I want to tread the heavens

"There's something here." Uncle Rong instantly went into battle mode, shielding Ling Xiao behind him.

"Click...click..."

A harsh, slow, yet unusually clear metallic scraping sound came from the shadows of the ruins ahead.

Immediately afterwards, a humanoid figure nearly ten feet tall, made entirely of dark silver metal and starstone, emerged from behind the ruins with heavy steps.

Its shape resembles a human, but its lines are more rigid and devoid of any ornamentation, save for a fist-sized, dimly lit, cracked dark blue crystal embedded in its chest. Its head is a simple hemisphere, with only two sunken eye sockets containing two faint, cold silver flames flickering within. Its arms end not in hands, but in two gleaming, curved metal blades, which are now slowly raised, aimed at the intruder.

A Star Puppet! And a severely damaged guardian puppet with its energy nearly depleted!

Even so, when its cold silver "gaze" locked onto the three of them, a cold, pure killing intent, existing only to carry out some kind of command, instantly spread out! The dark blue crystal on its chest suddenly flashed, and although the light was dim, it still stirred up the sparse star power around it, forming an extremely faint silver halo on its body.

"Trespassing... Starfall Forbidden Land... Annihilation..." A dry, mechanical, and emotionless voice came intermittently from the puppet's body, speaking the ancient Starfall Clan language. However, Ling Xiao managed to understand it through the inheritance of the jade pendant.

Before the words were even finished, the Star Puppet moved! Its heavy body burst forth with a speed disproportionate to its size. Its twin blades crossed, tearing through the air with a sharp whistling sound, transforming into two silver arcs of light, one to the left and one to the right, slashing towards Uncle Rong in the front and Ling Xiao on the flank! The attack was simple and direct, yet it sealed off any room for evasion, its power immense!

"Clang! Clang!"

Uncle Rong swung his broken sword, precisely parrying the curved blade aimed at him, sparks flying! The immense force made his arm sink, and the stone slab beneath his feet cracked with a "crack." His already severe injury made his throat taste sweet. But his eyes were cold; instead of retreating, he advanced, the broken sword slicing upwards along the puppet's blade, aiming straight for the joint where it held the blade! Using skill to overcome force, attacking its vitals!

Another curved blade aimed at Ling Xiao was deflected by Fa Cai, who had been poised to strike. Fa Cai leaped into the air and slammed the blade against the side with its silver-glowing front paws, grazing Ling Xiao's clothes and carving a deep trench in the starstone ground.

Ling Xiao broke out in a cold sweat, but his reaction was quick. He used the "fish-like step" to turn around and advance instead of retreating. Taking advantage of the moment when the puppet's attack was blocked and its body was slightly sluggish, he ducked under its ribs and stabbed the broken sword in the joint gap behind its supporting leg! That was the weak point that Uncle Rong had taught him to deal with armored or puppet-type enemies!

"Clang!" The broken blade pierced through, producing a metallic clang, leaving only a white dot. The puppet's material was far harder than expected!

Missing its first attack, Ling Xiao immediately recoiled. The Star Puppet reacted just as quickly; having missed its first strike, it immediately spun around, its other bladed arm slashing horizontally, aiming to cut at Ling Xiao's back! At the same time, the dark blue crystal on its chest flashed again, and several thin, yet incredibly sharp, silver rays of light shot out without warning from its joints, covering an area of ​​several feet around it!

Indiscriminate attack!

"Watch out for the beam!" Uncle Rong roared, swinging his knife to block the beam aimed at him, but the shock made his hand go numb. Fa Cai also hurriedly dodged, losing several strands of his gray hair.

Ling Xiao brought the "Swimming Fish Step" to its extreme, his body twisting and rolling like a willow leaf in a raging wind, narrowly avoiding most of the light. However, one beam still grazed his left shoulder, taking away a small piece of skin and flesh. It burned with pain, and a cold, star-like chill, as if freezing his blood, came from the wound!

Even though this puppet is depleted of energy and severely damaged, the stellar power contained in its attacks is still extraordinary! It is far superior to those Soul-Eating Demon Beetles outside!

"Its core is the crystal in its chest! Its energy is almost depleted, and the intervals between attacks will become longer! But its defense is too strong, so we can't fight it head-on!" Uncle Rong quickly assessed the situation, parrying the puppet's powerful slashes while observing it.

Fa Cai seemed enraged by the cold light. It let out a low growl, and the silver light in its eyes reappeared. Although its body did not swell, its speed, strength, and the sharpness of its claws and teeth were significantly enhanced. It no longer confronted the puppet head-on, but instead used its speed to circle around it, focusing on attacking the gaps in its leg joints and the energy transmission channels on its back. Although it could not cause any substantial damage, it successfully disrupted the puppet's rhythm, forcing it to be distracted and defend itself.

Ling Xiao also calmed down. He knew that his strength was insufficient and that a direct attack would be ineffective. While using the "Fish Swimming Step" to maneuver and dodge the puppet's increasingly sluggish (but still dangerous) attacks, he kept his eyes fixed on the flickering dark blue crystal on the puppet's chest and the extremely faint silver aura flowing around it.

