National Star Sea Era...

Chapter 916 The Desperate Truth
Song Chi suppressed the turmoil surging within him, maintaining absolute composure.

"Roar!"

With a roar that seemed to come from the ancient wilderness, a towering, star-like skeletal giant materialized from the endless white bones that shot out from below the warship.

Its bones were as white as jade, yet shrouded in a profound aura of death, and its eye sockets burned with a ghostly blue soul fire. It was none other than the eleventh-tier skeletal giant summoned by the [Skeletal Tomb].

At the same time, the void distorted on the side of the Sky Ruins, and the enormous body of the Mythical Dragon Spine Tyrant Whale, comparable to a small floating island, emerged. Stimulated by the "Enslavement Seal - Berserk" characteristic of the [Ring of Heavenly Authority], its already incomparably powerful aura surged again, temporarily breaking through that barrier. Its dragon scales exploded all over its body, and the bone spurs on its back emitted a cold light that could tear through the starry sky. It suddenly possessed the temporary combat power of the eleventh rank.

Three to two!
The Heavenly Ruins and Azure Sky were in the center, with the eleventh-tier white bone giant standing on the left and the raging mythical dragon spine whale swimming on the right. The three powerful eleventh-tier auras merged together, actually suppressing the combined Buddhist power of the Brahma Sound Womb Treasury Wheel King and the Vulture Buddha of Mount Sumeru.

"war!"

With a thought from Song Chi, the Heavenly Ruins Skyship launched the first attack. The Light of Judgment seemed to have completed its energy storage once again, and the pillar of light tore through the void, pointing directly at the two Ancestral Buddhas.

The skeletal giant wielded a giant sword formed from countless mythical skeletons. With a single slash, the sword's deathly aura annihilated all life, and even the Buddha's light withered wherever it passed.

The mythical dragon-spine whale let out a roar that shattered the stars, its massive body, carrying immense power and violent blood energy, crashing directly into the magnificent lotus platform of the Great Sun Victorious Buddha of Mount Ling.

The war broke out instantly!

The Buddha's light shines everywhere, and the chanting of Buddhist hymns shakes the heavens; judgments and verdicts are handed down, and death permeates the air; dragons and whales surge and roar, their immense power shattering the sky.

The core starry sky of the entire Ancestral Domain of the Flame was transformed into a terrifying killing field of rules. Fearing the possible schemes and spying in the dark, Song Chi did not dare to use the projection power of the Heavenly Ruins Market. However, with the strength of the Heavenly Ruins Sky Dome itself and the perfect cooperation of the two eleventh-order summoned creatures, he actually gained a steady advantage.

The light of judgment struck unexpectedly, targeting the key nodes in the operation of the Buddhist kingdom; the death rules of the skeletal giants had a natural restraint on the holy and awe-inspiring golden bodies of the Buddhist sects; and the violent impact of the mythical dragon-spine whale forced the Great Sun Victorious Buddha of Mount Ling to devote a great deal of his attention to dealing with it.

Especially the Brahma-sound Garbhadhatu Wheel King, whose Buddhist treasures were already damaged from taking Song Chi's angry attack, was now even more overwhelmed by the three's coordinated and ferocious attack. The speed of the Thousand-Petal Lotus's rotation had slowed down, and the cracks on its golden body showed a tendency to widen.

"The time has come!"

In the heat of battle, a glint flashed in Song Chi's eyes as he caught a slight sluggishness in the Brahma-sound Garbhadhatu Mandala due to the repair of his golden body.

"The Power of Time - Zero!"

The [Time God King's Blessing] component was instantly activated, and an invisible temporal fluctuation spread throughout the interior of the Sky Ruins Sky Ship, acting on the energy circuit of the newly activated [Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation]'s "High Dimension Chaos Annihilation Strike" characteristic.

In an instant, the terrifying strike that originally required a considerable amount of time to accumulate energy, activate the four illusory swords of Execution, Slaughter, Traps, and Annihilation, and condense the power of chaotic annihilation was forcibly "reset to zero"—not that the power was reduced to zero, but that the preparation time was compressed to the extreme, achieving an effect that was almost instantaneous.

"Qiang——!"

A sword cry, seemingly emanating from a higher dimension, resounded throughout the starry sky.

Before the illusory image of the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation could even fully solidify, an invisible and intangible sword beam, seemingly condensed from pure chaos and the rules of destruction, transcended the limitations of time and space and appeared directly before the golden body of the ancestral Buddha, the Brahma-sound Garbhadhatu Mandala.

"what?!"

The pupils of the Brahma-sound Garbhadhatu Mandala suddenly contracted, and for the first time, a look of utter horror appeared on his solemn face.

