Beneath the Nether Abyss

"Nether Abyss Accord... Charging..."

The cold electronic countdown echoed like a death knell over the silent ruins.

High above, at the center of the ethereal blue geometric structure, the light-devouring black dot had expanded by another circle, its destructive aura making the very air congeal into ice.

In the center of the deep pit, Fang Gang knelt on one knee on the mirror-smooth ground, each breath sending waves of tearing pain through his entire body.

His right arm was like shattered stained glass, dark golden corruption patterns writhing deep within the hideous wounds.

Yet, there was no trace of wavering in his eyes, only a near-insane resolve.

"Whetstone?"

A ghastly curve twisted Fang Gang's blood-stained lips. His gaze was fixed on the dark golden patterns violently pulsing at his chest. "I'll grind you into dust!"

BOOM—!

He stopped resisting passively and instead actively channeled the near-depleted Nine Yang Qi and Blood within him. It surged like a torrent of scalding lava, crashing fiercely against the cold source of corruption at his chest!

"ZZZZTTT—!!!"

It was like pressing a searing hot iron into ice water! Unimaginable agony instantly swept through his entire body!

Fang Gang's body convulsed violently, a beast-like growl erupting from his throat, veins bulging like coiled dragons on his forehead!

The crimson-gold vital energy and the dark golden corrupted energy clashed and annihilated each other at his chest. Every impact felt like it was tearing his heart apart!

[Warning! Active refinement intensifies erosion! Corruption level rising! Current: 14%!]

[Detected residual high-level energy annihilation... Minor absorption in progress...]

[Physique slightly increased! Wound recovery speed slightly increased!]

The system's cold prompts flashed amidst the agony.

It was working!

Though the process felt like a thousand cuts, that sliver of pure energy, forcibly refined and integrated into himself, was like a spring in the desert, weak but truly nourishing his collapsing body!

A faint itching sensation spread from his shattered right arm, and his severe internal injuries seemed to have lessened slightly!

"Again!"

Fang Gang's eyes were bloodshot. Ignoring the system's warnings, he, like a masochist, fueled his vital energy even more frantically to "sear" that cold source of corruption!

His chest felt like a miniature battlefield, crimson-gold and dark gold light flashing intensely. With every flicker of light, Fang Gang's body trembled violently, accompanied by a suppressed groan.

The pain surged like a tide, battering his will. The dark golden patterns at his chest, under the onslaught of the vital energy, writhed and pulsed like living things, attempting to counter-attack and infect more areas.

The cold, chaotic whispers struck his sea of consciousness again, clearer and more seductive than before:

"Pain... is power..."

"Embrace... chaos... break... shackles..."

"Release... me... and gain... eternal life..."

"Shut up!"

Fang Gang roared in his mind. His mind, like a crystal-clear mirror, became even more stable after the boost in his mental attributes, forcibly isolating the seductive voices. "Your power? I'll take it! Your will? Be my nourishment!"

He gritted his teeth, transforming all his will, all his pain, into even more ferocious impact, driving the torrent of vital energy to scour the core of corruption in his chest again and again!

Each scouring brought more intense pain, but also refined a purer, stronger sliver of energy!

In this near-self-destructive, frantic refinement, the vital energy throughout his body was pulled back and forth between depletion and rebirth. Each rebirth seemed to become more condensed, more searing!

Deep within his body, it felt as though some solid barrier, under this extreme pressure and peculiar energy nourishment, began to show minute cracks!

[Warning! Corruption level: 14.5%! Approaching critical limit!]

[Detected host's life source fluctuation...]

[Physique continuously slightly increased... Strength slightly increased...]

[Nine Yang Divine Skill operating overload... Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill resonating...]

The system prompts flashed like a screen saver, indicating he was walking a razor's edge!

High above, the black dot in the center of the ethereal blue geometric structure had expanded to the size of a fist, emitting a despair-inducing aura of annihilation.

"Nether Abyss Accord... Charging... 80%..." The cold countdown, like the footsteps of death, grew ever closer!

90%...

95%...

99%...

HUMMM—!!!

Just as the black dot was about to fully form, and the destructive "Nether Abyss Spear" was about to be unleashed!

Within Fang Gang's body, the barrier that had been constantly impacted amidst the agony and frantic refinement suddenly shattered!

RUMBLE!!!

A wave of vital energy, far more majestic, far purer, carrying the aura of refining all things, erupted from every corner of his body like a volcano dormant for eons!

The qi and blood were no longer thick like mercury, but possessed a density and heat akin to liquid metal!

Wherever it passed, the severe internal injuries were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The broken bones of his right arm emitted a series of "crackling" sounds, while the dark golden contamination patterns were forcefully pushed back and suppressed!

The pulsating dark golden core in his chest, under the surge of this new lifeblood, was like an ice cube thrown into a furnace. It let out a sharp, silent roar of defiance and unwillingness, instantly dimming as the spreading patterns were forcibly halted!

Marrow Cleansing Realm! Broken!

Fang Gang suddenly raised his head, his eyes gushing out golden-red light as if it were tangible flame!

His entire body's muscles and bones erupted with thunderous cracks. An immensely powerful, transformative aura soared into the sky, momentarily dispersing the suffocating pressure of destruction from above!

"It's done!" Feeling the surging, boundless power within him, more than ten times that of the Tendon Transformation Realm, Fang Gang couldn't help but let out a long roar!

His cry was like a dragon's, piercing metal and shattering stone, causing the surrounding space to hum and vibrate!

However, this ecstatic joy of breakthrough lasted only an instant!

