Blade of Crashing Waves in hand, I launched myself skyward and charged straight at the demonic cultivator's leader. Tens of thousands of malevolent souls surged toward me like a black tide, howling and roiling, their bone-piercing aura of sinister energy enough to send a shiver through even a late Foundation Establishment cultivator like me.

"System, grant me a power boost!" I roared inwardly.

Ding! Consuming 10,000 merit points to temporarily increase host's spiritual energy output by 30%!

In an instant, the spiritual energy within me erupted like a volcano, my late Foundation Establishment cultivation forcibly pushed to an entirely new threshold. The Blade of Crashing Waves hummed in my grip, its gold-and-blue radiance resonating across the distance with the blue light of the water dragon, painting a breathtaking scene across the sky.

"Now die!" I bellowed, channeling every last thread of spiritual energy and the Dao Ancestor's Sword Intent into the blade.

At that very moment, the meteoric iron anvil-shard embedded in the Blade of Crashing Waves and the sword-tip fragment inside my Qiankun Pouch simultaneously blazed with fierce, blinding light. Two forces of the same origin converged within me and merged into something far more tremendous, flooding into the Blade of Crashing Waves in a single surging rush.

This is... a resonance from the third fragment! My heart leapt with wild elation.

The blade erupted in a burst of resplendent golden radiance, more brilliant than anything it had ever produced before. That golden light fused seamlessly with the Eastern Sea's spiritual current channeled through the Tidal Sword Marks on my forearm, forging a terrifying sword-light the likes of which had never existed.

"Dao Ancestor's Tidal Cleave!"

With boundless heroic spirit, I swung the blade. This single strike seemed to contain the ultimate truth of heaven and earth — a dual-hued torrent of gold and blue tore through the sky, carrying an annihilating, world-shattering momentum, aimed directly at the Ten-Thousand-Bane Soul-Devouring Banner.

"No! Impossible!" The demonic cultivator's leader let out a shriek of terror. He tried to marshal the countless malevolent souls to stand in the way, but before the Dao Ancestor's Tidal Cleave, those souls were no more than paper — they dissolved in an instant.

Shhhk.

The sword-light cleaved effortlessly through the Ten-Thousand-Bane Soul-Devouring Banner, splitting it in two. The moment the banner shattered, countless malevolent souls let out piercing wails and dissolved into wisps of black vapor that scattered into the air. The grey-black fog blanketing the skies above Black Reef Island melted away like snow, retreating rapidly on all sides.

Ding! Congratulations, host, on successfully destroying the Ten-Thousand-Bane Soul-Devouring Banner and completing the emergency mission "Break the Bane, Quell the Souls"! Rewards: Dao Ancestor Sword Intent Fragment x1, Evil-Vanquishing Merit Points: 100,000!

The system's chime rang out in my mind, but I had no attention to spare for it — my gaze was locked onto the black altar at the center of Black Reef Island.

"Now!" Without a moment's hesitation, I swallowed a Spirit-Replenishing Pill. Surging spiritual energy flooded my dantian in an instant. I raised the Blade of Crashing Waves once more. This time, I poured every ounce of my strength into the blade.

"Cleave!"

The gold-and-blue sword-light shot skyward again, three parts mightier than the Dao Ancestor's Tidal Cleave moments before. It crashed down onto the black stone pillar at the center of the black altar with savage, unstoppable force.

Crack——

A sharp, clear sound rang out as a deep fissure split open across the black stone pillar. The fracture spread rapidly, and the entire pillar began to shudder violently.

"We did it!" Everett Li and Marcus Su cried out in excitement.

The crowd surged forward, every gaze fixed on that spreading crack. As the pillar trembled, the fissure grew wider and wider until, with a thunderous boom, the pillar came crashing down.

Dust billowed. Smoke and debris filled the air. When the haze cleared, a dark, pitch-black object emerged from the rubble — the true prize of this entire journey: the third meteoric iron fragment.

It lay quietly amid the ruins of the collapsed pillar, shaped like a sword hilt, its surface encrusted with thick layers of sinister crystalline growth that radiated a dense, malevolent aura. Even so, I could feel its fierce resonance with the meteoric iron anvil-shard and the sword-tip fragment in my Qiankun Pouch.

"The third fragment... at last!" I murmured, my voice trembling with emotion.

Just as I moved to step forward and claim the fragment, a terrifying presence erupted from the depths of the sea.

"Ethan Lu! You are truly courting death!"

End of Chapter 80: The Third Fragment