Staying in the sect, controlling beasts and cultivating immortals

Mo Heng's hands formed hand seals with lightning speed, and the Myriad Transformations Returning to Nothingness Furnace hung above the ore vein, pouring out a massive amount of Returning to Nothingness runes from its opening.

"Return to the Void: Spirit Guidance and Myriad Transformations Locking the Meridians!"

Countless runes, like living things, burrowed into the mineral vein layers, precisely wrapping around those mineral marrow nodes that contained abundant stellar power and spatial crystals, and began to forcibly peel off and collect them!
At the same time, traces of the Returning Void Array spread across the ground, forming a defensive barrier to block the chaotic starlight death rays scattered by Zero.

"Ling Wuying, Gui Yinzi, clear the area!" Yu Changsheng's command was as cold as iron.

"Yes!" Ling Wuying's figure completely disappeared from the spot. The next moment, the shadow silently bloomed behind the remaining Black Star Fortress cultivators. With each flash of the shadow dagger, a splash of tragic blood and a silent corpse fell.

His shadow laws, under the pressure of life and death, became even more unpredictable and deadly.

Gui Yinzi cackled, and the Myriad Puppet Puppets were running wildly. The corpses of cultivators who had just died on the battlefield, and even the resentful Yin energy left behind after being annihilated by the Starlight Death Ray, were forcibly drawn by him and transformed into twisted Yin energy puppets. These puppets then attacked the still-living Black Star Fortress cultivators, creating even greater chaos and fear.

Despite her injuries, Chen Xueqing activated the Purifying Lotus with all her might. Its clear light cascaded down, protecting Mo Heng and Wang Cheng who were harvesting minerals. She also separated a strand of pure purification power and precisely placed it on Yu Changsheng, nourishing his collapsing body and soul like sweet rain, and doing her best to stabilize the violent and conflicting energy within him.

The Black Demon Lord looked at his subordinates who collapsed instantly, the enemies who were frantically taking over the mineral veins, and the annihilation Dao Law that was spreading within his body and was difficult to expel. His eyes were filled with resentment, unwillingness, and a trace of fear.

He knew he had failed today!

Severely injured, the threat of the Death Star Egg remains unclear, and the madman who can summon the power of star destruction is even more unpredictable. If the fight continues, this clone of mine might really perish here!
"Yu Changsheng! I will remember you! The wrath of Black Star Fortress will surely consume you, the people of the Abyss!"

He let out a shrill curse and suddenly crushed a jet-black jade talisman.

A dense spatial fluctuation instantly enveloped him. At the same time, despite aggravating his injuries, he fiercely unleashed three black demonic palms, each condensed with the remaining demonic energy, towards the chaotic battlefield and the core of the mine below!

boom! boom! boom!
The three demonic hands were not used to attack the enemy, but rather to draw upon the chaotic stellar power and deathly energy remaining in the mine, instantly triggering a small-scale explosion!

The violent energy storm and chaotic laws unleashed by the explosion instantly disrupted the space and temporarily hindered Wang Cheng and Mo Heng's collection efforts.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the figure of the Black Demon Lord became blurred in the spatial fluctuations and disappeared without a trace in the next moment, leaving only a roar full of hatred echoing in the valley.

“Deep within the Star Origin Mine lies the entrance to the Abyss of Desolation! You lot… good luck! Hehehe…”

With the Black Demon Lord fleeing, the remaining Black Star Fortress cultivators lost all fighting spirit and were quickly wiped out by Ling Wuying and Gui Yinzi.

The chaotic energy in the valley gradually subsided, but deep within the mine, the faint yet dangerous pulse of the Death Star Egg still lingered, casting a shadow over everyone's hearts.

Ignoring the aftershocks of the explosion, Wang Cheng and Mo Heng raced against time to collect the exposed Star Source Marrow, which was a crucial resource for their foothold in the Spirit Realm.

Yu Changsheng remained seated cross-legged, his eyes closed. The cracks on his body were slowly healing under the power of Chen Xueqing's Purifying Lotus and the operation of his own Chaos Emperor Seal.

Within his body, the chaotic imperial blood surged and roared, with purple-gold light and silver-blue star patterns fiercely intertwining, colliding, and fusing.

Each fusion brought excruciating pain, but it also deepened his understanding of the Dao of Star Extinction.

His aura fluctuated wildly between stagnation and surge, like the eye of a storm.

Suddenly, a chaotic light flashed intensely beneath his tightly closed eyelids.

When he forcibly suppressed and merged that wisp of star annihilation origin just now, with the help of the brief deep connection between the Annihilation Sword and the core of the mine, he captured a faint but exceptionally clear fluctuation of thought. It did not come from the weakened egg of the dead star, but rather from the deeper part of the mine, penetrating the chaotic spatial turbulence, pointing to a distant and mysterious coordinate, and conveying two words.

【Tianxu】.

