Darkness surged like viscous ink in the illusion, while the low growls of giant beasts mingled with the cold laughter of night owls, exploding in Lin Yi's mind.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the warmth he felt with his fingertips caused his pupils to contract slightly—a warning of 17% mental energy level flashed red on his retina, like a red-hot needle piercing his nerves.
"They're here!"
Before the words were even finished, a black wave swept in like a thousand troops.
That was no ordinary shadow; every wisp of black mist was wrapped with spikes of other-dimensional laws. Wherever it passed, the rocks in the illusion instantly crumbled into dust, and even time itself was corroded with tiny cracks.
The shadow mark on Lin Yi's chest suddenly burned, as if an owl was using the mark to pinpoint his location.
"The Barrier of Time and Space: First Awakening!"
He bit his tongue, and as the metallic taste spread, he slammed his right fist heavily onto the ground.
Pale golden spacetime power burst forth from his fingertips, condensing into a shield with flowing star trails in front of him.
This was the rudimentary form of the profound meaning he had just comprehended three days ago. He thought it would take another half month to perfect it, but now he was forced to unleash it ahead of schedule due to a life-or-death crisis.
The sound of the collision was deafening.
The shadow waves crashed against the shield, exploding with blinding black light, while the spacetime barrier rippled like water.
Lin Yi felt as if countless steel needles were piercing his temples, his mind was churning like boiling water, and even his breath was filled with blood foam.
But his eyes shone with an astonishing light—in the gaps between the colliding energies, he saw the patterns of laws flowing in the shadows, and the trajectory of the entanglement between the power of spacetime and the energy of another dimension.
"I see..." He suddenly laughed, a blood-stained grin spreading across his face. "Time and space are not static barriers, but flowing rivers."
Before the words were even finished, the star trails on the surface of the shield suddenly began to spin faster.
The original pale golden light turned into gilded gold, and the pattern changed from a simple spiral to the shape of a Möbius strip, actually pushing a portion of the shadow power back along the track.
The owl's shriek pierced the darkness, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the body formed of black mist.
\"Owner!
"Your Spacetime Mystery... has been upgraded!" Chu Yao's voice carried the unique elation of an electronic voice. A holographic projection appeared beside Lin Yi. In the pale blue light and shadow, she clenched her little fist and waved it frantically. "Skill level detected +1!"
The current spacetime barrier, Star Orbit, can reverse-pull 50% of hostile energy!
Lin Yi could feel the power within his body surging wildly.
It was as if an invisible hand had torn open his cocoon of understanding of the laws of space and time. The energy that once required three hours of meditation to mobilize could now be controlled with just a thought.
He flicked his finger, and thousands of golden rays suddenly burst forth from the shield, tearing a gap in the approaching wave of shadows.
In the depths of darkness, Xuanmingzi, who had been silently observing, stroked his white beard.
The stone platform where he sat cross-legged was hidden in the shadows, only the eerie light in his eyes betraying his emotions: "Not bad, able to touch the essence of the laws on the verge of spiritual exhaustion... This kid really does have some of the shadow of those people from back then."
But the Night Owl clearly wouldn't surrender easily.
"Insignificant ant!" The black mist suddenly contracted into a giant blade, its blade wreathed in a dark green corrosive light. "You think this little trick can trap me?" Before the words were finished, the giant blade slashed down with a shrill whistling sound that tore through space, actually cutting a half-finger-wide crack in Lin Yi's Star Orbit Shield.
\"laugh--\"
Lin Yi grunted and took three steps back, his heels scraping three deep grooves in the ground.
He could see the gilded patterns on the shield's surface peeling away, revealing a pale golden base underneath—a sign of mental exhaustion.
Chu Yao's alarm almost pierced her eardrums: "Mental strength remaining: 12%!"
Extradimensional energy has been detected eroding the core of the spacetime barrier!
It is recommended to immediately...
"Shut up." Lin Yi interrupted her, swallowing the blood that welled up in his mouth as his Adam's apple bobbed.
He stared at the swirling black mist of the night owl and suddenly noticed a faint purple light flash at the center of the mist as the giant blade slashed down—that was the location of the alien creature's true form.
"You're the one I've been looking for."
He suddenly raised his hand, his left hand forming a profound hand seal.
The power of spacetime was no longer used for defense, but instead transformed into countless fine golden threads that seeped into the gaps in the shadow waves.
This is a new trick he just learned from the reverse pull of the Star Orbit Shield: weaving a net with spacetime lines to lock the flaws in energy flow.
"Time-Space Prison - Lock!"
The gold thread suddenly tightened.
Night Owl's massive black mist blade shattered instantly, and the core purple light was also wrapped up like a dumpling.
