280: Dark Abyss Dimension - Ruler of the Ruins

[ heavenly dao announcement: The wielder of the primal divine seal, Lin Yuan, has seized an Origin wonder from a one-star Creation Secret Realm, his merit reaching the level of creation! ]

[ Awarded: 80 million merit points! ]

[ Current Total merit points: 252.86 million! ]

[ Ranking: First (Lin Yuan) merit points: 292.86 million ]

[ Second Place: Xuanyuan Wuji merit points: 15.62 million ]

[ Third Place: Constant Inability merit points: 14.65 million ]

...

Nearly 300 million merit points! This astronomical figure struck the hearts of all the Prodigies watching the leaderboard like a heavy hammer!

Even Xuanyuan Wuji, who was deep within the Tomb of Time battling the "Time Tomb Keeper," was stunned by this sudden announcement, his movements faltering, and he was nearly struck by a blade of time.

"How is it possible... so fast again..." Xuanyuan Wuji's expression was extremely ugly. He had risked consuming his vital blood to urge his ancient Imperial Dao Dragon Qi, only just managing to break through ten million merit points. He had hoped to slightly close the gap with Lin Yuan, but unexpectedly, the other party had widened the gap to a terrifying level of nearly 300 million in the blink of an eye!

"I cannot continue to follow the plan... I must use that forbidden technique!" A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes. He suddenly flipped the incomplete time-light compass in his hand, and its sharp edge slashed across his palm. Blood containing the essence of the ancient imperial clan spilled onto the compass, immediately triggering a strange fluctuation of time...

In the Sea of Time Sand, Lin Yuan had no time to pay attention to the shock in the outside world. He was immersed in the mysterious insights brought about by his dual Breakthrough. The Eternal Flower tattoo on his wrist was slightly hot, resonating with the projection of the Origin of Time at the center of his brow, continuously transmitting the Profound Truth of the Great Dao of Time to him.

Suddenly!

Lin Yuan's brows locked tightly. An extreme warning originating from his Chaos Dao Heart pierced into his Divine Soul like a cold icy blade! He turned his head abruptly, his gaze tearing through the Void Realm, locking onto a certain spot in the Sea of Time Sand—

The flowing sand of time there... was wailing!

The golden sand, which had originally flowed along profound trajectories, was now being crazily stirred by an invisible giant hand, twisting into a dark purple vortex that defied the essence of time and was constantly collapsing! From deep within the vortex, an aura of destruction, darker than the deepest Chaos Return to Ruin, began to permeate...

Hum—!

At the center of the vortex, a pair of giant pupils, flowing with viscous dark purple flames of finality, slowly opened!

Just a single glance!

The terrifying pressure it emitted, capable of decaying all worlds and burying epochs, far exceeded the ferocity of that previous "Eye of Annihilation," like a plankton before a giant whale! It was not simply "larger," but a despair-inducing difference in the level of life—a chasm as deep as the sky!

"Dark Abyss Plane... Lord of Guixu?!"

A name that made all the Divine Domains of the Taichu Divine Continent tremble, like an ice pick wrapped in eternal cold, hammered fiercely into Lin Yuan's Sea of Consciousness!

What made his Dao Heart tremble even more was—

This pair of Dominator pupils was not staring at him! But rather... the Eternal Flower in his possession!

The other party was actually able to penetrate heavy spatial and temporal barriers, accurately capturing the time fluctuations of the Eternal Flower, which were almost stationary and transcended the long river of eternity!

Lin Yuan's mind shook violently! This scene that defied common sense could only mean one thing—the Foundation of the Heavenly Dao rules that this newborn Divine Domain relied on had already suffered unimaginably terrifying cracks! Otherwise, such an existence, a Lord of Guixu whose will should have been blocked by the Divine Domain barriers, would have absolutely no possibility of projecting its gaze here!

Without any hesitation, the seventh-tier chaos wings behind Lin Yuan flapped violently, and [Void Shuttle] was activated with full force! Under the blessing of his initial mastery of the Great Dao of Time and the Breakthrough in the Soul Great Dao, the speed and distance of this shuttle far exceeded the past, and he instantly escaped the range of the Sea of Time Sand.

However, the gaze of those eyes of destruction followed like a shadow. Even separated by the endless Void Realm, it was still firmly locked onto him. Even more terrifyingly, Lin Yuan vaguely felt that the other party was using some incredible method to trace back along the timeline, attempting to lock onto everything in his past and future!

