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Consciousness drifted in endless darkness and excruciating pain, like a drowning person struggling to grasp at something, only to pull up a cold nothingness. The cracks in his soul were like ravines in the dry earth, and every faint wave of consciousness brought a tearing pain.
I don’t know how long it took, but a faint light, like sunlight penetrating thick ice, finally pierced through the chaos with difficulty.
Yinglong slowly opened his eyes.
Her vision blurred at first, then focused with difficulty. What came into view was a gray sky and a surrounding forest of jagged black stone, like the fangs of a monster. She was lying on a patch of cold black gravel, feeling something hard and sharp beneath her.
She is still alive.
This realization didn't bring much relief. Instead, it made the excruciating pain throughout her body, especially in the depths of her soul, even more distinct and acute. She tried to mobilize a trace of divine power, but all she got in response was a sharp pain in her meridians, as if pierced by thousands of steel needles, and a severe dizziness in her soul that nearly caused her to faint again.
The cost is too high.
Forced to freeze time and space, and then struck hard by the ancient will within the abyss, her injuries were already incredibly severe. Forget regaining her combat power; at this moment, she probably couldn't even perform the most basic Cloud Leaping Technique, as fragile as mortal porcelain.
She turned her head with difficulty and her eyes fell on her right hand.
Her hands were still clenched tightly, her knuckles white from the exertion. She slowly loosened her fingers.
The dark blue core lay quietly in her palm.
It seemed to have exhausted its power, its light retreating, its pulses faint, returning to its previous state of silence. However, a closer look revealed that its dark blue background had become even darker than before, and the black patterns of annihilation flowing within it had become more complex and profound, faintly revealing a solidity tempered by blood and fire.
It is still weak, but its foundation... seems to be more solid.
Yinglong stared at it in a daze.
In his mind, the scene beneath the abyss replayed uncontrollably—it erupted with dark light, slammed into the giant claw, forcibly devoured and annihilated the terrifying energy, and finally transmitted a rebuking cry of "No!"
It's protecting her.
In a way that was far beyond her expectations, a way that was almost instinctive, yet with a certain resolute will.
Why?
Was it because she had protected and nurtured it so relentlessly, at all costs? Was it because the essence and blood that had merged with its origin had formed an inseparable connection? Or was it because... deep within that new spirituality, the remaining mark of Ao Guang still exerted its influence?
She doesn't know.
She only knew that as she looked at the silent core in her palm and felt the inseparable and tangled connection between it and herself, an unprecedented and complex emotion spread in her heart.
It is no longer a simple responsibility to protect, nor is it a fear of unknown risks.
There was a hint of... throbbing, a hint of sadness, and even a hint of... warmth that she herself didn't want to delve into.
In this cold, silent, and dangerous underworld, at her weakest and near-despair, it was this existence full of uncertainty that she had "created" with her own hands that became her only support and even... saved her.
She slowly raised her other weak hand, and with a barely perceptible tremor, her fingertips gently brushed across the surface of the dark blue core.
The tentacles felt a gentle, icy coolness. No longer the biting, destructive chill of before, but a calm, restrained coolness, like jade beneath the deep sea.
The moment her fingertips touched it, the core pulsated extremely weakly, as if in response.
There is no transmission of thoughts, just a pure resonance at the energy level.
Yinglong closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the cold air that was filled with the breath of death.
The road ahead is still unclear, the injuries are still severe, and the pursuers may still be lurking in the dark.
But some things are no longer the same.
She struggled, using all her strength to try to sit up. Every tiny movement caused severe pain all over her body, and cold sweat instantly soaked her forehead.
However, just as she tried to mobilize her remaining strength to support her body——
The core in the sleeve felt the familiar, weak suction again.
It began to absorb the broken fragments of laws in the surrounding gray fog.
This time, however, the suction seemed more precise and selective. It no longer devoured everything greedily like before, but instead seemed to have a clear "target," targeting only those fragments that contained relatively peaceful auras or those that could aid in repair and stabilization.
At the same time, the pure energy feedback also followed the connection again and slowly flowed into Yinglong's dried-up meridians and sea of consciousness.
This time, the energy seemed to have a unique attribute - not just vitality, but mixed with an extremely weak soothing and calming force from the core origin, which carried the characteristics of the law of extinction.
This bit of power actually had an unexpected effect in repairing the cracks in her soul caused by overdraft and impact!
Although the process was incredibly slow, Yinglong could clearly feel that the tingling pain that covered his soul like a spider web was actually... relieved a little under the nourishment of this unique energy!
She suddenly opened her eyes and looked inward at her own soul in disbelief.
this……
This core not only feeds her energy back, but even begins to...try to repair her Dao injuries?
In this unique, strange and powerful way that blends extinction and rebirth?
What is it...?
Yinglong looked at the dark blue core in his palm, which was still silent but seemed to contain infinite possibilities, and his eyes became extremely complicated.
She originally just wanted to protect a remnant soul that should not be completely annihilated.
But inadvertently, she seemed to have opened a Pandora's box that even she could not have predicted.
And now, this magic box is tightly bound to her in a way that she cannot understand, sharing weal and woe, life and death.
She lay back down on the cold black sand and gave up trying to force herself up.
He just lay there quietly, feeling the weak but continuous energy feedback, feeling the extremely slow repair of the cracks in his soul, and feeling the steady and cold pulsation coming from the core in his palm.
Gray fog flowed silently above her head, and the stone forest cast hideous shadows beside her.
What will the future hold?
She doesn't know.
She only knew that in this forgotten corner of the dark, she and it, two beings that should have had different endings, had their destinies completely entangled because of a crazy obsession and a reckless rescue, and could no longer be separated.
The original intention of protection may have already quietly deteriorated.
And a road full of unknowns and dangers, but also containing a hint of strange vitality, is slowly unfolding under her feet.
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