Chapter 179: Turning the Tide, the Eve of the Final Game
On the Falling Star Plains, the standoff between the pure white order of the Temple and the pitch-black chaos of the Demonic Abyss was like a bowstring stretched to its limit. Beneath the seemingly calm surface, a violent energy powerful enough to rend heaven and earth surged. And the fragment of the "realm core," suspended at the heart of the battlefield, faintly visible within the natural rune barrier, emanating the aura of the world's origin, became the most unstable and alluring weight in this delicate balance. Every ripple of energy it emanated was like the finest feather, constantly teasing and stimulating the sensitive nerves of both sides, already filled with greed and hatred.
The balance often breaks from the most insignificant chance. A low-level predator, its mind completely dominated by chaotic demonic energy, prowled the edge of the battlefield when it sensed a pure aura emanating from the Temple camp, a scent it instinctively repelled. A frenzy and a desire for destruction instantly overwhelmed everything. With a meaningless roar, it brandished its twisted claws and uncontrollably pounced on the nearest Knight of Light, who was on guard duty.
The knight was well-trained, and faced with this sudden attack, his reaction was almost instinctive. His longsword, imbued with pure holy light, drew a graceful arc, precisely piercing the demon's core. The holy flame and demonic energy collided with a soft "chi" sound, and a small, not-so-bright flash of energy erupted.
This flash of light was as faint as a firefly in the dark night, but it seemed like an agreed signal, instantly igniting the desire for destruction that was accumulated in the sky above the Falling Star Field and was so strong that it almost became tangible!
"For the eternal and unchanging order! Purify all heretics in front of us!" In the Temple camp, the Cardinal Archbishop, known for his cruel methods and extreme beliefs, Orton, the Blade of Judgment, had a flash of fanaticism and determination in his eyes. He was the first to roar like thunder, and the scepter in his hand, which symbolized judgment and purification, was pointed at the surging Demon Abyss army opposite without hesitation!
"Roar! Tear apart these false fragments of light! Let the great chaos descend and devour everything!" On the side of the Demonic Abyss, the "Soul-Splitting Demon Lord," the most tyrannical of the lot, who delighted in pure destruction, unleashed a deafening roar, the sound waves containing the power to rip apart souls. He wielded the massive axe, forcibly forged from the bones and resentful souls of countless powerful warriors and swirling with undying demonic flames. His massive body was the first to tear through the demonic cloud, charging forward like a cannonball.
In an instant, the sky collapsed and the earth cracked, and the sun and moon lost their light!
From the direction of the temple, countless thick, milky-white pillars of light, imbued with the will of absolute purification, ripped through the air like spears of divine judgment, creating a devastating rain of light that poured down madly on the Demonic Abyss camp! The solemn and reverent hymns of purification blended with the resounding and stirring blasts of charge horns, creating a strange, soul-stirring, yet simultaneously dwarfing, sonic boom. Above, the Knights of the Light of Order, like a torrent of steel, formed an impeccable charging formation. Like a moving mountain of metal, they launched an overwhelming charge with the resolve to crush everything! In the sky, the sides of dozens of massive ships of light, their intricately runed cannon muzzles suddenly lit up with blinding light. Terrifying energy rapidly gathered and compressed within, brewing a devastating bombardment capable of incinerating cities and boiling seas!
The Demonic Abyss responded with an even more primitive, even more frenzied wave of destruction! A pitch-black demonic energy, thick as substance, surged like a seething ocean. Countless hideous and terrifying demons of various forms let out a deafening collective roar, enough to drive even the weakest minds mad. Like a torrent gushing from the gates of Hell, they, filled with pure destructive desire, fearlessly faced the Temple's iron torrent. Behemoths of war, like moving mountains, marched with earth-shaking strides, each footfall triggering a small earthquake. They gaped their fanged maws, spewing a corrosive dark green breath or a pale, shimmering light laced with soul-destroying attacks. The demon lords hidden in the depths of the devil's cloud each displayed their abilities. The bizarre curses spread like an invisible spider web, the screams that attacked the soul directly tore the eardrums, and the twisted flesh and blood magic created all kinds of ominous followers... All kinds of weird, terrifying, and blasphemous attack methods were overwhelming, interweaving into a web of death!
