Dark Sky Walker

The aftershocks of the Energy Storm swirled across the gravel beach, whipping up dust that resembled miniature tornadoes that raged across the dark gray expanse. These tornadoes collided, merged, and then suddenly shattered, disturbing every inch of the gravel beach as if trying to turn the land upside down and reshuffle it.

These dust particles, mixed with Stone Powder pulverized by the Gale Wind and remnants of Spiritual Qi from the recent battle, were frozen in mid-air by a sudden chill before they could settle, as if time had been paused. Every grain of dust was clearly visible; the Stone Powder was dark gray, while the Spiritual Qi fragments shimmered with a faint seven-colored light, condensing into tiny Ice Crystals in the cold air, refracting the faint light filtering in from outside the light barrier.

A fine ripple spread across the Chaos Realm before Ren Xiaoyao, spreading outwards like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, gently shaking the newly sprouted plants within. The leaves of these plants still held the Spiritual Qi of morning dew, and sunlight shone through the light barrier onto the dewdrops, refracting into a seven-colored halo. The halo flowed slowly across the leaves, and the tender green buds trembled slightly in the Chaos Current. Each tremor exuded Vibrant Vitality, as if they would sprout from the ground and grow into towering trees in the next second.

Suddenly, a blinding black light tore through the void like tearing silk. The light was so sharp that it seemed to be able to sever the Heaven and Earth Laws. When it cut through the Chaos Current, it made a sharp "sizzling" sound. The sound was shrill and piercing, like someone scratching glass with their fingernails, making people's scalps tingle.

The black light, like a drop of ink falling into clear water, instantly spread a vast expanse of deathly shadow at the edge of the Chaos Realm. The shadow, as if alive, continued to expand outward, swallowing even the light in its wake, leaving only boundless darkness.

Wherever the shadow passed, the newly sprouted grass and trees withered and turned yellow at a visible speed, their leaves curling and scorching, eventually turning into wisps of smoke and dissipating. Even the Spiritual Energy River flowing within the realm began to foam with black foam. The foam expanded and burst, releasing corrosive black gas that permeated the air, eroding the jade-like surface of the riverbed into small pits. These pits continued to expand and connect, forming ugly ravines.

"Heh heh... Such dense Chaos Qi, such pure Spiritual Energy Origin." A chilling laugh seeped from the shadows, like countless venomous snakes rubbing against scales, or rusty iron gnawing at bones. It carried a Bone Erosion cold that pierced the barrier of the Chaos Realm, crashing onto the pebble beach. The resulting fragments of stone froze into ice particles in mid-air, falling to the ground with a crisp "tap-tap" sound. "Ren Xiaoyao, you certainly know how to gather treasures for me."

Ren Xiaoyao whirled around, his spine cracking with a sharp "crack," a sign that he had instantly tensed his body. Every muscle in his body tensed at that moment, ready for battle, his eyes sharp as an eagle's, fixed on the figure slowly emerging from the shadows.

Between the barrier of light and the Void, a figure in black robes slowly solidified from the distorted void. The void around him twisted and deformed continuously, as if his very existence was a desecration of the Law of Space.

The void rippled around him like water, each ripple causing the surrounding Gale Wind to pause for a moment. The Gale Wind seemed to encounter an invisible barrier, detouring around him and daring not to approach his body.

The Blood Runes embroidered along the edge of the black robe flowed like living things. The runes were strangely shaped, like countless struggling creatures nailed to the cloth. They opened their mouths as if they were shouting silently. Each flash left a black trail in the void, a deep and dark trail that seemed to lead to an endless abyss.

Wherever its trajectory passed, even the lingering Spiritual Qi was instantly swallowed up, turning into wisps of black energy that merged into the black robe, making the robe even darker. It seemed to absorb all light, and even the azure light refracted by the light barrier fell on it without any response, as if it had never existed.

The newcomer wore a pointed hood pulled low, obscuring his face in thick, impenetrable shadow, revealing only a pair of eyes burning with Dark Purple Flame. The flames flickered erratically, yet offered no warmth whatsoever.

