Chapter 164: Backlash of Demonic Thoughts

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

Lin Xuan's Dao sound was like the first thunderclap at the beginning of chaos, low, grand, and containing the supreme will to define the end of all things. As his arms slowly closed inward, that "Chaotic Domain" shrouding several thousand *zhang* of sky and sea suddenly turned from calm turbidity to violent inward collapse and squeezing!

Heaven and earth lost color, all things lost their voices.

It was not absolute darkness or silence, but the "boundaries" of all colors, light, sound, energy, and even material existence were being forcibly blurred, mixed, and disrupted, finally heading toward a common end—"Returning to Ruins" and "Void"—speeding forward!

The first to bear the brunt was the huge spatial crack and the dark-purple summoning altar, as well as the Giant Axe Demon Marshal who was desperately fleeing toward the crack but was tightly entangled by the chaotic domain.

*Creak—Crack—! *

The dark-purple summoning altar emitted a terrifying sound that made teeth ache, as if metal and bones were being crushed at the same time. The eight supporting energy pillars cracked and collapsed inch by inch, and the magic fire skulls on top were completely extinguished and turned into fly ash. The countless blasphemous runes on the surface of the altar were like burning paper, curling, charring, and dissipating. The most fatal thing was the pitch-black vortex spinning at the top of the altar—the most violent exit of the spatial crack energy—under the squeezing of the chaotic domain, it began to twist, deform, and collapse inward violently! As if an invisible giant hand was forcibly... pinching together this wound that tore the world!

"No! My altar! The master's channel!" The Giant Axe Demon Marshal let out a roar of despair and madness. He was closest to the crack entrance and bore the most terrifying chaotic squeezing. The heavy bone armor all over his body peeled off and dissipated like weathered rocks, his giant eyes burning with dark-red flames dimmed rapidly, and his massive demonic body "shriveled" and "withered" at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if the foundation of all existence had been extracted. He waved his giant axe madly, slashing out dark-red axe lights that tore through the void, trying to split this invisible chaotic shackle. However, the moment the axe light left his body, it was like a mud cow entering the sea, rapidly swallowed and decomposed by the surrounding chaotic airflow, failing to stir up even a trace of ripples.

"Tribulation is determined, struggle in vain." Lin Xuan's voice passed calmly through the noise of the chaotic domain, clearly entering the consciousness of the Giant Axe Demon Marshal who was about to disintegrate completely. His closing arms did not stop for a moment, and the Chaos Tribulation Pupil reflected the scene of the altar collapsing and the crack twisting, without joy or sorrow.

*Boom, boom, boom—!!! *

The spatial crack finally could not bear the terrifying pressure of internal and external pincers, and began its final collapse! The edges of the pitch-black crack were like a broken mirror, spreading countless fine cracks like spider webs, and chaotic, destructive void turbulence burst out from the cracks! As soon as these turbulences appeared, they were rolled into the chaotic domain, assimilated, and instead accelerated the disintegration of the crack itself!

The dark-purple summoning altar exploded completely in a giant sound of unwillingness, as if billions of wronged souls were screaming at the same time! It turned into countless dark-red fireworks containing filthy demonic energy and spatial fragments, but the next moment, these "fireworks" were all swallowed and annihilated by the shrinking chaotic domain, returning to nothingness.

Having lost the anchoring and energy supply of the altar, the spatial crack, which was already crumbling, was like a broken cloth that had lost its support, and began to shrink and heal rapidly!

"No—!!!" The Giant Axe Demon Marshal let out a final roar full of endless resentment and fear, his demonic body that was about to disintegrate completely exploded, turning into a group of the purest and most violent origin demonic energy, actually not attacking Lin Xuan, but like a poisonous snake returning to the light, lunging at... the center of the spatial crack that was healing rapidly!

He wanted to sacrifice himself at the last moment, using the origin demonic energy of a Spirit Transformation Demon Marshal as a guide, trying to detonate the residual void energy of the crack, creating a destructive spatial collapse, dragging Shattered Star Island and even this sea area to be buried with him!

