89: Guided by the stars, the remains are forged into a foundation.

Icy corpse dust adhered to the cracks in his gray, decaying skin. Every faint heartbeat tugged at the agonizing pain of the crystalline erosion spreading throughout his body. Chen Feng lay on the solidified land of despair, like forgotten wreckage. The Gravedigger disappeared into the shadow of the massive skull hill, leaving behind only traces of dark gray energy that had erupted from its severed wrist and quickly solidified, along with the lingering scent of decay and malice in the air.

The immediate crisis was averted, but a deeper chill seized Chen Feng's remaining consciousness.

He clearly "felt" it. The dormant primordial ultimate end crystal inside him, after devouring a portion of the Gravedigger's energy, was like an ember thrown into a flame, producing a faint yet undeniable trace of... activity! That cold, deathly sense of erosion was slowly but surely spreading along his crystallized right arm, moving toward his shoulder and torso at a speed barely perceptible to the naked eye, yet truly present! The crystallization of his right arm seemed to have deepened; the gray, decaying color was richer, and the boundary between it and the remaining flesh was even more blurred by the erosion.

[primordial ultimate end crystal: Activity (Extremely Low) | Erosion Rate (Slight Increase) | Energy Fluctuation (Extremely Weak but Stable)]

[Physical Status: end crystallization Erosion (Moderate Worsening) | Active Tissue Percentage: 40.9% | Continuously Declining]

Devouring... Growing... The destiny of finality?

The Gravedigger's hoarse voice, filled with surprise and greed, echoed in his Sea of Consciousness: "Seed... of finality?!"

It recognized this thing! And even... feared it? Yet was greedy for it?

This Space-Time Graveyard that buries all things, this land of despair like a cosmic junkyard—do strange "beings" like the Gravediggers exist here? What are they? Forgotten survivors? Executors of certain laws? Or... servants of finality?

Questions gnawed at his dwindling sanity like cold vipers. Chen Feng struggled to move the only eyeball he could still control, locking his gaze onto the direction where the Gravedigger had vanished—the terrifying hill piled high with countless enormous, twisted beast skulls whose empty eye sockets stared up at the Chaos Firmament.

At the base of the hill, the shadows were thick as ink. The outline he had glimpsed earlier, covered in dust... the stellar vault emblem!

The Star Dome Royal Court! Its traces are here too! At the end of the Guixu, in the Space-Time Graveyard!

The instinct for survival, the desire for truth, and the deep apprehension regarding the seed of finality within him, acted like three faint but tenacious threads, forcibly pulling Chen Feng's sinking consciousness back from the edge of nothingness.

He must... go there!

He tried to mobilize the dim nirvana star vortex life wheel in his Dantian. The life wheel was unresponsive; the burning Star Vortex cosmic phantom at its core shone as faintly as a distant star, almost merging with the darkness. Su Wanzhao's will... was as silent as ancient jade buried deep underground.

There was no power. Only this broken body, slowly being devoured by finality.

Chen Feng gritted his teeth, his jaw grinding against his crystallized gums, producing a grating sound. He gave up trying to activate the life wheel and poured his remaining mortal will into his left arm—this arm was less crystallized and could still move with difficulty.

He extended his left arm, which was also covered in cracks and gray decay, plunging his fingers deep into the cold, viscous corpse dust beneath him. His fingernails scraped and broke against hard bone fragments and icy metal wreckage, bringing excruciating pain. Ignoring it all, like a trapped beast struggling in a swamp, he relied on the scraping of his left arm and the faint wriggling of the few remaining muscles in his waist to drag his mountain-heavy, broken body, inch by inch, toward the massive beast skull hill!

Every movement was accompanied by the grating groan of bone rubbing against crystallized tissue, the rustling sound of his body dragging against the dust, and the icy, intense pain brought by the accelerating crystallization erosion. Cracks in his gray skin burst open from the friction; dark golden blood mixed with crystalline fragments seeped out, only to be absorbed and solidified by the viscous dust. Behind him, he left a winding trail of despair, mixing bloodstains, crystal fragments, and corpse dust.

The Chaos Firmament slowly writhed, and pale Space-Time Rifts silently flickered, illuminating the figure below, struggling across the land of corpses like a worm. Small and humble, yet possessing a heart-stopping tenacity—a defiance born of facing death.

The distance gradually shrank through his desperate movements. The skull hill grew larger in his vision, and the sense of oppression it brought became heavier. The massive skulls were varied in shape, some like mountains, others like twisted stars, their empty eye sockets holding the accumulated resentment and silence of eons. The shadow at the base of the hill, like the open maw of a giant beast, emitted an unsettling, icy aura.

Finally, like a wounded soldier who had spent his last drop of blood, he collapsed heavily at the edge of the giant beast skull hill's shadow. An icy chill instantly enveloped his entire body, more biting than the air outside. The thick scent of decay nearly suffocated him.

He struggled to raise his head, his eyes, bloodshot and filled with gray deathly pallor, fixed on the depths of the shadow.

It was there!

