The stone platform beneath Hua Yin's feet collapsed inch by inch, and the black scales on his arms burst open one after another, revealing the churning demonic blood within. He was pushed backward more than a hundred feet by the force of the sword, and his feet plowed two bottomless ravines into the ground.
But he still didn't let go. "Break for me!!"
The veins and demonic markings on Hua Yin's forehead bulged simultaneously, and the enormous demonic shadow behind him, intertwined with black energy and bone spurs, roared to the sky, slamming its palms onto the magic staff. Nine skull knots simultaneously spewed out dark red demonic liquid, the viscous liquid spreading along the bone seams and quickly enveloping the entire staff.
The gray-white sword light of the No-Thought Absolute Silence Sword was eroded inch by inch by the layer of demonic liquid. The sword intent and demonic source were crushed wildly in the center of the staff. Finally, accompanied by a sky-tearing explosion, it exploded into countless gray-white and purplish-black light fragments.
The impact swept across.
Qin Yu's robes fluttered in the wind, and several cracks appeared on the edge of the ancient formation beneath his feet. Hua Yin straightened up again amidst the shattered light, his magic wand hanging at his side, the soul fire at its tip pulsating wildly, and the ferocious grin on his face had completely lost the restraint that a human should have.
Immediately afterward, he raised his wand high with both hands. The nine skull-shaped knots suddenly trembled violently. "Nine Skulls Open the Prison!" Hua Yin's roar overwhelmed all the other sounds in the world. The wand's end slammed heavily onto the ground. Thump—
The moment that muffled, deafening roar resounded, a continuous sound of bones cracking echoed from the depths of the earth, as if the entire ruins had transformed into an ancient skeleton being smashed. The nine skulls simultaneously opened their gaping maws, and their inhuman, beastly shrieks transformed into visible dark red ripples of demonic energy, sweeping wildly in all directions along the ground.
Wherever the ripples passed, ancient trees withered instantly, lush vines lost all vitality in a breath, leaves curled into ash, and thick branches cracked and collapsed. The broken stone pillar was swept by demonic energy, the array patterns on its surface first dimmed, and then the entire stone pillar turned into powder from the inside out.
The golden runes suspended in the air went out one after another, and the divine radiance that had been named was drained of its spiritual essence, turning into dull and lifeless fragments when it landed.
The Bone Devouring in Eight Directions spread wildly throughout the entire magic array.
Mountains, rivers, vegetation, the spiritual energy of the earth's veins, and the Dao traces slumbering in the ruined palace—all became objects of the Nine Skulls' devouring. With each place they swept past, the magic wand in Hua Yin's hand lit up a little brighter, and the dark red soul fire in the eye sockets of the nine skulls burned ever brighter.
Then, Hua Yin suddenly reversed the wand, pointing the most concentrated end of its spine at his left chest, and without hesitation, plunged it in—thud.
Bone spurs pierced through flesh and blood, yet not a drop of blood flowed. The entire wand was seamlessly connected to his sternum, and the black magic liquid gushing from the cracks in the wand quickly spread across half of his body. The magic runes that had covered his entire body suddenly lit up, and the soul fire in the nine skull eye sockets connected with each other, transforming into nine dark red fire lines that poured into Hua Yin's body.
His aura began to surge, and in the first breath, the demonic shadow behind him solidified completely. Black energy and pale white bone spikes intertwined to form a gigantic gluttonous beast. When its maw opened, the entire space collapsed into it.
In the second breath, Hua Yin's arms continued to expand, curved bone spurs grew between the scales, the illusory short horn on his forehead became real, his teeth became sharp one by one, and his breathing in his throat became heavy and rough, like a ferocious beast that had been starving for a hundred years grinding its teeth in its chest cavity.
In the third breath, his crimson vertical pupils were filled only with madness and predation. "Demon Transformation Taotie!"
Hua Yin swung his magic wand, which was connected to his sternum, and slammed it down on the entire One Origin Name-Fixing Tribulation Formation. As the wand fell, the giant Taotie shadow behind him also pounced out at the same time, but its huge mouth did not bite Qin Yu.
