The Lord of Dark Firmament, sealed in the rift of the Space-Time Hub, had not completely vanished. Its remaining Dark Entropy Force, like an inescapable poison, wriggled slowly in the void of the rift, absorbing the faint space-time energy emanating from the Hub. After a millennium, though it could not break the seal, it used this energy to infuse a wisp of its consciousness into a "Dark Crystal Shard" drifting from the Abandoned Cosmic Zone—and sent the shard out of the rift.
This Dark Crystal Shard crashed into the "Gray Mist Galaxy" on the edge of the Galaxy Cosmos. Perpetually shrouded in cosmic dust, this galaxy had slow-growing civilizations, and its inhabitants knew almost nothing about the outside universe. The moment the shard landed, it merged into the galaxy's largest "Gray Mist Ore Vein." Leveraging the metal elements in the vein, it secretly gave birth to the new "Eroding Shadow Clan"—creatures covered in dark gray scales, with blood-red glowing eyes. They inherited the Lord of Dark Firmament's ability to "tamper with will," but were far more skilled at hiding: they could disguise themselves as inhabitants of other planets, infiltrate various galaxies, and quietly spread "Dark Erosion Spores."
Unlike Dark Entropy Force, Dark Erosion Spores did not directly devour vitality. Instead, they clung to the "desires" of living beings—if someone craved power, the spores would amplify this desire, making them willingly submit to the Eroding Shadow Clan's control; if someone harbored resentment, the spores would convert that resentment into Dark Erosion Energy, feeding the clan. In just a few decades, half of the senior leaders in seven small galaxies surrounding the Gray Mist Galaxy had been controlled by the Eroding Shadow Clan. These galaxies began secretly sending resources to the Gray Mist Galaxy, accumulating strength for the clan's "New Dark Firmament Plan."
Xing Lan was the first to detect something amiss. While observing the trajectories of stars, she noticed that the starlight around the Gray Mist Galaxy always carried a faint dark glow, and the direction of star power flow in multiple galaxies was abnormally pointing toward the Gray Mist Galaxy. When she sneaked into one of the controlled "Rocky砾 Galaxy" with Xuan Ying, she was shocked to see the leader of the Rocky Galaxy personally handing over the planet's core energy crystals to an Eroding Shadow clansman in a gray robe—and in the leader's eyes, there was no sign of coercion, only fanaticism for "greater power."
"This is not simple control; it's the temptation of desire," Xuan Ying wrapped a Dark Erosion Spore in shadow energy and handed it to Xing Lan. "The spores read the obsessions of living beings—harder to detect than the Lord of Dark Firmament's puppetry."
When the news reached the Guardians Alliance, Ling Yuan immediately realized the severity of the problem: if the Eroding Shadow Clan infiltrated the entire universe through desire, it would be more terrifying than the Lord of Dark Firmament's frontal invasion—if all living beings voluntarily became puppets of Dark Erosion, guardianship would lose its meaning. This time, the guardians changed their strategy: Yue Li refined the "Pure Heart Lunar Dew" to temporarily suppress the activity of Dark Erosion Spores; Qing Mu cultivated "Awakening Heart Grass" and planted it in the core areas of various galaxies, using the life essence of plants to purify the spores in the air; Ling Yuan, along with Yan Feng and Lei Ze, went to the Gray Mist Galaxy to confront the leader of the Eroding Shadow Clan—the "Eroding Shadow Lord," formed from the Lord of Dark Firmament's consciousness.
Deep in the ore veins of the Gray Mist Galaxy, the Eroding Shadow Lord had already used resources to forge the "Dark Erosion Core." This core could amplify the effect of Dark Erosion Spores, and its coverage had reached the mid-circle galaxies of the Galaxy Cosmos. When Ling Yuan and his companions arrived, the Eroding Shadow Lord stood beside the core, and in the ore veins behind him, countless Eroding Shadow clansmen stood ready to launch a full-scale attack on the core of the Galaxy Cosmos.
"What the Lord of Dark Firmament failed to do, I will accomplish," the Eroding Shadow Lord's voice carried a metallic tone. "The universe should be driven by desire—your 'guardianship' is nothing but a self-deceptive shackle."
Yan Feng took the first shot, sending a roaring flame toward the Dark Erosion Core. But the flame was blocked by the "Dark Erosion Barrier" around the Eroding Shadow Lord—a barrier condensed from the desires of countless controlled beings. The more intense the flame, the stronger the barrier became. Lei Ze's thunder was also devoured by the barrier, and Ling Yuan's spiritual power attacks had little effect.
Just as the group was trapped in a predicament, Xing Lan suddenly arrived with the galaxy's inhabitants—these people had once been affected by Dark Erosion Spores, but had broken free from the control of desire under the effect of Pure Heart Lunar Dew and Awakening Heart Grass. "Your power comes from our desires—so we will take it back!" shouted a former controlled planet leader. As his voice fell, all the inhabitants closed their eyes and actively suppressed the obsessions in their hearts.
The light of the Dark Erosion Barrier dimmed instantly. The Eroding Shadow Lord was shocked and tried to forcefully extract energy from the core, but Xuan Ying ambushed him from the shadows, stabbing through his scales with a Void Star Crystal Shard. Taking the opportunity, Qing Mu scattered the seeds of Awakening Heart Grass toward the Dark Erosion Core. Vines quickly wrapped around the core, enshrouding it in the power of life.
In the end, the Dark Erosion Core shattered under the purification of life force and starlight. The Eroding Shadow Lord's body dissipated into countless Dark Crystal Shards, leaving only a faint wisp of the Lord of Dark Firmament's consciousness—which Ling Yuan re-sealed back into the rift of the Space-Time Hub. The Dark Erosion Spores in the Gray Mist Galaxy were also completely purified by Yue Li's lunar radiance.
After the battle, Ling Yuan looked at the galaxies that had regained order and said to the guardians: "Darkness never truly disappears—it only takes on a different form. But as long as living beings still have the will to 'refuse to sink,' our guardianship will always have meaning." And in the rift of the Space-Time Hub, the misty form of the Lord of Dark Firmament, sealed once again, began to wriggle slowly—its patience was longer than the lifespan of the entire universe.