Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 227 The Will to Protect
The shadow suddenly expanded, transforming into a gigantic, dark maw filled with sharp fangs, which silently lunged down at her.

The speed was far beyond imagination.

A terrifying suction force came, and the azure light of the Xuanpo Feather around Qingli swayed violently, as if her soul was about to be forcibly torn out of her body.

A matter of life and death.

Qingli's pupils suddenly contracted.

Fear was instantly crushed by the instinct for survival and the determination to save lives.

She followed her battle instincts, almost instinctively, from the depths of her soul, her fingers like knives.

"Congeal!"

A clear shout.

The nascent soul power surged wildly toward his fingertips at an unprecedented speed.

There are no complicated techniques or fancy moves, only the purest concentration of will.

A glint of icy blue light suddenly appeared at her fingertips, carrying a chilling killing intent and a desperate resolve, like a shooting star piercing the eternal night, fiercely stabbing towards the gaping maw of darkness.

laugh--!
Like a scalding knife piercing solidified grease.

That glint of cold light actually pierced through the thick darkness.

The shadowy figure let out a silent shriek, and the pierced area twisted and boiled violently, emitting wisps of black smoke as if it were on fire.

The biting motion suddenly stopped.

Seizing the fleeting opening, Qingli retreated rapidly.

At the same time, he frantically activated the power of the Mysterious Soul Feather.

The blue light surged, temporarily pushing back the viscous dark pressure around them.

She gasped for breath, her fingertips still stinging and cold from the overload of soul power, and she was still shaken.

That attack just now almost drained half of her soul power.

If it weren't for the protection of the Mystic Soul Feather and that instinctive fighting reaction...

We can't fight them head-on! We must find Chu Ning as soon as possible!
The light from the Soul-Guiding Stone flickered intensely, its direction still clearly pointing to the very center of the basin.

Qingli stopped looking at the black shadow writhing and reforming in the darkness. She endured the exhaustion and stinging pain in her soul, pushed her speed to the limit, and ran desperately in the direction indicated by the light.

Along the way, in the deathly darkness, twisting and writhing shadows were constantly disturbed by the light of the Soul-Guiding Stone and her aura. Like sharks that have smelled blood, they silently emerged, gathered, and pounced from the darkness from all directions.

They came in all shapes and sizes; some were like fleeting ghosts, some like viscous swamps, and some were like aggregates pieced together from countless pained faces, emitting silent wails as they frantically assaulted the light cocoon of the Xuanpo Ling.

The blue light fluctuated violently under each impact, becoming increasingly thin, like a candle flickering in the wind.

Qingli struggled to stay afloat, the icy blue light at her fingertips flashing repeatedly. Each strike precisely hit the weakest point of the shadowy figures, temporarily forcing them back or injuring them, tearing open brief passages in the dark tide.

Her movements grew faster and faster, her eyes grew colder and colder, and a fighting instinct originating from the depths of her blood, belonging to "Qing Li," was rapidly awakening in this life-or-death situation.

Sweat soaked through my inner shirt, then froze into ice in the extreme cold, sticking to my body and bringing a bone-chilling cold.

The exhaustion of her soul washed over her consciousness in waves, and each time she activated her soul power, it felt like tearing her own soul apart.

The light of the Xuanpo Feather finally dimmed to its limit, as faint as a firefly.

"Click..."

A faint yet distinct cracking sound came from inside the feather.

Qingli's heart sank suddenly.

The last barrier is about to disappear.

Ahead, the light from the Soul-Guiding Stone suddenly became incredibly bright, piercing straight towards the very center of the basin—where it no longer seemed to be pure darkness, but rather a relatively open flat area could be vaguely seen, and in the center of the flat area stood a low, ancient altar made of piled-up black boulders.

Above the altar, a faint, almost transparent milky-white light pulsated stubbornly, like the last vestige of life in the heart of darkness.

The light was pure and ancient, and the aura it emitted miraculously dispelled the suffocating, sticky darkness and soul-devouring shadows in a small area around it.

The shadows lingered and roared at the edge of the altar's light, but dared not approach.

Directly beneath that milky-white light, the Soul-Guiding Stone's radiance resonated with the lightning seal in the palm, reaching an unprecedented peak. The direction was crystal clear.

Chu Ning!

Right there in that light!
Or rather, his life depended on that glimmer of light.

Hope is at hand.

But behind him, the light cocoon of Xuanpo Ling shattered like broken glass, crumbling inch by inch.

