The instant Ren Xiaoyao's toes stepped into the crack.
The Primordial Chaos light around him suddenly contracted into a flowing star vortex, and the surface of the vortex showed the light and shadow of the birth and death of countless realms—the Xuan Shui Mysterious Water Giant Whale of the Canglan Realm was swimming back to the temple against the flow of time, and when its fins cut through the water curtain, what it shook off were not water droplets, but the memories of the realm that had condensed into Ice Crystals; the Thunder Spirit Vein of the Xuanxiao Realm burst out with sparks of rebirth at the point of collapse, and each spark exploded into fine Stardust, piecing together an unfinished Realm Protection Incantation on the membrane of Space-time Membrane.
Like Liquid Mercury Silver, he was enveloped as he passed through the Space-time Membrane. From the other side of the membrane came the roar of the Beginning of Chaos, the aftershock of Pangu Axe cleaving through Void, mixed with the mournful cries of countless realms being annihilated—some as tender as an infant's cry, some as hoarse as an ancient bell corroding, and others like the trembling of a string before it snaps, etching indelible cracks on the eardrums.
When I opened my eyes again.
Their feet were already embedded in the jagged, dark Ink Crystal Rock Formation. Crystals between the rocks refracted Ethereal Blue Ghost Fire, each flame reflecting a distorted face: some were fishermen who had drowned in the Canglan Realm, their fishing nets still tangled in their wrists; others were cultivators from the Xuanxiao Realm who had collapsed during a mountain collapse, fragments of Law Treasure embedded in their skulls. The dense cracks on the rock surface resembled countless fragments of shattered realms. Fluorescent viscous fluid seeping from the depths of the cracks pulsated at a frequency of once every three breaths, each contraction emitting a faint, thread-like sob, outlining countless distorted crying faces in the leaden-gray miasma. The outlines of those crying faces were exactly the same as those of the drowned ancestors of the Canglan Realm, even the direction of the tear tracks at the corners of their eyes were identical.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of rusted Mysterious Iron mixed with the Soul-Burning Incense. The fragments of Mysterious Iron came from the remains of divine weapons from the Destroyed Realm—one fragment still bore the inscription " Zhenlan," the sword of the Guardians of the Canglan Realm; the Soul-Burning Incense was the sacrificial smoke used by evil cultivators to refine remnant souls. The smoke particles were dark red, each containing a fragment of lingering spiritual consciousness, which refracted the words "Save me" in the sunlight.
With each breath, it felt as if tiny metal fragments were scraping across his throat, the fragments still bearing the last prayers of the realm before its destruction. Ren Xiaoyao tasted a salty, fishy flavor on his tongue; it was the blood and foam mixed with seawater that the last water god of the Canglan Realm swallowed when he drowned.
"An ant that can make the Space-time Seal manifest..."
A sound like a broken gong came from behind the rocks, and the sound waves shook the Ink Crystal Rock Formation, causing it to fall into fragments. Each fragment turned into a miniature boundary tombstone, with different boundary names engraved on the tombstone: "Canglan Xuanxiao Nine Netherworlds ". A crow made of condensed mucus perched on the top of the tombstone, preening its chain-like feathers with its beak.
The Gray-Robed Old Daoist in gray robes leaned on Dragon Head Cane. The dragon eyes at the top of the cane were not gemstones, but two solidified Realm Core —the right eye sealed with the thunderous essence of the Xuanxiao Realm, which would emit a muffled sound of rolling Thunder Clouds when it flickered; the left eye was inlaid with Netherflame Crystals from the Nine Netherworld Realm, and the dark flames licked the dragon pupil, dyeing the whites of the old Daoist priest's eyes charred.
The dim light from the dragon eye at the head of the staff swept across the bottom of Ren Xiaoyao's sleeves like a searchlight. The dim light was mixed with the reverse flow of time and space when the realm was annihilated. Ren Xiaoyao saw the shadow of his star wheel distorted in the light flow, and the twelve star tracks actually reversed into the strokes of the word "annihilation".
There, the phantom of the Twelve Star Wheels trembled gently with each breath. Each star track of the star Star Orbit flowed with the faint light of the Realm Origin, reflecting the shattered " Boundary Severing Hexagram " in the old Daoist's pupils. The hexagram text should have been "Yuan Heng Li Zhen," but it was covered by the three blood-red words " Extinction Burial Tribulation."
