64: Soul-Destroying Wind

A giant platform, impossible to describe in words, like an island plucked from the sea of stars by a god's hand, stood suspended in the cold, silent Void Realm!

The platform was carved entirely from the legendary "Soul-Suppressing Jade," its surface flowing with a warm yet unsettling, eerie luster.

Billions of ancient runes, appearing to originate from the dawn of creation, were deeply engraved into every inch of the jade's texture, currently emitting a faint, eternal glow like the breathing of a sleeping giant beast.

Even more shocking was that between these runes, majestic spiritual power flowed like liquid gold, forming a living web of Laws that covered the entire platform, radiating a vast pressure that suppressed the heavens and stabilized the Universe!

The moment Lin Yuan stepped out of the teleportation formation alongside Feng Tianxiu, even with his composure, his heart and mind were shaken!

As far as the eye could see, there was a boundless platform.

Countless dazzling streams of light were tearing through the dark cosmic curtain, like billions of stars falling in reverse, screaming as they tore through the Void Realm, rushing from the direction of the infinite Six-Star Great World toward the platform!

Within each stream of light was a top Saint with a powerful aura and inner divine light!

Some stepped on giant swords that slashed through the Void Realm, while others sat cross-legged on auspicious clouds that swallowed starlight; the energy fluctuations around them stirred the Void Realm, causing ripples to appear in the space at the edge of the platform!

At the edge of the platform, hundreds of millions of giant Soul-Measuring Pillars, cast from "Nether Cold Iron," suddenly awakened like silent ancient guards!

Blue Soul fires ignited simultaneously at the top of each giant pillar, leaping and burning!

The runes on the pillars, which had been silent for ten thousand years, seemed to be injected with life, lighting up one by one.

The eerie blue light connected and spread, instantly weaving into a flowing, living-like blue light net that covered the entire platform!

This light net emitted a bone-chilling Soul pressure, enveloping the entire platform in a solemn and mysterious atmosphere.

"Look at those pillars," Feng Tianxiu's voice sounded beside Lin Yuan, appearing exceptionally small in this breathtaking scene.

He pointed to the nearest Soul-Measuring Pillar emitting cold air, his tone heavy, "Those are Soul-Measuring Pillars cast from 'Nether Cold Iron.' The Soul fire at the top will manifest different colors based on the intensity of one's Divine Thought: blue for the third rank, deep purple for the fourth rank, gilded gold for the fifth rank..."

He explained quickly while pointing in the air, outlining the shapes of different colors, with undisguised tension and worry hidden deep in his eyes.

Lin Yuan had just entered the Spirit Refining Realm, and his divine sense tree was still budding.

Looking around, the lowest aura of the Saints gathered on the platform was already above the fifth level of the Spirit Refining Realm! What a terrifying gap this was!

Lin Yuan's gaze, like the most precise hawk, instantly swept across the massive platform where tens of millions of Saints had gathered.

The Soul fire burning on top of the Soul-Measuring Pillars was like a silent declaration, confirming Feng Tianxiu's words.

As far as he could see, the highest was only gilded gold, symbolizing the Peak of the fifth-rank Divine Thought.

His heart stirred, and the vast nine-colored Divine Thought within his body quietly circulated.

The power, deep as the Chaos Return to Ruin, was perfectly restrained and suppressed, and the fluctuations dissipating outside his body were precisely controlled at the level of a fifth-rank gilded gold, like a disguise perfectly integrated with the surrounding environment, deeply hiding his true Foundation that could change the world.

"Pay attention to the northeast, Yan Jin of the Burning Heaven Great World!" Feng Tianxiu's voice carried unprecedented gravity, pointing to an exceptionally thick Soul-Measuring Pillar deep in the platform with a more ferocious aura.

The Soul fire burning at the top of that pillar presented a strange deep purple, but at the core of this deep purple, several strands of dazzling gilded gold light leaped and intertwined! Like a destructive star embedded in a purple sky!

"Fifth-rank Divine Thought Peak, Spirit Refining Realm fifth level Perfection! It is rumored that he has already touched the edge of the second layer of the Fire Law, and burning the sky and boiling the sea is just a thought away!"

Lin Yuan looked in the direction he pointed.

On a blood-red jade platform, a youth with hair like fire and an aura as violent as a volcanic eruption sat cross-legged.

He was not simply surrounded by flames, but nine golden flames condensed to the extreme, like liquid suns!

The golden flames slowly rotated and floated in an obscure and unpredictable trajectory, emitting a terrifying high temperature that incinerated everything, even causing the space around him to show signs of distortion and melting!

The moment Lin Yuan's gaze touched him—Yan Jin suddenly opened his eyes!