A broken metal plate, about ten feet high, was wedged diagonally between the corpse dust and massive ribs! The metal plate had long lost its luster, its surface covered by thick gray dust and solidified dark stains, its edges twisted and torn, marked by meteor impacts and energy scorching. But at its center, a small patch of thick dust had been stripped away by some force (perhaps wind erosion? perhaps the impact of the Gravedigger's severed wrist energy just now?), revealing a clearly visible mark underneath!

It was a relief sculpture of an ancient emblem, intricately outlined by countless stellar trajectories! The stellar points were already dim, and the relief itself was covered in cracks, but its core—a deep, abyssal vortex pattern surrounded by a Double Helix Star Track—still emitted a faint yet unmistakable aura of the stellar vault origin!

This aura shared the same origin as the inheritance seal! The same origin as the protection of the Bone King! The same origin as Zhang Shouzhuo's intent! Furthermore... it generated a strong resonance, stemming from the origin of life itself, with the Star Vortex cosmic phantom at the core of Chen Feng's nirvana star vortex life wheel in his Dantian!

It was it! The emblem of the Star Dome Royal Court! Deep within this Space-Time Graveyard, like the last lighthouse!

"Found... it..." Chen Feng's cracked lips moved silently. A faint, bitter thread of hope quietly arose in the depths of his despair. This emblem might not just be a marker for ruins; perhaps it was... a form of guidance? Or... a key?

He extended his left hand, the one he could still barely move, trembling with intense yearning, slowly reaching toward the revealed stellar vault emblem...

Only three inches remained between his fingertips and the cold metal plate!

Just then—

"Sha... sha... sha..."

That spine-chilling sound of something heavy being dragged echoed once more!

And there was more than one!

Chen Feng's heart plummeted! He struggled to turn his neck and looked toward the sound.

From the shadows on the other side of the giant beast skull hill, three hunched figures slowly emerged, like specters crawling out of a grave!

Their figures were taller than the previous Gravedigger, close to human height, but they were even more severely hunched. The grime covering their bodies was caked like rock armor, emitting an even denser aura of decay and malice. Two points of dark red light ignited in the gaps of the grime, like cold searchlights, instantly locking onto Chen Feng, who was sprawled before the stellar vault emblem!

The leading Gravedigger was the tallest. It did not carry a bone shovel, but instead dragged a pale Bone Staff fashioned from the vertebrae of some massive creature. Embedded at the tip of the staff was a fist-sized crystal that pulsed continuously, emitting a faint dark red glow! The aura of that crystal was subtly similar to Xingtian's Lu Dao Source Power, yet more chaotic and defiled!

The two Gravediggers beside it held rusty Bone Scimitars that resembled massive tusks, their edges flashing with a chilling, cold light.

"Desecrator..." The tall, leading Gravedigger emitted a hoarser voice, more muffled and imposing (if that word could be used for them) than the previous one. The dark red crystal at the tip of its Bone Staff pulsed slightly with its voice. "Stealing... seed of finality... disrupting... rest... crime..."

"Offer up... the seed... or... turn into... dust..." A blade-wielding Gravedigger beside it added in a sharper, grating sound, pointing its Bone Scimitar at Chen Feng.

Icy murderous intent, like a tangible cold current, instantly enveloped Chen Feng. Three Gravediggers! One was clearly the leader, and it held that strange Bone Staff! Their target was clear—the primordial ultimate end crystal inside him! Or... his life!

Escape? In his current state, facing three unpredictable Gravediggers in this deathly graveyard, it was nothing but a fool's dream!

Fight? His Dantian was silent, the life wheel dim, Su Wanzhao was asleep, and the only "power" was the seed of finality inside him, which could backfire at any moment! Using it? That would be drinking poison to quench thirst!

Despair, like icy pincers, tightened around his throat once more.

However, in the instant before this absolute deadlock descended—

Buzz!!!

Just as Chen Feng's left hand, reaching for the stellar vault emblem, was only an inch away from the cold metal plate, the deep vortex relief sculpture, surrounded by the Double Helix Star Track at the center of the broken stellar vault emblem... unexpectedly... lit up with a faint, almost imperceptible, azure blue light!

Although the light was weak, it carried a purity and calling that pierced the soul!

At the same time, deep within Chen Feng's Dantian, the dim nirvana star vortex life wheel, whose core Star Vortex phantom was nearly extinguished... suddenly... pulsed!

It was not an energy burst, but... an origin-based, dormant resonance!

A faint yet incredibly clear pull of will emanated from the azure-lit star vault vortex, instantly linking to the core of Chen Feng's broken life wheel!

"Guidance... of... Returning... to... Origin..."

A fragmented thought, as if crossing endless space and time, was directly branded onto Chen Feng's nearly chaotic Sea of Consciousness!

And the moment this thought sounded—

"Act! Strip away... the seed!" The tall, leading Gravedigger seemed to sense the anomaly of the stellar vault emblem as well, and its dark red eyes flashed violently! It suddenly raised the pale Bone Staff in its hand! The pulsing dark red crystal at the tip of the staff instantly erupted with dazzling bloody light! A terrifying energy fluctuation, mixing Lu Dao Source Power with the thick stench of corpse decay, violently burst forth!