It directly gripped the entire ancient formation's structure, and with a crack, a fissure suddenly appeared on the surface of the formation's core Name-Fixing Pearl. Hua Yin abruptly pulled backward.
A piece of the array's origin, which should have been formless Formless, was forcibly torn off by the gluttonous maw and swallowed as a golden light. After losing that part of the origin, a large portion of the array patterns on the east side of the ruins went out, dozens of dilapidated palaces collapsed at the same time, and the source veins underground emitted a painful groan.
Hua Yin did not stop. He swung his staff again, and with a second bite, he bit off the Daoist energy that connected the ancient wheel and the center of the formation. With a third bite, he tore away a portion of the name and form that had already condensed in the Name-Fixing Pearl.
With each devouring, Hua Yin's demonic power increased, while the radiance of the entire formation rapidly dimmed. The array patterns beneath Qin Yu's feet collapsed one after another. Xiao Yue clasped her hands tightly in her sea of consciousness, the silver chain on her forehead trembling slightly, and her expression grew solemn. The formation she and Qin Yu had maintained together was being gnawed away bit by bit by Hua Yin with the predatory power of the Demon Transformation Taotie.
Hua Yin suddenly pulled the magic wand from his chest and raised it high above his head.
Nine skull-shaped nodes simultaneously detached from the staff, transforming into nine bone spheres the size of heads, which spun rapidly around the entire ruins. From the eye sockets of each bone sphere spewed out a chain of dark purple demonic flames. Instead of locking onto Qin Yu, the nine chains pierced into the enormous array projection of the ancient formation between heaven and earth.
"Prison of Ten Thousand Bones - Reverse!" The nine chains of demonic flame tightened simultaneously, and with a thunderous roar, the entire ruins were compressed inward by a terrifying force.
The surrounding cliffs roared under the immense pressure, and layer upon layer of rock walls tilted toward the center of the formation. The ruined palace, ancient trees, stone steps, and broken pillars were all swept into the vortex of heaven and earth that was collapsing inward. The outer ring of the huge ancient wheel shattered first, and pieces of divine stone, each tens of feet in size, detached from the wheel and were compressed into dense fragments in mid-air, before turning into dust that filled the sky.
The second layer of the ancient wheel subsequently collapsed in layers.
Large sections of the ancient Dao patterns that had been dormant within the wheel surface fell off, and the pale golden light struggled and flickered in the void before being instantly incinerated by the Nine Skull Demon Flames. Nine deep black name marks appeared around the Name-Fixing Pearl at the center of the array, each of which was eroding the pearl in the opposite direction, and the originally transparent and flawless glass surface was quickly covered with spiderweb-like cracks.
The solemn, hollow chants of praise still echo between heaven and earth.
But the voice had become intermittent. "Mountain... solid..." Bang! A cliff shattered. "Clouds... flowing..." The clouds were swallowed by the demonic flames. "Fire... burning..." The purplish-black demonic fire surged upwards, burning through the pale gold name frame that was written on it.
The magic array attempted to continue naming all things, but the Nine Skulls Open the Prison drained, tore apart, and compressed everything that bore those names. The ancient array had been sealed away for far too long, and its foundation was already incomplete. Although Qin Yu and Xiao Yue reactivated it, they could only awaken the main Dao traces left in the source veins of heaven and earth. Faced with Hua Yin's continuous strangulation attack, unleashing all his demonic energy with the Primordial Dao Supreme Treasure, the array patterns that had endured countless years of erosion finally could not withstand it.
Crack—The first crack on the Name-Fixing Pearl pierced through the bead. Immediately afterward, the second and third cracks spread in succession. The ink line inside the bead that was outlining Hua Yin's true name suddenly broke off. The entire world suddenly became quiet for a moment. The next moment, the Name-Fixing Pearl exploded.
Billions of shards of glass shot out in all directions, each shard containing an unfinished pale gold ancient character. The shards streaked through the void, illuminating Hua Yin's completely demonized face, and also Qin Yu's somber expression.
After the core of the formation shattered, the One Origin Name-Fixing Tribulation Formation completely lost its support, and the source veins beneath the earth broke one after another.