The flames flickered, but they had no warmth whatsoever; instead, they exuded an icy chill capable of freezing the very soul—a power that could freeze even the very soul. It was as if time itself slowed down wherever the gaze swept over. Under this gaze, all things lost their vitality, becoming stiff and cold.

When those eyes swept over Ren Xiaoyao, it was as if they were appraising something already in their grasp. Greed and savagery intertwined in their eyes, and deep within their pupils, an illusion even appeared of Ren Xiaoyao's very essence being torn apart. In the illusion, Ren Xiaoyao struggled in agony as his essence was extracted bit by bit, turning into pure energy that was absorbed into his body, as if it wanted to devour his flesh, soul, and essence completely, leaving not even bone fragments, and erasing even the traces of his existence.

"Dark Sky Walker?" Ren Xiaoyao's brows furrowed into a deep frown, a vertical line appearing between his eyebrows from the effort. The Golden Chains in his sea of consciousness were humming, the Dragon Phoenix Cloud Pattern on the chains were taut, and even the gaps between the cloud patterns were seeping out a faint golden light. The golden light kept flashing in his sea of consciousness, as if it would burst out of his body at any moment.

He had seen records in Ancient Scroll Fragments that such beings roamed the cracks of the All Heavens and Myriad Worlds, living by plundering the source of life. Wherever they passed, life ceased, rivers stopped flowing, and even stars were drained of their energy and turned to ashes. There were records that a Star Realms was once targeted by the Dark Sky Walker, and in just three days, it went from a place of brilliant Star River to a desolate wasteland. Even meteorites lost their Kinetic Energy and floated motionless in the void, as if the entire Star Realms had been put on pause.

Ren Xiaoyao never expected to encounter such a legendary ferocious creature here. Alarm bells rang in his mind, knowing that the battle to come would be extremely difficult, and might even be life-threatening.

Without a word, the Dark Sky Walker swiftly shrank the distance, as if space itself had been folded beneath his feet, instantly covering a hundred feet in front of Ren Xiaoyao. His movements were as fast as a ghost, leaving no trace, as if he had never moved at all.

He raised his withered, bony right hand, the skin of which clung tightly to the bone, as if devoid of any flesh or blood. His knuckles protruded like ghostly claws, and his nails were jet black with a metallic sheen, gleaming with a chilling aura.

As he bent his five fingers, billowing black mist surged from beneath his black robe. The black mist churned and spread outwards, expanding like a tide. Wherever it passed, the pebbles on the gravel beach were stained with a layer of black, exuding a putrid stench that was nauseating, as if it were the smell of countless rotting corpses.

Countless distorted faces emerged from the black mist—the cries of children, their sobs filled with longing for their mothers and fear of death; the wails of the elderly, expressing their reluctance to leave life and their resentment against fate; the resentment of cultivators, their roars echoing the unfinished path and their thirst for power—each face spoke of the pain and despair of having their origins plundered, the Remnant Souls of Living Beings he had devoured over countless millennia. These souls, bound by the Dark Law, were condemned to eternal damnation, destined only to become a part of his power, struggling in agony.

"Hand over the Chaos Cauldron, offer up your Chaos True Liquid, and let me absorb this Spiritual Energy Origin..." His voice was like rusty iron scraping against each other, each word carrying the harsh sound of metal rubbing together, filled with unquestionable arrogance. His right hand suddenly grabbed at Ren Xiaoyao's dantian, "Perhaps, that will make your death a little more painless."

That was the location of the Chaos Cauldron and the Chaos True Liquid, the treasure he coveted most. The Chaos Origin was the foundation of World Creation, and for Dark Creatures like him, it was like a potent poison, capable of destroying him or allowing him to break through billions of years of constraints and reach an unprecedented level.

The moment the five fingers landed, the black mist suddenly surged, transforming into a ghostly claw that blotted out the sky. The shadow of the ghostly claw enveloped the entire gravel beach, causing the heavens and earth to change color.

The demon claw was a thousand feet in size, its nails as black as ink, and its tips shimmering with a dark purple light. That light contained the power to destroy everything, and even the void was illuminated with tiny Black Hole, Black Hole kept rotating as if trying to suck everything around them into them.