"I must improve my strength as soon as possible... Next stop, Hongmeng Origin World!" Lin Yuan's eyes were solemn, his Divine Thought sinking into the primal divine seal, locking onto that most blurred, yet also most profound coordinate—the two-star Creation Secret Realm, Hongmeng Origin World!

Just as he was preparing to activate the shuttle again, an unexpected change occurred!

The Eternal Flower tattoo on his wrist burned fiercely without warning! An unprecedented time fluctuation erupted, completely solidifying the space around Lin Yuan! Even more bizarrely, the space in front of him was torn open as if by an invisible hand, and a figure stumbled out from within—

Wearing dark robes with nine-dragon patterns, his face as pale as paper, his right hand gripping half of a broken bronze compass, and his left hand covering a piercing wound on his chest, from which not blood but strange time-sand was flowing... it was none other than Xuanyuan Wuji!

This ancient Divine Son seemed to have just escaped from a tragic battle, his aura withered to the extreme. When he saw clearly that the person in front of him was Lin Yuan, his pupils contracted sharply, and he subconsciously wanted to urge his remaining ancient Imperial Dao Dragon Qi...

However, the next moment, both their expressions changed—that pair of dark purple eyes of destruction had already locked onto this direction through the not-yet-closed spatial rift!

In the solidified time turbulence, Lin Yuan and Xuanyuan Wuji locked eyes. The dark golden Chaos Domain and the pale golden Imperial Dao Dragon Qi collided silently in the narrow space, stirring up circles of subtle spatial and temporal ripples.

Xuanyuan Wuji gripped the half of the bronze compass tightly with his right hand, his knuckles white from the force. The compass fragment was engraved with the two characters "Time-Light," and it was currently emitting a faint fluctuation of time, echoing the piercing wound on his chest that was leaking sand of time. At the edge of the wound, his flesh appeared in a strange translucent state, as if it were being slowly eroded by some power of time.

"What did you bring here?" Lin Yuan broke the silence first, the Guixu vortex deep within his right pupil turning slightly, locking onto the expanding dark purple spatial rift in the distance. Through the rift, the pair of giant eyes flowing with flames of destruction were becoming clearer and clearer, and the terrifying pressure was suffocating even through the spatial barrier.

Xuanyuan Wuji coughed up a mouthful of blood containing golden light spots, his gaze sweeping complexly over the Eternal Flower tattoo on Lin Yuan's wrist: "I should be the one asking you... cough, cough... If your time wonder hadn't triggered a space-time resonance, how would I have been forced to teleport here from the Tomb of Time?"

Before his words had even finished, the spatial rift suddenly twisted violently! A hideous claw covered in dark purple crystals forcibly pierced through the rift, every claw tip burning with filthy flames capable of corroding time! Wherever the claw passed, space peeled away like rotting parchment, revealing the endless dark Void Realm behind it.

"A projection of the Lord of Guixu from the Dark Abyss Plane..." Xuanyuan Wuji's expression changed drastically, the time-light compass fragment in his hand trembling crazily, "It can actually track the timeline!"

Lin Yuan's eyes narrowed. The owner of this claw was definitely a terrifying existence beyond the Hunyuan Realm! Even if it was just a projection, it was absolutely not something he could contend with alone right now. And Xuanyuan Wuji's state was obviously at the end of his rope.

In a flash of lightning, Lin Yuan made a decision. He grabbed Xuanyuan Wuji's shoulder with his left hand, and the seventh-tier chaos wings behind him vibrated with full force: "If you don't want to die, don't resist!"

"You—" Xuanyuan Wuji instinctively wanted to break free, but stopped his actions abruptly when he saw the claw about to fully descend. The ancient Imperial Dao Dragon Qi and the Chaos Domain merged briefly, forming a strange golden-gray dual-colored shield.

"[Void Shuttle]!"

The Great Dao of Space was urged to its limit, and Lin Yuan, carrying Xuanyuan Wuji, turned into a stream of light, fleeing crazily towards the coordinates of the "Hongmeng Origin World" sensed by the primal divine seal. A roar that shattered the Void Realm came from behind, and the claw grabbed fiercely at their original location, instantly corroding the time-sand within a hundred miles into pitch-black nothingness.

Inside the shuttle channel, the concepts of time and space became blurred. Xuanyuan Wuji endured his pain, staring at Lin Yuan's profile: "Why save me?"

"Save you?" Lin Yuan sneered, the Guixu vortex in his right eye shrinking slightly, "I just didn't want that Lord of Guixu to catch you, that's all."