Star Martial Soaring Cloud

"Thump..."

"indistinct……"

Wang Xiao was awakened by the intermittent, muffled sounds, not knowing how long he had been unconscious.

The sound was extremely soft and deep, as if some unknown entity was struggling to move in the boundless darkness.

One after another, each time requiring most of his strength and a long period of panting before he could muster the strength for the next sound.

I realized I hadn't misheard.

There were indeed strange noises coming from the spirit-gathering array.

The throbbing pain in my chest still lingered; that palm strike from the shadowy figure earlier had truly been fatal.

The attack was so sudden that if he hadn't been physically strong, he probably would have died from that blow.

Even more dangerous was that the palm strike contained a domineering corrosive power, which was now frantically rushing into his body, like a cold, venomous snake, wandering freely through his meridians, constantly devouring and eroding his vital energy.

He had broken several ribs, and every breath was excruciatingly painful, causing him to cough up blood.

Fortunately, the liver continued to function without ceasing, with vibrant green life energy continuously flowing from it, repairing broken bones and severe injuries to the body.

However, most of the life force had to be diverted to block the corrosive energy raging within the body, greatly slowing down the speed of injury repair.

Wang Xiao opened his eyes and was met with a pure and boundless darkness.

This was not the gloom of night, nor the deep darkness of an ordinary cave, but a heavy, almost solidified, deathly silence of ink, as if no light in the world could survive here.

He quietly spread his divine sense to explore and sensed that the surrounding space was extremely vast. He was in a huge, empty cave, with stalactites hanging upside down above his head, water droplets constantly dripping from the tips of the stones, making a soft, pattering sound.

In the distance, the faint sound of flowing water could be heard; judging from the noise, it was an underground river flowing quietly.

Who exactly is that shadowy figure?

"I wonder how everyone is doing now..."

Wang Xiao's face darkened, and he dared not think any further.

"We must hurry up and heal our wounds to escape."

He gritted his teeth and endured the excruciating pain, struggling to sit up cross-legged. With his eyes tightly closed, he guided the remaining vital energy in his body, steadily pushing it forward inch by inch, doing his best to resist the corrosive energy that was eroding his meridians.

Those dark and cold energies seemed to possess sentience, desperately trying to burrow deeper into the meridians.

Wang Xiao was in no hurry. He condensed his vital energy into fine needle-like rays and slowly pushed them along his meridians, forcing the corrosive energy out of his body little by little.

After an unknown amount of time, the last wisp of black energy was forced out from the fingertips, and with a soft "hiss," it instantly dissipated into the dark air.

Without the obstruction of corrosive forces, the restorative power of the withered tree came back to life smoothly without any hindrance.

A vibrant green aura surrounded his body, causing broken bones to quickly heal, torn muscles to regrow, and wounds on his skin to recover at a visible speed.

When Wang Xiao opened his eyes again, most of his injuries had healed, and his cultivation had recovered to 50%.

"We can't delay any longer." He stood up, his face growing increasingly grave as he thought of the fierce battle outside and the perilous situation of his comrades. "We must leave here as soon as possible!"

The darkness had no effect on him, since he had divine consciousness protecting him.

But when he tried to use his divine sense to explore outwards, it was as if he had hit an invisible barrier, and his divine sense was forcefully bounced back.

Something was blocking his senses; he couldn't detect anything outside.

Wang Xiao raised his hand and gripped the Seven Star Sword tightly. He gathered his energy and poured it into the sword, causing it to suddenly glow with a pale golden light, providing illumination far superior to ordinary torches.

The sword disc player dispelled the thick darkness within a radius of several feet, allowing him to see his true surroundings.

The cave is enormous, with layers upon layers of stalactites overhead and rough, hard native rock underfoot. The sound of an underground river flowing in the distance echoes throughout the cave.

"If you land here, you can rush out from here."

Wang Xiao took a deep breath, calmed his mind, pushed off with both feet, and leaped upwards!

"There's a no-fly zone here?"

He clearly sensed an extremely strong suppressive force, even stronger than the no-fly zone in the ancient city.

The ability to fly was sealed, but this leap, which required all his strength, was enough.

He clenched his right fist, gathered his strength, and threw a powerful punch at the mountain above him!

However, the expected situation did not occur.

There was no deafening roar, no rocks crumbling, no smoke and dust billowing, and not even the slightest tremor.

His all-out punch struck the seemingly ordinary rock wall, yet it was as if he had struck empty air; the force was not neutralized, and it vanished without a trace.

Unable to hover in the air, Wang Xiao had to land back on the ground.

"How could this be?" Wang Xiao stared wide-eyed at the intact rock face above him in disbelief. "What material is this mountain made of?"

He leaped up again and threw another punch with all his might, with the exact same result.

Leap again, roar again, land again...

Several attempts, without exception.

Wang Xiao landed back on the ground and looked around.

The cave walls on both sides are made of thick rock layers with uneven surfaces, and water droplets are constantly seeping from many parts of the rock walls, making it cold and damp.

