The Witcher: Start with the Lord Marrying a Wife.

Chapter 562 Undercurrent surging
The lingering shadow of the lord's consciousness did not give up the pursuit. It constantly adjusted its attack strategy, moving through the fault lines with even more unpredictable movements, relentlessly attempting to intercept every possible exit point on the escapee's path. This filled the entire environment with a sense of oppression and danger, making every breath feel as suffocating and heavy as if one were on the verge of death.

"We absolutely cannot let it succeed!" Dai Wei's eyes were extremely firm. At the moment when his body was exhausted to the point of near breaking down, he once again mobilized the Frost Wolf bloodline to unleash its full power, resonating with the chaotic elements to unleash the final killing move, "Gray Flame Termination Slash." The blade light meandered and flowed like tearing through the river of time, pointing straight into the void. Its heat was enough to melt any corrosive substances and evil crystals, and it was regarded as one of the only ways to suppress this extradimensional monster.

Just as the two forces were about to collide, the entire space underwent violent distortions, with countless fragments and debris flying everywhere. The trajectory of the blade, however, reflected and formed a blurry yet complete small-scale time-folding barrier—

Through this ingenious arrangement, "Gray Flame Termination Slash" successfully annihilated the pursuers, and their scattered and chaotic information was also forcibly blocked and dissolved, allowing the entire area to return to a relatively stable state.

After the last thick smoke dissipated, only a faint fluorescent blue atmosphere remained in the deathly silence, and the translucent brilliance emanating from the hidden entrance could be vaguely seen...

Exhausted but still conscious, Dai Wei slowly squatted down against the cold rock wall, carefully protecting the Pure Boundary Stone in his hand and putting it back into the sealed bag.

He gazed at the twilight sky in the distance, where the first rays of dawn finally pierced through the valley, gilding the dim world with a gentle, thin golden edge, as if everything was beginning to awaken and revive...

The first rays of dawn shone through the translucent dome above the Star-Eyed Clan altar, illuminating the spacious and solemn purification hall.

The air was filled with the faint, ethereal blue energy of the Purifying Stone, as if all corruption and filth were kept at bay.

Liliana lay quietly in the center of the altar, a slight flush rising on her pale, delicate face. Her hands were gently clasped in front of her chest, and the Purifying Stone, which David had personally collected, was slowly floating above her chest.

The Purifying Stone emitted a soft and pure light, and its energy fluctuations gradually synchronized with Liliana's heartbeat.

The Star-Eyed Clan's old priest, clad in a silver-white robe, stood solemnly to one side.

He held up the ancient book with both hands, silently reciting sacred incantations from the ancient tribal language.

The incantation flowed like a gentle stream, each word filled with reverence and prayer for life and pure power.

As the incantation deepened, the dark blue ore slowly melted, its crystal-clear form gradually transforming into a gentle, flowing energy that penetrated Liliana's chest like a transparent thread, continuously seeping into her beating heart, which pulsated intensely like the source of her life.

These energy threads seemed to be sentient, weaving a complex yet stable and highly protective network of barriers within her heart, transforming the originally blinding, scorching, and destructive gray flames into a warm, dark red flame.

The flames no longer burned wildly, but lay dormant deep within her body, silently guarding her like a cheetah lurking in the night, yet carrying an undeniable deterrent power.

The branding color changed from bright and intense to a deep, dark red, symbolizing that it had entered a more secretive, harder-to-detect, but more threatening state of infiltration.

At this moment, she slightly opened her eyes. Her eyes, which shimmered like bright stars with icy blue flames, held a hint of confusion, but more so a sense of determination and composure.

David stood beside her and watched her awaken. He breathed a sigh of relief, but a complex emotion flashed in his eyes—a mixture of relief and worry, because he knew that this ceremony was just the beginning and that greater challenges lay ahead.

As her consciousness gradually cleared, a faint halo of light appeared on Liliana's forehead. She suddenly whispered a sentence that shocked everyone: "I saw it... the ancient covenant inscription from the other side."

The entire hall fell into a deathly silence, and even the air seemed to freeze into silent ripples.

This statement reveals not only the awakening of memories, but also the unveiling of a long-hidden secret from the depths of the soul—a message spanning tens of thousands of years, containing the intertwining of the laws of heaven and earth and dark curses.

