Chapter 496: Chapter 283: Cultivation World 73_3
After a moment’s hesitation, they continued their work of collecting the sparse space debris from the cracks in the reefs.
Si Lingle held her breath, her mind highly concentrated, perfectly controlling every thread of her aura. Beads of sweat almost penetrated her forehead, only to be evaporated silently by the space power within her body.
She walked extremely slowly, her every pause precisely avoiding the invisible reconnaissance lines.
Finally, she smoothly passed through the densest danger zone without truly catching the attention of any Space-devouring Lice and triggering an alarm, reaching the foot of the largest Black Stone Mountain.
A deep, cold, and slightly spatially fluctuating rift entrance appeared before her.
Just as she was about to enter to explore the core secret, her keen space perception suddenly captured a surge of unusual spatial fluctuation from the distant left front!
It seemed... triggered by intense battle, accompanied by a hint of a sharp aura that felt somewhat familiar? Could it be... a kind of Sword Qi?
Si Lingle slightly frowned, her gaze sweeping from the mountain entrance to the distant depths of the sea sand where the fluctuation originated.
The core pulse of the "Heart of Space" fragment was calling, while that suddenly erupting battle fluctuation, likely triggered by a Sword Cultivator, exuded chaos and danger.
Si Lingle stood at the mountain entrance, cold indigo light outlining her cool silhouette.
Before her was the destination guided by the "Heart of Space", while in her ears captured the storm-like resonance of distant battle.
In the depths of her silver-gray eyes, a galaxy slowly flowed, a subtle sharpness quietly emerging. After a brief deliberation, she chose to follow the more distinct, more intense call of the fragment.
Her figure, like a stone thrown into a deep pool, silently submerged into the dark mountain rift. Deeper darkness and that peculiar core secret slowly unfolded before her.
The moment she stepped into the rift, the heavy, cold spatial pressure suddenly increased, as if thick seawater were pressing down around her.
The walls of the cave were densely covered with holes left by the Space-devouring Lice’s gnawing, dark inside, with only a faint silver-white halo rhythmically pulsating at the extremely distant core, precisely the final guide of the "Heart of Space" fragment, its summoning feeling increasingly clear and intense.
Si Lingle calmed her mind, the layer of almost non-existent camouflage field on her body becoming more restrained, her movements even more light and silent, like a fish swimming through inky glue.
The depths of the cavern were not a straight path, but instead wended and twisted like the rotting intestines of a giant creature, with an exceptionally fragile spatial structure and occasional minute spatial rifts flashing across the cave walls or void, exuding a dangerous aura.
Suddenly, a relatively spacious cave-like space appeared in front, the walls embedded with faint dark blue minerals that absorbed light.
It was here too that the summoning silver light reached a hand’s breadth away — it floated in the midst of a naturally formed cluster of crystal stone stalagmites in the center of the cave, emitting a pure spatial origin aura that swayed the mind.
However, just as Si Lingle stepped into the cave, her gaze locked onto that silver-white light —
"Swish—!"
A sinister, extremely cunning Sword Qi, silent and without any mana fluctuations, yet quicker than expected, like a lurking viper in the shadows, precisely shot to stab her in the crucial heart from behind!
The timing of this sneak attack was grasped to perfection, precisely at the moment when Si Lingle’s mind slightly relaxed and her perception was attracted to the "Heart of Space" fragment core.
The attacker was evidently experienced, masterfully hidden, having been lurking near a distorted shadow area at the cave entrance, utilizing the special environment here to conceal their presence, patiently waiting for the prey to take the bait.
Unfortunately, he miscalculated one aspect.
Si Lingle didn’t even turn her head, within her silver-gray pupils flashed scenes interwoven with innumerable law lines in an instant.
Just as the Immortal Sword, painstakingly adorned with the signature flowing cloud pattern of Fuyao Sacred Land, was about to touch Si Lingle’s garment —
Buzz!
An almost imperceptible spatial ripple centered around Si Lingle, instantaneously oscillating no more than an inch’s distance.
This ripple was not defensive, but precisely opened a micro portal leading to the "Void Ruins", right in front of the sword tip!
Time seemed to freeze.
The assailant — a grim-faced young Cultivator (late-stage Heavenly Immortal) clad in a white robe with floating cloud patterns of Fuyao Sacred Land — his face twisted in fierce, greedy murder intent, suddenly froze.
He felt an irresistible, incomprehensible gigantic suction force instantly lock onto his sword, devouring his everything through the sword frenziedly!
The immense immortal power he channeled into the sword, the Primordial Spirit Mark attached to the sword, even his hand gripping the sword hilt and half of his body, all like dust thrown into a black hole!
"No—!" He only managed to let out a short, confused, filled with boundless fear and incredulity scream.
The next instant!
That Immortal Sword, along with the arm holding it, and the larger half of his torso above the chest, seemingly evaporated into thin air!
No blood splashed, no bone-breaking sound, only the purest, most efficient "annihilation" by the space power.
The upper body of the young Cultivator, along with the Immortal Sword, just disappeared without a trace, less than a foot behind Si Lingle.
Leaving a lower body sliced to utter smoothness, crashing to the ground, the cut edge flickering with faint spatial cracks, as though half a human body had been erased by an invisible eraser.
The air retained only a nearly dissipated lingering of spatial ripples, and a faint almost undetectable scent of spatial burning.
The entire process happened insanely fast, astonishingly even the fragile spatial structure of the cave remained undisturbed.
The greedy, fierce gaze of the young Cultivator hadn’t even faded from his face, freezing in utter horror, permanently fixed.
Si Lingle still faced away from the remains of the assailant, not even a flutter of her clothing.
Her silver-gray eyes were calm and unperturbed, as if she had just brushed away a speck of dust, not a ripple aroused.
She gently raised her hand, and the silver-white fragment suspended among the stalagmites obediently cut through the thin air, landing in her palm.
The fragment was about the size of a thumbnail, neither metal nor jade nor stone, incredibly cold, with stars rotating inside, exuding an ancient, vast aura sharing the same source law as the core of the "Heart of Void Relic" within Si Lingle.
"Hmm?" Si Lingle’s gaze slightly shifted, falling on a glowing Jade Scroll next to the remains.
It was the Storage Magical Artifact hung at the young Cultivator’s waist, affected by the power of spatial annihilation, now flickering with unstable light, seemingly on the verge of collapse.
A point of silver light shot from her fingertips, instantly stabilizing the fragile space around the Jade Scroll, drawing it into her hand.
Her Divine Thought penetrated within.
Inside the Jade Scroll, apart from some basic recovery elixirs and a few Immortal Crystals, there was only an ancient, extraordinary Jade Token fragment, about half the size of a Jade Pendant, engraved with the iconic flowing cloud rune of Fuyao Sacred Land and some incomplete, intricate patterns.
An extremely faint spatial dao rhyme emanated from this fragment.
"Seems like a core fragment of some kind of spatial token?" Si Lingle pondered for a moment, sensing no obvious tracking or trap mark on it.
Though Fuyao Sacred Land had no major grudges with her, this disciple’s attempted ambush for treasure was deservedly fatal.
This fragment might have some use.
She stowed it along with the "Heart of Space" fragment, turning to head deeper into the cave.
The indigo light cast on her cool face, the momentary killing intent just moments ago vanished without a trace, leaving only the calm of exploring the unknown.
