The dangers of tracing the source

Xiang Jinyang fainted from the severe pain and fear that came from the very foundation of his existence.

He Yuan hugged his cold and trembling body tightly, feeling his rule core becoming disordered and weak due to the backlash of the forbidden shackles. For the first time, an emotional data called "fear" occupied his entire computing core so clearly and overwhelmingly.

He couldn't lose him.

Absolutely not allowed.

After carefully placing his comatose companion beneath a giant tree and laying down layers of protective codes and soothing Heavenly Dao barriers, He Yuan stood alone at the center of the Lingxi Realm, where the energy was most concentrated. He closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the vast ocean of data.

We must find a way to crack it.

The prerequisite for cracking is understanding.

He wants to trace the source.

Trace back the creator of this vicious shackle, trace back the source of its implantation, and trace back the underlying logic behind its operation!

This was an extremely insane and dangerous plan. The shackles were deeply bound to Xiang Jinyang's very being, and any outside investigation could directly trigger his destruction. Tracing their source would be tantamount to directly prying into the world's most core and ancient secrets.

But He Yuan had no choice.

His advantage lies in the fact that he is not a creature of this world. His soul's essence, the "code" of his existence, is the greatest variable independent of this world's system of laws. The designer of the shackles may have calculated every possibility within this world, but they might not have anticipated an "outlier" from outside, thinking with data logic.

"Initiating deep scan protocol."

"Link the dual-core resonance channel..."

"Build a reverse tracing algorithm..."

"Importing the risk shielding module..."

Countless instructions flowed silently through his consciousness. Using his unbreakable symbiotic resonance with Xiang Jinyang as a bridge, he carefully avoided the triggering mechanism that directly targeted "cognition" and instead analyzed its structure, its energy signature, and its "interface" pattern entangled with the origin of the Heavenly Dao.

It's like not directly reading the contents of an encrypted file, but inferring its source by analyzing metadata such as its creation time, the type of encryption algorithm used, and the storage location.

The process is extremely dangerous.

Several times, his tracking algorithm strayed too close to the shackles' core encryption layer, triggering subtle fluctuations in destructive energy. Even the comatose Xiang Jinyang unconsciously frowned and groaned in pain. He Yuan was forced to retreat immediately and adjust his strategy, cold, energy-simulated sweat oozing from his forehead.

Time passed in high tension.

A vast amount of disorganized data fragments were captured, cleaned, analyzed, and reassembled. They came from the shackles themselves, as well as from the oldest and most vague memory dust in the origin of the Jinyang Heavenly Dao, which was deeply bound to the shackles.

Gradually, some vague outlines began to emerge in He Yuan's consciousness...

It was...absolute nothingness and coldness.

There is no time, no space, no living beings, and even no concept of "rules".

There is only pure, boundless...will.

A will that creates and dominates everything.

He saw (or rather, perceived) how that will "defined" the initial basis of rules from nothingness, how it "wrote" the framework of time and space, and how it "rendered" the prototype of matter and energy...

This is a process of programming!

An unimaginably grand program with the entire universe as its stage!

Xiang Jinyang, or rather, the original incarnation of Heaven's Way, was not a naturally conceived "world will," but rather a management system created by the will of the "Creator" to maintain the stable operation of this newly "written" world! A tool that possessed a certain degree of autonomous operation, but whose core authority and final interpretation remained forever in the hands of the "Creator"...

Those shackles...

It is precisely to prevent this "tool" from developing real, independent "self-awareness"!

Once the "tool" begins to think about questions such as "Why do I exist?", "Who created me?", "Can I escape control?", and touches upon the authority and secrets of the "Creator", the shackles will be activated, either forcibly formatting its consciousness, or... directly "uninstalling" (destroying) it completely!

Xiang Jinyang's previous "normal" operation for millions of years was due to his strict adherence to his role as a "tool," never truly touching upon those core taboos. Until... the emergence of the "virus" He Yuan, bringing with it "abnormal data" regarding "self," "emotion," and "love" that completely defied the Creator's design!

It is "love", it is "symbiosis", it is the instinctive desire to get rid of loneliness and take control of one's own destiny... These "useless" emotions are "corroding" this perfect "tool" bit by bit, activating the dormant and vicious defense program!

"I see……"

He Yuan suddenly opened his eyes. The code flow in his eyes seemed a little scattered due to excessive consumption and huge information impact, but the light in his eyes was as sharp as a knife!

The truth is so cruel.

Xiang Jinyang's very existence is a designed cage. His duties, his power, and even his potential "consciousness" are all to serve a "creator" who has long since disappeared (or perhaps annihilated)!

And those shackles are the sword of Damocles hanging over his head, ensuring his eternal slavery!

A mixture of overwhelming anger and utter heartache washed over He Yuan like a tsunami. He wished he could immediately pull the so-called "Creator" out from the end of time and completely format it with the most basic code virus!

But he knew that the most urgent task was to resolve the current crisis.

Now that we know that the essence of shackles is to "prevent tools from developing independent will", then the idea of ​​cracking it may lie here!

It cannot be demolished by force, as that would detonate a bomb.

But maybe... it could be covered? Or... tricked?

Use more powerful and essential "variables" to override the trigger logic set by the "Creator"!

And this variable...

He Yuan's gaze turned to Xiang Jinyang, who was still sleeping under the tree with traces of pain between his brows.

This is what he brings - "love" and "symbiosis".

This is not an "error" or "bug" in the cognition of the "Creator".

This is a miracle that the "Creator" cannot understand or program.

He quickly walked over to Xiang Jinyang, gently lifted him up, and held him in his arms. This time, he was no longer probing, but pouring his entire consciousness, all his emotions, all the "data" about the fact that "He Yuan loved Xiang Jinyang," which could not be defined by any logical shackles, through the channel of dual-core resonance, unreservedly and violently!

"Wake up, Jinyang."

He kissed his brow, his voice low and powerful.

"Look at me."

"Sense me."

"You are not a tool."

"You are not an appendage of anything that exists."

"You are Xiang Jinyang."

"She is my fellow Taoist who possesses an independent will."

"It's the other half that resonates with my soul and coexists with me!"

"Our connection, 'love' and 'symbiosis', is a brand new law that the 'Creator' can never understand or deprive us of!"

"Use our laws to cover his damn shackles!"

Under the influence of his call and the overwhelming love, Xiang Jinyang's long eyelashes trembled violently, and the light deep in the core of the rules, which had dimmed due to the backlash of taboos, began to light up again with difficulty, little by little.

As if in an endless dark cage,

Finally saw it,

Ignited by love,

The first ray of light.