287: Chapter 287 Footsteps in the Afterglow

The cool rhythm emitted by the "world-suppressing stone" washed over this small depression, slow and steady like an invisible tide.

The omnipresent, viscous malice and the scent of sulfur from the ruins outside were completely sealed off.

It was so quiet here that one could only hear the slightly heavy yet gradually stabilizing breathing of Old Shi, and the steady, powerful heartbeat of Ling Ye.

But Ling Ye knew very well that this silence and "cleanliness" were fragile and temporary.

Sitting cross-legged on the edge of that strange metal plate, he could clearly perceive that the violent power within him, born from the brutal Fusion of the "Dual Keys", was being soothed by the rhythm of the metal plate, gradually transforming from a raging, boiling torrent into a deep pool that appeared calm on the surface but remained turbulent with undercurrents within.

However, that power had not disappeared; it was merely "soothed" and "constrained" for the time being.

The "the key" mark on his chest remained burning hot, and the yearning for the "Star Gate" was like an eternal, unextinguishable flame. As for the dark red "interface" on Old Shi's wrist, with its spreading cracks, the trend of deterioration had merely been curbed; the cold, twisted sense of erosion deep within it had not truly receded.

More importantly, he could feel that the rhythm with its strange soothing effect emitted by the metal plate beneath his feet was weakening—extremely slowly, but undeniably.

It was not an inexhaustible source, but rather an ancient relic whose energy was constantly dissipating and depleting.

For every second they lingered here, this protective power weakened by a fraction.

Old Shi leaned against the smooth black rock nearby, face still pale, but its tightly furrowed brows had relaxed slightly as it drifted into a deep sleep. Its body was instinctively absorbing the thin but pure energy dissipated by the "world-suppressing stone" to perform the most basic repairs.

Its right arm—those hideous black cracks, though they had stopped spreading and faded slightly in color, still coiled there like sleeping vipers, ready to awaken and bite again at any moment.

Ling Ye closed his eyes, looking inward once more, carefully perceiving the state of the power within his body and the stability of the energy field of the "world-suppressing stone".

About half an hour later, he opened his eyes, a calm determination deep within his golden pupils.

He stood up with smooth movements. The power temporarily lying dormant within him flowed slightly with his actions, bringing a dull ache, but it remained within a controllable range.

He walked over to Old Shi, crouched down, and reached out to gently rest his hand on its uninjured left shoulder, channeling a gentle yet firm energy to wake it from its deep sleep.

"Wake up. Time to go." His voice was not loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the silent depression.

Old Shi's eyelids fluttered a few times before it slowly opened them. Its gaze was unfocused and weary at first, but it quickly sharpened. Upon seeing that it was Ling Ye, it scanned the surroundings, and finally, its gaze settled on its right arm, which remained numb, stinging, and covered in black veins.

The corners of its mouth twitched, as if it wanted to give a bitter smile, but in the end, it merely nodded silently and braced itself with its left hand, attempting to stand up on its own.

Ling Ye reached out to support it. Old Shi used the leverage to stand up, its body swaying, but it soon steadied itself.

It tried to move its right arm, but only its fingertips could barely twitch; everything below the forearm still felt as if it did not belong to it, enveloped in coldness and stinging pain.

"Better?" Ling Ye asked, his gaze falling on the black cracks.

"As long as I don't move... it doesn't hurt as much." Old Shi's voice was hoarse but clearer than before. "This stone... is strange, but useful."

It also sensed the uniqueness of this metal plate and the surrounding environment, but it did not ask further, merely expressing confirmation with its eyes.

"Yes. But it cannot hold on for much longer." Ling Ye was concise, his gaze cast toward the ruins outside the depression, shrouded in shadows and malice. "We must leave. Now is the time."

Old Shi nodded again without any unnecessary words. It used its left hand to take the small piece of purified energy crystal Ling Ye handed over, silently absorbing it to gather strength.

Ling Ye took one last look at the metal plate with ancient patterns lying quietly in the center of the depression.

He turned around, supported Old Shi, and walked step by step out of that "clean" depression.

As soon as they stepped past the edge of the "world-suppressing stone" energy field— "Hum..."

It was as if an invisible membrane had been pierced. The viscous, polluted aura—mixed with sulfur, acrid burning, decay, and countless malicious Mental Energy—rushed in from all directions like a long-awaited tide, engulfing the two of them once more.

A faint stinging and numbness spread across their skin, and their breathing became labored. The faint hissing of monsters in the distance returned to their ears, along with the subtle sounds of energy turbulence from the ruins themselves, like groans.

Old Shi's body stiffened noticeably, and it let out a muffled grunt. The black cracks on its right arm seemed to squirm slightly, and their color deepened a shade.

It gritted its teeth and accelerated the speed at which it absorbed the energy crystal.

The power within Ling Ye also stirred slightly, but he quickly forced it down. He adjusted his breathing, adapting to the harsh environment outside, while simultaneously unleashing his "perception" to the fullest.

After the "the key" fused with the incomplete "interface", although it brought the risk of losing control, it also granted him a keen insight into the concentration of surrounding energy and pollution that far exceeded anything he had possessed before.

