Staying in the sect, controlling beasts and cultivating immortals

The piercing scream of the amethyst giant claw tearing through the air erupted from this deathly silence!

The Abyss Clan's "Cleanser" felt a chilling sense of offense at being able to block its prey's furious attack.

Its enormous body, far exceeding that of Mons Blue, was merely a suffocating silhouette in the gray fog, covered by a cold, hard amethyst shell, with destructive dark purple energy flowing through its joints.

The giant claw slammed down again, no longer as a test, but with the will to crush mountains and the killing intent to freeze the soul, smashing fiercely into the gray-black chaotic energy shield that was already cracked from the previous blow!

"Crack-boom!"

The protective shield, as fragile as glass, shattered instantly!

The violent shockwave transformed into a tangible ring of destruction, instantly sweeping across all directions.

Wang Cheng was struck as if by a heavy hammer. His protective aura vanished instantly, and he was sent flying backward like a cannonball, crashing heavily into a protruding black boulder. The muffled sound of bones shattering was clearly audible, blood gushed out, his vision went black, and he almost instantly lost consciousness.

At the eye of the storm, Yu Changsheng was the first to bear the brunt!
The terrifying impact pierced through his already cracked and broken body, like countless red-hot steel knives churning and cutting wildly through his meridians and internal organs.

The body, already at its limit, could no longer hold on, and the protective chaotic energy was torn apart and dispersed.

He suddenly arched his body, and a large mouthful of black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs gushed out, the intense death energy contained within almost solidified into a tangible form.

The dark mark that had been spinning wildly on his back suddenly dimmed and shrank, frantically devouring the last of his body's essence and the death energy in the valley, but it was like a drop in the ocean, completely unable to resist the overwhelming destructive power.

Consciousness flickered violently like a candle in a storm, seemingly about to be extinguished in the next second, sinking into eternal cold silence.

No! We can't fall!

Just as consciousness was on the verge of complete collapse, a scalding torrent of endless sorrow and resentment suddenly exploded from the deepest part of the soul!

In the shattered sea of ​​consciousness, countless images flashed by: Huang Xiren's withered yet resolute face after burning his essence blood, Lin Hao's blood-stained broken sword and resolute turn to rush towards the Cleanser, and Chen Xueqing's faint, almost extinguished flame of life behind him...

"Ugh... Ah—!!!"

A roar that was not human, filled with endless despair and indomitable will, burst forth from the depths of Yu Changsheng's throat, like a deafening sound tearing through the sky in the eternal silence of the Soul Valley!

This roar actually triggered a strange resonance!

The drop of Lin Hao's scalding blood that splashed onto the rune on Chen Xueqing's heart was like a blazing spark thrown into a calm green pool.

The previously damaged and dormant emerald green life runes suddenly burst forth with an unprecedentedly strong light!
The light was no longer gentle, but filled with a sharp determination and a will to protect, like the flame of rebirth burning with life!

A condensed, emerald-green beam of light, seemingly possessing its own will, disregarded spatial distance and pierced with unparalleled precision into the core of the dark mark on Yu Changsheng's back that was on the verge of collapse!

Zila——!
Two diametrically opposed, mutually annihilating ultimate forces—the deathly darkness of the abyss and the vibrant, burning laws of life—collided violently on Yu Changsheng's crumbling spine!

The impact was a hundred times more terrifying than the slamming of the Cleanser's giant claw! Yu Changsheng's body trembled violently, and the cracks on his skin instantly widened and deepened, like porcelain about to shatter completely! But at the very center of this destructive energy storm, an incredible change occurred!

That dark mark, which had been frantically devouring death energy, was like a collapsing singularity in the universe. It began to forcibly absorb this life-giving flame filled with grief and indignation! It was not devouring, nor annihilation, but rather, in the midst of violent collisions and tearing, and under the tyrannical catalysis of Yu Changsheng's indomitable will, an aura of the beginning of chaos and the return of all things to their origin began to spread!
灰！
An indescribable, seemingly all-encompassing yet ultimately nothingness-filled chaotic gray mist burst forth from the core of the collision.

This fog, though seemingly thin, contains a chilling sense of "nothingness." Wherever it spreads, the violent death energy and the flames of life strangely calm down, no longer clashing fiercely, but being forcibly pulled, dissolved, and incorporated into the cycle of this gray fog.

"Roar?!" For the first time, a clear fluctuation came from the cold and ruthless core of the Cleanser's consciousness—it was the surprise and disbelief of a superior predator discovering that its prey had suddenly turned into an unknown monster.

Its massive claws instinctively felt a tremor from the depths of its being—a natural apprehension in the face of a higher form of energy! The striking motion froze for an extremely brief moment.

It's now!

Two points of frantically burning gray light suddenly lit up deep within Yu Changsheng's eyes, which were almost swallowed by excruciating pain and darkness!

