Staying in the sect, controlling beasts and cultivating immortals

"Furnace! Ignite my array spirit! Fix the stars!"

Mo Heng's hair and beard stood on end, his face instantly became withered, and his aura was like a candle flickering in the wind, yet he burst forth with an unprecedented brilliance!
The projection of the Myriad Transformations Returning to the Ruins Furnace suddenly surged, and the furnace fire instantly transformed from grayish-purple to dazzling incandescence!
A vast power, carrying the will of the heavens, forcefully injected itself into the collapsing chain phantom through the connection between the star compass and Yu Changsheng!

The gray chains, on the verge of breaking, suddenly gleamed and tightened their grip on the pulsating core once more! The struggle of the Burial God's Remains paused for a moment!
At this critical moment, Yu Changsheng's unfocused gaze pierced through his gushing imperial blood and the gaps in the ribcage of the skeletal giant, locking onto the pulsating core surface bound by countless gray chains—in the instant the power of the Chaos Origin Core fragments was ignited and the power of the Myriad Transformations Furnace was amplified, an extremely complex and constantly evolving star map briefly appeared on that turbid gray-white core of light!
At the heart of the star map is a profound singularity, constantly being created and destroyed, surrounded by the trajectories of countless broken stars!

Its trajectory and shape are seven parts similar to the core gray dot of the Returning Void Star Orbit Compass at the edge of the Extinction Sword, but it is even more ancient and profound, full of the original aura of the Great Dao!

This isn't decoration! It's a coordinate! It's... a keyhole!

The remains of the buried god are themselves a "key" to a certain ultimate place!
The Rift Heaven Alliance worships it not only to draw power to create fake gods and demons, but also to try to decipher this star map and grasp this key! The will of the Chaos Origin Core also covets the "door" that this key points to!
The intelligence fragments that Ling Wuying risked his life to bring back—"The larger source of remains deep within the ancient ruins is the key"—were now completely confirmed!
The key that the Rift Heaven Alliance found and enshrined deep within the Ancient Ruins of the Burial Gods was the main part of this key!

The upper half of the remains of the buried god before us is the "handle" of the key! Only when the two are combined can the door truly be opened!
"So that's how it is..." A flash of enlightenment struck Yu Changsheng's shattered primordial spirit, carrying endless coldness and determination. He saw the true purpose of the Chaos Origin Core's will descending, and he also saw the only possible path to survival—or rather, the only possible counterattack!
Escape? Under the gaze of such beings, and amidst the raging fury of the fully awakened remains of the Buried God, the Divine Dynasty army had nowhere to retreat!

The only way forward! Using our bodies as a vessel, we will break through the "gate" indicated by the star map! We will drag the battlefield into an unknown land that even the will of the Chaos Origin Core cannot fully control!

Either find a way to completely destroy these skeletons and the threat behind the door; or... be buried with them in the ruins!
As soon as this thought arose, the Sword of Annihilation seemed to sense its master's will to perish together with the enemy. From the huge crack in the sword, an even purer and more resolute sense of the end of the world was revealed, as if it were echoing the singularity of the star map!
Yu Changsheng's tattered imperial body burst forth with its last light. He no longer tried to repair his Dao Foundation, but instead poured all the remaining power—the origin of the Chaos Emperor Seal, the laws contained in the fragments of his Dao Foundation, the violent energy that had not yet been refined after devouring the fragments of the Source Core, and even the primordial spirit fire that was on the verge of shattering—into the Sword of Annihilation!
After merging with Yu Changsheng's last life essence, the core gray point of the Guixu Star Orbit Compass at the sword's edge burst forth with unprecedented light, resonating strongly with the singularity in the star map at the core of the skeletal giant!

"Mo Heng! Wang Cheng! Xue Qing..." Yu Changsheng's divine sense swept across the battlefield like a final farewell, carrying an unquestionable command and a hint of imperceptible weariness. "Stabilize... Xinggui... Follow me..."

He abruptly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the fleeting star map that appeared at the core of the Burial God's skeleton, and uttered a resolute decree that shook the ages:
"Return to the void as our boat! Let our swords and bones be our rudder!"

"Open the door!!!"

The moment the words fell, Yu Changsheng and the cracked Sword of Annihilation in his hand transformed into a shooting star burning with purple-gold imperial blood and the ultimate, dark light of return to nothingness. Resolutely and without hesitation, they hurtled towards the pulsating core of the Burial God's Remains, towards that mysterious star map, towards that profound singularity—

It rammed into them hard!

The tip of the Annihilation Sword struck the core singularity of the star map with unparalleled precision!

Time, at this moment, is stretched infinitely.

There were no earth-shattering explosions.

Only a single, ultimate "nothingness" is quietly born and spreads at the point where the sword tip meets the singularity.