Before it could even mount any effective defense, the "High-Dimensional Chaos Annihilation Strike," which condensed the supreme killing power of the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation, slammed into the core of its golden body.

Crack—Boom!

Like shattered glass, or like the collapse of stars.

Under the incredulous gazes of the Great Sun Victorious Buddha of Mount Ling and the other three tenth-level ancestral Buddhas, the golden body of the eleventh-level ancestral Buddha, the Brahma Sound Garbhadhatu Wheel King, which had been tempered through countless tribulations, suddenly exploded, turning into countless fragments burning with dim Buddha light, which scattered in all directions.

Even more terrifyingly, this sword not only shattered the golden body, but also damaged its life essence. A chaotic and annihilating power of rules wrapped around its broken soul, forcibly knocking its life rank down from the eleventh-tier mythology level, causing it to fall back to the tenth tier.

"Ugh—!"

A shrill and unwilling scream came from the shattered golden light, and its aura instantly weakened to the extreme, like a candle in the wind.

The Brahma-sound Garbhadhatu Wheel King was severely injured and on the verge of death. Even if he manages to escape with his life, he will never be able to recover his peak eleventh-tier combat power within the next million years.

At this moment, the starry sky was deathly silent.

Everyone was stunned by this earth-shattering, game-changing blow.

Song Chi's eyes were icy cold, his killing intent undiminished. The Heavenly Ruins and Azure Sky turned its cannons around, and the [Light of Judgment] began to charge up again, its target aimed directly at the shattered golden light—he wanted to take this opportunity to completely wipe this great enemy from the world.

However, just before the destructive beam of light was about to burst forth, a sudden change occurred.

A familiar gray misty phantom shot out from the body of the Brahma Womb Treasury Wheel King with lightning speed, instantly traversing a vast distance and directly colliding with the white hole energy shield on the outer layer of the Heavenly Ruins Sky Dome ship.

However, the [White Hole Aura Sky-Supporting Shield], which possesses the "White Hole Overclocking Shield" property and is effective against special attacks such as mental attacks, physical attacks, and curses, seemed to lose its defensive capabilities when it came into contact with this gray mist light. It failed to provide any resistance, and the gray mist phantom rushed straight in, eventually crashing into Song Chi's body in the warship's main control room.

In an instant, Song Chi felt a massive mental storm surge into his mind, heading straight for the ancestral fire aperture between his eyebrows. Under this terrifying impact of his soul, the seed of fire deep within the ancestral aperture, which had already evolved into a seven-colored hue, appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

Even with the support of the vast network of countless seeds of the Flame Civilization, it began to flicker unpredictably under the invasion of this massive gray mist and divine soul.

Twelfth-Order Transcendent Divine Soul!

Almost immediately, Song Chi understood the essence behind this super divine soul.

However, he had no time to be distracted by fear, because the divine soul power that had invaded his ancestral aperture had emitted an even more terrifying shriek.

Amidst this shriek, Song Chi vaguely grasped its meaning.

[Heart-Stealing Slave Seal]!
Instantly, the gray mist soul surged toward the seed of fire in the center of the ancestral aperture at an even more terrifying speed.

Song Chi's expression changed again, but fortunately, his ancestral aperture of primordial fire contained not only the seven-colored seed of primordial fire, but also the illusory [Dragon Whale Palace] which had evolved to five-colored quality. In addition, the [Jade Bright Immortal Talisman Sect - Immovable King Talisman] that he had deliberately exchanged for earlier was also hanging high above the seed of primordial fire.

Having evolved into a five-colored quality through the mirror image of the Devouring Python's Metamorphosis thousands of years ago, it is now also radiating endless five-colored light, together with the illusory image of the Dragon Whale Palace covering the outer layer of the Seven-Colored Flame Seed, doing its best to resist the erosion and approach of the gray mist divine soul power.

This anomaly, which affected the entire Fireline Network system, was quickly transmitted to Jiang Yuan and the other three through the [Original Fireline Seed].

The four men's expressions changed drastically. While stabilizing their own battlefield, they quickly diverted a portion of their divine sense and, with the highest authority of the original seed of fire, fully activated the entire massive fire network. With the full activation of the fire network, Song Chi's seed of fire received a significant boost in an instant.

Within the Ancestral Aperture of the Flame, the Dragon Whale Palace and the Immovable King Talisman, driven by Song Chi's full power, shone with dazzling multicolored light. Combined with the Seven-Colored Flame, the three worked together, and Song Chi finally let out a cold rebuke.

"Break it for me!"

With the combined efforts of the three, the gray mist phantom that had transformed into a mark was finally obliterated.

