520: Chapter 455: Deep Behind Enemy Lines, Encountering Resistance from the Void Cult

After the Marshal tore open the Guixu Crack, ten Vanguard Battalions advanced deep along the passage.

The Order Domain covered an area with a diameter of 10,000 kilometers, pushing aside the Guixu energy walls on both sides of the crack.

On the gray-white walls on both sides of the passage, distorted runes emitted sizzling sounds under the illumination of the light of Order, like burning skin.

The deeper they went, the higher the concentration of Guixu energy, and the suppression effect of the Order Domain was weakening.

When the team advanced to about 3,000 kilometers from the crack entrance, the coverage of the Order Domain shrank from 10,000 kilometers to 5,000 kilometers, and gray-white mist had already begun to infiltrate the edge of the Domain.

[Guixu Crack · Advance Status]

- Advanced distance: about 3,000 kilometers

- Remaining depth: unknown

- Guixu energy concentration: 600 times that of the outside (decreased to 60 times within the Order Domain)

- Order Domain coverage: 5,000 kilometers in diameter

- Marshal's godhead integrity: 30% (continuously declining)

The Marshal walked at the very front of the team. The dark red cracks on his right hand had spread to his shoulder, and his entire right arm appeared as a gray-white translucent state; that was the result of Guixu energy erosion.

His left hand constantly released Hands of Order, swatting away the Guixu energy surging from the front.

With every palm strike, his godhead integrity dropped by one percentage point.

"Marshal, you cannot attack anymore." Lin Zhou walked to his side, the river of civilization flowing around his body, and the cyan-gold light shrouded the two of them.

"If I don't attack, you won't be able to reach the depths." The Marshal's voice was calm, but his face was already as pale as paper. "Although the Void Sect's supreme leader, White-Clad · Yin, is dead, his subordinates still remain. They are hiding in the depths of the crack, guarding the energy core of the Gate of Guixu. If we don't eliminate them, even if we reach the door, we won't be able to safely destroy the core."

As soon as he finished speaking, countless dark red runes suddenly appeared on the gray-white wall ahead.

The runes formed a huge Formation, cutting off the passage.

In the center of the Formation stood about three hundred Void Sect believers wearing dark red robes. The leader was a sinister-looking middle-aged man with a godhead Rank of LV2000.

Dark gold patterns were embroidered on the cuffs of his robes, which was the mark of a Cardinal—after White-Clad · Yin died, he was the highest-ranking member remaining in the Void Sect.

[Void Sect · Remnants]

- Number of people: about 300

- Commander: Cardinal (LV2000)

- Members: about 50 Black-Clad Deacons, about 250 Gray-Clad Believers

- Deployed Formation: Void Great Formation

"Void Great Formation." The Marshal stopped. "This is the Void Sect's ultimate Formation, based on Guixu energy, capable of suppressing the Order Domain. The Formation Eye is on the Cardinal."

Lin Zhou looked at the Formation.

A dark red light shield covered an area with a diameter of 100 kilometers. Countless distorted runes flowed on the surface of the light shield, and painful human faces could be vaguely seen within the runes—those were the Souls of captives sacrificed by the Void Sect, sealed within the runes as the energy source for the Formation.

[Void Great Formation · Data]

- Coverage: 100 kilometers in diameter

- Energy source: Guixu energy + sacrificed Souls

- Effect: Order Domain suppression 50%, non-Guixu rules failure 80%

- Formation Eye: Cardinal's godhead

"Marshal, your Order Domain is being suppressed." Li Mo's voice came through the communication link. "The coverage has shrunk from 5,000 kilometers to 2,000 kilometers. The concentration of Guixu energy inside the Formation has soared from 60 times to 300 times."

"I know." The Marshal raised his left hand, preparing to shatter the Formation.

Lin Zhou pressed his hand down. "Marshal, you cannot attack anymore. Your godhead integrity is only 20% left; if you attack again, it will collapse. Let me do it."

The Marshal looked at him, remained silent for a moment, and then nodded. "Be careful. The Formation Eye is in the Cardinal's godhead; it needs to be disintegrated from the inside with the Fire of Civilization."

Lin Zhou took a step forward, and the river of civilization surged out from his divine kingdom, turning into a cyan-gold torrent that rushed toward the Void Great Formation.

The river collided with the Formation, and the dark red light shield shook violently but did not break.

The rune faces on the surface of the Formation let out shrill screams, the sound piercing directly into the Soul.

