66: The world turned to ruins, and the whale sang its farewell song.

The memory torrent of myriad ancient stardust was cold, heavy, boundless, like the epitaph of the Universe, threatening to utterly crush and assimilate Chen Feng's self-awareness. His Sea of Consciousness crumbled, his Divine Soul tore apart. He was like dust falling into the farthest reaches of the guixu, sinking into eternal nirvana. His remaining will let out a desperate cry, faint as a firefly's light, about to be devoured by eternal darkness.

Yet, at the very instant his consciousness was about to be completely annihilated—

Deep within his Dantian, the guixu xuanhuang origin point, which had devoured the nirvana star core of the Ancient Star Marrow Whale's infancy, completed its final transformation!

BOOM—!!!

It was no longer silent stillness, but a grand, all-encompassing, all-ending roar! As if the singularity at the Universe's inception had collapsed, or the funeral bell at the end of an epoch had tolled!

That dark golden star core, originating from the Ancient Star Marrow Whale and containing ancient nirvana Dao principles, under the mad devouring of the guixu xuanhuang origin point, completely disintegrated and melted! It was no longer a simple Fusion, but was utterly decomposed, assimilated, and absorbed by the Concept of all things' finality inherent in the guixu xuanhuang origin point! The Origin of the dark golden nirvana star core surged like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, madly pouring into the deep, dark core of that Origin point!

The guixu xuanhuang origin point violently expanded and contracted! With each pulsation, it emitted guixu aura a hundred times more profound and vast than before! Its form was also undergoing earth-shattering changes! It was no longer a simple 'point,' but collapsed inward, stretched, and rotated, finally forming a miniature, slowly rotating dark vortex!

This vortex was as deep as an abyss, its core an absolute darkness that devoured all light and hope. Along its edges flowed a dark golden band of stardust, a Fusion of Xuanhuang Qi and the Origin of the nirvana star core, like a long river of dust scattered at the Universe's end. An indescribably immense suction force emanated from the vortex's center, not targeting matter or energy, but 'existence' itself! As if it were the final destination of all things, the endpoint of everything tangible and intangible!

**Universe Ruin Vortex dao foundation!**

This name, like a world-splitting imprint, was violently carved into the depths of Chen Feng's nearly shattered consciousness! This was the essential metamorphosis after the guixu xuanhuang origin point devoured the even more ancient nirvana star core! It was no longer just one of the cornerstones of his dao foundation, but had preliminarily taken on the embryonic form of a vortex that could reduce all things to ruin and bear the end!

At the moment this miniature guixu vortex took shape—

Hum!

A vast Concept, originating from the end of all things and encompassing all nirvana, erupted from his Dantian, surged upward like a released apocalyptic flood, and crashed fiercely into Chen Feng's Sea of Consciousness, which was flooded with the memories of myriad ancient stardust and on the verge of assimilation!

BOOM!!!

The cold, heavy torrent of myriad ancient stardust memories, under the impact of this pure, higher-level guixu Concept, met its nemesis! Those grand, tragic phantom images of stars being born and dying, civilizations rising and falling, epochs changing, those whispers and sighs of ancient wills—like dust thrown into a guixu vortex—were instantly 'accommodated' and 'precipitated' by this Concept that encompassed the end of all phenomena!

It was not erasure, but 'assimilation into the guixu'! Like rivers entering the sea, no matter how turbulent, they ultimately return to stillness and termination!

Chen Feng's consciousness, torn to shreds and about to be assimilated, was forcibly enveloped and anchored by this guixu Concept! As if, in an apocalyptic tsunami, he had suddenly sunk into the absolute silence of the deepest ocean abyss! The overwhelming feeling of 'assimilation' abruptly vanished, replaced by a cold, heavy, yet no longer erosive sense of 'bearing.'

"Ugh...!" Chen Feng's arched body shuddered violently and slammed onto the deck. The stream of stardust fragments and light mist gushing from his seven orifices instantly stopped. In his pupils, dilated and hollowed by endless phantoms, the madly swirling stardust scenes began to slow, settle, and finally transform into a profound darkness, as if he had seen through the rise and fall of myriad ages. The agony remained; his Divine Soul was still like cracked glass. But the core of his consciousness—that spark of self named 'Chen Feng'—finally, under the protection of the guixu Concept, was nailed firmly to the edge of the cliff of destruction! He had not been completely devoured by the myriad ancient stardust!