The two destructive forces representing the extreme opposites of the universe, like two ancient stars colliding head-on, collided with each other fiercely and without any fuss on the ancient land of Starfall Plain!
Boom, boom—!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A terrifying roar, beyond words, erupted instantly, as if the entire world were groaning in agony! The sound was so overwhelming that, the instant it struck, all other sounds on the battlefield—howls, screams, explosions, hymns—were eclipsed, completely swallowed up and drowned out. The light produced by the energy collision was no longer simply white or black, but a chaotic, constantly distorted and shifting array of dazzling colors, as if even light itself was being shredded and reassembled by this force, causing intense pain in the eyes and making it difficult to see directly.
The utterly violent shockwave was no longer an invisible, intangible wave of air; it transformed into a visible wall of destruction, sweeping across everything like a tsunami! Wherever this "wall" passed, space groaned in a shrill, tooth-aching, twisting groan, straining under the weight. The fragile earth heaved and trembled violently like water after a stone was dropped. Then, as if paper, it tore apart and lifted up, revealing the dark red, crystalline rock beneath, as if forged from the force of countless shattered laws. Within the rock, even faint, flowing strands of searing energy could be seen!
Screams, the piercing sound of weapons clashing wildly, the roar of violent explosions of various attribute spells, the unwilling howls of monsters before their death... all these sounds mixed together to form a symphony filled with the most primitive and cruel breath of death and destruction, which was played wildly in this land that had turned into purgatory.
The mere aftermath of this devastating confrontation sent a wave of panic through the Alliance troops bracing for battle on the distant high ground. Those with weaker cultivation paled, their spiritual energy swirling. They were forced to jointly deploy layer upon layer of radiant defensive shields, barely holding their ground against the energy storm. Sun Xiaohou clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white from the exertion. His throat felt dry as he gazed at the apocalyptic scene in the distance. He finally grasped the true meaning of a "major decisive battle" that engulfed the entire spiritual world. Compared to the devastating scene before him, the battles they had previously fought seemed like childish play, insignificant and insignificant.
"We can't wait any longer! We must intervene!" Ye Li's eyes glared, like icy ice suddenly shattering. She and Qin Yixuan beside her instantly communicated through their spiritual senses, reaching a consensus. Their goal had never been to participate in this frenzied slaughter, but to stop it and minimize the damage!
Two figures, one dark and deep as the abyss, the other moon-white and pure as snow, simultaneously transformed into streams of light that surpassed all concepts of speed in the world. They ignored the terrifying energy turbulence that could easily strangle a Nirvana cultivator, and like two precise scalpels, they brazenly cut into the most chaotic and dangerous core area of the battlefield!
"Samsara Mirror, time and space are frozen!"
Ye Li's cold voice seemed to carry the power of a command that could carry any word. The mark between her brows, representing the origin of samsara, suddenly erupted with an unprecedented chaotic light. A wave of space-time, invisible and intangible, yet seemingly capable of interfering with the fundamental laws of the universe, rapidly spread out from her like a ripple. Instantly, within the core battle zone, dozens of miles around her, the raging, all-shattering energy turbulence suddenly slowed, as if trapped in an incomparably viscous swamp of time. The scattering spell fragments, imbued with destructive energy, slowed in their trajectory. Even the Templars and ferocious demons, charging frantically and engaging in fierce fighting, visibly froze in their movements, as if bound by countless invisible threads. While it couldn't completely immobilize all the Sanctuary-level powerhouses, this sudden stagnation of space-time undoubtedly significantly slowed the core area's utter destruction, buying crucial, if only a moment's, time for further intervention.
"All the stars in the sky, obey my command! Forbid all laws and separate heaven and earth!"
