82: As the star collapsed, a gray light first appeared.

Boom—!!!

The moment the Star Vortex purple-gold beam collided with the boiling Lu Dao Source Power deep within the rift, the entire Star Dome Royal Court ruins emitted a final, death-knell wail of imminent disintegration! It was not a sound, but the wail of space Laws being forcibly torn asunder and material structures being thoroughly twisted!

The collision point erupted with a terrifying light of indescribable color! The dark red Lu Dao Source Power, like filth thrown into a furnace, boiled and evaporated violently under the frenzied smelting and purification of the purple-gold beam! The purple-gold beam itself also withstood unimaginable impact; the front of the beam constantly disintegrated and annihilated, only to be continuously replenished and propelled forward by the surging Starfire will from behind!

Stalemate! The Laws of destruction and protection were engaged in the most primitive and tragic annihilation confrontation at the entrance of the rift! The entire base of the main throne trembled violently, and the huge crack running through the throne writhed and expanded crazily like the wound of a living creature! Countless Lu Dao Source Power particles, smelted and purified, rose as billows of green smoke, only to be swallowed by the Starfire purple-gold vortex and transformed into new power!

"Ugh, ahhh—!" The fused will of Chen Feng and Su Wanzhao emitted a painful, resonant roar deep within the guixu star core. This direct confrontation of Laws brought a backlash far exceeding the excruciating pain of invoking the firewood before! Every impact of the Lu Dao Source Power was like billions of hammers made of the Law of the Path of Slaughter, smashing fiercely onto the Origin of the star core! Inside the Dantian, that Star Dome Eternal Burning Violet Flame fate wheel shook crazily, and its solidity plummeted like an avalanche—62%... 60%... 58%! The Star Dome Barrier had long since completely shattered in the aftermath of the impact, leaving only the Starfire vortex driven by their fused wills to withstand the storm of destruction!

"Ants... I will... suppress your Divine Souls... forever in the Blood Sea of the Path of Slaughter... to suffer... for ten thousand generations... of torture!!!" The roar of the xingtian main body will came from deep within the rift, carrying boundless rage and a trace of the shame of being injured by ants. It had clearly underestimated this Starfire power, which gathered the obsessions of the kings, the Shouzhuo Origin, and the co-burning wills of Chen Feng and Su Wanzhao! But its power was still like a bottomless abyss!

Deep in the rift, the boiling Lu Dao Source Power suddenly became thicker and more profound! A more ancient, purer will of destruction erupted, forcibly halting the advance of the purple-gold beam, and even began to slowly push the beam back, inch by inch! The speed at which the front of the purple-gold beam disintegrated and annihilated suddenly accelerated!

"Oh no! It... is burning its Origin!" Su Wanzhao's thought carried a trace of terror. The xingtian main body was actually willing to pay any price to crush this last bit of Starfire!

The Starfire purple-gold vortex fluctuated violently, the phantom of the guixu star core at its center flickering, transmitting a wail of being unable to bear the burden. The protective obsession contributed by the bones of the kings had been exhausted, and the Origin power injected by the shouzhuo star hub was also being consumed rapidly. Once the purple-gold beam was pushed back completely and the Starfire extinguished, that would be the moment they, along with this last Royal Court ruin, would be completely devoured by the Lu Dao Source Power!

Just at this critical moment, in this desperate situation where the Starfire was about to be pushed back and extinguished—

Hum!!!

Behind Chen Feng, that shouzhuo star hub, its light already slightly dimmed, suddenly erupted with its final, resolute, brilliant radiance! The faint purple glow at its tip brightened to the extreme, like a supernova explosion! A tragic, lonely, yet incomparably firm will of protection swept through the entire hall like a swan song spanning eternity!

"Shouzhuo... Senior?!" Chen Feng's mind shook violently, and he instantly understood the star hub's intention!

"Starfire... shall light the prairie..." The shouzhuo star hub transmitted its final, clear, and gentle thought, carrying a trace of relief, "Latecomer... take care..."

Boom—!!!

The entire shouzhuo star hub, along with the last bit of Origin will and Law core left behind by Zhang Shouzhuo within it, resolutely... self-destructed!

There was no earth-shattering energy impact, only a beam of light so pure it was indescribable, condensing Zhang Shouzhuo's lifelong Dao achievements and protective obsession—the Light of the star vault Origin! This light, like the first ray of dawn at the creation of the world, instantly crossed space, ignoring the stalemate of the Law annihilation storm in front, and injected with extreme precision into the core of the crumbling Star Vortex purple-gold flame vortex above Chen Feng's head—the phantom of the guixu star core!

It was as if the lava of an entire volcano had been poured onto a dying campfire!

Boom—!!!

The volume of the Star Vortex purple-gold flame vortex did not expand, but its core temperature and its great power of smelting Laws instantly climbed to an inconceivable Realm! The deep purple faded away completely, turning into a flawless Star White that seemed capable of piercing the essence of the Universe and making all Daos bow! At the center of the vortex, the phantom of the guixu star core became incomparably solid, and within its core Star Vortex Universe, countless stars instantly lit up, burned, and erupted! A final power of purification belonging to the star vault Origin Law, sufficient to make even the xingtian main body will tremble, erupted!

