Star Tears Ignite the Soul, A Sudden Change Occurs
Deep within the Ze tribe, in a quiet room specially prepared for Yun Zhiyu.
In the dimly lit environment, only the Star Tear placed on the central stone platform emitted a soft and pure white halo, illuminating a small area around it. The air seemed to thicken, filled with the pure vitality of the stars; inhaling it invigorated the spirit, and the fatigue of the past few days seemed to dissipate somewhat.
Yun Zhiyu sat cross-legged in front of the stone platform, his face still pale, but his eyes were unusually focused. He carefully placed the warm jade pendant next to the Star Tear.
Without his deliberate guidance, the moment they sensed the immense yet gentle power of the Star Tear, the two previously dormant glimmers of light inside the jade pendant suddenly came to life, like seedlings receiving rain after a long drought!
First, there was the wisp of icy sword intent. The chill it emitted was no longer bone-chilling; instead, it carried a sense of exhilaration, actively drawing in the light spots emitted by the Star Tear, like a magnet attracting iron filings. Those pure starlight spots merged into the sword intent, causing its originally faint light to become solid and bright at a visible speed. One could even vaguely sense a trace of Xie Yunzhi's lofty and sharp sword intent slowly reviving.
Immediately afterward, the almost extinguished glassy flame seemed to be infused with new vitality, beginning to flicker steadily and continuously. Warm, lively, and imbued with the unique vitality and resilience of the little black fish, the flame danced slightly, greedily absorbing the power of the stars. Its form was no longer a small dot, but gradually expanded, transforming into a small cluster of swaying, translucent glassy flames.
What shocked Yun Zhiyu even more was that as the two continued to absorb the power of the Star Tear, they were no longer just cuddling together as before, but began to truly merge!
The icy sword intent threads touched the edge of the warm, lustrous flames, and instead of the expected conflict and repulsion, they intertwined slowly and tentatively, like water and milk blending together. The forces of ice and fire did not cancel each other out, but rather, under the harmonization of the stellar power, formed a wondrous balance and cycle. A tiny energy vortex, radiating a faint blue-white lustrous halo, slowly formed at the center of the jade pendant, operating on its own, and its speed of absorbing the power of the Star Tear suddenly accelerated!
A spiritual fluctuation, far clearer than ever before, emanated from the jade pendant. It was no longer a simple instinctive reaction, but rather carried a sense of "comfort," "satisfaction," and even a hint of "dazed awakening"!
Success! An overwhelming surge of excitement welled up within Yun Zhiyu. At this rate, the young master and Miss Mo regaining consciousness was not far off!
However, joy turned to sorrow.
Just as the two remnant souls became active due to the nourishment and their energy levels continued to rise, the "annihilation" power that had been lurking in Yun Zhiyu's left arm and was temporarily suppressed by the High Priest Xi seemed to be stimulated by this vigorous "life" power and suddenly became restless!
"Ugh!" Yun Zhiyu groaned, his face turning deathly pale instantly.
The ashen color that had been confined to below his shoulder blade on his left arm suddenly spread upwards as if it had come alive! Gray lines, like a spider web, crawled across his collarbone and eroded towards his vital heart! A chill far colder and more deathly than before, as if it wanted to drag his entire being into nothingness, frantically assaulted his meridians and soul!
He tried to circulate his demonic power to resist, but his demonic power was like ice and snow meeting the scorching sun, quickly melting away and unable to form an effective barrier in the face of this "annihilation" power! The gray area spread extremely fast, and wherever it passed, flesh lost its sensation, meridians withered, and life force was ruthlessly stripped away!
The temperature in the quiet room plummeted, and strange gray ice crystals even began to condense on the stone platform. Even the light emitted by the Star Tear was suppressed and dimmed a bit!
"Not good!" Yun Feng, who was guarding outside the quiet room, felt the terrifying aura that suddenly erupted inside. His expression changed drastically, and he immediately turned around and rushed towards the stone hall where High Priest Xi was.
