27: The Star Burial Corridor, Guided by the Star Core

The cold, desolate star corridor, like the intestines of a giant beast, snaked through the endless ruins of the void. Chen Feng half-knelt on the rough, shattered star-rock, each faint gasp bringing forth bloody foam that solidified into dark red ice crystals in the thin dust. A burning pain emanated from the fragment of the fate plate in his chest. At the edge of the penetrating crack, unstable gray light flickered like dying fireflies, each flash pulling at the critical point of impending collapse. [fragment of the fate plate: Crack worsening (on the verge of collapse)! Energy depleted! Resonating with a homologous star core...]

Beside him, Su Wanzhao lay silently, a trace of pain frozen between her brows. The malicious Immortal Curse, like a cold golden thread, coiled at the edge of her nascent Chaos Star Vortex, slowly wriggling at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, continuously emitting waves of disintegration and contamination. [Immortal Curse Erosion: Ongoing... Target's origin dormant... Erosion inefficient but irreversible...]

Despair, like the cold stardust deep within the corridor, weighed heavily on Chen Feng's heart. He was at the end of his rope, his base point dormant, Su Wanzhao unconscious from a sinister Immortal Curse, and trapped in this bizarre, deadly place... The path ahead seemed to lead only to complete darkness.

However—

Buzz!

The fragment of the fate plate in his chest, on the verge of shattering, vibrated again with an extremely faint yet clear tremor! Stronger than before! That 'call' from the deepest part of the corridor, like a stone dropped into a stagnant pool, rippled through the depths of his depleted life soul!

This time, accompanying the call, was an even clearer, purer ancient star origin aura! This aura ignored spatial barriers, ignored the dormant state of the chaos base point, seeping in thread by thread, like invisible sweet dew, precisely penetrating and merging into the flickering spark at the core of the base point!

[chaos base point: Core star-spark nourished by star origin (weak)... Crack repairing (0.2%)... Extremely slow...]

[fragment of the fate plate: Homologous star core resonance strengthened! Crack gray light stabilizing! Energy depletion status unchanged...]

The star-spark flickered! Though weak, it was like a glimmer of light ignited in endless darkness! The fragment of the fate plate's critical state was forcibly stabilized for a moment by this distant star core resonance!

"Star core..." Chen Feng squeezed out hoarse words from his blood-stained lips. His bloodshot Chaos Left Eye suddenly lifted, locking onto the dark, endless depths of the Burial Star Corridor! That was the source of the call! The location of the fragment of the fate plate's homologous resonance! And the only possible chance for survival at this moment!

Go! He must go!

He struggled, using all his remaining strength to carefully carry the unconscious Su Wanzhao on his back. Her body was cold and light, and the damaged parts of her Guanghan Palace attire touched his cracked back, bringing bone-chilling cold and intense pain. Every step was like treading on knife edges; the shattered star-rock underfoot emitted a grating friction sound that echoed far in the desolate corridor.

The corridor was winding, and the 'walls' formed by giant star remnants cast distorted, grotesque shadows. The air was thin and cold, carrying the decaying scent of rusted metal and weathered rock. Only the occasional dark red glimmer in the distance, like the heart of a dying giant beast, barely provided direction. Chen Feng, guided by the increasingly clear resonance of the fragment of the fate plate, like the only lighthouse in the darkness, trekked arduously through the graveyard of stars.

The deeper he went, the larger and more twisted the star remnants became. He saw broken star rings coiling like giant snakes around shattered star cores, solidified nebulae like splashed dark paint frozen in the void, and even half of a massive, unknown metal construct, like a mountain range, embedded in a huge star corpse, bearing remnants of long-extinguished runes of vastly different styles.

Desolation. Absolute desolation. As if a world-ending catastrophe billions of years ago had forcibly crushed countless stars and piled them here, freezing all life and time.

After an unknown period, Chen Feng's consciousness began to blur again under the dual torment of intense pain and exhaustion. Su Wanzhao's breathing on his back remained weak, the Immortal Curse's erosion like a persistent maggot, slow and steady. The fragment of the fate plate's resonant guidance was still clear, but the flickering star-spark at the core of the chaos base point grew weaker and weaker; the speed of absorbing star origin could not keep up with the consumption.

