Chapter 817: Inner Hall Elder

Clad in pristine white robes, Dongbo Xueying gazed up at the towering Star Tower, its immense pressure radiating in all directions.

With a single step, Dongbo Xueying entered the spatial passage within the tower’s entrance.

Space twisted and folded around him.

This time, the distortion of the spatial passage was even more intense. When he emerged, he found himself in a vast desert world—the third layer of the Star Tower.

“Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—”

From the depths of the desert, surges of gray light erupted, coalescing into figures. In an instant, over a hundred gray-armored beings stood before him—some towering and burly, others lean and wiry, some even with six arms, each wielding different weapons. Their commonality lay in their gray armor and the curved horns embedded in their shoulder guards.

All hundred gray-armored beings fixed their gazes on Dongbo Xueying.

The white-robed youth observed his opponents. A single one of these beings would be easy to dispatch, but when gathered in groups of ten, they could form a faint battle formation, enhancing their strength. And now, with a hundred of them together, their power surged even further.

Moreover, they wielded a vile energy that even the laws of the universe despised. A single strike from them would inject this corruption into his body. A small amount could be expelled quickly, but in large quantities, it would spell disaster.

His previous defeats had only been survivable thanks to the Star Tower’s guardian spirit suppressing the corruption. Otherwise, the sheer volume of that vile energy would have annihilated him.

“This time is different.”

Dongbo Xueying did not summon his Void God weapon. Instead, he simply stood upon the desert sands.

“Go!”

With a flick of his finger, streams of deep purple weapon qi surged from his body. Under the command of his formidable will, they harnessed the power of the universe’s laws. As they streaked through the air, each strand transformed into a deep purple fish—thousands of them, blotting out the sky as they swarmed toward the gray-armored beings.

“Kill!”

The hundred gray-armored beings erupted with their sinister gray energy, merging their power into a unified force, amplifying their auras.

In an instant, they all vanished—teleporting simultaneously.

Dongbo Xueying, too, disappeared in a flicker.

“Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—”

The deep purple fish plunged into the void, hunting their prey through spatial shifts. Having reached the twenty-eighth level of the Walker’s Secret Code, Dongbo Xueying’s mastery over the void far surpassed that of the gray-armored beings. The fish swiftly closed in on their teleporting targets.

The gray-armored beings coldly attempted to block, but the fish were too agile and relentless. Though they managed to deflect a few, the majority pierced through their defenses, tearing into their bodies.

In the past, their resilience would have rendered such attacks useless.

But now, their bodies were like tattered sacks. The deep purple fish shredded through them, darting in and out relentlessly. Whenever their numbers dwindled, Dongbo Xueying replenished them with fresh weapon qi. Under this overwhelming assault, the gray-armored beings roared in fury, but they were utterly suppressed.

Their injuries worsened with every passing moment.

Ten breaths later, they finally dissipated, their gray light sinking back into the earth.

“Victory.” Dongbo Xueying smiled.

At last, he had triumphed.

As a nascent Void God, he had conquered the third layer of the Star Tower.

It had been an arduous journey.

After the True God Disciple Battle, he had secluded himself for 5.8 billion years. In truth, he had mastered the third stance of the Annihilation Sword 2.3 billion years ago. Initially, he had sought to merge it with his Path of Ripples to create the tenth chapter of *Ripplewind Art*, but the task proved too daunting.

So, while continuing to ponder that path, he instead focused on simplifying the third stance of the Annihilation Sword into a mass-combat technique.

His area-of-effect attacks had always been a weakness. Executing the Annihilation Sword through multiple weapon qi strands demanded immense focus—he could, at most, unleash it through five strands simultaneously. But that was far from enough. Against the gray-armored beings, who could rapidly heal by sharing energy, he needed to annihilate them all at once.

Thus, he simplified the Annihilation Sword.

Simplification was easier than merging it with the Path of Ripples, but he also needed the technique to be effortless to deploy on a massive scale—a far greater challenge.

