The light and mist of the core of cause and effect surged around Lin Yi like a tide, and he could clearly count the trajectory of the blood droplets that had condensed on Long Wu's eyelashes as they fell—each drop was as slow as if the pause button had been pressed.
The silver chains of the Anchor of Time were wrapped around Long Wu's body. The wounds scalded by the lightning were healing at a visible speed. Pale golden blood seeped from beneath the broken dragon scales and then receded back into the depths of the flesh against the flow of time.
"His heart rate is stable at thirty beats per minute." Lin Yi's Adam's apple bobbed as he gently placed his fingertips on Long Wu's neck.
He could hear the tremors of every cell in the other's body, like the resounding beat of a dying war drum. "The dragon pattern lit up deep within his consciousness." As he looked down, a strand of his hair brushed against Long Wu's blood-stained cheek. "This time... I won't let you turn to sand again."
\"Owner.\"
The synthesized electronic voice, mixed with subtle electrical noise, came from the chip on the back of his neck.
Chu Yao's remaining consciousness was like a piece of glass on the verge of shattering. "The power of spacetime is altering your causal lines," she said, her voice trembling unusually. "When you reversed Long Wu's injuries just now, I detected... three parallel timelines were directly erased."
Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted.
He saw his palms glowing, silver-blue lines spreading from his fingertips to his forearms. Within those lines flowed a star map—fragments of all the timelines he had seen within the Core of Cause and Effect. "Change fate?" He chuckled softly, gently wiping the blood from Long Wu's lips with his fingertips. "If fate is to take my brother, then I will be the first to tamper with it."
Suddenly, ripples spread across the space like water.
Xuanmingzi's Taoist robe seeped out from the ripples, and when the dark hem swept across the ground, it scorched marks on the bluestone slab.
He was no longer the otherworldly figure he once was. A dark purple vortex swirled in his left pupil, while a chilling starlight lingered in his right. "Tampering?" His voice was like two pieces of metal scraping together. "You think you're in control of power?"
Lin Yi turned around abruptly, and the silver chain of the Anchor of Time instantly condensed into a blade in his palm.
He could sense the aura emanating from Xuan Mingzi—identical to the remnants of advanced civilizations within the Core of Cause and Effect, yet mixed with a kind of decaying obsession. "Who exactly are you?"
"The obsession of the old gods." Xuanmingzi raised his hand, and a faint light flicked from his fingertip, condensing into a mirror between the two of them.
The mirror didn't reflect Lin Yi's face, but countless overlapping "him": some stood amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, clad in dragon-scale armor; some knelt in ruins, clutching blood-stained battle flags; some were inserting the key to a spacetime rift into the void—each carrying the same despair. "Also a guardian of this game," his voice suddenly softened, as if recalling, "Three hundred years ago, I too was a fool trying to rewrite fate."
"So you chose Lin Yi?"
The shadowy figure's voice was like an icicle piercing the air.
He stepped out of the void, his black trench coat fluttering in the wind, the mechanical eye on his left cheek flashing red. "I should have guessed it; the enforcers of a higher civilization wouldn't betray you without a reason."
Xuan Mingzi's gaze swept over the dark figure, the starlight in his right eye shining even brighter. "Enforcer?"
No, I'm just waiting for a vessel to hold my obsession. He suddenly laughed, a laugh like a gaping wound. "You think the core of cause and effect is a gift from advanced civilization?"
That's the heart of an ancient god, every drop of its power carrying a curse—"His fingertip pointed at Lin Yi, "Now it beats within you. Every time you use the power of time and space, another mark of an ancient god will be added."
Lin Yi felt a chill on the back of his neck.
He could clearly sense that dark purple threads had appeared in the silver-blue patterns at some point, and they were drilling into his heart along his blood vessels.
The silver chain of the Anchor of Time suddenly trembled violently, drawing blood from his palm. "So you helped me before..."
"I'll help you awaken your power, I'll help you condense the core of cause and effect." Xuan Mingzi's voice suddenly rose, "Because only a fool like you would risk your life to absorb it for your brothers!"
Only a fool like you would allow the obsessions of the old gods to find a new host!
The shadowy figure's mechanical prosthetic eye suddenly lit up with a red light.
As he raised his hand, a buzzing sound of energy overload filled the air. "It's too late to say this now, Xuanming." His voice was as cold as liquid nitrogen. "The advanced civilization has detected the anomaly in the Core of Causality; their advance team will arrive in three hours."
"That's why I asked him." Xuan Mingzi suddenly fell silent, his heterochromatic pupils fixed intently on Lin Yi. "Are you willing to become the order setter of the new world?" His right hand pressed against his chest, dark purple vortexes emanating from his pupils. "The power of the Old Gods can allow you to crush advanced civilizations, and can allow you to resurrect all the dead—including Su Qing, including Long Wu."
Lin Yi's breathing suddenly stopped.
