The core of the illusory realm was far more chaotic than imagined. Dark purple energy streams twisted and swam through the space like a swarm of snakes, and the air was filled with the smell of burnt metal.
The moment Lin Yi stepped inside, his pupils suddenly contracted—a giant device was suspended in the very center, with countless chains extending from the device into the depths of the void. At the end of each chain were entangled phantoms of the real world: the neon lights of the Bund were distorted, the bricks of the Great Wall were peeling off, and he could even see the breakfast stall downstairs in his own apartment building blurring at a visible speed.
“Dimensional Furnace.” Xuan Mingzi’s voice suddenly became hoarse, and his fingers under his Taoist robe dug deeply into his palms. “He is drawing energy from the balance between reality and the virtual world. When the furnace is full…” The old man did not finish his sentence, but Lin Yi saw that the golden cloud patterns on his Taoist robe were fading away rapidly, as if being swallowed by some kind of power.
The owl's translucent body stood atop the furnace, black mist swirling around him. His once manic eyes were now unusually calm: "Surprised? You thought I was going to destroy reality? No, I will make the two worlds completely overlap—at that time, all rules will be set by me, and all life will be sacrificed for me." He raised his hand, and the furnace suddenly emitted a deafening roar. A chain snapped, and the phantom of a city in reality vanished instantly, even denting the skyline.
"Seven Keys." Xuan Mingzi suddenly made a hand seal, and the cloud patterns on his Daoist robe suddenly lit up. His fingertips drew a six-pointed star array in the void, and seven blurry light traces appeared in the array, one of which had been completely extinguished. "The Seven Keys of Creation were originally anchor points used by advanced civilizations to stabilize dimensions. Su Qing used the first key to exchange for your life... The remaining six must be collected before the furnace is filled." His gaze swept over Lin Yi. "Only the Time-Space Ruler can simultaneously perceive the key wills of all the fragmented worlds."
Lin Yi's Adam's apple bobbed.
The compass on his chest suddenly began to heat up, and the temperature spread throughout his body along his blood vessels, like the last wisp of light and mist that Su Qing left behind before she disappeared.
He closed his eyes and could clearly perceive every thought from reality—Chu Yao's water element danced at his fingertips, the sound of Long Wu's dragon scales rubbing together carried the booming sound of war drums, the white-bearded shockwave gauntlets hummed in his palm, and even the little priest girl in the newbie village who always loved to buff people was now clutching a cross and praying.
"Connect with faith, fully activated," he said softly.
The golden light of the compass instantly enveloped the entire area.
The struggling Long Wu suddenly straightened his back, and the flames on his dragon claws shot up ten feet high; the dark shadow's eerie green sword gleamed with gold, and the spatial rifts on its blade stopped closing; the cloud patterns on Xuan Mingzi's Taoist robe began to flow again, and the light traces in the six-pointed star array began to glow slightly.
"Overestimating yourself." Night Owl finally made a move.
As he raised his hand, twelve black iron chains suddenly materialized in mid-air, each chain engraved with upside-down eyes, each eye emitting a blinding red light.
The shadowy figure's lightsaber clashed with the chains, producing a piercing sound. He staggered back half a step, a drop of eerie green blood spilling from the corner of his mouth—but the next second, his figure suddenly split into nine, simultaneously stabbing at the Night Owl's throat from different angles.
"Restrain him for three minutes." The shadowy voice was like the scraping of metal. "This is the final authority of law enforcement officers of a higher civilization."
Lin Yi did not turn around.
He could sense that the shadowy figure's power was being depleted, and each of its clones was visibly fading.
He took a deep breath, and the compass emitted a pale purple light from his chest—the color of the residual data from Su Qing.
The figure blurred and solidified in the void. The first stop was a fragment of the notice board in the newbie village three years ago. The words "Find your own myth" on the faded wooden sign flowed in the golden light, but there was no trace of the key.
The second stop is Long Wu's Dragon Nest.
Inside the cave where lava was churning, the cracks from when the dragon eggs hatched were still there, and the dragon bones that Dragon Five had gnawed on when it was young were piled up into a small mountain.
Lin Yi reached out and touched one of the bones, and Su Qing's handwriting suddenly appeared on the bone: "The key is hidden where time is unwilling to stop."
The third stop is Chu Yao's Water Mirror Space.
The mirror reflected her 17th birthday, as she tiptoed to stick candles onto the cake, on which the words "Xiao Qing is the best" were written crookedly.
The moment Lin Yi's fingertips touched the mirror, it shattered, and countless water droplets condensed into Su Qing's voice: "Don't look for me, look for yourself."
