Shrill, piercing roars rang out above Luke's head, while the two enormous Void creatures in the distance were already preparing to charge him.
Gripping his swords in both hands, Luke took the initiative.
He sprang upward, the wind gathering around him as though he had suddenly grown wings, carrying him high into the air. Without hesitation, he swung both blades at the incoming Voidborn.
Howling waves of sword energy swept outward from his body. As both swords descended, several flashes of sword light streaked through the air.
Dozens of Voidborn fell in an instant.
The next second, purple light flashed across the Void Riftblade. The corpses of the slain Voidborn transformed into streams of energy that curved through the air and rapidly disappeared into the blade.
At the same time, Luke felt a distinct sense of satisfaction coming from the Void Riftblade.
Right now, the weapon was like a newborn infant crying out to be fed.
It was fragile and ravenously hungry, but every time it consumed something, it became stronger, slowly growing beyond its infancy.
Its potential for growth was practically limitless.
Luke did not stop. He became a blur, flashing from one place to another while continuously swinging his swords and slaughtering Voidborn of varying strength.
Without exception, every slain Voidborn eventually became food and nourishment for the Void Riftblade.
Luke could constantly sense the weapon growing. It was becoming harder and sharper with every passing moment.
The two enormous creatures on the ground could do nothing but stare up at Luke and roar furiously.
Luke could not truly fly, but with Multi-Jump and his affinity with Wind Intent, he could remain airborne for an extremely long time.
The flying Voidborn also served as new footholds for him. From a distance, there was practically no difference between what he was doing and genuine flight.
The Void had spawned countless creatures, and more of them were continuously attracted by the sounds of battle and roaring.
They just kept coming.
That was exactly what Luke wanted.
He was curious to see how far the Void Riftblade could evolve if it devoured every Voidborn present.
"I've already killed more than a hundred by now."
Luke tirelessly swung his swords, yet his stamina had barely diminished. If anything, he felt increasingly energetic.
He had discovered that whenever the Void Riftblade fed, a portion of the energy it absorbed flowed back into his body.
This energy had already been purified through the Void Riftblade's evolution.
None of the Void's corruption remained within it.
Luke remembered that when he first pulled the Void Riftblade free, a surge of energy had indeed entered his body. Clearly, that had been the moment their connection formed.
This energy seemed capable of activating some ability within the Void Riftblade, although Luke still had no idea what that ability might be.
Even after devouring more than a hundred Voidborn, the Riftblade still radiated hunger, as though it could never be satisfied.
"Keep going!"
Luke's eyes flashed, and he accelerated again.
His figure darted back and forth between the Voidborn. Not a single one could keep up with his speed. Whenever sword light flashed, another creature had already died.
The Void Riftblade continued devouring.
One hundred.
Two hundred.
Three hundred.
Five hundred.
Seven hundred...
"Buzz!"
A strange vibration suddenly came from the Void Riftblade. Purple light flowed across the weapon like a river, completely enveloping its blade.
Luke could feel excitement and joy emanating from it.
For the first time since its birth, the Void Riftblade began to evolve.
As the purple light gradually faded, all the unusual phenomena disappeared.
Luke examined the weapon and discovered that even more cracks had appeared across its surface. They now covered almost the entire blade, dividing it into more than a hundred separate sections. The weapon itself had also become slightly longer and more slender.
"This is..."
Luke pondered for a moment before an idea occurred to him.
The next instant, he moved again and swung the long blade toward the surrounding Voidborn.
Suddenly, the Void Riftblade shattered.
More than a hundred blade fragments shot outward with his swing, descending like a rain of arrows while glowing with eerie purple light.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The fragments pierced straight through one Voidborn after another, devouring the creatures on the spot.
With a thought from Luke, every fragment reversed direction and flew neatly back toward him, reassembling into the complete Void Riftblade.
"So this is the new ability it gained after evolving?"
A smile appeared on Luke's face.
This was certainly a pleasant surprise. With this ability, dealing with massive swarms of Voidborn would become much easier.
The slaughter continued.
Looking at the still enormous number of creatures surrounding him, Luke felt that there might be enough of them to support another evolution.
Several minutes later, more than a thousand additional Voidborn had been devoured.
The same phenomenon appeared once again.
The Void Riftblade began its second evolution since being born.
By now, nearly every Voidborn within the ravine had been slaughtered by Luke. Only a few newly attracted creatures continued arriving, and they were no longer enough to interest him.
The purple glow gradually faded, signaling the end of the evolution.
At first glance, the Void Riftblade looked almost identical to before, although even more cracks now covered its surface.
Luke also discovered that his control over the weapon had become significantly more flexible.