[river of civilization · Opposing Void Great Formation]

- Effect: Formation stability 100% → 95%

- Consumption: 100,000 Divine Power per minute

- Guixu energy concentration: 300 times → 250 times

"Not enough." Lin Zhou withdrew the river. If he consumed it slowly like this, his Divine Power wouldn't hold up. He needed to find the Formation Eye for a one-hit kill.

He looked at the Cardinal in the center of the Formation; there was a mass of dark red light deep within the middle-aged man's godhead—that was the Formation Eye, and also his Void Mark.

"Wang Meng, cover me." Lin Zhou drew his zhan nian sword.

Wang Meng led the Vanguard Battalion and rushed out.

Three thousand Civilization Sword Cultivators held Flying Swords, and the Fire of Civilization on the swords recovered part of its power under the protection of the Order Domain.

They rushed toward the Formation, and the Flying Swords slashed onto the dark red light shield, leaving behind sword marks.

The Fire of Civilization within the sword marks burned, and the stability of the Formation dropped at a rate of 0.5 percentage points per second.

[Vanguard Battalion · Attacking Formation]

- Stability: 95% → 90% → 85%

- Our losses: 100 slightly injured

Lei Zhan's shield wall advanced from the flank, blocking the dark red light beams shot out by the Formation's counterattack.

Qin Qing's Net of Law spread out on the periphery of the Formation, attempting to entangle the Cardinal. But the Net of Law was suppressed by the Formation and could not get close.

Iron Face's Fire of Justice could not condense either.

Lin Zhou closed his eyes, perceiving the rule structure of the Formation with the Fire of Civilization.

The essence of the Void Great Formation is "existence negation"—negating all non-Guixu existence.

Those Souls sacrificed in the Formation were the energy source of the Formation and also the weakness of the Formation. Every Soul was a node of the rule; as long as the connection between the nodes was cut off, the Formation would collapse.

"Chen Xuan!" Lin Zhou shouted.

Chen Xuan walked out of the team, holding an ancient book of the School of Names in his hand.

His godhead Rank was only LV500, but his School of Names techniques were a Sharp Weapon for cracking rule structures.

"Separating Hardness and Whiteness." Chen Xuan opened the ancient book and chanted, "Hard white stone, hardness, whiteness, stone, the three can be separated."

[School of Names · Separating Hardness and Whiteness]

- Effect: Strip attributes of things

- Target: "Existence negation" attribute of Void Great Formation

- Consumption: 5,000 Divine Power

An invisible fluctuation spread from Chen Xuan and hit the Formation.

The "negation" attribute of the Formation was partially stripped away, and the stability plummeted from 85% to 70%. The rune faces on the surface of the Formation began to become chaotic, no longer screaming, but emitting intermittent whimpers.

"It's effective!" Wang Meng said excitedly.

Lin Zhou rushed forward, and the Sword of Civilization slashed into the crack of the Formation. The sword light penetrated the light shield and stabbed directly at the Cardinal.

[Sword of Civilization · Attacking Formation Eye]

- Target: Void Mark deep within the Cardinal's godhead

- Effect: Mark integrity 100% → 80%

The Cardinal screamed, and dark red blood gushed out from his seven orifices. He frantically urged the Formation, trying to use Guixu energy to repair the Mark.

But Chen Xuan's Separating Hardness and Whiteness was still continuously stripping the attributes of the Formation, and the repair speed could not keep up with the destruction speed.

[Void Great Formation · Status]

- Stability: 70% → 60% → 50%

- Formation Eye integrity: 80% → 60% → 40%

Lin Zhou's second sword slashed down. The Formation Eye integrity dropped from 40% to 20%. The Cardinal's godhead began to disintegrate, and dark red mist gushed out from his body. His body began to become transparent.

"Retreat!" The Cardinal ordered.

The remaining Void Sect believers fled in all directions. But they couldn't escape.

Lei Zhan's shield wall blocked the retreat, Wang Meng's Vanguard Battalion flanked from both sides, and Qin Qing's Net of Law sealed the rear.

[Void Sect · Mopping Up]

- Kills: about 250

- Captives: about 50

- Cardinal: killed

The Void Great Formation collapsed, the dark red light shield shattered, turning into gray-white mist and dissipating.

Those sacrificed Souls were finally liberated, turning into pale gold light spots, merging into the river of civilization.

Every light spot was a memory swallowed by Guixu. The water level of the river rose slightly under the nourishment of the light spots.