Qin Yixuan followed closely behind, her stunning face filled with solemnity and determination. Her hands, like butterflies flitting through flowers, traced paths through the air, imbued with the profound truths of the stars, and she chanted an ancient, ethereal prayer to the stars. As she cast her spell, the stars in the heavens seemed to resonate with her, raining down immense stellar power! A starry light curtain, even more massive and complex than the one at Baihuayuan, descended with a roar, like the Milky Way rolling back from the sky! This curtain, like a translucent glass shield, shimmering with the light of billions of stars, thrust itself with uncanny precision into the very center of the fiercest battle between the Holy Temple and the Demon Abyss! Above the light curtain, the shadows of the sun and the moon alternated along mysterious paths, and countless tiny stars were born and died endlessly, emitting a powerful force of spatial isolation and energy purification effect. It not only greatly weakened the penetration and destructiveness of attacks from both camps, but also acted like a supreme mediator, trying to temporarily separate and isolate from the source the divine power of order and the demonic energy of chaos that were corroding and annihilating each other and were as incompatible as water and fire!
"It's them! Those two nosy women!"
"Damn Balancer! How dare you interrupt this grand feast of destruction! Get out of here!"
Ye Li and Qin Yixuan's sudden and forceful intervention immediately drew the rage of the top warriors on both sides, who were already furious with killing intent. A temple elder, a monk whose previously calm face was now filled with an extreme fervor for "purifying heretics," had long since cast aside any subtle doubts. He roared, recklessly igniting the vast divine power accumulated through his hard training. He compressed and condensed it into a "Spear of Final Judgment" composed purely of the laws of order and blazing holy flames. The tip of the spear seemed to be able to pierce the barriers of the world and judge all who disobeyed. It tore through the frozen space and time, and with a terrifying momentum of unstoppable, purifying all, it burst towards the core node of the starlight curtain that attempted to divide the battlefield!
Almost at the same moment, in the Demon Abyss camp, the "Soul-Splitting Demon Lord" also let out a furious roar. He forcibly blended the boiling demonic energy around his body with the monstrous resentment and blood energy produced by the creatures that had just fallen on the battlefield, condensing it into a constantly expanding "Demon Star of Ten Thousand Souls", with countless distorted and painful faces emerging on its surface, and the wails of hundreds of millions of resentful souls. This demon star exudes the ultimate chill that devours light, annihilates matter, and freezes souls. Like a small black hole of death, it slams into the same position of the starlight curtain with a destructive trajectory that crushes everything!
These two attacks, one of ultimate order and purification, the other of ultimate chaos and destruction, were the embodiment of the two ultimate forces of the universe, opposing and restraining each other. Now, stimulated by a powerful external intervention, the two attacks unexpectedly achieved a strange synchronization and resonance, their goal remarkably unified: to completely destroy the core of the interfering star formation!
"Not good! The properties of their energy... will produce ultimate annihilation at the point of collision!" Ye Li and Qin Yixuan's expressions changed drastically at the same time. With their Sanctuary realms and profound understanding of the nature of energy, they instantly foresaw the horrific consequences of the impending explosion, far exceeding conventional ones! It would be a complete collapse and collision of laws, producing not a diffusive shock wave, but a rapidly expanding, all-consuming "law vacuum" or "returning point"! The range of annihilation might not be infinite, but wherever it passed, all matter, energy, and even the fundamental laws would be completely wiped out, no longer existing! The Star Array would be absolutely unable to withstand it. Even half of the Falling Star Field, along with the countless lives fighting there, could be reduced to the most primitive nothingness under this blow!
In the blink of an eye, at the moment of life and death, there is no room for hesitation or retreat!
"Reverse the cycle of reincarnation, trace back to the source, and guide the energy!"