He suddenly noticed that whenever the puppet launched that silver light attack or made a large slashing motion, the flashing of the crystal on its chest would intensify, the light would dim slightly, and the aura around its body would exhibit an extremely brief, almost imperceptible disturbance.

It's overdrawing its already dwindling core energy! Every powerful attack is accelerating its collapse! Moreover, the energy flow has tiny, unstable points!

"Uncle Rong! Get rich! Don't fight head-on! Deplete it! Attack its energy nodes, especially the moment after you launch the attack!" Ling Xiao shouted loudly. At the same time, he tried to mobilize the meager power of starfall cultivated from the newly acquired "Star Sensing Chapter" and infuse it into his eyes.

The world seemed to become a little clearer. He "saw" the energy inside the crystal on the puppet's chest, pulsating wildly and chaotically like an oil lamp about to go out. He "saw" that when those silver rays shot out, there were several points of silver halos on the puppet's shoulder, elbow, and knee joints that showed extremely subtle delays and dimming.

opportunity!

"Get rich! Disrupt its left shoulder!" Ling Xiao shouted sharply when he saw the puppet swing its blade at Uncle Rong again and the crystal on its chest shone brightly.

As soon as he understood, Fa Cai stopped wandering around and pounced on the puppet's left shoulder joint, his silver claws scratching fiercely at the spot where the light stagnates!

"Sizzle!" A teeth-grinding scraping sound rang out, and this time, several small, dark silver metal fragments were torn off! Although it didn't cause serious injury, it did noticeably slow down the puppet's left arm movement!

Now! Ling Xiao channeled all the remaining power of the Starfall into his legs, unleashing the full force of his Fish-like Step. His figure moved like a ghost, slicing through the fleeting opening on the puppet's right side caused by its left arm being stuck! He didn't attack the hard torso or head, but instead thrust his broken sword into the back of the puppet's right knee—the energy node that had just emitted a silver beam and whose aura was now at its dimmest and most chaotic!

"Pfft!"

This time, it wasn't a clang of metal against metal! The broken blade had actually pierced in more than an inch! A cold, chaotic stellar energy surged back along the blade, instantly numbing Ling Xiao's arm! But he gritted his teeth, gripped the hilt tightly, and twisted it forcefully!

"Crack!" A soft sound, as if something were breaking, came from inside the puppet's knee.

"Roar—!" The Star Puppet let out a roar that didn't sound mechanical, but was filled with pain and rage (perhaps a howl of chaotic energy). Its right leg suddenly buckled, and it collapsed to its knees, its heavy body slamming into the ground with a tremor. The light from the crystal on its chest flickered for a moment, then began to glow even more wildly, as if it were about to explode completely at any moment! The silver aura around its body fluctuated violently, shining brightly and dimly.

"Destroy the core!" Seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Uncle Rong disregarded his injuries and lunged forward. His broken sword, wielding an indomitable spirit, transformed into a streak of dark light, piercing straight into the dark blue crystal that was flashing wildly in the puppet's chest!

Fa Cai pounced from the side and bit into the puppet's other intact leg joint.

However, just as Uncle Rong's broken sword was about to touch the crystal—

The kneeling star puppet suddenly raised its head, and the silver flames in its eye sockets, which were about to go out, suddenly turned into a violent blood red! A terrifying aura of madness, chaos, and destructive desire suddenly erupted from its broken body! At the last moment, the dark blue crystal on its chest actually revealed an extremely subtle, yet chilling, dark red pattern from the inside out!

"Warning... Core overload... Self-destruct... Program... Activate... Annihilate... Everything..." The mechanical voice became distorted and eerie.

"No! It's going to self-destruct! Retreat!" Uncle Rong's expression changed drastically. He abruptly stopped his forward momentum, grabbed Ling Xiao by the back of his collar, and frantically retreated! Fa ​​Cai also sensed the deadly threat and used his limbs to propel himself backward.

"BOOM—!!!"

A deafening explosion erupted from the center of the Star Puppet! A violent shockwave, a mixture of pure stellar power and some kind of cold, evil energy, swept across an area of ​​dozens of feet in an instant, like a destructive storm! The silvery-white starstone ground was torn apart and blown away, and the remaining murals and stone pillars collapsed and shattered in the impact!

Ling Xiao felt an irresistible force slam into his back. His vision went black, his ears rang, and he was thrown out like a kite with a broken string, crashing into a still intact star pillar in the distance before rolling to the ground. He felt a sweet taste in his throat, spitting out blood. His bones felt like they had all shattered, and his consciousness instantly blurred.

He vaguely heard Uncle Rong's muffled groan, Fa Cai's painful cry, and the deathly silence after the explosion, and... from the depths of the ruins, there seemed to be more subtle "crackling" sounds coming one after another.

Darkness surged in like a tide, engulfing the last vestige of consciousness.