Shattered Star Canyon, Crystal Scorpion Siege
After resting overnight at the Ze tribe and replenishing their water and special scorpion-repelling powder, Yun Zhiyu and her group of eleven embarked on their journey again. High Priest Xi dispatched a young guide named "Sha," familiar with the terrain, to lead them to Shattered Star Canyon.
Leaving the underground oasis and returning to the surface, the suffocating heat and sandstorms remained. But after learning part of the truth, this desolate desert seemed to have gained a layer of tragic and mysterious color in Yun Zhiyu's eyes.
Sha was a taciturn young man with sharp, eagle-like eyes and an astonishing familiarity with the desert. He skillfully led his team, avoiding several quicksand traps and dangerous creatures lurking beneath the sand, making their journey much faster than before.
As we ventured further west, the surrounding landscape began to change. The sand dunes deepened in color, taking on a dark red hue, and a faint, sulfurous yet metallic scent filled the air. Occasionally, exposed rocks could be seen, bearing the marks of vitrification, as if forged by intense heat.
“We’re almost at Shattered Star Canyon.” Sha stopped and pointed to the vaguely visible outline of a huge rift valley ahead, like a scar on the earth. “The sand here contains meteorite iron, which is why it’s reddish. The space inside the canyon is chaotic, so stay close to me and don’t touch anything that’s glowing, especially… the purple crystal.”
He specifically emphasized "purple crystal," his eyes filled with deep apprehension.
Everyone was on high alert and cautiously approached the edge of the canyon.
Looking down, Shattered Star Canyon seemed bottomless, its steep cliffs riddled with pits and cracks. The valley floor wasn't entirely dark; instead, it shimmered with strange lights—a ghostly blue, a ghastly green, and that ominous dark purple that Shattrath seemed to be hinting at. In some places, the space itself appeared unnaturally distorted, where light would be strangely deflected.
“Star Tears are usually born at the center of the purest blue or white crystal clusters of star power,” Sha whispered. “We have to go down and try to avoid those purple areas and spatial distortion points.”
They found a relatively gentle slope and, with the help of ropes and demonic power, slowly climbed down. The closer they got to the bottom of the valley, the stronger the metallic smell of sulfur became, mixed with a faint, unsettling energy fluctuation.
The valley floor was even more complex, dotted with craters of varying sizes and clusters of broken crystals. Guided by the sand, they cautiously traversed the area, searching for their target.
After entering the canyon, the jade pendant in Yun Zhiyu's arms showed a noticeable increase in the fluctuation of the icy sword intent, as if it was reacting to the environment, while the glass flame remained dormant.
"Look over there!" a soldier whispered, pointing to a crater not far away.
At the center of the pit, a small cluster of crystal-clear, deep blue crystals grows, and in the center of the crystal cluster, a soft and pure white halo is slowly flowing, like a condensed teardrop—it is the Star Tear!
Everyone perked up and was about to step forward.
"Click...click..."
A series of sharp, teeth-grinding scraping sounds suddenly rang out from the surrounding shadows!
The next second, countless compound eyes gleaming with a dark purple light lit up in the dim valley! Immediately afterwards, scorpions as large as hunting dogs, with carapaces that gleamed with a dark metallic sheen and tails that held up dark purple venomous stingers, surged out like a tide from the crevices in the rocks and the clusters of crystals, instantly surrounding them!
These are the mutated sand scorpions that Sand Warning warned about! Their numbers far exceed expectations!
"Form the formation!" Yun Zhiyu shouted, and his right hand instantly condensed into an ice crystal longsword. Although his left arm was still unusable, his demonic power had already exploded at full force.
The warriors immediately formed a circular formation back to back, their weapons flashing with demonic light.
The sand scorpions did not attack immediately; they seemed to be waiting for something. The unsettling energy fluctuations in the air suddenly intensified.
Hiss—!
A sharp, piercing screech came from the depths of the canyon, and the swarm of sand scorpions surrounding them, as if receiving a command, launched a sudden attack! They were incredibly fast, wielding their huge pincers and their venomous stingers like deadly whips, frantically stabbing at the circular formation!
"kill!"
The battle erupted instantly! Demonic power clashed with scorpion armor, producing a metallic clang. These mutated sand scorpions had exceptionally hard shells, making them difficult to penetrate with ordinary attacks. Their venomous stingers were even more insidious; once struck, even a demonic power shield would be rapidly corroded, and a needle-like pain would pierce the soul.
One soldier was slightly careless and his calf was grazed by a scorpion's tail. He screamed in agony as his leg turned black and purple instantly, and his movements became sluggish. He was nearly overwhelmed by the sand scorpions that pounced on him, but fortunately, his comrades risked their lives to save him.
Yun Zhiyu's sword flashed like lightning, its icy sword energy crisscrossing, each swing freezing and shattering several sand scorpions. But he soon discovered that these sand scorpions seemed inexhaustible, and their target was very clear—their main attack was concentrated on him! They seemed particularly "interested" in the faint aura emanating from the jade pendant in his possession, or rather, in that wisp of icy sword intent!
"They're drawn here by the power of the stars!" Sha shouted as he precisely pierced the compound eye of a sand scorpion with his bone spear. "Leader, what's on you has a deadly attraction for them!"
