Without warning, a tremendous crisis descended from the heavens, accompanied by a terrifying pressure so overwhelming it defied description — as though a mountain had slammed down upon his chest. Xin Xuanming's expression shifted, and he opened his mouth to cough up a mouthful of bright red blood.
The place where he stood was the nexus of the Eight Desolations Formation. Countless Disciples from the Yellow Springs Sect and the other sects of the Great Desolation Star Domain had gathered here, and security was extraordinarily tight. He had never imagined that anyone would launch a sneak attack on this location.
And indeed, that had been the case for years. Aside from some initial harassment by those rats during the early construction of the Eight Desolations Spirit-Locking Formation, no one had shown their face since.
He had been cultivating here in complete peace of mind, waiting for the day the grand formation was completed before emerging to slaughter his way to a sea of blood.
During closed-door cultivation, one's mind had to be supremely focused, unable to tolerate even the slightest disturbance. That colossal pressure descending from the sky had forcibly ripped him from that wondrous state. Had it been nothing more, he wouldn't have suffered any real injury. But the pressure was far too terrifying for even him to treat lightly — his body had buckled, and he was already hurt.
Horror filled his eyes. He frantically circulated his own Saint Qi and rose to his feet, pushing through the immense pressure in a single stride that carried him outside the great hall.
A glance around revealed a scene of wailing misery. Countless Disciples of the Great Desolation Star Domain had been flattened to the ground. Bright red splotches of blood stained the earth — clearly vomited by those Disciples — while some of the weaker ones had simply exploded into mists of blood on the spot.
In the span of a single heartbeat, over a hundred warriors had perished.
He raised his gaze skyward, and his pupils contracted sharply.
There, in the sky, a beam of light plummeted downward, and an enormous palm print descended to cover everything below, blanketing the entire Eight Desolations nexus with room to spare.
What kind of divine ability was this?! And who was targeting him?!
Even someone like Xin Xuanming, who had weathered countless storms, felt a chill crawl up his spine. This kind of overwhelming might was beyond the capability of any ordinary Void King Realm warrior. Across the entire Profound Sky Continent, there was only one person who could accomplish such a feat — the Star Lord who had been cowering in hiding for years!
But that Star Lord was a woman, and the palm print seared into his vision was unmistakably that of a man. How could that be explained?
In the flash of time available, there was no room for extended deliberation. Xin Xuanming knew that if he didn't resist, the Eight Desolations nexus would be in grave danger today. If this palm strike landed, leaving aside the number of casualties, the destruction of the nexus would render all the years of effort and perseverance utterly worthless.
As the Vice Sect Master of the Yellow Springs Sect, how could he simply sit and wait for death?
With a furious roar, his seemingly frail body swelled as though inflated, his robes billowing wildly. A formation disc suddenly appeared in his hand, and he formed seals with his fingers in rapid succession, pouring his Saint Qi frantically into it.
The Eight Desolations Spirit-Locking Formation was a monumental grand formation composed of eight subsidiary arrays, each capable of independent operation. The position where Xin Xuanming held court was the nexus — the formation eye — far more powerful than any of the other seven nodes.
The formation disc in his hand was the instrument used to control this nexus.
The moment he activated the Eight Desolations nexus, Yang Kai, hurtling down from the sky, let out a soft sound of surprise. Below him, that enormous "ink spot" suddenly began to twist and writhe. Then the thick black energy coalesced into the shape of a ghostly hand, its fingers forming into claws as it thrust upward toward the sky.
From his vantage point high above, the ghostly hand did not appear particularly large, but in reality it was colossal — fully spread, it could cover a hundred-li area, radiating formidable power. It was clearly not easy to deal with.
Of course, this was only in relation to an ordinary Void King Realm Stage Three warrior.
Though the formation had been laid out by Void King Realm practitioners and was powerful, it could not transcend a certain limit.
And Yang Kai was the existence who transcended that limit — who shattered the rules.
"What a nuisance," Yang Kai murmured softly, exerting just a fraction more power.
The palm print, already vast enough to blot out sky and earth, abruptly expanded by half, its momentum surging dramatically.
Xin Xuanming had been wearing a cold, sinister expression. With control of the Eight Desolations nexus, he had been confident that the enemy's sneak attack would fail, and he was preparing to pit the ghostly hand against the incoming strike. But when the palm print suddenly grew larger, horror seized him completely.
The attacker still had power to spare?!
How was that possible?! He nearly thought his eyes had deceived him, yet the pressure radiating from his own body confirmed it was no illusion.
Under his dumbfounded gaze, the pitch-black ghostly hand and the enormous palm print collided. The palm print stalled for merely an instant before continuing its thunderous descent. Though its color had visibly dimmed, the ghostly hand fared far worse — it cracked and shattered inch by inch like a log being splintered. Despite Xin Xuanming pouring every last shred of his strength into it, he could not halt the palm print's advance.
Between heaven and earth, the light suddenly dimmed, even illumination itself smothered.
The palm print slammed into the "ink spot." Violent pressure erupted outward, and the ground violently buckled, a titanic crater appearing in an instant.
The "ink spot" disintegrated. From a bird's-eye view, a clear five-fingered imprint was seared into the earth, encompassing the entire area the ink spot had covered.
Boom… boom… boom…
Dull impacts echoed one after another as bodies burst into powder. Every warrior within the ink spot below the Void King Realm perished without exception — either crushed by the pressure before the palm arrived, or flattened into paste beneath the strike.
Building after building was reduced to dust.
Only a handful of Void King Realm cultivators narrowly escaped with their lives, though all were severely injured. Many of them still hadn't processed what had just happened — they had merely felt a crisis descend, followed by searing pain throughout their bodies. Now they looked around blankly, mouths hanging open.
The Eight Desolations nexus had been broken!
Years of the Great Desolation Star Domain's efforts at this location had been wiped out in an instant. Disciples had fallen in staggering numbers — the losses were nothing short of catastrophic.