The back of its claws was covered with black, vein-like patterns, within which flowed the Destruction Laws. The Power of Principle disrupted the Time Flow Rate in the surrounding area, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, creating a sense of temporal and spatial distortion.

Wherever it passed, even the Chaos Realm that Ren Xiaoyao had just set up trembled violently. Fine cracks appeared on the realm walls, and the cracks continued to widen, as if it would shatter completely at any moment. The newly sprouted grass and trees within the realm withered instantly and turned to ash, which was scattered into dust by the wind and disappeared without a trace. The Spiritual Energy River froze into black ice shards, which were covered with runes that could freeze souls, and the runes shimmered with a dark light. Even the air seemed to be frozen, making crisp "crackling" sounds. The Gale Wind that hit the ice surface was bounced back and could not get close.

"You think you're worthy?" Ren Xiaoyao's eyes flashed with fierce light, as if stars were exploding deep within them. Three drops of Chaos True Liquid within his body boiled simultaneously, like three golden dragons surging through his meridians. The patterns on the dragon scales were clearly visible, and each scale shimmered with golden light.

He formed a hand seal with his left hand, leaving a golden afterimage in the trajectory of his fingertips. The afterimage lingered for a long time, forming a complex rune in the air. The Chaos Cauldron roared out from his dantian, distorting the air around it and forming visible shockwaves.

The cauldron suddenly swelled to a size of a thousand feet, with dark golden patterns moving like living things. Within the patterns emerged Phantoms of Mountains, Rivers, Sun, and Moon, lifelike and as if they were a miniature world. With its mouth facing downwards, the cauldron spewed out a giant wave composed of Chaos Current, surging endlessly with an indomitable momentum.

The giant waves reached tens of thousands of feet high, their crests churning and rolling, interspersed with runes from the World Creation. The runes shimmered with an ancient light, each one seemingly a Small World containing boundless power.

The giant wave collided with the ghostly claw, producing a deafening roar. The sound wave shook the pebbles on the gravel beach, sending them flying three feet into the air before they fell heavily back down, making a series of crackling sounds as they hit the ground. Some of the pebbles were even shattered into powder, which filled the air like smoke.

"Click--"

The black patterns on the ghost claw instantly cracked in several places, and black liquid seeped out from the cracks, dripping down like blood onto the gravel beach. It corroded the rocks, creating small, smoking holes. The holes continued to expand, and the black smoke that billowed out grew thicker and thicker, emitting a pungent odor.

The dark purple light dimmed slightly, but it still stubbornly resisted the Chaos Current. The claw tip even slowly pushed forward, slightly deforming the Primordial Chaos waves. The runes on the waves became a little dimmer, as if they might go out at any moment.

The Dark Sky Walker sneered, his laughter filled with disdain and cruelty. He slammed his left hand into the void, and the Blood Runes on his black robe suddenly lit up, like blood snakes crawling across the void. The patterns on the snake scales were clearly visible, and each scale shimmered with an eerie red light.

The runes converged into a thick, blood-red pillar of light that shot into the sky, staining it crimson. Within the pillar, a phantom image of a jet-black scythe emerged, emanating a chilling aura.

The scythe was formed entirely of pure Dark Energy. Its blade was as thin as a cicada's wing, yet it gleamed with a cold light capable of severing the soul. Within that cold light were the wails of countless living beings, wails that seemed to pierce through eardrums and strike the depths of the soul.

The blade was covered with densely packed Devouring Runes, arranged neatly like an army formation. Each rune greedily absorbed the surrounding Spiritual Qi, even stirring the Void outside the light barrier, causing wisps of black energy to rise and merge into the scythe, making its aura even more terrifying. The surrounding temperature plummeted by tens of degrees, and black frost condensed on the gravel, the frost itself also covered with strange runes.

"Dark Judgment!"

The illusory scythe descended with a force capable of tearing apart heaven and earth. Wherever it passed, a black crack was slashed through space, within which flowed an aura of Void, as if it were a passage to another world.

