Staying in the sect, controlling beasts and cultivating immortals

Mo Heng's roar pierced through the rumble of the crystal explosion: "Northeast! Three hundred and seventy feet! The node is about to appear!" His Myriad Transformations Returning to the Void Furnace hovered above his head, the cracks in the furnace wall spreading due to the forced deduction of space, and the purple-black runes inside the furnace flashing wildly, firmly anchoring to a weak point in space that was about to form deep in the crystal cluster forest.

On Yu Changsheng's right arm, the dark gold Chaos Emperor Blood, the silver-blue Star Extinction Dao Principle, the nebula halo of the Star Core Fragment and Star Dao Pattern Stone, as well as the remnants of Netherworld Ghost Fire and Corrupting Marrow Power, are fusing together in a violent and dangerous manner.

My arm felt like a miniature cosmic furnace, where the forces of destruction and rebirth roared, collided, and squeezed. The intense pain felt like millions of steel needles piercing my soul, yet it also brought an unprecedented sense of power to control annihilation.

The deep wound on his arm, revealing bone, was being forcibly healed by newly grown, dark golden flesh shimmering with star patterns, radiating a pressure that would make even those in the late stage of the Void Refinement Realm tremble.

"Go!" Yu Changsheng's voice was hoarse but carried an undeniable determination. He suppressed the excruciating pain in his arm, which felt like it was about to explode, and with a loose grip in his left hand, the Annihilation Sword emitted a low hum, pointing in the direction that Mo Heng had locked onto.

Wang Cheng roared, and the Chaos Bone Arm reappeared. This time, it was no longer a simple giant hammer, but rather a crimson aura condensed from his domineering blood, resembling a giant axe capable of splitting the heavens. "Open for me!"

Ignoring the dense crystal clusters and constantly exploding energy ahead, he charged forward recklessly. Wherever his bony arm passed, the fragile crystal pillars shattered into dust, and the slightly sturdier ones were violently smashed open, carving a path through the chaotic crystal forest and turbulent energy flow.

The price was that his domineering blood aura dimmed at a visible speed, and each strike was accompanied by a muffled thud as his bones could no longer bear the strain.

Chen Xueqing's face was ashen, and the blood at the corner of her mouth was still wet.

She gritted her teeth and pushed the Purifying Lotus to its limit, the verdant light barely covering the crowd following closely behind Wang Cheng.

The Azure Lotus Light Curtain trembled violently under the shockwave of the crystal explosion and the rain of bone-corroding spears thrown by the Bone Vulture Cavalry in the air, and cracks spread like a spider web.

Each violent tremor of the barrier caused her delicate body to tremble, and her spiritual power to flow away like a burst dam, but her eyes remained firm as she desperately protected Yu Changsheng and Mo Heng at the core.

Ling Wuying's figure was like a ghost disappearing into the gap between light and darkness, and the Shadow Dagger forged from the Silent Star Cold Iron transformed into deadly streaks of cold light in his hands.

He didn't confront the enemy head-on, but rather appeared precisely in the gaps between the attacks of the Bloodfang Guards or Bone Vulture Guards. He would either deflect the Netherworld Fire that attacked from the side for Wang Cheng, or deflect the bone spear aimed at the weak point of Chen Xueqing's barrier, or instantly appear behind an enemy who was trying to flank from the side, thrusting his cold dagger straight at the energy flow node, not seeking to kill, but to delay them for a moment.

His every appearance and disappearance was accompanied by subtle ripples in space and furious roars from his enemies.

Guiyinzi wandered around the outermost edge of the battlefield, like a treacherous puppeteer.

He controlled dozens of Yin Sha puppets stained with fragments of Star Origin Marrow, which were like the sweetest poison bait.

He deliberately led the puppets to areas where lower-level cultivators from Bone Prison City and Blood Slaughter Hall were mixed together, or made the puppets "accidentally" leave fragments on the path of the Blood Fang Guards' charge, or made the puppets "self-destruct" before they died, splashing fragments onto the wings of the Bone Vulture Guards' mounts.

Greed instantly shattered the fragile balance of power.

"Star Origin Mine! It's mine!" A Bloodfang Guard squad leader, his eyes bloodshot, lunged at the nearby debris as he saw the scattered starlight after the puppet exploded, completely ignoring the Bone Prison City cavalry guard standing right next to him.

"You're courting death! You dare to steal from Bone Prison City!" The bone vulture beneath the cavalryman screeched, and a stream of ghostly fire shot towards the Blood Fang Guard.

"Bullshit! It was clearly my Blood Slaughter Hall who saw it first!" Another Blood Fang Guard swung his sword at the Bone Vulture's claws.

Chaos spread like a plague.

Ghost Yinzi's sinister laughter was almost inaudible amidst the energy explosions; he had successfully turned a hunt into a three-way melee.

Although the elite forces of Bone Prison City and Blood Slaughter Hall were not completely tied down, their pursuit inevitably faltered and faltered.

"Now! The node is stable!" Mo Heng's voice trembled with exhaustion. The light from the furnace suddenly pointed to a distorted spatial ripple diagonally downwards, where a small, unstable spatial vortex, barely large enough for a few people to pass through, was forming.