Lin Xuan's Chaos Tribulation Pupil accelerated its rotation suddenly!

"Stubborn and unyielding."

He joined his right index and middle fingers, pointing into the void toward the violent demonic energy group lunging at the crack.

"Point Tribulation."

A gray mist ray of light, condensed to the extreme and almost imperceptible, arrived later but first, instantly stabbing into the core of that group of origin demonic energy.

No earth-shattering explosion.

That group of origin demonic energy containing the Giant Axe Demon Marshal's final crazy will and all his power, the moment it was touched by the gray light, the violent and chaotic energy operation trajectory inside, as if "flicked" and "corrected" by an invisible hand, pointed to a completely different, more "orderly" yet also more "thorough" end—not an explosion, but... the most extreme "inward" and "collapse"!

The demonic energy group shrank inward violently, from an irregular sphere, collapsing into a "point" that was tiny to the extreme, emitting absolute darkness and void aura, and subsequently, this "point" silently... disappeared. Along with the last will and trace of existence of the Giant Axe Demon Marshal, it was forcibly "defined" as "non-existent" by the Chaos Tribulation Force.

At this point, the three great Demon Marshals guarding the altar were all executed!

And the spatial crack that had lost its last obstacle, under the continuous squeezing of the chaotic domain and the thorough disconnection of the internal energy source, finally emitted a low hum like a sigh of the world, and completely healed and disappeared.

In the sky, only a piece of airspace whose color was slightly turbid and gradually calming remained, as well as the chaotic airflow that was slowly dissipating, proving that there had been a terrifying wound that tore the world here.

The southeast sky of Shattered Star Island returned to... relative normality. Although it was still polluted by demonic energy and blood, the terrifying spatial tearing sensation and the pressure of the Demon Abyss reinforcements that were surging out continuously suddenly disappeared.

On the battlefield, both Alliance cultivators and Demon Abyss demonic objects were stunned for an instant because of this sudden drastic change.

Immediately following, cheers that shook the sky and roars of despair erupted simultaneously!

"The crack closed! The altar was destroyed! The Demon Marshal is dead!"

"Supplicant Lin! It was Supplicant Lin who made the move!"

"Heaven bless the Alliance! Kill! Drive these demonic cubs back to their hometown!"

The Alliance side's morale was greatly boosted, and the cultivators who were originally exhausted from the bitter battle were like injecting a shot of adrenaline, and the offensive suddenly became sharp.

On the contrary, the Demon Abyss side, having lost the stable rear support channel and witnessing the destruction of three great Demon Marshals (especially the Spirit Transformation Giant Axe Demon Marshal) so easily, their military heart wavered instantly. Many low-level demonic objects began to fall into chaos, and some more intelligent demonic cultivators even had the intention to retreat, and the offensive was no longer as fearless as before.

In the high altitude, the three Demon Abyss Spirit Transformation Demon Marshals (incarnation projection) who were originally entangled with Wei Gong, seeing the channel destroyed, the altar destroyed, and the high-end combat power of their own side lost instantly, knew that it was not feasible, and simultaneously let out a roar of anger and unwillingness, the phantom began to become blurry and fade, clearly preparing to withdraw the projection and abandon this action.

"Hmph! Want to come and go as you please? Where is it so easy!" Wei Gong's hair and beard stood on end, dragon energy erupted, and seizing the moment when the opponent's mind was wavering and the projection was unstable, he pushed both palms forward!

"Imperial Supreme World-Suppressing Seal!"

A giant dragon seal with brilliant golden light, entangled with nine dragon-shaped Qi, condensed out of thin air, carrying the majestic imperial power to suppress mountains and rivers and rule the world, and printed fiercely toward the three fading Demon Marshal phantoms!

