Chapter 103: The Shattering of Space

The starlight flickering across the heavens fell like rain, gathering one by one onto the radiant, iridescent crystal shard at the heart of the statue.
At that moment, tiny points of light inside the shard moved along some hidden starward track, the constellations shimmering so fiercely that the colors seemed to dizzy and intoxicate the eye.
The shard drifted slowly upward into the sky, coming to the huge black hand shaped from dark qi, and dropped of its own accord into its grasp.
Shiyan’s face brightened at once. He hurriedly guided the shard with his will, cautiously drawing it toward himself.
Under the pull of the black hand, the shard finally flew out of the deep pit and came ever closer to him.

Boom, boom, boom.
From within the pit came a thunderous roar that seemed to shake the world. As the shard left, the crystal walls burst apart one after another, flinging forth dazzling, blinding light.
Even the vast stars overhead seemed to grow dim for an instant.

The pit collapsed. The strange star-river pattern in the sky slowly shifted, then blurred, and the dark mists, toxic fog, and clusters of blazing fire clouds above began to vanish in a rush.
From above, one could see the colossal statue—towering like a chain of mountains—and its once-impenetrable body began to crack and slowly crumble.

At the same time, Chi Xiao, Beiming Shang, and the others trapped beneath its heel clearly sensed the anomaly. The force that had held them was weakening bit by bit.
Beiming Shang, Chi Xiao, and the others started again, mustering their strength to break free.
They had been caught there so long, had fought countless times, and each attempt had failed. In the end they had all fallen quiet.
But with that strange space about to collapse and the restraint fading, they naturally tried once more.
The statue’s two legs were cracking too; the terrible pressure of its heel lessened little by little.
As the pressure eased, cracks multiplied and stones around its heel exploded.
By this pace, they would soon be able to pull themselves out from under it.

At the statue’s heart, the pit sank in. The crystal walls exploded. Strange rays from those walls turned to multicolored glow and disappeared into the uncanny space.
Whether wall or light, they seemed to have existed only to guard that one crystal; when it rose from the pit, their purpose ended.
The black hand held it aloft, and the shard glided closer, bursting into radiant starlight above Shiyan.
That shard was like the essence of a meteor from beyond heaven, filled with strange stellar force and exuding a mysterious aura.

Looking up at it, Shiyan frowned in thought.

“How does one contain this shard?”

Frowning deeply, he muttered to himself. After a moment’s reflection, he realized: if the Dark Pearl and this shard resonated, then this shard should be touchable.
With that in mind, he reached out and snatched for the floating crystal above his head.

Snap.

The shard suddenly shattered, erupting in sprays of glittering light. Countless star-bright sparks rushed in and surged into Shiyan’s body.
Cool slivers of starlight, carrying mysterious astral power, flowed through his pores and gathered in his heart.

Thud, thud, thud, thud—
A dull drumming rose from his chest. Under the convergence of those countless lights, Shiyan’s heart changed in a strange way.
The lights sank into his heart like seeds taking root, becoming part of him.
For a moment, his heart seemed to become that crystal itself, first flashing and blinding with radiance.

But only for a moment. Then his heart returned to normal, while those starry points became deeply fused with it, continuously exhaling a cool breath.

Boom, boom, boom.
A dreadful explosion tore through the statue’s heel. Several Heavenly-Seated masters exerted all their power together and finally shattered it, breaking him free of the grip.
Those of Heavenly rank rose into the air, eager to see what had happened.
In the strange space the void kept collapsing, and from the mysterious star-river pattern above, a beam of light suddenly shot downward.
It struck Shiyan directly from heaven.
Shiyan, who had stood at the edge of the deep pit, vanished into empty air.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.
The strange space, like a broken mirror, slowly splintered apart.
The gigantic statue, once its heart crystal was gone, crumbled away piece by piece until it faded into nothing.
Amid the deafening thunder, the surroundings kept shifting. Chi Xiao and the others suddenly felt they had stepped out from inside a shattered mirror; within a fissure of the collapsing space, they could see the Valley of Final Gloom.

The Valley of Final Gloom.
In the valley’s midair, rifts suddenly tore open through space, lightning-like flashes shooting out and shimmering in marvelous, shifting colors. Some rifts blazed so fiercely it seemed like rivers of stars were falling from the sky.

Xia Xinyan’s expression was blank as she murmured, “Seven days. At last, there is an answer.”

“Miss, do you think his Martial-Soul Origin Seal is in there?”
“Once Shiyan comes out, one glance will be enough,” Xia Xinyan said, flat and emotionless. “Still, I don’t think he will appear in the Valley of Final Gloom.”

“Why?”

“The old fool has prepared for everything. He certainly set a way out as well. If his power still held, he might have sent Shiyan straight to the Endless Sea. But look at this collapse—the way he constructed all this must have drained him completely. I think he could only send Shiyan to some place on the outskirts of the Dead-Silent Marsh, where he can be safe for only a short while.”

“What do we do now?”

“Let’s go. Leave the Valley of Final Gloom, and try our luck around the perimeter of the Dead-Silent Marsh.”
“If we truly find him, Miss, should we kill him?”
“Decide when we see him.”

