sea, the filthy summoning altar, and the fierce battlefield; he also "saw" the war fires ignited all over the island, the broken formations, and the fallen cultivators.

The Chaos Tribulation Dao Dharma Body had a perception of "tribulations" far beyond the ordinary.

"The trouble of the Returning to Ruins Sea Eye is not yet resolved, and the Demon Abyss rift has opened... the tribulation aura of this world is becoming increasingly heavy." Lin Xuan muttered to himself, slowly sitting up from the jade pool. The spirit liquid slid down his simple green shirt and dripped into the pool, actually emitting a strange echo, as if water droplets were falling into an empty valley.

His movements were not fast, and even somewhat slow, as if a rusted precision instrument was restarting. But as he sat up, the layer of faint chaotic light around him suddenly became clear and rich, and an invisible "field," as if capable of making all things head toward their predetermined end, slowly spread out.

Inside the hall, the dust, broken stone chips, and residual fine energy ripples scattered by the previous battle, under the shroud of this chaotic force field, silently turned into the most basic particles, and then completely "disappeared," as if they had never existed. The air became incomparably "clean," clean to the point of being almost "void."

The several Star Palace formation grandmasters and medical cultivators guarding the hall, only then recovered from the shock of Lin Xuan's awakening, feeling the chaotic force field that made their Dao foundations tremble slightly, all of them changed color in horror, but also carrying indescribable excitement, bowing one after another: "Welcome Supplicant Lin's awakening!"

Lin Xuan nodded slightly, counting as a response. His gaze finally fell on a jade box in the corner of the main hall, strictly protected by several layers of purification and sealing formations—what was contained inside was the "Star Essence" fragment.

He reached out and grabbed it into the void.

The heavy formations around the jade box, under the action of the chaotic force field, actually dissolved silently like snow under the sun, without causing any energy backlash. The jade box flew up automatically and fell into Lin Xuan's hand.

Opening the jade box, the blue star core fragment lay quietly inside, its light appearing somewhat dim, clearly having consumed a lot of power from previous research. But under the gaze of Lin Xuan's Chaos Tribulation Pupil, the purest star origin and "hope" intent deep in the fragment were still as clear as a lighthouse in the dark night.

"Star-Fallen legacy, pure star fire... just right." Lin Xuan muttered to himself, injecting a wisp of more condensed chaotic airflow from his fingertip into the fragment.

A miracle happened.

The originally dim "Star Essence" fragment, the moment it touched the chaotic airflow, was like parched land receiving sweet dew, and the blue starlight suddenly became dazzling! The micro-star sea sealed inside spun and expanded madly, emitting vast and gentle star vitality! And a trace of pure intent of the unyielding will of the civilization's remaining fire was stimulated!

Chaos is not merely destruction and endings. It can also encompass, nourish, and catalyze all things, leading them toward their most "essential" or "proper" state. At this moment, Lin Xuan was using his own newly awakened, still incomplete Chaos Tribulation Power to temporarily "catalyze" the dormant origin within the "Star Essence" fragments, causing it to briefly recover to a state approaching its prime!

Holding the brilliant "Star Essence" fragment, Lin Xuan took a step out of the jade pool, and his figure had already appeared at the entrance of the Star-Fixing Hall.

Outside the hall, the square was a mess, and residual evil energy was still corroding the ground. True Person Beichen and others were guarding the surroundings while treating the wounded. Seeing Lin Xuan appear, everyone's spirits were lifted.

"Supplicant Lin! You finally woke up!" True Person Beichen stepped forward excitedly, but feeling the chaotic aura on Lin Xuan that was completely different from the past and deeper and more vast, he could not help but pause.

Lin Xuan nodded, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, finally falling on the battlefield and spatial crack that reflected half the sky red in the southeast direction, his voice calm and waveless, but carrying an absolute power that made people feel at ease: "I already know the situation. Wei Gong and the others are containing them head-on, and the crack and altar are the keys."

