Silence filled the train carriage for a moment.

Everyone understood what this meant.

Venturing deep into those ancient ruins saturated with death and obsession, they might face not only pursuers from the outside but also the resentment and obsessions accumulated over thousands of years within...

...and even some kind of indescribable curse.

But they had no way back.

"The train is turning. Northeast, full speed," Bai Cheng's voice was calm and firm.

"Avoid all known enemy patrol ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) routes and enter the 'Silent Trench' region."

"The Silent Trench?" Leng Ningxue's icy eyes narrowed slightly. "That is the famous Law Graveyard of the Emerald Sea, a zone where ruins of multiple divine wars and annihilated civilizations from the primordial era overlap."

"The spatial structure is extremely unstable, filled with various residual law turbulence and space-time fragments... there are even rumors of ancient gods' lingering thoughts wandering there."

"Precisely because of that, the forces of the Enforcement Officers and the Constellations rarely set foot there," Bai Cheng nodded. "That might be the only area where we can temporarily shake off our pursuers and buy some time."

"But the risks..." Lu Duo hesitated.

"Risks and opportunities coexist."

Bai Cheng looked at her companions. "We need time to recover, we need more faith to stabilize the imprint, and we need... a relatively safe base to plan our next move."

"And the embers of the Silent Trench might be the first stepping stone for us to ignite the spark and truly set foot on the path of the emperor."

The silver train quietly turned, like a silver shadow sliding into the deeper, more dangerous northeastern waters of the Emerald Sea.

Outside the porthole, the sky was gradually darkening.

The light of distant war was obscured by heavy dark clouds. Unlucky dark purple ripples rose on the sea surface, as if countless invisible eyes were slowly opening in the deep sea.

Behind the train, the dots of light from the pursuers, where crimson and starlight intertwined, clearly showed hesitation and slowed down upon reaching the edge of the Silent Trench.

Clearly, even the Enforcement Officers and the Constellations harbored an instinctive wariness toward this ancient Law Graveyard.

The hunt continued, but the stage had shifted to a more treacherous and dangerous domain.

The chase between glimmer and darkness was about to enter the next act.

Deep in the trench, those embers that had been silent for thousands of years seemed to sense a familiar, warm, and firm aura, and were slowly awakening.

They would use their remaining light and heat to welcome this scion of the gate who dared to ignite the spark.

The train hovered at the edge of the Silent Trench for half a day.

This sea area was like a forgotten nightmare: the sky was perennially shrouded in lead-gray mist, and the sea surface was calm yet possessed a stagnant, viscous quality.

Occasionally, pale light spheres floated up from underwater and burst silently, scattering like fragments of phosphorus fire across the sky; these were the manifestations of primordial law wreckage.

Leng Ningxue controlled the train to cruise slowly at minimum energy consumption, her icy eyes fixed on dozens of light screens.

Tide charts, energy detection, spatial stability coefficients, residual thought fluctuations... countless data streams poured down like a waterfall.

"The trench is divided into three layers." She brought up a simulated image. "The surface layer is the Shattered Mirror Zone, where space is like a cracked mirror, filled with distorted space-time rifts."

"The middle layer is the Sunken Bone District, which is extremely dense and filled with remains from ancient battlefields and divine pollution."

"The deepest part is the Eye of Guixu, where detection signals completely disappear, suspected to be connected to a crack in some lost realm."

"The target ember reaction is located on the southeast side of the Sunken Bone District, coordinates (74, 219). The energy reading is weak but persistent, with a structure similar to the faith fragments of the Stardust Remnants, but..."

She paused. "...it's mixed with strong waves of resentment and obsession. The pollution index is 37.8%, nearing the danger threshold."

Bai Cheng stared at that stubborn point of pale golden light on the screen.

Deep in her soul, the Stardust Imprint was sending out a burning resonance, as if countless tiny voices were shouting, crying, and pleading... before finally turning into a barely audible prayer:

"Light... one more time..."

"Northeast, full speed ahead." Bai Cheng slowly closed her eyes, sinking her consciousness into that burning resonance. "We are entering the Sunken Bone District directly."

"Miss!" Lu Duo exclaimed. "A pollution index over 30% will corrode the soul. 37.8% is already—"

"I know." Bai Cheng opened her eyes, the star tracks revolving within her silver pupils.

"But the embers are calling. If we don't even dare to face this level of pollution, how can we talk about igniting the spark and setting foot on the path of the emperor?"

The train changed direction, its silver exterior lighting up with a thin shield of starlight as it plunged straight into the ink-viscous seawater.

The field of vision suddenly went dark.

Outside the porthole was no longer seawater, but a turbid, slowly flowing gel, within which countless pale objects were suspended:

Broken weapons, shattered armor, bone remains as huge as small mountains, and even more indescribable distorted wreckage.

Occasionally, ghostly green or dark red phosphorus fires wandered among the wreckage, like the eyes of the dead.

"High concentrations of residual divinity and curse pollution detected," Leng Ningxue's voice was suppressed.

"The train shield's energy consumption rate has increased by 320%. I suggest activating the Filament of Faith to assist in maintenance."

"Authorized." Bai Cheng stood up and walked to the porthole, her palm pressing against the cold crystal.

A wisp of silver light flowed from her palm, merging into the train's shield.

Instantly, faint star map patterns appeared on the shield's surface. The gel and phosphorus fires trying to attach themselves hissed and retreated as if they had touched a red-hot iron.

"Fifteen nautical miles to the target," Leng Ningxue reported. "But large-scale energy turbulence has appeared ahead, suspected to be... activated primordial battle formation shadows."

Before she finished speaking, the gelatinous sea outside the porthole suddenly boiled!

Countless pale bones rose from the sediment. They were not piled randomly but followed a mysterious array, quickly assembling into incomplete armies: 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Skeletal Warriors wielding giant shields and spears, knights riding fragments of bone dragons, and even more monsters with distorted bodies, seemingly stitched together from various creatures.

Ghostly green soul fires ignited simultaneously in their hollow eye sockets as they all turned toward the train.

A hoarse, overlapping voice, sounding like ten thousand dead souls whispering in unison, echoed throughout the sea:

"The living... those who step into the Eternal Battlefield... must all pay in blood..."

"King-level peak energy reaction detected!" Leng Ningxue's voice tightened.

"It is the collective obsession of the ancient war-dead, manifested through the divine pollution of the Sunken Bone District. It has formed a semi-autonomous law domain—the Blood-Oath Battlefield!"

The skeletal army moved.

There were no shouts, only the ear-piercing sound of bones rubbing and the hum of soul fires burning.

They marched with steady, heavy steps, swarming from all directions. Their broken weapons glowed with a dark red light—the residual slaughter laws of the ancient battle formations.

The first wave of the charge slammed into the train's shield.

With a thunderous boom, the shield vibrated violently, the star map patterns on its surface flickering frantically.