The Restriction Erupts

Under the cold moonlight, the Sinking Sands continued to shift like a buried river flowing beneath the desert. The lower half of the Sand Fox King was already trapped, while layer after layer of sand slid down around its belly and flanks, steadily stripping away what little support remained. The beast growled and searched for purchase with its foreclaws, but whenever it shifted its weight to one side, the seemingly solid sand there cracked and collapsed.

Hao Nhien stood on a relatively stable patch of sand not far away. Spirit Wings remained only slightly open behind him, lightening his body just enough to keep the shifting sand from dragging him out of position. The heavy sword was still in his hand, its blade stained with both the beast’s blood and his own. His left shoulder burned, and his right arm had begun to go numb after enduring repeated impacts, but his eyes remained clear.

He knew this could not yet be considered a victory.

The Sand Fox King had sunk almost to its belly, yet its aura remained powerful. More importantly, it was no longer struggling wildly as it had at first. The beast had begun to slow itself down, adjusting its balance and testing one direction after another in search of sand that could still bear its weight. That reaction alone was enough to keep Hao Nhien from moving too close.

“You really are difficult to kill.”

He spoke softly, more as a reminder to himself than to the beast.

The Sand Fox King raised its head. Its green eyes still burned with hostility, but something else had appeared within them. Hao Nhien could not know what the beast was thinking, yet he could sense the change in the way it watched him. It no longer lashed out impatiently or wasted strength without purpose. It seemed to have realized that the harder it struggled, the deeper it would sink.

Hao Nhien tightened his grip on the sword.

At that moment, the aura around the beast suddenly changed.

At first, it was only a faint fluctuation. Within several breaths, however, the spiritual power around the Sand Fox King began pouring back into its body. The nearby sand trembled as individual grains were lifted from the ground by an invisible pressure before falling again.

Hao Nhien immediately frowned.

The beast was doing something.

It was not trying to escape through brute force.

From the distant ridge, Cat Dang also noticed the abnormality. He rose sharply and stared toward the Sand Fox King.

“Its aura is rising.”

Luu Thanh tightened his grip on his bow.

“Not in a normal way.”

Lanh Hoa said nothing, but his body had already leaned forward, ready to move at any moment.

Hao Nhien remained where he was.

He had heard before that the Western Wastes imposed limits on powers that exceeded a certain level. Those who had lived here for many years knew that the deeper one traveled, the more unstable space became, and that beings too powerful for the region could provoke dangerous reactions if they tried to force their cultivation higher. Until now, Hao Nhien had only heard scattered accounts and read fragmentary records. He had never seen the process with his own eyes.

But now, he was almost certain that was exactly what he was witnessing.

The Sand Fox King had stopped trying to free itself from the sand.

It was forcing its cultivation beyond its current limit.

“This is bad,” Cat Dang said in a low voice. “That beast is trying to break through.”

Hao Nhien did not need to hear more.

The Sand Fox King’s aura had already changed noticeably. Its gray-gold fur began to stand on end, each strand reflecting the moonlight with a colder golden sheen. The muscles around its shoulders and neck swelled, and its claws lengthened slightly. The pressure spreading from its body had grown heavy enough to send continuous ripples across the surrounding sand.

At the same time, the air around the Sand Fox King began to feel abnormal. Hao Nhien could clearly sense a growing instability, like a sheet of glass being pressed from both sides, not yet shattered but already pushed dangerously close to its limit.

“Move farther back!”

Hao Nhien shouted toward the others.

Luu Thanh immediately pulled Cat Phong and Cat Binh farther away. Cat Dang took Tieu Nhan with him, while Lanh Hoa remained where he was for one more beat before finally retreating half a step in obedience.

The Sand Fox King raised its head.

Its roar was different this time.

The sound was deeper and heavier, blasting the nearby sand outward in rings. Its aura, already at the peak of the third rank, continued to rise as though an invisible gate within its body were being forced open.

Hao Nhien felt the pressure more clearly than anyone else.

If the beast truly crossed that boundary, even for only a short time, the power it could unleash would be completely different.