The vast Daoist aura that had once been connected to the ruins dissipated wildly in all directions, like flesh and blood without bones. The pale gold defining force field surrounding the ruins rapidly contracted, and the name frames beyond the mountains, rocks, grass, trees, wind, and clouds disappeared one after another. Hundreds of millions of intricate runes began to extinguish from the edges, and the light of the entire ancient formation retreated circle by circle towards the center of the formation.
Hua Yin slammed his wand into the ground, and the nine bone balls simultaneously crashed into the center of the ruins. Boom! The final, deafening roar shook the mountains.
The ancient wheel collapsed completely, the ruined palace crumbled piece by piece, and the circular array platform on the ground disintegrated in layers from the center outwards. Countless golden array patterns rose into the sky, briefly illuminating the entire purplish-red sky, before turning into a sky full of dim ashes amidst the shrieks of the Nine Skulls.
The One Origin Name-Fixing Tribulation Formation, after being sealed away for countless years, finally awakened for the second time. However, in this clash of overwhelming demonic power, it was completely destroyed by the Nine Skulls Open the Prison.
Hua Yin stood in the center of the ruins, his right hand gripping his magic wand. Nine skulls floated behind him again, and his crimson vertical pupils pierced through the billowing dust, locking onto Qin Yu.
The instant the One Origin Name-Fixing Tribulation Formation collapsed, the entire ruins seemed to lose the skeleton supporting the heavens and earth, rumbling—
The source veins, buried deep in the earth for countless years, were completely freed after the core of the formation shattered. Streams of source energy, like azure dragons, surged wildly upwards, colliding with each other and creating a torrent of source energy hundreds of millions of feet high.
The earth continued to collapse, mountain peaks crumbled one after another, and the source energy that had been suppressed by the magic array now surged forth from the ground like an out-of-control torrent. However, the first to bear the brunt of the backlash was Hua Yin, who stood at the heart of the array. Boom—
A primordial vein of the earth surged into his body, followed by a second and a third in an instant. This was not an offensive attack, but the final backlash of the ancient formation. Without the restraint of the formation's core, the myriad primordial veins beneath the earth repelled this fallen demon elder who had corrupted the world with demonic energy.
Behind Hua Yin, the gluttonous demonic shadow twisted and trembled violently, and the nine illusory skulls continuously emitted piercing screams that shattered the soul. The demonic runes covering his body churned and writh wildly, and the demonic energy that used to flow smoothly was now colliding and tearing at each other.
His left eye was continuously covered with a layer of crimson blood light, while his right eye repeatedly lost its demonic aura and returned to normal. The corners of his lips would sometimes tear and turn up wildly, and sometimes twitch violently out of control. His appearance was ferocious and could not hide his pain. Streams of violent demonic thoughts kept assaulting his sea of consciousness.
"Kill..." "Devour..." "Devour them all..." Countless chaotic wills exploded in his mind at the same time. The Demon Transformation Taotie... began to truly backfire on his mind. Hua Yin held his head with both hands, kneeling in the ruins, constantly emitting low beastly roars. The Primordial Dao Supreme Treasure Wand began to vibrate violently, and the soul fire in the nine skull eye sockets flickered on and off.
In the distance, Qin Yu watched all this quietly, his eyes unwavering. The Ring Master Soul Diagram had already quietly begun to operate again, unfolding layer by layer. "Opportunity..." Qin Yu had only two words in his mind. Just as he was about to make his move, Hua Yin suddenly looked up, a ruthless glint flashing in his scarlet eyes. Without hesitation, he took out a pitch-black demon pill.
As soon as the demonic pill appeared, the surrounding space was filled with the wails of countless dead souls. The surface of the pill was covered with demonic patterns, and a blood-red vortex was slowly rotating in the center. Hua Yin did not hesitate at all and swallowed it in one gulp. Boom—the demonic pill entered his mouth, and the rolling demonic energy instantly turned into a torrent that poured into his sea of consciousness. Those rampaging demonic thoughts were actually suppressed.
His convulsing body gradually calmed down. Although his eyes were still bloodshot, the rationality of a cultivator had temporarily regained its advantage. Hua Yin slowly stood up, a ferocious smile returning to his lips. "Little thief... I must admit, you have indeed surprised me time and time again. But it ends here."