That wasn't the light of reason, but the instinct of a beast turning back when it was on the verge of death, a fighting instinct forged through countless desperate situations!
The core of all the forces within him—the forcibly combined and violently clashing dark imprints, amethyst fragments, Monslan annihilation lightning, and life-giving currents—was touched by that speck of gray mist!
"All beasts...return to one!"

It wasn't a complete incantation, just four words, yet it drained the last bit of strength from his broken body and ignited the final frenzy of all the violent energy within him!

Boom!

The ground beneath his feet seemed to have been struck by an invisible giant hammer, instantly collapsing into a spiderweb-like crater! An unimaginable suction force erupted from him!
The thick death energy accumulated in the Valley of Sinking Souls for countless millennia, the fragments of the will left by vengeful spirits, the destructive purple energy emanating from the giant claws of the Cleansers, and even the life radiance emanating from the runes on Chen Xueqing's heart... all rushed into his body, which was covered with cracks and seemed about to disintegrate at any moment, like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea!

His body became a battlefield where destruction and rebirth intertwined, a chaotic furnace of extreme instability!

"die--!"

The Scavenger's initial surprise was instantly replaced by a chilling killing intent. It sensed a threat, a real threat! The hesitant giant claw no longer hesitated, gathering all its power. Amethyst light pierced the gray mist, carrying the will to obliterate everything, and slammed down once more.

This time, the target was Yu Changsheng's head! Before the claws even arrived, a terrifying force field had already imprisoned the space, eliminating any possibility of evasion!

Yu Changsheng neither hid nor could he hide.

He just suddenly raised his head!
All the pain and struggle on his face vanished, leaving only a chilling stillness and those eyes burning with chaotic ashes!
He faced the colossal claw that blotted out the sky, raising his right arm, which was torn open and the bones were clearly visible.

There was no flash of brilliance, no change in technique. Just an ordinary punch!
A thin, constantly flowing and churning layer of chaotic gray mist enveloped the fist.

A silent collision.

The anticipated massive explosion did not occur. Time seemed to stretch out at that moment.

The Purifier's colossal amethyst claw, powerful enough to shatter spiritual treasures and containing boundless destructive energy, underwent an extremely bizarre change the instant it touched the thin layer of gray mist. The incredibly pure amethyst energy at the claw's core, as if encountering its natural enemy, began to recede at a visible speed…

"Dissolve!"
Like the remnants of snow under the blazing sun, or like a stone thrown into a bottomless abyss, it rapidly decomposes, returning to the most primitive particles, greedily swallowed by that thin layer of gray mist!
The gray fog spread wildly upwards from the point of contact, like a malignant tumor, and wherever it passed, the indestructible amethyst shell silently lost its luster!

"Hiss—!!!" For the first time, the massive body of the Scavenger trembled violently. It was a pain that surpassed physical damage, the fear of its core being eroded!
It emitted a piercing screech that shook the valley!
It tried to pull back its giant claw, but the layer of gray mist seemed to possess a strange power that bound time and space, firmly adhering to it!

Yu Changsheng's body trembled violently, cracks on his skin burst open continuously, and blood gushed out like a spring, only to be swallowed by the gray mist.

That punch drained him of everything.

But the gray light in his eyes shone as brightly as the final explosion of a dying star!

He saw it!

As the Scavenger instinctively arched its massive body due to the excruciating pain, exposing the relatively vulnerable connection between its chest and abdomen, a bright, deep purple core, pulsating like a heart, flashed past through the gaps in its thick amethyst shell!

That is a purer and more powerful energy source than the amethyst core of Mons Blue, and it is also the true power hub and fatal weakness of the "Purifiers"!
The opportunity is fleeting! A fleeting moment earned with one's life!
Yu Changsheng advances instead of retreating!

Using the reverse pulling force generated by the Sweeper's struggle to retract its claws, his broken body shot out like an arrow, leaving a gray-black afterimage, and crashed into the Sweeper's exposed fatal core at a speed far exceeding its own limits!

His right hand had its five fingers clenched together like a knife, and his entire arm was enveloped in a dense, almost liquid, chaotic gray mist, emanating a terrifying aura that slightly distorted the space around him.

"Pfft——!"

A dull thud, like a sharp blade piercing rotten wood.

Yu Changsheng's half-arm, along with the chaotic gray mist enveloping it, pierced with pinpoint accuracy into the pulsating, deep purple core at the connection point between the Cleanser's chest and abdomen! The gray mist, like the most greedy glutton, surged wildly into the core!

Time seemed to stand still for a second.

next moment--

boom! ! ! !

An indescribable storm of purplish-black energy erupted from the pierced core! It was not a self-destruction, but rather the supreme energy of the Abyss Clan, which was pure to the extreme and constituted the life essence of the Purifiers, completely out of control and rampaging under the erosion and pollution of the chaotic gray mist!

The terrifying shockwave instantly blasted Yu Changsheng away. His mangled body tumbled in the air like a broken doll, spraying out a large amount of black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.

