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

224: Chapter 224: Drifting in the Void and the Spirit Within the Star CoreCold, deathly still, weightless.

This was Nangong Xuan’s first sensation after regaining consciousness.

He seemed to be floating in a vast, ink-black ocean, with profound, endless darkness in every direction. Only in the far distance were there a few faint, twinkling stars, providing the only meager, insignificant light.

The air (if it could even be called that) was permeated with a thin and strange flow of energy. It wasn’t the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi common in the Xianxia world, but a more primitive, more chaotic Void energy, carrying a sense of spatial stripping and faint stellar radiation. This energy was extremely violent; if an ordinary Cultivator were to inhale even a sliver, their Meridians would likely be thrown into Chaos, and they would die from their body exploding.

Nangong Xuan jolted, fully waking up.

He immediately checked himself. His injuries were not light, with multiple damaged Meridians, and his Spiritual Power had recovered to less than thirty percent. However, the four star keys were still slowly rotating within his Dantian, automatically absorbing the thin and chaotic Void energy from the surroundings, painstakingly converting it into tiny bits of usable Spiritual Power to maintain a basic cycle. The nirvana true seal fragment hovered in the center, dim and lusterless, as if it too had exhausted its power.

Next, he immediately looked to his left and right.

Su Muxue was still unconscious, her face as pale as paper, and her aura even weaker than before. Her body was covered in a thin layer of frost spontaneously formed by Taiyin Star Power, seemingly resisting the erosion of the Void energy, but this protection was rapidly consuming her last bit of Origin.

Zi Linger was in slightly better condition. She was curled up, hands tightly clutching her knees, with a very faint emerald halo radiating around her—the instinct of the key of living beings resisting the harsh external environment. She was awake, but her gaze was somewhat hollow and fearful, clearly intimidated by this completely unfamiliar Void landscape.

The three of them were floating within an extremely unstable ”passage.”

This passage was no smooth road; it was more like a temporary path barely composed of shattered light and shadow, twisted root remains, and star fragments, liable to collapse at any moment. This was the Ancient Starry Sky Road that the Mother Tree had opened for them with her last strength; it was clearly incomplete and was continuously dissipating. Beyond the passage was a heart-palpitating, all-consuming absolute darkness. Occasionally, twisted shadows, difficult to catch with the naked eye, flitted by, emitting cold and greedy thoughts. These were terrifying Void creatures born in the Void Realm, salivating over the fresh ”life” within the passage.

More dangerously, from time to time, an invisible spatial turbulence would sweep through like an underwater undercurrent, tossing their bodies and madly tearing at the already unstable passage. Each impact caused the passage’s light to dim, and the roots and starlight at the edges shattered and vanished one after another.

They had to leave here as soon as possible! Otherwise, once the passage completely collapsed or the Void creatures found a breach, the three of them would surely be doomed!

Nangong Xuan suppressed the trepidation in his heart and tried to steady himself. He first pulled Su Muxue into his arms, continuously transferring the meager Spiritual Power he had converted into her body to protect the last spark of life in her heart. At the same time, he looked at Zi Linger: ”Linger, can you steady yourself?”

Zi Linger snapped out of it, bit her lip, and nodded hard as she formed hand seals. The emerald halo brightened slightly, but her Origin was already damaged, and she was currently teetering on the edge of collapse.

Nangong Xuan’s gaze swept across the surroundings, and his heart sank. The passage was collapsing faster, yet the way ahead was still a void of darkness with no end in sight. At this rate, they would never last until they found an exit!

In this moment of despair, he suddenly sensed a faint throb within his Dantian.

It wasn’t the four keys, nor the Nirvana True Seal, but... that dormant chaos star core covered in cracks!

It seemed to have reacted to the chaotic and violent Void energy around them! It wasn’t the hunger it felt when devouring fire elemental power or the power of the dark side before, but a kind of... lazy, instinctive absorption?

It was as if this Void energy, which could be fatal to other Cultivators, was just an ordinary ”snack” to it?

Nangong Xuan’s heart stirred, and he immediately tried to communicate with the star Core using his mind.

The star Core responded with an extremely faint, intermittent consciousness, filled with a sense of ”exhaustion” and ”hunger,” which was the manifestation of Lin Mo’s sleeping consciousness.

”Moer... can you absorb this energy?” Nangong Xuan sent out his thought.

”...Outside... messy... can eat... but slow... hurts...” Lin Mo’s consciousness responded vaguely, referring to how the cracks on the star Core’s body made the absorption and conversion efficiency very low, and the process painful.

But regardless, this was a hope!

Nangong Xuan made a decision immediately. He no longer forced the four keys to painstakingly convert energy, but instead carefully guided the chaotic flow of Void energy, like directing a trickling stream, slowly into the chaos star core hovering above his shoulder.

Sizzle... A faint light lit up at the cracks on the surface of the star Core. Like a thirsty sponge, it began to slowly but firmly absorb the Void energy. The process was indeed not fast, and the star Core trembled slightly as if enduring pain, but its light was indeed becoming more solid at a visible rate, and the cracks on its surface seemed to show extremely minute signs of mending!

