Firefly
In Jintian, time seemed to be stretched out by the thrilling self-destructive storm, and every inch of flowing silver snow marked the difficulty of slow recovery.
Dead silence was the main tone, with only the subtle breathing of the two people and the faint humming sound like a wail when the rules repaired themselves, interweaving into a desolate scene after the disaster.
Xiang Jinyang leaned against the cold, broken pillar of the Rule, eyes closed, trying to force back the last of his uncontrollable tears, trying to completely bury the vulnerability that leaked out amidst the utter pain and fear. The incarnation of the Heavenly Dao should not be so weak. But the cold, wet mark still remained on his cheek, the feeling of "pain" that was forcibly suppressed, like a brand, deeply engraved in his memory of the Rule, never to be erased.
Even more disturbing was the ancient shackles that lay dormant deep within his core, yet still emanated an ominous aura. Like a sword hanging overhead, they reminded him of the boundaries and taboos of his existence. And then there was… the hand that held his shoulder, the harsh yet effective comfort, and the words, "...don't poke around so carelessly next time."
Chaotic, contradictory, and fragments of emotions that could not be defined by any existing rules floated in the sea of his consciousness, making his weak core even more exhausted.
Elsewhere, He Yuan sat cross-legged, his brow still slightly furrowed. He was intently analyzing the extremely limited data fragments he had just captured from the "flash of a glance" deep within Xiang Jinyang's core, regarding the ancient shackles. Its structure was complex, its encryption method ancient and strange, and it carried an unquestionable, supreme, and authoritative aura.
Whoever designed this thing is incredibly skilled and incredibly cruel. This isn't a protective device, it's a torture device, the ultimate means of ensuring absolute obedience.
"Creator..." He chewed on these three words silently, his eyes gleaming with silver. What could be the existence that could so terrify the incarnation of Heaven, as to set such a deadly lock? A being from a higher dimension? An administrator from another world? Or... something even more incredible?
His curiosity was heightened to an unprecedented level, but looking at Xiang Jinyang's pale and fragile appearance, which seemed to be broken at the slightest touch, the familiar impulse to dig deeper regardless of the consequences was forcibly suppressed by another emotion for the first time.
Irritability. An unfamiliar irritation caused by the other person's pain.
He tutted his words, forced himself to shift his attention away from the taboo topic, and instead began to deal with another pressing issue - energy.
Just now, in order to prevent Xiang Jinyang from self-destructing, he had consumed a huge amount of energy. This body, already weak in foundation, felt even more noticeably weaker at this moment. The spiritual energy of the Jintian Realm itself was in disarray due to the two collapses, making it difficult to absorb directly.
His gaze swept across the devastated area, and finally landed on the chains of rules that were still hanging on his hands and feet, which had been condensed by Xiang Jinyang before and tamed by himself.
This thing...is essentially composed of highly condensed regular energy.
A thought flashed through my mind.
He reached out and grasped a chain on his wrist, silver codes flashing in his eyes.
[Beginning to analyze the chain energy structure...] [Attempting to reverse energy conversion...] [Simulating output interface...]
A subtle silver light flickered at the point where his palm met the chain. The docile chain trembled slightly, its stable internal structure forcibly rewritten and dismantled, transforming into a more primitive, more easily absorbed energy flow, which flowed slowly along his arm and into his body.
The process is a bit slow and far less efficient than directly absorbing external spiritual energy, but fortunately it is safe and stable, which is worse than nothing.
This subtle energy fluctuation startled Xiang Jinyang, who was standing nearby. He opened his eyes and happened to see He Yuan "devouring" the Rule Chain. A hint of surprise flashed across his glazed eyes.
That was the result of his rules, but now it has become the other party's nourishment.
This delicate relationship struck Xiang Jinyang as a bit absurd. Was he a supervisor, or... a breeder?
He Yuan noticed his gaze, raised his eyelids, and shook the chain in his hand, which was becoming increasingly illusory. He said with a matter-of-fact tone: "What are you looking at? It's just recycling. You don't have anything else to eat here."
Xiang Jinyang silently averted his gaze, not stopping him. His current weakness left him in no position to dwell on such trivial matters. He could even vaguely sense that as the chains were absorbed, the strange connection between him and He Yuan seemed to weaken slightly, which relaxed his tense nerves a little.
After He Yuan absorbed one chain, his pale complexion improved slightly. He repeated the same process and began to absorb the other chain on his ankle.
The territory of Jintian fell into silence again.
But the silence this time was no longer the tense and dead silence of the beginning, nor was it the desperate roar of collapse, but a kind of... weird, forced, and temporarily peaceful coexistence.
After an unknown amount of time, Xiang Jinyang suddenly moved ever so slightly. He attempted to mobilize a tiny amount of the power of rules, attempting to repair a tiny spatial crack beside him. However, as soon as the power left his body, it quickly dissipated due to the weakness of his core and the decline of his control, and he failed.
Once, twice.
He stubbornly repeated this failed action, his pale face expressionless, only his tightly pursed lips revealing an almost clumsy persistence. As if through this futile attempt, he could reaffirm his control over this area, restore a little bit of the lost order.