The skull runes on the corner of the old Daoist robe suddenly came to life. Dark purple viscous liquid spurted from the eye sockets of each skull. When the liquid landed, it condensed into countless black beetles wrapped in chains. The beetles' legs were engraved with densely packed small characters—all of which were the death toll when the realm was destroyed. The Blood Characters " Canglan Realm: 137,209" were repeatedly burned on the beetle shells, leaving charred dents.
The incomplete " Boundary Severing Hexagram " lines carved on the insect's shell resonated with the seal between Ren Xiaoyao's brows. The blood beads seeping from the gaps in the lines were actually fragments of Realm Protection Incantation written in the blood of the Canglan Realm's ancestors. Each drop of blood blossomed into a black lotus flower, its petals inscribed with the words "When the sea overflows, may future generations..." written in the realm's Spirit Vein.
You think you can trap me with such a paltry trick?
Runes spun at Ren Xiaoyao's fingertips, and Star Wheel Light Shield, as clear as Glazed Ice, stretched across his front. The shield's surface was adorned with Tai Chi Pattern in ancient seal script, representing "birth and death." The Yang fish eye was the Mysterious Water Pearl from the Canglan Realm, and the Yin fish eye was the Thunder Core from the Xuanxiao Realm. The two streams of energy intertwined on the shield's surface, forming a vortex that resisted the World-Ending Power.
The moment the first beetle struck the shield, he heard a faint, mosquito-like wail, a sound carrying the salty, fishy scent of fragments of Spirit Vein: "The seawater of the Canglan Realm... is so cold..." The last syllable of the voice trailed off, like the sound of a drowning person's last exhaled bubbles bursting.
Immediately afterwards, hundreds and thousands of voices flooded into his mind, each carrying Law Fragments that had governed the destruction of his realm. " The Spirit Vein of the Xuanxiao Realm are collapsing!" accompanied by the deafening roar of mountains collapsing and the earth splitting apart; "Our realm... is dying..." interspersed with the cries of infants.
These cries for help from the remnants of the realm seeped into the gaps in the light shield along with the swarm of insects, turning into cold, fine needles that pierced the soul, causing fine cracks to appear on Ren Xiaoyao's Star Wheel Light Shield. Each crack corresponded to a dim star on the star wheel, with the crack on " Canglan Star " being the deepest, like a glacier cleaved by Giant Axe.
Upon seeing this, the old Daoist let out a strange laugh like a broken gong, a sound like a realm collapsing rolling from his throat. The laughter caused the fluorescent slime in the rock crevices to boil violently, and countless finger marks of drowning people appeared on the surface of the slime, those fingers futilely scratching at the invisible water. "Did you hear that? These are all the realm spirits that I have refined into insects, each insect a story of extinction!"
Before the words were finished, the dragon's mouth at the top of the cane suddenly split open with three rings of backward teeth, spewing out a swarm of insects mixed with Golden Patterns. Those patterns were Annihilation Curse drawn with the Essence Blood of the realm's Spirit Vein. Each Dao Patterns was writhing, like centipedes devouring spiritual consciousness.
The runes on the wing membranes interlocked, weaving three layers of blood-red cages in mid-air. The viscous fluid seeping from the cage walls contained fragments of the consciousness of the remnant souls of the realms. If you looked closely, you could see the fragments repeatedly playing the final scenes of the realms' destruction: the temples of the Canglan Realm collapsed in the flood, and the Xuanxiao Realm were shattered into dust by lightning.
The viscous liquid seeping from the cage walls touched the rocks and immediately corroded them, leaving countless indentations resembling human faces. Each indentation seemed to be screaming silently, and the screams converged into a sonic weapon that resonated even Ren Xiaoyao's Spirit Root, as if he were personally witnessing the Heavenly Tribulation of the realm's destruction—he saw himself standing on the shore of the Canglan Realm, watching the carcass of the Mysterious Water Giant Whale being pushed ashore by the waves, its eyes still wide open, gazing at the sky.
Ren Xiaoyao spun around to avoid the swarm of insects, and the Star Wheel Light Shield suddenly expanded into a protective barrier. The guardian Totems of the Three Thousand Realms appeared on the shield wall, and the Divine Beast in the Totems were all shedding tears: the Mystic Turtle of the Canglan Realm used its shell to block the flood, and the Thunder Eagle of the Xuanxiao Realm spread its wings to resist the lightning. Every tear turned into a reinforcing rune for the light shield.
