71: The Wheel of Fate Goes Wild, Starlight Guides the Way

The chaotic and dim core of the Void Realm was like a wound in the Universe, silently bleeding the ultimate "nothingness." The tribulation remnant soul's Blood Arrow of the Gate, fueled by the last of its Origin; Chen Feng's dark torrent that reversed the return to ruin; and the Phantom of Zhang Shouzhuo's Fate Wheel rule barrier—three destructive forces containing different Origins of the Universe collided like three roaring Dragons in the absolute silence!

Boom—!!!

A soundless explosion! Only an Annihilation storm at the level of pure rules!

The dark torrent of the return to ruin, carrying the sorrowful Concept of the extinction of myriad ancient stardust, clashed violently with that eerie, piercing Blood Arrow of the Path of Slaughter, driven by sacrificial madness! The return to ruin swallowed all things into their end, while the Path of Slaughter severed all Karma; two completely opposite supreme Dao rules clashed and annihilated each other within inches! Rule fragments, like billions of invisible blades, instantly swept through Chen Feng's Divine Soul and dao foundation!

"Pfft!" Chen Feng felt as if he were being sliced by ten thousand blades. His body convulsed violently in the Void Realm, and a dark mist mixed with Soul fragments and rule shards erupted from his seven orifices! The Universe Ruin Vortex, which had just fused with the Concept of myriad ancient stardust extinction and solidified to 45%, trembled violently. The phantoms of star extinction circulating on its spiral arms flickered under the impact of the Blood Arrow of the Path of Slaughter's frenzied killing intent! The final roar of the tribulation remnant soul within the blood arrow was filled with the poisonous spite of mutual destruction, ruthlessly washing over Chen Feng’s consciousness!

And almost at the same time!

Buzz!!!

The Fate Wheel rule barrier condensed by the Phantom of Zhang Shouzhuo was like a giant shield woven from billions of chaotic and dim star Dao rules. Carrying a cold, unquestionable will of order, it slammed into the two energy storms that were annihilating each other!

Crack—!!!

It sounded like the tearing of the Universe's fetal membrane! Under the interference of that sliver of strange Fate Wheel Origin aura contained within Punishment Calamity's Blood Arrow of the Gate, and the conflict with the ancient Concept of extinction in Chen Feng's ruin torrent, spider-web-like cracks actually appeared on the rule barrier, visible to the naked eye! The chaotic and dim Void Realm of the entire Hall of Fate Wheel's core area shook violently!

"Unauthorized access... Core permissions... Source of pollution... High-energy conflict... Triggering... Final Purification Protocol!" For the first time, the cold intent of the Phantom of Zhang Shouzhuo carried a clear, almost "out of control" alarm fluctuation! Its body, outlined by Chaos and dimness, instantly became like solid crystal, and countless ancient Dao runes lit up frantically, emitting a piercing, dim light! A will of annihilation, far more terrifying and irresistible than before, descended like an awakened cosmic cleaner!

Rumble—!!!

At the very core of the Hall of Fate Wheel, those countless nested and rotating dark-gold, star-purple, and chaotic-gray light wheel structures accelerated their rotation suddenly, like a thoroughly enraged mechanical Heavenly God! Every light wheel erupted with world-ending energy fluctuations! The chaotic and dim star Origin of the entire core area was no longer a calm "placenta" but was completely boiling and going berserk!

Countless annihilation light pillars, composed of pure chaotic and dim Origin and as thick as star rivers, shot out randomly from the boiling sea of Origin like awakened venomous Dragons! Their target was no longer just Chen Feng; they swept through the entire core area indiscriminately! Wherever they passed, the solidified space shattered and annihilated like fragile glass! A storm at the rule level swept through everything!

A true catastrophe! The core rules of the Hall of Fate Wheel were completely triggered by Punishment Calamity's frenzied knocking and Chen Feng's ruinous resistance, entering a berserk state of indiscriminate purging!

"Argh—!" Chen Feng bore the brunt of it! An annihilation light pillar with a diameter comparable to a star, carrying the ultimate will to erase existence, instantly engulfed him! The Universe Ruin Vortex erupted with an unprecedented dark light, spinning frantically in an attempt to swallow the destructive chaotic and dim Origin and bring it to extinction! But the energy contained in the light pillar was too vast and too pure! The ruin vortex was like an ice cube thrown into a furnace; its spiral arms were instantly melted away, and its solidity plummeted from 45% to 38%! Chen Feng felt as if he had been thrown into a cosmic incinerator, his flesh, Divine Soul, and dao foundation being frantically decomposed! The tribulation imprint on his chest let out a wail on the verge of breaking, and the final will of the tribulation remnant soul was completely purified within the annihilation light pillar, leaving only a shriek filled with endless malice and resentment!

"Gatekeeper will... Logic conflict... Executing protocol... Annihilation... Source of interference..." The Phantom of Zhang Shouzhuo was also not spared! Several berserk annihilation light pillars slammed into its crack-filled rule barrier! The barrier groaned under the weight and shattered! Dim rule fragments flew in all directions! The phantom's "body," composed of chaotic and dim star Origin, rapidly melted and disintegrated under the wash of the annihilation light pillars like a sandcastle! Its "eyes," which were like two annihilation vortexes, flickered violently, and its cold intent came through intermittently amidst its collapse: "Core... Out of control... Permissions... Chaos... Zhang... Shouzhuo... True Name... Anchor..."

