Start from a baby to become a Taoist

Chapter 461 The Silent Galaxy!

The 469th segment of the dormant star core has been completely detonated!
"Senior!" Xu Qinghan's vision blurred with tears. She knew that these guardians, for her sake and for the continuation of the torch, were heading towards an abyss of no return.

She rushed toward the network of embers, trying to reach out and grab those disappearing figures, but her hand passed through their illusory forms, touching only cold nothingness.

"Go! Child! This is the mission of the torch! It is also our destiny!" The old man's voice, with a hint of relief and calm, rang in Xu Qinghan's ears. His figure appeared particularly clear in the torch network, yet it was also the most dim, as if he would completely merge into nothingness at any moment.

His gaze pierced through the distorted space, landing on Xu Qinghan, filled with boundless love and expectation: "The torch... the eternal... hope... is in you..."

Before he finished speaking, the old man's figure trembled violently, and the light around him dimmed instantly. He then transformed into a golden stream of light, rushing into the deepest part of the desolate star core to make a final stand against the power that was about to explode.

"No!" Xu Qinghan screamed in despair. She felt an indescribable grief and anger explode in her chest. It was the price of the sacrifice of the guardians of the torch, the weight of the mission on her shoulders.

She turned abruptly, without hesitation. She knew she couldn't let their sacrifices be in vain! She had to live, she had to become stronger, and she had to turn the eternal hope of their legacy into reality!
The ancient divine flame within her surged with grief and rage, and the newly fused annihilation star core fire was also fully activated at this moment, merging with her primordial flame and unleashing unprecedented power. An incomparably blazing golden light burst forth from between her brows, instantly vaporizing the surrounding void.

"Lord of Nothingness! I will not let you succeed!" Xu Qinghan roared, her voice filled with an indomitable will and an eternal belief.

She shot skyward with incredible speed, transforming into a golden streak of light, heading straight for the outer space of the Desolate Star Core. She knew she had to escape this perilous place before the Desolate Star Core completely detonated!

However, would the Lord of Nothingness let her go so easily?
"Torchbearer! You cannot escape!" The voice of the Lord of Nothingness, like a whisper from the deepest abyss, echoed in Xu Qinghan's ears with endless coldness and mockery.

The detonation speed of the annihilation star core suddenly accelerated, and streams of pitch-black void energy, like countless tentacles, burst out from the planet's interior, wrapping around Xu Qinghan and attempting to drag her back into the abyss of death.

Xu Qinghan gritted her teeth and channeled the Ancient God's Flame with all her might. A blazing barrier of flame formed around her body, instantly vaporizing the ethereal tentacles. She concentrated all her power in her feet, her movements reaching extreme speed, like golden lightning slicing through the darkness.

"Rumble--"

Just as Xu Qinghan was about to burst out of the atmosphere of the desolate star's core, a deafening roar came from behind her!

The dormant star core has completely exploded!

An endless void force spread outwards like a tsunami, devouring all matter and obliterating all laws. It was not a simple explosion, but more like the collapse of the universe's origin, with a void black hole instantly forming, threatening to suck everything around it into it.

Xu Qinghan felt an irresistible force strike her from behind. She coughed up a mouthful of blood and was thrown away like a kite with a broken string. The protective barrier of fire around her shattered instantly under the impact of the void torrent. Her body was instantly eroded by the terrifying power of nothingness, her flesh and bones were mangled and made a teeth-grinding grinding sound.

"The flame... will never be extinguished..." Xu Qinghan roared in pain. She endured the excruciating pain and forcefully activated the ancient god's flame mark between her brows.

At the critical moment, the mark erupted with unprecedented light, and a blazing golden flame burst forth from her body, transforming into a golden vortex that instantly absorbed the void power surrounding her. Then, it suddenly exploded, instantly purifying that void power.

At the same time, her body was thrown millions of miles away by the terrifying shockwave, eventually crashing heavily into a barren meteorite, shattering it into pieces.

Xu Qinghan's body felt like it was falling apart. She lay amidst the shattered meteorite debris, gasping for breath, her entire body wracked with pain. Her consciousness was hazy, but the ancient divine flame mark between her brows still emitted a faint light, like a guiding light in the darkness, stubbornly flickering.