Immediately afterwards, an irresistible, terrifying suction force, seemingly originating from the very beginning of the universe, erupted from that point of "nothingness"!
The remains of the buried god let out an unprecedented roar of shock and rage. Its massive body struggled frantically, trying to break free from the chains binding its chest and the terrifying suction, but to no avail! Its core, along with the star map, collapsed inward like a punctured bubble!

Yu Changsheng and the Sword of Annihilation were the first to be swallowed by the collapsing "singularity" and vanished without a trace in an instant.

Next came the upper half of the Burial God's remains, tightly bound by star-rail chains! Its massive skeleton groaned and twisted, being forcibly dragged and compressed towards the point of collapse at its chest, sucked in! Like a giant vortex devouring a mountain!
The terrifying suction force did not stop! Centered on the point of collapse, an invisible storm swept across the heavens and earth! The shattered ruins of Rift Sky City, the remaining Divine Dynasty army, the Flame Dragon, the Evil Demon, the heavily injured Wang Cheng, the unconscious Chen Xueqing, Mo Heng burning his array soul, the remaining Demon Slaughtering Army and flying boats... everything was being pulled by this irresistible force, involuntarily swept towards that rapidly expanding, all-consuming "gate"!
"Hold on—!"

Mo Heng only had time to let out half a roar before the projection of the Myriad Transformations Returning to the Ruins Furnace instantly collapsed under the suction force, and his withered body was sucked into the vortex like a kite with a broken string.

Wang Cheng roared and plunged his Chaos Bone Arm deep into the ground in an attempt to stabilize himself, but this also ripped up large chunks of earth.

The Flame Dragon and the Evil Demon let out their final roars, trying their best to pull Chen Xueqing's lotus platform and some of the soldiers who were closest to them, but they were also unable to resist the suction power that originated from the source.

The entire battlefield, along with the remains of the God of Burial, seemed to be swallowed by an invisible giant maw, rapidly collapsing and disappearing towards the unknown "door" opened by Yu Changsheng's sacrifice and the Sword of Annihilation...

When the last bit of grayish-white light was swallowed up, and when the terrifying suction suddenly disappeared, all that remained was an unimaginably huge, mirror-smooth, circular pit exuding an aura of absolute stillness.

At the bottom of the pit, there is absolute nothingness, and even the concepts of space and time seem to have been erased.

The City of Rift, along with the ancient secrets and final battlefield buried beneath it, vanished completely from the material realm.

Only the faint Daoist aura remaining at the edge of the deep pit, belonging to the Sword of Annihilation and the Chaos Emperor Seal, and a faint, almost imperceptible roar of the God of Burial, seemingly from an endless, distant land, proved that what had just happened was not an illusion.

Heaven and earth returned to deathly silence.

At the edge of the Eastern Region, only a huge scar remains, leading to an unknown void.

Absolute silence, like solidified ink, permeated this world that had been forcibly torn apart and reshaped.

There was no wind, no sound, and even the sense of time's passage became blurred.

The space itself seems to have been roughly kneaded and then carelessly discarded, presenting a morbid state of "healing".

The enormous spatial rift, like an unhealable wound on a dying beast, stretched across the horizon. Slow, writhing, murky gray-purple energy flowed along its edges—the "pus" seeping from the spatial structure after it had been contaminated by the power of the Void.

Further away, the solidified chaotic storm stood silently like a twisted gray mountain range, radiating a chilling, freezing cold.

This is the battlefield ruins beyond the Gate of Ruins, a shattered world ravaged by ultimate power. In the center of this desolate "plain," a colossal, despair-inducing crater lies like a blind eye of the earth, its depths unfathomable.

The pit walls were not soil or rock, but rather a nearly transparent, smooth, mirror-like glass-like crystal with faint grayish-white fluorescence emanating from the edges—the traces left by the instantaneous "forging" of space by the ultimate annihilation force.

At the bottom of the pit lies absolute nothingness that devours everything. Light is mercilessly swallowed at the edges, leaving only a dark core that freezes the soul. This is the "scar" left by Yu Changsheng, who sacrificed himself and used the Sword of Annihilation as a catalyst to forcibly open the Gate of Return to Nothingness.

The "coastline" surrounding this void pit is littered with the remains of the Divine Dynasty's army.

The wrecked Sky-Piercing Flying Ship resembled a steel toy torn apart by a child, its twisted keel deeply embedded in the glassy ground. The dark blue Ruins-Returning Engine had completely shut down, leaving only charred holes.

Fragments of the dark, heavy armor of the Demon Slayer Army were scattered everywhere, stained with congealed, purplish-black blood.

Even more shocking were the human-shaped gray marks drawn on the glass floor—these were the soldiers who could not withstand the annihilation storm that struck the moment the Gate of Return to Nothingness opened, and were completely "erased" along with their armor and flesh, leaving only these last proofs of their existence.

