Drawing on the power of the Starlight Dragon and the Chaos Spirit Phoenix, Ye Lingyun flew swiftly toward the star radiating that strange white light. The closer he drew, the more mysterious the star seemed. Its gentle glow seemed to exert an invisible pull, beckoning him onward.
Yet just as Ye Lingyun came within several hundred li of the star, the starry sky suddenly changed. The relatively tranquil surroundings were instantly engulfed by a powerful, chaotic force. Bolts of black lightning rampaged through the starry sky, as though intent on tearing the entire space apart. Then a terrifying spacetime storm swept toward Ye Lingyun at astonishing speed.
"What is this?" Ye Lingyun was deeply alarmed. He had never seen anything so terrifying. Wherever the spacetime storm passed, even the light of the stars dimmed. Some smaller stars were swallowed outright, vanishing without a trace.
Ye Lingyun immediately circulated all the spiritual power in his body, pushing the power of the Starlight Dragon and the Chaos Spirit Phoenix to its utmost limits. Stellar power and chaos fire formed a thick shield around his body as he tried to withstand the terrifying spacetime storm.
The spacetime storm reached Ye Lingyun in an instant. Its immense force slashed wildly at his shield like ten thousand sharp blades. Light flickered across the shield as it twisted and warped, giving off a sizzling hiss, as though it might shatter at any moment.
Ye Lingyun strained with all his strength to sustain the shield, his expression growing utterly grave as beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his forehead. Though he had already given everything he had, his resistance seemed so insignificant before the spacetime storm's heaven-destroying, earth-annihilating power.
No, I can't hold out like this! Frantic with anxiety, Ye Lingyun swiftly awakened his other martial souls, attempting to resist the storm with the combined might of the nine divine-level martial souls. The sacred radiance of the Eternal Sacred Qilin, the void power of the Void Shadow Leopard, the nether demonic energy of the Nine Nether Demon Scorpion... The powers of all nine divine-level martial souls surged forth, merging with the stellar power and chaos fire to form an even stronger defensive barrier.
Although the new defensive barrier temporarily withstood the spacetime storm's onslaught, Ye Lingyun could sense that it had merely delayed the moment his shield would shatter. The spacetime storm was far too powerful. His spiritual power was draining at a frenzied pace, and his body was gradually becoming unable to bear the immense pressure.
Could it be... that I really am going to die here? Despair welled up in Ye Lingyun's heart, but his resolve soon drove it away. He gritted his teeth, urging himself on again and again: No, I have to return. I still have a mission to fulfill!
Yet fate seemed unwilling to favor Ye Lingyun. Under the spacetime storm's relentless assault, his spiritual power finally ran dry, and his defensive barrier shattered with a boom. Ye Lingyun felt a force capable of toppling mountains and overturning seas crash into him. His consciousness plunged into darkness in an instant, and he fell toward the endless starry expanse below...
As Ye Lingyun lay unconscious, images surfaced in his mind one after another. He saw the teachers and students of Lingxi Academy, the teammates who had fought at his side, and every little moment along his path of cultivation. These images flashed through his mind like slides, and he seemed to return once more to those familiar scenes.
Meanwhile, in reality, the spacetime storm swept Ye Lingyun's body into a mysterious spacetime vortex. The vortex seemed to connect different times and spaces, and at that moment, Ye Lingyun's fate was utterly changed. Where would the spacetime vortex take him? What unknowns would he face when he awoke again? Everything lay shrouded in a veil of mysterious mist, waiting for him to lift it...
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