Yun Zhiyu's heart sank. Yes, the young master Yun Zhixue's soul contained the qualities of a "Star Guardian" of the Star Spirit race, which was undoubtedly a treasure to these mutated creatures who had lived under the radiation of star fragments for a long time!
We must obtain the Star Tear as soon as possible and then break through!
"Yunfeng! Take a few men and cover me as I go to retrieve the Star Tear!" Yun Zhiyu shouted, his sword strikes becoming even more ferocious. He forcefully tore a gap in the scorpion swarm and charged towards the crater.
Yun Feng roared and, with his three strongest warriors, stood guard on either side of Yun Zhiyu, like rocks resisting the endless scorpion tide.
Every step forward was incredibly difficult. The scorpion stings rained down like a storm, rapidly depleting their demonic power. One of the warriors providing cover, trying to deflect a stinger aimed at Yun Zhiyu's back, was struck in the chest by the giant claw of another sand scorpion, coughing up blood and flying backward.
Yun Zhiyu's eyes were bloodshot, but he couldn't turn back. All he could see was the cluster of deep blue crystals so close to him!
Finally, he reached the edge of the crater!
Just then—
boom!
A powerful and ferocious aura, far stronger than that of ordinary sand scorpions, suddenly erupted from the bottom of the crater! The sand at the bottom of the crater exploded, and a scorpion king, with a body comparable to a bull, a deep purple-black carapace, and a stinger at its tail like a giant lance, slowly crawled out! Its compound eyes were fixed on Yun Zhiyu, filled with greed and rage!
Clearly, these Star Tears are what it guards!
The Scorpion King let out a deafening roar, its massive body moving with lightning speed, bringing a stench as it lunged at Yun Zhiyu! Its enormous pincers, like guillotines, slashed at his head, while the terrifying venomous stinger silently pierced his dantian!
Caught in a pincer attack, there was no way to avoid it!
Yun Zhiyu's pupils contracted, his right arm muscles bulged, and his ice crystal longsword hummed as he poured all his demonic power into it, preparing to withstand this fatal blow head-on!
At this critical moment—
The dormant glass flame in his arms seemed to be stirred by the extreme crisis in the outside world and Yun Zhiyu's resolute will to die, and it suddenly flickered!
A faint yet incredibly pure warm current, carrying the feeling of rebirth, instantly flowed into his nearly depleted meridians. It did not enhance his demonic power, but rather... it stirred the wisp of withered, cold energy belonging to "Silence" in his left arm, which he had been unable to control!
laugh!
Beneath the ashen skin of Yun Zhiyu's left arm, a wisp of gray energy escaped uncontrollably, like a living tentacle, heading towards the scorpion king's poisonous stinger!
There was no sound of collision.
The terrifying poison needle, capable of corroding even the soul, vanished the moment it touched the gray aura, as if thrown into nothingness, silently melting away from its tip! And the melting process rapidly spread along the scorpion's tail!
"Hiss—!!!"
The Scorpion King let out an unprecedented, piercing hiss filled with extreme fear and pain! It frantically tried to retreat, whipping its tail, but the gray aura was like a bone-deep infection, rapidly erasing its carapace, flesh, and even its powerful life force wherever it passed!
In the blink of an eye, the enormous, arrogant scorpion king, along with its deadly stinger, vanished completely without a trace!
This scene not only caused the frenzied sand scorpion swarm around them to freeze suddenly, their compound eyes filled with fear, but also stunned Yunfeng, Sha, and the others who were fighting hard!
Yun Zhiyu was stunned. He stared at the wisp of gray energy slowly retracting from his left arm and the dissipating Scorpion King, a chill rising from the depths of his heart. The power of this "Silence" was terrifying!
But he didn't have time to think it through. The death of the scorpion king seemed to have shocked the scorpion swarm, and their attack paused for a moment.
"Quick! Get the Star Tears!" Yun Zhiyu shouted to the warrior closest to the crystal cluster, suppressing his surging blood and qi.
The soldier reacted immediately, rushed forward, and carefully removed the teardrop-shaped crystal that emitted a pure white light from the blue crystal cluster.
The moment he obtained the Star Tear, a gentle yet boundless stellar vitality spread out, invigorating everyone. Even the crystal flame and icy sword intent within the jade pendant in his bosom emanated a clear wave of longing.
"Withdraw!" Yun Zhiyu ordered without hesitation.
Having lost the Scorpion King and intimidated by the power of "Silence," the scorpion swarm, though still surrounding them, had greatly reduced their offensive and seemed hesitant to press too hard. Protecting their wounded companions, the group fought their way back, desperately trying to break through to the top of the canyon along the original path.
After a fierce battle, they finally broke out of Shattered Star Canyon in a disheveled state, leaving behind the sand scorpions that were still lingering and hissing at the edge of the canyon.
A headcount revealed one person seriously injured, three slightly injured, and almost everyone bearing some kind of mark, indicating a significant depletion of their demonic energy.
Yun Zhiyu opened his palm, and the Star Tear radiated a warm and gentle halo in his palm, dispelling the surrounding gloom and deathly silence.
We've finally taken the first step.
But when he looked down at his arm, which was still gray and had just released terrifying power on its own, his eyes were extremely solemn.
Is this the power of salvation, or... a deeper curse?
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