As the shrill scream of the collapsing black hole pierced his eardrums, Lin Yi's fingertips were pressed against his brow.
The burning sensation of the Time and Space Dominator Badge surged up his temples through his veins, and he could clearly sense that those translucent shadows that had merged into the river of time had left traces before dissipating.
"Dragon Five, let go." He pressed down on the scales of the dragon's tail. The vibrations from the dragon's folded wings had not yet subsided, but the young man had already stood up straight.
Starlight swirled in his azure pupils, the laws of spacetime actively revealing information to him: "Three kilometers to the east, seventeen meters underground; an abandoned power plant cooling tower in the western suburbs; and..." He suddenly turned to look northwest, where heavy snow, unusual for this season, was falling—"The memory anchor point from the beginner village."
Long Wu's dragon claws tightened instinctively, his knuckles pressing down on the dragon scales with a cracking sound: "Boss, what's wrong with you..."
"When the avatar of the mother nest escaped, it shattered the sensory anchor I left in the timeline." Lin Yi pulled down his sleeve to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, pausing for a moment. "It's like...like the warmth left in my dragon scales when you shielded me from that thunderstorm back then." He spoke casually, but Long Wu's eyes reddened—it was a stormy night three years ago in the newbie village, when, to save Lin Yi who was entangled by monsters, Long Wu took the ultimate skill of a lightning-type boss head-on, shattering seven dragon scales on his back, each bearing the burnt hem of the young man's clothes.
"Seventeen sources of fluctuation detected!" Chu Yao's voice boomed from the wrist-mounted computer. The number of red dots on the holographic screen suddenly dropped from a hundred to seventeen. "They have converged their quantum states and are attempting to connect... to faith nodes?" Her fingertips rapidly tapped the virtual keyboard, her hair whipped up by the torrent of data. "They are faith projections from civilizations in other dimensions!"
These clones want to act as bridges, bringing the pollution from that side into our timeline!
"Faith nodes?" The shadowy figure's rune network suddenly glowed with a ghostly blue light. He looked up, his silver brows furrowing into deep furrows. "Three years ago, I wiped out a similar link. Back then, those alien believers hollowed out the church's basement and used human blood to draw summoning circles." His knuckles pressed against his chin, runes flowing like living things in his palms. "Should I go and blow up those nodes?"
"Explode?" Xuanmingzi suddenly chuckled, and fragments of the mother nest on his Daoist robe fell off in a flurry.
He stood in the purple mist remaining in the black hole, his white hair being lifted by the winds of law, but there was a kind of gentle light in his eyes: "Young friend, these nodes are alive."
"Just like... just like that thousand-year-old cypress I protected in Zhongnan Mountain back then. Even after the main trunk was cut off, its roots could still spread ten miles underground." He staggered two steps, then grabbed Long Wu's shoulder. His dragon scales immediately glowed with a warm light—it was the true dragon bloodline actively healing him.
Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted.
He saw pale blue veins emerging from Xuan Mingzi's neck, marks left by the Mother Nest's erosion, like a ferocious snake. "You've just escaped the Mother Nest's consciousness," he said, pressing his hand on the old man's wrist; the pulse was weak and feeble. "Now you're even struggling to maintain your Dao foundation."
"That's why we have to go now." Xuanmingzi grasped his hand in return, his palm colder than ice. "Back then, I couldn't protect the young Taoists of Zhongnan Mountain, nor could I protect the first awakened one corrupted by the Mother Nest... But this time," he raised his other hand, a semi-transparent Taiji diagram condensing at his fingertips, the Dao power that had been re-condensed after being crushed by the Mother Nest, "I can smell the scent of these clones."
They fear the 'anchors' in the timeline, fear that someone will remember what they erased.
Suddenly, a blinding red light popped up on Chu Yao's interface, and seventeen red dots began to flash simultaneously: "Connection progress 37%!"
They are absorbing negative human emotions—fear, despair, confusion about the unknown—these are all nourishment for the nodes of faith! "Her voice held a hint of urgency for the first time," she said, "The link must be severed before it reaches 40%, otherwise..."
"Otherwise, the entire timeline will be riddled with holes." Lin Yi finished speaking for her, then turned and walked towards the spatial turbulence left behind by the black hole.
Long Wu immediately followed, the wind pressure generated by his dragon wings blowing away half of the broken wall; the black shadow's rune net turned into silver chains, wrapping around his wrist as a positioning tool; Xuan Mingzi lagged behind, each step creating ripples in time—that was him marking the path with his remaining Dao power.
"Long Wu, activate the rift stabilizer." Lin Yi reached for the seven keys hanging around his neck; the bronze keys were burning hot in his palm. "Shadow, use the rune network to lock down the energy signature of the fluctuation source."