A moment later, Xi, leaning on a twisted wooden cane, hurried over with Yun's help. When she saw Yun Zhiyu's condition, a look of seriousness and knowing realization flashed in her cloudy eyes.
"The vitality of the stars has triggered a backlash of annihilation... faster and more violent than I anticipated!" She dared not delay, immediately slamming her bone staff into the ground and chanting ancient and obscure incantations. An unknown beast bone embedded at the top of the staff emitted a hazy blue light, transforming into chains of blue runes that attempted to entangle the grayish area spreading across Yun Zhiyu's left arm.
However, this time, the resistance of the "annihilation" power far exceeded that before!
The cyan rune chains hissed the moment they touched the gray area, quickly dimming and disintegrating! The gray area paused only slightly before eroding upwards at an even faster pace, threatening to reach the heart meridian!
Xi's face turned pale. She bit her tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the bone staff. The staff shone brightly with azure light, and more runic chains surged forth, rushing towards the decaying area like moths to a flame, barely slowing its spread. But with each shattering of a runic chain, Xi swayed, her aura weakening further. Even the bone staff in her hand began to show fine cracks!
"High Priest!" Yunfeng was extremely anxious, but helpless.
"It's alright..." Xi's voice was weary yet resolute, "It's not time yet... This old woman can still hold on!"
She looked at Yun Zhiyu, whose consciousness was beginning to blur and whose body was convulsing slightly from extreme pain, and said in a deep voice, "Boy! Guard your spiritual platform! Remember this feeling! The power of annihilation is backfiring because of the increased soul power, which means you are on the right track! But you must find the first Star Key 'Enlightenment' within a month and use its pure stellar purification power to truly suppress or even expel this Dao injury of annihilation! Otherwise... when the power of annihilation invades your heart meridian, even a Great Luo Golden Immortal will find it difficult to save you! These two remnant souls that have just begun to recover will also be completely devoured and annihilated!"
Her voice was like a thunderclap, exploding in Yun Zhiyu's nearly scattered consciousness.
One month... Star Key Awakens...
He bit his tongue sharply, the intense pain jolting him awake. He forcefully mustered his remaining willpower to fight against the pervasive, chilling void. He couldn't die here! The young master and Miss Mo had just seen hope; the future of his people, the shadows over the world… he still had so much to do!
Seeing the renewed will to survive in Yun Zhiyu's eyes, Xi nodded slightly, said nothing more, and focused all her energy on activating the bone staff, engaging in a difficult tug-of-war with the raging power of annihilation.
This silent contest lasted for a full hour.
Finally, when Xi's bone staff was riddled with cracks and she herself was almost completely exhausted, the spreading gray area was forcibly pushed back and retracted back into Yun Zhiyu's left arm. However, its area was significantly larger than before, and its color was also darker, like a gray venomous snake coiled around his arm, ready to strike again and devour him at any moment.
The terrifying chill in the quiet room slowly dissipated.
Xi stumbled, but Yun Feng caught her in time. She looked at the dim and almost ruined inheritance bone staff in her hand, a trace of regret flashing in her eyes, but more so a resolute determination.
"Get ready... You must set off immediately for Flowing Sand City..." she gasped as she spoke to Yun Zhiyu, who was barely holding on. "Yan will prepare the map and necessary supplies for you. Remember, one month... You only have one month..."
Yun Zhiyu raised her right hand with difficulty and tightly grasped the Star Tear on the stone platform, whose light had dimmed slightly due to energy consumption, and the jade pendant whose internal light was clearly solidified and whose vortex was operating steadily.
Two faint vibrations, carrying concern and worry, emanated from the jade pendant.
He took a deep breath, suppressing the weakness in his body and the chilling sensation in his left arm that felt like a leech, his eyes sharp as knives.
"We... will set off tomorrow."
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