The silence that followed the Starlight Cleave's detonation wasn't just auditory. It was a profound, resonant absence within Xiang ZhiHun. The grinding, soul-crushing pressure of the Chainbound shackles – the constant companion for three agonizing years – vanished. Utterly. Completely. It left behind an echoing void, not empty, but pregnant with terrifying potential. He stood amidst the Kun Mountain devastation – glassy scars on ancient rock, the acrid tang of ozone and superheated stone, the faint, sterile scent of pure celestial annihilation, and the coppery warmth of his own blood trickling from his nose – but he was elsewhere. He was adrift in the infinite expanse within his own spirit.
Then, it detonated. Not externally, but internally. A silent, crystalline SNAP-CRACKLE-SHATTERresonated through his core, vibrating his bones, humming in the newly unbound Star Soul crystal embedded in his forehead. It was the sound of celestial ice fracturing under cosmic pressure, the final bonds dissolving into stardust. Release.
It wasn't a wave; it was a supernova erupting within his soul. Pure, unadulterated starlight flooded his being, scouring away the fatigue, the ache, the lingering psychic chill of the Chainbound Phantom's touch. It was breathing vacuum after drowning in mud – terrifyingly vast, exhilaratingly pure. His senses, already heightened by the Breakthrough Stage's initial rush, exploded into hyper-awareness.
Sight: The obsidian claws of the fallen Cerulean Beasts weren't inert trophies. He perceived the intricate lattice of their molecular structure, the trapped arcs of blue-white lightning energy humming within the crystalline sapphire like caged storms, the faint electromagnetic resonance echoing their final, furious shrieks. He saw the subtle gravitational eddies warping the shattered rock beneath his boots, the electromagnetic sigh of a dying solar flare light-years distant painting faint auroras on his retinas only he could perceive. The dying constellations above weren't points of light; they were vast, intricate tapestries of gravitational dance, the tidal pull of galaxies millions of light-years away whispering against the fabric of his spirit like tangible threads.
Sound: The wind wasn't just whistling; it was a symphony of pressure differentials, molecular collisions, and the infrasonic groan of tectonic plates miles below. He heard the faint, high-frequency hum of residual stellar energy bleeding from his own fading meteors, the subsonic thrum of the planet's core, the silent scream of light bending around distant black holes.
Scent/Taste: The air was a layered tapestry: ancient granite dust, sharp ozone, scorched keratin, the iron tang of his blood, the sterile void-scent of his own celestial discharge, and beneath it all, the crisp, impossibly clean fragrance of nascent nebulae and cosmic radiation. He tasted the spectral signature of his Starlight Cleave – not just ionized air, but the unique resonance frequency of his will made manifest energy.
Touch: The mountain wind wasn't cold; it was a river of kinetic energy particles flowing over his skin, each impact registering with micro-precision. He felt the residual heat radiating from the glassified rock, the faint electromagnetic tingle of the floating sapphire claws, the thrumming vibration of his own unbound power resonating through his marrow.
Energy – clean, vast, terrifyingly potent – surged through his veins, a raging stellar river replacing the strained, shackled trickle. Vitality, boundless and exhilarating, replaced the leaden fatigue. The Star Soul wasn't just unbound; it was awakened, a contained supernova cradled within his human frame, no longer straining against its cage but pulsing with eager, controlled potential. He had shattered the Chains. He stood firmly in the Breakthrough Stage.
He pushed himself up, swaying only slightly despite the battering his body had taken. The wind tore at his flame-red hair, a crimson banner against the bruised twilight. He looked at his hands. Violet starlight coalesced effortlessly, instantly, into a perfect, humming Starlight Blade, its edge shimmering with contained nebular fury that warped the light around it. A thought dissolved it into a shimmering Canis Minor Shield, the constellation pattern crisp, unwavering, radiating a palpable field of contained gravitational distortion. Another thought, and it reformed into harmless, orbiting violet lights dancing around his fingertips like playful, miniature stars. Control was fluid, instinctive, effortless. The desperate struggle, the agonizing focus for every spark, was a memory. The power was truly his.
A laugh burst from him – clear, bright, echoing off the peaks, mingling with the fading cosmic dirge of the shattered constellations within his soul. He'd done it. Not just survived the Crucible, but emerged forged.
His gaze fell upon the three floating sapphire claws, suspended in his violet starlight. Trophies? Proof? More. The scholar within him, the chronicler of cosmic legends, ignited alongside the starlight warrior. He perceived their resonance – not just captured lightning, but the essence of the high-altitude storm hunters, their predatory grace, their connection to the violent electromagnetic currents of the Kun peaks. Potential. Raw, resonant material. Could he… integrate it? Shape it? The analytical mind raced alongside the surging power.
Before the thought could crystallize, a distant SIGNATURE slammed into his expanded perception. Not a sight or sound, but a psychic tremor, a wave of raw, elemental fury carried on the psychic winds like the ozone scent before a supercell. Qing KunJue. From Sky University.
But it wasn't the cold, focused glacier, nor the volatile newborn Dragon. This was… ascension. A violent, explosive surge – Ice shattering into a new plateau of absolute zero mastery, Dragon lightning shedding its chaotic infancy and roaring into solidified, terrifying potential. Breakthrough. KunJue had broken through too. The signature flared – a brief, blinding spike of azure lightning intertwined with glacial certainty – before settling into a denser, far more dangerous hum. The icy fire had been tempered, forged sharper. The message was unmistakable: KunJue was evolving, rapidly. The bloodprice demanded by Jun Feng had been a crucible.