The three moved off, having seen enough to read the outcome already. They did not wake Zuo Shi and the others, and slipped away from Final Gloom in silence.

Half an hour after Xia Xinyan left, figures suddenly blasted out from one of the space rifts in the valley sky.

Bang bang bang.
Those below the Heavenly-Seated realm came falling from midair, their heads reeling with dizziness.
Those of lower rank—Mu Yudie and Diyalan—were in worse shape, blood bright at the corners of their mouths, their faces pitifully disordered.

Han Feng and Ku Long struggled upright from the ground and immediately cried out, “Master! Master!”

Beiming Shang, Chi Xiao, Zhua Qi, and the Dark Lord of the Nether, all at Heavenly Rank, were suspended in the air, puzzled expressions on their faces as they looked down. They finally drifted slowly lower.

“C’e?” Bei Ming Shang shouted, glaring at Yin Kui and Jiushan. “Where is C’e?”

Yin Kui and Jiushan had also been suppressed beneath the statue’s foot, but they had not been with Beiming Shang. In that odd space, he had never seen them.

“The young master entered too. I don’t know where he went,” Yin Kui said in a dark tone, uneasy. “As soon as we went in, the statue suppressed us. We only broke free when that bizarre space began to collapse.”

“C’e, C’e,” Bei Ming Shang bellowed upward in a panic. “Where are you?”

“Mu Hui,” said him, the Dark Lord of the Netherly Abyss, Zou Zihe, as he noticed Mu Hui had not appeared. His voice turned ashen as he shouted as well.

The cries of the two men rang across the whole Plain of Final Gloom. If Beiming Ce and Mu Hui were anywhere there, they could not have failed to hear it.
Yet no one answered.

“C’e is still inside,” Bei Ming Shang said, turning ashen. He looked up at the sky and saw that, somehow, all the torn space rifts had already sealed.
The space had fully collapsed.

He understood in a single glance. His expression darkened into something terrifying, like a beast at last provoked. Icy flames leaked from his eyes, and his face became monstrous and terrifying.

“Little Butterfly, where is C’e?”
“I… I…”
Mu Yudie froze under his terrible gaze, rigid with fear, unable to finish even a sentence.

Beimning Shang lost patience. Strange light flickered in his eyes. He stretched out his hand; a ball of blue light flew forth and struck directly into Mu Yudie’s body.

“Where is C’e?” he asked again.
Struck by that blue light, Mu Yudie’s face went vacant. She lost her own will and muttered, “Shiyan killed him.”

Diyalan’s expression changed. She began to cry out, but seeing Mu Yudie’s strange daze, she stayed silent.

“Shiyan!” Bei Ming Shang roared skyward, every vein in his body swollen, face twisted into a terrifying snarl.
Beiming Ce was the hope of the Beiming house, bearer of two Martial Souls since childhood, their living life-root. That he had been killed—this finally snapped Bei Ming Shang, who was usually cold and controlled.

Clusters of frigid flame gathered and poured out, like black cloudbanks, slamming toward Han Feng and Ku Long.
Ku Long, nearest of the two, was swallowed at once by the icy-flame Martial-Soul, frozen into a statue of ice and then exploding apart abruptly.
Han Feng went pale and vanished like a ghost, moving to slip clear.

“I will exterminate your entire Shi clan,” Bei Ming Shang snarled, and lunged at Han Feng like a monster.

“Master!” Zuo Shi cried out.

Chi Xiao frowned, sighed inwardly, and though reluctant, stepped in. He condensed dense coils of fog and wrapped around Bei Ming Shang’s ice-flame Martial-Soul, saying, “Bei Ming Shang—show mercy where mercy can still exist.”
He knew well that to meet Bei Ming Shang here would be an endless, life-draining struggle.
After a heartbeat of hesitation, he sealed the icy-flame soul and suddenly barked, “Han Feng, move!”

Han Feng did not dare hesitate. Like a shadow, he dashed toward the edge of the plain as fast as he could.
In that moment he knew Bei Ming Shang would never stop. He had to leave at full speed, hoping to return alive to the Shi clan and bring news before all of them were butchered.

“Chi Xiao, you dare block me?” Bei Ming Shang howled, eyes burning wild. “Today, whoever stands in my way, I will not spare.”

“Girl of the Mu clan, have you seen my disciple Mu Hui?”
The Dark Lord of the Nether asked Mu Yudie in an odd, resonant tone.
“Shiyan also killed him… all of them are dead, all of them are dead…” Mu Yudie answered, still dazed, oblivious to what she said.

Zou Zihe’s color turned suddenly cold, and a fury like the fire of the Nine Abysses ignited in his eyes. He shot upward in a rush toward the outskirts of the Dead-Silent Marsh.
A vast surge of spiritual intent burst from him and spread out in all directions around the marsh.
He had, in his gut, guessed at Shiyan’s trail.

At the same time, in a remote corner of Final Gloom, a dense knot of darkness suddenly stirred and hurried out of the valley.
…V