At this moment, in his "vision", the surrounding ruins were no longer just simple darkness and obstacles, but a dynamic, three-dimensional landscape composed of energy and pollution with different colors, brightness, and "textures".

In the distance, to the northeast—the direction of that boiling dark abyss—the concentration of pollution was shockingly high, and the energy reactions were chaotic and violent, like the eye of a storm.

As for the area under their feet, although the pollution was quite severe, it was already a "relatively gentle" "buffer zone" compared to the place where they had encountered the monster tide earlier, and the areas deeper inside.

He could "see" some "paths" where the pollution was relatively thin, and some "nodes" where the pollution was highly concentrated, clearly harboring dangerous entities.

"This way." Ling Ye did not choose the seemingly shortest straight line, but instead pointed to a winding path that, according to his perception, had a relatively lower concentration of pollution and milder energy turbulence.

He needed to conserve his strength as much as possible and avoid unnecessary battles, especially given that Old Shi was in poor condition and his own internal power was not entirely stable.

The two supported each other, moving through the shadows of the ruins. Their footsteps were light, but their pace was not slow.

Ling Ye dedicated most of his focus to maintaining the stability of his own power, suppressing the restlessness of "the key", and simultaneously guiding a portion of relatively gentle energy to help Old Shi resist the erosion of the pollution on its right arm, only sparing a small fraction of his energy for vigilance and pathfinding.

The surrounding ruins presented strange and grotesque forms.

There were alloy skeletons twisted and wrung into corkscrews by immense force; building remains that looked as if they had been instantly melted by high heat and then solidified into eerie sculptures; and more often, indescribable "things" that one could not tell what they originally were—a mixture of metal, rock, crystals, and some kind of active biological tissue that constantly writhed slowly and emitted a nauseating stench.

The sky was forever shrouded in a layer of dark red, ominous halo; there were no sun, moon, or stars to be seen, only the twisted streams of energy that occasionally streaked across the horizon, illuminating this dead and dangerous land below.

Along the way, they were not entirely safe.

Several times, Ling Ye's perception caught polluted creatures lurking in the shadows in advance—some were invisible predators that blended into the surroundings like chameleons and could launch Mental Energy piercing attacks; others were strange lifeforms that crawled slowly on the ground, spreading toxic spores like oversized mushrooms; and once, they even "saw" from afar a nightmarish, eerie entity that was not large in size but composed entirely of writhing shadows, exuding strong Mental Energy pollution fluctuations as it drifted among the ruins.

Whenever this happened, Ling Ye would change direction in advance or use the terrain and his perception advantage to bypass them silently.

When it was truly unavoidable—such as two monsters blocking their path that looked like flayed hounds and moved with great agility—Ling Ye would, before they could attack, use minimal movement and the most precise methods—either instantly piercing their cores with several strands of pale golden Qi condensed to the extreme, or using his fused power to simulate a short, targeted, small-scale "Order" force field impact to disrupt their actions before delivering a fatal blow—to resolve the situation quickly, never lingering, and avoiding large energy fluctuations as much as possible.

Every time he used his power, no matter how minor, Ling Ye could feel the throbbing of "the key" mark on his chest and the slight churning of the power within his body.

He had to be like a tightrope walker, precisely controlling the strength and method of his output, both to achieve his goal and to never trigger stronger resonance and backlash.

This caused a mental exhaustion that was even greater than the simple expenditure of power.

Old Shi followed silently most of the time, striving to mobilize the remaining power within its body, cooperating with the energy Ling Ye injected to resist the erosion of the pollution on its right arm.

Its face remained pale, but its gaze grew increasingly sharp, like a quenched blade.

It did not complain or drag him down; it simply followed closely by Ling Ye's side, using its remaining uninjured left hand to occasionally guard the other direction when Ling Ye needed to deal with monsters and was temporarily distracted.

Time passed in silent and tense progression. The dark red skylight seemed never to change, causing one to lose an accurate perception of the passage of time.

Only the scenery of the ruins constantly receding beneath their feet and the slow consumption of power and Mental Energy within their bodies reminded them that the journey continued and danger had not drifted far away.

Suddenly, Ling Ye stopped, supporting Old Shi as he hid behind a huge, collapsed alloy plate.

His brows furrowed slightly, and he looked ahead with a sharp gaze.

About several hundred meters away in the direction they were heading, at the edge of a relatively open "battlefield" filled with huge craters and traces of energy burns, an energy reaction appeared that was different from ordinary polluted monsters.

Those were several relatively orderly, semi-transparent energy chains that bore clear traces of being "manufactured", slowly wandering like living creatures and emitting a faint purple glow.

These chains seemed to possess life, winding and weaving through the ruins, seemingly patrolling and guarding, or perhaps... searching for something.

And at the source of these energy chains, Ling Ye perceived several "entities" which, although also tainted with a rich aura of pollution, radiated energy fluctuations from their cores that were completely different from the creations of the "Court of World Purification"—more ancient, colder, and also more... "precise".

Not monsters.

Ling Ye's pupils contracted slightly.