Transmigrating Into a Fantasy World: Signing in During Pregnancy, Reaching the Summit with My Childhood Sweetheart

43: Chapter 43: The Starlight Barrier and the Prelude to the BloodbathThe desolate warning from the depths of the lake’s center was like ice water over the head, instantly dispelling the small bit of luck in Nangong Xuan and Lin Mo’s hearts born from the quiet environment.

The crisis hadn’t moved away; instead, it was being drawn here by the majestic energy fluctuations of this place!

”Filthy lackeys...” Nangong Xuan repeated the term, his eyes as sharp as swords, scanning the dark tunnel entrance they came from. He could imagine that whether disturbed by the previous Profound Yin eruption or drawn by the massive energy of the Star Lake Infusion at this moment, those twisted creatures from the depths of the underground were swarming like sharks smelling blood.

”Protect her... until the Starlight withdraws...” He looked at Su Muxue, who was wrapped in brilliant Starlight and majestic energy, having turned into a giant deep blue light cocoon. The baptism was ongoing, she couldn’t be moved, and it couldn’t be interrupted! They had no way to retreat; there was only battle!

”Little friend!” Nangong Xuan shouted lowly, his tone resolute, ”I will defend the passage! You cover the surroundings, especially the lake surface! Although the existence at the bottom of the lake seems friendly, we must be on guard!”

”Understood!” Lin Mo’s intent responded. The glow of the chaos dao seed was retracted to the limit, but his Perception was like the most precise radar, covering all directions, focusing on the dark river entrance and the calm yet deep lake surface. He knew his greatest role wasn’t frontal combat but early warning, interference, and unexpected strategies at critical moments.

Nangong Xuan took a deep breath, no longer stingy with the power he had just recovered. He gripped the hilt of ”unyielding” with both hands and slammed it into the silver sand in front of him!

”Buzz—!”

The broken sword emitted a high-pitched sword hum, and the golden Vast Righteous Sword Intent soared into the sky. It was no longer the heavy sword wall used for defense before, but turned into a network of incomparably sharp, crisscrossing Sword Qi, spreading rapidly and precisely sealing the only passage to this Star Lake Mystic Realm!

The Sword Qi whistled, forming a brilliant and dangerous barrier, emitting a stern aura that could slay all evil. This was the ”Sword Locked Pass” technique from the ”Vast Righteous Sword Heart Art,” integrating offense and defense, most suitable for defending a strategic pass. But maintaining this technique consumed a huge amount of Sword Essence and mental energy; Nangong Xuan’s face turned several shades paler almost instantly.

He stuffed a handful of Medicinal Pills into his mouth, ignoring the stinging pain of the medicinal power flushing through his Meridians, his eyes fixed on the darkness of the passage. He was racing against time, recovering as much as he could, and laying down as many strands of Sword Qi as possible!

Lin Mo wasn’t idle either. His chaos dao seed operated frantically, but not for attacking. Instead, it tried its best to simulate and amplify the aura of the Vast Righteous Sword Intent laid by Nangong Xuan, mixing it with the tranquil and cold aura of the Star Lake itself, spreading it outward. This formed a ”disguise” and ”deterrence” on a spiritual level, attempting to mislead enemies that might creep in from other directions (like rock crevices or the lake bottom), drawing their main attention to the passage Nangong Xuan was defending.

Time passed minute by minute in the suffocating wait.

Starlight continued to flow into the light cocoon, and the cocoon’s aura became increasingly massive and profound. The internal transformation seemed to be reaching its most critical moment. The lake water was calm without ripples, and that desolate intent made no further movement.

It’s here!

Almost at the same time, at the edge of their Perception, Nangong Xuan and Lin Mo captured that disgusting aura mixed with heat, filth, and greed!

Hiss— Chirp— Rumble!

Noisy, sharp hissing, dense crawling sounds, and heavy footsteps approached from afar, surging from the dark passage like a tide! It was far denser and more violent than the single Lava Earth Ghoul they had encountered before!

The next moment, a crimson flood burst out of the passage entrance!

Those were dozens of Lava Earth Ghouls of various sizes and hideous forms! The small ones were only the size of domestic dogs, moving swiftly and spitting poisonous flames; the large ones were comparable to wild bulls, covered in thick carapaces, crashing around; there were even a few exceptionally strong ones with deformed bone spikes on their backs, their auras surprisingly reaching the Late Foundation Establishment Stage or even the Peak! Their eyes burned with the most primitive desire for pure energy and the blood and Qi of living beings, frantically throwing themselves at the Sword Qi barrier Nangong Xuan had set up!

”Beasts! Don’t even think about crossing this line!” Nangong Xuan roared, and his sword seal changed!

”Slay!”

The crisscrossing Sword Qi network instantly blazed with light, spinning and Cutting frantically like a meat grinder! The few small ghouls in the front were instantly torn to pieces by the sharp Sword Qi, with foul-smelling black blood and broken carapaces splashing everywhere!

However, the ghouls behind them were not afraid of death. Stepping over the corpses of their kind and spitting poisonous flames and lava, they fearlessly crashed into the Sword Qi barrier! The poisonous flames corroded the Vast Righteous Sword Qi, and the heavy impacts made the entire barrier vibrate violently. Nangong Xuan’s body swayed, blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth again, and the ”unyielding” sword inserted in the sand buzzed, its light dimming at a speed visible to the naked eye!

There were too many of them! And mixed among them were elite individuals with strength no weaker than his current state! A single sword barrier simply couldn’t hold them back!