The memory torrent of myriad ancient stardust transformed into countless fragmented light and shadow shards, like a frozen galaxy of stars, floating within his Sea of Consciousness, which had been forcibly stabilized by the guixu Concept but remained riddled with cracks. They were still heavy, containing unimaginable secrets and power, but they no longer possessed the ability to actively erode and assimilate. They had become a heavy 'legacy' that he would need long ages to comprehend and refine.

Survival after calamity! A dual transformation at the Soul level!

However, just as Chen Feng's consciousness stabilized and his mind sank into his Dantian to feel the supreme power and heavy burden brought by the newly formed Universe Ruin Vortex dao foundation—

A sudden mutation occurred!

The Punishment Calamity curse imprint on his chest, suppressed by the Ancient Whale's power, erupted with an unprecedented, blinding dark red light, like ice thrown into boiling oil!

"ROAR—!!!"

A Soul-rending roar filled with endless brutality, greed, and fury—not from the tribulation remnant soul, but from the Slaughter Dao Origin deep within the imprint, stimulated to utter frenzy by the formation of the Universe Ruin Vortex dao foundation!

Throughout Chen Feng's process of devouring the Ancient Whale's star core and condensing the guixu dao foundation, the tribulation imprint had been madly absorbing the most refined nirvana and guixu aura that leaked out! For the Slaughter Dao Origin, this aura was supreme nourishment, more delicious and compatible than Immortal Court Edicts or the fury of the starry sea!

Deep within the imprint, the will of the tribulation remnant soul burned completely in ecstatic joy! Its recovery progress instantly broke through the 20% threshold! A force of Slaughter Dao Origin a hundred times more concentrated and vicious than before, like a primordial Vicious Beast breaking its last shackles, transformed into a dark red blood python condensed as if solid. Bearing a terrifying killing intent to sever Karma and end Reincarnation, it ignored the suppression of the Ancient Whale's power, fiercely broke through the imprint's restraints, and lunged to bite at the newly formed Universe Ruin Vortex deep within Chen Feng's Dantian!

It sought to devour this nascent guixu dao foundation while it was still unstable! To corrupt it! To turn it into the ultimate nourishment for the Slaughter Dao's revival!

"Ant! Thy dao foundation! Belongs to me!!" The tribulation remnant soul's roar was filled with a madness of absolute certainty!

Fast! Ruthless! Vicious! The timing was impeccable! It struck at the precise moment when Chen Feng's Soul had just endured the impact of myriad ancient stardust, his guixu dao foundation was newly formed and unstable, and his mind was most relaxed!

Chen Feng's pupils constricted sharply! The chill of death instantly froze the sliver of vitality that had just risen! His will frantically urged the guixu vortex in his Dantian, trying to mobilize the newborn guixu power to resist! But this nascent vortex rotated sluggishly, its power mobilization far slower than the premeditated strike of the Slaughter Dao blood python! He could only watch helplessly as the dark red python tore through the dao foundation space, its ferocious fangs about to bite into the dark vortex core!

At this critical juncture—

"Hmph."

A low, desolate, cold snort, as if echoing from the myriad ancient stardust, rang out within this internal space.

It was the Ancient Star Marrow Whale!

Hum!

The countless ancient star patterns on the dark golden 'earth' beneath Chen Feng's feet suddenly lit up! A majestic power more vast, more profound than the previous gentle protective force, containing the endless nirvana and true meaning of the guixu of stars, descended with a boom! This power did not directly attack the Slaughter Dao blood python, but instead enveloped Chen Feng's newly formed Universe Ruin Vortex with pinpoint accuracy!

As if instantly raising an absolute, invisible barrier for a newly sprouted seedling!

BANG—!!!

The dark red blood python slammed fiercely into this invisible star guixu barrier! The Slaughter Dao Origin force, capable of tearing apart ordinary dao foundations, collided with this barrier imbued with the Ancient Whale's myriad ancient nirvana Dao principles. It was like a mayfly hitting the Universe's embryonic membrane—unable to raise even a ripple before it exploded and scattered! Transforming into a sky full of filthy dark red blood rain, it was slowly devoured and purified by the faint suction emanating from the guixu vortex.