But the old Daoist's figure moved through the swarm of insects Ruyan. The arc of his cane created a thick blood mist, in which countless fragments of the Realm Core floated. Each fragment was engraved with the name of the vanished realm. On the fragment with the words "Canglan", there were still scratch marks from the water god's fingernails.
"Taste the 'Spear of Ten Thousand Realms Withered Bone Spear '!"
The blood mist landed and transformed into thousands of spear-wielding ghostly figures. The spearheads were actually the wailing faces of beings from the realm, with fragments of light still seeping from their eyes when their Spirit Vein broke. These fragments formed the final Star Map before the realm's destruction—on the Star Map of the Canglan Realm, the star representing the Water God was falling, trailing long blood tails.
Ren Xiaoyao swung the Chaos Axe, its illusory form cleaving through the array of ghostly figures. Yet, the axe blade trembled with a chilling intensity. As one of the ghostly figures thrust forward, he clearly saw the Xuan Water of the Canglan Realm pouring back into the collapsing temple. He heard the thunderous roar of the Xuanxiao Realm, as if a mountain had been shattered. His nostrils were filled with the unique acrid smell of a realm's destruction. These sensory shocks were as real as if they had actually happened, imprinted deep within his soul. He could barely hold the Chaos Axe; his knuckles turned white from the force, and the two characters " World-Opening Technique " on the axe handle were soaked with cold sweat, emanating a faint golden light.
"You've been immersed in the Realm Graveyard for a long time."
Ren Xiaoyao spoke in a deep voice, his voice resonating with the vibrations of the Star Wheel. Each word struck the old Daoist's incantation like a heavy hammer. As the Star Wheel spun in reverse from his sleeve, chains of light were flung out. The chains of light were engraved with the true meaning of the Heavenly Dao, " Realm Rebirth," and each character was glowing, like a star in the night sky.
The black banner that the old Daoist priest threw was precisely entangled. The banner was not made of ordinary material, but woven from the obsessions of countless remnant souls from various realms. Countless painful faces could be seen in the fabric. Their mouths opened and closed, but they could not make a sound. They could only convey despair through their eyes.
The hundreds of remnant souls of the realms that emerged on the banner suddenly let out a shrill cry, unleashing a world-destroying spectacle that tore through the void like blades of light. Each beam of light carried Law Fragments governing the destruction of the realms: the sunken Mysterious Water Giant Whale smashed the coral temple, its teeth still wedged into the temple's beams; the collapsing Floating Immortal Mountain crushed the thunder array, and the Stone Steps of the immortal mountain were engraved with the fragmented characters "Suspended Nine Heavens ".
The old Daoist priest grinned maliciously and shook the banner. The illusory image of the giant whale from the Canglan Realm pierced through the light chain and slammed its cracked forehead into Ren Xiaoyao's chest. Ren Xiaoyao felt a sweet taste in his throat, and the blood that spilled from the corner of his mouth condensed in the air into tiny fragments of the realm. Within these fragments, one could still see the final prayer gestures of the realm's inhabitants—some with their hands clasped together, some raising their magical artifacts, and some simply stretching their arms futilely towards the sky. These gestures were being slowly erased by the Annihilation Power, like rain washing away sand paintings.
"I have long ago refined the Mysterious Water Essence into a curse seal,"
The old Daoist pointed to the blood-red curse mark on his chest, which was shining brightly like a heart. The reverse energy of the Realm Origin flowed within the curse mark's patterns, and each Dao Patterns was devouring the life force that approached. A vortex was formed where the patterns intersected, and in the center of the vortex, one could vaguely see the painful face of the Canglan Realm's Water God when he was being refined.
"Do you really think that black serpent Shi Jie realm all by itself?"
A metallic liquid seeped from the cursed patterns. The liquid was actually a poisonous mixture of the Realm Origin and evil magic. Upon landing, it transformed into Miniature Hourglass. The hourglass bottles were engraved with the words " Canglan Realm - Annihilation". The sand inside the bottles was black, and each grain contained the remnant soul of the Water God.
As the quicksand swirls in reverse, it reflects a reversed image of the destruction of the Canglan Realm, like a sorrowful silent film: shattered temple bricks return to their original positions, each brick automatically piecing itself together, the gaps seeping not of cement, but the blood of the Water God; a sunken whale resurfaces, its fin wounds healing at a visible speed, leaving gruesome scars at the healing sites. Deep within the image, countless transparent hands emerge from Space-time Rift, each clutching half of a burning Realm Core, bearing the claw marks from resisting the black serpent, their fingernails embedded with realm soil—soil that, when wet, blossoms into blue flowers—the national flower of the Canglan Realm, the " Water Shadow Orchid."