The two blade-wielding Gravediggers beside it, like hounds receiving a command, swung their Bone Scimitars, shrieking as they tore through the air, pouncing fiercely on Chen Feng on the ground, one from the left and one from the right! The scimitars were aimed precisely at his crystallized right arm and his Dantian! They intended to forcibly strip away the end crystallization!

A bloody wind of death instantly rushed toward him!

In the nick of time!

A final, frantic purple light, almost burning his soul, erupted in Chen Feng's eyes! He did not attempt to dodge (he couldn't, in fact), nor did he try to activate the dormant life wheel or the dangerous seed of finality!

Using the last of his strength, disregarding the intense pain from the crystallization cracks on his left arm, he slammed his left hand—the one inch away from the stellar vault emblem—hard onto the center of the vortex relief sculpture that glowed with faint azure blue light!

"Using this broken body... as the guide... Origin Return... Activate!!!"

The hoarse roar, accompanied by the collision of his palm against the cold metal, echoed throughout the shadow!

Boom—!!!

The moment Chen Feng pressed his palm onto the vortex relief, the faint azure blue light suddenly flared brightly! A power of the stellar vault origin, whose vastness and antiquity were indescribable, erupted like a volcano dormant for billions of years, instantly spreading out from the stellar vault emblem!

This power was not an attack, but rather... a pure, directional... pull and resonance!

Buzz!!!

Chen Feng's broken body violently shook! He felt his entire being, along with the dormant nirvana star vortex life wheel inside him, instantly "ignited" by this force! A warm yet immense suction erupted from the star vault vortex, frantically... drawing out everything remaining in his body!

His remaining vitality! His last active tissues! The aura of finality from the crystalline erosion! Even... the faint fluctuations emanating from the dormant primordial ultimate end crystal in his Dantian!

Everything! Everything he had was treated as "fuel" by this power, forcibly extracted and injected into the star vault vortex!

"Ugh, ahhh—!" An indescribable agony instantly swept through his entire body! It was not physical pain, but the ultimate torment of existence itself being broken down and reshaped! He clearly felt his "existence" rapidly draining away! His body visibly became more gray, decaying, and shriveled! The gray light of the crystalline erosion was forcibly stripped away, forming flowing gray bands on his skin that merged into the vortex!

[Warning: Unknown Origin Extraction! Vital Signs Rapidly Declining! Active Tissue Percentage: 38.7%... 37.1%... 35.5%...]

[primordial ultimate end crystal: Energy Fluctuation Forcibly Stripped Away! Activity Reduced! Erosion Rate Significantly Slowed!]

The price! The price for opening the Path of Origin Return! It was... burning himself!

And almost simultaneously with Chen Feng's body being extracted and ignited—

The three pouncing Gravediggers froze instantly!

The dark red bloody light bursting from the tip of the Bone Staff encountered an invisible barrier; a soft yet incredibly resilient star vault Force Field forcibly blocked and dissolved it several feet from Chen Feng's body! The Bone Scimitars held by the two blade-wielding Gravediggers screeched and shattered upon impact, their edges instantly curling and breaking as if they had struck a stellar barrier!

"Protection... of the star vault Remnants?!" The tall Gravedigger roared in shock and fury. The dark red crystal at the tip of its Bone Staff pulsed wildly, attempting to gather power again!

But, it was too late!

Buzz—!!!

The light of the vortex at the center of the stellar vault emblem, having absorbed Chen Feng's broken body as "fuel," instantly surged! An azure blue light ring, about ten feet in diameter, formed entirely of star dome laws, suddenly branded itself onto the corpse land beneath Chen Feng, centered on the emblem!

Inside the light ring, countless tiny Stellar Runes flowed ceaselessly, emitting intense spatial fluctuations!

"Teleportation... Stop it!" The tall Gravedigger erupted in complete fury, smashing its Bone Staff down toward the light ring with world-destroying might!

Boom!!!

The Bone Staff collided with the light ring! A terrifying energy shockwave instantly exploded! The surrounding piled beast skulls rattled and fell! Dust shot up into the sky!

However, under the furious blow of the Gravedigger leader, the azure blue light ring merely fluctuated violently, its surface Stellar Runes flashing wildly, but it... did not break! Instead, after absorbing the impact energy, its light solidified further!

At the center of the light ring, Chen Feng's broken body, nearly drained into a mummy with only a final flicker of life remaining, began to turn... blurry and transparent under the wrapping of the azure blue light!

"No—!!" The Gravedigger leader roared in defiance, raising its Bone Staff again! The other two Gravediggers also swung their broken blades, frantically attacking the light ring!

But, the teleportation... had already begun!

Buzz!

The azure blue light sharply contracted to its maximum extent!

Swish!

The light vanished.

All that remained was a slowly dimming star ring imprint branded into the corpse dust, along with the dust kicked up by the residual force of the Gravediggers' furious attacks.

Chen Feng... had vanished.

Along with the broken metal plate bearing the stellar vault emblem, he disappeared without a trace.

Only the Gravedigger leader's roar, filled with malice and greed, echoed beneath the cold skull hill for a long time:

"seed of finality... star vault Remnants... you... cannot escape... the grasp... of the Guixu!"