Chapter 32: Guide Assessment in Progress 4
Ye Heng followed closely, and he watched helplessly as the last trace of dark purple poison disappeared into the star crystal. The poison that had troubled him for a hundred years completely disappeared as if it had been erased by an eraser.
Shasha lightly swept across the surface of the star crystal, leaving a fleeting ice-blue trail.
The comments in the Star Network live broadcast room were frozen for three full seconds, and then it was like a bomb was dropped:
"What the hell?! That purple layer... is gone?"
"I rubbed my eyes three times. Is the live stream stuck?"
"Who said last gasp? Come out and get beaten! This is called a last gasp? This is called a dimensionality reduction attack!"
"What kind of spirit is that? What kind of vine can do that? I need to look up some information!"
In Lin Yao's spiritual sea, a circle of threads suddenly appeared on the tree trunk that had not changed for a long time, and a thick purple halo faintly appeared in the threads.
Lin Yao's fingertips felt slightly hot, which was the feeling coming from the connection with Shasha's spirit.
Shasha has awakened new abilities and related enhanced energy patterns. Under normal circumstances, he would immediately sink into the sea of consciousness to find out what is going on, but at this moment he is still undergoing an assessment.
After the dark purple color completely faded, the star crystal revealed a clear appearance, and the gray-white mental power lines had no luster.
Those lines crisscross and form the shape of a paulownia tree, which is the iconic spiritual mark of Wu Cang!
"It's... it's the pattern of the paulownia tree!" Xia He, who had been paying attention to Lin Yao, said in disbelief. She covered her mouth tightly to prevent herself from screaming.
The camera in the live broadcast room focused on her gaze, and the dark purple faded, revealing the clear veins of the sycamore leaves underneath.
Each line has a smooth arc, and the forks look like the serrated edges of sycamore leaves. Even the subtle bumps on the leaf stalks appear lifelike.
The comments suddenly fell into an eerie silence. A few seconds later, a barrage of exclamations flooded the screen:
"Wutong... It's really Wutong pattern!"
"It's Chief Wu Cang's pattern! I saw it in the holographic image in history class!"
"Oh my god, I actually saw something legendary."
Xia He's eyes instantly turned red. Who doesn't know Wu Cang?
The chief guide from a hundred years ago was the white moonlight engraved in the genes of the interstellar people.
Her grandfather always said that the Zerg's spiritual pollution covered the planet like a black fog, and countless Sentinels killed each other in madness. It was Wu Cang with his Wutong spiritual body who split the black fog like a ray of light.
His purification ability is gentle but tenacious, and can smooth out the most violent wrinkles in the sentinels' spiritual sea. Those sentinels who were saved by him later became the backbone of the anti-insect battlefield.
"He finally stood in the central star, and the sycamore leaves fell all over the planet."
Xia He muttered to herself, her fingers unconsciously sliding across the image of Wu Cang on the computer. The young man in the photo was wearing a white robe, with the shadow of a stretched phoenix tree behind him, and his smile was as pure as the rising sun.
But it was this person who, in order to completely purify the remaining spiritual pollution of the Zerg, bound his own spiritual body to the star core. In the end, it shattered with the energy explosion, leaving only this section of the Wutong pattern contaminated by toxins.
This line has become a hot potato since the day it appeared.
Guides came one after another and tried to decipher it and purify it, but all became victims of the lines.
Five years ago, the families of those guides blocked the entrance of Baita College with a petition, demanding the destruction of these harmful relics.
The protest lasted for three full months. Supporters held up Wu Cang's portrait and stood outside the college, shouting that the hero's legacy must not be destroyed.
Opponents held up the victims' medical reports and denounced them as executioners, saying that this was not a legacy.
Controversy entangled the Central Star White Pagoda Academy like a vine, until two years ago, when the academy finally launched a referendum on the Star Network.
Xia He still remembers what the voting page looked like: the left side showed complete destruction, with dark purple lines devouring mental power; the right side showed permanent sealing, with the background being a holographic photo of Wu Cang purifying the battlefield that year.
In the seven days since voting was open, StarNet's servers crashed three times. When the final results were announced, she wept in front of the screen.
Many people have not forgotten Wu Cang's contribution to the empire. They are also struggling. Wu Cang's achievements are there, but the scars and damage he left behind are also there.
In the end, the slight advantage of 51% to 49% allowed this pattern to be retained.
"Seal it with the thickest energy protection shield. Leave it there unless tested or studied." The academy's announcement was written in a restrained manner, but it concealed the struggles of many people.
Just like treating the fragile moonlight, even though you know you can’t touch it, you still can’t bear to break it.
At this moment, looking at the gray-white paulownia lines gradually appearing in front of Lin Yao, Xia He suddenly covered her face with her hands, tears seeping out from between her fingers.