He raised the "Star Essence" fragment in his hand, which was shining brightly: "This object can temporarily purify and stabilize the formation nodes disturbed by filthy star power, and has a restraining effect on that summoning altar. True Person Beichen, you are proficient in star formations, hold this fragment, lead people to the formation core and several tight nodes, and assist in stabilizing the formation to delay the collapse."

Saying that, he handed the "Star Essence" fragment to True Person Beichen. As soon as the fragment was in hand, True Person Beichen felt a vast and pure star power pouring into his body, and the fatigue of continuous bitter fighting was reduced by a few points, and he vaguely felt that his connection with the Shattered Star Island formation became clearer and sharper. "Understood!"

"Elder Lingshuang," Lin Xuan looked at Elder Lingshuang, who had just withdrawn from the periphery with blood and cold air on her body, "lead the Profound Ice Pavilion elites to clean up the remaining demonic objects and rebels inside the island, especially several destruction nodes that may be hidden, and must ensure the stability of the Star-Fixing Hall and the rear."

"Yes!" Elder Lingshuang accepted the order concisely, her ice-blue eyes sharp.

Lin Xuan finally looked into the hall: "Zhao Yuan is unconscious, but there is no danger to his life, just leave two people to look after him. Everyone else, return to your posts, treat the wounded, and consolidate the defense line."

The order was clear and decisive, instantly clearing the chaotic situation around the Star-Fixing Hall. Everyone accepted the order and acted quickly.

And Lin Xuan himself, raised his head again, looking at the most intense battlefield in the southeast sea. His Chaos Tribulation Pupil reflected the huge spatial crack, the filthy summoning altar, and several demonic shadows that were looming around the altar with exceptionally powerful auras.

"Forcibly tearing and anchoring space with Demon Abyss power, maintaining a channel of such scale, consumes huge amounts. That altar is both the summoning formation eye and the stabilizer and energy source of the channel." Lin Xuan understood in his heart, "To close the rift, first destroy the altar."

His figure flickered, and he did not perform any gorgeous escape light, just the chaotic airflow around him circulating, and his whole person seemed to merge into space itself, disappearing from the spot silently, and the next moment, he had already appeared a hundred *zhang* above the Star-Fixing Hall.

Looking from here, the tragedy of the entire battlefield was in full view.

The "All-Heaven Star Dou Formation" light curtain of Shattered Star Island was already like a candle in the wind, flickering. On the sea, demonic objects and demonic cultivators were like a black tide, constantly impacting the defense line built by Alliance cultivators with flesh and blood. In the high altitude, Wei Gong was fighting alone against three Demon Abyss Spirit Transformation Demon Marshals (incarnations or projections) with surging auras, and although he did not fall into a disadvantage, he could not get away. Elder Lingshuang, Elder Yangang, and other late-stage and peak Soul Formation experts were also tightly entangled by an equivalent number of Demon Abyss Soul Formation Demon Marshals.

The battle situation was deadlocked and extremely unfavorable to the Alliance. The great formation could collapse completely at any time, and once the demonic object main force landed, Shattered Star Island would fall into even more cruel street fighting and slaughter.

Lin Xuan's gaze crossed the heavy battle groups and locked firmly on the huge dark-purple summoning altar in the spatial crack. Around the altar, eight twisted energy pillars were circling, constantly extracting void demonic energy and blood resentment from the sea below, and a skull head burning with dark-red demonic fire was suspended on top of each pillar. At the top of the altar was a constantly spinning pitch-black vortex that seemed capable of devouring light, which was the most violent exit of the spatial crack energy.

Below the altar, above the sea, three figures guarded in a triangular formation. In the center was a massive demonic shadow three *zhang* tall, wearing heavy bone armor, with curved horns on its head, holding a giant axe like a door panel, its aura fierce and violent, actually at the early stage of Spirit Transformation! On the left was a dark shadow that constantly changed shape, emitting buzzing whispers, as if compressed by countless wronged souls; on the right was a knight-like demonic shadow riding a skeleton dragon, wearing gorgeous but dilapidated armor, holding a long spear. Both were at the peak of Soul Formation!

These three great Demon Marshals were clearly the core force guarding the altar.

