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

218: Chapter 218: Fierce Battle Against the Fiend Spirits and the Return of the Star KeyThe monster rising from the bottom of the Lava Lake had a massive body that occupied nearly half the space. Countless twisted faces wailed and struggled on its viscous black surface, emitting a resentment and madness that stung the Divine Soul. In the center, a giant black eye—cold, brutal, and devoid of emotion—held only the purest desire for destruction and devouring as it locked onto the chaos star core that was consuming its ”food.”

The terrifying pressure felt like a physical mountain, crashing down upon Nangong Xuan and the other two. Su Muxue let out a muffled groan as the moonlight shield she had barely managed to sustain fluctuated violently, nearly collapsing. Even the unconscious Zi Linger seemed to sense this fatal threat, her brow furrowing in pain.

Nangong Xuan bore the brunt of it, feeling as though an invisible giant hand had gripped his heart, making his breathing hitch. The monster’s strength definitely exceeded the Nascent Soul Stage and might even be touching the edge of the Soul Transformation Stage! This was not an existence they could currently confront head-on!

”Screech—!!!”

The monster emitted a sharp, ear-piercing hiss that sounded neither like metal nor wood. Its massive body writhed, and dozens of tentacles—thicker than before and covered in a viscous black substance—tore through the air like wild giant pythons. They lashed out toward Nangong Xuan and the chaos star core with a terrifying power capable of corroding all things and draining the Divine Soul!

Before the tentacles even arrived, the terrifying force field they contained caused the space around Nangong Xuan to nearly solidify!

He couldn’t take this head-on!

Nangong Xuan’s pupils constricted to the limit. His Nirvana Sword Intent surged through his body at an unprecedented speed, forcibly breaking through part of the force field’s suppression. He transformed into an illusory sword shadow and flashed toward the side and rear in the blink of an eye!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several tentacles lashed the spot where he had just stood. The vitrified hard ground exploded and melted like tofu, leaving behind deep, smoke-filled ravines! The splashing black slime sizzled as it hit the ground, polluting and annihilating even the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi!

Other tentacles coiled accurately toward the floating chaos star core, seemingly realizing that it was the greatest threat!

The Chaos halo on the star Core’s surface flickered violently, autonomously erupting with even stronger suction in an attempt to devour the tentacles. However, the foul energy this time was too massive and condensed; the star Core’s devouring speed could not keep up with the tentacles’ attack speed! It was about to be struck!

Once the star Core was directly hit by those tentacles containing such terrifying power, even with its extraordinary nature, it would likely be damaged, potentially even affecting Lin Mo’s consciousness, which was struggling to awaken inside!

At the critical moment!

”Moonlight... Freeze!”

A clear yet resolute cry rang out! It was Su Muxue! She had somehow forced herself to stand, her hands forming seals. Her face was transparently pale, and blood constantly seeped from the corners of her mouth, but the moon wheel above her head erupted with a final, blindingly brilliant radiance!

A highly condensed Taiyin Cold Stream, like the Nine Heavens Silver River falling, instantly washed over the tentacles coiling toward the star Core!

Crack... Snap!

Extreme cold clashed with extreme evil! The tentacles were instantly covered in a thick layer of ghostly blue frost, and their violent momentum came to a sudden halt. Although the ice was quickly shattered by the terrifying power within the tentacles, it ultimately bought the star Core that crucial instant!

The star Core took the opportunity to fly backward, dodging the fatal blow.

But Su Muxue also collapsed softly, having exhausted her last shred of strength. The moon wheel let out a mournful cry and shrank back into her body, its light completely dimmed.

”Mu Xue!” Nangong Xuan’s heart tightened, but he had no time to help.

The monster seemed enraged by Su Muxue’s interference. Its single eye suddenly turned toward the fallen Su Muxue, and a condensed black beam filled with the aura of death instantly erupted, shooting straight at her! If this hit, Su Muxue would surely perish!

”Vile beast! How dare you!”

Nangong Xuan’s eyes nearly split with rage, and the Sword Essence in his body burned without reservation! He no longer dodged but instead poured all his power, all his will, and all his anger into the ancient sword in his hand!

The four star keys in his Dantian spun frantically, humming and vibrating, even burning their Origin to lend power to their master! The nirvana true seal fragment shook violently, emitting an unprecedented void dao rhyme!