He slowly raised the Primordial Dao Supreme Treasure, the Magic Wand. The world began to change color once more, nine skulls lit up simultaneously, and the entire magic wand radiated a world-destroying demonic power. Hua Yin took a step forward, and the entire world seemed to sink. "Boy!" "Today... is your death day!" He laughed wildly, his laughter echoing across the land. "Now." "Do you regret not becoming my Soul Thrall?" "Hahahaha--"
However, Qin Yu remained standing there quietly, his robes swaying gently, his expression calm, his eyes serene. Even his aura remained unchanged. He slowly placed one hand behind his back and gently raised the other, looking at Hua Yin. His voice was still indifferent. "Very well, then I'll show you. Don't think that a Primordial Dao Supreme Treasure can be your sole reliance." Qin Yu slowly raised his eyes.
His gaze fell upon the Primordial Dao Supreme Treasure for the first time. "Your broken magic staff..." "Its logic..." "How was it crushed by me?" As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Yu's mind stirred slightly, and the long-silent starry sky deep in his sea of consciousness suddenly lit up. Billions of stars slowly rotated at the same time, and in the center of the galaxy, an incomparably ancient radiance slowly emerged.
This object is neither a sword nor a weapon, nor an ordinary magical artifact, but rather resembles the Ultimate Dao law forged from the very origin of the universe, quietly suspended deep within Qin Yu's sea of consciousness. Its entire body is like an ancient key, forged from the fusion of countless galaxies, with Wancai flowing around its surface, each ray of light a complete star sea; the key handle is intricately intertwined with star patterns, engraving the Source Dao traces left from the beginning of the universe.
It showed no sharpness whatsoever, yet naturally surpassed all other objects in the world. This was the Star Wancai Key, wielding the Edict of Returning to Zero. The instant Qin Yu's thoughts settled, this ancient key did not fly out of the sky, nor did it crash into anything, nor did it unleash a towering pillar of light that swept across the surroundings. It only trembled slightly.
A barely perceptible, transparent ripple spread silently across the heavens and earth, centered on Qin Yu, without explosions or shocks, only the absolute judgment originating from the primordial laws of the universe.
The ripples swept across the Primordial Magic Wand for a moment, causing the entire staff to tremble violently. Hua Yin's expression changed drastically. He clearly sensed that the intricate connection between himself and the magic wand was collapsing inch by inch. This was not a forced severing by external force, but rather the complete logic that had been in place since the beginning of its creation was crumbling layer by layer at this moment.
One by one, the Old Devil runes engraved on the staff lost their luster, the soul fire in the nine skull eye sockets flickered wildly, and the surging demonic energy within the staff all reversed direction. This Primordial Dao Supreme Treasure seemed to have lost the very foundation upon which it depended for its existence.
Hua Yin screamed incoherently, "How!!!! How!!! How is this possible!!! This... this... no!!!"
He poured all his demonic energy into frantically unleashing his magic, attempting to fully develop his nascent divine power. But just as the power was beginning to take shape, the Star Wancai Key vibrated softly once more—
The nascent magical phenomena surrounding the wand were covered with fine cracks like a mirror, the crimson demonic clouds piled up in the sky shattered inch by inch, the demonic flame chains formed by the nine skulls turned into tiny specks of light in mid-air, and the gluttonous demonic shadow that was about to fully manifest in mid-air collapsed layer by layer from its head, scattering into a sky full of gray-black stardust.
The cracks spread rapidly along the wand, from the hideous demonic skull at the top, through the entire staff, and down to the nine skull ornaments. All the accumulated power dissipated silently, as if an invisible giant hand was dismantling the very foundation of this treasure's existence, layer by layer, starting from the very logic of its birth.
The entire process was devoid of any intense fighting, yet the shock it delivered far surpassed any destructive blow.
All those in the world could only watch in silence as this Primordial Supreme Treasure, powerful enough to govern a region, before fully revealing its power, melted away inch by inch from the top of the staff, enveloped by the starlight, turning into specks of primordial stardust that drifted leisurely into the void.
Hua Yin held only half of the staff handle that was continuously dissipating in his hand. His body stood frozen in place, and for the first time in his life, Ultimate fear surged from the depths of his soul within his pupils.