*Boom!!! *

Golden light flashed, demonic energy dissipated! The three phantoms emitted muffled groans, becoming more illusory, and one of them was even directly shattered by more than half, leaving only a little dim demonic thought fleeing into the void in a panic, disappearing without a trace. Clearly, even if it was just the projection being damaged, it was by no means without cost to its main body.

Wei Gong did not pursue, he knew these were just incarnation projections, difficult to kill completely. The top priority was to clear the remaining enemies on the island and stabilize the situation. He swept his gaze across the battlefield, seeing Lin Xuan slowly retracting the chaotic domain, nodding slightly toward this side.

"Order! All departments do their best to clear the remaining enemies, restore the formation, and treat the wounded! Elder Lingshuang, Elder Yangang, cooperate with Eunuch Wei to stabilize the whole island as soon as possible!" Wei Gong's loud voice resounded through the battlefield again.

Following the order, Alliance cultivators began to organize to divide and encircle the Demon Abyss remnants who had lost unified command and reinforcements. The battle situation began to tilt toward one side.

Lin Xuan did not participate in the subsequent clearing. He closed the crack, killed the Demon Marshal, and performed the Chaos Returning to Ruins Tribulation, which seemed easy, but for him who had just awakened and whose Dao foundation was not yet completely stable, the consumption was also huge. At this moment, his face was several points paler than before, and the chaotic light halo around him was also somewhat dim.

He took one last look at the battlefield that was gradually recovering order, his figure flickered, and he had already returned to the Star-Fixing Hall.

In the hall, Zhao Yuan was still unconscious beside the jade pool, but his aura had stabilized a lot, and under the nourishment of the chaotic aura's lingering rhyme, the cracks in the Nascent Soul stopped expanding, and even faintly showed signs of healing. It was just that his brows were slightly furrowed, and he seemed to be experiencing something in the depths of his consciousness.

Lin Xuan walked to his side, the Chaos Tribulation Pupil swept over, and his brows furrowed. He could clearly "see" that the "Demon Seed" heavily sealed in Zhao Yuan's consciousness sea, although temporarily dormant due to the shock of the external Chaos Tribulation Force, its "roots" seemed to be combined more closely with Zhao Yuan's Nascent Soul and part of his inheritance memory. When he was healing just now, this "Demon Seed" actually took the opportunity to absorb a wisp of the extremely weak chaotic airflow he dissipated? Although it was immediately suppressed by sword intent and star power, this was by no means a good sign.

"This object has become a heart-trouble, must be solved as soon as possible." Lin Xuan thought to himself. With his current state, if he wanted to forcibly remove the Demon Seed for Zhao Yuan with Chaos Tribulation Force, the risk was huge, and it was very likely to damage Zhao Yuan's foundation, or even trigger a desperate backlash of the Demon Seed, polluting his Dao foundation. A safer method was needed, perhaps... the origin purification power of that "Star Essence" fragment, combined with specific formations and Zhao Yuan's own sword intent...

At this moment, mutation occurred again!

It did not come from the outside world, but from... Zhao Yuan himself!

Zhao Yuan, who was in a coma, suddenly trembled violently, the veins on his forehead burst, and beads of sweat continued to seep out. His hand tightly gripping "Silent Shadow," his knuckles turned white due to force. He emitted an unconscious, extremely painful muffled groan from his mouth.

At the same time, an extremely subtle, yet filled with resentment, madness, and greed dark-purple intent fluctuation, like a poisonous snake breaking through the seal, suddenly erupted from his brow (consciousness sea position)! This intent was not an attack, but... a strong, directional "call" and "resonance"!

Its target was not anyone in the hall.

But... deep underground on Shattered Star Island! That—Returning to Ruins Sea Eye—which had been attempted to be used by the Demon Abyss, and although the threat was slightly reduced, it was still surging with filthy energy!

More accurately, deep in the sea eye, that "Blood Fiend Resentment" and "Decaying Star Fiend" that were still slowly emitting after the destruction of the Blood Skeleton Star God remains!

