286: Chapter 286 On the Brink of Losing Control

The scent of sulfur and ozone in the air seemed to have faded slightly, but that omnipresent, viscous malice felt even deeper, like a viper lurking in the dark, silently coiling and watching.

Ling Ye supported Old Shi, each step taken steadily, but only he knew what kind of storm was raging within him.

That vast, icy power, born from the rough Fusion of the "Dual Keys" and carrying the absolute will of "Purification" and "Definition," had not subsided after that strike.

Instead, it was like a floodgate being opened, surging and crashing even more wildly through his Meridians, bones, and even the depths of his Soul.

Every heartbeat felt like a dull energy explosion, making his eardrums ring, while fragments of golden light constantly flashed at the edge of his vision.

The veins beneath his skin faintly revealed pale gold patterns, as if magma were flowing through them, bringing a burning pain.

More troublesome was that this power was not entirely under his control.

It seemed to possess some primitive, icy, inhuman "will" belonging to the Law of "Order" itself, constantly attempting to "define" him—defining his flesh and blood, defining his energy, defining his... "existence."

He needed to expend massive amounts of Mental Energy, like wrestling with an invisible giant wave, to barely maintain the "shape" of his own will, so as not to be completely assimilated by this power and turned into a cold, unconscious energy carrier that only knew how to execute "Purification."

The "the key" mark on his chest was scorching, but the sense of "hunger" and "craving" had not been satisfied by absorbing Old Shi's energy; rather, it had become even clearer—it craved a more complete "interface," it craved a connection with the "Star Gate," it craved... "home."

This craving, mixed with that violent power, formed a contradictory impulse that almost tore his Soul apart: on one side was the instinct to destroy and "Purify" all "filth" before him, and on the other was an all-consuming, almost paranoid traction towards the "Star Gate."

His breathing became heavy without him realizing it.

Fine beads of sweat seeped from his temples, glowing with an abnormal pale gold luster under the bleak daylight.

Old Shi, whom he was supporting, was in a worse state.

It pressed almost its entire weight onto Ling Ye's shoulder, its head hanging low, its body occasionally convulsing with subtle, uncontrollable tremors.

On its wrist, the dark silver "interface" scar now presented a sickly, dull, purplish-red color that looked as if it might ooze blood.

Beneath the surrounding skin, several ominous patterns like black cracks could be seen, slowly spreading toward its upper arm.

With every tremor, those black patterns seemed to deepen, and the energy fluctuations emitted by the "interface" became more chaotic and weak, flickering as if they might extinguish completely at any moment.

"Ling... Ye..." Old Shi's voice was like the final wheeze of an old bellows, carrying uncontrollable pain, "Right... right hand... no sensation... like... like something is drilling in... it's cold..."

Ling Ye did not stop, only turning its head slightly to glance at Old Shi's right arm with its peripheral vision.

Those black patterns were not just traces of visual pollution erosion; in its "perception," they were more like some deeper, malicious, erosive "tampering" or "parasitism" on the structure of the "interface" itself, or even on Old Shi's life Origin.

That violent Fusion energy from just now, while bringing great power, seemed to have severely impacted and even destroyed the already fragile balance and "Purification" state of the "interface," making the hidden pollution—or rather, the twisted symbiotic relationship between the "interface" and the pollution—even more dangerous and deep-seated.

This was the price of the "Dual Keys" Fusion.

Or rather, it was the backlash of forcibly and crudely combining "the key" with a damaged, polluted, and not-fully-repaired "interface" without preparation or guidance.

"Hold on." Ling Ye's voice was deeper than usual, carrying a suppressed, metallic friction quality, "We need to find a place and find a way to stabilize it."

But he knew that in this buffer zone, riddled with crises and high concentrations of pollution, finding a "safe place" where they could deal with the problems in their bodies was an almost impossible luxury.

Moreover, the power within him was becoming increasingly unstable, and the risk of losing control increased with every second.

Just then, the scorching "the key" mark on his chest suddenly, without warning, violently transmitted an extremely clear, extremely urgent, and even slightly "warning" tugging sensation in a direction diagonally ahead!

It was as if something in that direction could temporarily attract, disperse, or "contain" a portion of the violent power within him, or perhaps have some "soothing" or "stabilizing" effect on Old Shi's crumbling "interface."

Ling Ye immediately changed direction, quickening its pace toward the direction indicated by "the key" mark.

With every step taken, a shallow footprint with edges shimmering with pale gold micro-light was left on the ground—a sign of the power leaking from within and failing to be fully controlled.

Old Shi seemed to sense something too, struggling to lift its head, its cloudy eyes looking in the direction Ling Ye was heading.

Its lips moved, but in the end, it said nothing, only biting its teeth harder, enduring the increasingly severe, sharp pain in its right arm that felt like countless cold insects gnawing at its bone marrow.

They crossed an area flattened by a massive energy shockwave, leaving only jagged, crystallized ground.