Lin Xuan's appearance did not attract much attention. His aura was introverted, his chaotic force field shrouded his body, and he was inconspicuous in the chaotic battlefield energy flow.

But the gaze of his Chaos Tribulation Pupil made the Spirit Transformation Demon Marshal holding the axe (tentatively called "Giant Axe Demon Marshal") feel a warning, and he suddenly raised his head, a pair of giant eyes burning with dark-red flames sweeping toward the direction where Lin Xuan was.

"Hmm? A human Spirit Transformation who just woke up and has a strange aura?" The Giant Axe Demon Marshal grunted, his voice like rocks rubbing, "Want to sneak attack the altar? Courting death!"

He waved his giant axe, and a dark-red axe light that tore through space slashed at Lin Xuan from afar! At the same time, he shouted: "Soul Erosion, Skeleton Dragon, stop him! Cannot let him get close to the altar!"

That twisting resentful soul dark shadow (Soul Erosion) let out a sharp laugh, transforming into countless invisible spiritual spikes, covering Lin Xuan's soul like a rainstorm! The skeleton knight (Skeleton Dragon) silently urged his mount, and the skeleton dragon let out a silent roar, carrying him and transforming into a gray-white stream of light, stabbing directly at Lin Xuan's heart with his spear!

Three great Demon Marshals, combined attack! The momentum was shocking!

Lin Xuan's face did not change, facing this offensive that was enough to make ordinary early-stage Spirit Transformation cultivators flustered, he just slowly raised his right hand.

Five fingers spread, palm upward.

No complex magic formula, no mysterious chanting.

Only a calm whisper, as if stating some predetermined fact:

"The demonic energy, blood fiend, resentful souls, and skeletons here... are all tribulation ash, and should... return to ruins."

The words fell.

With his palm as the center, a tiny, slowly spinning gray mist chaotic vortex suddenly appeared!

The moment the vortex appeared, the dark-red axe light that tore through, the invisible spiritual spikes, and the skeleton dragon spear that stabbed directly, all collided into an invisible, absolutely viscous "mud swamp" at the same time!

The axe light rapidly dimmed and disintegrated; the spiritual spikes dissipated silently; the speed of the skeleton dragon spear stabbing forward slowed down sharply, and on the spear tip, and even on the skeleton dragon and the knight, gray, stone-like weathering patterns began to emerge!

Not only that, within a radius of a thousand *zhang*, all the permeated demonic energy, blood fiend, resentment, and even some scattered cultivator spiritual power residues, were like receiving an invisible summons, rushing madly toward the chaotic vortex in Lin Xuan's palm! The vortex did not refuse anyone, like a bottomless abyss, swallowing, stirring, and turning all this "impurity" and "anomaly" into the most basic chaotic origin energy, and then... returning to nothingness!

This was not an attack, but a... "purification" and "definition" at a higher level! Using Chaos Tribulation Force, forcibly pushing the energy and matter in this area toward the end of "returning to ruins"!

"What kind of power is this?!" The Giant Axe Demon Marshal gasped in horror, feeling that the axe light he slashed was like a mud cow entering the sea, and what was even more terrifying was that his connection with the demonic energy of this heaven and earth was being rapidly weakened! The spiritual spikes emitted by Soul Erosion were like hitting an invisible "wall of ending," backlashing himself, emitting painful hisses. The skeleton knight's charge was forcibly delayed, and his skeleton body and his mount were accelerating their decay!

Lin Xuan took a step, his figure had already appeared in front of the skeleton knight, his right hand still held flat, and the chaotic vortex in his palm slowly pressed toward the knight's chest.

The skeleton knight's soul fire jumped madly, wanting to block, wanting to dodge, but the space-time around him seemed to be frozen by that chaotic force field, his movements as slow as a snail.

*Puff. *

A light sound.

The chaotic vortex was printed on the gorgeous chest armor of the skeleton knight.

No explosion, no loud noise.

That sturdy chest armor, capable of resisting a full-force strike from a peak Soul Formation, along with the skeleton body behind it and the knight's soul fire core, were like pencil marks gently erased by an eraser, starting from the contact point, silently... "disappeared"! Not broken, not melted, but the most thorough—existence itself was "returned to ruins"!