The Chaos Current was directly severed, and the Chaos Power at the break point was instantly corrupted, turning into wisps of black energy that were devoured by the scythe. After the scythe devoured the Chaos Power, the light on its blade became even more intense, emitting an even more terrifying aura.

Ren Xiaoyao's pupils contracted sharply, reflecting the shadow of a scythe. The Golden Chains in his sea of consciousness suddenly flew out, its body wrapped with the Dragon Phoenix Phantom — the Dragon Head held high, its whiskers fluttering, its scales shimmering with golden light; the phoenix's wings spread, its tail feathers magnificent, each feather burning like a flame, radiating a sacred aura.

The dragon's roar shook the heavens, causing the sky to tremble. The clouds churned and dissipated amidst the roar; the phoenix's cry echoed across the earth, causing the ground to tremble slightly, as if welcoming the Phoenix's arrival. With the force of World Creation, it clashed fiercely with the scythe.

"Clang!"

The clanging of metal against metal caused the pebbly beach to crack inch by inch, the cracks spreading out like a spider web for hundreds of feet. Tiny stone chips fell from the cracks, like a rain of stones, which made a dense sound as they hit the ground.

The Golden Chains were jolted backward, the Dragon Phoenix Phantom on them fading slightly, their scales and feathers becoming blurred, as if they might vanish at any moment. The scythe phantom also trembled slightly, the runes on its blade dimming a bit, and a tiny notch appeared on the blade. But the Dark Sky Walker took advantage of the momentum to approach like a ghost, black ripples spreading across the void beneath his feet. His right hand, its five fingers imbued with black Death Qi, gripped Ren Xiaoyao's shoulder with a speed too fast for anyone to react to.

"Sizzle!"

Ren Xiaoyao couldn't dodge in time, and his shoulder was struck by the ghostly claw. His robes instantly turned to ashes, revealing five deep, bone-revealing wounds on his exposed skin. The wounds had uneven edges and were a bloody mess.

The flesh around the wound was turning black and dying at a visible speed, as if it had been splashed with ink. The blackness was spreading around, and wherever it went, the flesh lost its vitality and became stiff.

Before the blood gushing from the wound could even hit the ground, it was swallowed up by the black energy on the ghost claw, making a sizzling sound, like water being poured on a scalding hot iron. The blood evaporated rapidly in the black energy, leaving behind a pungent, bloody smell.

A sharp pain shot through his wound, as if countless tiny insects were gnawing at his bone marrow, or as if countless needles were piercing his soul. The pain penetrated deep into his marrow, causing Ren Xiaoyao to grimace involuntarily. Even the surging Chaos Power could not be suppressed. The Death Qi, like a malignant tumor clinging to the bone, spread along his meridians toward his heart. Wherever it passed, the meridians became stiff and blackened, and the circulating Chaos Power became sluggish.

"Your flesh and blood actually contain the Chaos Origin..." The Dark Sky Walker lowered his head, stuck out his tongue and licked the bloodstains on his fingertips. The moment his tongue touched the blood droplets, his eyes widened suddenly, and an astonishing light burst forth from his pupils, a light filled with excitement and greed.

Greed blazed in his eyes like a raging fire, threatening to burst them open. "Today, I will devour you completely, even your soul will be refined into Lamp Oil, so that you may forever illuminate my dark path!"

The black mist surrounding him suddenly erupted, transforming into a massive Black Vortex, a thousand feet in diameter. As it spun, it emitted a strange "whooshing" sound, as if countless wronged souls were wailing simultaneously, their voices filled with pain and despair, making those who heard it uneasy.

At the center of the vortex, countless Dark Law coalesced into a gigantic maw. The maw's teeth were as sharp as knives, gleaming with a cold light. The depths of its mouth were pure darkness, bottomless, as if capable of devouring everything.

As the gigantic maw opened and closed, it spewed out a terrifying suction force, Ren Xiaoyao's Chaos Realm to shake violently. The cracks on the boundary walls increased, and it was on the verge of collapse. The Light Orb of Spiritual Energy Origin within the realm emitted uneasy fluctuations, its light flickering as if it could be sucked away at any moment. The Spiritual Energy River around the Light Orb were sucked upwards, forming strange water curtains.