He Yuan absorbed the second chain and was about to start working on the third one. Seeing Xiang Jinyang's stubborn look as he struggled with a small crack, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Hey," he said, his voice still lazily, a hint of energy absorption. "Save your energy. In your current state, you won't be able to fix that crack until next year."
Xiang Jinyang paused, without looking back or responding, but the aura around him became even colder, revealing the anger of being exposed.
He Yuan watched him, his face so desperate that he was suffering, and the inexplicable irritation in his heart surfaced again. He clicked his tongue, suddenly raised his hand, and a tiny silver light shot out from his fingertips, accurately immersing himself in the spatial crack that Xiang Jinyang was struggling with.
The previously stubborn crack, as if stitched by the most skilled weaver, healed and vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if it had never existed. The entire process was incredibly smooth, without causing any fluctuations in the rules.
Xiang Jinyang suddenly turned his head and looked at He Yuan, his eyes filled with complete astonishment and a hint of well-concealed disbelief.
To what extent does he control the rules so easily?
"What are you looking at?" He Yuan felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by him, and said unhappily, "It's just for fun. I want you to stop me from getting annoyed by looking at me."
After saying this, he quickly lowered his head, as if to conceal something, and continued to absorb the third chain, but his ears seemed to be slightly warm. Damn it, why did he have to meddle in other people's business?
Xiang Jinyang looked at the soul from another world who lowered his head and exuded the aura of "don't mess with me", then looked at the perfectly repaired space. A tiny stone was thrown into the cold lake in his heart again.
Angry? A little. The other party's casual gesture made his insistence seem ridiculous. Gratitude? Absolutely not. But beyond that, there seemed to be something else... a faint emotion he couldn't even name.
He turned his head silently, no longer trying to repair it, nor looking at He Yuan, but just leaned quietly against the broken pillar, closed his eyes, and concentrated on absorbing the still docile spiritual energy in Jintian Realm, trying to speed up recovery.
Time passes again.
He Yuan finally absorbed all the energy from the four chains and recovered almost completely. He sighed contentedly, stretched, and looked around.
Looking at this still dilapidated, lifeless silver space, he felt rather bored, especially with the Daoist Ancestor sitting next to him, looking like an ice sculpture and unable to fart for a long time.
His eyes swept around aimlessly, finally landing on Xiang Jinyang's face.
I have to say, this face is truly...tsk, perfect. Not handsome in the mundane sense, but a kind of inhuman beauty that transcends gender, blending ultimate rules with an icy coldness. But now, it's too pale and frail, like a faded glass gem, exuding a fragile, morbid beauty.
It's just too rigid and boring.
A mischievous idea suddenly popped up in my mind.
A silver light flashed in his eyes, and a trace of imperceptible energy quietly gathered at his fingertips.
Xiang Jinyang, who was closing his eyes to regulate his breathing, suddenly felt an extremely weak energy wave, which was definitely not from the Jintian realm, gathering in front of him. He opened his eyes cautiously.
In the void in front of him, a faint, warm yellow light slowly lit up.
The light was extremely weak, but it flickered tenaciously, dispersing the cold silver light in a small area around it and casting a small, warm halo.
In the halo, it seemed as if something was slowly condensing and shaping by energy.
Xiang Jinyang's pupils shrank slightly, and his entire body tensed up instantly, as if facing a formidable enemy. What was he going to do?!
However, there was no malice or aggression in the energy fluctuations. Instead, it revealed a kind of... childish, clumsy... vitality?
The light gradually grew stronger and finally took shape.
It was... a chubby creature formed from the purest light energy, with short wings, and even a little crooked...
Little firefly.
It hovered tremblingly in front of Xiang Jinyang's eyes, and the warm yellow light softly sprinkled on his cold and pale face. For the first time, those glass-colored eyes clearly reflected colors other than silver and cold.
The little firefly flapped its wings clumsily and flew around him in a small circle, dragging out tiny spots of light, and then seemed to have run out of energy and slowly dissipated into the air.
It seemed like just a brief, insignificant illusion.
Xiang Jinyang was completely stunned. He froze in place, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.
What is that? Useless. Pointless. Even… kind of ridiculous.
but……
That faint bit of warm yellow was like a soft feather, inadvertently scratching his core that had been cold and dead for billions of years.
An unprecedented, strange, indescribable... touch.
He turned his head sharply and looked at the culprit.
He Yuan was looking at him with his head tilted, with an undisguised wicked smile on his face, as if he had succeeded in a prank, his eyes sparkling, as if asking "How is it? Is it boring?"
But Xiang Jinyang caught a glimpse of something like... anticipation? Or perhaps it was curiosity, waiting for his reaction, deep within that smile.
Their eyes met again.
One had a lingering look of astonishment in his eyes, a hint of warm yellow in the reflection. The other had a wicked smile on his face, a barely perceptible glimmer in his eyes.
In the ruined Jintian territory, that tiny, childish firefly had long since disappeared without a trace.
But the subtle warmth it brought seemed to really dispel a bit of the eternal cold.
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