The portal widened with a sound like grinding bones, its edges twisting into spirals of shadow and light. The air trembled. Even the Sanctuary's ancient formations flickered in instinctive fear as the aura seeped out—not merely powerful, but absolute.
Xiao Wang stepped forward immediately, raising the Devouring Sword.
Yun Xi threw an arm across his chest, stopping him.
"No. Stand back."
Her voice shook—not from weakness, but from knowing exactly what was coming.
The silver-haired girl clutched Xiao Wang's sleeve. "What is the Abyssal Hunt? Why… why does it feel like the end of a world is stepping through?"
Before Xiao Wang could respond, a second voice echoed from the portal.
Cold.
Ancient.
Full of contempt.
"A designated target has awakened forbidden fragments. The Hunt will not cease until termination."
Footsteps echoed.
And then—A figure emerged.
He was tall, thin, and draped in a robe woven from the darkness between stars. His skin was pale, almost translucent, veins glowing faintly with celestial energy. His eyes were nothing but two empty voids—no pupils, no whites, just endless darkness.
The silver-haired girl gasped. "No… not a Void Executor…"
Yun Xi's expression hardened. "Worse."
She stepped forward and whispered one word that caused even the Sanctuary walls to shudder.
"A Abyssal Hunter."
Xiao Wang narrowed his eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Yun Xi didn't look at him. She kept her gaze fixed on the creature.
"A weapon Heaven forged from the remnants of annihilated worlds. They exist for one purpose—to exterminate beings Heaven marks as… uncontainable."
The Abyssal Hunter raised a hand. Its joints crackled like branches snapping in frozen wind.
"Target located."
Its gaze—or the voids where its eyes should have been—locked directly onto Xiao Wang.
"Designation: Forbidden Soul. Fragmented Emperor. Reincarnated Devourer. Sword Origin Vessel."
Its arm rose slowly, movement scraping reality itself.
"Commencing eradication."
Before Xiao Wang could move, Yun Xi flicked her sleeve.
A barrier of luminous golden patterns ripped open in front of him, swirling like a vortex of celestial scripts.
The Abyssal Hunter's attack hit the barrier first.
The impact was silent.
Utterly silent.
The barrier shattered without a sound.
Yun Xi staggered backward coughing blood. The silver-haired girl caught her, panic filling her eyes.
"Yun Xi! Yun Xi, are you—"
Yun Xi wiped her mouth. "Stay back. Stay away from him."
Xiao Wang stepped past both women, expression cold.
"I'll handle it."
His other personality sighed dramatically. "Finally. I was getting bored. Let's break this thing."
The Devouring Sword hummed, eager.
As Xiao Wang advanced, the Hunter raised its hand again. Black marks crawled across its skin, glowing with judgmental light.
"Vitality analysis complete."
Its voice carried the tone of a decree.
"Your existence is unstable. You are a threat to heaven's order. You are a threat to all realms. You are—"
Xiao Wang vanished.
He appeared directly in front of the Abyssal Hunter, Devouring Sword swinging horizontally.
The blade struck the creature's chest.
Black-gold devouring energy erupted.
The Sanctuary floor splintered under the force. The Hunter was thrown backward, crashing into a crumbling pillar.
The void in its eyes flickered once.
"Unexpected resistance."
Xiao Wang lowered his sword slightly.
"That wasn't resistance," he said calmly. "That was me saying hello."
His other personality added proudly, "We're very friendly."
The Hunter stood motionless for a moment before speaking again.
"Analyzing. Adjusting power output."
The portal behind it pulsed.
A surge of darkness crawled across the Hunter's limbs. Its body enlarged, bones popping as its frame restructured itself.
Yun Xi's face paled. "It's adapting to your strength."
The silver-haired girl grabbed Xiao Wang's arm urgently. "We have to run!"
Xiao Wang shook her off.
"Running won't help."
He stepped forward.
The Hunter stepped forward.
They clashed.
The Hunter's claw slashed downward, carrying enough force to rip open the fabric of space. Xiao Wang blocked with the Devouring Sword, sparks of devouring light and abyssal power exploding outward.
Xiao Wang gritted his teeth.
The strength behind that claw was monstrous—far beyond the Heavenly Executioner General he'd fought earlier.
His other personality groaned. "Okay, now it's getting fun."
Xiao Wang rotated his wrist and swung the sword upward, releasing a spiral of devouring energy.
The Hunter caught it.
With its bare hand.
"Energy consumption detected," it murmured. "Adapting countermeasure."
The sword technique was absorbed—disappearing into the Hunter's palm like it had swallowed the devouring energy whole.
Xiao Wang froze for a split second.
It absorbed devouring force?
The Devouring Sword spirit hissed in alarm. "Boy… this one was designed to kill us specifically!"
The Hunter struck again.
Xiao Wang jumped back, barely dodging as the blow carved a trench dozens of meters deep in the Sanctuary floor.
Yun Xi shouted, "You must not let it touch your blood! If it analyzes your essence, it'll evolve again!"
Xiao Wang narrowed his eyes.
"Then I won't give it the chance."
He darted forward and unleashed a barrage of rapid slashes, each swing distorting the surrounding space. The entire chamber filled with light from the sword's devouring aura.
But the Hunter moved unnaturally, tilting its head and torso in impossible angles, dodging with jerky yet disturbingly precise motions.
It raised a hand.
"Conclusion reached."
A mark appeared on its forearm—glowing with divine symbols.
Xiao Wang felt a chill.
The abyssal voice echoed once more.
"Your existence is incompatible with Heaven's future."
It thrust its arm forward.
A blast of compressed annihilation shot toward Xiao Wang.
He blocked with the Devouring Sword, both arms trembling under the insane force.
The explosion hurled him across the chamber. He slammed into a wall, coughing blood.
The silver-haired girl cried out and sprinted toward him, but Yun Xi held her back.
"No! Stay away! It will target you too!"
Xiao Wang wiped the blood from his lip, breathing heavily.
His body ached. His bones rattled. His new emperor-enhanced physique struggled to contain the backlash.
His other personality murmured quietly, surprising even Xiao Wang.
"Alright… that hurt."
The Hunter began walking toward him.
"Termination inevitable."
Xiao Wang forced himself to stand.
"I'm not done."
Yun Xi stepped forward, tears in her eyes.
"You can't defeat this thing alone. You need to—"
She stopped.
The floor beneath Xiao Wang cracked in a perfect circle.
A golden sigil burned beneath his feet.
Yun Xi's eyes widened. "He's awakening another fragment—"
The Devouring Sword spirit roared, "Not him—LOOK BEHIND YOU!"
Xiao Wang stopped breathing.
A fracture opened behind him.
A new presence spilled out—sharp, cold, ancient.
It wasn't the Emperor.
It wasn't the Devourer.
It was the third crown.
A voice that sounded like steel drawn across the cosmos whispered:
"Move aside."
Xiao Wang's body jerked.
His mind snapped inward.
And when he spoke again—
his voice was not his own.
It was older.
Sharper.
Unforgiving.
"This enemy… is mine."
The First Sword Ancestor had awakened.
And the Abyssal Hunter paused for the first time.
It recognized the threat.
The silver-haired girl trembled.
Yun Xi covered her mouth in shock.
Xiao Wang's body straightened.
His gaze turned impossibly sharp.
His presence rose to a level beyond Core Formation, beyond the Sanctuary's natural limits.
And the sword in his hand cried with joy.
The Sword Ancestor personality whispered one final thing:
"This hunt… ends now."