More and more people, losing control of their bodies within the hurricane, were left spinning aimlessly in its vortex, constantly at risk of being struck by debris.
That day, after the physical bodies of Wu Wang and Han Tian were destroyed, their souls inevitably fled their forms.
A strange thing happened!
The souls of these two were likewise unable to escape the vortex; they were spun along with it, heading toward the hurricane’s center.
Souls should be unbound by the constraints of the material world. According to Ji Changkong’s expectation, the moment the souls of Wu Wang and Han Tian emerged, they certainly would have fled as far away as possible.
He had not anticipated that the power of this squall wind would be so malevolent, trapping even the souls of the two Nine Palaces Heavenly Scholars after their physical forms were annihilated, leaving them bound and influenced by the hurricane's force.
This vastly exceeded Ji Changkong’s expectations.
Suddenly, Ji Changkong’s entire body tensed. A massive boulder, propelled by the hurricane’s might, was hurtling directly toward Li Hen Tian.
Li Hen Tian, already pulled into the hurricane, was completely disoriented and had lost all control over his body.
That rock was not much smaller than the one that struck Wu Wang, and the force it carried was equally astonishing. Wu Wang had met a fate of pulverized bones and scattered ashes under the impact of those rocks; Li Hen Tian, whose strength was somewhat inferior to Wu Wang’s, would surely face only a dead end if struck by them!
Ji Changkong’s expression changed drastically. He tried desperately to find a solution to stop that boulder from colliding with Li Hen Tian.
Logically, the power of the squall wind originated from the acupoints within his body—more precisely, from the power of the Ancestral Demon's Tendril within him.
Since the power came from his own body, he should possess the ability to control it. However, since the hurricane first appeared, Ji Changkong realized that everything about it had slipped beyond his control. He had given the hurricane no command, yet it had sucked everyone in.
Not only that, but even the colossal Kunlun Mountain had been uprooted by the gale.
This was clearly not his original intention.
He found himself unable to alter the trajectory of that massive rock! Ji Changkong quickly recognized the disheartening truth: he could neither stop the hurricane nor use its power to shift Li Hen Tian’s position.
Li Hen Tian had only recently ascended to the Nine Palaces Heaven realm, and in the preceding engagement, he had expended too much strength. It was certain that if that enormous boulder struck him, Li Hen Tian truly would have nowhere to go but death.
Just then, more rocks began to shatter. Many fragments scattered wildly, rushing toward Gu Tan.
Ji Changkong’s sense of urgency intensified!
What to do? How could he stop the hurricane? How could he prevent the tragedy from unfolding?
A cascade of questions flooded his mind. Ji Changkong broke out in a cold sweat, fear gripping him utterly. He could not bear to watch the two people closest to him simply vanish.
Thump! Thump!
Faint starlight emerged from the vortex. Beams of stellar light shot out from Dick, striking with perfect precision, directly pulverizing the massive boulders hurtling toward Li Hen Tian and Gu Tan.
The huge rocks were smashed into smaller fragments. Those smaller pieces pelted Gu Tan and Li Hen Tian, inflicting injuries, but the wounds were no longer fatal.
The giant boulders were reduced to small ones, their imparted force instantly diminished by more than tenfold. Although this lessened force still harmed Li Hen Tian and Gu Tan, it would not completely obliterate their physical bodies in a short span.
The taut string of Ji Changkong’s nerves finally eased slightly with Dick’s intervention.
“Ji Changkong, think of a solution quickly, or the power generated by this hurricane will still grind everyone inside to dust!” Dick shouted from within the vortex.
Crouching on Dick’s shoulder was the Origin Toxin, whose face was etched with anxiety. Unfortunately, the Origin Toxin’s power specialized in finesse, not brute force, rendering him useless within the hurricane.
Among the many powerhouses swept into the vortex, only Dick could maintain his stance. Moreover, he could unleash the power residing within him to shatter the deadly rocks aimed at Gu Tan and Li Hen Tian.
This was entirely because the profound mysteries Dick cultivated differed from those of the Heavenly Scholars. The Dark Star race focused solely on physical cultivation, absorbing the essence of the stars into their bodies to form the peculiar scales that covered them.
These scales contained immense stellar power, granting Dick an impenetrable defense. Furthermore, due to the stellar essence, his actual weight far surpassed that of an average Heavenly Scholar.
It was precisely because of this that Dick could stabilize himself in the hurricane. Even when occasionally struck by the scattered debris, the scales on Dick’s body could nullify most of the impact force, leaving him unaffected by the bombardment.
It was also because of Dick’s advantage inside that the Origin Toxin unhesitatingly settled on his shoulder, borrowing Dick’s strength to become the second living entity unconcerned about being pulverized by the rocks.
