The heavy, emerald-tinted mist of the Poison Dead-Zone still clung to the edges of Yu Chen's vision, even deep within the Void Abyss. In this space, the boundaries between the mountain's exterior and its spiritual core were starting to blur.
Ye Lingling sat at the center of the platform, her breath coming in jagged hitches. The breakthrough to Rank 40 was no longer a quiet transition; it was a violent upheaval. Because she had integrated the Seed of the Eternal Heart, her spirit was no longer content with a standard ring. It hungered for something that resonated with the Void.
"It's too much," Lingling gasped, her Nine-Heart Begonia pulsing with a dark, frantic light. "The energy... it's looking for a vessel, but there's nothing in this darkness to take it!"
Yu Chen stood over her, his Void-Heart Star spinning with a cold, silver intensity. He looked at Dugu Yan, whose newly evolved Jade-Void Dragon wings were still shimmering with the remnants of her transformation.
"She needs a sacrifice," Yu Chen stated, his voice carrying the authority of the Gatekeeper Command. "In the world above, we would hunt. Here, we must summon."
He raised his hand, pointing into the swirling chaos of the Abyss. He didn't use a spirit skill; he used the Silver Command to reach into the mountain's memory—the archives he had just mastered. "Memory Fragment 704: The First Forest!"
The darkness around them shattered. The platform remained, but the void was replaced by a spectral, crystalline landscape. These were silver trees that didn't grow from soil, but from condensed spirit power. This was a "Node" of the ancient Great Star Dou Forest, preserved from the era of the First Ancestor.
A high-pitched, vibrating screech echoed through the silver leaves. Descending from the canopy on threads of pure spatial energy was a creature that made Dugu Yan's scales bristle.
It looked like a Man-Faced Demon Spider, but its carapace was translucent, showing a heart made of violet fire. This was a Void-Weaver Phantasm, a memory-echo of a beast that had gone extinct millennia ago.
"Lingling, focus on the anchor!" Yu Chen commanded. "Yan'er, pin it down! Don't let it blink!"
Dugu Yan took flight, her jade wings cutting through the spectral air. "Second Spirit Skill: Crystalline Void-Bind!" She exhaled a cloud of toxic, emerald-black mist. As it touched the spider's legs, the air itself hardened into green glass, locking the creature's spatial-shift ability.
The spider shrieked, its eight eyes glowing. It lunged, but Yu Chen stepped forward. "Void Jamming." The space around the spider collapsed into a localized vacuum, crushing its movements.
"Now, Lingling! Claim your heart!"
Ye Lingling stood up, her eyes glowing with a terrifying emerald-black light. She didn't use a weapon. She manifested her Begonia, which had transformed into a sharp, spear-like flower. She thrust it forward, connecting her spirit directly to the spider's violet core.
"I am the Anchor," she cried out. "Abyssal Drain!"
The spider didn't just die; it was unmade. Its life force, its spatial energy, and its 18,000-year-old memory were siphoned directly into the Nine-Heart Begonia.
As the spider dissolved into dust, a ring of absolute darkness rose. It wasn't the purple of a Thousand-Year ring; it was a Deep Black, laced with silver veins that hummed with the sound of the abyss.
Ye Lingling sat down as the ring descended. The pressure was immense—enough to shatter a normal Rank 40 master—but the "Eternal Heart" acted as a bottomless reservoir.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Absorption Complete.]
Ye Lingling: Rank 41 (Spirit Ancestor).
New Skill: Aura of the Abyssal Heart (Steals 10% of enemy life force to heal allies).
Resonance: Yu Chen (Rank 34 -> Rank 35).
While the trio celebrated their breakthrough in the spectral forest, the reality outside the mountain reached a breaking point.
Dugu Bo stood at the 500-mile mark, his emerald eyes fixed on a man in white robes who was walking through the "Poison Dead-Zone" with effortless grace. This wasn't a scout. This was The Silent Petal, a Rank 89 Spirit Douluo from the Hall of Elders.
"The Bishop is dead, Poison Freak," The Silent Petal said, his voice like dry leaves. "You've played 'Sovereign' long enough. The Supreme Pontiff wants the boy, and the mountain is in the way."
Dugu Bo spat a glob of purple ichor. "Then tell the Pontiff to come herself. Because anyone else who walks into my mist... becomes fertilizer for my garden."
The Silent Petal raised a golden staff. A single, radiant flower petal floated from the tip, glowing with a light that began to burn through Dugu Bo's emerald fog.
The first true battle for the Starfall Peaks had begun.