Two extremely condensed red-gold fire lines, seemingly refined from the core of magma, carried the destructive aura of piercing the Void Realm and burning the Soul.

Like two burning spears of judgment, ignoring spatial distance, they fiercely shot toward Lin Yuan!

"Hmph."

A barely audible hum, yet it seemed to contain the power to freeze time and space.

In the depths of Lin Yuan's eyes, the nine-colored Divine Thought circulated imperceptibly like a vortex at the beginning of Chaos.

Pfft! Pfft!

Those two terrifying fire lines, capable of easily severely injuring an ordinary fifth-rank Divine Thought user, collided with an invisible barrier of absolute zero ten feet away from Lin Yuan.

They didn't even stir a ripple before exploding! They turned into beautiful and short-lived golden-red sparks, scattering and drawing countless fleeting trajectories against the dark background of the Void Realm.

Yan Jin's sitting body swayed violently!

The blood drained from his face instantly, and his pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints.

What surged within them was unbelievable horror, and a deep-seated, extreme vigilance as if being watched by a prehistoric beast!

"Look over there, Xue Li of the Ice Soul Great World." Feng Tianxiu quickly changed the subject, pointing to the other side, trying to relieve the invisible pressure.

"Fourth-rank Divine Thought, but the Spirit Refining Realm has reached the sixth level! The 'Profound Ice Condensing Spirit Art' she Cultivates is extremely special, capable of turning Divine Thought into extreme cold profound ice, and the sharpness of her attacks is enough to rival an ordinary fifth-rank!"

Lin Yuan turned his gaze.

On a pure white jade platform, a girl with hair like snow and an ice-cold temperament closed her eyes quietly.

She was not surrounded by simple cold air, but by a layer of absolute ice crystals that grew and overlapped, as fine as diamond dust!

The ice crystals refracted the eerie light of the Soul fire from all over the platform, shrouding the area where she was in a hazy, dreamy, yet deadly cold ice and snow illusion, and even the nearby air condensed into fine ice chips.

"Lei Hao of the Thunder Great World, fifth-rank Divine Thought, speed is the best in the same rank..."

"You He of the Azure Underworld Great World, fourth-rank Divine Thought, unpredictable..."

"Tie Zhan of the Profound Gold Great World, fifth-rank Divine Thought, unparalleled defense..."

Feng Tianxiu spoke very fast, and every name he pointed out was accompanied by the other party's chilling characteristics.

Lin Yuan listened silently, his eyes focused and sharp as a blade, engraving the information of these potential future opponents into the core of his Divine Thought like a brand.

Dang—

A sound like an ancient bell chime from the prehistoric Universe suddenly resounded throughout the entire Void Realm platform!

The bell was distant and heavy, carrying the power to cleanse the Soul, instantly overpowering all the noise.

It announced that this cruel competition, which gathered the top Geniuses of the Six-Star Great World, had officially begun!

At this moment, on the platform, over 378 million Saints were in place!

Dense and varied jade platforms, like a dazzling galaxy embedded in black velvet, spread out boundlessly.

Each jade platform was occupied by a powerful aura, and hundreds of millions of auras intertwined and collided, forming a majestic momentum capable of shaking the galaxy!

Nine figures, like nine stars descending into the world, slowly descended from the high place of the endless Void Realm.

The leader was an old man in spotless white robes, stepping on auspicious clouds, surrounded by fairy light.

On his sleeves, seven star patterns embroidered with supreme divine gold shone brightly, emitting a majesty that one dared not look directly at, indicating his revered status from the Lingwu General Hall—Overseer!

"I am Mo Xuan, Overseer of the Lingwu General Hall." The old man's voice was peaceful but contained the Law of unquestionable power, clearly entering the depths of every Saint's Soul present, as if sounding directly in their Souls.

"In this selection, only ten people will be chosen to advance to the final Saint War!"

He raised his hands, and his ten fingers formed seals quickly with a rhythm containing the principles of heaven and earth.

The movement was like flowing water, and the completion of each seal induced a slight resonance of the Laws of the Void Realm.

"The rule is only this one—"

The moment the seal was completed! Rumble!

The Void Realm at the very edge of the platform surged with gray-white mist without warning!

This mist was thick as substance, and the speed of its diffusion exceeded perception!

Like billions of silent ancient Vicious Beasts, carrying the death aura of annihilating the Soul, it turned into turbulent waves and rushed crazily toward the center of the platform!

Where it passed, even space groaned under the unbearable weight!

"In the 'Soul-Extinguishing Wind,' those who persist to the end win!" Mo Xuan's cold voice, like the final judgment, set the most cruel tone for this trial!

The gray-white mist looked slow, but in fact, it crossed thousands of miles of the Void Realm in an instant!