She struggled to sit up and looked up.

The original location of the dormant star core is now nothing but a pitch-black void, with a massive, ever-expanding black hole devouring everything around it. The black hole is profound and terrifying, seemingly capable of sucking the entire universe into it.

The brilliance of the Spark Network has also completely vanished.

Xu Qinghan's heart clenched. She knew that those guardians of the flame, those heroic spirits who sacrificed themselves for the hope of the flame, had completely vanished into nothingness.

“Seniors… Yu Kong… I will not let your sacrifices be in vain…” Xu Qinghan’s voice was hoarse, filled with endless grief and unwavering determination. She clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms, but she felt no pain. She only felt an unprecedented power surging within her, the final legacy left to her by the Guardians of the Flame, their indomitable will, their eternal faith.

She slowly closed her eyes, letting the tears fall.

After an unknown amount of time, when she opened her eyes again, there were no tears in them, only a deep golden light, and a sense of vicissitude and determination beyond her years.

She felt the surging power of the ancestral flame within her body, a power several times stronger than before. Although the spark of the Extinction Star Core had been passively fused with it at a critical moment, the ancient ancestral flame it contained had given her ancient god's ancestral flame unprecedented nourishment.

She could clearly feel that her flame was more closely connected to the origin of the universe, as if she could hear the rhythm of the universe's vitality and feel the breath of distant stars.

Xu Qinghan took a deep breath, calming the turmoil in her heart. She knew this was not the time for grief. She had to return to the Flame Sanctuary as soon as possible to inform the elder about the situation with the Desolate Star Core and prepare for the next trial.

However, when she tried to sense the location of the Firewood Shelter, she found herself surrounded by nothingness, as if she had been abandoned at the edge of the universe and lost her way.

The detonation of the annihilation star core not only destroyed that star field, but also completely disrupted the positioning of the Torch Network.

"Damn it!" Xu Qinghan's heart sank. Where was she now? How far was she from the Fire of Life Shelter?

She tried to activate the Flame Mark between her brows, hoping to contact the shelter through the Flame Network. However, the Flame Network was as if it had been cut off, completely silent and unresponsive.

A sense of unease welled up in Xu Qinghan's heart. The Flame Guardians had paid such a huge price to suppress the explosion of the Annihilation Star Core, and the Flame Network had also been severely damaged as a result. Now, she was truly all alone.

She looked around, and all she could see was endless darkness and cold. Occasionally, fragments of broken stars floated in the void, the aftershocks of the extinct star's core explosion.

Xu Qinghan took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She knew that panicking would be useless. She had to find her way back to the Sanctuary of the Ancient Gods. She focused the power of the Ancient Gods' Flame into her eyes, her gaze piercing through the endless darkness, trying to find any clue.

After an unknown amount of time, her gaze suddenly sharpened.

In the distant depths of the starry sky, she saw a faint light. Though faint, the light carried a familiar aura—the aura of a torch!

Xu Qinghan was overjoyed. She knew that must be the direction of the Fire of Life Shelter!
Without the slightest hesitation, she transformed into a golden streak of light and rushed straight toward that faint ray of light.

The journey was long and fraught with unknowns and dangers. She traversed star fields corrupted by the power of nothingness, avoided the void creatures wandering the universe, and even felt the omnipresent pressure of the Lord of Nothingness.

Her body gradually recovered during her journey, and the power of the Flame within her became more refined. She began to experiment with the power of the newly fused Flame Seed, and she discovered that the Flame Seed from the Extinction Star Core not only enhanced her Flame Seed Power but also greatly increased her resistance to the power of nothingness. She could even sense a trace of primal fluctuation within the power of nothingness; though faint, it deepened her understanding of nothingness.

This was perhaps an outcome the Lord of Nothingness had not foreseen. As one of the birthplaces of the Flame of Annihilation, even though the core of the Star Core was eroded by Nothingness, it still contained a mystery that was connected to the origin of Nothingness.

Finally, after a long journey of several days, Xu Qinghan saw that familiar valley again.

A haven of hope!

She felt a sense of relief, and her tense nerves finally relaxed.

However, as she approached the shelter, she found the atmosphere unusually heavy.