Iteration after iteration, he refined the technique, preserving the essence of the Annihilation Sword while stripping it down to its simplest form, all while maximizing its destructive potential.

Finally, he succeeded—creating his ultimate mass-combat killing move: **Fish-Dragon Slaughter**.

“Now, for the fourth layer.”

Clad in white, Dongbo Xueying soared into the sky, passing through a massive void rift into the Star Tower’s fourth layer—a sprawling mountain range inhabited by a single blood-armored being.

This time, he unleashed Fish-Dragon Slaughter in full force while engaging in close combat with his Void God weapon. Yet, he could only inflict minor wounds before the enemy’s corrupting blood energy overwhelmed him. Fortunately, the Star Tower’s guardian spirit intervened, suppressing and expelling the vile force.

“Still too weak.”

Dongbo Xueying understood. As a nascent Void God, conquering the third layer was already a monumental feat. The fourth layer remained beyond his reach—for now.

“It’s time to venture out.”

He knew he had hit a bottleneck. Further progress would require either an immense span of time—tens of billions of years—or a stroke of enlightenment. But time was a luxury he could ill afford. The Time Palace could accelerate his cultivation, but the cost was staggering.

Fifty-eight billion years inside, equivalent to 5.8 million years outside, had already consumed nearly 29,000 contribution points—almost three Sourceworld Stones.

With limited resources, he couldn’t afford to waste time.

—

**”Bong—bong—bong—”**

The bell of the Grand Void Hall resounded throughout the Grand Void Sacred Land.

Every Inner Hall Elder and Hall Master within the Grand Void Heavenly Palace hastened to the Grand Void Hall. Even the Outer Hall Elders and True God disciples, though ineligible to attend, turned their gazes toward the hall in curiosity.

What had happened?

The tolling of the Grand Void Hall’s bell signaled only the most momentous events.

Inside the hall, at the highest platform, Ancestor Tianyu and the Sword Master sat side by side.

On the steps below them, the eight Hall Masters took their seats.

Along the sides of the hall stood the Inner Hall Elders, their attention fixed on the white-robed youth at the center—Dongbo Xueying.

“Today, we gather to celebrate joyous news for our Grand Void Heavenly Palace,” Ancestor Tianyu announced with a smile. “Dongbo Xueying has conquered the third layer of the Star Tower. From this day forth, he shall be the thirty-ninth Inner Hall Elder of our sect.”

“An Inner Hall Elder?”

The assembled leadership of the Grand Void Heavenly Palace—even the Hall Masters—stared at Dongbo Xueying in astonishment.

Hadn’t the True God Disciple Battle concluded a mere 5.8 million years ago? Back then, Dongbo Xueying had been just a True God Overlord. Now, he stood among them as an Inner Hall Elder. True, they could discern that he had cultivated for over five billion years, likely within the Time Palace. But even so, his ascent was breathtakingly swift.

By the sect’s laws, any nascent Void God who conquered the third layer within a hundred billion years could ascend to Inner Hall Elder. Most, however, spent far longer in the Time Palace before achieving such a feat.

And one truth was undeniable—

For a nascent Void God, clearing the third layer was far more difficult than for a Unity Void God to clear the fifth. Among the Grand Void Heavenly Palace’s Inner Hall Elders, only one had ever accomplished this as a nascent Void God. Such prodigies, upon reaching Unity, would undoubtedly breeze through the fifth layer.

“Another comrade joins our ranks.”

“Elder Dongbo.”

They regarded him with respect. The Grand Void Heavenly Palace, as a sacred land, had only ever numbered thirty-eight Inner Hall Elders—excluding those who had fallen in battle.

“Dongbo Xueying, from this day forward, you are an Inner Hall Elder of the Grand Void Heavenly Palace. May you uphold our laws and defend this last bastion of the Path of Rule and Mystery alongside your brethren.”

Ancestor Tianyu waved his hand, sending three streaks of golden light toward Dongbo Xueying, who caught them with a bow.

“I shall spare no effort,” Dongbo Xueying vowed solemnly.

**(End of Chapter)**