CHAPTER 72 — Starbirth Cataclysm
The air collapsed into silence.
Every demonic cultivator froze—not out of discipline, but out of instinct.
Every beast shuddered and whimpered.
Every puppet paused mid-step as its formation core flickered.
Because the world itself was holding its breath.
Behind Lin Xuan…
The miniature sun hanging in the air cracked again.
CRRRR-CRACK—!
Golden fissures spidered across its surface like divine lightning etched into molten starfire.
The light pouring from it grew so bright that shadows disappeared, swallowed whole.
The demonic commander's face drained of all color.
"THAT ISN'T A TECHNIQUE!" he screamed.
"THAT ISN'T CULTIVATION—THAT IS A WORLD EVOLUTION! RUN! RUN—!!!"
But there was nowhere to run.
Lin Xuan made sure of that.
The army had packed itself too tightly around him, drawn by bloodlust, arrogance, and greed. Now they stood shoulder to shoulder, thousands deep, forming a circle of living fuel.
Exactly as Lin intended.
He lifted his head.
His eyes glowed like twin suns.
And he whispered:
> "Supernova."
---
The Star Implodes
The miniature sun behind Lin Xuan collapsed inward like a dying star inhaling the sky.
First a flash of black—too dense, too bright, too wrong—
Then an explosion of light so powerful it erased sound.
BOOOOOOOOM—!!!
The world vanished under a tidal wave of solar fire.
---
Instant Obliteration
Demonic cultivators closest to Lin didn't even have time to scream.
They evaporated—skin, bones, cores, memories—all turned to nothing in a millisecond.
Beast kings disintegrated, their charred skeletons vaporizing before hitting the ground.
Puppet armies melted into rivers of molten metal.
Demonic elders shrieked as their protective treasures shattered like glass.
The corrupted ground surged upward, then outward, ripped apart by a shockwave that expanded in a perfect sphere around Lin.
Trees flattened.
Stone cliffs shattered.
The sky turned white.
The demonic commander tried to escape.
He used ten movement arts.
He burned half his soul.
He ripped open his meridians and forced his cultivation to its absolute limit—
But he didn't make it two steps before the explosion reached him.
His flesh blistered.
His bones ignited.
His dantian ruptured.
He screamed:
"THIS ISN'T A MORTAL!!!
THIS IS A—"
He never finished.
The shockwave vaporized him, leaving only drifting ash.
---
A Crater Where a Mountain Once Stood
The solar blast swallowed half the forest, carving a crater so large and deep it resembled a wound in the world itself.
The explosion raged for thirty seconds.
When it finally dimmed, the sky turned black from the burn.
Lightning flickered inside the clouds.
The earth still glowed molten red.
And in the center of the crater…
Lin Xuan was still standing.
Alone.
Bleeding.
Burning.
Breathing.
Alive.
Barely.
---
Consequences of Power
Blood dripped down his arm in slow, heavy drops.
His ribs were cracked.
His skin blistered.
His meridians roared like boiling rivers.
A piece of bone jutted from his shoulder.
He dropped to one knee.
Haaah… haaah…
His vision blurred.
His heartbeat slowed.
He felt himself sinking.
But he smiled.
A broken, proud, exhausted smile.
Because he did it.
He wiped out thousands.
Saved everyone.
And bought time for Cloudsky Sect.
---
Inner Earth — Chaos & Awe
Inside Lin's world, Cloudsky disciples collapsed as the ground beneath them quaked like the end of days.
Mu fell to her knees, clutching the soil.
Wen gripped a tree trunk so hard it cracked.
Bai cursed and shouted at the sky, voice hoarse:
"LIN! YOU CRAZY—INSANE—STUPID—GENIUS—DON'T YOU DIE OUT THERE!!!"
Even the elders in the lotus healing fields stared upward as the entire realm shook.
Massive cracks ripped through the skies of Lin's inner Earth—
Not from damage, but from evolution.
Rivers rerouted.
Mountains shifted.
The inner sun swelled, growing hotter.
The sky turned bluer, richer, thicker with qi.
The entire realm was reconstructing itself to handle Lin's new power.
---
Upgrade Complete — Birth of a Stellar Domain
Back in the crater, Lin gasped as the star behind him reformed—not as a simple sun, but as something larger. More complex. More divine.
His solar system no longer contained one star.
It contained:
Two.
A binary star system.
Twin suns orbiting one another in perfect harmony.
Their combined gravitational pull expanded his inner world.
Their radiance infused his meridians.
Their heat tempered his bones.
Lin's cultivation surged far past peak Golden Core—
—straight toward pseudo-Nascent Soul,
powered by a dual-star core unlike anything the continent had ever seen.
And then…
Heaven noticed.
---
Heaven's Fury Descends
Thunder cracked across the sky.
Flames of tribulation spiraled downward.
Black lightning tore open the clouds in jagged, snarling arcs.
A roar of celestial wrath shook the entire region.
WORLD TRIBULATION.
Not personal tribulation.
Not realm tribulation.
Not pill tribulation.
This was the heavens declaring:
"You have overstepped."
A bolt of celestial lightning—ten miles long—fell directly toward Lin's skull.
Wen, inside the inner world, screamed uselessly.
Mu covered her mouth in horror.
Bai punched the ground, eyes swollen red.
"LIN—!!!"
But outside, Lin did not flee.
He stood.
He lifted his hand.
And when the world-splitting lightning struck—
he absorbed it.
His body spasmed.
His star core screamed.
His meridians nearly tore apart.
Lightning filled him.
Burned him.
Empowered him.
Changed him.
---
Tribulation Lightning — Awakening
When the lightning died, Lin collapsed to one knee—
—and rose again.
His eyes glowed with swirling gold and violet sparks.
Lightning danced across his skin, refusing to dissipate.
Not normal lightning.
Tribulation lightning.
He whispered, voice hoarse:
> "Now my lightning… carries judgment."
The heavens boomed once more.
But Lin only smirked.
Because he wasn't done.
Enemies survived the blast.
Hidden demonic assassins.
A few beast kings.
And distant demonic observers trembling from afar.
Lin raised his spear.
Lightning crackled through the air.
And with a single thrust—
he unleashed a bolt of tribulation lightning that erased the survivors from existence.
---
Lin Xuan—bleeding, exhausted, but alive—standing in the center of a crater the size of a lake.
His body radiating dual-star light.
Lightning sparking from his fingertips.
Demonic forces shattered.
Cloudsky Sect saved—for now.
And in the skies above, cultivators across the continent looked toward the direction of Cloudsky Sect…
trembling at the terrifying heavenly phenomenon.
> "A new monster has been born."
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