The altar fire in the center of the valley glowed much dimmer than before, as if it might go out at any moment. Around the altar, the aged figures were now even more hunched over, their breaths faint, like candles flickering in the wind.

Xu Qinghan's heart sank. She knew that the Flame Guardians had paid an unimaginable price to suppress the detonation of the Annihilation Star Core.

She landed before the altar, her gaze sweeping over the familiar figures. She saw that many of the guardians who had been there were now gone. In their places, only empty prayer mats remained, along with the faint afterglow of the embers of the fire.

"Senior!" Xu Qinghan walked quickly to the old man, her voice trembling slightly.

The old man slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was cloudy and weary, but when he saw Xu Qinghan, a hint of surprise and relief flashed in his eyes.

"Qinghan...you're back..." the old man said hoarsely, his voice weak.

"Senior, how are you? Xin Huo Network..." Xu Qinghan asked anxiously.

The old man sighed softly and slowly shook his head: "The Flame Network... has suffered a severe blow. Many guardians... burned their very essence to suppress the explosion of the Annihilation Star Core, and vanished completely..."

Xu Qinghan felt a sudden pang of pain in her heart. Although she had expected it, hearing it with her own ears still caused her excruciating grief.

"The Annihilation Star Core... was it a success?" the old man asked with difficulty, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

Xu Qinghan suddenly raised her head, her eyes flashing with determination: "Success! The spark of the Annihilation Star Core has been integrated into my Ancient God's Flame!"

Upon hearing this, the old man's cloudy eyes suddenly blazed with brilliant light, and he trembled with excitement: "Good! Good! The flame will never be extinguished! Hope will live on forever!"

He struggled to reach out and press his hand against Xu Qinghan's brow. Xu Qinghan could feel a faint but pure power of the ancient divine flame flowing from the old man's palm into her body, nourishing her ancient divine flame.

The old man closed his eyes, carefully sensing the fluctuations of the primordial fire within Xu Qinghan's body. After a moment, he slowly withdrew his hand, a relieved smile appearing on his face.

"Your ignition... is several times stronger than before. The spark from the core of the annihilated star contains the ancient source of the ignition; by fusing with it, your resistance to the void has also greatly increased. This is a stroke of good fortune amidst misfortune," the old man said softly.

Xu Qinghan felt a pang of sadness. This so-called stroke of luck was bought with the lives of countless guardians of the torch.

"Senior, what should we do next?" Xu Qinghan asked.

The old man's gaze swept over the empty prayer cushions around the altar, a hint of pity flashing in his eyes.

"Although the Flame Network has been severely damaged, it has not been completely severed. The wills of those vanished guardians have merged with the Flame, becoming part of the Flame Network, and they continue to silently protect us." The old man's voice was deep. "However, the Flame Network will need a long time to recover. And you... your trial cannot stop."

He raised his hand and pointed to the star map, which was now even dimmer, but the countless points of light adorning it were still clearly visible.

"The extinction of the star core is only the first step in the reunification of the flames," the old man said slowly. "The scattered embers of the flame in the universe are far more numerous than you can imagine. Some have been eroded by nothingness, some have been hidden by ancient guardians, and some have even been forgotten in the long river of time."

He pointed to a dim point of light on the star map, shrouded in a dense aura of nothingness: "The next target is the 'Void Tomb'."

"The Tomb of the Void?" Xu Qinghan's heart skipped a beat. She had read about this name in ancient books. It was a legendary place, said to be the burial place of countless ancient civilizations, and one of the battlefields of the Lord of Nothingness.

"The Void Tomb was once a prosperous star field, but it was completely destroyed by the Lord of Nothingness in the distant past. The Lord of Nothingness laid down the 'Void Burial Sky Array' there, turning the entire star field into a desolate graveyard to bury those beings corrupted by the Void." The old man's voice was solemn. "And the embers of the flame were suppressed in the deepest part of the Void Tomb, guarded by endless Void vengeful spirits and fallen ones."

“Void Wraiths… Fallen Ones…” Xu Qinghan’s heart pounded. She recalled the Fallen Ones she had encountered on the ancient battlefield of the starry sky, and the Void creatures she had met in the Desolate Star Core. The Void Tomb sounded even more dangerous than the Desolate Star Core.

(End of this chapter)