“Observers…” her voice was soft yet resolute, “Those ancient beings once made a pact with the Abyss, using this inscription to seal away some terrifying power, and also leaving a warning… But it seems to be far more than a simple seal, but a game, an inescapable and eternally intertwined fate.”

David frowned, sensing the weight of information contained in the word "observer." This was not merely a legendary existence of the Star-Eyed Race, but could potentially influence the direction of the entire world's development.

He gazed at the still-sleeping statue of the armored guardian and the faint runes emerging on the wall—these might be the keys to unlocking the mystery of the mark and warding off a greater catastrophe in the future.

After the ceremony, the two left the center of the altar in silence, knowing that the days to come would bring an even more unpredictable and dangerous new journey.

The night was as dark as ink, swallowing up the last glimmer of light remaining on the horizon.

In the endless shadows, an ancient and dilapidated city slumbers quietly, so silent that time seems to stand still.

Amidst the ruins, the wind carries the scent of decay and dust, while scattered pebbles and withered leaves roll silently through the dark alleyways.

On the dilapidated altar in the city center, a strange black flame flickered, reflecting a distorted and hideous human figure.

This is a forbidden area that the Shadow Council has kept secret for many years, where they are holding a shocking ceremony.

The council members were dressed in dark robes, their faces hidden under hoods, revealing only their cold, sinister eyes.

They stood silently around the altar, their gazes like the coldest ice at the bottom of an abyss, piercing through the deepest, most sinister secrets of the night.

The air was filled with a strong and indescribable ominous aura, an unnatural presence woven from corrosive toxins and time-distorting energy.

In the center of the altar, a colossal ram-headed skeleton stands tall, reaching into the clouds. Its skeletal structure is intricate, and each bone gleams with a cold, eerie light.

Its hollow yet incredibly ferocious eye sockets seemed to contain all the malice of the entire dark universe, while its gaping maw was like another gate leading to the rift of hell.

As the chanting of the ceremony gradually rose, the city streets, which had seemed lifeless for a long time, suddenly trembled.

Dust and debris were whipped up by intense energy, forming vortexes in the air like a storm sweeping through ruins.

A suffocating and inescapable growl emanated from the colossus's mouth, like a ghostly howl striking straight to the deepest recesses of the heart—

"Devour...devour all this light and life!" Instantly, thick, ink-black smoke billowed from the open mouth of the ram-headed, white-boned giant. This smoke rapidly spread, swallowing up all light within a hundred miles, turning the sky deathly dark, devoid of stars and moon, leaving only a despairing, suffocating void.

Within the eroded area, countless trees withered and collapsed as fragile as charcoal. The earth seemed to have lost its lifeblood, silently cracking open with spiderweb-like fissures. Countless life forms—from tiny insects to strong beasts—collapsed, lost consciousness, or even turned to ashes and vanished into the air in the face of this strange power.

The surviving people in the distance looked up at the sky in terror, only to see the pitch-black darkness gradually approaching their area, like a living creature baring its fangs and claws, about to take away everything they cherished.

They wailed and struggled, but to no avail, and could only watch helplessly as their vitality and hope were slowly stripped away.

The council members wore grim expressions, but their hearts were filled with ecstasy—this was the avatar of the Famine Pillar God they had summoned through sacrifice, bringing not only destruction, but also a new era that challenged the world order.

They knew that this clone was merely a seed, and the true Pillar God himself had not yet descended, but the shadow cast today would surely plunge all realms into an even deeper abyss from which they could not extricate themselves...

The valley echoed with distant wails and screams. At the same time, the giant ram-headed skeleton began to move slowly, each step accompanied by a tremor of the earth and the sound of small rocks collapsing.

With its enormous body, it continuously expands its influence, constantly sucking the power of surging life, gradually plunging the surrounding environment into a state of deathly desolation. The pitch-black void in its mouth is like an eternal abyss of soul devouring, consuming all the value of existence and turning vitality into illusory shadows.

Night fell like a heavy curtain over the town on the edge of the icy world, and a biting wind howled through the narrow streets, whipping up swirling snowflakes.

On the frozen earth, the faint light illuminated the rooftops and stone walls covered with a thin layer of frost, every detail revealing the bitter cold and loneliness.

People were wrapped tightly in heavy clothes, their faces solemn and anxious, sensing an indescribable sense of unease in the air.