At the same time, each evolution improved the Riftblade's overall quality.
When it had first been born, despite possessing extraordinary traits, it had been as fragile as an ordinary weapon and could have shattered from a powerful impact.
Only Luke's Sword Intent had allowed it to freely slaughter and devour its enemies.
After two evolutions, however, the Void Riftblade had already surpassed anything an ordinary weapon could compare with.
Combined with its new ability to transform into blade fragments and its capacity to continually devour and evolve, destroying it had become nearly impossible.
"Roar!!!"
A tremendous roar came from below.
Luke looked down and saw the two gigantic Voidborn glaring at him furiously.
"Don't worry. It's your turn now."
He descended to the ground.
The Void sea serpent immediately roared and charged toward him.
At the same time, the Void bull gathered its strength before releasing another tremendous bellow. The strange sound wave surged toward Luke once again.
"This move again?"
Luke stood where he was, slightly furrowing his brow.
That strange sonic attack had restricted his movement earlier.
Its area of effect was enormous, making it practically impossible to evade.
As Luke watched the sound wave approach, he willed the Void Riftblade to transform.
The weapon instantly separated into several hundred fragments, which began slowly revolving around his body like streams of light.
At the same time, each fragment released purple energy that connected it to the surrounding pieces.
Within moments, they formed a translucent purple barrier around Luke.
The sound wave struck a second later.
This time, however, Luke stood within it completely unaffected.
"Looks like that trick doesn't work on me anymore."
The corner of Luke's mouth lifted as he looked at the charging Void sea serpent and rushed toward it.
He moved nimbly between the tentacles lashing toward him. The instant the sound wave disappeared, he released the Void Riftblade from its defensive formation.
The fragments reassembled into the long blade.
Luke swung.
The Void Riftblade struck the sea serpent's hardened carapace.
A massive gash immediately appeared, spraying purple blood through the air.
"As expected, a weapon born from the Void is especially effective against Voidborn."
Luke was not surprised.
He had already noticed this while slaughtering the other Void creatures.
Snowglance was itself an exceptionally fine and sharp weapon, yet when Luke used it against the Voidborn, it had not cut through them nearly as smoothly as the Void Riftblade.
That did not mean the Void Riftblade was sharper than Snowglance.
Rather, the Void Riftblade possessed a natural advantage against creatures of the Void.
"Roar!"
The sea serpent screamed in pain. Several tentacles whipped toward Luke like crazed lashes.
"In that case, it's time for me to get serious too."
Facing the incoming tentacles, Luke unleashed his powerful Sword Intent and swung the Void Riftblade with all his strength.
The razor-sharp sword light seemed capable of cutting through space itself.
Amid a series of thunderous impacts, the tentacles crashed to the ground one after another.
Each one had been severed with a perfectly clean cut.
The next instant, Luke's figure blurred.
He appeared beside the faintly glowing purple spot on the Void sea serpent's body. With its enormous tentacles gone, the area had been completely exposed.
"So this is your heart, right?"
Luke did not hesitate.
He drove the blade straight into it.
"Roar!"
The Void sea serpent's anguished scream abruptly stopped.
Its enormous body crashed to the ground, then transformed into a stream of light that was completely devoured by the Void Riftblade.
A tremendous sense of satisfaction radiated from the weapon.
Apparently, that had been an especially satisfying meal.
"And there's still one more big guy."
Luke turned toward the Void bull.
Compared to the sea serpent, this creature had an additional ability and much tougher armor.
However, its weakness was equally obvious.
The pulsing purple light at the center of its body was its heart.
Luke charged again.
With the Void Riftblade in hand, dealing with these two massive creatures had unexpectedly become much easier.
The enormous Void bull failed to last even a minute before collapsing to the ground.
It too became part of the Void Riftblade.
After devouring two enormous Voidborn in succession, Luke sensed signs that the Riftblade was approaching its third evolution.
By now, there were barely any Voidborn left inside the ravine.
Luke was not picky. He quickly eliminated the remaining creatures before preparing to leave.
When he entered, the seemingly living Void vines had covered the entire area. Now, with the two massive Voidborn dead and the Riftblade removed from the mound, they seemed to be rapidly losing their vitality.
Every last one of them withered.
"Could this ravine have been the source of the Void infestation?"
Luke pondered the possibility as he made his way out.
Before long, he encountered the colonies of Void geckos he had seen on his way in.
Many of them had apparently left after being drawn toward the fighting deeper inside the ravine, but quite a few remained.
Luke spared none of them.
He had the Void Riftblade devour every last one.
After consuming the remaining Void geckos, the Riftblade radiated a feeling of satisfaction. Its seemingly endless hunger was finally beginning to fade.
