On the other side, Linde had already obtained most of the data about this rift.
With the theory complete, he could officially step into this borderland.
Without hesitation, Linde manipulated the crystalline body and plunged directly into the writhing crevice.
In an instant, an indescribable, immense pressure surged in from all directions!
It's not a physical squeeze, but rather a rejection and erosion at the level of rules!
The laws of the material world become thin and distorted here, while the cold, lifeless rules of the Shadow Abyss, filled with the essence of devouring and chaos, are like thick ink, attempting to permeate and assimilate all outsiders.
A dense, almost tangible power of the Shadow Abyss enveloped him, emitting countless fragmented and frantic murmurs that directly penetrated his crystalline body, impacting Lind's core consciousness.
That was a soul noise powerful enough to drive a legendary expert mad and degenerate instantly.
But for Lind, this noise was nothing more than meaningless background clutter.
The Shadow Abyss Aura within his body circulated slightly, isolating him from all erosion. His pure aura even caused the surrounding surging Shadow Abyss power to instinctively "shrink" and "doubt".
The intricately woven and embedded Shadow Abyss energy circuits on the crystalline skeleton's body now glowed faintly, as if they had obtained a "pass," cleverly reducing the resistance during the crossing process.
After a brief period of spatial disorientation and dimensional reversal, the pressure suddenly eased.
Linde landed on solid ground.
He steadied himself, and the deep red "gaze" of the crystal skeleton swept around like a searchlight.
This place... is a bizarre and distorted realm that defies common sense.
The sky (if it could be called the sky) was an eternal, lightless, dim purple, like stagnant blood, with no sun, moon, or stars in sight, only eerie clouds that writhed slowly, like the lining of a living creature's entrails.
The earth has a fragile texture, as if it were cast from charcoal and ash. Stepping on it produces a slight cracking sound, and a viscous black oily substance seeps out from the cracks from time to time.
In the distance, jagged rocks pierced the murky purple sky at angles that defied geometry. They looked like remnants that had been twisted by a tremendous force and then carelessly discarded, their surfaces covered with flowing, shadowy patterns like unhealed scars.
The air was filled with a strong smell of sulfur, ozone, and the pungent odor of some kind of rusted metal, and deeper still, a cold, profound aura that belonged to "nothingness" itself.
Here, light is distorted and refracted in a morbid way. The shadows cast do not follow the light source, but rather meander and crawl on the ground as if they have their own life, sometimes stretching, sometimes contracting, and sometimes even suddenly "standing up" to form brief and bizarre distorted sculptures.
The rules of reality and the shadows collide, merge, and "contaminate" each other here, shaping the absurd, bizarre, yet strangely balanced scene before us.
This is what Naraku called the "borderland," a buffer zone formed after the Shadow Abyss and the Prime Material Plane tore and permeated each other, a treacherous crevic with chaotic rules, teeming with countless twisted beings.
Linde's crystalline body stood silently on this bizarre land, the [Deconstruction Aura] fully activated, like the most greedy glutton, frantically absorbing and analyzing the physical constants, energy flow patterns, and distorted spacetime structure of the surrounding environment, which were so different from the prime material world.
“Interesting…” Linde’s mental fluctuations, penetrating the crystalline shell, carried the pure interest of a researcher. “The incompleteness of the rules… the inert sedimentation of energy… and… life reactions?”
His "gaze" was fixed on a "landscape" several hundred meters away.
There were piles of pale bones, like small mountains, resembling the remains of some giant creature that had rotted away. But the shape of these bones was extremely strange, as if the bones of more than a dozen different creatures had been forcibly fused together, with twisted joints and bone spurs growing everywhere.
Between the crevices of these bones grows a creature resembling shadow moss. It pulsates slowly, emitting faint negative energy fluctuations, and constantly secretes a black, oily substance that drips onto the ground with a soft "sizzling" sound.
They are a peculiar ecosystem that survives by absorbing the emanating Shadow Abyss energy and those strange "nutrients" from this place.
Further away, a sickeningly loud scraping sound came from somewhere.
Several twisted beetles, which looked like they had been magnified a thousand times and were covered in thick chitinous shells, were scanning their surroundings with their countless compound eyes. Their mouthparts made a metallic scraping sound as they slowly crawled across a depression that was flowing with dark purple slime.
Their aura is roughly between silver and gold, and their form is entirely a product of the distorted combination of the power of the Shadow Abyss and the characteristics of certain biological remains from the Prime Material Plane.
These are the "native creatures of the Shadow Abyss" that Naraku mentioned, the "natives" born from this rift and adapted to the chaotic rules of this place.
