Chapter 1459: Human Stars Shine Brightly (IV)

On the ravaged clearing, the figure clad in white, holding a particle holy sword, gazed at the skeletal dragon flapping its wings in the air. His robes flapped wildly in the hurricane-force winds that swept through the land. From a distance, he looked like a human champion who had reached the pinnacle of strength, poised to challenge a legendary evil dragon.

“Lord Xuanyu is awake!” Jian Changsheng, who had been preparing for a desperate fight, saw this scene, and a look of joy appeared on his face.

“Lord Xuanyu is awake…” Beside him, Sun Bumian’s expression grew increasingly bitter. He shook his head, letting out a soft sigh.

A similar mix of complex emotions arose in the hearts of every resident of the Xuanyu Domain. Lord Xuanyu’s awakening undoubtedly injected a shot of confidence into everyone. They were surprised and excited; after all, for most, Lord Xuanyu was merely a hero from spoken legends. Now, this mythical figure truly appeared before their eyes, making it impossible not to be thrilled.

This feeling was akin to the day the Great Sage Equal to Heaven truly descended from the sky on his somersault cloud, striking mountains and calming seas with a single staff—enough to stir anyone's heart with fervor.

However, Lord Xuanyu’s awakening also meant... he had officially entered a death countdown.

The stasis pod was damaged, and all life support systems had been severed. Now, like the former Lord Aurora, Lord Xuanyu’s life had entered its final countdown. As time passed, his strength would progressively weaken until he withered away and died.

Moreover, he was currently facing a world-ending calamity in its full power.

Some felt their blood run hot, while others were filled with dread. But the white-robed figure, clutching the particle longsword, stared intently at Xizai in the sky, his gaze so pure it held no impurities, with only one thought in his mind:

Slay it!!

Forget a death countdown, forget the slim chances of soloing a world-ender... With my sword in hand now, how could I ever shy away from your might?!

He casually swept his particle longsword. The next second, his body shot up from the ground like a cannonball.

Boom—!!

The white-robed figure soared into the sky. The tip of the particle longsword sliced through the void. As Higgs bosons were stirred, sword-like black holes began to spread across the sky!

Higgs bosons, capable of freely altering the mass of any substance, could naturally create miniature black holes with ease. As the sword marks tore open the canvas-like sky, the fierce hurricanes raging above seemed to be guided, rushing frantically into the sword marks.

Xizai's 'wind' authority was constrained by Lord Xuanyu. At the same time, a particle sword-light, powerful enough to cleave the heavens and shatter the earth, ripped through the thin wind wall in front of it and slashed towards the dragon's head!

Xizai’s wind-tunnel-like eyes seemed to swallow everything. Facing the particle sword-light unleashed by Ji Xuan, it showed no fear, instead opening its skeletal maw and biting down on it!

Clang—!!!

The instant the particle holy sword was clamped by Xizai’s fearsome bone fangs, a devastating shockwave swept across the sky. The next second, fine cracks spread across the surface of the particle holy sword. And as Xizai bit down with full force again, the particle holy sword shattered with a resounding crash!

The physical strength of the world-ending calamity far exceeded human imagination. Calamities from the Wailing Wilds were already proficient in brute force attacks, let alone Xizai, this dragon…

Ji Xuan’s full-force strike inflicted very limited damage on it.

Ji Xuan’s palm was immediately battered and bleeding from the impact, yet there was no fear on his face. He twisted his hand in the void, and the scattered particle traces in mid-air instantly spun into a miniature black hole, tearing off half of Xizai’s sharp claw!

The next second, Xizai’s roaring dragon's breath engulfed Ji Xuan’s figure, blasting him directly down to the earth!

As Ji Xuan’s figure was swallowed by the dragon’s breath, everyone’s hearts trembled. A thundering explosion erupted from his impact point on the ground. From the dust, a gigantic, bottomless abyss appeared.

