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

189: Chapter 189: The Fallen Star Barrier and the Blood Key’s LamentA dark gold streak of light tore through the dim sky, forcibly piercing through the Golden Baleful Qi that was as thick as a physical substance, trailing a vacuum path behind it that refused to close for a long time. Nangong Xuan pushed his speed to an unprecedented extreme, his Divine Thought scanning ahead with absolute focus.

The closer they got to the final location guided by the phantom star key, the more intense and terrifying the sharp, murderous intent in the air became. The ground below had completely turned into a barren wasteland; the reddish-brown earth was sliced into bottomless rifts by invisible forces, and rusted metal wreckage that still emanated a chilling aura lay scattered everywhere. Some looked like broken weapons, while others had lost their original shapes entirely, massive as mountains, retaining heart-palpitating energy fluctuations and ancient, lingering resentment.

This place seemed like a forgotten giant battlefield where unimaginably horrific beings had once fought fiercely, utterly shattering the earth and sky, leaving behind this eternal silence and sharpness.

“The Core area of Fallen Star Slope is just ahead!” Zi Linger’s voice sounded somewhat distorted amidst the violent wind pressure from their rapid flight, yet it carried an immense gravity. “I can feel an extremely powerful natural Restriction barrier, a mix of the ancient battlefield’s lingering killing intent, broken Laws, and the Golden Baleful Death Qi that has accumulated for countless millennia!”

Nangong Xuan and Su Muxue had already sensed it without her reminder. At the edge of their vision, the dimness between heaven and earth suddenly deepened, turning into an oppressive dark gold hue. A vast, sky-reaching barrier stood before them like an eternal wall. Upon the barrier, countless dark gold air currents could be seen swirling and crashing like violent dragons, emitting an endless, piercing screech of clashing metal. Within it, twisted, illusory faces filled with pain and resentment flickered in and out—the unextinguished obsessions of the ancient battlefield’s war souls!

Just approaching it brought a terrifying pressure that could freeze the Divine Soul of Nascent Soul Cultivators! Even more chilling was that the barrier was not static; the dark gold currents and twisted soul shadows on its surface were constantly evolving and moving, forming countless naturally occurring, ever-changing lethal formations and traps without any discernible pattern!

This was the “outer Restriction” the Jin Jue Sect Elders spoke of! In reality, it was a death-trap barrier that Fallen Star Slope had evolved on its own over eons!

“Trying to force our way through is a near-certain death sentence!” Su Muxue’s face turned pale; her Taiyin Star Power was heavily suppressed in the face of this extreme Golden Baleful Qi and deathly intent.

Almost the instant the three arrived before the barrier, the three powerful Nascent Soul Stage auras from behind caught up!

“Ignorant juniors! Do you think you can enter the Fallen Star Death Barrier? Die obediently, and perhaps you’ll leave a whole corpse!” The sneering voice of the leading Nascent Soul old man drifted over. The three spread out in a triangular formation, completely sealing off the retreat, yet they dared not get too close to the violent Fallen Star barrier, clearly fearing it greatly.

They seemed certain that Nangong Xuan’s group had no escape, planning to bombard them from a distance or capture them after they were severely injured by the barrier’s backlash.

An eternal barrier ahead, and three powerful Nascent Soul enemies behind!

A desperate situation once more!

Nangong Xuan’s gaze swept across the constantly evolving, terrifying barrier, his eyes sharp as a hawk’s, his brain calculating at an unprecedented speed. Nirvana Sword Intent could counter the Golden Baleful Death Qi, but against this vast sea of energy, his power was like a drop in the ocean. Forcing a path would result in being instantly shredded by countless killing formations and violent energy!

He had to find a weak point! Or create one!

His gaze suddenly shifted to the phantom star key in his arms. The light representing the sharp metal star key within it was now as bright as a miniature sun, vibrating frantically. The intent, a mix of summons and sorrow, was so strong it almost burst out of the key! It pointed directly at a specific spot on the barrier!

Almost simultaneously, the chaos star core in Su Muxue’s arms hummed again! Lin Mo’s weak intent conveyed a strong, clear “desire” and “guidance,” targeting the exact same spot on the barrier!

“Trust Moer! Trust the star key! Charge with me!” Nangong Xuan made a split-second decision without any hesitation! The dark gold streak of light suddenly veered. No longer trying to search or calculate, he was like a moth to a flame, resolutely crashing toward the specific point on the barrier indicated by the light and the star Core’s desire!

“Seeking death!” the Nascent Soul old man behind them sneered, raising his hand to launch an attack.

But just as Nangong Xuan’s group was about to hit the barrier—

“Voom—!!!”

The chaos star core and the phantom star key erupted with unprecedented light simultaneously!

On the surface of the star Core, a strange dark gold pattern suddenly lit up, and a dark gold thread, more condensed and profound than before, shot out again, striking that point on the barrier with absolute precision!

From within the phantom star key, the light representing the sharp metal star key actually split off an extremely weak Illusory Shadow that carried supreme sharpness and endless sorrow. It arrived later but struck first, merging with the dark gold thread from the star Core!

