160: Chapter 160 The Hammer Listens to the Monument Cry; It's Fire That's Crying, Not People.

As the golden light faded, Chen Fan felt the ground vanish beneath him.

A deep purple Star Abyss Rift unfolded before his eyes, the rock walls crawling with dark silver strange runes that twisted and writhed like skinned live snakes.

His chest suddenly burned—a searing sensation from resonating with the star sigil. The qingqiu jade Su Shuang wore close to her body in his arms also grew hot, causing cold sweat to break out below his collarbone.

"Watch out!"

Before he could finish shouting, the blackish-green stone slabs beneath his feet cracked into a spiderweb pattern.

Seven streaks of black light shot out from the cracks in the ground, wrapping around his wrists, ankles, and even his waist like spirit snakes.

Chen Fan's pupils constricted. He instinctively tried to swing the hammer of the thunder god, but the chains were so tight that the handle was pinned against his back.

"The seventh Critical Striker."

A raspy voice surged from all directions like stones being dropped into a deep pool, making his eardrums ache from the vibration.

Chen Fan looked up and saw the outline of a stone elder emerging from the rock wall, his eyes two swirling stardust vortices: "You are brighter than the previous six, and more dangerous."

"Memory Sealing Array: Activate."

As the last word fell, Chen Fan's temples exploded with a loud "buzz."

In the blood-red firelight, a man covered in flames struggled within the array. He heard his own voice shouting: "Sacrifice to the array!

Quickly, record the patterns!" The next scene showed a woman in heavy black iron armor, her brains and blood splattering against the stone wall while she still clutched half a Star Map. Then came a youth with pupils glowing with the system's characteristic deep blue, piercing his companion's heart with a sword... Every scene carried a heavy, dull despair, like a boulder crushing his chest.

"Cough!" Chen Fan's knees buckled as he knelt on the ground. The chains bit into his wrists, drawing blood, but the pain in his head was worse, as if someone were chipping away at it with a hammer.

He gritted his teeth so hard they creaked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Su Shuang on his back—her eyelashes trembled slightly, and a bead of blood hung from the corner of her lip. That dark red droplet flowed down his collarbone and dripped onto the qingqiu jade.

The jade suddenly flared with brilliant light!

Cyan-white light patterns surged along Chen Fan's skin toward the star sigil on his chest, causing the strange runes on the rock walls to freeze instantly.

His ears rang as he suddenly heard countless voices shouting—sounds like the battle cries of a vast army, yet also like a mother humming a lullaby.

[Whispers of the Survivors: Activated]

[Critical Hit Rate temporarily increased to 40%]

[Fragmented Tactical Atlas: Volume I Loaded]

As the system notification exploded in his Sea of Consciousness, Chen Fan closed his eyes but "saw" the joint of the chains—the node where the third chain connected to the rock wall. Dark patterns flickered at a specific frequency, like fireflies in the night.

"Shuanger." He lowered his head and nuzzled the top of Su Shuang's head, his voice as raspy as sandpaper. "Thanks to your blessing, I won't miss this time."

The remaining embers of the blue flame flowed down his arm into the hammer of the thunder god. The hammer hummed and lit up with a deep blue glow, lightning patterns surging onto the back of his hand like living things.

Chen Fan stared at that joint, his muscles tensed like cast iron. The moment the Tactical Atlas unfolded in his Sea of Consciousness, he gave a powerful jolt—

"Crack!"

The sound of metal snapping exploded, and chain fragments flew everywhere.

Chen Fan stumbled toward the rock wall but steadied himself before hitting it.

He wiped the sweat from his face, the taste of blood on his tongue. Just as he was about to take a breath, the rift suddenly trembled.

A dusty stone stele rose from the ground. Countless distorted human faces appeared on its surface, letting out shrill wails: "Don't connect the seven points!

They'll follow the lines to find us!" At the base of the stele huddled a tiny shadow, its weak voice like a mosquito's hum: "The first critical hit... is pain... more painful than death..."

"I'm not afraid of pain." Chen Fan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and laughed hoarsely. "I'm just afraid of missing."

The stone elder stepped out of the rock wall, his palm brushing over the Echoing Stele, causing stone chips to fall.

His eyes were two stardust vortices, spinning so much they made Chen Fan dizzy: "You heard it, yet you do not understand—every act of resistance marks the coordinates for the Harvesters."

"So what?" Chen Fan pulled Su Shuang closer into his embrace and slammed the hammer of the thunder god heavily onto the ground, making the rift tremble. "You say I am the Calamity Fire?

Then today, I'll burn right through this fate."

The star sigil on his chest suddenly became blindingly bright. A series of fragmented Star Maps appeared in his consciousness, with an arrow pointing toward the Empty Stele behind Guixu that had always remained pitch black.

Guixu's stone fingers paused on the surface of the stele.

"You..."

"Boom!"

The inscriptions throughout the entire rift simultaneously lit up with a blinding golden light. Seven pillars of light, as thick as barrels, bore down from all directions, the sound of the wind carrying the shrill screech of metal friction.

Chen Fan gritted his teeth and propped up the hammer of the thunder god, its tip pressed against the ground, sweat dripping from his chin into Su Shuang's hair.

His Critical Hit Foresight suddenly activated, and a line of blood-red words appeared before his eyes—

[Light Pillar Arrival: 00:05]