In the deathly silence, a suppressed gasp, a mixture of excruciating pain and unwavering resolve, broke the stillness like a pebble thrown into a stagnant pool.

Wang Cheng's eyelids were like a heavy gate, and he struggled to open them a crack.

His vision was blurred by blood red, and every breath he took aggravated the huge wounds deep in his chest that had been pierced by filthy blood tentacles and forcibly healed by the Emperor's blood, bringing excruciating pain that tore at his soul.

He tried to move his body, but the chaotic bone arm that had regenerated from its broken state emitted a piercing metallic scraping sound, too heavy to obey his commands. He could only move his eyes, his cloudy gaze sweeping across the eerie, deathly ruins of the battlefield.

"Uh..." Not far away, on the jade lotus platform carefully protected in the center by the huge body of the Flame Dragon, came a faint groan that was almost inaudible.

The lotus platform was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and its light was as dim as a candle flickering in the wind.

Chen Xueqing lay there, her face ashen, her breath so faint it seemed she might be extinguished at any moment.

In order to protect Yu Changsheng and the Sword of Annihilation, she burned almost all of her life essence and divine soul essence. At this moment, she was exhausted and her heart was hanging by a thread of the last instinctive Daoist charm of the Pure World Lotus.

Further away, Mo Heng's withered body was curled up beside a half-collapsed "hill" made of twisted flying boat wreckage.

His face was ashen, with dried bloodstains at the corners of his mouth, his eyes were closed, and his breathing was not much better than Chen Xueqing's.

Forcibly burning the array soul to activate the projection of the Myriad Transformations Returning to the Void Furnace to stabilize the star track chains almost drained all the life force from this array master.

The phantom of the Myriad Transformations Returning to the Ruins Furnace had long since disintegrated. Only on the ground in front of him, there was a rudimentary directional array outlined by his blood essence mixed with glass shards, which proved his last effort before he fell into a coma.

The evil beast transformed into a much thinner shadow of eternal night, covering a relatively concentrated group of wounded members of the Demon Slayer Army, barely resisting the omnipresent chill of the environment, which carried the corrosive power of the Void.

The dragon coiled up, its body riddled with wounds, many scales rolled off and peeling away to reveal charred flesh. Its massive head drooped limply, the breath from its nostrils carrying scorching sparks and weak white smoke.

The deathly silence and profound despair, like invisible shackles, weighed heavily on the hearts of every survivor.

"Cough...cough cough!" A violent cough, as if the lungs were about to be expelled, broke the heavy silence.

Mo Heng's body suddenly arched, and an abnormal flush rose on his withered face.

He struggled to open his heavy eyelids; his once wise and profound eyes were now bloodshot and murky.

He struggled, his withered, claw-like fingers trembling as he tried to touch the blood array remnants in front of him, almost completely covered by dust. The moment his fingertips touched the cold, glassy ground, a bone-deep weakness and a stabbing pain in his mind made his vision go black, and he almost fainted again.

"Old Master Mo...?" Wang Cheng's hoarse voice came, like sandpaper rubbing together. His only remaining, relatively intact left arm exerted force, the metal joints of the Chaos Bone Arm scraping against the glass floor, creating dazzling sparks, and propelling his heavy body, little by little, toward Mo Heng. Each movement was accompanied by a suppressed groan of pain.

Mo Heng gasped for breath, shaking his head with difficulty, but his gaze was fixed on the edge of the huge, empty pit not far away—there, a figure faced the pit, kneeling on one knee, like an ancient sculpture.

Yu Changsheng.

His dark imperial robes had long since turned to ashes under the devastating energy impact, leaving only tattered strips of cloth barely clinging to his body.

The exposed bodies are what truly shock the eye can see.

The Emperor's body, which should have been radiating a divine purple-gold glow, was now covered with spiderweb-like cracks. These cracks were not ordinary wounds, but terrifying Dao injuries that penetrated deep into the foundation of the Dao and reached the very source!
Deep within the cracks, there was not flesh and blood, but a mixture of chaotic purple energy and the gray, annihilating Dao principles that flickered constantly, as if it were about to completely collapse at any moment. It was like lava and cold currents flowing beneath the surface of ice, and each flicker brought unimaginable pain.

The purplish-gold imperial blood, like viscous, solidified stardust, slowly seeped and dripped from the deepest cracks, scorching tiny, shallow pits that shimmered with purplish-gold light on the absolutely smooth glass floor below.

He lowered his head, his disheveled white hair obscuring his face, his breath as faint as a candle flickering in the wind, as if his cracked body would collapse completely and vanish into nothingness at any moment.

And before him, deeply embedded in the glass-like, hard ground, lay the Sword of Annihilation. (End of Chapter)