They bypassed several twisted metal "hills" that emitted ominous, ghostly green light, as if viscous liquid were slowly flowing inside them.

Finally, they stopped at the edge of an inconspicuous depression, relatively low-lying and semi-surrounded by several huge, dark-colored, yet surface-smooth black rocks that looked as if they had been carefully polished.

In the center of the depression lay a square metal plate, about two meters across.

Its surface was covered with complex, precise, yet seemingly non-"Court of World Purification" style energy patterns—more ancient, more abstract, and even carrying a hint of wildness and starlight, interwoven with dark silver and deep blue.

The metal plate was deeply embedded in the ground, merging with the surrounding black rocks; if one didn't look closely, it would be hard to notice.

Even more strangely, within a radius of about three meters around the metal plate, there were no traces of pollution.

The ground presented an abnormal, unnatural "cleanliness," and even the viscous malice in the air seemed to be repelled by some invisible force.

And the source of that urgent tugging sensation coming from Ling Ye's "the key" mark was this very strange metal plate.

Ling Ye's pupils constricted.

The style of the energy patterns on this metal plate... bore a faint, yet incredibly essential, similarity to the rhythm of the "Ancient Ring" mark in the depths of its Soul!

Could it be...

It supported Old Shi, cautiously stepping into that "clean" area.

As soon as it entered, it felt a gentle, cooling energy field, like moonlight, yet carrying an indescribable, all-encompassing, chaos-suppressing, and vast rhythm, slowly enveloping them.

This energy field was completely different from the violent, icy "Order" power within it, and the energy of "the key" mark, yet strangely, it did not conflict.

Instead, like the most flexible buffer pad, it began to "smooth out" and "channel" the rampaging energy torrent within it.

At the same time, the moment Old Shi's violently trembling, purplish-black right arm touched this energy field, the speed of those spreading black patterns significantly slowed down, or even stopped!

The painful expression on its face also eased slightly.

Although the "interface" remained dim and chaotic, the feeling of being torn apart and devoured from the inside seemed to be temporarily contained.

It worked!

The energy field emitted by this strange metal plate seemed capable of neutralizing, soothing, and even "suppressing" the energy runaway and erosion caused by the rough Fusion of the "Dual Keys" and the pollution backlash!

Ling Ye dared not be negligent, immediately carefully placing Old Shi next to the metal plate, letting it lean against the smooth black rock.

Then, it also sat cross-legged at the edge of the metal plate, closed its eyes, and began to fully guide and control the violent power within it, attempting to use this strange energy field to conduct and stabilize it.

As its mind sank in and its contact with the metal plate's energy field deepened, some fragmented, blurry, and icy images and information shards—seemingly from an incomparably distant time and space, filled with wildness, stars, warfare, and the will of the Guardian—poured into its consciousness intermittently—

It saw an endless sea of stars, saw the phantom of a huge, ancient door spanning the starry sky, radiating a vast aura...

It saw countless powerful existences of various forms fighting and falling before the door...

It saw a mark radiating "Ancient Ring" fluctuations, like a cornerstone of stability, branded on the key part of the door, suppressing the chaos behind it...

Then came the image after a long passage of time—the ancient door seemed to crack and fall, its fragments scattered everywhere...

One of the larger fragments, carrying a portion of the power and information of the "Ancient Ring" mark, fell here, merged with the earth, and formed this metal plate... Or rather, was it an extremely small, yet definitely existing "projection" or "Anchor-α" of the "Ancient Ring" mark's power in this world?

The information stopped abruptly there.

But Ling Ye already understood.

This metal plate was not a creation of the "Court of World Purification," but a "world-suppressing stone" formed by the traces left by some more ancient, more incredible existence that shared the same Origin as the "Ancient Ring" mark.

Its power nature happened to be able to restrain and soothe chaos and runaway energy, having unexpected effects on stabilizing the conflict between "Order" and "pollution" currently within it, as well as the energy rampage caused by the Fusion of "the key" and the incomplete "interface."

It no longer distracted itself, fully utilizing the energy field of the "world-suppressing stone" to comb through the violent power within it, and guiding wisps of the cool, peaceful "Ancient Ring" rhythm into the area around Old Shi's crumbling "interface," attempting to build a fragile layer of protection for it, delaying the erosion of pollution.

Time slowly elapsed in this small, "clean" depression that was out of place with the surrounding ruins.

The pale gold vascular patterns that frequently appeared on Ling Ye's skin gradually faded and disappeared.

The violent energy fluctuations, with the help of the "world-suppressing stone," were smoothed out bit by bit and retracted deep into "the key" mark.

Although they remained vast, they were at least temporarily back under control.

The cold "Order" will that attempted to "define" it was also temporarily suppressed.

The black patterns on Old Shi's right arm, under the continuous effect of the "Ancient Ring" rhythm, finally stopped spreading completely, and their color seemed to have dimmed slightly.

Although it was still far from "Purification," at least the trend of deterioration had been curbed.

Its breathing gradually stabilized, and it fell into a deep, restorative sleep.