325: Remnant Net Beacon Tower

Ashes flowed through the gaps between his fingers, mixed with cold sweat and soil from his palms, until only a handful of spiritless powder remained.

Su Ming stared at the ruined "wutu earth evasion talisman" in his hand, his pupils contracting slightly.

There was no anger, nor the hysteria of being toyed with by fate; he simply opened his hand with extreme calm, letting the powder worth five Mid-Grade Spirit Stones be scattered by the bloody night wind.

His ribs were broken, likely the fourth one on the left; the jagged ends stung his lungs, making every breath a sharp pain.

Su Ming propped himself up against the ground, attempting to stand.

As soon as his knees exerted force, a sweetness rose in his throat, and he coughed up a mouthful of dark red blood, splashing it onto the rubble-strewn ruins.

He wiped the corner of his mouth with a rough, forceful motion.

The surrounding world was a chaotic blur of dark gold and blood red.

The dust kicked up by the explosion had yet to settle, but the ear-grating "rustling" sound already filled his eardrums.

Leaning behind a section of broken stone wall, Su Ming performed the Breath Concealment Art, using the cover of shadows to quickly adjust his breathing frequency.

The Ruoshui Art circulated with difficulty within his body, his spiritual power acting like a trickling stream as it wrapped around the broken ribs, forcibly stabilizing the bone that was about to shift out of place.

"Master, our way back is cut off."

"If it's cut off, we'll just have to find another way."

Lin Yu's soul form fluctuated violently within the xuantian ring, his Divine Sense searching the surroundings, only to be suppressed within a ten-zhang radius by the auras of countless Zerg.

Su Ming withdrew his gaze and looked down at his chest.

That was where he originally kept his most core possession—the main control Formation Plate for the "Spirit-Responding Spider Web."

At this moment, this Formation Plate, which he had poured countless efforts into and forged from the finest star-patterned steel, was covered in Spider Web-like cracks.

The Spirit Stone at its core had also turned dim and dull, leaving only an extremely faint speck of ghostly blue light flickering stubbornly deep within the cracks.

That was the last bit of warmth from Defense Zone Bing Seven.

"Master, although the Earth Qi is in Chaos, the frequency of the Spiritual Qi is still there."

Su Ming's fingers lightly brushed over the broken patterns on the Formation Plate. "My Spider Web nodes don't rely on the ley lines; they only borrow Earth Qi."

Su Ming suddenly bit the tip of his tongue.

Sharp pain stimulated his nerves, and a surge of pure heart's blood instantly flooded his mouth.

This was no ordinary blood; it was the condensation of a Cultivator's essence, energy, and spirit.

"Pfft!"

Su Ming opened his mouth and sprayed this mist of blood, which contained a faint golden luster, fiercely onto the shattered main Formation Plate.

The moment the blood touched the Formation Plate, it made a soft "hissing" sound, as if water had dropped into boiling oil.

Under the nourishment of the essence blood, the originally broken and dim runes actually began to wriggle eerily. Fine, blood-colored threads extended from the breaks, forcibly reconnecting with each other.

"Madman!" Lin Yu cursed in the Sea of Consciousness. "This is a blood sacrifice! This thing will drain your spiritual power! Once the backlash hits, you won't even have the strength to hold a sword!"

"It's better than waiting to die."

Su Ming's face was as pale as paper, but his eyes were frighteningly bright.

The fingers of both his hands moved rapidly, pulling out threads of pale blue Water Spiritual Energy that drilled into the core of the Formation Plate along the blood-colored patterns.

"Master, help me modify the Array Patterns!"

Lin Yu fell silent for a moment.

The next instant, a massive and pure Soul Power surged out from the xuantian ring.

"Shift from the li position to the qian position, disconnect the kan water cycle, and connect the li fire for a direct surge..."

Lin Yu's coordination speed was astonishingly fast. "The third node circuit is blocked; take the backup channel! Quick! The bugs over there are looking this way!"

Outside the ruins, several Dark Gold Hunter Bugs responsible for sentry duty seemed to have sensed the spiritual power fluctuations here.

They stopped in their tracks, their antennae vibrating violently, and the red light in their compound eyes flared as they lunged toward the stone wall.

A foul wind rushed at him.

Su Ming didn't even lift his head, pouring all his focus into the Formation Plate in his hands.

"The remnant spirit is undying, the beacon shall burn."

He muttered under his breath, as if reciting some ancient incantation, or perhaps giving himself a final command.

"Rise—!"

With this low shout, Su Ming poured his remaining fifty percent of spiritual power without reservation into that speck of ghostly blue at the core of the Formation Plate.

Buzz—!

The shattered Formation Plate let out a groan of being overburdened, then suddenly exploded.

There were no fragments flying everywhere.

All the materials, all the spiritual power, and the mouthful of essence blood Su Ming had sprayed onto it collapsed into a single point in an instant.

Immediately following that.

A pillar of light, as thick as a barrel and blue tinged with red, shot up from Su Ming's chest!

It tore through the sky full of dust, pierced the dark night sky, and stabbed straight into the heavens with a desperate and resolute howl.

This pillar of light didn't have much destructive power.

The few hunter bugs that lunged forward were swept by the light pillar; they only stumbled slightly and were not injured.

But they retreated in terror, as if they had encountered some natural enemy, emitting sharp screeches from their mouths.

Because this light was too bright.

It was blindingly bright, arrogantly bright, bright enough that it felt like it had fiercely slapped despair in the face in this pitch-black Hell.

At the same time.

The moment this main light pillar rose.

It was like some kind of signal, or like sleeping soldiers hearing the call to assemble.

Bing Liu, bing ba, Bing Jiu... and even the more distant Camp Area Yi.

Hidden under the ruins, in the frozen soil, and even in corners covered by insect corpses.

One by one, the surviving "Spirit-Responding Spider Web" nodes were forcibly awakened by this strong pulse from the main Formation Plate.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Piercing sounds of breaking air rose one after another.

One, two, ten... scattered, some bright and some dim, some even crooked.

But at this moment, dozens of identical, ghostly blue light pillars struggled to light up from these deathly silent ruins.

They were like sparks on a wasteland; though weak, they echoed each other, forcibly illuminating a patch of bleak light in this Iron Wall Pass swallowed by darkness.

This was not a warning.

This was a beacon.

It was to tell everyone still alive—there are still people here who haven't died out!

"Now it's going to be lively."

Lin Yu looked at the light pillars rising across the sky, his tone carrying a complex meaning. "Disciple, you've put yourself on the spot. Once this light shines, every bug within ten miles will treat you as a target."

Su Ming did not speak.

He slowly stood up straight, his blood-stained green robe fluttering in the night wind.

That originally handsome face was now half-illuminated by the ghostly blue light pillar and half-hidden in the dark shadows, exuding a heart-palpitating coldness.

With one hand, he pressed down on the core of the Formation Plate, which had completely shattered into a mass of light and shadow.

With the other hand, he extremely slowly, yet extremely firmly, gripped the long sword at his waist.

Clang.

The long sword was unsheathed, its cold light sharp and biting.

Su Ming looked up, his gaze sweeping over the dark gold silhouettes in the surrounding darkness that were beginning to stir and converge toward him.

The anxiety from before was gone from his eyes, replaced by a composure that came from having no way to retreat and thus simply blowing up the path.

"Master, you're right; there's no escaping."

The corners of Su Ming's mouth curled up slightly into a blood-scented arc.

"Next, we wait for people."

He paused, the tip of his sword pointing diagonally at the ground as a drop of blood slid down the fuller.

"Or... wait for death."