The Star Breath Sword Canon had claid only a handful of practitioners across history—every one of them a destroyer of terrifying scale who shook the age they inhabited.
Within their native galaxy, they moved without regard for light-year distances, crossing between stars at speeds that outstripped even space-ti jumps, annihilating every civilization that dared stand in their path.
Every encirclent was known to them before it closed; every sche unraveled before it could spring. The source of this prescience was simple: each practitioner could briefly reverse their own personal ti.
Whether severely injured, killed, controlled, sealed, or knocked unconscious, they could instantly revert to their prior peak state. Once strong, forever strong—that was the true horror of this sword art.
Their bodies would remain forever at their absolute zenith. Secret arts and substances with catastrophic side effects were nothing but stepping stones—they harvested every gain and shed every consequence, because the mont of reckoning would simply never co.
According to his inherited mories, every past practitioner had begun with a blood feud of monstrous depth. Only through such hatred could soone choose to sever every bond and beco the destroyers. After annihilating their targets, each one had followed through on their original vow—plunging into the rift of ti and pulverizing themselves into the most primordial of particles.
A sword art forged for revenge—and it demands everything in return... If I keep walking this path and lose all my human desires, what's left to live for? Lin Hui felt the weight of it settle over him. Fortunately, he hadn't yet mastered the Star Breath Sword Canon. There was still ti; no need to agonize over it now.
No rush. I'll cross that bridge when I co to it. Deal with the imdiate situation first. Reeling in his thoughts, Lin Hui suddenly darted sideways, dodging a massive gray-white shadow that erupted from the seawater below.
The shadow retracted. A mont later, a colossal gray-white sea snake breached the surface. A ring of spikes—natural as bone—crowned its head, pulsing with a slow, rcury-bright silver light.
It can match my speed and even launch predictive attacks? Lin Hui narrowed his eyes, coming to a halt and gripping his Ruyi sword.
"You possess the qualifications to enter my Nine Eyes."
"Interesting. A pure human." The giant sea snake opened its mouth and spoke in flawless Federation Standard. "Human—what do you say to joining our divine race? Remaining in the Federation will only squander the years ahead of you. Unless you are a Mistborn Trueblood who manages to beco a Blood Ancestor, your lifespan ceiling is far too short."
A Mist God?! Lin Hui narrowed his eyes. He had assud that leaving alone would draw pursuit from Federation experts, but he never expected his first encounter to be an invitation from a Mist God.
"I sense a trace of another god's aura on you..." the giant sea snake rumbled. "The Mother of All Sounds? Or so other Highness..."
"Interesting. Are you saying that by joining you, I could gain a lifespan equal to a Blood Ancestor's?" Lin Hui raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed. Once bestowed with a divine bloodline, you will beco one of us—sharing a lifespan equal to heaven itself. An elevation that shatters every mortal limit." The giant sea snake smiled. For a sea snake to smile—corners of its mouth curling upward, pupils narrowing to slits—produced an unsettling, almost human effect. "In fact, many of our kin were originally born with ordinary bloodlines and were persecuted by the Mistborn. You will co to understand this once you join."
"Lifespan is not beyond my reach. What else can you offer?" Lin Hui said dismissively.
"You are still young. When every ans of prolonging your life has finally failed... you will co. Willingly, and on your knees." The crowned sea snake sank slowly and disappeared into the murky depths.
Lin Hui didn't attack. He stared after it for a mont, then turned and continued on his way.
…
anwhile, at the Tuyue ruins.
Tuyue City had been reduced to a wasteland. Vast swathes of it lay in ruin, the few structures still standing consud by raging fires, thick black smoke billowing into the sky.
This was the Outer City. Not a single trace of human life remained among the rubble—only blood-red figures that occasionally flashed through the wreckage.
Through the distant haze, the massive white walls of the Inner City—once towering into the clouds—were largely shattered, enormous gaps driven through their midsection as though by so colossal rhombus-shaped weapon.
In an underground cavern beneath a ruined pavilion, a cluster of Moon Tower survivors had gathered. They were among the few who had barely lived through Tuyue's decision to use them as cannon fodder—sacrifices ordered to buy ti while she fled alongside Xie Jun and Ning Qianzhi, taking only Ning Qianzhi among the Blood Ancestors.
The Blood Ancestors of the Taisu Primal Disk, sensing disaster, had evacuated at once, each relying on their Relic abilities to escape the city. The Blood Ancestors of the Extre Desire Heaven had fared worse—several had died in battle, leaving only two survivors, both now hiding in the dark with severely injured mind-spirits, barely clinging to existence.
When the forces of Purgatory and Extre Cold Heaven surged through their respective gates, they swept aside the Mistborn standing in their path before turning on each other like mortal enemies. Their battlefield had long since shifted away from the ruins of Tuyue, and the area had recovered a thin semblance of its long-lost peace.
But peace was not safety. The pervasive taint of Purgatory and Extre Cold Heaven would swiftly corrupt any living thing that dared set foot here, twisting them into Purgatory or Extre Cold creatures.
…
Inside a sparse chamber deep within the underground cavern, Hong Ling and Hong Lingxiang stood with their heads bowed before their mother. Neither spoke; the atmosphere between them was crushing.
Their mother, Hong Wuxin, sat upright on a stone chair. She wore nothing but a simple, three-piece suit of silver armor, a slender sword with a faint, colorful radiance laid across her knees.
"The power is fading... The bloodline is fading," she said softly. "You both understand what this ans."