Without the suppression of her protection, countless greedy shadows let out silent shrieks, like a black torrent bursting its banks, carrying a malice that devoured everything, and rushed madly towards her from all directions.

The recent, twisted black shadows, their icy touch almost pressed against her back.

The shadow of death loomed instantly.

A terrifying light flashed in Qing Li's eyes.

In the face of despair, an unprecedented ruthlessness and determination, originating from the deepest part of his soul, suddenly erupted.

She stopped retreating and stopped dodging.

Instead, he recklessly and frantically poured all the remaining soul power in his body into the shattered lightning seal in his palm.

"Ah—!" The excruciating pain made her let out a roar, as if her entire soul was being torn apart by purple lightning.

The lightning seal was like a bottomless black hole, greedily devouring her last bit of power. Cracks spread along its edges instantly, almost causing it to collapse completely.

But amidst this self-destructive infusion, an unprecedented, violent purple lightning bolt suddenly exploded from her palm.

It was no longer a tiny spark of electricity, but a twisted, roaring spear of lightning several feet long.

With her desperate will, resolute determination, and all her desire to live and her obsession with that name.

Open it!!!

The purple lightning spear, like an angry dragon emerging from the abyss, carried an aura of destruction. It did not pierce the torrent of shadows behind it, but instead slammed into a black stone tablet that was slightly raised at the edge of the altar in front of it, emitting a faint spatial fluctuation.

Boom——! ! !
A deafening roar erupted in the deathly silent basin.

The moment the lightning collided with the stone tablet, a violent circular shockwave erupted.

The torrent of shadows that rushed behind Qingli was the first to be hit, like snow blocks thrown into lava, emitting a shrill, silent scream, and was instantly annihilated and vaporized in large swathes.

The shockwave swept across, forcefully pushing away even the shadows further away.

At the epicenter of the explosion, the black stone tablet shattered.

A twisted, dark vortex, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, appeared prominently where the stone tablet had shattered.

An aura, more ancient and savage, filled with chaotic primal soul energy, emanated from the vortex, completely different from the deathly stillness of the Eye of the Ruins.

The light from the Soul-Guiding Stone, like iron filings attracted by a magnet, instantly changed direction and became firmly fixed on the newly appeared spatial vortex.

The altar! Chu Ning! The only way out lies... beyond the vortex?!

Qing Li was violently thrown back by the shockwave of the explosion, crashing heavily onto the cold, black ground. A sweet taste rose in her throat, and blood spurted out. The Xuan Po Ling completely dissipated into specks of blue light.

His soul power was nearly exhausted, and his soul was being torn apart by excruciating pain. The lightning seal on his palm was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and its light had dimmed to an extreme degree.

After a brief period of chaos, the torrent of shadows behind them roared even more wildly and surged forward once more.

The breath of death was close at hand.

There was no time to think, and no way out.

All that remained in Qingli's eyes was the dark vortex and the milky white light dancing on the altar.

With her last ounce of strength, she struggled to support her shattered body and, like a moth drawn to a flame, leaped into the spatial vortex.

The thick, cold darkness and the sensation of countless scratching shadows brushed past her ankles.

The next moment, the world spun around!

--boom!

Her body slammed heavily onto the hard, cold ground. The immense impact made her vision go black, and she almost fainted again.

But the expected excruciating pain of being swallowed by darkness did not come.

She struggled to lift her head.

What lay before him was no longer the all-consuming darkness of the Eye of the Ruins. Instead, it was a vast, unimaginably enormous... underground cavern?
The cave ceiling is so high that its top is invisible, hidden in deep darkness.

Countless enormous stalactites, emitting a pale green or eerie blue phosphorescence, hang down from the unseen dome like an inverted forest, illuminating the entire space in a bizarre and surreal way, creating an eerie and oppressive atmosphere.

The air was damp and cold, filled with a heavy, rusty, decaying odor and an indescribable smell, as if it were the dust of a soul that had settled for millions of years.

Beneath my feet lay a rugged, black rocky ground, covered with slippery moss and bottomless cracks.

Most striking is the relatively flat area in the center of the cave, where the complete form of the ancient altar she saw on the outside altar, built of black boulders, stands.

It was larger and more complete than it appeared from the outside, and was engraved with countless intricate and dizzying ancient Soul Clan runes that had long been lost, with a faint, dark, blood-red glow.

At the very top of the altar, a fist-sized, milky-white ball of light, like liquid moonlight, was slowly flowing and pulsating.