He walked to what appeared to be the weakest point in the rock wall, took a deep breath, and his body suddenly shone with golden light. He then unleashed a powerful punch!

The powerful force of the punch slammed solidly into the rock wall, producing a dull, heavy "bang".

But the rock wall remained completely still, without even the slightest crack appearing.

Instead, the shock made his arm go numb and his blood surge.

Wang Xiao's expression changed drastically.

He has now reached the Dragon Gate Divine Realm cultivation level.

That punch just now nearly killed even Xiaoshan Jianyang, who was at the Transformation Realm of the Dragon Gate.

Inside this cave, he couldn't even leave a mark on the stone wall.

Unwilling to give up, he simply unleashed the Seven Star Sword.

The sword gleamed with golden light and slashed down, the blade colliding with the rock, sparks flying and a piercing clang echoing through the air.

The result was the same: the rock face remained intact, without any change whatsoever.

At this point, he completely abandoned the idea of ​​forcibly breaking through the wall.

Just then, the mysterious voice rang out again.

"Thump..."

"indistinct……"

Intermittent and heavy with exhaustion, it was as if the thing that was making the sound had exhausted all its strength to barely produce a single sound.

Wang Xiao listened intently and quickly identified the source of the sound.

The sound came from deep within the cave, an unknown place that even his divine sense could not detect or reach.

"Since we can't get out, let's go see what's causing this strange noise and find another way to escape." He gripped the Seven Star Sword and strode towards the direction from which the sound came.

The road ahead grew narrower, the stalactites hanging overhead became denser, and the sword light cast long, thin shadows between the intersecting stone pillars, making the atmosphere increasingly eerie.

After walking several hundred steps, a hole about two meters in diameter appeared ahead. The entrance was dark and deep, and the passage stretched forward into the distance, with no end in sight.

Wang Xiao stopped at the cave entrance and listened attentively for a moment.

The mysterious sound came from inside the cave.

He took small, cautious steps, walking slowly into the cave.

The golden light of the Seven Star Sword illuminated the path beneath his feet, casting his swaying figure on the cave walls on either side.

His divine sense spread out, perceiving everything around him.

There were no bats, no snakes, rats, or insects, no signs of life, only the empty, deathly silent cave and the endless echo of his monotonous footsteps.

The cave seemed bottomless and endless.

Wang Xiao walked several hundred meters forward, but all that remained was endless darkness.

He calmed himself down, remained calm and composed, and continued to move forward steadily. After walking several dozen meters, the cave walls on both sides finally began to change.

Stone carvings.

Lifelike ancient patterns are engraved on the cave walls, and despite the erosion of time, they are remarkably well preserved.

The lines are ancient and vigorous, the knife work is concise and powerful, and it has a powerful and profound sense of strength, as if the engraver has poured his life's cultivation and hard work into every stroke.

Wang Xiao's heart skipped a beat.

He had just bombarded the mountain with all his might, but he couldn't even leave a trace. Yet someone was able to leave so many patterns on the mountain wall. How unfathomable must his cultivation be?

Or perhaps the carvings were completed first, and then someone used some extraordinary secret technique to protect these stone carvings from destruction for eternity.

He suppressed the shock surging in his heart and focused on examining the stone carvings on the cave wall.

The illustrations are simple and straightforward, as if telling the story of the Demon Island's past.

In the opening scene, a group of ancient people dressed in traditional Kyushu robes are seen drifting in several dilapidated wooden boats amidst raging waves and fierce winds.

The wooden boat docked, and the early inhabitants set foot on this uninhabited island. At that time, there was nothing else on the island except for scattered rocks, weeds, and countless birds and beasts.

Later, more and more early inhabitants of Kyushu crossed the sea, bringing with them seeds of grains, hoes, and sickles, to reclaim wasteland, cultivate fields, sow seeds, and settle down to survive.

As time goes by, bamboo houses rise and thatched cottages stand, poultry stroll in the yard, and the rice paddies crisscross with ridges, creating a peaceful and prosperous scene of people living in peace and contentment.

Further on, a large ship sailed in from the sea, with several people in official robes standing at the bow. The island's inhabitants all knelt down to welcome them, as the Kyushu Dynasty had come to bestow titles.

This deserted island was henceforth named "Yi".

As time went by, the place changed its name, from "Yi" to "Liu".

"It turns out that the Demon Island was originally called Ryujima Island, and it has been part of Kyushu since ancient times."

"What exactly happened to make it look like this?"

Wang Xiao was filled with doubt and confusion, so he quickened his pace.

The stone carvings on the cave walls became increasingly dense along the way, and suddenly the ground beneath our feet changed from hard rock to soft, grayish-white powder. When we stepped on it, we sank completely into it, feeling as soft as walking on snow.

An extreme chill swept through the body from the soles of the feet, and a dense, surging yin energy made one's hair stand on end and one's mind go cold.

As you walk, you occasionally step on hard objects, making a crisp "crack" sound.