Dick’s shouted warning tightened the strings on Ji Changkong’s nerves once more!
After hundreds of impacts, Li Hen Tian and Gu Tan would still be smashed beyond recognition!
Though Dick was formidable, he was still affected by the hurricane. His power was not infinite. Each time he used the scales within his body to offset the impact force of a rock, it consumed a significant amount of his energy—a massive and rapid drain.
Clearly, the power within Dick was absolutely no match for the power of the hurricane itself!
Ji Changkong had to devise a way to rescue Li Hen Tian and Gu Tan before Dick’s power was depleted. Otherwise, once Dick’s strength ran out, or if Li Hen Tian and Gu Tan were pulled too far by the hurricane’s current, they would soon be destroyed by the giant stones.
Understanding this, Ji Changkong dared not relax. He focused his attention entirely on the immense hurricane, soaring upward with it.
Above the hurricane, looking down, he saw that the vast Kunlun had become a bottomless circular pit; Mount Kunlun had vanished completely.
After uprooting Kunlun Mountain, the hurricane had split it apart and carried the remains onward, moving aimlessly.
Gradually, the Imperial City of the Wu Tian Kingdom appeared beneath the storm. Some of the rocks flying wildly within the hurricane, upon reaching the center, suddenly shot outward.
These stones, ejected from the hurricane, sped forward with tremendous inertia, plummeting directly toward the Imperial City below.
For a time, the Heavenly Scholars of the Wu Tian Imperial City were struck with terror, watching the stones descend from the sky, believing them to be meteorites crashing from outer space.
The Imperial City housed hundreds of thousands of common people. If those stones struck, the entire populace of the Wu Tian Kingdom would suffer the most brutal catastrophe in history!
To avert this disaster, the Heavenly Scholars of the Wu Tian Kingdom rushed upward, expending every ounce of their power to strike the falling rocks.
They hoped to use their strength to halt the stones from crashing into the Imperial City and obliterating it entirely.
Thump! Thump! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of roars echoed from beneath the hurricane. In the sky above the Wu Tian Imperial City, dozens of Wu Tian Heavenly Scholars hovered, immediately launching attacks on the falling stones. They sought not to shatter the rocks, but merely to deflect their trajectory slightly away from the city center.
However, even though the flying debris was only the size of millstones, the impact force contained within them was still beyond the capability of ordinary Heavenly Scholars to withstand.
Any Wu Tian Heavenly Scholar who dared to intercept the rocks found that their own power, upon striking the stone, was met with an even greater retaliatory force rebounding from the rock itself.
This rebound force was more than they could handle. One by one, the Wu Tian Heavenly Scholars were blasted away by the counter-force of the rocks.
The only consolation was that the efforts of these sacrificing Heavenly Scholars were not in vain…
Any rock struck by their power would alter its direction slightly, veering toward the wilderness outside the Wu Tian Imperial City.
Through the efforts of the Wu Tian masters, every stone that sprayed outward from beneath the hurricane was deflected from its original path, falling instead onto the uninhabited plains, thus sparing the lives of the common people within the Imperial City.
No! This cannot continue! I must find a way!
Ji Changkong, high above the hurricane, watched the devastation wreaked upon the land, burning with anxiety. His eyes darted everywhere, searching for a comprehensive solution.
Suddenly, the pattern of the stars appeared in Ji Changkong’s pupils.
The Star Chart that had previously torn apart the Lord of the Demon Cave’s Nine Netherworld Realm was right in the center of the hurricane! Moreover, the Star Chart glittered, its stellar light flickering, constantly releasing wisps of strange power.
These peculiar energies flowed into the hurricane, achieving a miraculous harmony with the vast demonic Qi raging within the storm…
Startled, Ji Changkong suddenly had a thought: Could it be that the Star Chart was controlling this hurricane?
The moment this thought surfaced, Ji Changkong froze. The aura emanating from the Star Chart was precisely the same as that of his current nebula-like soul!
He had been trying to control the hurricane, hoping to halt it with his own strength, never realizing that the true originator might be the Star Chart itself!
This third divine weapon, newly emerged from the Primordial Orb, had briefly merged with his soul, yet Ji Changkong knew nothing of its purpose or power. He hadn’t understood how the Star Chart had destroyed the Nine Netherworld Realm moments ago.
Now, he equally did not know the method by which the Star Chart was manipulating the hurricane.
The only certainty was this: if he could gain control of the Star Chart, he could control the hurricane—and every change within it!
A flash of lightning crossed his mind, and Ji Changkong finally found the solution!
Without hesitation, while positioned above the hurricane, he reached out.
The energy within the Star Chart linked to the hurricane like a tether. The Star Chart continuously shifted, forming various miraculous stellar points. Each stellar point within the chart seemed to be a miniature, condensed world, and these miniature worlds appeared to connect with the hurricane, dictating all of its offensive capabilities.