"Yes... the City Lord must have fallen..." Hong Ling answered, his expression darkening.
"As Trueblood Nobles, without the power of our bloodline, we cannot resist the taint of Purgatory and Extre Cold. Before long, we will all lose our minds and beco tyrannical Purgatory creatures, or cold and mindless Extre Cold husks..." Hong Wuxin said softly. She produced a delicate compact mirror and studied her flawless face. It wouldn't be long before she too decayed as her Trueblood degenerated—just another irrational monster to join the rest outside.
They had long suspected the City Lord might have fallen. Now it was confird.
"The day before yesterday, I saw a fifth group break out of the encirclent," Hong Lingxiang said softly. "Mother—why don't we try to fight our way out as well?"
"The periter is overrun with wandering Corrupted and Purgatory creatures. It's useless." Hong Wuxin shook her head gently. She looked at her most beloved son and daughter. "You still have hope. Go find Yun Xiazi. She can take you out."
"Mother! Your strength hasn't completely faded yet. There's still hope!" Hong Ling said, his voice tight with urgency.
"No... it's already gone. Right now, the Super-Adapters are surrounded. The only one with any strength left to spare is Yun Xiazi—and her speed is unparalleled. Go beg her." Hong Wuxin drew one finger in a slow horizontal line across her abdon, slicing it open. She reached inside and drew out a small, exquisite orb shimring with faint silver light and intricate patterns. "Offer this to her, and she will agree."
She released it, and it floated upward, settling precisely in Hong Ling's hands.
"Go. Leave here. Don't co back." She turned away, presenting them her back. "I have lived many years and enjoyed far more than my share. I have had enough."
"Mother!" Hong Ling and his sister cried out, their voices breaking.
Over ten days ago, if their mother hadn’t unleashed her trump card alongside Han Xiaoyue and the others to absorb the shockwaves from the battle between the Purgatory Duke and the Extre Cold Queen, they would have died that very afternoon. But the price of saving hundreds of evacuees from the Inner City was Hong Wuxin’s corruption by Purgatory energy—driving her underground, where she fought to suppress it through sheer force of will.
Now that Trueblood degeneration had begun, any further resistance was utterly hopeless. The balance had shattered. If they didn’t leave now, the mont their mother fully mutated, she would tear them apart and devour them.
"Go. Join what’s left of the Rain Palace and find Yun Xiazi. Move while Han Xiaoyue’s group can still barely hold the line." Hong Wuxin’s voice was soft. "You have a good relationship with the Clear Wind Sword Sect. Offer that item, and they won’t turn you away."
An invisible force swept the siblings out of the chamber. The stone door dropped with a heavy thud, severing their final glimpse of her.
With red-rimd eyes and trembling lips, Hong Ling and Hong Lingxiang knelt and kowtowed toward the unyielding stone. Then they rose, turned, and walked away.
…
Hong Wuxin was left entirely alone. She rose from the stone chair and ran her fingers slowly over her nearly perfect figure.
"Death... I have never feared it. I only feel pity."
"Mother is dead. The era of Tuyue should also co to its end."
In an instant, she beca a streak of purple light, shattering the cavern ceiling and rocketing up through the earth.
The mont she broke the surface, the ground trembled. Countless crimson flas converged from all directions, coalescing into a ten-ter-tall dark red humanoid with goat horns, hollow black eyes, and jagged black-red full-plate armor.
"Roar!" The humanoid let out a bestial bellow, swiping a massive palm toward her. "Kill!"
Hong Wuxin pushed herself to her absolute limit. A blinding, colorful light blazed from her glabella, freezing the creature in place for a split second. In that opening, she slipped smoothly to the side and shot off in the opposite direction from her children.
The dark red humanoid gave chase, and the two of them vanished over the horizon in an instant.
…
A few minutes later, Hong Wuxin's speed began to falter, the power within her body growing unsteady. By drawing this powerful Purgatory Lord away, she had bought the surviving stragglers a better chance to escape.
It was the final gift she could leave her children.
She turned her head for one last look in the direction they had gone. The faintest trace of tenderness crossed her eyes.
Boom. A mont later, her body exploded.
…
"Quick, quick, quick!"
In the distance, a group seized the opening and burst from the underground bunkers, charging toward the city's outskirts.
Yun Xiazi took the lead. Behind her were the Palace Masters and Vice Palace Masters of the Rain Palace she had personally pulled from the wreckage—among them Jiang Zhixia, master to both Liu Wujun and Xia Si. The Hong siblings brought up the rear, struggling to match the group's pace.
With their Trueblood fading, their strength and speed had dropped sharply.
Among the group were also several disciples of the Clear Wind Sword Sect—Huang Shan and Chen Xiangzhi included. They were all Yun Xiazi's priority rescues.
Their destination was the Clear Wind Herb Garden outside the city: Lin Hui's hidden base, temporarily managed by Yun Xiazi since Tao Xuehai's death. It could seal out the Night Mist and contained natural maze ruins capable of blocking even powerful monsters in pursuit.
Yun Xiazi was incredibly fast, and her strength had grown considerably with Lin Hui’s help. But she was carrying too many lives. As the group ran, its slowest mbers dragged everyone down, imdiately drawing the attention of lurking monsters.
"I’ve found that person’s aura..."
In the distant sky, the Mist heaved and twisted. Two dark red, goat-horned humanoids with black wings tore through the clouds and rose into the air, hovering above.
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