C967 Cang Lang Swallowing the Moon

The Stoneborn, much like the Silverscale and Nightscale Tribes, possessed formidable physiques and excelled in hand-to-hand combat, yet they were notably less adept at evasion. When Starhaven shifted its position, the Stoneborn's realization came too late to escape the onslaught. Beams of lethal radiance obliterated over a dozen Stoneborn warriors in an instant.

Crack!

Their bodies fractured into glistening shards, tumbling to the ground before being assimilated by the surrounding palaces, almost as if they were becoming the very foundations of these structures.

"Yu Yuan!"

"Didn't you claim you could wield the Soulforge Matrix?"

"Why then has its full might not been unleashed?"

Beru of the Starborn and Mia of the Shadowkin, along with other Otherkin leaders, were visibly shaken. First, the Silverscale and Nightscale warriors fell, and now the Stoneborn, swiftly massacred by the combined might of Cao Jiaze at the helm of Starhaven and the forces of the Ebon Star.

More alarming was the revelation that the Starhaven within the forbidden area was capable of life. Under Jiaze's command, the formation could momentarily shift its position. No one could predict who the Starhaven, transformed from the nine palaces, would target next.

Initially intent on confronting the leader of the Thunder Sect and other lower sect powerhouses, they now found themselves questioning Yu Yuan, their voices rising in the Otherkin tongue.

"Disperse! Do not cluster together, or we risk being wiped out in one fell swoop!"

"Spread out! Keep as far away from the Ebon Star's palace cluster as possible!"

"..."

The Otherkin leaders directed their warriors accordingly.

Yu Yuan, standing atop the Crucible of Evil, felt a heavy weight on his heart as he instinctively reached out to the Soulforge Pool beneath him. Since the sword scar and sword light etched into the pool's wall had been absorbed by the scabbard he wielded, the Soulforge Pool, serving as the lynchpin, had broken free from Nie Qingtian's constraints. Now, the Soulforge Pool was no longer bound by his arm bone sword spirit, and its souls had long since reclaimed their freedom. However, these soul spirits were not yet capable of freely communicating their thoughts to him.

With a single thought, ripples like those of a soul stirred from the depths of the Soulforge Pool. The obscure intentions of the Soulforge Pool began to crystallize in his mind as he deliberately sought to interpret and understand them.

He instantly grasped the purpose of the Soulforge Pool...

The Soulforge Matrix offered both offense and defense. With a mere thought, it could strike at the souls of all beings within the forbidden area, much like the Starhaven.

Yet, maintaining such a powerful defense would prove challenging.

Without cultivators from the Land of Quiescence standing guard outside, enemies could breach the perimeter at any moment. He could direct the Soulforge Matrix to work alongside the Otherkin's mighty warriors, like Xi Quan and her peers, to assail the souls of any intruders from Euwrea.

However, the matrix had not yet ascended to a seventh-level formation. A significant portion of its power was allocated to combating the formidable from Ebon Star, Sunlit Order, and Sword Sect. If it were to engage with Starhaven, the protective wall would weaken, leaving it vulnerable to breaches.

Should the wall shatter, allowing the Golden Elephant God, Yao Huangqi, the King of Wraiths, Yun Hao, Zhang Guanyu, and a surge of giant dragons to flood in, the aftermath would be dire and unpredictable.

"Do we attack or defend? It seems we must choose one."

Yu Yuan bowed his head, murmuring to himself.

"The Starhaven of Ebon Star truly lives up to its reputation as a seventh-level formation! With the way things are, we don't even need to enter. Just Cao Jiaze's command over the nine palaces is enough to systematically eliminate the Otherkin!"

"Cao Jiaze is indeed formidable!"

"Should we emerge victorious, Cao Jiaze's contributions will be indispensable!"

Outside the forbidden area, the nefarious cultivators of Euwrea had taken note of the relentless massacre of the Nightscale Tribe, Silverscale Tribe, and Stoneborn by the Starhaven formation.

Yu Yuan and the others within the forbidden area were powerless against the might of Starhaven.

As the Starhaven continued its onslaught, the Otherkin from the extraterrestrial Star River faced imminent extinction.

