The moonlight wavered over the bloodied plains, casting a fragile glow on the aftermath of the battle. Smoke curled into the heavens like the breath of dying titans. The Soultear Plains were now silent save for the crackling of broken arrays and the groans of the wounded. A moment of quiet—hard-earned, brittle as glass.
Li Yi stood in the center of a ruined formation circle, his body flickering with residual chaos flames. His robes had been shredded during the final blow against the Pale Maiden, and his skin bore burns, slashes, and puncture wounds. Yet his eyes gleamed with unshaken will.
The Pale Maiden had fallen. The rift remained open. The true war was only beginning.
Behind him, Lan Qing'er approached swiftly, her hands glowing with verdant healing light. "Hold still."
"I'm fine," Li Yi said, but his voice was hoarse.
"You're not." She pressed a palm to his back, closing the still-leaking wound from the Void Dagger. Her brow furrowed. "Her attack didn't just harm your body. It's eating into your soul."
"I felt it," he admitted. "It's like a curse made from silence."
"She left a brand," Xue Lian said, appearing beside them with her twin sabers still slick with abyssal ichor. "I watched it form. It clings to your aura like tar."
"Then I'll burn it away," Li Yi said flatly, turning his gaze toward the dimming rift in the sky. "Everything burns."
---
Elsewhere — Abyssal Throne
The throne in the Abyss trembled. The formless presence no longer sat idly—it seethed.
"She failed," the Beastmaster growled.
The Void Heir bowed deeper. "The Chaos Heir has advanced again. His bloodline has nearly broken its shell."
The presence pulsed, and the shadows in the throne room slithered in pain. From the wall of void-mist behind it, something enormous stirred. An eye, older than suns, cracked open—filled with dark stars.
> "Then he must not ascend. Send the Drowned Legion. Send the Bonehorn Saint. Bring the Sleeper from the Third Abyss."
The darkness howled in approval.
The true waves of war were only now forming.
---
Qingxuan Alliance — Strategic Summit
Three days passed in regrouping and repairs. Spiritual architects from the Heavenly Engravers' Guild worked day and night to rebuild the defensive formations around the Soultear Plains. Healers and alchemists treated thousands. Across the realm, cultivators flocked to the call of unity.
Li Yi remained in seclusion.
He sat in meditation within a sacred cave once used by Qingxuan sages, surrounded by floating orbs of starlight. The Chaos Core inside him had reached a critical threshold. Every breath pulled the essence of the stars closer to his body.
He saw his past.
The infant left behind in the rain.
The mortal years in the Xuan Realm's lower provinces.
The spark of chaos within his soul, waiting.
He saw the future.
A world in flames. Celestial thrones crumbling. The silhouette of a woman with eyes like galaxies whispering his name from beyond a shattered gate.
Then, the pressure exploded.
His cultivation surged, the Heaven Ascension Realm — Late Stage erupting through his meridians like a tidal wave. The cave trembled. The sacred sigils around him pulsed in warning but held.
He opened his eyes—blazing with black flame tinged in gold.
"I'm not done yet."
---
Alliance Command — War Council
When Li Yi emerged, the war council was already underway. Elders from twelve great sects, envoys from the Northern Tribes, representatives from rogue cultivators, and even a few immortal-rank recluses had gathered.
Mo Ruyan briefed the room: "The rift hasn't expanded, but it's stable. We estimate it could allow the entrance of Abyss Saints soon. We must prepare."
One of the Elders, a silver-haired master from the Mistveil Sect, spoke grimly. "We need outside support. The Upper Realm branches must be contacted."
Li Yi stepped forward. "They already know. And they're coming."
A stir passed through the room.
Lan Qing'er added, "A message from the Li Family's Upper Branch was received last night. They're sending the Sky-Forged Battalion and several Divine Guard units."
"And the Xuanlong Pavilion is dispatching their Vice Saint," Xue Lian added. "They will arrive in no more than six days."
An old cultivator laughed bitterly. "Only six days? We might not survive six hours once the next tide hits."
Li Yi slammed his palm down, a projection of the battlefield lighting up in midair. "Then we strike first."
A beat of silence.
"You're suggesting we enter the Abyss?" Elder Wen asked.
"No," Li Yi said. "We enter the rim—the Veil Expanse. We attack their staging grounds, disrupt the summoning circles, and destroy their soul-farms."
"It's suicide," one master murmured.
"It's necessary," Li Yi replied. "Or we'll die waiting."
---
Preparation for the Veil Strike
The strike force was selected carefully: elite teams from every faction, spiritual tacticians, artifact masters, and mobile formation experts. Li Yi would lead the first wave.
Mo Ruyan would oversee the stabilizing formation at the rift's edge. Lan Qing'er and Xue Lian would accompany the main assault squad.
In the dead of night, beneath the gaze of the unblinking stars, Li Yi stood beside a strange floating monolith: a Gate-Key from the Upper Realm, gifted by the Li Family and activated using the blood of their line.
He sliced his palm and pressed it to the monolith.
A ring of celestial symbols ignited.
The gate to the Veil Expanse opened—screaming like a soul torn from time.
Li Yi turned to the assembled cultivators. "No hesitation. No mercy. We walk where light fears to tread."
And then, they entered the Abyss.
---
The Veil Expanse
They emerged into a realm of shadows and bone.
The sky was a swirling cauldron of ash. Trees grew upside-down from the air, dripping black ichor. Rivers ran red and screamed when stepped upon. Mountains floated, chained by iron roots to keep them from drifting into madness.
And the wind carried whispers—memories from the dead.
But Li Yi felt no fear.
His Chaos Core pulsed strongly, guiding him like a flame through pitch darkness. He raised his sword.
"Move."
The strike teams spread into formation. Silent spells masked their presence. Mo Ruyan began deploying anchoring seals to keep the gate behind them from collapsing.
But the Abyss had already noticed them.
From behind a jagged hill of rusted weapons, a host of Drowned Souls emerged—creatures once human, now drowned in cursed lakes and resurrected in madness.
Li Yi didn't wait.
He moved like a starfall, his sword cleaving through their ranks. With each step, the ground lit up with chaos sigils, burning their corrupted essence away. Behind him, Lan Qing'er unleashed storms of spiritual vines. Xue Lian blurred in and out of the shadows, her sabers singing.
They reached the first summoning circle—a pillar of inverted flame that extended into the sky.
Li Yi thrust his palm into its center and poured pure Chaos Flame into it.
The circle cracked. Screamed. And died.
He didn't stop to celebrate.
More were waiting.
---
Counterattack of the Abyss
But the Abyss is not without its kings.
As the cultivators pressed deeper, a horn sounded—a sound that echoed in the soul, dredging up every fear ever known.
The Bonehorn Saint descended.
He was a colossus of bone, wearing a crown of skulls, each of which still whispered the names of the lives they had devoured. His voice was like a thousand drums.
> "You enter my dominion. You will never leave."
He raised his hand, and the ground vomited forth an army of skeletal titans.
The cultivators braced.
Li Yi stepped forward.
This time, he didn't ignite his blade.
He ignited the sky.
> "Chaos Domain — Starbirth Crucible!"
The Veil Expanse split. Light—not of the sun, but of primal chaos—blossomed across the horizon, purging corruption as it spread.
The Bonehorn Saint roared and charged.
The clash would be remembered as the Veil Sundering.
---
End of Chapter 36