Chapter Thirty-Nine: Devouring the Void
“Roar—!!!”
The core of the Alchemic Immortal Furnace bellowed, its cry quivering with a blend of shock and fury. Sigils flickered wildly across the surface of the dark golden sphere! From the hairline crack, the ultimate essence of oblivion seeped forth like the purest poison, instantly igniting the frenzied greed of the “Inverse Seed” within Lin Mo’s body!
The pull of the Inverse Seed, no longer a mere trickle, surged into a torrent of desire, wild as moths drawn to flame, thrusting recklessly toward the thick, deathly flood descending from above. Its aim was clear—the very heart of the crack, where the source of oblivion lay!
Buzz!
In the instant the suction intensified, the descending jet-black torrent suddenly stalled, as if the raging river of the underworld had crashed into a miniature black hole that devoured all things! The front of the torrent, thick as pitch, visibly twisted and collapsed, transforming into streams of pure, soul-freezing gray-black energy. These were violently torn away and drawn in reverse toward the dim mark on Lin Mo’s chest!
“Argh—!”
Lin Mo’s body became a brutal battlefield! The Inverse Seed’s ravenous devouring was raw, violent plundering, forcibly draining strength from the black flood. Yet this “Power of Termination” was too domineering, too cold! His meridians felt pierced by a billion icy needles, then instantly frozen and torn asunder! The gray-black ice crystals covering his skin spread and thickened madly, crackling with a sound that set his teeth on edge, while his bones groaned and threatened to shatter beneath the weight! More terrifying still was the assault on his mind—the Inverse Seed sent a chilling, suffocating sensation of satiety, accompanied by illusory visions of all things fading into nothingness. It sought to consume his consciousness, to transform him into a cold, empty vessel!
The intent of the Sword Spirit of No Return shrieked coldly within his mind: [Filth! Stop! Destroy the furnace!] The blade flared with ghostly light, its annihilating intent raging like a dying beast. Again, it wrested for control of Lin Mo’s arm, striving to stab at the crack in the dark golden sphere—to obliterate the source of contamination and fulfill its final mission!
Meanwhile, the fragment of the Void Heaven Scripture, on the brink of collapse from this relentless assault, was jolted by the “Power of Termination” that the Inverse Seed had forcibly drawn forth. In this desperate moment, it blazed with a final, dying brilliance! The remaining shadows of twisted ancient script no longer wailed, but instead emitted a sharp, furious resonance. A faint yet pure power of “decomposition” surged forth, instinctively cutting and transforming the invading gray-black energy, striving to break it down into more basic particles, lessening the destruction of Lin Mo’s flesh!
A three-way struggle—Lin Mo’s body had become the eye of the storm!
Below, fresh upheaval erupted!
Crack…crash!
The thin crack in the core of the dark golden sphere, which had been blasted open by the Sword Spirit’s backlash, was now being tugged wider by invisible forces—caught between the Inverse Seed’s frenzied devouring of the leaking source of oblivion and the Void Heaven Scripture fragment’s instinctive decomposition!
A clearer, vaster breath of ultimate nothingness surged forth, like an icebound river suddenly thawing, pouring out in a flood!
In the instant this breath escaped, the entire churning lake of filthy blood below seized up! Countless bubbling, venomous pockets of resentment burst in silence; the billowing black smoke of malice seemed frozen in place! The massive dark golden sphere emitted, for the first time, a sharp whine tinged with unmistakable fear! The inky sigils on its surface flashed madly, desperately trying to mend the crack and suppress the leak!
The Inverse Seed’s green radiance, provoked by this purer source of oblivion, went utterly berserk!
Riiiiip—!
At the dim mark on Lin Mo’s chest, the skin and flesh suddenly caved inward—not from corrosion, but as if space itself was being forcibly twisted! In that moment, a pinpoint of absolute darkness appeared, devouring all light—a singularity hanging in the void!
As soon as the singularity emerged, the head of the descending black torrent seemed to be seized by an invisible maw! An even greater volume of gray-black energy was sucked in, compressed, and forcefully funneled into the pinprick of darkness! Lin Mo’s body convulsed violently, the gray-black ice crystals that coated his skin instantly webbed with cracks, only to be forced closed again by the Inverse Seed’s ravenous pull! He felt like a balloon, ever inflating yet brutally constrained, on the verge of bursting at any moment!
The Sword of No Return now rang with a metallic wail of despair! Under the Inverse Seed’s reckless, nearly self-destructive devouring and the Void Heaven Scripture fragment’s chaotic decomposition, its spirit’s intent faltered for a split second. Its resolute strike toward the crack was abruptly halted!
It was in that infinitesimal pause—
“Roar!!!”
The core will of the Alchemic Immortal Furnace erupted in a desperate, all-or-nothing screech! It sensed true annihilation—not from the fierce sword, but from the runaway monster within that fragile “vessel,” the thing now devouring its very foundation!
The vast lake of filth and blood below boiled to the utmost! The entire surface heaved skyward! Billions of viscous tendrils and twisted faces no longer coalesced into monstrous forms, but instead transformed into colossal chains, dark red and oozing with tainted blood and malice. With a terror that could shackle the soul and pollute all laws, they ignored all distance, writhing up from the depths like tentacles from hell, stabbing relentlessly toward Lin Mo—toward his vital points and sea of consciousness, as he devoured madly!
It would forcibly interrupt this devouring, even at the cost of damaging its own core! More than that, it sought to pollute and seize control of this dangerous “vessel”!
Above, the torrent of black oblivion was being devoured by the Inverse Seed!
Below, the fetters of blood and malice surged to shackle him!
Within, three forces tore and twisted, his body on the brink of shattering!
In Lin Mo’s crimson pupils were reflected the skyfall of filthy blood chains and the suffocating gray-black aura descending from above. The icy satiety brought by the Inverse Seed’s greed vied with the agony of his body’s rending; the Sword Spirit’s furious shriek and the Void Heaven Scripture fragment’s faint resonance clashed in his mind…
Death had never been so vivid nor so manifold.
In this desperate abyss, a ferocity trampled and suppressed countless times—yet never extinguished—suddenly erupted from the deepest core of Lin Mo’s soul like fire from the earth.
“All of you… get the hell… out!!!”
This roar came not from the Sword Spirit, nor from the Void Heaven Scripture fragment, but was purely, utterly Lin Mo’s own—a soul-shaking howl of all his fury and defiance!
At the shockwave of this cry—
The singularity, twisted into being by the Inverse Seed and now devouring the black torrent, suddenly contracted inward!
And then—
Boom—!!!
An indescribable surge of power, mingling the icy death of “Termination,” the decomposing essence of “Void Heaven,” and the savage will Lin Mo summoned from desperation, erupted in a storm of gray-black energy. Centered on that pinpoint singularity, it exploded outward in all directions, like a supernova—without discrimination, without restraint—unleashing devastation on everything around!