274: Chapter 274 The Mystery of the Earth's Veins

The "rustling" sound of dragging, mixed with Ling Ye's suppressed, wheezing breath like an old bellows, and the heavy, beast-like breathing squeezed from deep in Old Shi's throat, echoed repeatedly in the dark, twisting, seemingly endless crevice passage.

Every jolt felt like a red-hot iron rod repeatedly piercing Ling Ye's already shattered chest.

The darkness was as thick as substance, almost swallowing the faint, unstable fluorescence stemming from the sinister power on Old Shi (the gray-green patch on its right hand flickered with an ominous rhythm after devouring the monster's "essence").

Old Shi's power, like burning embers, began to fade at an alarming rate after dragging for an unknown amount of time.

That sinister energy, derived from the monster's "essence," brought not only temporary strength but also physical overexertion and deep stimulation of the corruption.

Its steps became increasingly unsteady, and its breathing began to carry the metallic scent of blood; under the fluorescence, black veins seemed to be writhing hideously beneath the skin of the gray-green patch on its right hand, and the aura of corruption became harder and harder to suppress.

The makeshift stretcher dragging Ling Ye felt as heavy as a thousand jun, and every step forward was accompanied by the groaning of bones and tendons under unbearable strain.

"Stop... stop..." Ling Ye used all his strength to squeeze these few words through his teeth.

He could not let Old Shi continue to exhaust itself like this, or both of them would collapse in this dark labyrinth.

Old Shi collapsed almost immediately, leaning against the damp, slippery rock wall, panting and coughing violently, with each cough bringing up dark red blood foam.

The fluorescence on its right hand flickered violently a few times, almost extinguishing.

A brief, painful silence followed.

There was only the sound of their heavy breathing and the eternal, low hum from the canyon in the distance.

"The direction... we have deviated..." Old Shi's voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, filled with despair, "My... my perception of that 'sensing'... is getting weaker... The energy field here... is too chaotic... The passage... has too many forks..."

They were lost.

Deep within the Rift Canyon, in a complex network of crevices resembling a labyrinth, the severely injured Ling Ye and the exhausted Old Shi were like two insects caught in a spiderweb, sinking deeper and deeper, seemingly moving further and further away from the sensed target in the northeast.

At this near-desperate moment, Ling Ye's unfocused gaze inadvertently swept over a relatively flat area on the adjacent rock wall illuminated by the fluorescence.

There, it seemed to have extremely faint, yet orderly, map-like carvings that were different from natural wind erosion.

"Light... shine it over there..." Ling Ye gestured with difficulty.

Old Shi barely managed to raise its trembling right hand, aiming the flickering fluorescence from the patch at that section of the rock wall.

Under the weak, flickering light, the carvings on the rock wall became gradually clearer.

They were not words, but a huge "Energy Flow Map" covering the entire rock wall, composed of countless fine lines and nodes, extremely abstract yet seemingly containing some kind of Order!

The lines were thick and thin, winding and twisting, intersecting with each other.

The nodes varied in size, and some were marked with extremely ancient, unrecognizable symbols similar to hieroglyphs.

In the northeast corner of the pattern, there was a special node that was relatively large and marked with double circles, with a symbol carved next to it; although ancient, its shape was surprisingly similar to the energy patterns inside the "Gate of Order" before!

It was a map!

An ancient map depicting the ley line energy flow, key nodes, and possible passages of this Rift Canyon area (or perhaps a part of it)!

Moreover, the style was close to the energy patterns of the Court of World Purification, very likely left behind by the pioneers of the Court of World Purification, or some ancient civilization that also mastered the energy of "Order" when exploring or transforming this area!

"It is... it is a 'Sky-Patrolling Chart'... or a 'Ley Line Geomancy Map'..." Old Shi's voice trembled with excitement and disbelief; it struggled to move closer to the rock wall, its murky eyes fixed intently on those carvings and symbols, "I have... I have seen similar residual maps on the edges of the oldest, damaged 'Pioneer's Notes' rubbings! This... this is a priceless treasure! It can guide us to avoid the most violent areas of energy turbulence and find relatively stable energy channels and nodes!"

Its trembling fingers moved along the lines and nodes on the map, muttering to itself, trying to interpret: "We... are probably at this location now... near a small, unstable energy 'vortex' node... No wonder the energy is so chaotic... To go northeast... take this... relatively gentle branch that seems to be marked with the 'Old Barrier' symbol... bypass this huge, dangerous energy source marked as 'Sleeping Eye'... then... here! There is a 'backup passage' or 'maintenance tunnel' marked with dashed lines leading to the double circles in the northeast! The symbols show... 'Low Energy Maintenance', 'Non-Combat Status', 'Clearance: Exploration/Maintenance Level 3'!"

A backup passage left by the ancients, likely relatively safe, leading to the target area in the northeast!

"The entrance marked on the map... is at least two or three forks away from us, and... it requires passing through an area marked with 'slight active accumulation'..." Old Shi's voice lowered as it looked at the severely injured Ling Ye and its own body on the verge of collapse, "We... probably won't make it..."