At this moment, Song Chi finally understood that the Brahma-sound Garbhadhatu Wheel King, or rather the entire Shakya civilization, was no longer itself, but was enslaved and controlled by the mysterious Gray Mist Clan hidden behind the scenes. The Shakya's purpose of its large-scale expansion must also be inextricably linked to those Gray Mist creatures.

……

In the starry sky, the Sky Ruins hovered silently, its surface protected by a stable white hole energy shield, seemingly untouched. Inside the main control room, however, Song Chi's face was slightly pale, fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead, yet his eyes burned with a chilling coldness and profound understanding. Although the [Heart-Stealing Slave Seal] had been obliterated by the combined power of the entire civilization network and its own inherent strength, the fragmented information it carried, along with the pure and eerie essence of the gray mist soul, had already revealed the truth.

"The Shi clan... has long since become puppets!"

A storm raged in Song Chi's heart: "No wonder their expansion is so frantic and reckless. Behind it all, it's the Gray Mist Clan that's pulling the strings!"

He recalled the crimson expansion of the Shattered Star Sea that had lasted for millennia, and the abyss demons' irrational simultaneous attacks on the Human Emperor City... Behind all of this, it seemed, an invisible gray hand was stirring up the storm.

The Shi clan is merely one of the pawns laid out in the open.

As for their sudden expansion, he vaguely found some answers in those fragments of memory.

"The core of the Floating Continent!"

Over the past millennium, the entire river system occupied by the Shi Clan has had more than 90% of the core essence of the floating continents in the Star Sea Floating Lands brutally extracted. As for the destination of these core essences, they were not sent to the Spirit Mountain Continent in the Shi Clan's ancestral domain, but to the Abyss.

Suddenly, Song Chi felt a bone-chilling cold emanating from his entire body.

The unknown mastermind behind it all was actually the bottomless abyss.

As for the gray mist energy body, he also found specific information from the fragments of memory.

The Mind Flayer, the ruler of the deepest abyss.

Whether it was the former Botian Clan, the Immortal Realm civilization hundreds of thousands of years ago, or the current Shi Clan, they were all the ones behind the scenes.

Just as Song Chi's heart was filled with turmoil, Ji Heng's urgent thoughts came through the Fire Network.

"Song Chi, what was that just now...?"

"It's the Mind-Stealing Slave Mark of the Gray Mist Creatures..."

"No, it should be called the Bottomless Abyss - the Heart-Stealing Slave Seal of the Twelfth-Order Heart-Stealing Demon's Soul Split."

Song Chi spoke concisely, suppressing the slight tremor in his soul, and once again cast his cold gaze upon the starry battlefield.

"The Shakya have been enslaved. Behind this war is the Abyss, and their ultimate goal is to elevate the entire Abyss to a higher dimension."

The message was instantly shared with Jiang Yuan, Pei Dinan, and Ying Yi via the Spark Network. All four were shocked, and then a deeper chill rose from the bottom of their hearts.

This seemingly lengthy emotional shift and exchange actually happens in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, the Vajrasattva Buddha of Mount Ling, who had been briefly paused due to the sudden injury to the Brahma-sound Garbhadhatu Wheel King and the shooting of the gray mist phantom, showed an expression of disbelief for the first time on his solemn face. He stared intently at the Heavenly Ruins Sky, then looked at the Brahma-sound Garbhadhatu Wheel King, whose golden body was shattered, whose aura had plummeted to the tenth level, and whose lotus platform was cracked, and a deep sense of fear flashed in his eyes.

"Om Mani Pai Mi Hum!"

The grand six-syllable mantra suddenly resounded through the starry sky, no longer a pure serene chant, but instead carrying a distorted and frenzied meaning.

The Buddha of Mount Ling, the Great Sun Victorious Buddha, radiated a burst of Buddha light, but deep within that light, a faint ominous darkness emanated.

Ignoring its severely injured companion, it directly activated the Great Sun Lotus Platform beneath its feet, enveloping the blazing Buddhist fire that could burn the stars, transforming into a blazing stream of light that traversed the sea of ​​stars, heading straight for the Heavenly Ruins Sky. Its power was even greater than before, carrying a kind of madness that was almost self-destructive.

Clearly, this was the final frenzy of the Mind Flayers who were controlling the battle from behind the scenes after realizing their identities had been exposed.

Seeing this, Song Chi's eyes sharpened, suppressing the discomfort at the spiritual level, and seven-colored light flowed inside the cabin of the Tianxu Cangqiong ship.