In just one breath, the majestic skeleton knight and his mount turned into nothingness, not even leaving a trace of dust.

Soul Erosion let out a scream of extreme terror, no longer daring to attack, the dark shadow shrank madly, wanting to escape into the sea below or the spatial crack.

"Tribulation has arrived, where can you escape?"

Lin Xuan's left hand joined fingers, pointing into the void toward the shrinking dark shadow.

"Point Tribulation."

A gray mist ray of light, condensed to the extreme and almost as thin as a hair, as if crossing the distance of space, instantly stabbed into the core of the dark shadow.

The dark shadow froze violently, and then, like a wax statue thrown into a fire, began to melt, evaporate, and dissipate from within, finally leaving only a shrill lingering sound that stopped abruptly, and then disappeared completely.

In the blink of an eye, two peak Soul Formation Demon Marshals were wiped out!

The Giant Axe Demon Marshal was terrified! What kind of monster is this?! What kind of power is this?! He had never seen such a strange, such domineering, as if attacking method that transcended conventional laws! He could not even understand the essence of the opponent's power!

Escape! Must escape! The altar can be rebuilt, the master's task can be thought of again, but there is only one life!

He no longer dared to fight, and even did not dare to say harsh words, roared, the bone armor all over his body erupted with dazzling blood light, actually wanting to burn the origin of the demonic body at all costs, performing a blood escape secret art to escape back to the spatial crack!

However, Lin Xuan's gaze had already turned to him.

Those Chaos Tribulation Pupils coldly reflected the figure of the Giant Axe Demon Marshal fleeing in horror.

Lin Xuan did not pursue, just slowly opened his arms toward the direction where the Giant Axe Demon Marshal was fleeing, and the dark-purple summoning altar further behind.

As if to embrace this filthy sky and ocean.

A low, ancient Dao sound, as if from the beginning of chaos, was slowly spat out from his mouth, every syllable causing a slight tremor in the surrounding heaven and earth:

"Chaos... Return to Ruins... Tribulation!"

In an instant!

With Lin Xuan as the center, the sky and sea within a radius of several thousand *zhang* suddenly became a piece of "turbidity"! Not material turbidity, but "chaoticization" at the level of laws! All colors, light, sound, energy flow... lost their original order and boundaries, becoming blurred, chaotic, and intertwined!

And in the core of this "Chaotic Domain," the dark-purple summoning altar, and the Giant Axe Demon Marshal fleeing toward it, bore the brunt!

The eight energy pillars around the altar trembled violently, and the magic fire skull heads on top exploded one after another! The altar itself emitted groans of being unable to bear the burden, and the blasphemous runes on the surface extinguished and disintegrated in large patches! The pitch-black vortex spinning at the top was even more distorted, deformed, and extremely unstable!

The Giant Axe Demon Marshal's blood escape brilliance, the moment it broke into this "Chaotic Domain," was like a candle in the wind, flickering and dimming, and his speed dropped sharply! He discovered in horror that the demonic energy in his body was flowing away madly, assimilated and returned to ruins by the chaotic power everywhere! Even his demonic soul and consciousness began to become blurred and sluggish, as if they were about to be dragged into that eternal "ending"!

"No—!! Master save me!!!"

He let out a roar of despair, struggling desperately, but like a flying insect falling into a spider web, the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.

Lin Xuan's face was calm, his arms slowly closed inward.

Following his movements, that "Chaotic Domain" shrouding the sky and sea began to shrink and squeeze inward! The target was the spatial crack and the summoning altar!

He wanted to use this newly awakened, yet incomplete Chaos Returning to Ruins Force to forcibly... close this wound torn by the Demon Abyss! To bury this filthy altar, along with its guards, into... returning to ruins!

In the distance, Wei Gong, Elder Lingshuang, and others who were fighting fiercely, and even countless Demon Abyss demonic objects and cultivators, could not help but stop their movements, looking at this scene like a miracle (or magic trace) in horror!