Just as his steps faltered, almost causing him to collapse before a massive, dark red star corpse resembling a broken mountain peak—

Buzz!!!

The fragment of the fate plate in his chest suddenly erupted with an unprecedented heat! The resonant throbbing was so intense that his heart convulsed! The gray light at the edge of the crack instantly flared brightly!

At the same time, at the 'foot' of the giant dark red star corpse ahead, a faint, yet heart-stoppingly pure silver-blue light, like eyes that had slept for eons, slowly opened!

Found it!

Chen Feng's spirit suddenly lifted. He gathered his last bit of strength and rounded the massive star corpse's broken edge.

The sight before him made him gasp!

It was not a complete star core as he had expected, but a... ruined altar.

The altar was composed of nine colossal, pitch-black star steles, their surfaces flowing with stellar Veins, arranged in a circle, guarding the center. At the altar's heart was not a solid platform, but a slowly rotating, ten-zhang diameter miniature star cloud vortex! The vortex was made of countless tiny, faintly glowing dust particles, and at its center, a fist-sized cluster of pure silver-blue star origin energy quietly hovered, emitting a vast, ancient, and majestic aura that seemed to birth all stars!

Fragment of the life plate star core!

Although it was just a fragment, the primordial power it contained far exceeded Chen Feng's imagination! Simply being close, the flickering spark at the core of his dormant chaos base point seemed to be strongly attracted, its pulsation frequency suddenly accelerating! The fragment of the fate plate even emitted a hungry hum, its cracked gray light flashing wildly!

However, beneath the star core fragment, at the edge of the altar's star cloud vortex, a figure sat.

The figure was not solid, but formed by countless flowing star dust and cold starlight, appearing in a translucent state, between illusion and reality. Its form was tall, clad in ancient, tattered battle armor seemingly woven from starlight, its face indistinct. Only where its eyes should be, two clusters of cold, deep blue flames, like the core of a neutron star, burned.

The moment Chen Feng, carrying Su Wanzhao, entered the altar's range, those deep blue flame eyes suddenly 'opened', emotionlessly locking onto them!

A cold, desolate stellar pressure, imbued with the weight of endless ages, descended like an invisible, crushing burden of billions of tons! This pressure was not the high and mighty judgment of an Immortal Dao will, but rather the condensed will of the entire Burial Star Corridor, carrying the sorrow of star annihilation and the fierce determination of guardianship!

"Star corpses return to silence, the living... halt."

A dry, hoarse voice, as if it hadn't spoken for billions of years, made of the friction of countless stars, resonated directly in Chen Feng's divine soul. There was no anger, no killing intent, only a cold rejection, like a cosmic law!

A Guardian! This Burial Star Corridor, this star core fragment, was not ownerless!

Chen Feng's steps halted abruptly, as if he had run into an invisible wall of sighs. Su Wanzhao on his back also seemed to frown slightly under this terrifying stellar pressure. With a guardian blocking the way ahead, and Immortal Dao pursuers possibly tearing through space at any moment... survival was within reach, yet as distant as the horizon!

He stared intently at the guardian formed of star dust, madness and calm intertwined in his Chaos Left Eye. The hunger from the fragment of the fate plate and the call of the star core burned his soul like fire. The erosion of the Immortal Curse within Su Wanzhao was like a ticking death knell.

He couldn't retreat! Retreat meant certain death!

Just as Chen Feng's thoughts raced, trying to find a sliver of hope—

Buzz!

Under the intense stimulation of the star core fragment's powerful origin, the fragment of the fate plate in his chest, on the verge of collapse, suddenly erupted with dazzling gray light! A faint but extremely pure ancient aura, originating from the fate plate's core, involuntarily seeped out!

The moment this aura appeared, the star core fragment quietly suspended in the center of the altar suddenly trembled! Its pure silver-blue light instantly surged!

Even more unexpectedly for Chen Feng, the deep blue flame eyes of the guardian, formed of star dust and seated at the edge of the star cloud vortex, violently fluctuated the instant they encountered this wisp of the fate plate's origin aura!