"Wang Cheng! Blast it open!" Yu Changsheng shouted, and at the same time, he used the Annihilation Sword in his left hand to unleash a condensed silver-blue sword aura. It was not to attack the enemy, but to slash at the chaotic energy turbulence around the spatial vortex, trying to stabilize it for a moment.

Wang Cheng had been preparing for this moment. Upon hearing this, he did not hesitate and poured all the remaining power of his domineering blood into the Chaos Bone Arm. The entire arm swelled up and, carrying the will to shatter mountains and rivers, slammed fiercely into that distorted spatial node!

"Overlord Blood - Shattering the Void!"

Boom—crash!

A piercing cracking sound rang out, not from the crystal cluster breaking, but from the space itself being forcibly torn apart by this extremely tyrannical force! The small vortex suddenly expanded, turning into a dark and uncertain entrance to a spatial passage, from which a violent suction force emanated.

"Go!" Yu Changsheng rushed in first, followed closely by Chen Xueqing, their Azure Lotus Light Domain converging like a shuttle.

Mo Heng put away the furnace and staggered after him. Ling Wuying's figure flashed and disappeared like a ghost.

Guiyinzi then unleashed several puppets to self-destruct and block the enemy before plunging into the fray himself.

"Trying to run?!" The Bloodfang Guard leader and the last remaining Bone Vulture Cavalry leader were furious, watching helplessly as their prey disappeared into the spatial rift.

Almost simultaneously, the two unleashed their strongest attacks on the rapidly shrinking passageway—a blood-red spear condensed to the point of being tangible and a massive bone spike wreathed in ghostly flames!
Boom!

Two terrifying attacks slammed into the "door" at the entrance of the passage, which was about to close.

The spatial passage trembled violently, with teeth-grinding squeezing and tearing sounds emanating from within, along with a few muffled groans, before finally disappearing completely into the crystal cluster forest, leaving only a slowly calming spatial ripple and a chaotic battlefield.

The leaders of the Bloodfang Guard and the Bone Vulture Cavalry exchanged a livid glance. The exhaustion from the previous melee and the impending failure had extinguished their will to continue the fight.

They each snorted coldly, led their remaining forces and quickly retreated, while simultaneously sending signals to rapidly transmit the information about the "space traveler carrying a valuable treasure" back to the higher-ups of their respective factions.

Deep within the Soul-Devouring Sand Sea, the undercurrents surge even more fiercely.

The experience of teleportation has never been worse.

Without the precise guidance of the Star Compass, the node that Mo Heng forcibly opened was fragile and unstable. In addition, it was hit by the furious blows of two late-stage Void Refinement cultivators, and the passage was filled with destructive spatial turbulence and energy storms.

Everyone felt as if they had been stuffed into a high-speed spinning drum full of blades.

Yu Changsheng was the first to be hit. The violent spatial power tore at his still unstable right arm furnace, and the newly formed star-patterned flesh fluctuated violently, as if it would collapse and disintegrate at any moment.

He groaned and forcibly activated the Silent Furnace Technique, using the intruding spatial turbulence as new "fuel" to melt his right arm. This was tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst; the excruciating pain from his arm almost made him faint, but under the external pressure, the Chaos Emperor Blood and the Starry Annihilation Dao were forced to accelerate their fusion by a small amount.

The moment Chen Xueqing entered the passage, her Pure Lotus was torn to shreds by the spatial storm. She spat out a mouthful of blood, her spiritual power completely exhausted, and collapsed beside Yu Changsheng, barely able to hold her with his left hand.

Wang Cheng's massive body became the best shield. He used his back to absorb most of the energy impact, and his chaotic bone arms crossed to protect his head and chest. Sparks flew from the bone arms, leaving deep marks. His domineering blood was exhausted, and his aura was weak.

Mo Heng's Myriad Transformations Returning to the Void Furnace automatically protected him upon entering the passage, but the cracks that already existed on the furnace wall rapidly expanded, groaning under the strain. His face was ashen, and fine beads of blood seeped from his seven orifices, clearly as he struggled to keep the furnace from dissipating.

Ling Wuying's movement technique lost most of its effectiveness in the absolutely chaotic spatial storm. He could only rely on the sharpness of the Lonely Star Cold Iron Shadow Dagger and his own keen perception of spatial fluctuations to dodge with difficulty in the gaps of the turbulent flow. His robes were torn and his body was covered with fine cuts.

Gui Yinzi was in the worst state. His puppet was mostly shredded the moment it entered, and his protective Yin energy was peeled away layer by layer. He barely managed to save his life only because several life-saving artifacts self-destructed one after another. At this moment, his breathing was disordered and his eyes were still filled with shock.

I don't know how much time passed—perhaps just a moment, perhaps an eternity. Suddenly, the light ahead brightened, followed by a suffocating feeling of weightlessness!
Pfft!Pfft!Pfft!
The crowd was thrown into the cold liquid like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

Water! It's water!

The biting cold instantly permeated their bodies, carrying a strong aura of decay and death, but at the same time it greatly relieved the burning pain and the agony of the tearing space on everyone's bodies.