This "Demon Seed" actually took advantage of the moment when Zhao Yuan's mind was most vulnerable due to severe injury and coma, forcibly triggered its own origin partially fused with Zhao Yuan, and issued an... evil resonance... pointing directly at the Returning to Ruins Sea Eye, spanning more than half of Shattered Star Island!

What did it want to do? Trigger sea eye mutation? Summon residual filthy power? Or... send a signal to other backhands of the Demon Abyss that might be lurking deeper?

"Evil obstacle! How dare you!"

Cold light flashed in Lin Xuan's eyes, and his reaction was extremely fast. He joined fingers like a sword, and a wisp of condensed Chaos Tribulation Force instantly pointed at Zhao Yuan's brow, like the strongest gate, forcibly cutting off the spread and resonance of that evil intent!

However, the resonance fluctuation of that instant had already been transmitted!

Almost at the same time.

Deep in Shattered Star Island, the formation center responsible for monitoring the Returning to Ruins Sea Eye energy, the ear-piercing alarm sounded suddenly! On the monitoring magic disk, the index representing the stability of the sea eye core energy fell madly downward! A chaotic and violent energy pulse, mixed with blood fiend and decaying star fiend, was like a waking beast, slowly raising its head from the depths of the sea eye!

Although because of the distance and the timely blocking of the Chaos Tribulation Force, this pulse did not form a true catastrophic eruption, but the "restlessness" and "response" signal it transmitted clearly showed—deep in the Returning to Ruins Sea Eye, there was still something that had a hidden connection with the "Demon Seed" in Zhao Yuan's consciousness sea, or more accurately, with some kind of arrangement of the Demon Abyss...

"Sea Eye... has another movement!" The Star Palace cultivator responsible for monitoring exclaimed in horror, "Energy nature... has a weak match with some 'Rebirth Sect' evil power and 'Fallen Star Ruins' pollution characteristics recorded before!"

The news reached Wei Gong and Lin Xuan here for the first time.

Wei Gong's face was livid, and his heart, which had just eased slightly because of repelling the Demon Abyss main force, sank again. One wave had not subsided, and another had risen! The infiltration and backhands of the Demon Abyss were simply pervasive!

Lin Xuan looked at Zhao Yuan who was still struggling in pain in the coma, and "looked" toward the direction of the island's depths that transmitted a hidden restlessness, and in the Chaos Tribulation Pupil, the gray mist vortices slowly spun, as if deducing something.

He realized that the "Demon Seed" in Zhao Yuan's consciousness sea and the hidden danger that might exist deep in the Returning to Ruins Sea Eye were likely deep-level dark chess pieces buried by the Demon Abyss long ago, which were interconnected. The exploration of the Fallen Star Ruins and the defense of Shattered Star Island before might just be appearances.

The real crisis might have just begun.

And the key to solving all this might be on Zhao Yuan, on how to safely remove that "Demon Seed" and cut off its connection with the Returning to Ruins Sea Eye.

But before that, Zhao Yuan's state must be stabilized immediately to prevent the Demon Seed from moving again.

Lin Xuan no longer hesitated, both hands pressed on Zhao Yuan's head and dantian, and pure and gentle Chaos Tribulation Force was slowly injected, helping him calm the churning blood and consciousness sea, and reinforcing the seal that was on the verge of collapse. At the same time, he transmitted to Wei Gong:

"Wei Gong, the hidden danger in Zhao Yuan's body and the sea eye movement may be related. It is necessary to immediately strengthen the monitoring and suppression of the sea eye. After Zhao Yuan stabilizes slightly, we need to explore the sea eye again to find out the root cause."

Outside the hall, the night was getting deeper, and the war fires on Shattered Star Island were gradually extinguishing, but a heavier and more hidden sense of crisis was quietly permeating like a deep-sea undercurrent.

Chaos returns, tribulation waves are not yet flat. Under the deeper water surface, shadows... are re-gathering. ===== CHAPTER 165 =====