The mountain trembled as if the stone itself feared what was coming.
From every direction—north, south, east, west—cultivators descended upon the hidden cavern entrance. Not scouts this time. Not probing forces.
An army.
The Shadow Pavilion had mobilized in full fury.
Over a hundred black-robed figures moved in disciplined silence. At their forefront floated three Core Formation elders, each radiating killing intent thick enough to choke the air. Behind them marched Nascent Soul whispers—two shadowy silhouettes at the rear, faces hidden, auras suppressed but unmistakably terrifying.
One of the Core Formation elders—a gaunt man with eyes like burning coals—raised his voice.
"Void Child! Spatial Bride! Star Remnant! Surrender the keys or be erased from existence. The Pavilion Lord has spoken: your physiques belong to the collection."
Xiao Lin stepped out of the crack first.
Yue Ning on his left.
Xingyue on his right.
Three children—no longer children in power or presence—stood shoulder to shoulder beneath the blood-tinged dawn sky.
Xiao Lin's black-violet eyes swept the army.
He spoke one word.
"No."
The gaunt elder sneered.
"Then perish."
He waved his sleeve.
A black river of shadow qi surged forward—chains, blades, poison mists, soul-attacking needles—all converging on the three figures at once.
Xiao Lin raised his right hand.
Yue Ning raised her left.
Xingyue raised both palms skyward.
Three powers united.
Space folded.
Stars ignited.
Void devoured.
The black river met an invisible wall.
It didn't splash.
It folded inward—every chain, blade, mist, needle collapsing into pinpricks of nothingness that streamed backward toward the attackers.
Screams rose as the first row of black-robed figures imploded.
Fifty men vanished in the time it takes to blink.
The three Core Formation elders staggered.
The gaunt one roared and formed hand seals—summoning a massive shadow demon thirty meters tall, claws dripping abyssal venom.
The second elder conjured a blood moon illusion that pressed down like a falling sky.
The third unleashed a storm of soul-devouring black flames.
Xiao Lin took one step forward.
Space tore open beneath his feet—a vertical rift ten meters wide.
He didn't enter it.
The rift moved.
It swept horizontally across the battlefield like a scythe of pure absence.
The shadow demon's arm vanished first—then its torso, then its head.
The blood moon illusion cracked and folded inward, sucked into the rift.
Black flames reversed course and poured into the rift like water down a drain.
The three elders tried to retreat.
Too late.
The rift reached them.
They folded.
Core Formation essence—rich, dense, ancient—poured into the shared void of the triad.
Xiao Lin's cultivation surged—peak Foundation Establishment shattered, early Core Formation achieved.
Yue Ning and Xingyue rose in tandem—peak Foundation Establishment, then early Core Formation.
The remaining black-robed cultivators broke formation.
Panic spread.
They fled.
Some tried shadow-step techniques.
Some tore open escape talismans.
None worked.
Xingyue lifted her right hand.
Starlight gathered—hundreds of tiny falling stars, each one a condensed point of annihilation.
She flicked her fingers.
The stars streaked outward.
Each star found a target.
Each target vanished in a flash of indigo light—body, soul, storage ring, everything consumed.
Yue Ning swept her arm in a gentle arc.
Space folded around clusters of fleeing cultivators.
They reappeared directly in front of the rift.
One by one, they were devoured.
In less than thirty breaths, the mountain slope was empty.
Only wind remained, carrying faint echoes of dying screams.
Two distant Nascent Soul auras—watching from afar—hesitated.
Then retreated.
They had seen enough.
Xiao Lin lowered his hand.
The massive rift sealed with a soft snap.
He turned to his two wives.
Yue Ning's silver hair fluttered in the wind; violet eyes bright with exhilaration.
Xingyue's star-streaked hair glowed faintly; galaxy pupils calm but fierce.
Both bore new void rune tattoos on their wrists—now three threads connected in a perfect triangle pattern.
Xiao Lin reached out.
He took Yue Ning's hand in his left.
Xingyue's in his right.
The three stood linked beneath the rising sun.
Power thrummed between them—shared, amplified, unbreakable.
The ancient voice spoke once more, deeper now, resonant.
«Second Layer—Star Devouring—awakened. The Sovereign may now devour stellar essences, star laws, celestial bodies in miniature. The path to the Third Key begins.»
Xiao Lin looked toward the higher peaks—where even thicker mists hid older, more forbidden ruins.
"Then we climb," he said.
Yue Ning squeezed his hand.
Xingyue nodded.
"Together."
The triad turned as one.
They stepped forward.
Space folded beneath their feet.
Stars shimmered in their wake.
Far below, in hidden black pavilions across the continent, alarms rang.
Jade slips shattered.
Transmission talismans burned.
One message repeated across every shadow channel:
"The Void Sovereign has claimed the Second Wife.
The Star Remnant has awakened.
The triad is complete.
Prepare for war."
The Ruthless Void Sovereign no longer walked alone.
And the heavens themselves began to feel the first tremor of dread.
**End of Chapter 10**