"Chu Yao, transmit the node coordinates to my personal computer in real time." He paused, then turned to look at Xuan Mingzi, who was making hand gestures in the air, his body trembling slightly beneath his Daoist robe. "Senior...stay close to me."
"Don't worry, young friend." Xuanmingzi smiled, a sense of relief filling the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. "Back when I was watching the snow in Zhongnan Mountain, I always thought, 'Do good deeds and don't worry about the future.'"
Now I understand that some things just need someone to remember them for time.
Seventeen red dots simultaneously jumped to 39% on the quantum computer.
Lin Yi gripped the seven keys tightly, and the starlight that flowed in his azure pupils suddenly solidified.
He could feel the laws of spacetime spreading out a silver path beneath his feet, each step shattering a spatial turbulence.
As the seventh key resonated with the badge, a soft sound of shattering glass echoed in the air—
A pitch-black rift slowly opened before him, its depths radiating a ghostly blue light—the direction of the nearest node of faith.
As the eerie blue light from the depths of the rift spread in everyone's pupils, Lin Yi's boot heel was the first to shatter the membrane of space.
The putrid wind, carrying the smell of rust, rushed into his nostrils, and his glassy pupils suddenly contracted—where was the node of faith in front of him?
The entire city was being swallowed by inky darkness from the horizon downwards, the glass curtain walls of skyscrapers were cracked into spider webs, streetlights twisted into snakes in mid-air, and even the air was as thick as cotton soaked in asphalt.
"This is... a manifestation of the timeline being corrupted." Xuanmingzi's robe had barely brushed the ground when blackened cracks appeared on the bluestone slabs. "Back when the Mother Nest first invaded, the corrupted starting village looked just like this, like a piece of wood gnawed by termites." His fingers unconsciously traced the half-broken Tai Chi diagram in his sleeve, and the tips of his ears beneath his white hair turned bluish-gray—a sign of the Mother Nest's intensifying erosion.
Long Wu's dragon wings stretched behind him like an iron curtain, a faint golden halo rising from the surface of his dragon scales: "Boss, there's a fishy smell in the air, just like the lair of that poisonous spider boss from Thunderstorm." His dragon claws rested on the horizontal sword at his waist, the cloud patterns on the scabbard suddenly glowing red, "Even the sword spirit is trembling in this godforsaken place."
"Abnormal energy fluctuation detected." Chu Yao's holographic projection exploded on Lin Yi's wrist, and the data stream on the interface was condensing into a blood-red spider web at a visible speed. "The connection progress of the faith node has increased to 41%!"
These dark substances are actively absorbing negative emotions—look over there! Her fingertip pointed to the street corner, where several "people" huddled in front of the convenience store suddenly raised their heads. Their eye sockets had no eyeballs, only wriggling black tentacles. "Those aren't citizens; they're containers parasitized by the Mother Nest consciousness!"
Before the words were finished, the sound of fingernails scraping against glass echoed in the air.
The owl's voice, like threads soaked in venom, burrowed into everyone's ears from all directions: "Dear master of time and space, do you think that tearing open a rift will sever my tentacles?"
Behold these souls steeped in despair—with each scream they utter, my legion grows stronger.
The black shadow's rune network suddenly trembled violently, and the runes on the silver chains were stained a murky purple: "It's the spiritual pollution of the Mother Nest!"
These shadowy legions aren't physical entities; they're monsters personified as faith! His left hand pressed against his chest, a muffled groan escaping his throat. "I can feel it...they're gnawing at my negative memories. The pain of having my right arm torn off by a monster three years ago is back."
"Then transform the pain into power." Lin Yi's seven keys melted into liquid gold in his palm, seeping into his skin through his fingers. He could clearly hear the laws of spacetime whispering in his ear—the core of these shadows was "fear," and what fear feared most was "being remembered." "Long Wu, use dragon breath to burn through the office building to the east. There are three parasitic containers there, sending emotions into the darkness."
"Shadow, your rune network doesn't lock energy, it locks memories—imprint all the anger you felt three years ago when you lost your arm onto these monsters." He turned to Xuan Mingzi, whose robes were soaked with cold sweat. "Senior, use the Tai Chi diagram to stabilize the timeline, don't let the darkness continue to devour the city."
"Don't worry, young friend." Xuan Mingzi's fingertips drew a bright white arc in the void, and the half-broken Taiji diagram suddenly expanded by ten zhang. The black and white light streams, like two giant pythons, coiled around the collapsing World Trade Center. "Back then, I couldn't protect the little Taoist priest of Zhongnan Mountain. Today... I must protect something." His voice suddenly trembled, and the veins on his neck taut like steel cables.
A series of footsteps echoed from the end of the street.