[river of civilization · Absorbing Souls]

- Absorption quantity: about 300

- river of civilization water level: 40% → 45%

Lin Zhou retracted the Sword of Civilization and knelt on one knee. His godhead integrity had dropped from 50% to 45%, but he had no time to rest. The Gate of Guixu was still deep ahead. Although the Lord of Nothingness's integrity had dropped to 30%, it was still absorbing Guixu energy to repair itself. The energy core had to be destroyed as soon as possible.

"Marshal, the remnants of the Void Sect have been wiped out." Lin Zhou stood up.

The Marshal nodded. "Continue the advance."

The team continued to advance deeper into the rift. After the collapse of the Void Array, the Order Domain recovered part of its coverage, expanding from 2,000 kilometers to 3,000 kilometers. However, the deeper they went, the higher the concentration of Guixu energy, and the weaker the suppression effect of the Order Domain became.

[Advance · Status]

- Distance Advanced: Approximately 4,000 kilometers

- Remaining Depth: Approximately 2,000 kilometers

- Concentration of Guixu Energy: 800 times that of the outside (reduced to 100 times within the Order Domain)

- Marshal's godhead integrity: 20%

When the team advanced to about 1,000 kilometers from the Gate of Guixu, the passage suddenly widened from 100 kilometers to 1,000 kilometers. A vast Void Realm appeared ahead, in which floated countless divine kingdom wrecks—not wrecks from the Old Universe era, but divine kingdoms from various war zones of the New Universe that had been sacrificed by the Void Sect. The divine position marks of their original owners still remained on the wrecks, but they had all dimmed.

[Sacrificed Divine Kingdom Wrecks · Data]

- Quantity: Approximately 500

- Source: Missing gods from various war zones of the New Universe

- Status: Completely eroded by Guixu energy

- Residual Consciousness: Partial (still wailing)

Lin Zhou's pupils contracted. He recognized some of the wrecks—those were the missing gods from the Third War Zone and the Fifth War Zone, who had been secretly kidnapped by the Void Sect and sacrificed to the Gate of Guixu. Their divine kingdoms had become fuel for the Gate of Guixu, and their Souls had become the energy source for the Void Array. Their corpses floated here, eroded by Guixu energy, never to find peace.

"Captain, these..." Qin Qing's voice trembled.

"They were killed by the Void Sect." Lin Zhou's voice was calm, but the hand holding the sword was trembling. "The Gate of Guixu is right ahead. Destroy it and avenge these people."

The team passed through the divine kingdom wreck area and arrived before the Gate of Guixu. The door frame was 1,000 kilometers high, with dark red runes flowing across it. The door was half-open, and grayish-white light poured from the gap. At the top of the door frame floated the energy core—a dark red crystal with a diameter of ten kilometers, its surface flowing with countless Guixu runes.

[Gate of Guixu · Status]

- Opening Progress: 65%

- Energy Core Integrity: 0% (previously destroyed by the Marshal, but is slowly repairing)

- Repair Speed: 1% per hour

- Current Integrity: 20%

"The energy core is self-repairing." The Marshal frowned. "It must be completely destroyed before it repairs to 50%."

"How do we destroy it?" Lin Zhou asked.

"Someone needs to enter the core and disintegrate it from the inside using the Fire of Civilization." The Marshal looked at Lin Zhou. "Only you can do it."

Lin Zhou nodded. "I will go."

"Captain, it's too dangerous!" Su Yueyao grabbed his arm.

"It is dangerous, but I must go. If the energy core is not destroyed, the Gate of Guixu will open. The Lord of Nothingness will gain new power, and our previous sacrifices will have been in vain."

Lin Zhou let go of her hand and flew toward the top of the Gate of Guixu. The Dragon Vein Golden Scale flew out from his divine kingdom, its golden Dragon Breath flashing like lightning in the dark red Void Realm. Wang Meng led the Vanguard Battalion to set up defenses around the door frame, blocking the Guixu energy that might pour out from the gap. Lei Zhan's shield wall formed up below the door frame, and Qin Qing's Net of Law unfurled above the door frame. Su Yueyao's lunar radiance shone around the door frame, the silvery-white light suppressing the dark red runes by a fraction.

[Gate of Guixu · Siege]

- Energy Core Integrity: 20%

- Lin Zhou's distance to the core: Approximately 500 kilometers

- Concentration of Guixu Energy: 1,000 times that of the outside

- Consumption of river of civilization: 200,000 Divine Power per minute

Lin Zhou flew in front of the energy core. The dark red crystal floated in the Void Realm, its surface flowing with countless Guixu runes. In the center of the core was a cluster of grayish-white flames—that was a part of the Lord of Nothingness's will, controlling the core's repair. The flames sensed Lin Zhou's arrival and suddenly surged, a grayish-white beam of light shooting out from the core.