A flicker of determination flashed in Ye Li's eyes, and she mobilized the primordial power of the complete Samsara Mirror within her sea of consciousness with unprecedented intensity! Within her left eye, she seemed to witness the unfolding of creation, the birth of all things, while her right eye reflected the ultimate destiny of the extinction of the stars and the heat death of the universe. She clasped her hands before her chest, as if embracing the entire cosmic cycle of birth and death. In the nick of time, at the critical moment when the "Spear of Final Judgment" and the "Demon Star of Ten Thousand Souls Annihilation" were about to collide devastatingly, she forcibly opened and propagated it! The power of the Samsara Mirror was incredibly mysterious. This time, it wasn't a direct confrontation, but rather, like the most ingenious hydraulic engineer, carving a diversion channel at the moment a flood threatened to breach a dam, attempting to channel the two terrifying, world-destroying torrents of energy into this makeshift "drainage channel" leading to an unknown void.
"The origin of the mysterious woman, the hymn of life, the source of creation, the harmony of laws!"
Qin Yixuan unreservedly boosted the power of her Xuannv Sanctuary to its peak. The starlight radiating from her body reached its peak, as if she had become the embodiment of the will of the starry sky, wielding the power of both creation and protection. She knew it was impossible to completely purify the two opposing energies in such a short period of time. So, she shifted her focus, channeling her most fundamental creative life force and will to harmonize order, condensing it into a warm, inclusive, and soothing rainbow of light. This light, like the toughest yet gentlest buffer, precisely covered the entrance to the Chaos Channel. It wasn't intended to block the flow, but to soothe and neutralize the violent, chaotic, and destructive turbulence and energy surges generated by the moment of contact and annihilation between the two extreme energies. This ensured a relatively stable channeling process, preventing the channel from collapsing under the strain.
Boom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ——————————
A deafening roar, as if from before the birth of the universe or after its heat death, defied all known words. Even though over ninety-nine percent of the destructive energy had been successfully channeled into the bottomless chaotic tunnel, and even though Qin Yixuan's multicolored rays of light, imbued with the wonders of creation, did their utmost to buffer and neutralize it, the insignificant residual energy that leaked out from the tunnel's entrance still unleashed its devastating power!
An extremely short-lived ball of pure black energy, seemingly capable of swallowing all light, sound, and concepts, flashed at the entrance of the tunnel before violently exploding like a popped bubble! The space at the core of the explosion was no longer simply shattered; it was brutally "erased" as if by an invisible giant hand, instantly transforming into an absolute void where even the concepts of time and space were blurred. A miniature artificial "black hole" briefly formed, emitting a soul-freezing suction and a dead silence!
Ye Li and Qin Yixuan, the leaders and core bearers of all this, were shaken by the terrifying backlash, even with their formidable cultivation and extraordinary background that had both entered the Holy Domain. They simultaneously spat out a small mouthful of blood imbued with the Daoist spirit. Their bodies trembled violently, their faces instantly pale as paper, and the aura that had once been as vast as the ocean visibly withered and plummeted. Forcibly guiding and neutralizing this ultimate energy, which involved opposing fundamental laws of the universe, was an unimaginably heavy burden for them. Not only did it consume a massive amount of spiritual and divine power, it also subtly touched the very origins of their respective Holy Domains, leaving them with deep wounds.
However, their efforts and the price they paid are absolutely worth it.
The destructive energy, enough to completely wipe out most of the Starfall Origin from the spiritual realm, was largely exiled into the unknown, distant depths of the endless void, averting the most catastrophic consequences. In the core area of the battlefield, only a massive collapse, several hundred feet in diameter, remained, its edges still constantly twisting and repairing, emitting unstable spatial fluctuations, like a fresh, shocking scar on the Starfall Origin. Qin Yixuan's Great Forbidden Heavenly Star Array, though its brilliance had dimmed to the extreme, even showing fine cracks on its foundation, ultimately remained intact, stubbornly withstanding the impact of the final leaked energy wave and preserving more of the rear area.
The entire battlefield, which was filled with deafening noise and endless killing, fell into an extremely strange and dead silence at this moment, where you could hear a pin drop.