Lin Yi's eyes shone brightly with golden light, and he reached out with his right hand in a claw shape—he wanted to crush the purple light directly and completely sever the connection between Night Owl and his body!
But the illusion suddenly changed.
In the originally dark space, countless interwoven scenes suddenly appeared: the campfire in the newbie village was leaping, Su Qing was standing under a tree in a white dress and smiling at him, members of the Time Legion were raising their weapons and shouting "Commander", and there was even his mother's back view as she served dumplings in the kitchen... Every scene was terrifyingly realistic, with even the curve of Su Qing's hair and the oil stains on his mother's apron clearly visible.
"Little mouse, taste the flavor of memories." The owl's laughter enveloped the illusion. "You think you're the master of time and space?"
Under absolute mental suppression, you won't even be able to tell who you are!
Lin Yi's fingertip paused three inches from the purple light.
Su Qing's figure was walking towards him, with the blue flower he had picked in the ruins pinned in her hair; his mother's voice mingled with the sizzling sound of oil in the pan: "Xiao Yi, eat it while it's hot..." His breathing suddenly became disordered, the time-space line in his hand loosened, and a few wisps of black mist took the opportunity to break free.
\"Owner!
"That's a mental illusion!" Chu Yao's projection suddenly lunged at him, pressing her hand against his temple. "These were all fabricated by Night Owl using fragments of your memories!"
Quickly use the power of spacetime to sever the sensory link!
Lin Yi suddenly closed his eyes.
He could feel a dark thread pulling at his mind, which was the Night Owl trying to confuse his consciousness with illusions.
Cold sweat trickled down the back of his neck. He gritted his teeth, summoning the last vestige of his mental energy, condensing the power of spacetime into a fine needle, and thrusting it back along the hidden thread—
"Break for me!"
The illusion shattered instantly.
Su Qing's figure turned to ashes, and her mother's voice abruptly ceased, leaving only the terrified scream of the night owl: "How could you...?"
But Lin Yi had no time to be smug.
He could feel his mental sea being emptied like a balloon, and double images began to appear before his eyes.
The patterns on the Star Orbit Shield have completely faded to a pale gold, and it could collapse at any moment.
Although the Night Owl's purple core was bound, it was still frantically absorbing the surrounding shadow energy, and the severed black mist was gathering again at a visible speed.
"Just a little more..." He staggered forward, the spacetime lines in his left hand beginning to break due to insufficient mental energy. "Give me more..."
\"roar--\"
The low growl of the colossal beast in the depths of darkness suddenly rose in pitch, shaking the entire illusion.
Lin Yi looked up and saw that the black crack on the originally rotating crystal was spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the black mist seeping out of the crack was ten times denser than before.
Within that black mist, he vaguely saw a pair of vertical pupils—a being larger and more dangerous than the night owl, awakening.
The purple light core of the Night Owl suddenly surged.
It broke free of the last few timelines, and the black mist reformed into a giant blade, the corrosive light on its blade almost dripping down: "Are you scared now?"
It's too late!
Once my master fully awakens, this space-time...
"Shut up." Lin Yi wiped his face and poured the last 3% of his mental energy into his right hand.
He stared at the spreading crack in the crystal, then suddenly laughed. "You thought I was stalling?"
He raised his hand and pointed to the crystal.
"Spacetime Rift - Fully Open."
Pale golden light burst forth from his fingertips, piercing the crystal cracks like sharp arrows.
The next second, the entire illusion trembled violently, and countless fragments of spacetime poured out from the cracks—the energy he had collected in various small worlds before, now surging into the battlefield like a flood bursting its banks.
The owl's giant blade crumbled inch by inch under this energy.
The core of the purple light contracted rapidly, but was tightly bound by the fragments of spacetime.
Lin Yi's body began to become transparent, a sign of his complete mental exhaustion, but his eyes shone with an astonishing light: "Next time... it's my turn to find you."
The vertical pupils in the depths of darkness suddenly contracted. The beast's low growl turned into a warning roar.
At the deepest point of all this, Xuanmingzi's figure finally emerged from the shadows.
He gazed at the utterly collapsing illusion, then at Lin Yi who was fading away, and murmured softly, "It's time to wake up... The real test is just beginning."
Before Lin Yi's consciousness completely disappeared into darkness, he heard Chu Yao's tearful scream, saw the pitch-black giant claws protruding from the crystal cracks, and heard the almost desperate roar of the night owl: "No!"
This is impossible—
Darkness completely enveloped his vision.
But in the deepest recesses of consciousness, the patterns of that profound law of spacetime are being rewoven into even more complex designs.
In the real world, Lin Yi's body suddenly ejected from the game pod.
The shadowy brand on his forehead gleamed with a faint light, and the digital clock by the bedside showed: July 15, 2035, 23:59:59.
Outside the window, a blood moon was slowly rising.
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