The surface of the purple planet was filled with thick, glue-like liquid time, each drop reflecting a distorted reflection of space and time. Lu Li's golden armor sounded an alarm the moment he entered this realm, and the data lines glowed an eerie purple-red, as if countless eyes were scanning his very being. The calico cat's gear collar suddenly seized, and the sparks that flew out solidified into suspended diamond-shaped crystals within the liquid time.

"The laws of time here flow in reverse!" The calico cat turned its stiff neck with difficulty, and the data flow in its pupils rotated in reverse. "Every action we take will have an echo in the past!" Before he finished speaking, Lu Li's afterimage suddenly split into twelve uncontrollably, each of which went back in a different direction, leaving a golden trail in the liquid time.

The distant sound of mechanical gears clacking echoed as twelve obsidian obelisks slowly rose from liquid time. Their surfaces were engraved with incantations originating from the core of entropy. Purple crystals suspended atop them twisted the light into hideous faces. The remnants of the black-robed men loomed within the crystals, their voices carried through the vibrations of liquid time: "Welcome to the cradle of entropy, outsider."

Lin Yue's seventeen-colored gem burned in Lu Li's arms. Cracks on the gem's surface oozed a silver liquid, which solidified into an arrow of time in mid-air. Lu Li injected the golden code into the arrow, which pierced through the liquid time. Just as it was about to strike the obelisk, it was intercepted by a sudden afterimage of the past—a fragment he had split off minutes earlier, now controlled by the power of entropy.

The calico cat suddenly arched its back, and the gears on its tail unleashed a thin chain that entangled one of the obelisks. The gear collar spun in reverse, emitting a deafening roar, attempting to disrupt the crystal's energy field. But liquid time suddenly solidified, enveloping its body in amber. "Lu Li! These obelisks are forming... a time prison!" Its voice sounded muffled and distant within the frozen time.

Lu Li's golden armor began to experience data distortion, and the connection between his physical form and his afterimage was constantly strained. At this moment, the gem in his arms suddenly resonated with the obelisk, and a fragment of memory flooded into his mind: the first generation of Guardians of Time had fought the mirror image of the Entropy Demon here, using twelve narrative chains from different civilizations to seal the mirror image in the planet's core.

"Shackles... obelisks!" Lu Li's six afterimages attacked simultaneously, the golden code transforming into twelve chains of light, each entangling one of the twelve obelisks. The moment the chains touched the obelisks, liquid time began to boil, and countless images of the past and future flashed through the vapor. Lu Li saw his own endings in different timelines—some consumed by entropic energy, some becoming new gatekeepers, and still others... reuniting with Lin Yue in a garden filled with seventeen-colored flowers.

"Don't be deceived by illusions!" The calico cat's gear collar blazed with a final burst of blue light, freeing itself from the constraints of liquid time. It leaped onto the highest obelisk and, with its sharp claws, dug out the core circuitry of the crystal atop it. Lu Li seized the opportunity to inject the golden code into the crystal, causing the light chain to reverse its course, and the incantations on the obelisk's surface gradually disintegrated. The remnants of the black-robed men roared in anger, their figures bursting from the crystal, their scepters emitting violet flames.

The moment the flames touched liquid time, countless mirrored clones emerged. Lu Li's afterimage engaged them, and the golden code carved a complex battle path through the void. The calico cat's geared collar reconfigured into a chainsaw, slicing through the oncoming wave of flames. But as it sawed through the flames, Lin Yue's pained face emerged from within—the mental pollution created by the black-robed man's entropic power.

"This can't be real!" The calico cat swung its chainsaw, slicing the illusion into pieces. Data streams flashed in its pupils, and it suddenly discovered a fatal weakness in the energy connection between the obelisks. "Lu Li! Simultaneously cut off the energy transmission lines in the southeast and northwest corners!" Lu Li's six afterimages sprang into action, their golden blades severing the faint purple bands glimmering through liquid time.

Twelve obelisks simultaneously wailed, their crystals atop them exploding. The fabric of liquid time began to crumble, revealing a massive silver chain at the planet's core. At its center, the sealed mirrored colossus awakened, its silver liquid metal body etched with seventeen-colored patterns. The fragment of the entropy core in its chest resonated with the gem in Lu Li's arms.

The remnants of the black-robed men resembled a swarm of enraged mechanical bees. Twelve bodies cracked with fine lines of entropy, and purple crystal fragments within their chests erupted with blinding light. The tips of their scepters twisted into drills, plowing scorching paths through liquid time as they charged madly toward the silver chains that sealed the mirrored colossus. Lu Li's golden code rapidly condensed in the air, spreading a hexagonal energy grid like a spiderweb, each node gleaming with binary runes.

"Don't even think about getting close!" Lu Li's six afterimages simultaneously exerted their power, creating a flowing shield of light on the surface of the golden cage. The moment the black-robed figure's drill staff pierced the mesh, a violent energy collision erupted, melding purple and gold light into a storm of lightning and thunder. One of the black-robed figures suddenly plucked out a crystal fragment and forced it into the cage's cracks. Corrosive entropic energy surged through the golden code like a black tide, burning hideous holes in the mesh.

The calico cat's tail lashed out with a flying gear blade, precisely severing the black-robed man's arm as it reached for the chain. Using the momentum, it leaped onto the silver chain, a hundred meters in diameter. Its gear collar unfolded into a sophisticated detector, and blue light seeping from between the gears swept across the ancient totems etched on the chain's surface. "These seals are woven from twelve narrative forces..." Its pupils transformed into gears, and data streams condensed into a hologram in the air. "But at the core intersection, there's an area where the energy frequency is disrupted!"

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