"Cough cough cough!" The group struggled to surface, coughing violently as they greedily inhaled the polluted but at least "normal" air.

The scene before me was both unsettling and bizarre.

They were in a wide underground river, its waters black and viscous, exuding a strong aura of decaying stardust and malevolent energy—the very product of the melting of the remnants of desolate stars deep within the Soul-Devouring Sand Sea.

The river flows slowly and silently, yet it carries a heavy weight that seems to devour everything.

Above them, instead of a rock wall, was a thick layer of flowing, slowly rotating sand!

Billions of grains of sand, shimmering with faint phosphorescence, wriggle and flow like living things, forming an inverted sand sea dome that covers the entire "sky".

The Soul-Devouring Sound became even more bizarre here, no longer a simple impact, but transformed into countless whispers, desperate wails, and mad babblings, seeping down from all directions like a tide, especially from the sea of ​​sand overhead, penetrating into the sea of ​​consciousness without leaving a trace.

Even without direct contact with sand and dust, this kind of spiritual erosion is several times greater than that on the surface of the desert!
“We…are deep underground in the Soul-Devouring Sands…”

Mo Heng wiped the black water from his face, his voice hoarse. The furnace hovered above his head, its light dim, the cracks in its walls shockingly visible, as it struggled to absorb the lifeless energy from the river to make slight repairs.

He looked up at the inverted, slowly flowing sand dome, “This is… the ‘Quicksand Maze’ where the underground quicksand layer meets the deadly dark river, one of the most dangerous areas in the legendary Soul-Eating Sand Sea, where one’s sense of spirit and direction will be completely distorted.”

"Can you locate her?" Yu Changsheng endured the excruciating pain in his right arm and internal organs as he lifted the weakened Chen Xueqing onto the water's surface. Her Pure World Lotus only emitted a faint glow between her brows, clearly unable to provide effective protection for the time being.

Mo Heng closed his eyes and sensed for a moment, then shook his head bitterly.

"The energy here is extremely chaotic, the spatial structure is like a maze, and the soul-devouring sound severely interferes with perception."

The furnace was too badly damaged to perform any effective simulations. We...were completely lost.

He paused.

"Moreover, this river water... is not just stagnant water; the soul-corroding evil energy and the decaying power of stars contained within it are slowly eroding life."

As if to confirm his words, Gui Yinzi, the weakest of the three, suddenly let out a suppressed groan of pain. Strange black lines appeared on the skin of his bare arm exposed on the water's surface, as if it were being eroded by ink lines.

"This water...is poisonous!"

Wang Cheng let out a low roar, trying to circulate his qi and blood to resist, but found that his domineering blood power had been almost completely drained by the previous consumption and spatial turbulence, and black patterns began to spread under his bronze skin.

Ling Wuying's expression grew even colder, and he gripped the Jixinghan Iron Shadow Dagger even tighter. Fine black lines also appeared on his body.

Chen Xueqing leaned against Yu Changsheng's chest, the faint light of the blue lotus barely protecting her heart meridian, but signs of the black water's erosion were also faintly visible on her pale neck.

Yu Changsheng looked down at his right arm. On the "Starry Desolate Arm," which had been forged from fragments of star cores, Dao pattern stones, and numerous impurities, dark gold and silver-blue star patterns intertwined, emitting a faint light. The eerie power of the black water's erosion was dissolved and annihilated as soon as it approached.

However, his internal condition worsened. The forced melting and the impact of spatial turbulence shattered the already fragile balance once again. The Chaos Emperor's Blood and the Dao of Star Annihilation clashed violently within his internal organs, like two mad beasts tearing at his meridians and flesh.

Each heartbeat brought excruciating pain, and dark golden blood, tinged with starlight, uncontrollably spilled from the corner of his mouth.

The Guixu Star Orbit Compass spun wildly in his sea of ​​consciousness, trying its best to suppress him, barely managing to keep him from collapsing on the spot.

"We must... get ashore as soon as possible... and find a stable place..." Yu Changsheng gritted his teeth, his voice filled with suppressed pain.

He looked around. On both sides of the underground river were smooth, steep rock walls covered with black slime, extending upwards and disappearing into the despairing, upside-down sand dune, with no shore in sight.

Just then, Ling Wuying's icy voice, tinged with something strange, came through: "There's something in the water... getting closer... a lot of it!"

Everyone felt a chill. They saw that the once lifeless surface of the black river had begun to silently swell with viscous bubbles.

The bubbles burst, releasing an even stronger, more pungent stench of decay.

Immediately afterwards, blurry humanoid silhouettes made of black slime and stardust slowly rose from the river.

They have no facial features, only two hollow "eye sockets" that flicker with eerie green phosphorescence, and their bodies constantly drip with viscous fluid, exuding an aura of pure resentment and a desire to devour life.

Their numbers are increasing, and they are so densely packed that they have almost blocked the entire river channel!
Soul-Devouring Water Puppet!

Within the quicksand maze, a monster is formed from the remnant souls of those who drowned here, combined with the Soul-Eating Yin Water and Stardust Deathly Fiends! (End of Chapter)