Its blurry face seemed to struggle to form some expression. Finally, in those cold flame eyes, a subtle yet ineffably complex... fluctuation appeared! As if dormant memories were forcibly stirred, carrying a hint of bewilderment, a trace of pain, and a touch of... unbelievable familiarity?

"Life... plate...?" The guardian's dry, star-grinding voice sounded again, but with a barely perceptible hesitation and tremor.

A chance!

Chen Feng's heart pounded! This guardian recognized the aura of the life plate! At the very least, it reacted to it!

He endured the intense pain and pressure, abruptly straightened his back, exposing the fragment of the fate plate in his chest as much as possible to the guardian's perception. His hoarse voice, filled with his last defiance and plea, pierced the desolate corridor:

"Senior! I need this star core to save my Dao companion and block the Immortal Dao pursuers! The life plate guides me, I beg for a chance at survival!"

Before his words finished—

Rumble!!!

The entire Burial Star Corridor violently shook! Not from the altar, but from the direction they had come!

At the distant corridor entrance, space, like fragile glazed glass, was forcibly torn open by three massive golden cracks! Cold, majestic Immortal Dao aura, carrying the will to crush all heavens, surged in like a breached dam! Three massive ship shadows—the Xuanming Ice Fiend Battleship and two boundary-breaking immortal shuttles—were slowly 'squeezing' out of the cracks! The destructive energy light at their bows had already lit up, and cold scanning waves, like giant searchlights, instantly swept through the corridor, firmly locking onto the altar's direction, locking onto Chen Feng and Su Wanzhao on his back, and... that silver-blue star core fragment!

"Defier of Fate, Chaos Fragment, Guanghan remnant... and... a Star Origin Core?!" The Immortal Envoy's cold, majestic voice, tinged with greed and wild joy, resonated directly on the fundamental level, ignoring spatial distance, "Heaven helps me! Seize them... all!"

Three destructive energy light beams (pale ice fiend, two golden shuttle-shaped boundary-breaking streaks of light) instantly tore through the thin dust in the corridor, hurtling towards the altar with world-ending might!

A guardian blocked the front, and Immortal Dao brought absolute death from behind! The light of the star core fragment was within reach, yet seemed separated by a chasm of life and death!

The guardian's deep blue flame eyes, which had just shown a flicker of fluctuation, instantly reverted to absolute coldness upon sensing the terrifying pressure and attack of the Immortal Dao fleet! Even more piercing than before! It slowly stood up, its body formed of star dust emitting terrifying fluctuations that seemed to suppress the universe! It no longer seemed to be entangled by the fate plate's aura on Chen Feng, but instead directed all its hostility towards the invading Immortal Dao fleet!

However, it did not immediately move to intercept the three destructive light beams. Instead, its cold flame eyes turned towards Chen Feng, and an even heavier, more direct stellar pressure, like an invisible cage, fiercely bound him! As if to say: the star core must not be touched, those who dare, die!

The Immortal Dao attack was imminent! The guardian's killing intent was locked on! Su Wanzhao was unconscious and critically ill!

A true death trap!

Chen Feng's eyes were bloodshot! Su Wanzhao on his back also seemed to sense the destructive crisis, the trace of pain between her brows deepening.

Under the combined stimulation of the Immortal Dao pressure and the star core's origin, the fragment of the fate plate, on the verge of collapse, its cracked gray light flashed wildly, transmitting an unprecedented, desperate throbbing, as if ready to perish together!

No time left!

"Last Light... let's gamble our lives!" Chen Feng let out a beast-like roar! Under the guardian's stellar pressure and at the moment the Immortal Dao's destructive light beams were about to strike, he no longer tried to rush towards the star core. Instead, he used his last shred of will to violently throw Su Wanzhao from his back towards the center of the altar, the rotating star cloud vortex, and the silver-blue star core fragment!

At the same time, his blood-stained left hand, no longer resisting the guardian's pressure, struck his chest with a resolute intent, hitting the fragment of the fate plate that was on the verge of collapse!

Not defense, not attack, but... sacrificial detonation! At the cost of the fragment's collapse, he would activate its final origin to impact and resonate with that star core fragment! To buy Su Wanzhao a chance for integration!

"life plate... guide... the star!!"