"I'm looking for the key!" Lin Yi roared into the void.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and the compass began to flicker—the power of the faith link was waning, and only three of the shadowy clones remained. The owl's chains were wrapping around the neck of the last clone.
"Fool."
A familiar, smiling voice suddenly rang in my ears.
Lin Yi turned his head sharply and saw Su Qing standing in the void, wearing the white dress she wore when they first met three years ago, with starlight dappling her hair.
Her finger gently touched his heart: "The will of the key is never a block of metal. It's the road you've walked together, the fights you've fought together, and the nonsense you've said together."
In the light mist, Lin Yi saw fragments of his memories begin to glow—when the newbie village was surrounded by monsters, Long Wu smashed through the wooden door and rushed in; when Chu Yao blocked a fatal blow for him, the water shield shattered the moment; when the white-bearded man stuffed the shockwave gauntlets into his hands and said, "Kid, don't keep me waiting too long"; and Su Qing, who kept him company on the rooftop to watch the stars every sleepless night.
"I see." Lin Yi smiled.
He spread his arms, and the golden light of the compass surged out like a tide, each ray of light containing fragments of memory—the dragon scales of Long Wu, the water patterns of Chu Yao, the gauntlet marks of the white-bearded man, and the star map drawn by Su Qing.
These fragments coalesced in the air, forming the prototypes of six keys, each engraved with different patterns, yet all radiating the same warm light.
"One more is needed." Xuan Mingzi's voice suddenly became urgent. "The furnace's progress bar is already ninety percent complete!"
Lin Yi's breath hitched.
He turned to look at the shadowy figure still fighting—the last clone was dissipating, the Night Owl's chains piercing the shadowy figure's chest, and the eerie green blood splattered on the furnace, leaving not even a trace.
The chains extinguished Long Wu's flames, and he knelt on one knee, the scales on his dragon horns peeling off.
“The last one…” Lin Yi’s gaze swept across the void, then suddenly fixed on a broken corner.
The space there seemed to have been torn open, revealing a dark blue time corridor. Something was glowing deep within the corridor, much like the starlight on Su Qing's staff.
Without hesitation, he transformed into a streak of light and rushed into the crack.
Behind them came the roar of an owl, the final muffled groan of a shadowy figure, and the unwilling roar of Long Wu.
But all Lin Yi could hear was his own heartbeat and the increasingly clear buzzing of the key.
In the corridor of time, a key shimmering with starlight floats in mid-air, its teeth engraved with a familiar star map—a pattern Su Qing had drawn on a sketchbook when she taught him to recognize constellations.
The deep blue light curtain of the Time Corridor flowed around Lin Yi, and his fingertips were only three inches away from the Starlight Key.
The star map on the key's surface suddenly rippled, like a lake surface tossed with pebbles. Su Qing's voice, carrying fragments of memory, surged into his consciousness: "The key's will is hidden in the most 'painful' place—not the wound, but the bittersweet feeling in your throat every time you think of me."
Lin Yi's breathing suddenly stopped.
The scene from the stormy night three years ago suddenly flashed back: Su Qing shielded him from the mutated beast's tail sting, leaving a half-foot-long gash on her back. As he trembled and tried to bandage her, she smiled and pressed her blood-stained hand against his chest: "Does it hurt? It's beating so fast here, even faster than my own." At that moment, the star map on the key was flashing with his heartbeat, each beat striking his ribs and sending a burning, aching sensation through him.
"It's the program you left behind," Lin Yi said in a hoarse voice.
He pressed his palm against the key, and the instant his skin touched the metal, Su Qing's illusory image emerged from the key—not the residual light and mist from the previous data, but Su Qing herself, warm to the touch, who could blink.
Her white dress was stained with stardust, and the ends of her hair were still dripping with rain from that night three years ago: "Xiao Yi, press this for me." Her finger touched a very fine indentation on the bottom of the key. "This is a hidden code I wrote with my last half of my life points. Only the heartbeat of the Time and Space Ruler can trigger it."
The dark blue corridor suddenly trembled violently.
The owl's roar pierced the spatial barrier, like poisoned steel needles stabbing into eardrums: "Dare to touch my key! I'll tear your souls to pieces and feed them to the dimensional storm—"
"Press it!" Su Qing's illusory figure began to blur, her hand covering Lin Yi's hand. "Half a second later, the code would have been shattered by the furnace's energy!"
Lin Yi gritted his teeth and pressed down on the dent.
The key suddenly burst into a blinding white light, within which countless golden codes floated up, like stardust scattered by the wind, and then instantly reformed into a line of Su Qing's handwriting: "To my bravest idiot: If you see this message, it means you're recklessly charging forward again. Remember, you're not alone."
"bite--"
A mechanical sound exploded in his mind.