Those arguments about whether to destroy it or not, those sleepless nights for voting, those moments of silent tears, all seemed to have meaning at this moment.
"Grandpa, look." She said softly, "Chief Wu Cang's pattern has reappeared."
In the live broadcast barrage, someone first brushed the name of "Chief Wu Cang", and then the barrage on the entire screen turned into a golden phoenix leaf pattern.
"It's Chief Wutongwen! He was the one who saved my grandmother!"
"I voted for Fengchuang on the day of the vote. Although I have never met Wu Cang, I know that I have received his kindness, so leaving his pattern is the only thing I can do for him!"
"White Moonlight... This is the White Moonlight of our entire empire..."
Ye Heng stood outside the crowd, looking at the gradually clearer gray and white lines, his fingers unconsciously brushing over his cufflinks.
It was a button with the Ye family crest. His grandfather had also been purified by Wu Cang. He still remembered what his grandfather had said when he was a child:
“True purification is not about eliminating darkness, but about giving light a chance to shine in.”
At this moment, Lin Yao and Shasha are becoming that beam of light.
The entire Xingluo Court examination site was silent, and even the sound of wind blowing through the leaves could be clearly heard.
-
Lin Yao's gaze fell on the exposed veins of the sycamore leaves. The grayish-white veins undulated gently in the light, like a heart that had been dormant for a hundred years, finally beating again.
This is not its original color. Wu Cang's mental power is green and blue, so Lin Yao has to remove the grayish-white layer before he can draw this mental power pattern.
The barrage in the Star Network live broadcast room exploded instantly:
"Oh my god! That gray and white up there is the Chaos Belt?!"
"This is the first time I've seen it so clearly! I've only heard about it before!"
"This is eye-opening! This is eye-opening! The poison is gone. If Lin Yao can deal with the Chaos Belt, does that mean this pattern doesn't need to be sealed anymore and can be placed in the assessment area? If I apply for the exam next year, will I have a chance to get one?"
"What the above person said is true, but there is one thing, Lin Yao has to get it done! Otherwise, it will all be in vain!"
"Come on, Lin Yao!"
“Come on! Come on!”
There are a lot of people on the Internet cheering for Lin Yao. They know it is very dangerous, but everyone hopes that Lin Yao can succeed and give the heroic pattern a new life.
The gray-white lines of the paulownia tree were eroded by the ice-blue mental power, proving that Lin Yao had begun to enter. When the entire gray-white line was covered by ice-blue, it proved that Lin Yao had successfully lit up the dead end line.
For Lin Yao, the real test has just begun.
The situation in the Chaos Zone was unclear, and it was even impossible to defend against attacks, but he had no choice but to go in and take a look.
Even though defense was unnecessary, Lin Yao still mobilized his mental strength to weave a barrier around his body. This was the last protection he could make. Even if it could only block a little, it was enough to make Shasha react.
As soon as he stepped into the chaotic zone, the energy around him became restless like a wild horse: the warm air current brushed past his ears the previous moment, and the next moment it turned into icy spikes with barbs, smashing towards his barrier without warning.
In the eyes of onlookers and StarCraft netizens, the ice blue was hit by the gray and white, and then stagnated. They were puzzled as to why this happened?
"Is it a Chaos attack?" the onlookers asked.
This sentence was like a wake-up call. Yes! Apart from the disordered chaos attack, what other explanation was there?
The comments in the Star Network live broadcast room were almost instantly flooded with text, and the screen was filled with dense text:
"Stop! Binglan has stopped!"
"What's going on? Wasn't it working fine just now? Why did it stop suddenly?"
"The Chaos Belt is attacking! The gray-white one is the Chaos Belt, and the ice-blue one stopped, which means Lin Yao is being attacked!"
"This Chaos Belt is truly terrifying! It came so suddenly, he must have only been in there a short time!"
"What else? The Chaos Zone is most famous for its disorderly attacks!"
Someone zoomed in on the live broadcast footage and stared at the boundary between the ice blue and grayish-white lines. The two colors seemed to be in a game of chess, going back and forth.
Everyone was worried about Lin Yao, and Ye Heng's heart was also lifted. The attacks from the Chaos Belt could weaken mental strength.
The fierce struggle between the colors made this battle-hardened marshal worried. He didn't know whether Lin Yao was just trying to hold on or had some other method.
At this moment, the ice-blue color launched a powerful counterattack and overwhelmed the gray-white color. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, which meant that Lin Yao had survived this attack.
Lin Yao, who was battling the Chaos Belt, stared at the energy fragments that flew out after the ice spikes shattered and said, "As expected."
The edges of those fragments glowed with a dark purple light, which was the deep toxin in the silver light trap.
He immediately confirmed that his previous analysis was correct.