Ren Xiaoyao shattered the hourglass with his Star Wheel Light Shield. The moment the light shield collided with the hourglass, it emitted a bell-like sound, similar to the Realm Rebirth. The long and clear "Dong--" sound was accompanied by the feeling of cold incantations seeping into the cracks of his Spirit Root. Those incantations formed Evil Formation of "realm destruction" in his meridians. Each character was gnawing at his connection with the realm, reminding him of the stinging pain he felt when he was a child on the shore of the Canglan Realm, when he was cut by a seashell. Only this time, the pain came from the depths of his soul.
The old Daoist priest laughed wildly, the sound waves causing surrounding rocks to crumble and fall. The viscous liquid seeping from the cracks resonated, forming a miniature model of Realm Graveyard: in the center was a black Altar, surrounded by boundary tombstones made of solidified viscous liquid. Before the tombstone of the " Canglan Realm " lay a wreath made of fluorescent viscous liquid. "That's the ' Realm-Destruction Curse,' each incantation corresponding to a dim star on the star wheel under your sleeve!"
He pointed to the black Altar deep in the clouds, surrounded by a forest of Altar made of remnants of realms. Each stele was inscribed with the name of a vanished realm. On the stele of " Canglan Realm " were still-wet Blood Characters: "The Water God is dead, the realm No Existence." "See the half-seal at the top? When all the remnant soul contracts are completed, your Space-time Seal will become a tombstone in the Realm Graveyard, inscribed with the names of the realms you were powerless to protect, each word written in the blood of those realms!" The old Daoist's voice was filled with manic laughter, as if he could already see that day.
Before he finished speaking, the old Daoist suddenly plunged his cane into the curse mark on his chest. In a burst of Blood Light, his limbs transformed into bat wings covered with boundary runes. Those runes were constantly Shi Jie. Each rune corresponded to a Annihilation Law. When the runes flickered, Ren Xiaoyao could see scenes of different boundaries being destroyed flowing on the old Daoist's body.
The head split into three skulls, each engraved with the words " Extinction Burial Tribulation." Deep within the eye sockets of each skull burned the Karmic Fire of annihilation, revealing countless scenes of destruction: within the skull with the character "Extinction" was the Canglan Realm submerged by floods, within the skull with the character "Burying" was the Xuanxiao Realm shattered by lightning, and within the skull with the character "Calamity" was the Nine Netherworld Realm burned by Netherfire.
The skeleton on the left opened its mouth, spitting out black fire like tarsal maggots. When it touched the star wheel light shield, it made the sound of shattering glass. The black fire was also mixed with screams that shattered the laws of the realm. Each scream was disintegrating the defense of the light shield, making the seal script of "" on the light shield gradually blurred.
The white mist exhaled by the right-hand skull was like the chilling air of the Netherworld. Nine Netherworlds fragments of spiritual consciousness condensed in the void into countless tearful faces. Those faces were the likenesses of the ancestors of the Canglan Realm. Their tears froze into Ice Crystals, and each Ice Crystals was engraved with the date of the realm's destruction. The words " Canglan Realm, Yuanqi 3700, Winter" shimmered with a ghostly blue light on the Ice Crystals.
A black beam of light shot out directly from the center of his head. The spacetime inversions flowing on the surface were like small knives, severing Ren Xiaoyao's connection with the Spiritual Qi of the outside world. Each inversion corresponded to a tampered Timeline of a realm, causing his cultivation to recede like the tide. The phantom of the star wheel became fainter and fainter, and only six of the Twelve Star Orbits were still barely glowing.
As the black beam of light, wrapped in the reversed patterns of time and space, struck, Ren Xiaoyao suddenly heard a rapid resonance emanating from the Star Wheel. It was the final cry of the remnant soul of the realm. The " Canglan Realm " Star Orbit on the Star Wheel was bursting with unprecedented light, and within the light emerged a sign of the Realm Rebirth —the phantom of a Mysterious Water Giant Whale was swimming in the Star Orbit. The whale's tail was not splashing water, but rather producing runes that reconstructed the realm.
He risked removing the light shield and clashed the Chaos Axe with the Star Wheel Rune. The resulting golden light, like World-Opening Sword Qi that split the heavens, cleaved the banner. The Sword Qi aura contained the true meaning of the Heavenly Dao of " Realm Rebirth." Each Sword Qi was repairing the annihilated Principle of the realm. Where the Sword Qi passed, the remnant souls on the black banner raised their heads, and the light of hope rekindled in their eyes.