Strange purple light enveloped the weapon once again.
Luke knew its third evolution had begun.
Its evolution speed was astonishingly fast.
Then again, that was only fitting for a weapon born from the Void.
Evolution was one of the defining traits of Void creatures. Luke remembered quite a few Voidborn capable of evolving, and none of them were simple opponents.
The purple light gradually disappeared.
The Void Riftblade still looked mostly unchanged, except that even more cracks now covered its surface, giving it an even sharper appearance.
Luke suspected that as it continued evolving, the Riftblade might eventually be capable of splitting into thousands of fragments.
At the same time, he could feel that the weapon was completely full.
If anything, it seemed almost stuffed.
Apparently, its hunger was not truly limitless. Feed it enough, and even the Void Riftblade could overeat.
Luke emerged from the ravine and looked around.
"Huh?"
He clearly remembered that when he entered, this entire region had already been almost completely overtaken by the Void.
Now, however, more than half of the Void's influence had faded.
The spirit realm's original appearance was slowly returning.
"Looks like I was right. That ravine really was the source of the Void infestation."
Luke glanced at the Void Riftblade in his left hand.
It had originally been a broken sword within this part of the spirit realm. Later, the Void had followed Xolaani here and gradually begun affecting it.
If Luke's theory was correct, the Void sea serpent and Void bull had probably been among the first Voidborn to emerge here.
At the same time, they had become guardians of the Void Riftblade. Their furious reaction when Luke approached the weapon made that obvious.
Their presence had steadily deepened the Void's influence.
The corruption continued spreading, consuming the spirits throughout the surrounding spirit realm while giving birth to more and more Voidborn.
Now that the source had been eliminated and the Voidborn in the area were being wiped out in huge numbers, the Void's influence naturally began receding.
At least, that was Luke's current theory.
He continued forward while eliminating the remaining traces of the Void.
Before long, he encountered Master Yi and the others.
They had already regrouped.
Luke looked at them. "Did any of you run into any enormous Voidborn?"
He described the appearances of the Void sea serpent and Void bull.
Everyone shook their heads.
Master Yi said, "I encountered a Void beast about ten feet tall, but compared to the two you described, it was nothing remarkable."
The two Voidborn Luke had described had stood at least twenty feet tall. They had been genuine behemoths.
Akali said, "All we ran into were small fry. They weren't hard to kill, but they were incredibly annoying. They just kept coming."
The swordsman in the conical hat asked, "Does that mean the Void here has been completely eliminated?"
"For now, the Void's influence is receding. This was never its true domain, so with the source removed, I don't think it poses much of a threat anymore."
Luke explained his earlier theory before continuing, "Still, we should make absolutely sure. Let's split up again, search the area for any remaining traces of the Void, then meet back here once we're certain it's clean."
"Agreed."
Everyone nodded, finding no obvious problem with his reasoning.
They separated again to eliminate whatever traces of the Void remained.
Luke had no choice but to be this cautious.
The Void possessed terrifying adaptability and corruptive power.
If they did not deal with it thoroughly, the same situation would inevitably happen again sooner or later.
Fortunately, the spirit realm itself and the native spirits living here were also helping Luke and the others purge the Void.
As time passed, nearly every trace of Void corruption in the surrounding area was eventually eliminated.
The spirit realm had begun recovering, but the damage and pollution caused by the Void had left it in ruins. A complete recovery would clearly take time.
Once everyone regrouped, Akali looked around with a heavy expression.
"The Void really is terrifying. I've seen the spirit realm once before. It was beautiful and full of life, with spirits wandering freely wherever they pleased. It looked nothing like this."
Now the Void had left it devastated.
One encounter was enough for Akali to understand just how terrifying it truly was.
Master Yi sighed as well.
"It will eventually recover. But after witnessing an unknown threat like this, we must become more vigilant."
Everyone nodded, including the swordsman in the conical hat.
He had never wanted to involve himself in unnecessary trouble. He already had more than enough problems of his own to deal with.
But after witnessing the Void firsthand, he could not imagine what would happen if this terrifying realm ever truly broke through into the material world.
His gaze drifted toward Luke, and a trace of curiosity appeared in his eyes.
Despite being so young, Luke seemed to have already taken responsibility for dangers that countless others did not even know existed.
What exactly was driving him forward?
After confirming that nothing had been overlooked, everyone prepared to leave the spirit realm.
Just before they departed, Luke suddenly felt a gaze fall upon him from somewhere unknown.
It was indescribably sinister, sending a chill down his spine and making every hair on his body stand on end.
He immediately spun around, trying to locate the source of the gaze.
But there was nothing there.
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