Ling Ye stared fixedly at the map, especially at the "backup passage" marked with dashed lines and the double-circled node at the end.

The northeast direction... the double circles... it was very likely the location of that "huge, cold, emitting homologous fluctuations" entity they sensed, which might be the "Star Gate" or a key node!

This passage was the most direct, and perhaps the most "safe" (relatively speaking) path to that location!

"Old Shi..." Ling Ye's voice was so weak it was almost inaudible, yet it carried an unquestionable, cold determination, "Listen well. I... need you to help me... connect... to the 'map'."

"Wh... what?" Old Shi turned its head blankly, its face covered in tears and bloodstains.

"I... I sensed it... that map... has a resonance... with me." Ling Ye said with difficulty, intermittently, every word like blood foam squeezed from between his teeth, "You... use your 'Point'... to touch... the wound on my chest... then, follow the direction... the map points... and give me a push..."

This sounded absolutely absurd.

But Ling Ye knew that this was his most essential, intuitive insight into energy after being severely injured and near death, with his spirit deeply entangled with the "Ancient Ring" mark.

That ancient "Ley Line Map" was homologous to the "Order" energy of the "Star Gate" or the "Court of World Purification", and he himself was the carrier of "the key".

The "Point" inside Old Shi was an "interface" related to the "Star Gate", wrapped in corruption.

The two of them, plus him as the "beacon", perhaps...

"I... I can't do it..." Old Shi trembled all over; it was terrified, afraid that touching Ling Ye would accelerate his death, and also afraid that the backlash of power would instantly consume it.

"If we don't try... we both die." Ling Ye's voice was as cold as ice, "If we try... perhaps... we can live... do you understand?"

Dual Keys!

This was the most critical piece of information Ling Ye had pieced together from the fragments of his parents' memories while his consciousness was blurred.

To open the "Star Gate", two "keys" were needed, or in other words, one "beacon" and one "interface".

He was the "beacon".

The "Point" inside Old Shi was the "interface".

Neither could be missing.

Therefore, they both had to reach the northeast direction alive.

Old Shi stared fixedly at Ling Ye's eyes, which appeared gray and pale in the darkness due to blood loss, yet burned with a crazy flame.

It was not the pleading of a dying man, but... a command.

"Okay..." Old Shi finally squeezed these two words from the depths of its throat.

It did not hesitate any longer, using the last bit of its remaining will to forcibly concentrate all its spirit on the "Metal Point" wrapped in corruption deep within the gray-green patch on its right hand.

"Come... touch me..." Ling Ye whispered.

Old Shi trembled and gently placed that cold, slippery hand, which emitted an ominous gray-green ghostly light, onto the wound on Ling Ye's chest—also the location of the xuanyuan ring.

Hum——

There was no violent explosion or energy backlash as expected.

There was only an extremely slight, yet clear ringing sound that seemed to come from the depths of the Soul.

Under the forced guidance of Old Shi's will, Ling Ye's xuanyuan ring and the "Metal Point" inside Old Shi, separated by Ling Ye's chest, underwent an extremely brief but unmistakable, same-frequency resonance!

A cold, orderly, weak "Order" energy, which seemed to be able to smooth out all chaos, penetrated through Ling Ye's chest like the most delicate tentacles from Old Shi's palm.

This energy was not aggressive, but carried an absolute characteristic of "defining" and "combing"; wherever it passed, Ling Ye's frantic Qi and blood, which were boiling due to severe injury and corruption, his chaotic meridians, and even the riot of the "Ancient Ring" mark, were all forcibly suppressed, smoothed out, and returned to their proper places for an instant!

"Ugh——!" Ling Ye let out a suppressed grunt that seemed to come from the depths of Hell, and his body convulsed violently.

It was extreme pain, but in this pain, he felt that his chest, which was about to burst, had actually been forcibly bonded and stabilized by this "Order" power!

Although it was only temporary, and although the price was attracting some kind of deeper, colder "gaze", that feeling of near-death, complete collapse, had disappeared!

"Move... move!" Ling Ye opened his eyes abruptly, his gaze filled with a cold, fierce look of survival, "To the northeast...! Follow the map... go to that... dashed-line passage!"

Old Shi, also because of this strange resonance, temporarily suppressed the backlash and the agitation of corruption within its body.

It did not hesitate anymore, using the last bit of remaining strength stimulated by the "Order" power, stood up abruptly, carried Ling Ye on its back, and then, following the guidance of the "Ley Line Map" on the rock wall, towards the northeast direction, the fork marked with dashed lines leading to the "backup passage", used its shoulder to fiercely push Ling Ye and the makeshift stretcher forward!

"Go——!"

Old Shi let out a roar, using its last strength to push, drag, and even half-carry Ling Ye, in the dark crevice, stumbling, yet with a clear goal and without looking back, rushed into that dashed-line marked tunnel leading to the unknown, where there might be life or death!