He saw himself in the mirror, holding a blood-stained battle flag, suddenly turn his head, and the despair in his eyes turned into madness.
Long Wu's dragon markings shone brightly deep within his consciousness, like a red-hot knife piercing his mind: "Long Wu said we were brothers." He heard his own voice tremble, "Su Qing said I should live well."
Xuanmingzi's smile froze on his face.
"But they never said they wanted me to become a monster." Lin Yi raised his hand, and the silver chain of the Anchor of Time suddenly burst forth with a bright light.
The dark purple threads sizzled as they were burned, and somehow they retracted back to the heart along the blood vessels.
He gazed at Xuan Mingzi, the galaxy in his pupils suddenly solidifying into a sword. "Tell me, how do I rid myself of the mark of the Old Gods?"
Xuanmingzi's heterochromatic pupils contracted violently.
He took two steps back, his fingers digging deeply into his palms beneath his Taoist robe. "You...you clearly had the chance to become a god..."
"I don't need to be a god."
Lin Yi's voice was very soft, yet it sounded like a heavy hammer striking the void.
He turned and walked toward Long Wu, the silver chain of the Anchor of Time gently wrapping around the other's wrist.
Long Wu's eyelashes fluttered, and a muffled groan escaped his throat.
The shadowy figure's mechanical prosthetic eye dimmed.
He pressed his hand to his headset. "The advanced civilization's advance team will arrive in two hours and fifty-seven minutes." He looked at Lin Yi. "Should I activate the emergency defense protocol?"
Lin Yi bent down and hugged Long Wu into his arms.
Long Wu's dragon tail automatically curled up and gently wrapped around his waist.
He could hear the other person's steady heartbeat, one beat, two beats, like the most precious drumbeats. "Activate the protocol." When he looked up, the galaxy in his eyes began to flow again. "But this time... I will guard it."
Xuanmingzi's figure suddenly began to blur.
He gazed at Long Wu in Lin Yi's arms, the starlight in his right eye gradually fading. "You'll regret this," he said, his voice growing softer, "when the mark of the Old Gods fully awakens..."
"Then crush it too." Lin Yi lowered his head and kissed Long Wu's forehead.
The silver chains of the Anchor of Time wove a cocoon of light around the two of them. "Before that—" He looked up at the sky, where a pale golden light was already emanating, "I will ensure that all those I should protect stand behind me."
Long Wu's eyelashes trembled three times in Lin Yi's palm before he finally slowly opened his eyes.
He gazed at the familiar face above him, the dragon tattoo faintly visible on his forehead, his voice hoarse from just waking up: "Boss... have I caused you trouble again?"
Lin Yi's Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't speak. He just hugged Long Wu even tighter.
The force of the dragon's tail wrapped around his waist reminded him of the stormy night in the newbie village three years ago—back then, when this kid was bitten by a demon wolf, it used its tail to wrap around him in the same way, afraid that it would faint from the pain.
The dragon's tail still bears the scorch marks from the lightning punishment, yet it remains warm to the touch.
"What trouble?" He lowered his head and rubbed his nose against the dragon pattern on Long Wu's forehead, his voice muffled in the crook of the other's neck, "If you dare turn into sand, I'll burn through the entire timeline and pull you back."
Long Wu suddenly laughed. Dragon scales sprouted rapidly from his wound, and pale golden blood was pushed out by the newly grown scales, spreading like small flowers on the overlapping fabric of their clothes: "Then I'd better cause more trouble, otherwise how will I test the boss's abilities?"
"You brat." Lin Yi sniffed and was about to push him when he suddenly heard a soft tearing sound of fabric behind him.
Xuan Mingzi's figure was still half-transformed, with a dark purple vortex spinning wildly in his left eye, while the starlight in his right eye gradually extinguished as if it had been doused with ice water.
He stared at Long Wu in Lin Yi's arms, a smile that looked more like a grimace tugging at the corners of his mouth: "You think sealing me will solve the problem?"
"The mark of the Old Gods gnaws at your heart every second—" His voice was suddenly cut off by a shrill scream from a spatial rift, and he was dragged into a blue-glowing temporal fissure by the silver chains of the Anchor of Time. "When you're kneeling on the ground in pain... you'll beg me to come back..."
"The brand he spoke of." The shadowy figure's mechanical eye suddenly emitted a blinding red light, breaking the silence that was about to spread.
As he raised his hand, a bronze rune appeared in his palm, its surface engraved with distorted star trails. "When you reversed Long Wu's injuries, I detected that the dark purple energy of the Core of Cause and Effect resonated with your life force."
Lin Yi looked down at his wrist.
Sure enough, a few dark purple streaks crawled beneath the silver-blue patterns, like silver lines stained with ink.
He clenched his fists, and the dark purple threads seemed to be drilling into his heart along his blood vessels, causing him to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.