The warriors on both sides, who had been desperately fighting frantically just a moment before, whether they were Templars or demons of the Abyss, involuntarily paused their actions. With confusion, shock, and a hint of fear after surviving a catastrophe, they looked towards the core area that had almost become their collective grave. The aura of death contained in the aftermath of the destructive energy, which was beyond their comprehension, was like ice water poured over their heads, temporarily quenching the fanaticism and murderous intent in their hearts.
However, at this moment of total silence, everyone's mind was shaken by this earth-shattering incident, and Ye Li and Qin Yixuan also had a moment of slackness in their minds due to the huge consumption -
There was a force that could not be accurately described in words, its level far exceeded that of ordinary holy domains, and even made Ye Li and Qin Yixiuan feel as small as ants. It was cold, indifferent, and pure, as if it was high above the laws of the universe, looking down at the birth and death of all worlds with an absolutely rational gaze. Like the sea water at high tide, it silently but unstoppably spread across the entire Starfall Original battlefield, sweeping across every living being present!
This will carried neither malice nor benevolence, but rather... a utter, despairing indifference. It seemed to observe and record, yet it cared nothing for the fate of its subjects. Under its sweep, everyone, whether devout believers in the Temple, the maddened monsters of the Demonic Abyss, or powerful Saint Realm figures like Ye Li and Qin Yixuan, felt a deep chill, a sense of insignificance, rooted in the very instincts of life.
Ye Li and Qin Yixuan suddenly looked up, their gazes seemingly materializing, piercing the layers of spatial barriers that defined the spirit world, gazing into the deepest depths of the endless dimensional void, a land of absolute darkness beyond the reach of even starlight. With uncanny clarity, they sensed the true source of this indifferent "gaze"—the will of the "Lord of Annihilation," the ultimate mastermind behind the millennia-long conflict between the Temple and the Demonic Abyss, manipulating everything like a puppet, the corrupted primordial God of Light. This might not be all He possessed, but a mere, insignificant glance from Him was enough to evoke such a chilling feeling!
At the same time, because of the energy explosion and collision that was almost at the level of creation and destruction, as well as the extremely violent space-time disturbance caused by the Samsara Mirror forcibly tearing the stable space and opening a passage to the absolute void, the external "coordinates" and "breath" of the "world bubble" in the endless dimensional sea of the spiritual world became clearer and brighter than ever before, just like a giant lighthouse that was suddenly lit in the dark deep sea, almost to the point where it could not be concealed!
It was at this moment that Ye Li and Qin Yixuan's highly acute sanctuary perceptions simultaneously "heard"—or rather, sensed—a faint humming sound, as if it had slumbered for ages longer than the universe itself, from the depths of the source of "nothingness," symbolizing the end of all things and the destination of all things. It carried with it an icy hunger and an endless greed for "existence" itself... This humming sound wasn't a sound, but a wave of thought acting directly at the root of the universe!
It was as if some conceptual ultimate existence, whose form and size could not be described, was attracted by this clear "coordinate" and the previous energy feast that was enough to arouse its interest. It slowly and lazily opened an eye that was cold enough to freeze time and space from its eternal slumber, and cast its emotionless gaze precisely at the time and space coordinates where the spiritual world was located!
The ultimate crisis, the consciousness of the "Void Devouring Beast" that has coexisted with the universe since its birth and intends to devour all "existence" to achieve its own "perfection", has already...completely locked onto the spiritual world!
It's imminent! The real countdown has begun!
Ye Li and Qin Yixuan forced themselves to suppress the surging blood and the weak feeling in their souls. They looked at each other and saw an unprecedented solemnity and determination that was as unshakable as a rock in the deepest part of each other's eyes.
On the Falling Star Plain, the war between the Temple and the Demon Abyss might be able to take this opportunity to temporarily calm down, or at least enter a stage of stalemate and negotiation.
But the prelude to the final battle between "existence" and "nothingness" that they, and all the creatures in the entire spiritual world, have to face, which determines the meaning of everything, has already begun without anyone announcing it!
Time was running out for them. They had to find a way to cope before the gaze of the "nothingness" completely solidified and devoured them. Otherwise, everything would be over.
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