”Nirvana — Return to Emptiness Strike!”

He transformed his body into a sword, achieving the unity of man and sword. He became an ultimate, gray line that sought to return all things to nothingness. Striking after but arriving first, he slammed into the black beam aimed at Su Muxue!

There was no loud explosion, only a heart-wrenching, eerie sound as if space itself was being erased!

The gray sword light and the black beam stalled in mid-air, frantically annihilating and dissolving each other! The Nirvana Sword Intent domineeringly decomposed the foul energy in the black beam, but the power within that beam was simply too massive. It continued to push Nangong Xuan back. The skin on his sword-wielding arms cracked inch by inch, dripping with blood, and the Meridians in his body groaned under the unbearable burden!

Just as he was about to lose his footing—

Hum!

The chaos star core moved again! It seemed to sense Nangong Xuan’s crisis and Su Muxue’s peril. The tiny vortex of black lightning at its center suddenly expanded!

This time, it wasn’t just devouring, but... transforming!

It forcibly took the foul energy devoured from the tentacles that hadn’t been fully purified, mixed it with its own accumulated Chaos power, compressed and transformed it in a mysterious and ineffable way, and then... sprayed it out!

A gray pillar of light, its edges flickering with Chaos crimson glow and black lightning snakes, shot out like a Spear of Judgment, accurately striking the flank of the black beam!

The grade of this mixed energy seemed extremely high, as it produced a strong interference and neutralizing effect on the black beam!

Nangong Xuan’s pressure lightened instantly. With a roar, his Nirvana sword light surged, finally annihilating the black beam completely! But he was also nearly exhausted, falling to one knee and using his sword to support himself as he panted heavily, his vision darkening.

The monster let out a pained hiss, its single eye turning toward the star Core with a look of uncertainty. It seemed unable to understand why this tiny thing could interfere with it time and again, and even injure it.

In this brief moment of stalemate, no one noticed that on the palm of Zi Linger, who lay on the scorching ground, a trace of extremely faint emerald light was stubbornly flickering. As a Wood Spirit, she was most sensitive to the life force of the earth and negative emotions. Although heavily injured and unconscious, her instinct was perceiving the extreme pain and resentment emitted by the countless twisted faces on the monster.

That was not just pollution from the dark side, but a Fusion of countless remnant souls of living beings who had fallen and been devoured here!

A faint intent of compassion and soothing, like the finest thread, silently seeped into the ground, attempting to communicate with those tortured remnant souls... And at that moment, within Nangong Xuan’s mind, Lin Mo’s intermittent but slightly clearer intent rang out again:

”’Father... Core... eye... purify...’”

Simultaneously, the chaos star core vibrated slightly, transmitting a strong desire toward the monster’s giant single eye! It craved to devour the purest dark side Core Origin contained within that eye!

Nangong Xuan understood instantly! That eye was the monster’s Core and source of power! As long as it was destroyed or devoured, the monster would collapse without a fight!

But that was easier said than done! The eye’s defensive power was bound to be the strongest, and the monster would never let them succeed easily!

Just as Nangong Xuan was rapidly thinking of a strategy, another change occurred!

Dozens of the countless twisted, wailing faces on the monster suddenly froze, their expressions showing a momentary struggle and clarity! Immediately after, they all turned their heads together, looking at an energy flow node within the monster’s body and letting out a silent but warning-filled scream!

It was Zi Linger’s unconsciously emitted soothing intent, combined with their own remaining resentment, that created a subtle effect at this moment, briefly interfering with the monster’s energy flow and even instinctively pointing out a weak spot within it!

Although the interference was extremely brief and those faces were instantly submerged in pain and madness again, for a Cultivator of Nangong Xuan’s level, this momentary opening was enough!

”Now!”

Nangong Xuan’s eyes erupted with light. He forced his last bit of strength to increase his speed to the limit, not rushing toward the eye, but toward the node briefly marked on the monster’s flank! At the same time, he frantically communicated with the star Core through his mind!

The star Core was in sync with his heart, its Chaos halo flourishing as it followed closely behind!

The monster seemed to sense their intent and let out an angry roar. Countless tentacles pulled back to defend, and its single eye once again condensed a terrifying beam of light!