Sizzle—!

There was no earth-shattering collision as expected. The terrifying barrier, capable of annihilating a Nascent Soul, was struck by that strange power—a Fusion of the chaos star core’s “Metal-Breaking” trait and the sharp metal star key’s Origin. In that instant, it was as if it had encountered a higher-level command or as if ice had met a red-hot iron. It silently melted and dissolved, forming an extremely unstable temporary passage just wide enough for a few people!

The interior of the passage was a chaotic mess, filled with turbulent spatial flows and even denser Golden Baleful Death Qi, but it truly pierced through the barrier!

“What?! That’s impossible!” The three Nascent Soul Cultivators’ eyes nearly popped out of their heads, their faces filled with disbelief! The Jin Jue Sect had spent a fortune just to barely grasp a few patterns of the barrier’s periphery, yet these Golden Core juniors could punch right through it?!

“Go in!” Nangong Xuan barked, wrapping the two women in his light and charging into the temporary passage like a bolt of light!

A second after they entered, the passage twisted violently, and the surrounding barrier energy surged back, instantly sealing it as if it had never been opened!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The attacks of the three Nascent Soul Cultivators slammed into the barrier, but they only stirred up ripples across the sky, unable to shake it in the slightest. Instead, they triggered an even more violent counterattack from the barrier as several dark gold torrents of destructive energy surged back, forcing them to retreat in a pathetic state, their faces ashen and ugly to the extreme.

“Dammit! They actually got in?!” “Message the Sect immediately! Outsiders have broken into the Fallen Star Core! Request the Grand Elder to decide!” “They won’t last long! The environment inside is a hundred times more perilous than outside! We’ll wait here for them to die inside or be forced out!”

...The moment he entered the barrier, Nangong Xuan felt an indescribable, massive pressure squeezing from all directions! Chaotic spatial forces tore at his Physical Body, and the Golden Baleful Death Qi, too thick to disperse, seeped into his Protective Aura at every turn. Furthermore, a heavy, sorrowful collective obsession filled with countless frenzied Battle Intents struck the trio’s Divine Sense like a heavy sledgehammer!

“Ugh!” Zi Linger, having a weaker cultivation, groaned, a trickle of blood escaping her lips as her face instantly turned pale.

Su Muxue quickly extended her Taiyin Star Power to Zi Linger’s side to resist together. Nangong Xuan pushed his Nirvana Sword Domain to its limit, struggling to maintain a stable space of about ten feet, isolating most of the external dangers, but his own consumption was as rapid as an open floodgate.

He quickly scanned the surroundings. This place seemed like an independent, shattered kingdom of death. The sky was an eternal dark red, filled with massive spatial rifts like hideous scars from which destructive energy storms occasionally erupted. On the ground were mountains piled high with various giant metal remains and bleached bones, stretching as far as the eye could see. The air was thick with the smell of rust and death, and the ubiquitous roar of war souls and the auditory hallucinations of clashing metal became even clearer, frantically assaulting their sanity.

And the phantom star key’s resonance reached its peak here! The sharp metal star key was in the deepest part of this kingdom of death!

“This way!” Nangong Xuan endured the discomfort of his Divine Sense being washed over by countless negative emotions. Following the strongest resonance, he flew cautiously at a low altitude, avoiding the obvious spatial rifts and energy turbulence.

After flying for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the scene ahead suddenly changed.

In the center of a relatively open basin, the sight was shocking!

An unimaginably massive skeleton was half-buried in the ground, its bones a dark gold color. Even after countless eons of death, it still radiated a trembling pressure. And the center of this skeleton’s forehead was completely pierced by a rusted, ancient bronze war spear! The murderous aura remaining on that spear actually stood its ground against the skeleton’s own pressure, as if telling the tale of a tragic battle where both sides perished.

But what drew the trio’s gaze was not the giant skeleton or the spear, but the center of the giant skeleton’s open skeletal palm!

There floated a fist-sized, irregularly shaped crystal that looked as if it were cast from pure Dao Tribulation Gold! It radiated a metal-attribute Origin aura that was pure and sharp to the extreme—it was exactly what they had been searching for: the sharp metal star key!

However, the state of this star key was extremely abnormal!

It was tightly wound and imprisoned in the giant skeleton’s palm by countless dark red chains condensed from the purest Golden Baleful Death Qi and ancient battlefield resentment! Those chains squirmed like living things, constantly siphoning the star key’s Origin power and injecting it into the giant skeleton below, seemingly maintaining some ominous balance.

The star key’s own light flickered unsteadily; every time it blinked, it conveyed immense pain and a wailing cry! The source of the “Sorrow” Concept that permeated the entire Fallen Star Slope was right here!

It was not in slumber, but was being continuously refined and siphoned! It had become the nourishment and prisoner of this ancient skeleton!

Just then, within the hollow eye sockets of the giant skeleton pinned by the war spear, two clusters of dark, crimson soul fire suddenly ignited!

A cold, greedy will, filled with tyranny and deathly silence, slowly awoke like a malevolent demon that had slept for eons, locking onto the three uninvited guests who had stumbled into this place!