23: Chaos eclipses the moon, the origins merge.

Inside the moon cocoon, the concepts of time and space were twisted and elongated by the pure Moon Essence Origin. There was no sound, only the faint hum of energy flowing. Chen Feng knelt on the ground condensed from liquid Moon Essence. Every rapid breath brought out bloody foam speckled with dark gold light, which dripped into the cool Moon Essence, spreading out threads of golden-red like ink dropped into an ice spring, only to be immediately purified and diluted by the powerful Moon Essence energy.

The chaos base point pulsed painfully within his dantian. Every beat tugged at the cracks covering his entire body, causing excruciating pain like maggots burrowing into bone. Forcibly enduring three Law Spears from the Immortal Envoy and then overdrawing the base point to tear open the Guardian Formation had come at a heavy cost. The subtle, porcelain-like cracks on the base point's surface had not widened, but they stubbornly remained, hindering the smooth flow of energy. [chaos base point: Energy (45%), Core in oscillation, Crack repair progress (83%)].

However, what shook his mind more than his physical injuries was Su Wanzhao, who was right beside him.

His bloody hand paused in mid-air, his fingertip just an inch away from the fragmented sword mark on her glabella. The almost imperceptible flicker of her eyelashes just now seemed like an illusion. Looking again, she was still pale, almost transparent, like the most exquisite ice sculpture, so fragile it seemed it would shatter at a touch. Only her extremely faint life force, flickering like a candle in the wind, was stubbornly maintained by the forced support of the Moon Essence Origin.

The sword mark on her glabella was a dao injury left after burning out her origin, an imprint signifying the imminent extinction of her life flame. The speed of the Moon Essence's reconstruction was far outpaced by the sword mark's continuous erosion and tearing of her origin.

"Last Light..." Chen Feng's voice was terribly hoarse and laced with the smell of blood. Forcing his way into the moon cocoon had triggered an even more violent reaction from the Guardian Formation. On the periphery, the torn hole was being frantically repaired and squeezed shut by countless newly generated, more condensed rune chains. The Chaos Flame burning at the edges violently clashed with the Moon Essence energy, emitting a harsh sizzling sound, and the entire moon cocoon trembled slightly. He felt a cold and powerful repulsive force surging from all directions, intent on crushing and expelling him, the "foreign object," completely!

There wasn't much time left! Although the Immortal Envoy's projection was temporarily suppressed by the core power of the ruins, given the terrifying methods of that golden-robed figure, breaking through the barrier was only a matter of time! Once he was expelled by the Guardian Formation, or the Immortal Envoy descended, Su Wanzhao's last chance for reconstruction would be completely severed!

What should he do?!

Forcibly infuse Chaos Energy? Although the power contained within the chaos base point was immense, its essence was consumption, Nirvana, and savage chaos! This was completely contrary to Su Wanzhao's pure, cool, Moon Essence Origin, which represented order and vitality—they were fundamentally incompatible! Rashly infusing it would be like pouring water into a cauldron of hot oil, instantly igniting a conflict that would utterly destroy her last, fragile bit of origin.

Looking at the silver threads of Moon Essence struggling to mend the edges of the fragmented sword mark, and at Su Wanzhao's face, pale without a trace of color, a nearly insane thought flashed like lightning into Chen Feng's chaotic mind!

Repulsion... conflict... fundamental incompatibility... But what if... instead of confrontation, it was... fusion?!

The chaos base point consumes all things and assimilates all origins! The Nirvana Heavenly Condemnation Imprint is the physical manifestation of the Heavenly Dao's will of destruction! They represent the ultimate form of chaos—the return of all things to unity, the beginning of all origins!

The Moon Essence Origin, the Essence of the Supreme Yin, represents order and vitality of the utmost purity, and is one of the oldest and purest forces in the universe!

Though the two seem opposed, they both originate from the most fundamental forces at the dawn of the universe! Like Yin and Yang, they appear to counteract each other, but they actually coexist and generate one another!

"chaos base point... Nirvana Imprint... swallow her for me!" A fierce, determined gleam suddenly burst forth in Chen Feng's eyes! He didn't mean to swallow Su Wanzhao, but to swallow and assimilate the fragmented sword mark that was eroding her origin and preventing her reconstruction! And... using the chaos base point as the core, forcibly encompass, transform, and assimilate this massive Moon Essence Origin, using it as nourishment to repair Su Wanzhao!