He had no intention of simply watching.

The heavy sword disappeared back into storage.

Hao Nhien clenched his right hand, drew a deep breath, and spoke in a low voice.

“Berserk.”

The Fire Qilin Phantom appeared behind him.

At the same time, Hao Nhien’s right arm truly began to transform. The muscles expanded, while his skin darkened into a red-black color like cooled lava. Glowing lines of heat ran from his shoulder to his hand, his five fingers lengthened into curved claws, and the forelimb of the Fire Qilin Phantom behind him nearly overlapped with the movement of his transformed arm.

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The temperature around him rose sharply.

His spiritual power was drained just as quickly.

Hao Nhien knew this state could not be maintained for long. Berserk had never been meant for prolonged combat. It existed for a decisive moment.

He drove one foot into the sand.

Spirit Wings opened for a single burst and propelled him straight toward the Sand Fox King.

At that same moment, the beast completed its final step.

Its aura erupted.

The sand beneath it exploded outward.

A completely different level of pressure spread across the Sinking Sands.

Cat Dang’s expression changed in the distance.

“It crossed over!”

There was no need to name the realm.

Hao Nhien already knew.

The Sand Fox King had forcibly touched the Emperor rank.

Only for an instant.

But that was enough.

The beast’s right claw swept upward.

Hao Nhien did not evade.

His transformed right arm struck straight down.

Fist and claw collided.

The explosion was so heavy that even the people far away felt it reverberate through their chests.

Hao Nhien was thrown upward from the sand by the recoil. Agony shot through his right arm, but before he could pull away, he saw the air at the point of impact begin to distort.

When the Sand Fox King had forcibly crossed into the Emperor rank, the surrounding space had already become unstable.

The collision was the final push.

A thin black line appeared in midair.

At first, it was no thicker than a strand of hair.

Then it lengthened.

The instant Hao Nhien saw it, a chill ran down his spine.

“Fall back!”

He shouted.

The group in the distance immediately retreated farther.

Hao Nhien himself was still being thrown upward by the recoil and had no foothold beneath him. In that instant, he forcibly mobilized his spiritual awareness.

The Tieu Dao Sword shot beneath his feet.

Hao Nhien poured spiritual power into the blade.

The sword trembled violently, but for several brief moments it managed to support his body in midair. Using the explosive power of Berserk, Hao Nhien had forcibly turned Tieu Dao into a temporary foothold.

Those few moments were enough.

Spirit Wings opened at once and pulled him away from the point of impact.

Then the black line in the air split wider.

A true spatial rift opened.

The pull erupted instantly.

Sand from every direction rose from the ground, twisting into long streams before vanishing into the darkness. Small stones, blood, and torn fur were dragged along with it.

The trapped Sand Fox King was the first to suffer.

It roared and tried to brace itself with its claws, but its lower body was still buried in the sinking sand. When the spatial pull struck, its massive body was suddenly being dragged in two opposing directions.

The golden fur that had only just appeared was ripped away in patches. Blood burst outward, only to be swallowed by the black rift a moment later.

Hao Nhien had no time to watch.

The pull had already begun dragging him back toward it.

Spirit Wings spread wider.

The wind around him howled, but the effect was limited.

This was not airflow.

It was not ordinary suction.

The force from the rift was pulling the surrounding space itself inward.

Hao Nhien felt his Sea of Consciousness shake violently. The Divine Soul within was thrown into disorder as sharp waves of pain pierced through his head. The wounds across his shoulder and chest stretched under the pressure, and blood began flowing again.

Berserk had not fully faded, but the spiritual power remaining in his body was already dropping at a terrifying rate.

If he continued resisting like this, he would not last.

Hao Nhien stopped hesitating.

His will immediately reached for the Cosmic Ark.

Ancient light appeared around him.

From the outside, what emerged did not resemble a ship. It appeared only as the faint silhouette of a small Cave Dwelling surrounding Hao Nhien like a special defensive artifact.

Luu Thanh saw it, and his pupils contracted.

Lanh Hoa also froze for a moment.

Neither had time to ask anything.