The last thing he saw was that at the core of the Cleanser's massive body, a blindingly dark purple-black sphere of light shone. The sphere expanded rapidly, and wherever it passed, the Cleanser's body, covered in amethyst armor, turned to ashes like burning paper!

Its cold and ruthless core of will finally let out a sharp, distorted scream filled with endless shock, rage, and disbelief, before being completely swallowed and annihilated by the destructive purplish-black light!
Only a few of the largest amethyst fragments, still bearing the aura of destruction, were scattered in the energy storm. One of the deepest core fragments, with gray filaments flowing along its edges like living things, landed right in the arms of Wang Cheng, who had been thrown near Yu Changsheng by the shockwave. It was icy cold, yet contained terrifying energy that made one's heart tremble.

Just as the terrifying energy storm that annihilated the Cleansers swept across the entire Soul Valley, stirring up boundless deathly miasma and forming a massive vortex.

Above the valley, on a rugged cliff shrouded in natural mist, two dark figures blended into the shadows of the rock.

One of them had a ring of dark golden runes slowly rotating deep within his pupils, like an invisible mirror, clearly reflecting the soul-stirring scene at the bottom of the valley below.

It was none other than "You Tong," the top scout of the Qingzhou Shadow Guard!
"Hiss...this..." The shadow guard beside You Tong, who was responsible for recording, was so shocked by the mind-blowing scene that he lost his composure, even though he was observing through a special secret technique. His hand holding the recording jade slip trembled slightly, and his voice carried a hint of barely perceptible horror.

"He...he actually...killed the 'Purifier'?! What the hell was that gray mist?!"

You Tong remained silent, his dark golden pupils fixed on Yu Changsheng, who lay on the ground in the eye of the storm, his life hanging in the balance, and the core amethyst fragment clutched tightly in Wang Cheng's hand.

Deep within his pupils, the runes spun faster and faster, as if trying to record every subtle change in the chaotic gray mist.

However, just as he was fully activating his secret technique in an attempt to analyze the essence of the gray fog...

"Well!"

You Tong let out a muffled groan, his body trembling violently! His vision suddenly went black, and the dark gold runes in his pupils were instantly covered with fine cracks as if struck by an invisible hammer!

A cold and violent will, carrying an aura of chaos and annihilation, like an invisible poison needle, pierced his sea of ​​consciousness through his secret technique of observation!
"Pfft!" A mouthful of blood gushed uncontrollably from You Tong's mouth, staining his black face mask crimson. His eyes were filled with utter horror and disbelief, as if he had seen something even more terrifying than the Cleansers!

The backlash from just a trace of residual energy almost destroyed his "Golden Eyes of the Deep Abyss," which he had painstakingly cultivated for decades!
"Go! Leave now!"

You Tong's voice was hoarse and shrill, filled with unprecedented fear and urgency, as she grabbed her still bewildered companion.

"Send a message...no! Report directly to the Patriarch! Yu Changsheng...has become an uncontrollable demon! Immediately request the Offering Pavilion...no...please...the Ancestor to make a decision! Hurry!!!"

The two dark figures, like startled birds, hurriedly disappeared into the shadows, fleeing this desolate and soul-crushing place as quickly as possible, never daring to look back at the chaotic storm at the bottom of the valley.

At the bottom of Soul Valley, the devastating purplish-black storm finally began to subside slowly.

Wang Cheng struggled to his feet from the rubble, the excruciating pain of broken bones making his vision blur. He spat out the blood in his mouth and staggered to Yu Changsheng's side.

Yu Changsheng lay on the cold rock, his face as white as gold leaf, his breath faint, the wound on his chest deep enough to expose the bone, and black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs was still slowly seeping out.

Strangely, the dark mark on his back did not completely disappear. Instead, it resembled a twisted gray scar, faintly connected to the equally dim gray aura flowing beneath his skin, forming an extremely weak yet tenacious balance.

Wang Cheng's gaze fell on the core amethyst fragment in his arms, which was icy cold yet subtly resonated with Yu Changsheng's aura. Without hesitation, he placed the fragment into Yu Changsheng's icy hand. The moment the fragment touched Yu Changsheng's skin, the gray filaments flowing on it glowed slightly, and the fragment's own coldness and violence seemed to subside a little.

"Senior Brother Yu... hang in there... hang in there..." Wang Cheng's voice was hoarse and choked with sobs. He struggled to carry the almost weightless Yu Changsheng on his back, and then looked at Chen Xueqing, who was unconscious not far away, with only a faint green light flickering in her chest.

He gritted his teeth and used his last bit of strength to carefully lift Chen Xueqing up and let her rest on Yu Changsheng's back.

Carrying Yu Changsheng and the unconscious Chen Xueqing on his back, Wang Cheng dragged his battered body step by step, with extreme difficulty yet unwavering determination, into the deeper part of the Soul-Sinking Valley, into the churning, thicker, and more despairing deathly gray mist.

Three nearly shattered figures were swiftly swallowed by the boundless, deathly grayness, as if utterly buried in this swamp of despair. (End of Chapter)