This was a gamble of life and death! Gambling on his understanding of the Chaos dao foundation! Gambling on whether this unprecedented chaos base point could bear the power of the Supreme Yin Moon Essence! Gambling on whether Su Wanzhao's fragile origin could withstand this violent shock of destruction followed by rebirth!

But he had no choice!

"Last Light, trust me!" Chen Feng roared, no longer hesitating! Instead of trying to touch her, he slammed his right hand, which was focused with his final will, toward his agonizing dantian!

Buzz—!!!

Driven by his will, the chaos base point let out a final screech! It stopped defending passively and began actively expanding outward! Countless minute, nearly invisible Chaos Qi streams, like billions of hungry tentacles, frantically extended from the dark gold cracks on Chen Feng's body, especially from his dantian! These streams carried the chaos base point's most fundamental power of consumption and assimilation, ignoring the cold repulsion of the Moon Essence Origin. Like the most ravenous vines, they instantly wrapped around Su Wanzhao's body!

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!

It was like a red-hot iron plunging into ice water! A violent conflict erupted instantly!

Su Wanzhao's body trembled violently! The fragmented sword mark on her glabella seemed to have received the strongest possible stimulus, suddenly erupting in dazzling dark gold light (the residual power left after Chen Feng's Chaos Blood and Su Wanzhao's origin burned that day). It struggled fiercely, trying to resist the invasion of the Chaos Qi streams! The Moon Essence Origin flowing around her body boiled like silver mercury, wildly crashing against the wrapping Chaos Qi streams, attempting to completely purify and expel this blasphemous, foreign power!

"Ugh ah—!" Chen Feng let out a painful groan. The chaos base point was the core of his life. The tentacles extending from the base point were like extensions of his limbs, enduring the most direct and savage impact from the Moon Essence Origin! Tearing pain came from the cracks on the base point's surface; its rotation nearly stalled, and its accumulated energy poured out like a released flood, resisting the Moon Essence's assimilation!

[chaos base point: Energy plummeting (30%)! Core overloaded! Warning! Assimilation process blocked!]

Had he failed?!

Just as Chen Feng's resolve wavered and the base point's energy was about to run dry—

Buzz!

The Nirvana Heavenly Condemnation Imprint, which had been silent, was suddenly activated by the power of this extremely pure Moon Essence Origin! A subtle yet supremely condensed violet-black lightning bolt, like a viper of destruction, shot out from the core of the base point. Following a Chaos Qi stream tentacle, it fiercely stabbed toward the fiercely struggling dark gold sword mark on Su Wanzhao's glabella!

Puff!

The violet-black lightning bolt accurately pierced the deepest crack of the sword mark's core! The destructive power, which contained the Heavenly Dao's will of Nirvana, instantly collided and annihilated the residual power in the sword mark, which also originated from Chen Feng's Chaos Origin (but was now tainted with the deathly stillness of Su Wanzhao's burned-out origin)!

Sizzle—!

Like a red-hot iron block being quenched in ice water! The core of the sword mark suddenly burst into a chaotic energy turbulence! The stubbornly resisting dark gold light was actually shattered and disintegrated in part by the supreme destructive power of the Nirvana Heavenly Condemnation Imprint!

Now was the time!

The chaos base point sensed the instantaneous weakening of the sword mark's resistance and let out a silent roar, like a shark smelling blood! All the remaining Chaos Qi stream tentacles erupted with unprecedented suction! Instead of forcibly assimilating the entire Moon Essence Origin, they focused their power, frantically consuming and tearing away the chaotic dark gold energy within the fragmented sword mark that had been defeated by the Nirvana Imprint (the residue left after the annihilation of Chen Feng's Chaos Blood and Su Wanzhao's origin)!

Gulp... gulp... A strange sound, as if energy was being forcibly swallowed, echoed inside the moon cocoon. The silver threads of Moon Essence that had been struggling to mend the edges of the fragmented sword mark, now free from the obstruction of the chaotic dark gold energy, accelerated several times over, as if having broken free from shackles! Threads of pure silver Moon Essence light, like nimble needlework, rapidly penetrated deep into the sword mark's cracks, beginning the true process of sealing and repair!