Wang Xiao instantly realized what was beneath his feet.

Ashes.

The ground was covered with ashes.

Grayish-white powder spread along the cave, covering the entire passage. Interspersed among the powder were a large number of bones that had not yet been completely weathered. The stark white bones gleamed with a pale and eerie luster under the golden sword light.

How many lives would have to be lost to fill this deep cave with their ashes?

Wang Xiao dared not think too deeply about it...

He suppressed his emotions and looked up to continue examining the stone carvings on the cave wall.

The visual style suddenly changed, becoming bloody and gruesome.

Corpses littered the land; men, women, the elderly, and children lay dead in pools of blood, in front of their homes, on the ridges of fields, and on the land they had cultivated with their own hands.

Blood flowed like a river, staining the earth and even turning the background of the stone carvings a dark, blood-red color.

In the center of the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood stood a strange man with pure white wings on his back.

This person has a high nose and deep-set eyes, curly blond hair, and a pair of huge white wings on his back, with glossy feathers that are spotless.

Yet his longsword dripped blood incessantly, and a faint smile played on his lips—not cruelty, not madness, but merely a condescending indifference.

Blonde-haired, blue-eyed alien!

Wang Xiao instantly recalled the scene that had appeared in the ancient city: those blond-haired, blue-eyed aliens who looked exactly like the strange man on this stone carving.

On the sea, an unprecedentedly giant warship sailed in, several times larger than the wooden boats of our ancestors. Its hull was black, its masts soared into the clouds, and its sails were embroidered with obscure and incomprehensible patterns.

A group of white-winged monsters knelt down to welcome them.

A figure stood at the bow of the ship, its face blurred and indistinct.

The stone carvings were deliberately destroyed here, except for a head of dazzling golden hair, which stands out in the light and shadow.

Many of the later stone carvings were damaged and deliberately chiseled away, leaving only large blank areas.

When the image became clear again, the scene had changed drastically.

A figure made a move, cleaving the white-winged monster in two from head to toe with a single sword strike. The two halves of the body fell to the left and right, their white feathers scattering in the air, stained red with blood.

Wang Xiao couldn't see the face of the person who made the move; the stone carvings were blurry and mottled, leaving only a tall and straight outline.

But just this outline gives people a strange sense of security.

The man was not tall, but he was like a mountain, unshakeable.

The giant warship on the sea fled in panic, without looking back, and disappeared into the horizon in an instant.

The island's inhabitants knelt and cheered; some cried, some laughed, and some held the remains, both weeping and laughing.

The subsequent stone carvings were intermittent, some of which were blurred by the erosion of time, and others were deliberately damaged and worn away.

Wang Xiao could only vaguely see some scattered fragments.

There was a person dressed in the official robes of the Daqing Dynasty standing on the island, bowing and scraping, seemingly colluding with someone in secret, shaking hands and making peace, his posture extremely humble.

A five-eyed monster crawled ashore from the deep sea, leaving devastation and barrenness in its wake.

Japanese samurai are causing trouble...

The next stone carving completely stunned Wang Xiao, leaving him trembling with fear.

A person stands in the void with their back to him, their face and figure indistinct, only a towering, majestic silhouette stretching across the heavens and earth.

It was as if as long as this person was alive, the heavens would not collapse and the earth would not fall.

As long as he exists, the world exists.

He was fighting against several beings whose faces he could not see from a distance. There were no divine weapons or dazzling supernatural powers, only overwhelming pressure colliding and intertwining.

It was a terrifying power that transcended Wang Xiao's understanding, enough to shake the heavens and earth and change the world.

The stone carving could not replicate that kind of momentum, but just by gazing at the scene, Wang Xiao couldn't help but feel a sense of awe, and even felt an irresistible urge to follow him and fight alongside him.

That aura was overwhelming, unstoppable, and invincible.

If there are mountains ahead, we'll cut them down; if there's sea ahead, we'll fill it in. We're invincible, fearless of any powerful enemy...

Its power soared to the heavens, causing stars and moon to tremble, and even the heavens and earth to be moved.

The stone carving abruptly ends here, as if it were forcibly severed by an invisible force, leaving only broken stone walls and blurry traces.

The final scene shows the Demon Island drifting in the void.

The sea churned, the earth cracked, and countless people cried out on the shore, reaching out to grab the receding land, but they grasped nothing.

The Demon Island drifted away, disappearing into the endless void.

"Was the Demon Island's disappearance into nothingness a result of that earth-shattering battle?" Wang Xiao's throat tightened, his heart heavy with unspeakable emotions.

Wang Xiao stood in front of the last stone carving, remaining silent for a long time.

Finally, he took a deep breath, suppressed the turmoil in his heart, and continued forward.

At the end of the cave, a faint light shone through.

He walked quickly forward, stepped out of the cave, and the view before him suddenly opened up.

Then, he was so frightened that he fell to the ground with a thud.

Because he saw a dragon.

A real, living, breathing dragon.