Seven shallow marks appeared on the surface of the key, two of which shone like stars—the first one was exchanged for Su Qing's life, and the second one was now lying in Lin Yi's palm.
"Go!" Su Qing's illusory figure gave him a final push. "They can't hold on any longer!"
The sound of the explosion outside the corridor made Lin Yi's eardrums ache.
As soon as he stepped out of the time rift, he saw Night Owl's translucent body swell into a black mountain, twelve chains ripping through the void and piercing through the last clone of the shadow; Dragon Five's claws were entangled by chains, scales peeling off to reveal the bleeding red flesh beneath; Chu Yao's water shield shattered, she knelt on the ground, her fingertips still futilely condensing water arrows, but the ends of her hair had already begun to blur—a side effect of the overlap between reality and the void.
"Time and space stand still!" Lin Yi's pupils turned purplish-gold.
The compass burned in his chest, and he could clearly feel the energy within his body surging like a flood from a burst dam, rushing down his spine to his brain.
Time seemed to slow down abruptly. Night Owl's chains froze in mid-air, like twelve frozen black snakes; Long Wu's dragon blood hung in mid-air, each drop reflecting his bloodshot eyes; Chu Yao's water arrow shattered into ice crystals, shimmering in her hair.
"Hold on for three seconds." Lin Yi's temples throbbed. This was the first time he had simultaneously unleashed a mythical-level skill on an area with a radius of a hundred meters. The laws of spacetime were rampaging through his consciousness, like a million knives cutting his nerves. "Three seconds is enough for you..."
"Same as always, you take the heaviest burden, and we'll fill in the gaps!" Long Wu's dragon roar shattered the shackles of time.
He violently swung his entangled dragon claws, and the moment the dragon scales burst open, crimson-gold dragon breath burst forth from the claw tips—it was his natal flame ignited with dragon blood, which directly burned through the three chains.
"The embodiment of water!" Chu Yao's water element suddenly solidified into a physical form.
She bit her fingertip, and the blood dripped onto the shattered water shield. The water shield instantly expanded into a semi-transparent dome, enveloping everyone within it.
Whitebeard leaped from the edge of the dome, the blue light from his shockwave gauntlets almost burning his retinas: "You brat, I haven't had enough of my shockwave yet!" His fist slammed into Night Owl's chains, the air cracking with the sound of shattering glass, and the upside-down eyes on the chains were shaken out of shape.
"Advanced Civilization Authority - Final Judgment." The shadowy figure's eerie green blood droplet suddenly condensed into a lightsaber.
His true form stepped out of the void, Night Owl's chains still piercing his chest, but his eyes shone brighter than ever before. "This is my last move as an enforcer." The lightsaber slashed at Night Owl's heart, the black-purple energy surging like boiling water, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on Night Owl's body.
Lin Yi's knee slammed heavily onto the ground.
The instant the freeze in time ended, he tasted a mouthful of rusty blood—the blood from ruptured blood vessels in his brain.
But his hands were still tightly gripping two keys, the star map on them absorbing his spilled blood like parched land thirsting for rain.
"The furnace... is about to explode!" Xuanmingzi's Taoist robe was almost torn to shreds by the energy flow.
He pointed to the dimensional furnace, where the chains that had been maintaining balance were now snapping wildly, and dense red runes were appearing on its surface. "Night Owl has initiated the self-destruct program; he's going to cause the virtual world and reality to collapse together!"
"Let's go!" Lin Yi stood up, supporting himself with the compass.
His figure flickered in the void, scooping up the nearest Chu Yao and grabbing Long Wu's dragon horn, "Go to the reality anchor point! The key needs reality energy to nourish it—"
"Trying to escape?" The owl's roar mingled with the roar of the furnace.
His body completely disintegrated, turning into thousands of black rays, one of which pierced Lin Yi's left shoulder, causing him so much pain that he almost shattered his back teeth.
But his fingers never loosened their grip on the key, and warm blood dripped onto the key's surface. Suddenly, the star map began to shimmer with the same starlight as Su Qing's staff.
"boom--"
The explosion of the furnace shook the core of the void realm to its core.
Lin Yi glanced behind him one last time: the black shadow's lightsaber was still burning, like a lamp in the darkness; Xuan Mingzi was making hand seals, and the cloud patterns on his Taoist robe lit up again, trying to stabilize the collapsing space; Long Wu's dragon breath, wrapped in his white beard, was crashing into the exit of the void.
He looked down at the key in his palm.
Strange runes appeared on the surface of the two keys at some unknown time, like ancient codes awakened by some power, and they hummed softly with his heartbeat—the sound was very similar to the off-key folk song that Su Qing used to hum.
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