"No—!!" The xingtian main body will emitted an unprecedented roar, carrying a trace of terror!

The purple-gold beam that had been pushed back, the moment it was injected with this ultimate Star White power, suddenly transformed its form! It turned into a spear of Star White Law, condensed to the extreme, as if compressed from billions of stars!

Chhh—!!!

The spear of Law silently pierced through the stalemate of the destruction storm in front! The torrent of Lu Dao Source Power that the xingtian had burned its Origin to push out, in front of this Star White spear, was like snow encountering the scorching sun; it instantly melted and vaporized, unable to make even the slightest resistance!

The spear tip pointed directly at the core of the rift that was crazily expanding at the base of the main throne!

Boom!!!!

The Star White spear of Law fiercely stabbed into the depths of the rift! There, the rolling Lu Dao Source Power was like an ice cube thrown into boiling lava, emitting an extremely shrill scream as a huge void was instantly evaporated out of it! Deep within the void, a huge and blurry phantom of a will core, composed of endless dark red blood light and destruction runes, was vaguely visible—the projection of the xingtian main body will!

The spear tip nailed precisely onto that phantom of the will core!

"Roar—!!!" A roar of pain, rage, and resentment that surpassed all language exploded suddenly from deep within the rift, from beyond endless time and space! The entire Cosmic Graveyard seemed to tremble in this roar!

That huge phantom of the will core vibrated and twisted violently. The spot pierced by the Star White spear of Law emitted a "sizzling" sound of melting, like a wound burned by a hot iron, and large swathes of dark red blood light were forcibly purified and stripped away! An indescribable sense of Origin trauma, following some mysterious connection, fiercely backlashed onto the suppressed tribulation imprint deep within Chen Feng's Divine Soul!

"Pfft—!" Chen Feng spat out a mouthful of Soul blood containing dark red fragments! His body was hit as if by an invisible giant hammer, instantly flying backward and crashing fiercely into a broken giant pillar in the distance! His insides were churning, the solidity of the guixu fate wheel instantly fell below the critical point of 50%, dropping to 47%! The Starfire purple-gold vortex lost the support of subsequent power and collapsed with a bang!

[tribulation imprint: Origin damaged! Activity significantly reduced! Recovery degree: 18.0% | Continuing to fall!]

[Warning: guixu fate wheel solidity below 50%! Origin oscillation! Star Dome Eternal Burning Violet Flame on the verge of losing control!]

Excruciating pain! The dual agony of Soul and body disintegration almost drowned him! His consciousness fell into a chaotic darkness.

However, just on the edge of this blurred consciousness, deep in his Dantian, at the center of the Star Vortex Universe at the very core of the guixu star core, which had also suffered heavy damage and whose light was dim—

That gray glow, which had flashed by earlier and was too fast to be perceived, once again... quietly emerged!

This time, it did not vanish in a flash. It hung quietly near the brilliant spiritual light point belonging to Su Wanzhao, like a speck of cold cosmic dust. The gray glow was extremely faint, yet it carried an indescribable, ancient, obscure, and deathly aura. This aura was completely different from the Lu Dao destruction of the xingtian; it was more... primitive, more... cold, as if representing the final, absolute... annihilation and nothingness of the Universe.

It did not emit any energy fluctuations, nor did it interfere with the operation of the star core; it just existed quietly. But the moment it appeared, an icy fear, stemming from life's instinct and deeper and more desperate than facing the xingtian, gripped Chen Feng's crumbling consciousness without warning.

This fear... did not come from the tribulation imprint, but directly acted on the deepest part of his Soul! As if this gray glow itself was the embodiment of "the end"!

"What... is that?" In Chen Feng's blurred consciousness, only this thought of terror remained.

"Finally... found... you..." A cold, indifferent thought, as if coming from the end of the Universe, brushed past Chen Feng's chaotic Sea of Consciousness like the tiniest speck of dust. This thought was not the rage-filled roar of the xingtian; it had no emotion, only a pure, target-locking... sense of confirmation.

The moment this thought appeared, deep in the rift, the roar of the xingtian main body will, which had been twisted in pain from being heavily injured, strangely... paused for an instant! On that huge phantom of the will core, at the edge of the "wound" nailed by the Star White spear of Law, a trace of an extremely obscure, deathly aura of the same Origin as that gray glow... flashed and disappeared!

The next moment, the xingtian's roar, filled with endless resentment and shock, rang out through the rift again like an injured prehistoric beast, but it seemed to have an extra trace of... indescribable urgency and madness!

"Get out—!!!"

Boom!!!

The phantom of the will core, nailed by the Star White spear of Law, suddenly erupted with unprecedented dark red blood light! A terrifying power, willing to completely burn its Origin and perhaps even shake its Foundation, erupted fiercely!

Crack!

That Star White spear of Law, condensed from the self-destruction of the shouzhuo star hub, the obsessions of the kings, and the co-burning wills of Chen Feng and Su Wanzhao, finally... shattered inch by inch under this crazy counterattack of the xingtian main body will!