”Little friend!” Nangong Xuan shouted hoarsely.

No words were needed; Lin Mo moved!

The chaos dao seed flashed, and an invisible, distorted force field instantly enveloped the few Foundation Establishment Stage ghouls in the front. This wasn’t an attack but interference—interfering with their control over energy, their sense of direction, and even subtly guiding the poisonous flames they spat to miss, instead burning their nearby kin!

The ghouls were thrown into chaos, their movements deformed, crashing into each other, instantly disrupting the rhythm of the charge and buying precious breathing room for the Sword Qi barrier!

Nangong Xuan’s pressure lightened, and he immediately seized the opportunity, swallowing more Medicinal Pills and frantically circulating Sword Essence to reinforce the barrier. At the same time, the ”unyielding” sword spontaneously slashed out several sharp Sword Gang, precisely knocking away those Foundation Establishment ghouls caught in chaos. Though not fatal, they temporarily lost their threat.

The first wave of impact was barely blocked!

But the number of ghouls seemed endless. More monsters were surging out of the passage, including a few variants with even colder auras and dark purple carapaces. They seemed to possess some intelligence, no longer charging blindly but starting to organize, concentrating their attacks on a single point of the Sword Qi barrier!

At the same time, Lin Mo suddenly issued a sharp warning: ”The lake surface!”

Nangong Xuan turned his head sharply and saw over a dozen pale green light points, like ghost fires, appearing on the calm lake surface at some point! They were some eerie creatures that were transparent throughout, shaped like jellyfish, but with countless poisonous spiked tentacles! They emitted cold Soul fluctuations and were silently floating toward the light cocoon on the lakeshore! Clearly, they were attracted by the majestic energy of the light cocoon!

There were actually attacks that could be launched from the lake!

Wolves in front, water in back!

Nangong Xuan’s eyes nearly split! If he distracted himself to deal with the jellyfish in the lake, the passage sword barrier would surely break! If he ignored the lake, the light cocoon would be in danger!

At this critical moment—

The light cocoon seemed to sense the external crisis, and the Starlight flowing on its surface suddenly flared! A soft yet incredibly tough blue-white light screen instantly expanded from the center of the light cocoon, like an inverted bowl, enveloping the light cocoon and the nearby lakeshore area!

Pff pff pff!

The poisonous spiked tentacles of those jellyfish hit the light screen and were instantly frozen and shattered, dissipating into wisps of green smoke! The light screen remained motionless, emitting pure and cold Starlight power!

It was the power of the Star Lake! It was actively protecting Su Muxue, who was undergoing the baptism!

The threat in the lake was temporarily resolved by the protective barrier spontaneously triggered by the light cocoon!

Nangong Xuan and Lin Mo breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, but their hearts were still heavy. The threat in the lake was temporarily gone, but the frontal pressure hadn’t diminished at all! The Sword Qi barrier at the passage entrance was flickering, covered in cracks, and looked like it was about to collapse!

Among the ghoul swarm, those dark purple variants flashed with cunning light. They opened their huge mouths simultaneously, not to spit poisonous flames, but to condense three dark red energy balls emitting extremely unstable fluctuations—miniature versions of that Golden Core ghoul’s desperate strike from before! Although much less powerful, three fired together were enough to completely destroy the crumbling sword barrier and even heavily injure Nangong Xuan behind it!

Destructive energy condensed once more! The shadow of death suddenly descended!

A flash of decisiveness appeared in Nangong Xuan’s eyes, and he was about to burn his Origin regardless of the cost—

”Senior! Below!”

Lin Mo’s intent flashed like lightning! His Perception had been closely monitoring the entire scene, and at this moment, he captured a very subtle energy anomaly from beneath the silver sand under their feet! It wasn’t the energy of the ghouls, but... the energy of this Secret Realm itself! A stream of pure Starlight power was being triggered by the intense energy conflict here and the light cocoon’s protective barrier, quietly gathering beneath the silver sand!

Almost at the instant Lin Mo gave the warning—

Swish swish swish—!

Countless blue-white light spikes, condensed from pure Starlight, shot out from the large area of silver sand in front of Nangong Xuan without any warning, like bamboo shoots after rain!

These Starlight Spikes precisely avoided Nangong Xuan and Lin Mo, as if they had eyes, instantly piercing through those dark purple ghouls that were condensing energy balls, as well as the bodies of a large number of ordinary ghouls around them!

Chii chii chii!

The Starlight, containing power of tranquility and purification, clashed violently with the ghouls’ filthy and hot demonic power, like cold water poured into hot oil! The pierced ghouls emitted incredibly shrill screams, their bodies rapidly turning black, withering, and turning into ashes like ignited dry grass!

Those three nearly formed destructive energy balls also instantly lost control, exploding violently on the spot, blowing the surrounding ghouls into a mess!

This sudden attack from an ”ally” instantly disrupted the ghouls’ offensive and cleared a large area!

Nangong Xuan was stunned, then ecstatic! It’s this Secret Realm! This Star Lake Mystic Realm is helping them!

An opportunity!

He slammed the ”unyielding” sword out, pointing it at the scattered ghoul swarm in front, his eyes burning with raging Battle Intent and cold killing intent!

”Kill—!”

The sword barrier is broken, so defense will be replaced by offense! Take advantage of their weakness to take their lives!

Golden sword light and blue-white Starlight intertwined, as a tragic close-quarters struggle suddenly erupted by this beautiful starlit lakeside!