The spiritual power lured by the silver light trap, the part that was not swallowed up all became ammunition for the Chaos Belt. No wonder the attack was so disorderly. Who knows which guide's spiritual power residue was mixed in it?
The energy from the chaos belt was carrying poison, and the barrier could not withstand this double attack. Just now, fine cracks appeared on the barrier.
Shasha reacted instantly, repairing the barrier and swallowing the toxin to ensure the safety of Lin Yao's mental power.
The ice-blue leaves wrapped around the poisonous energy fragments, and the edges of the leaves instantly turned deep purple, breaking down the toxins into strands of energy that were swallowed into the stomach, feeding back to Lin Yao's mental power.
Lin Yao could feel the satisfaction coming from Shasha, and the energy brought by this chaos was actually to his liking.
He had originally planned to let Shasha replicate the operation of removing the toxins, directly devour the energy here, and completely clear out the clean Wutong patterns so that he could smoothly use his mental power to draw them.
But just as Shasha swallowed the third wave of attack energy, the new circle of threads on the tree trunk in his spiritual sea suddenly lit up.
Lin Yao used part of his consciousness to perceive that the deep purple halo was gently pulsating in a certain rhythm, as if responding to something.
"Hmm?" His heart moved. The previous wave of attacks came from the front, and at the moment when the thread glowed, he seemed to catch a very faint warmth, but because Shasha swallowed it too quickly, this warmth flashed by from the left front.
The next wave of attack came fast and hard, a ball of energy carrying lightning, crashing into the barrier with a crackling sound.
The barrier was like tempered glass exploding, and the dark purple poison tried to penetrate into it like a cancer. Lin Yao didn't have time to think about it, and ordered Sha Sha to insert ten vines of killing power into the energy ball, madly devouring the energy within.
The healing vines were frantically repairing the burst barrier, and Fresh Green was particularly busy at this moment.
At this moment, a thin purple line suddenly appeared on the threads of the Shasha tree trunk, pointing straight to the front left. The dark purple halo surged into a small vortex at the edge of the line.
The warmth reappeared, a little clearer than before, like the sunlight filtering through the window in the cold winter.
"This thread... is it pointing the direction?" Lin Yao stared at the fleeting purple line and suddenly understood. "Is the Chaos Belt hiding the same power as this?"
He immediately adjusted his strategy and stopped Shasha from absorbing energy. He wanted to take on these attacks and find the source of the warmth.
What Shasha has to do now is to repair the barrier and capture every movement of the thread.
When the crimson energy stream with a burning breath hit, the thread on the thread deviated to the right, and warmth also spread from the right side, like silk soaked in warm water; when the blue energy blade flew past the ear, the thread pointed straight upwards, and warmth floated down from the top of the head, carrying a clear scent of grass and wood.
Every attack is like calibrating the coordinates of this navigation system.
If Lin Yao allowed Chaos to attack, it would simply put the hearts of the people in the interstellar space on fire.
Because in their eyes, the gray-white lines were being permeated inch by inch by the ice-blue spiritual power, like the ice melting on the river surface in early spring. This was proof that Lin Yao was going deeper.
Everyone stared at the slowly advancing ice-blue edge, which was already covered with half of the paulownia pattern, but suddenly stopped in an instant.
The next second, the ice-blue color seemed to be pushed hard by an invisible giant hand, and it retreated half an inch visibly to the naked eye.
The comments in the Star Network live broadcast room were instantly like being thrown into boiling oil:
"Retreat! Binglan retreated!"
"That was another attack just now, wasn't it? Oh my god, the force was too terrifying!"
"Why did he just watch Binglan retreat?"
Ye Heng stood at the edge of the assessment area, the button on his palm being crushed.
When the ice-blue light retreated suddenly, he even subconsciously took half a step forward. His Adam's apple rolled as he wanted to say something, but he bit his lower lip tightly.
He knew that any interference at this moment would be fatal, and all he could do now was to trust him.
The audience in front of the optical computer could not see the real attack of the Chaos Belt, but they could clearly see the ice-blue mental power trembling and retreating under the impact of the gray-white lines.
The ice blue color that originally covered half of the painting became less and less, like a sand painting eroded by the tide, and was gradually retreating to the entrance.
"What is he doing?! Didn't the previous attacks pass?" This thought roared in the hearts of the interstellar people.
Ye Heng's heart was tormented. Looking at Lin Yao's pale and tense face due to the massive consumption of mental energy, the marshal who had remained calm in the face of danger finally lost his composure.
Chen Yan, who had completed the assessment long ago, squeezed to the front row of the crowd, and the loose hair on his forehead was soaked with cold sweat from anxiety.
He stared intently at the retreating ice blue, his voice tense: "Weren't we advancing smoothly just now? How did we get counterattacked?"
His question was like a stone thrown into a deep pool, without even a trace of echo.
