Soul-devouring trap, dream bridge across the sky

Inside the Hall of Rebirth, the light emanating from the ice platform had shifted from a sacred, pure white to an ominous, deathly pale. Yun Zhiyu knelt on the ground, his arms trembling violently from the excessive use of his demonic power, blood constantly spilling from the corner of his mouth, spreading a glaring red across the ice before him. The glazed pillar of light piercing through the void trembled violently, its surface covered with spiderweb-like cracks, emitting a teeth-grinding "creaking" sound.

A cold, lifeless will, filled with greed and malice, is spreading wildly down the pillar of light. It is not only vying with Yun Zhiyu for control of the passage, but also devouring the soul power and hope contained within the pillar of light itself!

Yun Zhiyu could clearly feel the demonic power she had infused into the glass shards, as well as the two faint soul resonances emanating from the other end of the passage, being rapidly drawn away and annihilated by this malicious force. This was not a simple interference; it was a meticulously laid…trap! Using the hope of return as bait, it was hunting down those souls who dared to challenge the Starfall Rift!

"Ugh—!" He let out a low growl, his eyes bloodshot, and the demon core within his body spun at an unprecedented speed, even cracking on its surface. He was burning his very essence! The ice platform could not withstand the pressure from both inside and outside, its edges began to crumble, and large pieces of the wing reliefs on the walls peeled away.

"Young Master... Miss Mo... Hold on..." His consciousness began to blur, only his unwavering will to protect kept him from collapsing. He could feel the light of the two specks of dust at the other end of the passage rapidly dimming under malicious erosion, like a candle flickering in the wind.

Southern Xinjiang, outside the forest of Sha Naa.

Su Xiaolou was in equally dire condition. He maintained his clasped hands posture, but tiny beads of blood were seeping from his seven orifices. His immense power of "Dream of Solace" was met with a violent counterattack the moment it touched the edge of the Starfall Scar. It was not a conscious attack, but rather the instinctive rejection and devouring of the "Dream of Life" by the rules inherent in the Starfall Scar itself, the rules that end all things.

He "saw" Mo Xiaoyu's dream-guiding threads flickering wildly, on the verge of snapping; he "saw" Yun Zhiyu's passage, built by burning his life force in the Demon Realm, collapsing; and he "saw" even more that, deep within the Starfall Scar, besides those two familiar specks of dust, countless even dimmer and more fragmented soul fragments lurked, like insects caught in a spider web, floating in endless despair, while that invisible "web" emanated the same chilling aura as the current devouring passage!

"Damn! This thing is using all the forbidden zones as soul traps!" Su Xiaolou instantly realized. The Fountain of Youth, the Desolate Realm... all these abnormal areas that appeared due to the Starfall Scar were passively absorbing the soul power and dream fragments of living beings, merging them into that celestial scar, nourishing some kind of existence, or... maintaining some kind of terrifying balance!

Now, the passage that Yun Zhiyu forcibly opened is like tearing a hole in this large net. Not only did it fail to rescue the target, it also alarmed the "net weaver" and brought about an even fiercer counterattack!

We can't keep trying to tough it out!

A ruthless glint flashed in Su Xiaolou's eyes as he abruptly withdrew most of the power of the Soul-Soothing Dream. His hand seals changed; instead of trying to stabilize the collapsing passage, he condensed all the power of his Dream Weaver bloodline into an incredibly refined and sharp "Nightmare Thorn"!

This isn't salvation, it's... disruption!

"You love to eat, don't you? I'll give you an extra treat!" he roared, thrusting the "Nightmare Thorn," which embodied his life's cultivation and blood essence, along Mo Xiaoyu's nearly broken Dream Guide Thread, into the chaotic currents of the Starfall Scar's rules!

This is not an attack on a specific entity, but an attack on the very "logic" of its existence!

Boom!!!

Inside the Hall of Rebirth, Yun Zhiyu felt a sudden relief from the pressure. The cold, malicious devouring power momentarily froze and became chaotic, as if disturbed by something utterly repulsive. The cracked glass pillar of light gained a brief respite.

Now!

Seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Yun Zhiyu ceased his attempts to maintain the intact passage—that was no longer possible. He made an extremely risky decision: abandoning the stability of the passage, he transformed all his remaining demonic power into two pure soul-drawing forces, like two precise hands, plunging into the chaotic darkness at the end of the pillar of light, each grasping the fading ray of luminous light and the tenacious, unyielding Snow Owl sword intent!

"return!"

He suddenly pulled his arms backward! It was no longer guidance, but a forceful tug!

puff--!

The immense backlash caused him to cough up blood, sending him flying backward and crashing heavily into the cold wall. The light in the shard of glass in his hand completely extinguished, turning gray and lifeless, as if it would shatter at any moment. The pillar of light that pierced through heaven and earth also collapsed with a roar, turning into countless scattered specks of light.

The passageway is completely destroyed.

Yun Zhiyu slumped against the wall, her breath weak, her vision blurred as she stared at the empty ice platform, her heart filled with coldness.

Did it fail...?

However, just a moment before the pillar of light completely dissipated—

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two faint, almost imperceptible points of light, one as warm as a lingering ember of glass, the other as cold as stardust on a snowy plain, escaped with the last vestige of soul-pulling power. Instead of landing in the Hall of Rebirth, they seemed to be summoned by some instinct, instantly disappearing into the young master's jade pendant that Yun Zhiyu always wore on his chest. This pendant was inherited from Yun Zhixue and contained a trace of her original demonic power!

The jade pendant's surface shone briefly before returning to its calm state, but its interior seemed to possess an indescribable spiritual charm.

Deep within the Starfall Scar, the icy will was enraged by Su Xiaolou's "Nightmare Thorn," causing the chaotic currents of rules to become even more turbulent, utterly crushing countless fragile fragments of souls around it. It "watched" as the two insignificant little fish broke free of the largest mesh of the net, but did not continue to pursue them. Instead, it slowly sank into silence, continuing to maintain the vast net that enveloped the entire world, devouring souls and dreams.

In the southern border region, Su Xiaolou collapsed to the ground, her face as pale as paper, her breath weak, but an ugly smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"Hey...did she get away...Little Fish...I built this bridge...not bad, right..."

He struggled to lift his head, gazing at the hideous scar in the northern sky, his eyes filled with even deeper sorrow.

"This time it was luck... what about next time... what exactly is this web weaving thing..."

Inside the Hall of Rebirth, there was a deathly silence.

Yun Zhiyu struggled to sit up, clutching the jade pendant to his chest. The faint, almost illusory warmth stirred a ripple in his frozen heart.

Their souls have returned, but what returns may no longer be complete.

And the shadows of the world seem to have deepened because of this reckless attempt.