【Time Chessboard】·“Time and Chess Game”!
Instantly, the Heavenly Ruins Sky and the Great Sun Victory Buddha of Mount Ling were both pulled into a closed, high-dimensional space.

laugh--

The hatch opened, and the eleventh-tier skeletal giant, which had been brought into the warship beforehand, stepped out. The soul fire in its eye sockets burned fiercely, and it raised the giant sword in its hand, which was formed from countless bones. The rules of death wrapped around the sword. With a single slash, the gray sword energy of death crossed space, cut off the Buddha fire, and cleaved the golden head of the Tathagata Buddha of Mount Ling.

Song Chi himself controlled the Tianxu Cangqiong, and all the ship's cannons fired wildly, with endless firepower covering the Lingshan Tathagata Great Sun Victorious Buddha, whose combat power had fallen to the half-step eleventh level.

In addition, he was also distracted by controlling the Dragon Spine Tyrant Whale in the outside world, and charged straight at the Vajra-sound Garbhadhatu Mandala, whose aura was weak and which was trying to rebuild its golden body.

Now that the Mind-Stealing Demon's identity and schemes have been exposed, the two sides are destined to be enemies to the death. Rather than waiting for the other side to come to them in the future, it is better to go all out and completely cut off the tentacles of the other side's Shaman Clan.

Boom!

The mythical Dragon Spine Tyrant Whale and the Thousand-Leaf Lotus Platform collided fiercely, and the violent energy tore apart a large part of the surrounding starry sky. The Dragon Spine Tyrant Whale let out a painful roar, its scales shattered and blood gushing out, but the Thousand-Leaf Lotus Platform opposite it was in an even more miserable state.

The lotus, already riddled with cracks, was struck again, and immediately let out a mournful cry of unbearable pain. Its petals shattered inch by inch, and the Buddha's light dimmed rapidly.

Below, the illusory golden body of the Brahma-sound Garbhadhatu Mandala, which had just barely condensed, trembled violently once again, its aura growing increasingly weak.

"Roar!"

The Dragon Spine Tyrant Whale pressed its advantage relentlessly, its massive tail sweeping across and tearing through space. It opened its enormous maw, large enough to devour the floating land, and with a raging, all-consuming bloodlust, it lunged at the shattered golden light.

The Brahma-sound Garbhadhatu Mandala tried to dodge, but its speed was slowed by its severe injuries, and it was eventually torn apart by the blood-red fangs of the Dragon-spine Tyrant Whale.

The eleventh-ranked ancestral Buddha of the Buddhist clan has passed away.

The battle outside was going so smoothly that it was no exception in the space-time chess game. The Great Sun Buddha of Mount Ling, who had been weakened to half a step eleventh level, was no match for the white bone giant and the Heavenly Ruins Sky.

However, Song Chi was not in the main control room of the Heavenly Ruins Sky at this moment, but had already entered the Heavenly Ruins Market.
……

Shattered Star Sea, the Ancestral Domain of Titans.

Inside the mansion of a ninth-tier Titan, Tyron, a ninth-tier Titan of the Overlord Tribe, stared in astonishment at the Market Token in his hand that was uncontrollably flashing with an eerie light. The next second, a sense of unease resounded deep within his mind.

[Junior, Captain Song Chi of the Mythical Ship of the Torch Civilization has entrusted me to convey this message: The source of the chaos in the myriad star seas this time is the Heart-Stealing Demon at the very bottom of the Abyss. The Boiling Sky Clan, the Immortal Realm Civilization, the Shakya Clan Civilization, and the Abyss Demon Civilization have all been destroyed and controlled by it. Its purpose is to push the Abyss to ascend to a higher dimension. Report this matter immediately.]

Upon hearing this shocking news, Tyrone was greatly alarmed, but he quickly recovered.

"Thank you, Lord of the Market! I will report this matter to my clan's God King immediately!"

Song Chi reacted swiftly, immediately conveying the message to the Titan race in his capacity as the Lord of the Market. Currently, both the Titan race and the Eternal race are focused on the Chaos God Continent, so as long as the God King of Rending Heaven receives the message, the Eternal race will naturally find out as well.

As two of the few transcendent beings remaining in the Shattered Star Sea, if the Sky-Splitting God King and the Eternal Ancestor could return to the Star Sea to take charge, they would undoubtedly exert a significant deterrent effect on the Abyss. This is also the only way for the Torch Civilization to survive at present.

However, Song Chi's heart did not relax at all because of this; on the contrary, it became even heavier.

What is a bottomless abyss?
That is a transcendent force that exists independently of the shattered star sea for countless epochs. They have been secretly plotting for endless years, all for the final dimensional ascension they are about to achieve. Could it really be that their little incident will cause the dimensional ascension to end?

(End of this chapter)