Boom!!!

The terrifying shockwave of Lu Dao Source Power, accompanied by the complete disintegration of the spear of Law, erupted from the rift like a world-destroying tsunami! The first to bear the brunt was the black main throne, which was already covered in cracks!

Crack! Boom—!!!

The main throne, symbolizing the final dignity and protection of the Star Dome Royal Court, collapsed completely under the impact of this torrent of destruction, like a sandcastle! Huge fragments of star metal, wrapped in residual starlight and Lu Dao blood light, splashed in all directions!

The shockwave continued unabated, sweeping fiercely across the entire Hall of Kings! The already dilapidated dome collapsed completely, and countless broken giant pillars fell with a roar! The entire ruin, like a giant crushed by the last straw, let out a final, desperate groan and began its final... disintegration!

"Go!" Su Wanzhao's weak but incomparably urgent thought exploded in Chen Feng's chaotic Sea of Consciousness! The guixu star core erupted with its final power, forcibly stabilizing Chen Feng's consciousness, which was on the verge of collapse, while simultaneously invoking the affinity of the Source of Annihilation remaining within the star core!

Chen Feng endured the excruciating pain of his body and Divine Soul, and at the moment the shockwave hit, he kicked off the broken remains of a giant pillar behind him. His body, like an arrow leaving the string, fled crazily toward the cold Void Realm revealed after the dome shattered, where huge star debris floated!

Boom!!!

The destructive shockwave grazed his back! The weak purple flame protecting his body extinguished instantly, and a sharp pain of being torn and burned came from his back! But he had, after all, narrowly escaped the core of the collapsing mega-structure!

Plop!

He crashed heavily onto a relatively small star fragment, rolling several times before barely stopping. Looking back, the massive metal mega-structure that carried the last ruins of the Star Dome Royal Court was, under the dual effect of the Lu Dao Source Power shockwave and its own disintegration, like scrap metal being kneaded by an invisible giant hand, emitting a teeth-grinding sound of metal twisting, slowly collapsing and disintegrating inward! Countless huge fragments detached from the main body, rolling and drifting in the Void Realm. In the central area, that huge crack, pierced by the Star White spear and then torn open by the xingtian's counterattack, was like the hideous wound of a giant beast, spewing dark red Lu Dao blood light and broken spatial turbulence, slowly expanding, forming a... small Lu Dao void that continuously devoured surrounding matter and light!

shouzhuo star hub... main throne... Hall of Kings... everything had turned into new wreckage and voids in this Cosmic Graveyard.

The roar of the xingtian main body will, filled with resentment and hatred, came faintly from the depths of the Lu Dao void like a maggot on a tarsal bone, carrying a cold, target-locking murderous intent: "Starfire... I remember... you... to the ends of the earth... the Path of Slaughter... will surely kill..."

Chen Feng lay on the cold star fragment, gasping violently, every breath accompanied by the excruciating pain of ruptured internal organs. He could not care about the xingtian's threat and sank his mind completely into his Dantian.

The solidity of the guixu fate wheel was barely maintained at 45%, and the Star Dome Eternal Burning Violet Flame was so weak that only a layer of purple glow remained on his body, ready to be extinguished at any moment. The recovery degree of the tribulation imprint was stable at 18.0%. Although it had been heavily injured and suppressed, that cold, gray, decadent aura still resided in the deepest part of his Divine Soul, like a dormant poisonous snake.

And what made him most tense was that strange gray glow... quietly floating in the center of the dim Star Vortex Universe at the core of the guixu star core. And in that last roar of the xingtian, what seemed not entirely directed at him... that ambiguous...

"Finally... found... you..."

What exactly... was this gray glow? Who was the xingtian's last sentence directed at?

"Chen Feng..." Su Wanzhao's weak but concerned and puzzled thought came, "Your star core... deep inside... that gray glow... what is it? It feels... very bad to me... very... ancient... very... dangerous..."

Even Su Wanzhao had noticed it! This was definitely not an illusion!

Chen Feng struggled to sit up, his gaze sweeping across this cold, dead graveyard, across the Lu Dao void that was slowly expanding in the distance, and finally landing on the inheritance seal in his palm, which was equally dim but still warm. The purple star point in the seal flickered weakly, as if pointing in a certain direction.

The road ahead was fraught with crises. Within his body, there were many hidden dangers. The xingtian was not dead, and the gray glow had appeared strangely.

But the Starfire... was still burning!

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, the purple light in his eyes weak, yet still burning with an unyielding will.

"Let's go!" He whispered to the inheritance seal in his palm, and to Su Wanzhao, who was recovering in his Dantian, "Leave this place... we need... answers!"

He struggled to stand up, following the faint guidance of the inheritance seal, and turned into a staggering yet firm stream of light, casting himself into the deeper, more unknown darkness of the Cosmic Graveyard. Behind him, only the roar of the collapsing mega-structure remained, as well as the heart-palpitating devouring sound of the Lu Dao void, like the panting of a giant beast.