Dozens of skeletons shattered in the collision.

But more skeletons stepped on the fragments of their companions to continue the charge. Dark red light, like bone-corroding venom, constantly eroded the shield's energy.

"Shield energy at 68%, consumption of Filament of Faith is intensifying."

Leng Ningxue reported quickly, "We cannot maintain a defensive stance for long. We must break through or destroy the core."

Bai Cheng's silver eyes stared deep into the skeletal army.

There, an exceptionally massive skeleton sat upon a throne forged from countless weapons.

It wore tattered golden battle robes and a broken crown, with a blazing dark-gold soul fire burning in its chest cavity.

This was the core of the undead army—the obsession incarnate of a fallen ancient commander.

"A king-level peak obsession aggregate, possessing a fragmented Authority of Battle Formations," Bai Cheng whispered. "A war of attrition is not in our favor."

She looked at Zi Yuan: "Buy me ten breaths of time."

Zi Yuan nodded, her long blade unsheathed. Purple lightning condensed into liquid thunder on the blade's edge: "Green Bird, clear the way with me."

"I've been waiting for this!" Green Bird grinned, clashing his fists together as blinding thunder light exploded, transforming into a pair of lightning gauntlets.

The two figures shot out from the train's shield like arrows from a bow.

Zi Yuan's blade light was like a sea-cleaving blade; wherever it passed, skeletons crumbled.

Green Bird's thunderous fists were even more domineering; each strike exploded with massive arcs of electricity, clearing a void in the swarming skeletons.

But the army of the dead was endless. Shattered bones would quickly reassemble in the gelatinous sea of divine pollution and pounce again.

More troublesome were the dark red rays of the Slaughter Law, which clung like maggots on a bone, constantly eroding their protective energy.

"This can't go on!" Green Bird smashed three skeletal knights with a punch, panting, "There's no end to them!"

"We don't need to kill them all." Zi Yuan's blade light flowed, parrying a wave of skeletons and sending them crashing into the other side. "Just hold them back."

Inside the train, Bai Cheng had already sat down cross-legged.

She closed her eyes, and the phantom of the Star Rail Gate slowly emerged from the depths of her soul.

This time, she didn't force it open. Instead, she immersed her consciousness into the vast silver radiance and the embers of faith from Broken Shell Island behind the gate.

"Using the Path of Stardust as a guide, and the prayers of all living beings as proof..."

She chanted softly. The prototype of the emperors imprint on her forehead appeared again; though still dim, it had become slightly more solid.

"Calling upon the heroic souls slumbering here, listen to the unceasing wails of this sea—"

The Star Rail Gate trembled slightly.

Behind the gate, the Ordered Beliefs of the Stardust Remnants, the survival prayers of the Sui Bei islanders, and the glimmers from hundreds of islands collected along the way...

Like pebbles cast into a still lake, they sent out ripples of invisible waves.

These ripples penetrated the train's shield, passed through the skeletal army's slaughter domain, and silently spread throughout the entire Sunken Bone District.

The charging skeletons suddenly froze.

The eerie green soul fires in their eye sockets flickered violently, as if struggling, as if remembering.

Some skeletons even stopped in their tracks, looking blankly at their own bones, at their companions, and at the commander's skeleton sitting on the throne.

In the depths of their fragmented memories, something buried by pollution and obsession was being awakened by these warm, steady ripples of faith.

That was... the original intent of why they fought.

The oath to protect their home, the hot-blooded camaraderie of brothers-in-arms, the line of defense they refused to yield even in death.

Not like °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° this—slaughter puppets twisted by divine pollution, driven by obsession, indiscriminately attacking all living things.

"Why... are we here..." A skeletal warrior suddenly emitted a raspy, intermittent wave of consciousness.

"To... protect..." another skeletal knight replied, its soul fire flickering intensely.

"Protect... what..."

More and more skeletons stopped moving, their soul fires reflecting confusion and pain. The charge of the entire army actually came to a brief standstill.

The commander's skeleton on the throne suddenly stood up!

Dark-gold soul fire soared into the sky, turning into a roaring pillar of light: "Those who waver—die!"

It swung the tattered scepter in its hand. A dark red ripple of law swept across, and dozens of wavering skeletons instantly crumbled, their soul fires extinguished.

But it was already too late.

At that moment, Bai Cheng opened her eyes.

Her silver eyes reflected the core of the dark-gold soul fire in the commander's chest.

There, besides obsession and slaughter, was an extremely tiny, almost completely polluted pale-gold speck of light.

That was the final, unpolluted fragment of faith left by this ancient commander before he fell.

"Found you."

Bai Cheng raised her hand, a spark of starlight lighting up at her fingertip.

"Star Rail: The Way Home."

The starlight left her fingertip, turning into a slender silver thread. Ignoring spatial distance and the obstruction of the skeletal army, it pierced accurately into the commander's chest, sinking into that pale-gold speck.

There was no explosion, no conflict.

Only the gentlest resonance, like a mother calling for a wandering child.

That pale-gold speck of light suddenly brightened.

Like a drop of ink dropped into clear water, it quickly spread, tinting the surrounding dark-gold soul fire with a warm golden edge.

The commander's movements froze. The scepter hung in mid-air, and the soul fire reflected a fierce struggle and... a long-lost clarity.

"I... remember..."

The raspy voice no longer overlapped; it became ancient and weary.

"I am Sea-Guardian General Ao Qin... ordered to guard the East Pole Sea Eye... fighting to the death without retreat... until the realm collapsed..."

It slowly lowered its head, looking at its own skeletal hands and the countless comrades standing blankly around it.

"But the Sea Eye is shattered... the realm is gone... why do we still hold our ground..."

Bai Cheng's voice came through the star track resonance, calm and firm:

"Though the Sea Eye is shattered, the sea remains. Though the realm is gone, life has not ended."

"The General's steadfastness was never in vain. It is because of countless heroic souls like the General, following one after another,"

"That this sea has survived through one cataclysm after another, and that glimmers of light still struggle amidst the storm."

"Now, a new storm approaches. General, are you willing... to let this final fragment of faith become a piece of kindling for the prairie fire of stars?"

Ao Qin's soul fire burned fiercely.

Dark gold and pale gold intertwined crazily, representing the intense conflict between obsession and original intent.

The entire skeletal army trembled along with it, the sound of bones grinding like rising and falling tides.

After a long time.

Ao Qin slowly raised its head, looking toward the train. A hint of relief was reflected in its soul fire:

"So... that's how it is."

"Our remnants are decayed, our lingering thoughts polluted... only this last bit of original intent can still be... handed over to those who come after."

It raised its scepter, but not to attack; it tapped it lightly on the ground.

"Gentlemen, are you willing to... burn once more with me?"

The skeletal army was silent for a moment.

In the next instant, thousands of soul fires lit up simultaneously, a faint gold light shining through the eerie green. They whispered in unison, their voices overlapping like the tide:

"We are willing to follow the General and burn once more!"