At the same time, as he inserted the Annihilation Sword into the mine, a faint silver-blue starlight quietly lit up at the core of the illusory image of the Returning Void Star Orbit Compass inside the sword, as if marking a new coordinate point on the ancient star map that belonged only to him—it was the [Heavenly Void]!
Yu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes, his gaze settling into a deep, unfathomable abyss, where a more resolute flame burned within his weariness. He looked at the Death Star Egg, still emanating ominous energy deep within the mine, then at his companions immersed in their harvest, before finally setting his sights on the northwest direction of Black Wind Valley.

That place is the gateway to an even more dangerous and mysterious place, mentioned by the Black Demon: the Abyss of Wasted Stars.

The first battle in the Shattered Star Wasteland was extremely fierce, but also yielded huge gains.

The cruelty and opportunities of the spirit world have only just begun to unfold.

"Your Majesty!" Wang Cheng's voice was hoarse as he held a fist-sized mineral marrow that flowed with rich silver-blue starlight and seemed to contain a swirling nebula inside. He quickly walked to Yu Changsheng's side.

Under the light of the Star Origin Marrow, the cracks on his chaotic bone arm seemed to be slowly healed, and the dark golden bone fragments shimmered with the tough luster of new life.

"We've already harvested nearly half of the exposed core of the ore vein. Going any deeper... might alert that thing."

Mo Heng's withered fingers were imprinting the last few runes of the Returning Void Array into an equally brilliant ore, sealing it away. His face was still pale, but his eyes held both the excitement of a harvest and the solemnity of the unknown.

"Your Majesty, what the Black Fiend Old Demon said is true. At the deepest part of the mine, the spatial structure is abnormally chaotic, and a strong aura of returning to nothingness is leaking out, which matches the description of the entrance to the 'Abandoned Star Abyss' in Bone Owl's memory. The foundation of that 'Egg of the Dead Star' seems to be rooted in the cracks of the Abandoned Star Abyss!"

He pointed to the depths of the mine, where the brilliant starlight was no longer there, but a viscous, swirling, light-devouring abyss of darkness, like a giant maw ready to devour its prey.

Yu Changsheng slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, his body shimmering with the light of the purple-gold imperial blood, forcefully suppressing the violent and conflicting power of star destruction within his body.

Chen Xueqing's Pure Lotus Qi was like the gentlest silk thread, constantly repairing his cracked imperial body and his nearly collapsed Purple Mansion.

He opened his eyes, his gaze deep and unfathomable, revealing an even more unbreakable will beneath his exhaustion.

The Sword of Annihilation lay quietly on his lap. At the core of the Returning Void Star Orbit Compass at the hilt, the newly formed silver-blue starlight flickered slightly, silently pointing to the darkness deep within the mine—the coordinates of [Heavenly Void] were as clear as a lighthouse in his soul.

“This place is not safe to stay any longer.” Yu Changsheng’s voice was deep and resolute.

"Although the Black Demon has fled, his words may not be entirely false. However, the entrance to the Abyss of Wasted Stars is right in front of us, and it is also the only way to reach the Heavenly Ruins. The 'Egg of the Dead Star' is only temporarily dormant and may awaken at any time."

Gather your spoils and set off immediately into the Abyss of Wasteland!

"Yes!" the crowd responded in unison, without the slightest hesitation. The initial battle in the Shattered Star Wasteland had shown them the cruelty of the Spirit Realm, and had also instilled in them an almost instinctive trust in the Emperor's judgment. Gui Yinzi quickly cleaned up the battlefield, collecting some valuable bone artifacts and materials, while Ling Wuying, like a shadow blending into the darkness, ventured ahead into the deep mine entrance, sensing potential spatial traps.

The team regrouped, with Yu Changsheng at the head, Wang Cheng bringing up the rear, Mo Heng providing support in the center, and Chen Xueqing enveloped in the Azure Lotus Light Domain, stepping into the absolute darkness that connected to the Abyss of Waste Stars.

The moment you pass through the mine shaft, it feels as if you've stepped over a layer of viscous water.

boom!
An aura far more primal, chaotic, and violent than that of the Shattered Star Wasteland rushed towards us!

It is no longer just stardust miasma and soul-devouring gales; the "air" here is like the residue left after being repeatedly ravaged and stirred by countless destructive forces.

The shattered fragments of the laws were like invisible blades, cutting through the protective aura.

The chaotic spatial currents pulled at the body, making it difficult to move; the omnipresent whispers and roars did not originate from living beings, but were the resentful cries left behind when space itself "died"!
What lay before them was not pitch black, but a despairing “chaotic color”—dark gray, dark purple, pale green, murky brownish-yellow… Various energy flows representing decay, corruption, toxicity, and radiation crisscrossed the void like a huge, slowly flowing river of filth.

Earth? There is no real earth here, only huge "islands" floating in a chaotic ocean of energy. These are core fragments of ancient stars that have completely collapsed, or the remains of some unimaginable giant creature, twisted and grotesque in shape, exuding a nauseating and strange aura.

There was no light, only the brief and eerie phosphorescence emitted when those foul energy streams collided, illuminating the jagged rocks and distorted shadows, like silhouettes of hell.