Ren Xiaoyao endured the excruciating pain in his shoulder, cold sweat beading on his forehead. The sweat was immediately evaporated by the Chaos Power within his body, leaving a layer of white salt stains on his skin.

He clenched his teeth, his gums bleeding, the taste of blood filling his mouth. He simultaneously poured three drops of Chaos True Liquid into the Chaos Cauldron, the maximum power he could currently mobilize.

The cauldron instantly burst forth with boundless golden light, which pierced through the black mist and illuminated the entire gravel beach. Even the Void beyond the light barrier was illuminated, and the golden light contained a sacred aura, dispelling some of the darkness.

In the golden light, the phantom of the World-Opening Giant Axe reappeared—this time, the axe blade not only had purple-gold Dao Punishment and Chaos Power, with lightning flashing in the purple-gold and ancient aura contained in the Chaos Power; it was also wrapped with a trace of light blue Origin Power of Spiritual Energy, blue like jade, full of vitality. The three forces intertwined to form a wonderful balance.

The three forces intertwined, exuding an aura of creation and destruction. The patterns on the axe became clearly visible, as if it were truly a Divine Axe that World Creation, full of majesty.

"The World Creation!"

Ren Xiaoyao let out a long roar, the sound wave soaring into the sky like a dragon's cry, shaking the clouds in the sky and revealing the azure sky behind, but the sky was soon shrouded in darkness again.

He simultaneously merged the Chaos Cauldron and the Golden Chains into the phantom of the Giant Axe, causing the Giant Axe's light to intensify and its power to become even more terrifying.

The Giant Axe, carrying a world-destroying force, slammed down towards the Black Vortex. The Axe Wind swept through, even tearing apart the Dark Law laid down by the Dark Sky Walker, revealing a brief vacuum zone. There was no matter in the vacuum zone, and even light traveled in straight lines within it, which seemed extremely eerie.

The dark gray pebbles on the scree beach were all blown away by this force, revealing the dark brown rock layers underneath. The rock layers still retain traces of millions of years of Gale Wind erosion, and those traces bear witness to the vicissitudes of time.

"Overestimating yourself!" Dark Sky Walker roared, his voice filled with anger and a hint of fear. He sensed the threat posed by the Giant Axe and concentrated all his Dark Energy into his scythe. The blade instantly swelled to ten thousand feet in length, Devouring Runes on its body spun wildly, absorbing all the energy around it, including darkness, light, and even space itself.

The scythe, carrying an all-consuming aura, clashed with the Giant Axe once more. This time, both sides exerted their full strength, and a tense atmosphere filled the air.

This time, there was no earth-shattering roar, only the deathly silence after the collision of two extreme forces, as if the entire world had been stripped of its sound.

It was as if the whole world had been muted; no sound could be heard except for the silent spread of the shockwaves formed by the Energy Impact, which leveled everything in their path.

The patterns on the Chaos Cauldron shattered inch by inch, making a crisp "crackling" sound, like the sound of breaking glass. The cauldron was covered with a layer of gray, losing its former luster, and the mouth of the cauldron was even slightly deformed, looking extremely disheveled. A third of the Golden Chains, the break was jagged, and there were still black corrosion marks. The Dragon Phoenix Phantom at the break completely dissipated, leaving only the bare chain. The golden light on the chain also became dim, losing its former holiness. Ren Xiaoyao felt a sweetness in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood turned into blood beads in the air. The blood beads were crystal clear, but they were instantly corroded into black by the surrounding Death Qi, as if they had been stained with ink. When they fell to the ground, they smashed into small black pits.

He was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the light barrier. The barrier trembled violently, fine cracks appearing on its surface, from which a faint blue light seeped—the barrier's Origin Power stubbornly resisting. The impact felt as if Ren Xiaoyao's internal organs had shifted, and a metallic taste rose in his throat. He forced himself not to spit out any more blood.

The wound on his shoulder had spread to his heart, and the black Death Qi was corroding his meridians like a venomous snake. Each corroded meridian was pierced by Needle-like Intense Pain, making even breathing painful. Every inhale felt like swallowing a blade, and his chest heaving became extremely difficult.