They seemed confused by Linde's crystalline body, which exuded a "same origin" yet was more refined, and did not show any aggression for the time being, but only remained vigilant and observed.
Linde ignored these “lower” creatures; his attention was drawn to a deeper phenomenon.
At the edge of vision, beneath the dim purple sky, the earth seemed to have been torn open by a huge gap.
Instead of more Shadow Abyss energy gushing out from the gap, a "river" that flowed out, shimmering with faint starlight like liquid silver, completely out of place with its surroundings!
Where the "river" passed, the charred earth was slowly "repaired," presenting a smooth, ceramic-like texture. The chaotic shadows were also dispelled, leaving behind a strange "pure land."
But in that "pure land," there was no trace of normal life, only a cold, orderly...deathly silence.
"This is..." The energy circuits within Linde's crystalline body accelerated slightly, "...the reverse penetration of the rules of the prime material world? Or... some kind of 'purification' property?"
The appearance of this "galaxy" means that this rift is not a one-way exit from the Shadow Abyss, but the power of the Prime Material Plane is also influencing this place in some way.
This two-way interaction is more complex than expected.
Just then, a distorted shadow not far in front of Linde suddenly began to writhe violently!
The shadows churned like boiling water, rapidly coalescing and elongating into a bizarre humanoid figure three meters tall, with a pale, mask-like face and countless shadow tentacles!
Its aura far surpassed that of the previous beetles, reaching the threshold of the Radiant Gold level! The mask had no facial features, only two constantly rotating, bottomless dark vortexes, radiating a strong mental pull and malice!
It seemed to be the "lord" of this area, and finally lost patience with Linde, the "intruder" radiating powerful energy fluctuations. It let out a silent roar, and countless shadow tentacles, like wildly dancing venomous snakes, suddenly pulled and pierced towards Linde!
Before the attack even arrived, the chilling mental shock and the soul-tearing shriek of negative energy had already taken their place!
Linde finally moved.
The crystalline skeleton raised its head, its deep red "gaze" calmly "looking" at the approaching shadowy humanoid figure.
He didn't dodge; he simply raised his right arm.
The azure and dark purple patterns on the Crystal Skeleton's arm lit up instantly. Under Linde's precise control, the highly condensed negative energy was no longer simply devoured and annihilated, but began to undergo complex structural reorganization!
Buzz!
A dark shield, about one meter in diameter and composed entirely of countless tiny hexagons that are constantly being created and destroyed, appeared instantly in front of Lind's arm!
The surface of the shield is not a solid entity, but a constantly flowing area of absolute darkness, like the event horizon of a black hole!
The shadowy humanoid's countless ferocious tentacles slammed violently against the miniature shield!
There was no earth-shattering noise.
All the tentacles that touched that flowing dark area were like stones thrown into a bottomless abyss, instantly decomposed and swallowed up, without even causing a ripple!
The powerful mental impact and negative energy shrieks were completely absorbed and vanished without a trace by that small shield!
The shadowy humanoid's charge suddenly halted, the dark vortex on its mask spinning wildly, seemingly unable to comprehend what was happening before it.
Linde "looked" at it, and the crystal skeleton tilted its head slightly, as if observing an interesting experimental reaction.
"The energy structure is loose, the attack pattern is singular, and the core of will is chaotic... It is a typical product of the gaps in the rules, possessing only a power level but lacking essential evolution."
He evaluated it in his mind as if taking notes.
Then, he gently pushed his raised right arm forward.
The miniature dark shield instantly deformed and expanded, transforming into an enormous dark hand composed entirely of highly condensed negative energy!
Countless tiny runes of law flashed across his palm!
The giant hand slapped forward silently, as if swatting a fly!
The golden-level shadowy humanoid didn't even have a chance to struggle. The moment the giant palm touched its body, it disintegrated and vanished from head to toe, like a pencil drawing erased by an eraser, returning to the most basic Shadow Abyss energy particles, which were completely absorbed by the giant palm.
Only a temporarily "clean" area remained, while the shadow creatures watching from afar experienced even more intense commotion and fear.
Linde withdrew his arm, his crystalline body shimmering with light, as if he had only done a trivial matter.
He once again turned his "gaze" to the flowing "Milky Way" in the distance, and to the secrets hidden deeper in this borderland.
"It seems there's more to explore here than I expected."
He took a step, his crystalline body treading on the scorched earth, making a rhythmic cracking sound, and steadily walked deeper into this absurd land where rules were twisted.
The crack behind him rippled slightly, like an eye watching its prey walk into a deeper trap.
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