199: Seriously injured and in seclusion, undercurrents

At the top floor of the star tower, the core of the Chaos Gathering Origin Great Array.

Xiao Chen lay flat on a healing jade platform constructed from ten-thousand-year Warm Soul Jade and Star Essence, his eyes tightly shut, his face still as pale as paper, his breath as weak as a flickering candle in the wind. His body was enveloped by an ineffably dense life essence and Power of Starlight, wrapping him layer by layer like a cocoon. Xuan Kongzi, Flame Heart, and others guarded him day and night without rest, carefully dripping the Pill Tower's most precious top-grade healing sacred medicine, transformed into pure medicinal liquid, onto his parched lips.

However, the effect was… minimal.

Xiao Chen's injuries were far from ordinary physical trauma or depleted Dou Qi. Forcibly burning his innate bloodline and origin qi seed had overdrawn his most fundamental life potential and the very foundation of his soul! His meridians were fractured inch by inch, his Qi Sea was nearly dry, the Chaos Sacred Realm was dim and lifeless, its boundary walls covered in spiderweb-like cracks, as if it could collapse at any moment! Most seriously, the shocking cracks on his soul's origin were like shattered porcelain, difficult to heal! Ordinary elixirs simply could not address damage of this magnitude!

"It's already been seven days… Brother Chen's aura… still hasn't significantly improved…" Flame Heart tightly gripped Xiao Chen's cold hand, her beautiful eyes filled with bloodshot despair and tears. She could feel that Xiao Chen's flame of life was very slowly… fading away.

"Alas…" Xuan Kongzi sighed deeply, his aged face etched with exhaustion and helplessness. "Chen'er's injuries this time are unprecedentedly severe! I'm afraid… only the legendary Ninth-Grade Golden Elixir or Emperor-grade Origin Qi can… restore his foundation…"

"Ninth-Grade Golden Elixir? Emperor-grade Origin Qi?" Venerable Feng smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Such divine objects have been lost for tens of thousands of years; where can we find them on the continent now?"

Inside the tower, a pall of gloom hung heavy. Xiao Chen's critical injuries were like a basin of ice water, extinguishing the flame of hope that had just been ignited in the Anti-Alliance by his return! Without this pillar, facing the Soul Hall's imminent resurgence and the mysterious Heavenly Secret Pavilion, how long could the Anti-Alliance… endure?

And in this oppressive atmosphere, the external situation was rapidly deteriorating!

After the battle in the Soul Burial Mountain Range, although the Soul Hall suffered heavy losses and Hun Tiandi's Projection dissipated, its remaining forces scattered across the continent, under the Heavenly Secret Pavilion's covert integration and support, not only did not collapse but instead launched an even more frenzied counterattack!

In the eastern part of the Central Region, the combined forces of the Flower Sect and Sound Valley suffered heavy casualties under the siege of a Soul Hall army led by three Fifth Turn Dou Saints, and their sect-protecting array was on the verge of collapse! Sect Master Flower Without Shadow fought valiantly, covered in blood, and was severely wounded! Wonderful Sound Emissary desperately held on with her art of music, but it was difficult to reverse the tide of defeat!

On the northwestern border, at the junction of the Beast Region and the Human Race, some factions of the Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan and the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Clan, incited by the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, suddenly defected and, together with the remnants of the Soul Hall, launched a fierce attack on the Ancient Void Dragon clan loyal to the alliance! The Dragon Emperor's main body was far away on Ancient Dragon Island, suppressing a spatial rift, and Ao Zhan, leading the Dragon Guards, was outnumbered and steadily retreated! Countless Dragon clan members were brutally slaughtered!

Even more terrifying, extremely bizarre phenomena began to appear across the continent! The living beings in many remote cities mysteriously withered overnight, turning into mummified corpses! Their essence blood and souls seemed to have been… drawn away by some invisible force! In the sky, blood-colored meteors often streaked across, and wherever they fell, all things withered! A terrifying rumor called the "buried emperor curse" began to quietly spread across the continent, causing widespread panic!

All signs indicated that Pavilion Master Tianji… had not fallen silent because the burial emperor blood curtain was broken! He was accelerating the progress of some terrifying plan in a more covert and vicious way! The so-called "burial emperor coffin"… was likely… still being refined! And the essence blood and soul power of the continent's living beings were… its nourishment!

"Report—! Urgent military intelligence!" A Pill Tower scout, covered in blood, staggered into the star tower, his voice hoarse as he shouted, "The Soul Hall, allied with the Heavenly Nether Sect and Ice River Valley, has assembled an army of a million, led by two Sixth Revolution Dou Saint elders, and has already broken through our Anti-Alliance's three outer defensive lines, with their vanguard pointing directly at… the Pill Tower Holy Domain! It is estimated… within three days… they will be at the city gates!"

"What?!" Xuan Kongzi suddenly stood up, his face instantly turning incredibly grim! Yan Huang, whose injuries had not yet healed, also clenched his fists tightly!

When it rains, it pours! Xiao Chen was severely wounded, and a powerful enemy was already at their doorstep! The Pill Tower Holy Domain was now the Anti-Alliance's last stronghold! Once it fell, the consequences… would be unimaginable!

"Teacher… what… should we do?" Flame Heart raised her tearful eyes, looking helplessly at Xuan Kongzi.

Xuan Kongzi took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the stormy waves in his heart, and a determined flame reignited in his ancient eyes!

"Pass down the order! The Pill Tower Holy Domain… is entering… maximum combat readiness! Activate… the ultimate form of the Heavenly Stellar Array! All who can fight, follow this old man… to prepare… to meet the enemy!"

"But… Teacher! Your injuries…" Venerable Feng said worriedly.

"There's no time to worry about that!" Xuan Kongzi said decisively, "Chen'er… needs time! The Anti-Alliance… needs time! Even if I have to sacrifice this old body, we must… hold on! Until… Chen'er… wakes up!"

He turned and took a deep look at Xiao Chen, who was still unconscious on the jade platform, his eyes filled with anticipation and resolve.

"Chen'er… hurry… and get better… The Anti-Alliance… needs you… The continent… needs you…"

Heavy footsteps sounded, and Xuan Kongzi resolutely turned and walked out of the tower. Inside the star tower, only Flame Heart's soft sobs remained, along with Xiao Chen's faint, almost inaudible… breathing.

Outside, dark clouds pressed down on the city, and killing intent had swept across heaven and earth! But inside the tower, the spark of hope… flickered precariously in the storm… Just at this critical moment—

No one noticed that the dim clan mark on Xiao Chen's forehead suddenly… very faintly… flickered. A trace of faint, ethereal chaotic aura, as if traversing endless time and space, quietly… connected to… an ancient imprint… hidden deep within his soul…