It was working!

Chen Feng's spirit soared! He suppressed the excruciating pain of the base point's overload and the weakness of energy depletion, maintaining the Chaos tentacles' consumption of the sword mark's residual chaotic energy with all his might! The base point acted like a sophisticated filter, stripping away and crushing the violent and annihilating attributes within the chaotic dark gold energy it consumed. It left behind only the purest, most fundamental trace of Chaos vitality, mixing it with a wisp of gentle Chaos Energy that the base point itself had painstakingly transformed. Carefully, like a gentle stream, this energy flowed back along the Chaos tentacles, slowly feeding into Su Wanzhao's body!

This was an extremely delicate yet dangerous balance.

The chaos base point was like a greedy predator, frantically tearing away the sword mark's "rotting flesh" (chaotic energy) to reduce the resistance to the Moon Essence's reconstruction; at the same time, it acted like a clumsy healer, carefully injecting its own most gentle essence, mixed with the stripped Chaos vitality, into Su Wanzhao's depleted origin.

Meanwhile, the pure Moon Essence Origin within Su Wanzhao, after the sword mark's resistance weakened, finally erupted with a powerful healing instinct. It instinctively resisted the invasion of the Chaos Energy, yet was simultaneously attracted by the wisps of gentle Chaos vitality flowing back—though faint, that vitality carried an ancient aura that embraced all things and nourished all spirits, possessing an indescribable allure for her depleted origin.

Two fundamentally different origin powers, at the site of the sword mark on Su Wanzhao's glabella, and facilitated by the chaos base point acting as a special "bridge," formed an extremely fragile yet incomparably profound symbiotic cycle!

Consumption (Chaotic Sword Mark Energy) -> Stripping, Purification, Transformation (chaos base point) -> Back-feeding (Gentle Chaos Vitality) -> Nourishment, Accelerated Repair (Moon Essence Origin) -> Weakening the Sword Mark (Providing more chaotic energy to consume)... The cycle was initially established!

Chen Feng could clearly feel that with the establishment of the cycle, the edges of the fragmented sword mark on Su Wanzhao's glabella were being covered and sealed by the silver threads of Moon Essence at a visible speed! Although the core remained stubborn, the aura of death and annihilation emanating from the entire sword mark was being replaced by vibrant vitality! Her pale, transparent face also seemed to recover an extremely faint hint of color!

What surprised him even more was that the Moon Essence Guardian Formation, which had been violently repelling him, seemed to sense the benefit of this strange cycle to its core host (Su Wanzhao). The terrifying repulsive force that sought to crush and expel Chen Feng had actually... weakened! Although still cold, it no longer carried the relentless intent to kill!

[chaos base point: Energy (25%), Core overload easing... Assimilation/Symbiotic cycle establishing... Crack repair progress (83%) maintained...]

[Su Wanzhao Status: Origin reconstruction accelerating (15%)... Life force slightly increasing... Sword mark erosion weakening...]

Success! This nearly insane gamble had taken the first step!

However, before Chen Feng could even breathe a sigh of relief—

Rumble!!!

A terrifying loud noise, seemingly from the depths of the Nine Nether Hells, suddenly came from outside the moon cocoon! The entire core of the ice lake, along with the moon cocoon enveloping them, violently shook! It was like a magnitude twelve earthquake!

Crack! Snap, snap, snap—!

On the periphery of the moon cocoon, the rune chains repairing the torn hole were instantly snapped dozens of times, as if struck violently by an invisible giant hammer! The light of the entire Guardian Formation instantly dimmed significantly! A golden torrent of energy, more terrifying and condensed than before, carrying the supreme will of destruction, surged violently against the outer wall of the moon cocoon like a breached celestial river!

"Ant! Profaning the Immortal Taboo is a crime punishable by ten thousand deaths! Break for This Venerable One—Shatter!"

The Immortal Envoy's cold and majestic voice, tinged with barely suppressed fury, penetrated the moon cocoon's barrier, exploding in Chen Feng's soul like a clap of thunder! This time, the Immortal Dao Pressure contained within the voice was even more terrifying. Chen Feng's already injured soul suffered a sharp pain, and blood spilled from his nose and mouth!