The three words "Zhang Shouzhuo" were like a final brand, clearly entering Chen Feng's near-collapsing consciousness the moment before it completely dissipated!

Boom!

The phantom completely disintegrated, turning into countless dim rule dust particles, swallowed by the berserk annihilation light pillars!

The world-ending annihilation light pillars were like dancing demon Dragons, raging wildly in the core Void Realm! Chen Feng was like a withered leaf in a raging sea, repeatedly torn and tossed by the violent energy turbulence! The Universe Ruin Vortex struggled to hold on; every time it resisted the wash of a light pillar, the vortex shrank, and its solidity continued to plummet! 35%... 32%... 30%! Even the Concept of extinction brought by the Fusion of myriad ancient stardust appeared to be in critical danger before this pure annihilation power of the Fate Wheel Origin! In the ruins of his consciousness, his recently stabilized self-awareness light flickered violently again, and countless memory fragments of stardust were stripped and crushed by the Annihilation storm! His obsession to protect wavered in the face of absolute destruction!

"Last Light... Senior Zhang..." Despair, like cold venom, was injected into Chen Feng's heart. Beset by troubles from within and without, his dao foundation about to collapse, and his consciousness about to be extinguished—was all his effort destined to be buried in this out-of-control Fate Wheel core?

Just at the moment when Chen Feng's consciousness was about to be completely torn apart by the Annihilation storm and the ruin vortex was on the verge of total collapse—

Buzz!

A faint yet incredibly pure speck of starlight lit up again deep within his shattered consciousness, as if it had crossed the barriers of endless time and space!

This time, the source of the starlight was not a memory fragment!

But rather—from deep within the boiling and berserk sea of chaotic and dim Origin ahead! Near the source where those countless destructive annihilation light pillars were frantically erupting!

A faint yet incredibly familiar speck of starlight was flickering tenaciously, like a lone lamp struggling in a world-ending storm! At its core, a pure speck of spiritual light representing Su Wanzhao's own will was nailed there like a stabilizing pillar, though it was dimmed to the extreme! It was surrounded and washed over by countless berserk chaotic and dim Origins, yet it had never been completely annihilated! Even more heart-trembling was that this faint starlight seemed to have a very weak but real... resonance with the ancient Dark-gold throne floating above the countless light wheels deep within the berserk Fate Wheel core!

It was Su Wanzhao! It was the star vortex core fragment she had protected within the annihilation vortex! In the destructive storm of the Hall of Fate Wheel's core rule rampage, it had not only not been erased but had instead become like a lighthouse in the dark, piercing through the chaotic rule turbulence to guide Chen Feng's nearly extinguished consciousness toward a sliver of direction!

This faint starlight was like a spark thrown into a fuel depot, instantly igniting the nearly extinguished fire of protection deep within Chen Feng's consciousness!

"Last Light... is still alive!"

"The star lamp... has not gone out!"

Wild joy and hope in the face of a desperate situation erupted like a volcano! That obsession to protect, originating from the deepest part of his Soul, was completely ignited by this faint starlight, bursting forth with unprecedented radiance! His nearly dissipated self-awareness light suddenly solidified, like tempered steel!

"Ruin... is not the end! Protection... is the... prologue!" Chen Feng's intent thundered through the Annihilation storm! He no longer fruitlessly fought against all the annihilation light pillars but instead poured all his mind and remaining strength into a desperate gamble, channeling it into the Universe Ruin Vortex in his Dantian that was on the verge of collapse!

His intent guided the remaining myriad ancient stardust fragments in the ruins of his consciousness, especially those memories carrying the trajectories of star extinction and ancient paths of ruin, forcing them together like a jigsaw puzzle! A very short and dangerous "path" leading to that speck of starlight amidst the berserk rule turbulence was forcibly calculated in the gaps of the Annihilation storm!

"Go!" His intent was like a blade!

Buzz—!

The Universe Ruin Vortex, on the verge of collapse, erupted with a final, terminal glow of dark light! It no longer struck the annihilation light pillars head-on but followed the calculated "path" guided by the starlight, emitting an extreme ruinous Concept of "sinking" and "evasion"! Like a fish swimming against the current or a falling leaf drifting with the wind, Chen Feng's body was wrapped in this layer of dark light as he desperately wove through the gaps of countless destruction pillars toward that faint starlight!

annihilation light pillars brushed past him! Rule turbulence tore at the ruin Domain! Every evasion caused the vortex to shrink further, its solidity dropping below 28%! His consciousness felt as if it were being repeatedly burned during the extreme calculation and evasion!

Closer! Even closer!

Ahead, that faint speck of starlight flickered tenaciously in the Annihilation storm, like a lone lamp of a mother waiting for a traveler!

However, just as Chen Feng was about to break through the final violent rule turbulence and touch that speck of starlight—

Buzz!!!

At the very core and highest point of the Hall of Fate Wheel, upon that ancient Dark-gold throne piled with countless Star bones, that figure which had always been blurred and emitted an aura of loneliness and vicissitudes seemed to... slowly... move!

A palm composed of chaotic and dim star Origin was raised... very slowly.

In the palm, it did not gather destructive energy, but instead... it pointed at that tenaciously flickering starlight and Chen Feng, who was charging desperately!

An indescribably terrifying cold will, as if it could freeze the long river of time, carrying a hint of... inexpressible scrutiny and... absolute desire for control, instantly crossed the Void Realm and locked onto them!

A true supreme power of destruction was slowly awakening upon the throne!