At the same time, he said loudly, "You used the remnants of the realm's souls to forge Evil Artifact, have you ever heard their true cries?" His voice echoed in the sky above the Tianyan Continent, dispersing the lead-gray miasma and revealing a faint ray of light.
The moment the Sword Qi cleaved through the old Daoist's evil magic, the imprisoned remnant soul crystals suddenly burst forth with intense light, spelling out in the void the Blood Characters: " The Canglan Realm is not destroyed, the Xuanxiao Realm awaits rebirth." The Blood Characters contained the realm's unyielding obsession, each word like a burning sword, stuck into the land of the Tianyan Continent.
Ren Xiaoyao then saw clearly that at the bottom of the curse seal, the Realm Origin was transmitting its undying Daoist will in a quantum entanglement state. Each character was resisting the erosion of the evil magic, like a stubbornly burning star in the darkness, never giving up hope even when it was on the verge of being extinguished. He saw that around the blood oath characters of " Canglan Realm " were countless tiny points of light, which were the signals sent by the remnant souls of the realm with their last strength.
"Impossible! The remnant soul should have been refined long ago..."
The old Daoist priest stared in horror as the complete " Boundary Severing Hexagram " appeared on his chest, its six lines guided by the remnants of a annihilated realm.
The first line is the Mysterious Water Essence of the Canglan Realm. Within this essence, the final battle cry of the Realm Lord is still preserved, a voice that echoes in Ren Xiaoyao's mind. "As long as Canglan exists, the Water God will never die!"
The second line represents the Lightning Spirit Marrow of the Xuanxiao Realm. Sealed within the essence is a warning from the Heavenly Dao when the Lightning Tribulation descended, with the warning text flashing within the incantation. "The thunder has not yet subsided, the realm still exists!"
The Three Lines are like Mechanical Gears in the Techno-Cultivation Realm, with an unsent distress signal stuck between them. The signal code translates to. "Coordinates locked, awaiting rescue!"
The fourth Yao is the crystallization of the underworld fire in the Nine Nether Realm. The crystal is burning with the eternal flame of revenge. The shape of the flame is the word "Fu", which represents revenge and rebirth.
The fifth line is the Dragon Blood Essence from the Primordial Realm. The essence flows with the protective will of the High Antiquity Divine Dragon, Dragon Might transforms into a golden light, forming a protective shield within the curse seal.
The top line was actually the scales of the Creation Black Snake, and the scales were engraved with the truth mark of the Black Serpent being controlled. The mark pattern showed that there was a curse mark at the seven-inch mark of the Black Serpent, which was exactly the same as the curse mark on the old Daoist's chest.
At the center of the hexagram, the phantom of half a Space-time Seal resonated strongly with the seal between Ren Xiaoyao's eyebrows. The burst of light washed away the evil magic within the Dao Body. A complete map of the Realm Rebirth emerged from the light, with the rebirth nodes of the Three Thousand Realms marked on the map. Next to the node of " Canglan Realm " was a conspicuous asterisk.
Ren Xiaoyao seized the opportunity to close in, pressing the Chaos Axe against the old Daoist's throat. The " World Creation " engraving on the axe blade burst forth with boundless light, within which the illusion of Pangu's Sky-Opening and Earth-Splitting appeared. The Star Wheel spun rapidly under his sleeve, turning the information probed by the Soul Searching Technique into light patterns.
The light patterns revealed the true history of the Tianyan Continent —ten thousand years ago, this place was a boundary hub, with the Origin Lighthouse of Three Thousand Realms realms suspended above it. The " Grave Diggers " organization to which the old Daoist belonged used the remnants of realm souls as a blood sacrifice to refine the beacon into Altar that drew life force, and the Chaos Black Snake was merely the key they controlled. Ren Xiaoyao's Star Wheel swept across the depths of the old Daoist's sea of consciousness and saw that the core of the Altar locked a complete Space-time Seal, with the four characters " Eternal Passage to the Profound " seeping out of the Realm Origin, nourishing all the evil arts in the graveyard.