To Nangong Xuan’s surprise, as the star Core began to absorb the Void energy, the Chaos halo it radiated actually had a strange ”smoothing” effect on the violent spatial turbulence! Although the range was small, only enough to cover the three of them within a few feet, the impact of the turbulence within this range was significantly weakened and became much ”gentler.” Even the speed of the passage’s collapse seemed to slow down!

It was like a stabilizing force, barely propping up a small, relatively stable area within this chaotic void!

”It’s working!” Nangong Xuan felt bolstered.

He maintained this state, continuously transferring Spiritual Power to Su Muxue while guiding the Void energy to nourish the star Core, all while keeping a vigilant watch on their surroundings.

Time lost its meaning in this place of nothingness. It could have been a moment, or it could have been several years.

Under Nangong Xuan’s relentless maintenance at any cost, Su Muxue’s aura finally stopped weakening, but there were no signs of improvement either; she remained in a deep coma. Zi Linger, relying on the properties of the key of living beings, barely stabilized her injuries, but her small face was still pale.

The cracks on the surface of the chaos star core had mended by about one-third, the speed of absorbing Void energy had increased significantly, and the stable area it propped up had expanded slightly. Lin Mo’s consciousness within seemed to be sleeping more soundly due to the nourishment of this special energy, even sending out a faint sense of ”comfort.”

However, the collapse of the passage continued, and... they seemed to have lost their way.

The path opened by the Mother Tree had long since dissipated in the turbulence. They were now completely relying on the star Core’s instinct, drifting with the current in the void, with no idea where they were going.

Just as anxiety rose in Nangong Xuan’s heart again, Zi Linger, who had been silently sensing something, suddenly raised her hand and pointed into the deep darkness ahead to the left.

”Over there...” Her voice was weak, yet it carried a strange certainty. ”I seem to... feel a... very warm, very familiar calling... like... like a life aura of the same Origin... it’s very faint... but I can’t be wrong...”

Nangong Xuan looked in the direction she pointed and expanded his Divine Sense to its limit, but he could perceive nothing. That patch of darkness was no different from anywhere else.

But he believed in Zi Linger’s intuition as a Wood Spirit, especially in this void; any possible clue could not be ignored.

”Hold on to me!” He barked. No longer allowing the spatial turbulence to push them, he began to painstakingly mobilize the power of the four keys, coordinating with the direction of the star Core’s stable area to actively ”swim” toward where Zi Linger pointed!

This process was much more mentally exhausting than passive drifting. He had to constantly calculate their direction, avoid massive spatial fragments and obscure energy vortices, and his Spiritual Power consumption was immense.

But he did not give up.

After ”swimming” for an unknown amount of time, just as Nangong Xuan was about to feel despair—

In the endless darkness ahead, a different point of light finally appeared!

It wasn’t a distant star, but a... slowly rotating, pale silver vortex! The vortex wasn’t large, just enough for a few people to pass through. Its edges emitted soft spatial fluctuations, and from the center of the vortex, a familiar world aura faintly leaked out!

It was the exit of the spatial passage!

Although he wasn’t sure where the other side led, it was definitely the entrance to some world!

Hope was right before their eyes!

Nangong Xuan’s spirits rose as he mobilized his last bit of strength to accelerate toward that silver vortex!

However, just a moment before they were about to rush into the vortex—

Roar!!!

A silent roar that directly vibrated the Divine Soul suddenly erupted from the depths of the darkness to their side!

An incredibly massive claw, completely condensed from shadows and negative emotions, tore through the darkness. Carrying the cold and deathly stillness of something that could devour all, it struck savagely at them!

The Void creature that had been coveting them finally launched a fatal attack at their weakest moment!

The power of this strike far exceeded the previous spatial turbulence, even faintly reaching the threshold of the Soul Transformation Stage!

Nangong Xuan’s expression changed drastically. At this moment, his old strength was spent and new strength had yet to arise; he had no time to dodge or defend!

Seeing that the shadow claw was about to crush the three of them along with the star Core—

Buzz—!!!

The chaos star core, which had been quietly absorbing energy, suddenly erupted with unprecedented light at this moment!

It seemed to be completely enraged by this pure, malicious Void creature! The black vortex at its Core spun frantically, no longer absorbing, but... erupting!

It took all the Void energy it had devoured during this time, mixed it with its own Chaos Origin, and transformed it into a gray, distorted, and massive beam of light that crashed violently into that shadow claw!

Boom!!!

A silent explosion rippled through the void!

The shadow claw was violently repelled by this beam of light, which contained the dual characteristics of the Void and Chaos. A small part of it even shattered, and it let out a hiss of pain and anger.

As for the star Core, after firing this strike, its light instantly dimmed to the extreme. The cracks on its surface even showed signs of widening as it let out a mournful hum and shrank back into Nangong Xuan’s body, falling into silence once more.

But it was this precious moment that had been fought for!

Holding the two women, Nangong Xuan used the last shred of his strength to plunge headlong into that rotating silver vortex!

The world spun, and space distorted.

In the second before he lost consciousness, Nangong Xuan only felt a thick and familiar fragrance of grass and trees wash over him, as well as... a young girl’s clear and pleasant, yet startled cry.

”Ah! What’s this falling from the sky?!”

...