Lin Zhou dodged, the beam of light grazing his shoulder, and his godhead integrity dropped from 45% to 40%. He did not retreat, compressing the river of civilization into a thin stream and shooting it into the crack in the core.

[river of civilization · Internal Purification]

- Target: Gate of Guixu energy core

- Consumption: 200,000 Divine Power per minute

- Purification Speed: 1% integrity per second

- Core Integrity: 20%... 19%... 18%...

The grayish-white flames in the core struggled frantically, and beams of light shot out continuously. Lin Zhou parried with the Shield of Civilization, the shield shattering and reforming. His godhead integrity was dropping, and the water level of the river of civilization was also dropping, but he did not stop.

[Lin Zhou · Status]

- godhead integrity: 40% → 35% → 30%

- river of civilization water level: 45% → 40% → 35%

- Core Integrity: 18%... 15%... 10%...

When the core integrity dropped to 5%, the grayish-white flames suddenly extinguished. The core stopped its self-repair, and the dark red light began to fade. Lin Zhou's Fire of Civilization seeped into the deepest part of the core, igniting the remains of that grayish-white flame. Under the scorching of the Fire of Civilization, the flame turned into nothingness.

[Gate of Guixu · Energy Core — Completely Destroyed]

- Integrity: 0%

- Repair Ability: Lost

- Gate of Guixu opening progress: Stopped

The door frame began to shrink, from 1,000 kilometers down to 800 kilometers, 500 kilometers, 300 kilometers. The grayish-white light in the gap dimmed. The Lord of Nothingness let out a desperate roar from deep within its lair, but its integrity had already dropped to 10%, and it could no longer stop it.

Lin Zhou retreated from the core and landed beside the Marshal. His godhead integrity was only 30% left, and the water level of the river of civilization was only 30% left. He knelt on one knee in the Void Realm, gasping for air. Su Yueyao's lunar radiance enveloped him, repairing the cracks in his godhead.

"Captain, the Gate of Guixu is closing." Qin Qing pointed at the door frame.

The door frame shrank to 50 kilometers, and the gap was almost invisible. The grayish-white light disappeared completely, and the dark red runes also lost their luster. The Gate of Guixu turned into an ordinary, rusted bronze door, embedded in the Void Realm.

[Gate of Guixu · Status]

- Width: 50 kilometers

- Opening Progress: 0%

- Energy Core: Completely destroyed

The Marshal walked to the door, extended his left hand, and pushed gently. The bronze door collapsed with a boom, revealing the void of nothingness behind it. The Gate of Guixu was no more.

"The Lord of Nothingness has lost its source of power; its integrity will continue to drop until it perishes." The Marshal turned and looked at the team. "Mission accomplished. Retreat."

The team began to evacuate the Guixu rift. Lin Zhou walked at the back, looking back at the collapsed bronze door. Behind the door was nothingness, the source of Guixu, and also the place where The Transcendent had once fought. He did not enter. He knew that with his current strength, entering would be suicide.

"Captain, it's time to go." Su Yueyao's voice came from ahead.

Lin Zhou turned and flew toward the exit. Behind him, the Guixu rift began to close. The dark red light disappeared completely, and the grayish-white mist was also dissipating.

Three days later, the Civilization Guardian Legion returned to the Iron Wall Fortress. The one hundred Flying Swords on the Wall of Heroes were still burning, and the Fire of Civilization leaped on the city walls, illuminating the faces of every returning soldier. The Marshal was recuperating in the medical room; his right hand was completely ruined, but his godhead had stabilized. The Lord of Nothingness's integrity had dropped to 5%, and it was expected to perish completely in seven days.

Lin Zhou stood before the Wall of Heroes and placed his hand on the city wall. The river of civilization poured out from his divine kingdom, injecting into the inscriptions on the city wall. Every inscription was glowing, and every Flying Sword was humming.

"Captain, the Void Sect has been completely destroyed." Qin Qing walked over.

"Destroyed. But Guixu is still there." Lin Zhou looked into the distance. "The Transcendent once said that Guixu is an inevitability of the birth and death of the Universe. We cannot eliminate Guixu; we can only delay its erosion."

"That is enough."

"Perhaps."