ZhiHun's eyes, still flickering with residual violet-gold light from the internal arena, narrowed. The competitive fire, banked during his internal apotheosis, roared back, hotter and brighter than the Cinderbrand's flame. Not just rivalry now, but a challenge etched across the mountains in psychic lightning. KunJue walked a path baptized in blood and annihilation; ZhiHun had shattered his chains under dying stars and cosmic judgment. Their journeys, parallel paths of ruthless ascent, were converging at terrifying speed.
He clenched a fist. The floating sapphire claws vibrated, resonating with his surging will. The scholar assessed, cataloged the new variables with cold precision: his own freedom, KunJue's explosive ascension, JunLun's sovereign wildfire aura sensed faintly elsewhere in the range, the ominous undercurrents from Principal Qin Jiang's confrontation with the abyss. The world wasn't static; it was a vortex pulling them towards an impending cataclysm. He needed more than freedom. He needed mastery. He needed an edge forged in the crucible he'd just survived.
He focused on the claws. Not as objects, but as concepts: Sky-Piercing Talon. Storm's Fury. Predatory Grace. He poured his will, his newly unbound Star Soul energy, into them. Violet starlight, thick as liquid nebula, flowed from his hands, engulfing the floating sapphire claws. They didn't melt; they absorbedthe energy, their crystalline structure singing as it reconfigured, infused with ZhiHun's celestial essence. The trapped blue-white lightning within flared, then harmonized, turning a deep, resonant violet shot through with azure veins. They elongated slightly, sharpened, their edges humming with contained spatial distortion. Mutation Technique: Stellar Infusion - Skyrender Talons! Three perfect, forearm-length gauntlets of reforged celestial sapphire and solidified starlight hovered before him, radiating potent energy.
As he reached out, intending to don them, the Star Soul crystal on his forehead blazed with sudden, blinding intensity. The Kun Mountain peak dissolved. Again, he stood in the Arena of Shattered Constellations, but it was different. The obsidian floor felt tangible, cold and unyielding. The dying cosmos above pressed down with palpable gravitational weight. The psychic dirge was a physical vibration in his chest.
The Chainbound Phantom was gone, defeated. But the Arena remained. It was the final barrier, the threshold to Embodiment. The Star Soul demanded not just control, but manifestation. It demanded its essence be made visible, its dominion asserted.
"Show me," ZhiHun whispered, his voice echoing strangely in the cosmic amphitheater. He didn't summon a technique. He summoned his identity. The scholar who deciphered celestial myths. The warrior who wielded starfire. The survivor who shattered chains. "Mutation Pose: Descending Star Sovereign - EMBODIED!"
The transformation wasn't slow or agonizing this time. It was instantaneous, effortless, radiating profound authority. His wild flame-red hair transformed instantly into flowing strands of shimmering, liquid starlight purple, crackling with contained energy. He floated, not inches, but several feet above the obsidian, radiating calm, celestial power. His bright hazel eyes vanished, replaced by blazing orbs of pure, glowing amethyst light, casting long violet shadows. The crystal on his forehead pulsed like a micro-quasar, veins of violet light spreading across his skin like luminous constellations tattooed in living light. The air around him warped passively, light bending, gravity subtly shifting. This was the effortless, instantaneous Pose of the Embodiment Stage.
Then came the Mutation Manifestation. It bloomed from him, not around him. A zone of influence, ten yards in radius, materialized. The obsidian floor within it became a swirling nebula of violet and indigo stardust, dotted with countless pinpricks of light – miniature constellations. The air hummed with contained cosmic energy, smelling of ozone, vacuum, and nascent star formation. Within this zone, reality subtly bent to ZhiHun's will: gravity fluctuated in localized pockets, light dimmed or intensified, electromagnetic fields gently stirred. This was the Stellar Dominion Field. His very presence warped the fabric of space within its bounds, enhancing his celestial techniques and passively disrupting foreign energies.
But it wasn't passive alone. At the center of the Field, just above ZhiHun's outstretched hand, a complex, three-dimensional constellation materialized – the Canis Minor Mandala. It wasn't static; its stars pulsed, shifted, and realigned, projecting complex geometric fields of force, gravitational lensing effects, or focused beams of stellar energy based on his intent. It was the tactical mind of the scholar made manifest, the heart of his Stellar Dominion.
The Arena of Shattered Constellations dissolved, the Kun Mountain ridge snapping back. ZhiHun stood, not just in Breakthrough, but radiating the effortless power of the Embodiment Stage. The reforged Skyrender Talons snapped onto his forearms with a thought, the violet-azure claws humming in harmony with his Manifestation. The Stellar Dominion Field faded to a subtle aura, but its potential thrummed beneath his skin, ready to bloom instantly.
He looked towards the distant university, the Mutation Tower a faint beacon. His name would blaze anew: Xiang ZhiHun - Star Soul (Embodiment Stage). But the Tower's glory was incidental. He sensed KunJue's denser, colder signature, JunLun's regal wildfire aura. The vortex was tightening. He had his freedom, his mastery, his edge forged from storm-hunter claws and cosmic will.
A fierce, starlit smile touched his lips, reflecting in the polished surfaces of the Skyrender Talons. He was ready. Not just to meet them, but to shape the chaos to come. With the heart of a sovereign star and the mind that charted celestial revolutions, Xiang ZhiHun launched himself down the mountain path, a streak of controlled violet light against the darkening peaks, the Embodiment of the Star Soul blazing a trail through the gathering storm. The climb was over. The dominion had begun.