"This is a fragment of the Key of Destiny." The shadowy figure pressed the rune against Lin Yi's chest. The rune immediately melted into his skin, leaving a warm, star-track-like imprint. "Advanced civilizations used it to lock onto their civilization's trajectory; now it belongs to you." His mechanical eye flashed with data streams. "The power of the rules within the rune can temporarily suppress the Old God's imprint, but it can only last for a maximum of seventy-two hours."
"That's enough." Lin Yi closed his eyes and felt the talisman moving through his body; the stinging pain from the dark purple threads had indeed weakened.
When he opened his eyes, the galaxy within them shone brighter than ever before. "The advanced civilization's advance team will arrive in three hours. I need you to do two things."
\"explain.\"
"First, synchronize the coordinates of all members of the Time Legion to my Time Anchor." Lin Yi's fingertip traced the reverse scale on the back of Long Wu's neck, where pale golden dragon blood was seeping out. "If they dare to touch my people, I'll nail the entire vanguard team to the cracks of time."
"Second." He looked up at the sky, where the pale golden light had thickened to resemble molten gold leaf. "Activate the Reality Alliance's interdimensional defense network." His voice suddenly lowered, tinged with self-mockery. "I used to think I could handle everything single-handedly... Now I understand, protecting your own requires numbers."
The shadowy figure's mechanical prosthetic eye suddenly dimmed.
He gazed at Long Wu in Lin Yi's arms, then at the star trail mark fused into his skin, and suddenly said, "Three hundred years ago, there was someone who looked a lot like you."
Lin Yi paused, "Who?"
"It's not important." The dark figure turned and stepped into the void, a gust of cold wind rising as the hem of his trench coat swept across the ground. "But what he said last was the same as what you just said."
The void closed behind him, leaving only a fading echo: "May you be luckier than him."
Long Wu gently patted Lin Yi's back with his tail: "Boss, what are you thinking about?"
"I miss Su Qing." Lin Yi bent down to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. "She always said I was like a hard rock, but now I think... being a rock that can protect people isn't so bad."
As soon as he finished speaking, golden light suddenly exploded in the sky.
Countless rhomboid light blades pierced through the clouds, like an inverted Milky Way falling—those were the dimensional cutters of the vanguard of an advanced civilization.
Lin Yi gently placed Long Wu on the ground, and the silver chain of the Anchor of Time condensed into a light armor around him.
He looked up in the direction where the light blade had fallen, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"They're here."
Long Wu stood up, the World-Destroying Dragon Mark unfolding behind him, casting long shadows of the two of them: "This time, it's my turn to stand to your left."
"Okay." Lin Yi raised his hand and caught a falling blade of light, which shattered into stardust in his palm. "But it's settled then, you're in charge of dismantling the mechs, and I'll be in charge of keeping their commander trapped in time, making him watch three hundred years of sunrises."
Long Wu threw his head back and laughed, his dragon scales gleaming with a battle-blood-red hue under the golden light: "Boss, I've studied this move for three hundred years and still haven't mastered it!"
Their laughter mingled with the roar of shattering light blades, sparking a clash in the impending battle.
Meanwhile, there is a space that does not belong to any dimension.
A pair of eyes, shimmering with a chaotic hue, slowly opened, their pupils reflecting the dark purple and silver-blue of the causal core within Lin Yi's body.
\"interesting.\"
The voice sounded like countless people speaking simultaneously, carrying a tremor that seemed to tear through time and space: "The vessel of the Old Gods... has actually rejected the divine position."
Its lips curled into a smile, outlining a blurry silhouette in the air: "Then let me meet you for myself—"
"Look at you, such a hard rock, how many rounds of dimensional crushing can you withstand?"
Lin Yi suddenly clutched his chest.
The core of cause and effect throbbed violently within his body, and the dark purple threads broke through the suppression of the Key of Destiny, crawling up his blood vessels to his throat.
He coughed twice and tasted the rust.
Long Wu immediately helped him up: "Boss?"
"It's nothing." Lin Yi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes gleaming even brighter as he watched the approaching swarm of light blades. "It's just... an old friend is eager to see me."
He raised his hand and summoned the Anchor of Time. The silver chain pierced the void, revealing the deep blue of the rift.
"Let's go." He turned to Long Wu and smiled, "Let's go retrieve something from the time rift first—"
"I'll see if this core of cause and effect is a curse... or..."
His voice was swallowed up by the sound of the wind through the crack.
Long Wu stared at his blood-stained profile, then suddenly reached out and pressed the chip on the back of his neck: "Chu Yao, activate spacetime positioning."
"Locked." Chu Yao's voice finally stopped trembling, carrying a hint of awakened sharpness. "Master, energy fluctuations not belonging to the current dimension have been detected deep within the rift."
"Very good." Lin Yi paused in his steps as he entered the rift, glancing down at the star trail mark on his chest. "Perfect, I also have something to show it."
The rift closed behind the two, leaving only the pool of undried dragon blood on the ground, which shimmered with an eerie purple hue under the golden light.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com