"Pfft!" From deep within the tribulation imprint came the muffled grunt of the tribulation remnant soul's will suffering backlash and an even more furious roar! The imprint's light instantly dimmed, its recovery progress forcibly beaten back down to 19.7%, its spread speed completely suppressed at +0.3% per hour! The power of that ancient star guixu barrier, like the heaviest shackles, firmly imprisoned the imprint's agitation.

"Thank... Senior!" Chen Feng's mind shook violently, cold sweat from his narrow escape instantly soaking his back. If the Ancient Whale hadn't acted in time, his nascent Universe Ruin Vortex dao foundation might truly have been seized by the tribulation remnant soul!

"Transaction... first part... temporarily concluded..." The Ancient Whale's vast will sounded again, carrying a trace of barely perceptible fatigue. "This Soul... imprint... has become... shackles... also a... fuse... You must... resolve it... yourself..."

Chen Feng's heart sank. The Ancient Whale's meaning was clear: it had only temporarily suppressed the tribulation imprint's eruption and used its own power to confine it to a certain level. But this imprint was like an affliction clinging to the bone; the tribulation remnant soul saw these shackles as a positioning fuse. Ultimately, whether he could resolve it still depended on himself.

Just then—

"Mmm..."

An extremely faint, dream-like whimper sounded beside Chen Feng.

Chen Feng whipped his head around!

He saw Su Wanzhao's long-closed eyelids, like petals awakened by dawn light, tremble with extreme difficulty, yet with unwavering determination... once! Then, those eyelids, covered with long lashes, slowly, bit by bit... began to open!

Starlight!

What kind of eyes were those!

Deep within the pupils, there was no longer empty lifelessness, but a pure, profound, dazzling starlight flowing like a newborn Universe, seemingly containing the birth and death of billions of stars! That starlight flowed endlessly, carrying a dazed confusion of first awakening, yet also harboring a serenity and wisdom from the stars of antiquity.

Her gaze first swept somewhat unfocused across this strange dark space flowing with a starry river, before finally, with a trace of confusion and inquiry, slowly settled on the face of Chen Feng, who was close at hand, covered in blood, his aura depleted yet his eyes blazing.

Their eyes met.

Time seemed to freeze in that moment.

Chen Feng forgot the agony throughout his body, forgot the chill of the tribulation imprint, forgot the heaviness of his Dantian dao foundation. His eyes held only those pupils that reflected his own battered image yet seemed to contain the entire starry sea.

"Last... Last Light?" His voice was hoarse and raspy, trembling with disbelief, as if afraid of shattering a fragile dream.

Su Wanzhao's lips moved slightly, as if wanting to say something, but only a faint breath of sound escaped. The star vortex core in her chest rotated steadily, emitting a soft, gentle starlight that illuminated her pale yet now life-filled cheeks. The confusion in her eyes rapidly faded, replaced by the weakness of survival after calamity, deep exhaustion, and... an indescribably complex emotion—gratitude, pain, bewilderment—all ultimately settling into a deep, sea-of-stars-like tranquility.

She looked at Chen Feng, at his bloodshot eyes burning with wild joy and hope, at his battered yet still straight spine guarding her. Without words, she only, with extreme faintness yet unwavering firmness... nodded.

The star vortex lit the lamp, the Soul finally returned!

However, before the warmth of this reunion in the direst straits could spread—

HUM!!!

The entire internal space of the Ancient Star Marrow Whale shook violently without warning! More violently than any previous time! As if this ancient leviathan was enduring an unimaginably terrifying attack!

"Warning! Detecting ultra-high intensity order-rule strikes! Target locked on to this one's core!"

"The Immortal Court Edict main fleet... has arrived!" The Ancient Whale's vast will instantly became grave and murderous, even carrying a trace of barely perceptible urgency!

BOOM—!!!

From outside, separated by the Ancient Whale's supreme Dao principles, a terrifying explosion sound capable of shattering stars faintly transmitted in! Immediately after, countless cold, merciless Law rune lights, representing the highest judgment, pierced into this tranquil space like swords piercing through darkness!

