Destructive energy gathered wildly within the guardian's twisted crystal, like a rapidly expanding black hole radiating a terrifying suction force powerful enough to devour souls.
Space throughout the sacrificial hall shuddered violently. The ancient murals on the walls seemed to come alive, their light and shadows twisting as they let out silent wails.
The Domain Prototypes of Xiao Han's two Martial Souls were like two tiny boats in a raging storm, teetering on the verge of collapse under the pressure spilling from the guardian.
The Green Lotus Domain's emerald light flickered erratically, while darkness surged ceaselessly through the Eternal Night Domain. Fine cracks of energy had even appeared where the two met.
"Pfft!" Xiao Han spat out another mouthful of blood, his face as pale as paper.
Stubborn gray-black energy lingered around the wounds on his shoulder, grazed earlier by a shadow ray, and his back, slashed open by a bone blade. Like maggots burrowing into bone, it relentlessly ate away at his life force.
Even with the Chaos Green Lotus pouring its vast life force into him, it could barely keep his injuries from worsening. Its speed of repair was nowhere near fast enough to keep up with the destruction.
This was the Martial Grandmaster Realm! The power of a Domain could already begin to draw upon the power of heaven and earth. Every movement carried suppression on the level of rules, far beyond anything the Martial Master Realm could match!
Yet at this very moment, on the razor's edge between life and death, a sudden change occurred!
When the phantoms of the two god-tier Martial Souls, the Chaos Green Lotus and the Eternal Night Monarch, fully solidified and unleashed their most primordial auras.
The guardian, which had remained as indifferent as a machine, paused slightly, its face smooth and still. For an instant, the flickering light of the constantly twisting black crystal at its center fell out of rhythm!
An exceedingly faint but unmistakable emotion of surprise rippled through the guardian's otherwise untroubled aura, like a pebble tossed into a still lake.
Did it seem... stunned?
Though it lasted only an instant, even shorter than a blink, to Xiao Han, who had heightened his spiritual perception to its limit and was constantly hovering on the brink of life and death, it was as clear as lightning in the night!
This thing... has intelligence? The absurd thought flashed through Xiao Han's mind, but his instinct to survive had already overridden everything else!
An opening! Now!
Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Han recklessly squeezed out every last trace of spiritual power left in his body, along with the power his two Martial Souls had just gathered!
"A Step to the Ends of the Earth!"
His figure slipped like a ghost into the shadows beneath his feet, which had grown deeper because of the Eternal Night Domain.
Rather than fleeing in a straight line, he moved at an angle that completely defied the laws of physics, appearing behind the guardian's flank as if he had teleported!
At the same time, the Eternal Night King Martial Soul resonated even more strongly with the darkness and spatial energy deep within the ruins!
Threads of incomparably pure energy seemed to have found an outlet. They gathered of their own accord toward the Eternal Night Monarch, merging into his phantom.
Xiao Han felt his connection to this distorted space deepen slightly. His movement technique, which had been extremely unstable under the guardian's pressure, actually became somewhat smoother in that instant, allowing him to narrowly escape the targeting range of the destructive energy core that was about to erupt!
"Break!"
A hoarse roar burst from the depths of Xiao Han's throat!
He did not choose to flee. Instead, he poured all his strength, all his will, all his unwillingness and madness into his right fist!
"Annihilation Divine Fist!"
This time, it was no longer just a gray aura of annihilation gathering around his fist. A strand of purer, deeper power of darkness from the Eternal Night Monarch had merged into it! Even the Chaos Green Lotus sent a trace of its primordial power of purification winding around it!
Life and death, light and darkness, creation and annihilation!
On Xiao Han's fist, these utterly opposing powers fused for an instant in a bizarre and extremely unstable manner!
This punch embodied all his spirit, energy, and vitality at this moment, his understanding of life and death, and his determination to defy heaven and change his fate!
Its target was the black crystal at the center of the guardian's smooth face, still flickering faintly, as though a trace of "surprise" lingered within it!
The guardian clearly had not expected this dying "ant" not only to pass up the chance to flee, but to dare launch an attack against it!
The energy fluctuations that had just subsided surged up again, but it was a fraction too late!
Boom!!!
His fist slammed squarely into the black crystal in the guardian's chest!
There was no earthshaking explosion, nor did energy run rampant as expected.
The anticipated blast never came. The black crystal was far tougher than Xiao Han had imagined.
But!
The strange fusion of the three powers in his fist—annihilation, darkness, and purification—poured madly into it through the point of contact, like the deadliest of poisons!
"Crack..."
An extremely faint, crisp sound came from within the black crystal, clearly audible in the deathly silent hall!
The guardian's body, formed of pure shadow, abruptly stiffened!
Its smooth face twisted violently, as though it were suffering unimaginable pain!
The light on the surface of the black crystal at its center rippled violently, like a lake struck by a pebble. Then a hair-thin crack spread from the center of the crystal!
Though tiny, it was unquestionably a crack!
"Roar!!!"
A roar erupted from within the guardian. It was no longer the inhuman, beastless shriek from before, but a bellow filled with fury and pain!
An energy storm, far more violent and chaotic than before, swept out with a crash, centered on the guardian!
Pfft!
Xiao Han was struck as though by an invisible giant hammer. Blood sprayed wildly from his mouth while he was still in midair, and his body flew backward like a kite with its string cut. He slammed into a ruined stone pillar in the distance, then tumbled to the ground.
Every bone in his body felt broken, his internal organs as though they had been knocked out of place. His vision repeatedly went black.
Had the Chaos Green Lotus not immediately burst forth with an unprecedented green light of life, enveloping his entire body and frantically repairing it, that impact might have killed him!
"Cough, cough... cough..." Xiao Han coughed violently, each cough bringing up fragments of his organs and clots of blood, yet his eyes shone with the excitement and madness of surviving a brush with death!
It worked!
Though the price had been heavy, his punch had unquestionably wounded the guardian's core!
That crack was proof!
This beast was not invincible!
Meanwhile, the guardian finally recovered from its brief loss of control. It lowered its head and glanced at the tiny crack in the crystal on its chest, its smooth face twisting into an even more hideous expression.
It had been utterly enraged!
Before, it might have regarded Xiao Han as a slightly unusual intruder who needed to be eliminated.
But now, this ant had actually wounded it! This was a desecration of its very existence!
For the first time, a trace of... icy killing intent entered the guardian's indifferent aura! This was no longer about elimination, but complete obliteration, without leaving a trace!