"Damn it...this godforsaken place!" Wang Cheng spat, his Chaos Bone Arm operating at full power, its dark golden light flickering uncertainly under the erosion of chaotic energy, emitting a hissing sound.

He felt as if he had been stuffed into a huge, filthy, hostile blender.

Chen Xueqing's Pure Lotus Light Domain was compressed to its limit. The emerald light struggled to dispel the approaching filthy thoughts and toxic radiation, but the consumption was enormous, and fine beads of sweat had seeped from her smooth forehead.

Mo Heng's Myriad Transformations Returning to the Void Furnace roared overhead, countless runes flashing wildly, striving to analyze, neutralize, and guide the chaotic and violent energy flow around them, opening up a relatively "stable" path for the team.

His voice was hoarse with weariness: "Your Majesty! The energy here is a hundred times more mixed and chaotic than in the Shattered Star Wasteland!"

The spatial structure is extremely unstable; even a powerful cultivator at the Fusion Stage must proceed with extreme caution here!

"Suppressing my spiritual senses to within a few dozen feet of my body is already the limit!"

"Sensing faint life fluctuations, about seven miles ahead after turning left past the massive skeletal platform... there's a battle!"

Ling Wuying's icy voice came from a floating shadow in front of them, resembling the ribs of a giant beast. Like a dark tentacle, he precisely delivered the information into everyone's minds.

Yu Changsheng unleashed the full power of his imperial soul, like lighting a solitary lamp amidst raging waves.

Sure enough, in the direction Ling Wuying pointed out, deep within the chaotic energy turbulence, came bursts of energy collisions and violent roars.

"Conceal your presence, approach stealthily, and act according to the situation," Yu Changsheng ordered in a deep voice.

In this unknown and desolate place, any information is invaluable.

Like hunters slithering through murky mud, the group silently approached the battlefield, using the massive floating debris as cover.

Soon, the scene of battle came into view.

On a relatively flat, floating platform made of some kind of dark purple crystal, five cultivators were locked in a fierce battle. They were dressed in different clothes, exuded a fierce aura, and their cultivation levels were all between the late Nascent Soul stage and the early Void Refinement stage, clearly indicating that they were an experienced hunting team.

But their opponent caused Yu Changsheng and the others to shrink in surprise.

Those were three giant scorpions that looked several times larger and were covered with thick, dark red chitinous carapaces!
The scorpion's tail is not a poisonous stinger, but three fleshy tentacles that wriggle and spew out a dark green, viscous, corrosive liquid!

Their pincers are enormous, each swing accompanied by a shriek that tears through space. Their carapaces are covered with strange, eye-like energy vortexes that constantly absorb and deflect incoming magical attacks!
Even more bizarrely, they seem to be able to draw upon the chaotic energy flows around them, forming small-scale filthy storms that impact the hunting team.

"Corrupted Abyss Scorpion! Mid-stage Void Refinement! Its carapace contains chaotic Dao principles, giving it extremely high spell resistance. It is ferocious in close combat, and its poisonous tentacles can corrode the foundation of one's spiritual power!"

Mo Heng quickly retrieved the information from the Bone Owl's jumbled memories, his voice grave.

The hunting team worked in perfect harmony, their swords flashing and spells swirling as they relentlessly bombarded the scorpion, but with little effect.

The flying sword struck the carapace, sparks flying everywhere, leaving only a faint white mark; fireballs and ice spikes were easily absorbed or deflected by the "eye" vortex on the carapace; a burly body cultivator in the early stage of Void Refinement roared and clashed with a poisonous scorpion, but was shocked and sent flying backward, spitting out blood. His arm was grazed by the pincers, instantly turning into a bloody mess, and green energy spread from the wound!
"Boss! We can't hold on! This thing is too tough!"

A tall, thin monk wielding two swords narrowly avoided a spurt of poison and roared.

Commanding from the center was an old man with a sinister face, holding a blood-red bone banner. He was at the peak of the early stage of the Void Refinement realm. A hint of pain and determination flashed in his eyes. He shook the bone banner sharply: "Set up the 'Blood Fiend Spirit Trapping Array'! Let's fight!"

Upon hearing this, the other three team members immediately spat out their essence blood, which merged into the blood-red light emanating from the bone banner.

A blood-red cage made of filthy blood and vengeful spirits instantly took shape, temporarily trapping the three venomous scorpions.

However, the scorpion struggled fiercely, causing the blood prison to shake violently, and it was clear that it could not hold out for long.

At this critical moment, something strange happened!

A figure appeared without warning atop a protruding dark purple crystal at the edge of the battlefield.

He was tall and upright, wearing a faded gray outfit with worn edges, and casually covered with an equally old dark brown leather jacket.

What is most striking is the long sword slung across his back.

The scabbard was simple and unadorned, a deep brown color, its material unreadable, devoid of any decoration, yet it conveyed a sense of weight and age, as if it had weathered countless storms. (End of Chapter)