The examiners pursed their lips tightly, their knuckles pressing on the emergency stop button, but they were hesitant to press it. Everyone knew that forcibly interrupting the process at this time would only cause greater damage to Lin Yao's spiritual sea.
The onlookers clenched their fists, and some couldn't help but turn their heads away, not daring to look at the precarious ice blue.
The entire Xingluo Court fell into a suffocating silence, with only the scrolling comments on the computer screen still roaring:
"Retreat to the entrance! Binglan is almost retreating to the entrance!"
"Is he unable to hold on any longer? Tell him to stop!"
"My heart is about to burst out..."
Indulging in the consumption brought about by the attack and search, since Shasha could no longer obtain energy replenishment from the outside, Lin Yao could only use his existing mental power.
The huge consumption of mental energy caused Lin Yao to sweat coldly and his face was as pale as rice paper.
But his eyes became brighter and brighter, because the warmth became stronger and stronger, and the purple line on the thread became clearer and clearer, from the initial fleeting light to a light band that could last for half a second.
When a ball of dark green sticky energy wrapped in poison rushed towards it, the spiral suddenly burst out with a half-foot long purple light, pointing directly to the depths of the chaos zone.
The warmth is there, as thick as honey that cannot be melted. You can even feel the gentle power contained in it, which is faintly resonating with the frequency of the paulownia pattern.
"Found it!" Lin Yao shouted softly, and his mental power surged towards Shasha like a tide, driving it to rush towards that direction regardless of everything.
In the chaos zone, the killing vines suddenly grew rapidly. The ice-blue main vines rushed in the direction guided by the purple line. The scarlet killing vines split the energy flow on both sides, and the healing vines wove a bright green protective net around the body, removing the toxins that had escaped the net one by one.
The surrounding energy seemed to be enraged, rushing in from all directions, but when it approached, it was swept up and swallowed up, and turned into nourishing nutrients again, becoming fuel to that place.
-
The ice-blue edge had retreated to the last inch from the entrance to the chaos zone. Ye Heng was about to take action, and he even wanted to release Mo Yun in order to stabilize Lin Yao's mental strength.
But the icy blue color suddenly seemed to be grasped by an invisible giant hand and suddenly stopped at the edge of the entrance. Even the halo on the outermost edge stopped shaking, as if time had been paused at this moment.
The gasps around suddenly stopped, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the icy blue.
Ye Heng's breathing also stopped. He saw that the gray-white lines with the ice-blue edge were still surging forward by inertia, but it was as if it had hit an iron wall and was bounced back in an instant.
In just a breath, the originally shaky ice blue suddenly burst out with dazzling brilliance.
It is not a slow infiltration, nor a gradual spread, but it is like a tsunami breaking through a dam, surging and spreading at a speed that cannot be captured by the naked eye!
The ice-blue spiritual power rushed wildly along the veins of the Wutong tree. Wherever it passed, the gray-white lines melted and retreated like spring snow in the sun. Even the chaotic and surging energy turbulence was forcibly smoothed out by this force, turning into flickering spots of light in the ice-blue waves.
In just one second, from the entrance to the core, the entire Wutong pattern was completely covered with ice blue.
The line of death, which the interstellar people called the line of dead end, seemed to be injected with life at this moment. Each line was glowing with a warm luster against the backdrop of ice blue, and it was completely connected to form a complete purification array diagram.
“…” The Star-Setting Courtyard was completely silent; even the sound of the wind blowing through the treetops was piercingly clear.
Chen Yan opened his mouth, as if there was a hot stone stuck in his throat. He was unaware of the cold sweat that had just been swirling in his eyes and now slid down his jawline.
His eyes were clearly wide open and he forgot to even blink, but he still couldn't see how the icy blue spread over the last line.
The examiners' fingers were still pressing forward on the control console, and the bright ice blue was reflected in their pupils, as if they were getting to know the star crystals in front of them for the first time.
One white-haired examiner even rubbed his eyes subconsciously and muttered to himself, "Did I just...see that correctly?"
The comments in the Star Network live broadcast room paused for a full five seconds before exploding into a gusher:
"??? Is my network down? What just happened?"
"No! It was just one breath! How did it suddenly become full?!"
"I recorded the screen! Slow it down ten times! That icy blue just spread across in a flash!"
"The dead end pattern... has been opened?"
"I was just praying that I wouldn't quit, and now I'm told I've cleared it all? This twist is more exciting than a Star Wars movie!"
Lin Yao's figure was swaying slightly. He raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. The ice-blue light dyed the entire assessment area bright.
Chen Yan finally found his voice, his voice drifting: "He... He really did it?"
No one answered, but the icy blue that ran through it was the best answer.
The moment the Juelu pattern was completely opened, it seemed as if a sigh spanning a hundred years echoed in Xingluoting.
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