First to appear was a row of "people" in suits, their ties transformed into writhing black snakes, their leather shoes oozing dark green pus; next came a little girl holding a doll, the doll's eyes being two beating hearts; finally came a square formation of rotting soldiers, their dog tags bearing the words "Killed in the Beginner Village Campaign, 2035"—a nightmare that all job changers least wanted to recall.
"Well done." Starlight exploded in Lin Yi's azure pupils. He raised his hand and swung out a silver light blade. Where the light blade passed, the "person" in the suit let out a piercing scream. His body aged instantly into a pile of bones, like a videotape that had been fast-forwarded. "Didn't you want to devour memories?"
I'll show you whose memory is sharper.
Long Wu's dragon wings slammed into the ground, shaking the entire city three times.
As he drew his sword, it stirred up wind and thunder, the blade light wrapped in golden dragon breath as it slashed towards the soldiers' formation: "The boss is right!"
"I wasn't afraid even when I was struck by lightning and riddled with holes, why would I be afraid of you rats in the gutter?" The soldiers struck by the dragon's breath instantly burst into fireballs, and from the flames came their shouts from their lives: "Protect the newbie village! Don't let the monsters rush in!" — those were the true memories of war erased by the Mother Nest.
The shadowy figure's rune network suddenly transformed into thousands of silver needles that pierced the air, each needle entwined with his roar as he severed his arm: "Even with only one hand left, I can still turn you bastards into a hornet's nest!" The shadowy monster pierced by the silver needles let out a scream like an infant's cry, and a pale golden light seeped from its body—it was the awakening of vivid, human memories.
Xuanmingzi's Taiji diagram spun even faster, and wherever the black and white light flowed, the darkness began to recede.
He looked at the street sign "Chang'an Road" gradually becoming clearer, and suddenly laughed out loud: "So this is the road I used to take down the mountain to buy wine back then. The steamed bun shop on the corner is still there... Young friend, look!" He pointed to the dissipating darkness, where he could vaguely see an old lady wearing a blue apron, tiptoeing to add steamed buns to the steamer.
"Connection progress has dropped to 28%!" Chu Yao's voice finally broke into excitement. "The core of the Shadow Legion is in the church at the end of the street!"
Their energy fluctuations are converging there—
"Trying to run?" Lin Yi's seven keys suddenly emerged from under his skin, hovering above his head and forming a star map.
He took a ten-meter stride, the laws of spacetime forming silver steps beneath his feet. "I'll show you what the cleansing power of a spacetime master truly means." He raised his hand, and time suddenly reversed along the entire street, freezing the retreating shadowy army in place. "Shatter!"
boom--
The church spire shattered in a shower of golden light, and the last of the shadowy monsters let out desperate howls before dissipating into countless specks of light.
Long Wu's sword was stuck in the ruins, and the dragon scales still clung to the lingering dragon breath; the black shadow's rune net hung limply at his side, but the silver chain gleamed even brighter than before; Xuan Mingzi sat on the ground leaning against the Taiji diagram, the traces of the mother nest on his Taoist robe had faded considerably, and he was smiling as he watched the steamed bun shop that had reappeared on the street corner.
"All done?" Long Wu flicked his tail and swept away the pebbles at his feet.
"No." Lin Yi's voice suddenly turned cold.
He stared at a "citizen" in the crowd who remained motionless—the man was wearing a faded plaid shirt and staring down at his own shadow. As the darkness receded, he didn't even look up.
The strangest thing was that after all the shadowy monsters were destroyed, the ground at his feet was still seeping out a dark liquid.
"Boss?" Long Wu followed his gaze and instinctively placed his claws on the hilt of his sword.
The "citizen" seemed to finally notice the gaze and slowly raised his head.
His eyes had no whites, only two pulsating crimson rims.
Within this crimson depths, Lin Yi saw a familiar fluctuation—it was... the lingering aura of laws possessed only by mythical-level professions.
"Chu Yao, check his identity information." Lin Yi's seven keys began to heat up again. "Quickly."
"Scanning... No identity record, no occupational fluctuations, vital signs are no different from ordinary humans." Suddenly, garbled text popped up on Chu Yao's interface. "Wait, his shadow... Faith energy detected in the shadow!"
The "citizen" laughed.
His shadow crawled toward Lin Yi like a living thing, and where the shadow touched the ground, dark cracks reappeared.
"Night Owl said this was just the beginning..." Lin Yi gazed at the crimson in the other's eyes, the starlight in his azure pupils growing brighter and brighter. "It seems he wasn't lying."
His fingertips pressed against his brow, and the burning sensation of the Time and Space Dominator Badge surged to his temples again—this time, what he wanted to remember was the color of those eyes.
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