" The Tianyan Continent was originally the hub where the Three Thousand Realms converged, but it has been turned into a graveyard by you scum—but you missed one point," Ren Xiaoyao's axe blade trembled slightly, causing the old Daoist to let out a broken gong-like hiss, "The more the remnant souls of the realms are oppressed, the stronger their will to be reborn becomes! Look at this hexagram, all six lines are moving, clearly a sign of the Realm Rebirth!" Suddenly, twelve beams of light burst forth from the star wheel under his sleeve, accurately striking the six lines of the hexagram. The Canglan Realm Mysterious Water Essence of the Canglan Realm turned into liquid in the beams of light, re-condensing into the phantom of the Water God, holding the burning Realm Core in his hand.
The old Daoist priest stared at the illusory image of the Space-time Seal flickering between Ren Xiaoyao's brows, then suddenly let out a desperate, maniacal laugh. The laugh was laced with blood, and the blood, falling to the ground, blossomed into black Other Shore Flower. The petals were inscribed with the words "Inescapable Calamity" in the Spirit Vein of the realm. "Kill me! The seal in the Altar has long been intertwined with the Realm Graveyard. The secret within you... will eventually attract the true Grave Diggers!" Suddenly, countless faces appeared on the curse mark on his chest, all of them those of the refined realm lords. Their mouths opened simultaneously, emitting deafening howls. "Save us..."
Before he finished speaking, the curse mark on his chest exploded, transforming into thousands of Blood Runes burrowed into Ren Xiaoyao's meridians. The runes carried a power that corroded the soul, yet under the wash of the starlight, they revealed a distress signal written at the bottom layer using the Realm Origin. Within those distorted contract runes, the remnant souls of Three Thousand Realms formed a Star Map with Spirit Vein blood oaths—nine stars shone brightly at the location of the Canglan Realm, a sign from the Water God's legend of "the nine stars returning to their positions, the Realm Rebirth."
Ren Xiaoyao closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds of the realm flowing through his meridians. At first, it was a mournful cry mixed with seawater and thunder, gradually transforming into a neat chant. "The vast ocean has not yet been extinguished, the suspended sky awaits rebirth..." When he opened his eyes again, the star wheel emitted an unprecedentedly strong light, piercing through the leaden gray miasma and forming a huge Star Map above the Tianyan Continent. On the black Altar in the distance, half of the Space-time Seal's phantom image vibrated violently. Between the strokes of the seal's inscription " Eternal Passage to the Profound," the imprisoned remnant souls of the realm transformed into starlight and flew out, gathering at the top of the Altar to form the phantom images of Mysterious Water Giant Whale and Thunder Spirit Eagle. When the giant whale swung its tail, spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the surface of the Altar.
"Look closely—this isn't a graveyard, it's the egg sheath of a realm!" Ren Xiaoyao swung his Chaos Axe, the blade wrapped in starlight as it slashed towards the Altar. What seeped from the split was no longer viscous fluid, but the golden Realm Origin. The old Daoist's mangled body turned to ashes in the light, his eyeballs bursting before he died, his pupils reflecting the image of Ren Xiaoyao's brow seal overlapping with the Altar seal—when the complete Space-time Seal appeared, the miasma of the Tianyan Continent receded like the tide, revealing the Three Thousand Realms remnants suspended deep within, each remnant radiating a faint glow of new life under the starlight.
The moment Ren Xiaoyao's Primordial Chaos stepped into the crevice, the primordial light surrounding him abruptly contracted into a swirling vortex, enveloping him like Liquid Mercury Silver as he passed through the Space-time Membrane. When he opened his eyes again, his feet were already embedded in a jagged Ink Crystal Rock Formation. Fluorescent viscous liquid seeping from the cracks pulsated at an eerie frequency, outlining countless distorted, weeping faces in the leaden-gray miasma. The air was filled with the pungent smell of rusted Mysterious Iron mixed with the Soul-Burning Incense; with each breath, it felt as if tiny metal fragments were scraping against his throat.
"An ant that can make the Space-time Seal manifest..." A sound like a broken gong came from behind the rock. The old Daoist in Gray-Robed Old Daoist leaned on his Dragon Head Cane, the eerie light from the dragon's eye at the top of the cane sweeping across Ren Xiaoyao's sleeve—there, the phantom of the Twelve Star Wheels was trembling gently with each breath, each Star Orbit flowing with the faint light of the Realm Origin. The skull runes on the corner of the old Daoist's robe suddenly came to life, their mouths opening and closing, spilling dark purple viscous liquid, which condensed into countless black beetles wrapped in chains when they landed. The incomplete " Boundary Severing Hexagram " lines engraved on the beetles' shells resonated with the seal between Ren Xiaoyao's eyebrows.