"Leader! We may not be able to hold them off!"

A female Shadowkin, quivering with fear, stood at the edge of the pit leading to the Domain Channel. "Rather than being obliterated and turned into a heap of flesh beneath those palaces, we should flee through the Domain Channel. Perhaps there, we might find a sliver of hope for survival!"

Upon hearing this, many despairing Otherkin warriors turned their attention to the dark abyss.

At the bottom of the abyss, the Domain Channel leading to the Hellmouth was fraught with peril. It had become highly unstable, yet there remained a faint glimmer of hope that it could transport them safely to the Hellmouth.

Despite being aware that the Hellmouth might still be guarded by the Blood Fiend and formidable Shura warriors, they were willing to take the risk.

For the Sky Fiends who had long roamed the Hellmouth, perishing there was preferable to dying in the Moonfall Sanctuary.

Indeed, it was a more honorable end.

With a whoosh, Yu Yuan's Soulforge Pool shifted through the void and materialized at the Dragon Slaying Stage.

At that moment, the Grey Wolf King of Shadow's Keep stirred from his stupor.

The massive, silver-gray wolf lifted its head, its eyes gleaming with an otherworldly light.

With a howl, it opened its vast maw, bristling with sharp fangs, and roared. In an astonishing feat, it engulfed the Evil Statue that was meant to be in the Sword Prison.

The shrunken, indistinct statue was successfully devoured.

This spectacle was clear for all to see, both within and beyond the forbidden area.

"Has the Grey Wolf King lost his mind? To swallow that statue!" exclaimed an onlooker.

The enchanting Peacock Queen sneered, "Has he been struck dumb? He must know the legend of that object and its malevolent nature!"

"It wasn't his intention to consume it. Didn't you notice the statue changed when Yu Yuan approached?" The Golden Elephant God furrowed his brow, sensing trouble. "Once Yu Yuan arrived, the previously indistinct faces of the statue became much clearer. As the Grey Wolf King swallowed it, the statue's sinister and evil aspect was fully exposed."

"What?" gasped the Peacock Queen.

The Grey Wolf King let out another thunderous howl, his massive form swelling further, radiating a brilliant silver glow. He then soared into the air and crashed into the nearest palace.

This palace, too, was crafted from the Mark of the Celestials, gleaming silver-white.

The light it emitted was dazzlingly silver, evidently the very essence of the moon itself.

Boom!

The towering palace, a hundred feet high, shook precariously as the Grey Wolf King struck it, causing it to veer off its intended path and disrupting the alignment of the Starhaven Formation.

For the first time, Cao Jiaze, stationed at the central palace, lost his usual confidence and calm. His eyes betrayed a hint of panic.

"Yu Yuan, how did you figure it out? How did you know that this Mark of the Celestials was also crafted using Moon Soul?" he demanded.

The Grey Wolf King let out a frenzied howl, swinging its wolf fang club wildly, battering the palace with blow after blow, and ramming it with its massive body.

The club itself did little to the structure, but the force of the wolf's body and the rending of its claws caused the silver-white palace's glyphs and magic diagrams to crack.

After consuming the moon, the Grey Wolf King seemed to go mad, as if possessed by a goast, complicating matters for Cao Jiaze.

Crack!

With its claws, the Grey Wolf King snapped off chunks of the palace's jade-like tiles.

As the palace continued to shift direction, the Soul Power that Cao Jiaze used to control the rune circle drained away rapidly due to the Grey Wolf King's havoc.

"No matter what Shadow's Keep thinks, if there's an inquiry afterward, have him killed!" Cao Jiaze, enraged and on the brink of losing control, issued a command to Guang Hong and the others, "Without his death, the grand formation cannot regain its full might!"

"Understood!"

The three Unbound cultivators abandoned their posts at the palaces associated with their spells, transforming into three streaks of light that hurtled toward the Grey Wolf King.

"Anyone who leaves the palace group is to be killed," Tian Zang bellowed.

"I've been eager to test the Ebon Star's spells," Xi Quan's chilling voice echoed, as a stark sword light materialized above the Grey Wolf King's head.

​