It was the light it emitted that penetrated the space.

Looking at it up close now, the light is so pure that it has no impurities, and contains an unimaginable, magnificent yet gentle aura of life.

Even the mere wisps of energy that escaped brought an indescribable sense of comfort and longing to Qingli's depleted soul.

It was like a long-awaited rain after a drought.

Soul Source Essence Light!

The legendary item that Sister Dong'er mentioned.

An ancient divine object capable of reshaping the soul core and reversing life and death.

The Soul-Guiding Stone was pressed tightly against her chest, its faint light pointing directly at the milky-white light.

The shattered lightning mark on his palm also transmitted a faint yet clear tremor—Chu Ning.

His vitality and his remnant soul must have some connection with this Soul Source Essence Light.

Or... this light is the key to saving him.

hope!

An unprecedented surge of hope, like molten lava, instantly overwhelmed the physical pain and the exhaustion of the soul.

A dazzling light burst forth in Qing Li's eyes as she struggled to get up and rush toward the altar.

However, the moment she looked up—

boom! boom! boom!
Heavy footsteps, as if shattering the earth, echoed like muffled thunder from all directions of the cave.

The entire space trembled.

The upside-down phosphorescent stalactites shed a pale green dust.

Around the altar, behind those enormous, black stalagmites that seemed to support the heavens, massive figures slowly emerged.

Their bodies are composed of countless pale, enormous skeletons that gleam with a cold, metallic sheen.

There are humanoid, animaloid, and even indescribable, bizarre forms that resemble a mixture of multi-segmented insects and giant beasts.

The smallest is at least three zhang tall, and the largest almost touches the hanging stalactites.

Two eerie green, lifeless flames burned within the empty eye sockets.

Each skeletal colossus was covered with a thick, viscous substance that writhed like black tar, emanating a nauseating stench of decay and death.

In their hands, they either gripped rough giant axes made from huge leg bones, dragged ferocious bone whips made from entire spines, or simply brandished enormous bone claws.

Eight in total!

Like guardians of the grave crawling out of the abyss of hell, they moved with heavy and oppressive steps, slowly and steadily closing in on the altar in the center of the cave.

Their eerie green soul fire "gaze" locked onto Qing Li, who had just intruded and was as insignificant as an ant.

There was no anger, no murderous intent in that gaze, only an absolute, cold will to erase all those who blaspheme the holy land.

The heavy footsteps seemed to pound on Qingli's heart, each step sending shivers down her spine. The crunching sound of bones grinding against each other was amplified infinitely in the vast and eerie cave, like the whisper of death.

Eight colossal skeletons, each with a unique shape and radiating an overwhelming aura of death, stood like moving, pale mountains, completely blocking all paths leading to the altar.

Their eerie green soul flames, like eight searchlights from hell, coldly and mercilessly focused on Qingli, pinning her firmly to the spot.

The Soul Source Essence Light was within reach, radiating an alluring life force; it was the only hope to save Chu Ning.

But this hope was firmly cut off by eight ancient death guardians, who used their bones and cold will to sever it completely.

The Xuanpo Feather was shattered, his soul power was nearly exhausted, the Thunder Seal was on the verge of collapse, and his body was covered in wounds.

There is an insurmountable Death Guard in front of us, and no way to retreat behind us.

An absolute dead end!

Qingli knelt on one knee on the cold, slippery rock, breathing heavily. Each breath was accompanied by excruciating pain in her lungs and a feeling of her soul being torn apart.

Sweat mixed with blood slid down his forehead and dripped onto the moss-covered ground.

The glimmer of hope was mercilessly extinguished by the shadow of death before her eyes, and despair, like a cold, venomous snake, instantly coiled around her heart, almost suffocating her.

“Chu Ning…” She subconsciously gripped the Soul-Guiding Stone on her chest, but the warm, pulsating stone felt like a dull knife, repeatedly cutting into her nerves.

He was in that light, or rather, his life was sustained in that light.

She could even sense that as she approached the altar, the pulsations emanating from the Soul-Guiding Stone and the Thunder Seal seemed to have gained an extremely faint... resonance?
It was as if a sleeping soul sensed her arrival.

This faint response was like a spark thrown into an oil depot.

The ice of despair shattered with a deafening roar! In its place came flames that consumed everything.

That flame was not anger, but a deeper and more resolute desire to protect—a desire that was more profound than despair!
(End of this chapter)