But Nangong Xuan’s goal wasn’t a head-on clash! In the moment he rushed near the node, he suddenly compressed his Nirvana Sword Intent to the limit, transforming it into a gray needle as fine as an ox hair, and stabbed it fiercely into the node!

This single point of attack wasn’t strong, but it was like a needle pricking a balloon, instantly triggering a violent disorder of energy within the monster’s body! Its massive frame suddenly stiffened, and both the retreating tentacles and the eye’s attack showed an extremely subtle delay!

That negligible delay was all it took!

”Go!”

Nangong Xuan used his last ounce of strength to push the chaos star core toward the giant eye that was condensing terrifying energy!

The star Core turned into a gray stream of light, like a moth to a flame yet with an unstoppable resolution, and instantly crashed into the giant eye!

Time seemed to stand still in that moment.

The next instant—

”Aow—!!!!!”

The monster let out an unprecedented, agonizing howl! Its entire body twisted, rolled, and expanded frantically!

Within its single eye, the gray Chaos light and the pitch-black dark side Origin frantically devoured, annihilated, and exploded against each other! The star Core was like a foreign object that had drilled into its heart, madly draining its most central power!

The light in the eye flickered sharply, and fine cracks even appeared on its surface!

The monster could no longer care about Nangong Xuan’s group; all its power was used to fight the star Core inside its body! It rolled and crashed into the rock walls, causing the entire underground space to vibrate violently and the Lava Lake to roar and boil!

Nangong Xuan took the chance to retreat rapidly, arriving beside Su Muxue and Zi Linger, watching tensely as the world-shaking battle took place inside the monster.

This process lasted for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. The monster’s struggles grew weaker, its size began to shrink, and the light in its single eye dimmed completely.

Finally, with an unwilling, faint wail, the monster’s body suddenly collapsed, turning into a ball of pure but chaotic energy. The star Core, completely enveloped in Chaos light, floated in the center of the energy ball, slowly rotating like a singularity in the Universe, devouring its last bit of energy completely.

The suffocating pressure in the space suddenly vanished.

The light on the chaos star core’s surface gradually withdrew. Its size seemed to have grown, and the dark gold and crimson patterns became deeper and more complex. The tiny black vortex also stabilized, emitting a heart-palpitating aura. It seemed to have fallen into some kind of digestion and transformation, but the intent it transmitted was much more stable.

And with the monster’s demise, the foul chains wrapped around the fire star key also became illusory as they lost their source, finally snapping and dissipating with a loud ”pop”!

Hum—!!!

The fire star key jolted, erupting with an unprecedentedly brilliant light! Like a Phoenix breaking free from its shackles, it let out a clear and melodious hum! Endless, pure, and scorching Fire Spirit Source Power gathered toward it like a tide. The scars on its surface were repaired at a speed visible to the naked eye, its light growing stronger and more stable!

The painful wailing completely disappeared, replaced by a sense of joy, liberation, and a call of recognition to its new master!

It turned into a stream of light and actively flew toward Nangong Xuan, circling him cheerfully a few times before gently sinking into his Dantian!

Boom!

Nangong Xuan’s body shook violently as if a sun had risen within his Dantian! The power of the fire star key instantly merged with him, creating a mysterious resonance with his original three star keys. For the first time, the four keys gathered, forming an initially stable cycle and emitting a vast and majestic power!

His originally depleted Sword Essence was instantly refilled, becoming even purer and more surging. His injuries healed rapidly under the nourishment of the scorching and pure fire element, and his cultivation Realm stabilized completely at the Late Golden Core Stage, advancing toward the Great Perfection!

A realization dawned on him: with the four keys gathered, he now possessed the qualification to sense and invoke a portion of this world’s Origin power!

He slowly opened his eyes, which seemed to have flaming stars swirling within them, his aura as profound as the sea.

He glanced at the chaos star core floating nearby, which had entered a state of transformation, then at the two women who were still unconscious but whose breathing had stabilized, and finally cast his gaze toward the gradually calming Lava Lake.

The crisis was temporarily resolved, and the fire star key was finally in his hands.

But even greater mysteries emerged: what exactly was the Tiangong Sect intending? Why could the power of the dark side erode this place so deeply? And how would Lin Mo’s path to awakening proceed?

He knew that all the answers might lie deeper in the Lava Lake, within the true Primordial Fire Eye.