"Target confirmed! Star Marrow Sea native Chaos-level threat!"

"Executing... final purification protocol! Law Matrix! Activate!"

The icy proclamation was like the scythe of death cutting through the last vestiges of peace!

The Ancient Whale's massive single eye, its cold stellar flames flickering violently, for the first time clearly reflected a deep-seated anger and a trace of... resolve!

Its colossal body shuddered fiercely!

Chen Feng and Su Wanzhao felt an irresistible yet gentle pushing force, which, gentle yet unyielding, expelled them along with the battered star dome ark from the dark golden earth of the internal space!

"Karma's beginning... Karma's continuation..." The Ancient Whale's final will, like a sigh crossing the starry sea, echoed in the depths of their Souls. "Guixu... end... seek... the undead... death..."

Whoosh—!

The scene before their eyes instantly changed! No longer a tranquil dark starry river, but a boiling, violent hellish battlefield filled with destructive platinum Law light and deep blue stellar fury!

The star dome ark tumbled out of the Ancient Whale's mouth, re-exposed to the violent Dao principles of the Star Marrow Sea and the cold killing intent of the Immortal Court Edicts!

Chen Feng quickly embraced the weakened Su Wanzhao, shielding her beneath him. His gaze pierced through the viewport, witnessing a scene that shook his mind—

The core region of the Star Marrow Sea was now enveloped by a colossal platinum net covering the entire Star Domain, composed of billions of rotating Law runes! At each node of the net hovered a Law battleship radiating world-ending pressure! At the center of the net, the Ancient Star Marrow Whale's immense dark golden form was tightly bound by countless thick platinum chains! Those chains were entirely composed of Law runes, exuding an absolute will to imprison, analyze, and ultimately erase!

The Ancient Whale struggled! Each movement stirred up apocalyptic stellar fury, shattering countless Law runes, but more platinum chains shot out from the net, wrapping around it like maggots clinging to bone! Its single eye burning with stellar flames, piercing through the chaotic battlefield, 'gazed' distantly at the star dome ark being flung out, its gaze complex and inscrutable.

"Go!" Chen Feng instantly understood the Ancient Whale's final intention! It was using itself as bait, directly confronting the Immortal Court's main fleet to buy them their last chance to escape!

He ignored the heavy tearing sensation from the newly formed Universe Ruin Vortex dao foundation in his Dantian, ignored the weakness of the just-awakened Su Wanzhao in his arms, and ignored the suppressed yet still cold throbbing of the tribulation imprint on his chest (19.7%). His blood-stained hands slammed fiercely onto the star dome ark's damaged control core!

Hum!

The remaining fragments of the star dome ark's Origin imprint, belonging to Zhang Shouzhuo's final will, were frantically activated by Chen Feng in this life-or-death moment! Simultaneously, he forcibly operated the newly formed Universe Ruin Vortex in his Dantian! A faint, dark power carrying the Concept of all things returning to the guixu, mixed with the starlight Origin of the Hall of Fate Wheel's core, was laboriously infused into the ark's body!

"Star dome... ark! Burn... the last... starlight!" Chen Feng roared hoarsely!

Boom!

The battered ark erupted with an unprecedented, final flare of dim starlight! This light was insignificant in the destructive battlefield, yet it carried a resolute, forward-charging guixu momentum, like a meteor flying into the flame. It tore through the chaotic energy turbulence and charged fiercely toward the perceived oldest, most core Star Marrow Origin coordinates within the Star Marrow Sea—also the faint direction sensed by the tribulation imprint as the 'Hall of Fate Wheel'!

Behind them was the tragic sight of the Ancient Star Marrow Whale trapped by the Law net, its single eye's stellar flames burning; the cold, merciless destructive radiance of the Immortal Court fleet; and the unwilling roars deep within the tribulation imprint.

Ahead lay the unknown core Star Marrow Sea, the faint sensation of the Hall of Fate Wheel, the slim yet absolutely necessary final shred of hope!

The star dome ark, carrying the newly awakened star and the newly formed guixu, fled desperately through the storm of destruction toward the final hope! The whale's song, sorrowful and poignant, transformed into a farewell prelude behind them.