He abruptly looked up, peering through the moon cocoon's translucent barrier and the violently fluctuating rune chains toward the edge of the ice lake.

The mountain-like profound ice marrow coffin was now covered in spiderweb-like golden cracks! The three imprints that had previously projected the golden spears were gone, replaced by a dazzling, un-stareable golden vortex at the coffin's center! From the vortex's core, a massive finger, condensed into substance, wrapped in countless golden chains of order, and burning with blazing white Immortal Flame at its tip, was slowly yet irresistibly penetrating the profound ice marrow wall of the coffin and fiercely pointing toward the moon cocoon!

The Immortal Envoy's main body had, surprisingly, sacrificed part of the power of this ancient mighty figure's remnant corpse at great cost, briefly breaking through the core ruins' suppression of law to project and descend a finger containing his Natal Immortal Essence!

Wherever the giant finger passed, space froze and shattered inch by inch! The seemingly indestructible profound ice marrow surface of the ice lake silently turned into dust! The terrifying pressure caused the moon cocoon's Guardian Rune Chains to emit groans of unbearable strain, disintegrating in large sections!

The target of this finger was no longer Chen Feng, but the entire moon cocoon! He intended to crush the man and the cocoon, along with this anomaly who blasphemed the Immortal Dao and the lingering Remnants of Guanghan, into cosmic dust!

The shadow of death had never been so cold and suffocating! The moon cocoon Guardian Formation was tottering under the pressure of the Immortal Envoy's Natal Finger, and the fragile symbiotic cycle that had just been established could be interrupted and destroyed by this devastating force at any moment!

Chen Feng's eyes were about to split! He felt a strong crisis warning emanating from the chaos base point! The base point's energy had dropped to 25%, making it utterly powerless to resist this finger that surpassed comprehension! If the moon cocoon shattered and the symbiotic cycle was broken, Su Wanzhao would surely die!

What should he do?! What could he use to block it?!

Just at this critical moment—

Buzz!!!

In Chen Feng's chest, the fragment of the fate plate, which had been silent and merely preventing its cracks from deepening, suddenly erupted with unprecedented heat! An ancient light, whose color was indescribable and seemed to contain the birth and destruction of the universe, the origin and end of all things, shot out violently from the fragment! This light did not attack the Immortal Envoy's giant finger, but instantly submerged into the violently pulsing chaos base point inside Chen Feng.

[fragment of the fate plate: Cracks intensifying! Origin Will activated! Forced empowerment! Warning: Overload collapse risk!]

A mighty will, so vast it was unimaginable and so ancient it transcended time, accompanied by an indescribably immense torrent of energy, instantly poured into the chaos base point!

Inside the base point, the subtle porcelain-like cracks were instantly and forcibly sealed by this power! The entire base point seemed to be injected with the primordial vitality of the universe, spinning wildly with unprecedented speed and brilliance! The Chaos Qi on the base point's surface was no longer merely gray and hazy, but flowed out threads of indescribable, ancient radiance that seemed capable of carving open the cosmos!

[chaos base point: Energy forcibly infused (120%)! Operating overloaded! Core cracks repaired (100%)! Temporary State: Primordial Creation (Pseudo)! Warning: Foundation unstable! Will fall into deep dormancy after energy depletion!]

"Aah—!" Chen Feng let out a frenzied roar that didn't sound human! Under the dual impact of the fragment of the fate plate and the chaos base point, his body felt as if it were being ripped apart! The dark gold patterns on his skin erupted with a strong light that pierced the moon cocoon! A primordial, mighty power, originating from the beginning of creation and transcending all laws, violently awakened within him!

He suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes turning into chaotic vortices, locked firmly onto the Immortal Flame giant finger that was about to shatter the moon cocoon! He spread the five fingers of his right hand and made a grasping motion in the direction of the destructive finger!

There were no fancy movements, no profound incantations.

Only a cold, soul-freezing decree, seemingly originating from the Chaos Origin itself, violently exploded inside the moon cocoon, at the core of the ice lake, and deep within the Immortal Envoy's soul:

"Disperse."

As the word left his mouth, the law followed!