Enter!
The thought surged through Ji Changkong’s mind. He employed the same method he used to control the World-Shattering Gauntlet and the Soul-Guiding Crown, hoping to integrate the Star Chart into his consciousness.
Strangely, the Star Chart did not enter his mind, nor did it merge with his nebula-like soul.
Instead, a sudden burst of intense light shot out from the Star Chart, directly pulling Ji Changkong into it.
In an instant, while Ji Changkong’s physical body remained where it was, his soul shrank millions of times over and plunged into the world within the Star Chart.
Like a drop of water merging into the ocean, Ji Changkong’s soul, once within the Star Chart, immediately found itself unified with it.
Ji Changkong’s soul, now miniaturized millions of times, began to expand within the Star Chart, his consciousness encompassing everything it contained.
Suddenly, Ji Changkong detected a very faint spiritual essence within the Star Chart. This essence clearly did not belong to him. Its consciousness was incredibly weak, hovering on the brink of exhaustion.
Yet, it was this extremely faint soul consciousness, due to its position within the Star Chart, that was controlling it—controlling the Star Chart, controlling the hurricane, and controlling everything.
The moment Ji Changkong’s soul entered the Star Chart, that weak soul consciousness lunged toward him, attempting to seize all of Ji Changkong’s spiritual power, intending to consume his soul and gain mastery over the Star Chart, and subsequently, Ji Changkong’s body!
Soul Seizure!
In a flash, Ji Changkong understood the intent of this soul within the Star Chart!
If this strand of divine soul managed to occupy his core consciousness, it would gain everything within his soul—his memories, his spiritual power, his very life imprint.
If that happened, the entity would completely replace him, possessing not only the Star Chart but everything that belonged to Ji Changkong!
Clearly, this soul consciousness within the Star Chart was far more difficult to deal with than the consciousness of the Lord of the Demon Cave. Under this entity’s influence, Ji Changkong exhausted every trick he knew but could not repel the intrusion of this soul consciousness.
Even when Ji Changkong transformed his soul into the form of the Three Heavenly Fires within the Star Chart, he could not halt the invasion of this soul consciousness.
The power, known as the Gold-Generating Fire, derived from the Heart of the Sun, was something the Lord of the Demon Cave deeply feared and dared not approach. Yet, in the eyes of this entity, even the Three Heavenly Fires, imbued with life, could not impede his grand scheme of usurpation.
Ji Changkong’s soul recoiled in shock. He suddenly realized that the soul within the Star Chart was likely even more powerful than the Lord of the Demon Cave—perhaps even a true Ten Directions Heavenly Scholar!
“You are very clever. Indeed, I am the original master of the Primordial Orb, and also the original master of this Vast Star Sea Chart. This strand of my primary soul has resided within the Vast Star Sea Chart for many years. I thought this fragment of my soul would never see the light of day, even in total annihilation. To think you would deliver me such a surprise.”
The soul consciousness transmitted this thought and instantly plunged into Ji Changkong’s three flame-shaped forms.
With matters having reached this critical point, Ji Changkong had no need to inquire further. The entity’s intent was crystal clear: to occupy his soul, claim everything he possessed, and gain a new life!
At this moment, Ji Changkong knew that if he failed to destroy this wisp of divine soul, he would lose everything!
Watching helplessly as the thread of soul consciousness entered his own, Ji Changkong rapidly sifted through his options. Every conceivable method flashed through his mind, and finally, Ji Changkong found what he considered the most likely way to annihilate this soul consciousness!
The Soul-Calming Melody of the Purgatory Ghost Tribe!
The three Heavenly Fire forms of his soul abruptly reverted to their Origin State. The melody of the Purgatory Ghost Tribe’s Soul-Calming Melody sounded strangely in his mind.
Six Soul Pillars, condensed from soul power, immediately enveloped his soul in its Origin State. Strange, eerie symbols surged forth from these six pillars, weaving a miraculous net of energy that spread outward.
“Soul-Calming Melody? No!!!”
The soul consciousness emitted a final roar of unwillingness. Under the power of the Soul-Calming Melody, this strand of soul consciousness instantly exploded. Bits of pure soul memory light scattered, raining down upon the Origin State of Ji Changkong’s soul, becoming a segment of disordered memory within him.
This Ten Directions Heavenly Scholar’s soul consciousness had burst apart, his final soul imprint irrevocably lost, but the resulting pure memory light all struck upon Ji Changkong’s soul!
These pure streams of memory light were fragments of this Ten Directions Heavenly Scholar’s life experiences!
Though disordered and chaotic, they contained profound, inscrutable wisdom and an exquisite comprehension of the powers of heaven and earth!