Chi—!

An indescribable extreme chill, which seemed to be able to freeze the Soul's Origin, ignored the barrier of the Physical Body, like billions of poisonous ice needles, fiercely piercing into the depths of Lin Yuan's Soul!

The severe pain and erosion struck instantly!

Hum!

The dormant nine-colored Divine Thought in his body was instantly activated!

Like a crouching Nine Heavens Dragon raising its head and roaring, without Lin Yuan needing to control it deliberately, it constructed three indestructible absolute barriers outside his vast Sea of Consciousness!

On the barriers, nine-colored light flowed, and the contained supreme Laws easily dissipated the erosive power into nothingness.

"The first wind contains 1% of the Law of Destruction (annihilation characteristic), 0.3% of the Wind Law (high-speed infiltration), 0.7% of the Soul Dao Law (directly absorbing Soul Power)..." Lin Yuan's mind was calm, and his ninth-rank Divine Thought was like the most precise instrument, instantly analyzing the terrifying composition of this Soul-Extinguishing Wind.

This level of impact, for him, didn't even count as a "breeze," and didn't even qualify to make his heart ripple.

However, for the hundreds of millions of Saints on the platform, this was a greeting from Hell!

"Ahhhhh—! My head! It's going to split open!"

"No! This wind... this wind is tearing at my Soul Origin! It's devouring my Divine Thought!"

"Help! I can't hold on! Ah—!!!"

Screams of despair spread across the massive platform like a plague! It was like being in a boundless purgatory!

Not far to Lin Yuan's left, a Saint with a not-weak aura suddenly hugged his head tightly, light golden spots of Divine Thought overflowing from his seven orifices.

His body was like being hit by an invisible giant hammer, rolling and twitching in pain on the jade platform!

The Soul-Measuring Pillar beside him, the originally stable blue Soul fire, flickered wildly like a candle in the wind, and with a puff, it went out completely! Like the candle of life being ruthlessly pinched out!

This was just the beginning!

Further away, like falling dominoes, the Soul fires on top of hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of Soul-Measuring Pillars flickered violently, dimmed, and finally fell into dead silence under the sweep of the gray-white mist!

It meant that the owners' Souls had suffered heavy injuries and their consciousnesses had completely sunk!

Immediately after, the figures who had lost consciousness were wrapped by the invisible Law power of the platform and teleported away instantly, leaving only empty jade platforms, like cold tombstones.

The core area of the platform.

The red jade platform where Yan Jin was located was completely covered by a sea of golden flames that incinerated everything!

Nine golden flames rotated like wheels, forming a mysterious flame array, blocking the rushing gray-white mist outside, making a sizzling sound of burning and annihilation.

Xue Li was wrapped in a thickening, extremely transparent giant cocoon of profound ice.

The ice crystals refracted the light of the blue Soul fire, freezing and slowing down the erosive power of the Soul-Extinguishing Wind.

However, around them, more Saints were like small boats in a storm, their faces pale as gold paper, trembling all over, sweating like pulp, burning their Divine Thought with all their might to resist the pervasive erosion, teetering on the edge!

Only the time of one stick of incense!

When the surging gray-white mist retreated like a tide, the shocking scene on the platform made all survivors and spectators gasp!

On the platform, nearly 30% of the jade platforms that were originally as bright and dense as a galaxy were completely dim! Like extinguished stars, standing silently!

Hundreds of millions of Saints were eliminated in the first Soul-Extinguishing Wind!

In the spectator seats, Feng Tianxiu clenched his fists tightly, his nails deeply embedded in his palms, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "The first wind... actually eliminated one-third?! In previous sessions... there has never been such a terrifying elimination rate! The power of this Soul-Extinguishing Wind... has been strengthened!"

In the short rest interval, the platform was dead silent, with only heavy breathing and the palpitations of surviving the disaster.

Lin Yuan slowly closed his eyes, and his mind sank into the depths of his own Sea of Consciousness.

There, a scene completely different from all other Spirit Refining Realm Cultivators appeared.

His divine sense tree Foundation was not a normal, bare divine sense tree seedling, but a "young tree" that had already grown thirty strange leaves!

Each leaf was in a state of incompleteness, with different shapes, and the veins on them were not simple leaf patterns, but were composed of countless mysterious and unpredictable Law patterns emitting different Origin auras!

Among them, two leaves were particularly eye-catching: one was surrounded by the gray mist of Chaos not yet opened, with patterns like the fetal membrane of the Universe's birth; the other was branded with the mark of pure destruction, with patterns like the trajectories of collapsing stars!

The Law patterns on these two leaves were several times clearer and more solid than the other leaves, emitting a terrifying primordial power that seemed capable of nurturing or ending the world!