High above, the "Nether Abyss Spear" that had been accumulating power, upon sensing the sudden surge in the target's aura below, completed its final charge!

"Nether Abyss Protocol… Charging 100%... Target locked… Firing!"

The cold electronic voice concluded!

The condensed black dot suddenly shrank, and then, a beam of pure darkness, composed entirely of the deepest "nothingness," shot out soundlessly!

This beam was even more refined and purer than the previous "God Burial"!

It had no energy spillover, no light, no sound, only a straight trajectory of "void" that devoured everything!

Its speed surpassed the limits of thought!

The target—Fang Gang, who had just broken through and was radiating power!

The shadow of death was even more profound than before the breakthrough!

This strike contained the Faceless Cult Master's killing intent, wielding the authority of "Nether Abyss"!

The pinnacle of the pinnacle of S-class! True cataclysmic disaster!

Fang Gang's pupils contracted sharply! The immense power from his breakthrough still felt minuscule before this "Nether Abyss Spear"! To resist it head-on? Certain death!

"Haaah—!"

On the brink of life and death!

Fang Gang's Marrow Cleansing Realm qi and blood erupted without reservation!

Golden-red qi and blood surged like a pillar into the sky, vaguely forming a blurry furnace phantom behind him!

He did not choose to defend, but poured all his strength, his newly born qi and blood, and his ultimate defiance of death, into his fists!

Nine Yang True Fire, Dragon Elephant's immense strength, Eight Extremes' vibration, and even the residual dark golden contamination energy he had just suppressed, were all forcefully ignited and fused!

On his fists, the golden-red light compressed to its extreme, its edges even tinged with a strange dark golden pattern! The space around his fists was distorted and torn by the ultimate power!

"Great Sun! Demon Burn! Eight Extremes! Prison Quake! Give it to me—OPEN!!!"

He roared, his fists like two blazing suns rimmed with dark golden patterns, fiercely meeting that all-consuming "void" spear with a furious punch!

Fists flew, and heaven and earth lost their color!

The fist aura, a blend of golden-red and dark gold, collided fiercely with the pure "void" beam!

No sound!

No light!

Only an absolute "emptiness" that instantly expanded!

Centered at the point of collision, a massive "void" sphere with a diameter of over two hundred meters appeared out of nowhere!

Within the sphere, all matter, energy, and even space itself, was utterly annihilated! It was as if it had been completely erased from reality!

The terrifying annihilation energy, like an invisible world-ending storm, spread wildly from the edge of the void sphere!

The ground silently turned into the finest particles, and a bottomless, colossal crater formed in an instant! Everything in the path of the shockwave was reduced to nothing!

At the edge of the crater, the violent annihilation storm raged for a full dozen seconds before slowly subsiding.

At the center of the bottomless pit.

Fang Gang's figure reappeared.

He knelt on one knee, arms crossed in front of him.

On his arms, the previously resplendent Vajra luster had dimmed to its absolute extreme, covered in dense, terrifying cracks that went bone-deep, like a porcelain vessel about to shatter.

Dark golden contamination patterns writhed frantically in the depths of the cracks, like poisonous vines drawing nourishment.

His entire body was drenched in blood, his aura weakened to the extreme, and black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs continuously spilled from the corner of his mouth.

He had blocked it!

With his newly broken-through Marrow Cleansing Realm body, with his fists that had fused all his strength and even the remnants of contamination, he had forcefully withstood the fatal "Nether Abyss Spear"!

The price was the near-total ruin of his arms and his body teetering on the brink of collapse!

"Pfft!" Another mouthful of blood spurted out. Fang Gang's vision darkened, and he remained standing solely on an unyielding will, refusing to fall.

Just then, the section of jagged black horn he clutched tightly in his hand pulsed with an intense, extreme vibration!

A cold, chaotic will, brimming with infinite ecstasy and greed, like a ferocious beast finally breaking free from its shackles, surged along the brand on his left arm. It disregarded his severely injured body and his precarious defenses, forcefully crashing into his sea of consciousness!

"Shackles... broken... vessel... mature..."

"Timing... has come... return..."

This time, the whispers were no longer temptations but commands, carrying an air of condescension and irrefutable authority!

Simultaneously, the suppressed dark gold patterns on his chest blazed with light, spreading like a living vascular network throughout his entire body!

A terrifying corrosive force, far exceeding anything before, erupted. It instantly shattered the blockade of his Nine Yang Qi and Blood, pressing directly towards his brain!

[Warning! Contamination level exceeds 15%! Critical point breached!]

[Warning! High-level will forcibly awakening! Mental erosion intensity increasing exponentially!]

[Heart of Glazed Glass state fluctuating violently... about to collapse...]

[Detected: Vessel's original will... about to revive...]

The system's glaring blood-red alerts flashed wildly across his vision.

Fang Gang felt his consciousness plunged into a frozen abyss. The cold, chaotic will frantically tore at his sanity, seeking to devour and assimilate him completely!

The entity within the Broken Horn had been waiting for this moment—when he was gravely injured, on the verge of death, and his will was at its weakest! It intended to exploit this opening and complete the final act of possession!

"You... won't succeed!" Fang Gang's eyes widened in fury, his last vestiges of will letting out a roar of defiance. The Heart of Glazed Glass, his mental mirror, was covered in cracks under the violent onslaught, hanging precariously!

High above, the ethereal blue geometric structure seemed to have entered a brief "silence" due to the failure to completely annihilate its target. Cold data streams surged madly, as if recalculating something.

At the bottom of the crater, Fang Gang's struggles grew weaker and weaker. The dark gold patterns were visibly crawling up his neck, spreading towards his head