“You…”

“You come down here too!!”

As Ji Xuan’s low roar echoed from the colossal pit, Xizai, flapping its wings in the air, rapidly gained mass. Its bone density utterly defied scientific understanding, becoming tens of millions of times denser than steel…

Simultaneously, the gravitational force acting upon it escalated rapidly!!

Every flap of Xizai’s wings became incredibly strenuous. No matter how much it stirred the surrounding hurricanes, the force generated could not counteract the extreme gravity exerted by the earth. Its enormous body gradually descended, eventually crashing down onto the ruined Xuanyu Domain!

A figure covered in dust and grime laboriously crawled out of the abyssal pit…

“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough…” Violent coughing erupted. Crimson blood trickled from the corner of Lord Xuanyu’s mouth. His complexion was already far paler than when he had first awakened.

Under such intense physical exertion, his vitality visibly weakened. Every internal organ seemed overdrawn, functioning with strenuous fatigue.

Not far opposite him, the skeletal dragon, previously sprawled on the ground, slowly rose from the dust. Even after being dragged from the sky to the earth, its form remained as colossal as a mountain. Its wind-tunnel eyes stared fixedly at Lord Xuanyu, and a world-ending pressure surged forward with its flapping wings!

In the sky, an invisible force field began to stir. The normally bright sky briefly turned grayish-white before returning to normal the next second, as an inexplicably cold and eerie aura periodically spread throughout the domain.

“This is bad… Lord Xuanyu can’t sustain this domain much longer,” Sun Bumian said in a deep voice.

The entire Xuanyu Domain existed by virtue of Lord Xuanyu’s domain. Now, as Lord Xuanyu’s condition deteriorated, the domain began to destabilize, and the Gray Realm started to converge.

Lord Xuanyu himself noticed this. He glanced at the domain residents behind him out of the corner of his eye. His pale lips pressed together slightly…

He clenched his hand into a fist, veins bulging on the back of his hand. It seemed like anger, yet also like self-reproach.

“Lord Xuanyu!! Don’t mind us!! Keep going!!!”

“Even if we’re doomed, we must make these calamities pay!!!”

“Kill Xizai!!! Let these calamities know that our Xuanyu Domain is not to be trifled with!!”

“We have no cowards in the Xuanyu Domain! If they won’t let us live, then we’ll all die together!!”

“Kill it!! Lord Xuanyu!!!”

“Go, Lord Xuanyu!!! We’re always behind you!!!”

Hysterical shouts came from behind. In the ruined city, blood-covered survivors roared with all their might.

Hearing these words, Lord Xuanyu’s body first stiffened, then began to tremble uncontrollably… No one knew what this Ninth Lord was thinking now.

He silently manifested another particle holy sword. He stubbornly took slow steps, continuing towards the rampaging skeletal dragon.

Could he, in his current state, truly defeat Xizai alone?

Lord Xuanyu didn’t know. He didn’t want to know either…

He only knew that if he didn’t stake everything to do this, he would utterly fail the residents behind him, and their trust in him.

Overwhelming killing intent burst forth from Lord Xuanyu’s eyes once more. Within his battered and aged chest, battle intent roared!!

Just then, a meteor imbued with terrifying aura streaked across the sky!

No… that wasn’t right.

That wasn’t a meteor…

To Lord Xuanyu’s astonished gaze, a nuclear weapon, like a holy sword of judgment descending from the heavens, slammed onto the skeletal dragon that had been restrained on the ground. An earth-shattering explosion erupted, forming a colossal mushroom cloud that blotted out the sky!!

Waves of destructive heat surged through the Xuanyu Domain. Above the scorching inferno, a black-robed figure stepped through the air.

The person had their hands clasped behind their back. The red light of six Philosopher’s Stones shimmered silently on their brow.

Another Nine Lord-level aura spread across the heavens and earth!!

“Ji Xuan…”

“So many years, and you… are still so disheveled.”