Just then, the earth suddenly emitted a deep and chilling rumble.

The sound seemed to come from the depths of the earth, or more like the very origin of space being ruthlessly torn apart and shaken, triggering an irreversible calamity.

Pedestrians on the street stopped in their tracks and looked up at the sky. In the distance, a twisted crack appeared in the firmament, and dark purple light surged forth like a river from the underworld.

The crack expanded rapidly, its edges emanating unstable energy fluctuations that were both intense and cold—the destructive power released by the pillar god's avatar, causing violent tremors in the spatial realm.

This power far exceeds the limits of ordinary people's perception, causing the surrounding air to distort and deform, as if it were being pulled and torn apart by an invisible giant hand.

In the town's central square, a group of focused and meticulous figures in light blue uniforms were tensely setting up a defensive formation.

They were members of the space observation team led by Lena. Each of them looked solemn and focused, their brows furrowed, searching for a solution amidst the chaos.

Lena stood before an ancient altar, inlaid with runes unique to the Star-Eyed Clan, which flickered with a faint light, pulsating like the veins of life.

She lightly touched the surface of the altar with her fingers, reading a series of complex data streams from the spatial rift through the transmission instrument.

The dense information on the screen changed rapidly, and her eyes flashed with a blue-purple light as she analyzed every detail with complete concentration.

The signs of fatigue were clearly visible on her face, but her eyes remained sharp and resolute—a true reflection of a fearless person driven by responsibility and mission.

"The collapse point is expanding rapidly," Lena said in a deep and powerful voice. She slowly turned to her companions, "If it is not contained quickly, its spread will reach the Star-Eyed Clan's sacred ground... This will mean that the entire star field will be plunged into an unprecedented catastrophe!"

The air seemed to freeze for a moment, everyone's chest heaved, some bit their lips, while others clenched their fists and glared at the unknown fear in the distance.

But more than anything, it was the determination and courage to fight to the very end, a resolve that left no room for retreat.

At the same time, the dimensional rift released by the avatar of the Colossus Abyss Lord continued to expand the boundary of the broken gap, intertwining with the real world to generate violent shock waves, causing abnormal changes to begin to appear on the outskirts of the town—building stones suddenly lost weight and floated in the air, then quickly collapsed and fell.
Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the road surface, accompanied by deep and eerie colors flowing through them;
Some creatures were strongly drawn in and unconsciously struggled and moved toward the opening of the void, as if trapped in a nightmare, unable to resist the cruel tricks of fate.

"Look!" a young observer exclaimed, pointing to a black hole-like spatial vortex that had suddenly appeared between the mountains to the south. "That's the core of the collapse point! It's devouring all our energy at an alarming rate."

Lena's brow furrowed more and more as she quickly adjusted the instrument parameters to more accurately capture the energy fluctuation trajectory.

"According to my calculations, this wave of dimensional destruction will expand for tens of miles in a short period of time. Once it breaks through the natural limits, it will cause multiple layers of spacetime to overlap and become disordered, triggering a chain reaction of collapses."

She paused, then added, "If the Holy Land is affected, it will not only be physically destroyed, but it will also affect the soul connection and bloodline inheritance system within the clan—the consequences are unimaginable!"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the square held their breath and stared intently.

They knew that this was not a simple disaster, but a catastrophe that transcended the scope of understanding and challenged the fundamental limits of existence.

In an instant, the sounds of people gradually subsided, leaving only the howling wind and snow sweeping across the ruins and battling the ever-spreading, raging void.

David stood in front of the distant observatory, squinting at the black hole vortex that was gradually disappearing into the shadows behind the steep mountain peaks.

His face was extremely solemn, and all his muscles were taut as if they were bowstrings. He could clearly feel the Frost Wolf bloodline within him warning of an even greater danger approaching.

"We must return to provide assistance as soon as possible..." he muttered to himself, "otherwise, all our efforts will be in vain."

He gripped the sword hilt, his breathing gradually quickening yet remaining steady. Each expansion of his lungs seemed to absorb the chaos and elemental essence of heaven and earth, accumulating power for the upcoming battle.

The faint red flames flickering behind him are a hidden yet deadly new mark, a reminder that the real challenge has not yet begun and a more deadly conspiracy is quietly taking shape in the depths of darkness...

(End of this chapter)