The instant the ancient light formed, the spatial pull dragged it sharply off course.

Hao Nhien entered the Cave Dwelling at once.

The moment his body disappeared, the manifested Cave Dwelling began shaking violently.

It did not remain stationary.

Under the influence of the rift, the entire projection was dragged toward the collapsing center.

Inside, Hao Nhien slammed hard against the stone floor and spat out a mouthful of blood. Pain tore through his Sea of Consciousness as Berserk finally began to fade.

His right arm slowly returned to normal, though almost all sensation had disappeared from it.

Hao Nhien poured what little spiritual power remained into his connection with the Cosmic Ark, trying to force the Cave Dwelling away from the strongest direction of the pull.

There was no voice in response.

No consciousness answered him.

Only the ancient patterns along the stone walls began to glow faintly.

The Cave Dwelling tilted violently.

Outside, the sinking sands were being pulled upward and then collapsing again in endless waves. At that moment, a large underground stream of sand ruptured beneath the surface, forming a new current that dragged the deeper layers away in another direction.

The manifested Cave Dwelling was caught by that current.

It did not fully escape the spatial rift.

But it was no longer directly within the center of the pull.

It slid with the collapsing sand and sank deep into the Sinking Sands.

From the distant ridge, the others could only watch as the glowing silhouette of the Cave Dwelling staggered between sand and darkness before being dragged beneath the black surface.

Lanh Hoa immediately stepped forward.

Cat Dang quickly raised his spear across the path in front of him.

“No!”

Lanh Hoa turned his head.

Cat Dang gritted his teeth.

“If you go in there, one more person dies.”

Lanh Hoa said nothing. His hand tightened around the hilt of his saber, but in the end, he did not take another step.

Luu Thanh stood on the high ground with his bow still in hand, yet he had no idea where he could possibly aim. Against a spatial rift, his arrows were meaningless.

Tieu Nhan stood behind them, her face completely pale. Her mouth opened as though she wanted to call out, but no sound came.

In the distance, the Sand Fox King’s roar suddenly twisted into something unrecognizable.

The spatial rift continued to contract.

Nearly half the beast’s body had already been torn away, and the rest was rapidly dragged into the darkness.

Then the rift closed.

For a brief moment, every sound vanished.

The wind stopped.

Even the sand seemed to stop moving.

Then the Sinking Sands began to flow again as though nothing had happened.

The surface slowly closed.

The Sand Fox King was gone.

Hao Nhien was gone.

Only the deep collapse marks remained, gradually being filled by drifting sand.

“Clan Head!”

Luu Thanh shouted.

No answer came.

Lanh Hoa stood motionless, his gaze fixed on the place where the ancient glow had disappeared.

Cat Dang said nothing either.

No one knew whether Hao Nhien was still alive or had been swallowed by the spatial rift.

Far beneath the surface, the Cave Dwelling form of the Cosmic Ark was still being carried along by a cold underground stream of sand.

Inside, Hao Nhien lay on the stone floor.

The spiritual power in his body was almost completely exhausted. His Sea of Consciousness still throbbed with pain, and every breath brought a deep burning sensation through his chest.

But he was alive.

Hao Nhien managed to open his eyes by the smallest amount.

He could no longer hear anything clearly from outside.

Perhaps Luu Thanh was still calling.

Perhaps Lanh Hoa was still standing above.

But the distance between them had already become too great.

The corner of Hao Nhien’s mouth moved faintly.

“Being alive is enough.”

The previous use of Berserk alone had taken him nearly three days to recover from. This time, he had suffered additional injuries and the shock of spatial instability. He had no idea how long recovery would take.

There was no point thinking about time now.

The Wood-attributed spiritual qi already present within the Cave Dwelling slowly seeped into his body through the remnants of his cultivation cycle. The flow was weak, but it was enough to soothe some of the burning pain in his meridians.

Hao Nhien no longer had the strength to resist the exhaustion pulling him under.

Before losing consciousness, he could only faintly sense the Cave Dwelling still drifting along the underground stream of sand.

No one knew where it would carry him.

Then darkness closed over him completely.