288: Chapter 288 The Shadow That Was Avoided

The pale purple energy chains, like living, translucent vipers, slithered silently between the ruins and shadows.

Their movement patterns seemed chaotic, but after Ling Ye focused his perception for a moment, he discovered that they contained some kind of extremely precise, interwoven, three-dimensional patrol and alert network covering a large area.

The few "existences" at the source of the chains, radiating an aura that was ancient, cold, precise, and full of pollution, lurked silently at the blurred edge of his perception, like predators at the center of a spiderweb.

The thought of forcing his way through crossed Ling Ye's mind only for an instant before being suppressed by cold reason.

Unknown guards, unknown trigger mechanisms, unknown strength.

More importantly, his current state could not withstand a high-intensity battle that might trigger a backlash of power.

In the continuously high-concentration polluted environment, although the black cracks on Old Shi's right arm were temporarily suppressed by the power of the "world-suppressing stone", the edges were beginning to show signs of extremely subtle, slow, outward infiltration, like ink slowly spreading on rice paper.

Every minute erosion made Old Shi's body tremble involuntarily, with more cold sweat seeping from its forehead.

"Retreat. Go around this place." Ling Ye's voice was extremely low, sounding almost right against Old Shi's ear, while he gently tugged on its left arm to signal a retreat.

Old Shi had no objections and didn't even spare another glance at the slithering energy chains, immediately cooperating with Ling Ye's guidance to retreat silently and re-hide into the deeper shadows of the ruins.

It knew that Ling Ye's judgment, especially regarding details concerning survival, had almost never been wrong.

They cautiously retreated hundreds of meters along the path they had come, until those pale purple energy chains became blurred and faint in their perception.

Then, Ling Ye began to adjust his direction, circling toward the southeast side, where the pollution concentration was relatively lower and the terrain relatively more complex in his perception.

The new path was even more rugged and even more... "eerie" than expected.

They traveled through an area covered by a large amount of twisted, fused metal and dark red flesh tissue.

Those flesh tissues seemed to still retain some kind of vitality, pulsing faintly, with their surfaces covered in dense veins resembling nerves or blood vessels, emitting a strong stench of mixed fishy sweetness and decay.

Stepping on it, it wasn't hard rock or metal, but a sticky, disgusting, soft sensation, as if stepping on the internal organs of some huge creature.

The air was filled with a pink, almost visible mist that had strong hallucinogenic and neuroparalytic effects.

Ling Ye immediately held his breath, while simultaneously mobilizing a trace of Fusion energy to form an extremely thin energy film in front of both their mouths and noses, sufficient to filter out most harmful substances and hallucinogenic components.

Old Shi also followed its example, covering its mouth and nose with its left hand, trying to minimize its breathing.

This "flesh swamp" was not without danger.

They encountered attacks several times that suddenly sprang out from the wriggling flesh, like giant tongues or tentacles covered in suckers and barbs, and also saw slowly moving shadows lurking deep in the flesh, revealing only a few compound eyes, like giant leeches or amoebas.

But most of these threats were slow-moving with singular attack patterns; relying on Ling Ye's keen perception and swift reactions, he was always able to provide early warnings, leading Old Shi to narrowly avoid them, or with minimal force, accurately repel or sever the incoming tentacles, never lingering in battle.

The most dangerous time was when they passed through a patch of flesh that was exceptionally dark in color and pulsed with particular violence, like a "heart" area; suddenly, without warning, the "ground" beneath their feet arched upward and split open, and a giant mouth over three meters in diameter, filled with spiral sharp teeth and resembling an abyss, suddenly bit up from below, a fishy wind rushing at their faces!

Ling Ye's reaction was extremely fast.

The moment the giant mouth arched up, he had already grabbed Old Shi's waist, kicked off the disgusting mass of flesh beneath his feet, and used the force to leap backward!

At the same time, he pressed his left hand into the air, and a condensed, cold energy beam with the "Order" Purification characteristic, like a javelin, instantly shot into the depths of the giant mouth!

"Sshhh—!"

The energy beam exploded inside the giant mouth, bringing a burst of violent, painful, silent spasms.

The closing motion of the giant mouth suddenly stalled, and countless viscous, foul-smelling body fluids sprayed out.

Ling Ye had already brought Old Shi to a relatively "solid" (at least solidified metal debris) place a few meters away, and without looking back, continued to rush forward, soon leaving the writhing, convulsing flesh area behind.

Passing through this extremely uncomfortable "flesh swamp", an area appeared ahead covered in a large number of strange, translucent crystals that looked like crystal clusters or icicles, emitting a faint blue cold light.

The temperature plummeted, and the air was filled with a chill that carried a faint mental-freezing effect.

Those crystals grew on top of the ruins, some several meters high, crystal clear, with twisted shadows or strange flickering light points seemingly frozen inside.

The pollution aura here seemed to have been "frozen" or "made inert" by some kind of extreme cold power; although it still existed, its activity was greatly reduced.

For Ling Ye and Old Shi, it was actually more comfortable than the "flesh swamp" just now—at least there was no pervasive stench or hallucinogenic mist.

But the danger had not disappeared.

Some monsters growing in the crystal clusters, shaped like ice-sculpted spiders or scorpions, with deep blue bodies, would suddenly pounce from behind the crystal clusters, moving extremely fast, their attacks carrying bone-chilling cold and frost energy.

Their carapaces were exceptionally hard, and ordinary attacks were difficult to be effective.

Ling Ye quickly found a way to deal with them.

He discovered that these "ice crystal monsters" seemed to have low resistance to "Order" energy, but had good defense against pure, high-intensity physical impact and energy impact.

He no longer used large-scale or condensed energy attacks, but instead converted his Fusion power into a more "introverted" and "penetrating" mode, attaching it to his fists, feet, or simple projectiles (such as broken crystal shards) to attack the joints of these monsters, or the cold-emitting energy sources inside them that resembled ice cores.

This method consumed less, caused weaker energy fluctuations, but was more efficient.

Old Shi also tried to use its left hand to condense weak "Order" energy, which it had "purified" as much as possible, originating from the "interface", to form simple energy blades, assisting Ling Ye in attacking those monsters that tried to sneak attack from the side.

Although the power was limited, it could at least serve as a distraction and restraint, allowing its right arm to get a slight respite.

After traveling through this cold and perilous "crystal jungle" for an unknown amount of time, when the crystal clusters behind them gradually became sparse and the scene ahead changed again, Ling Ye stopped and signaled Old Shi to hide.

They had seemingly arrived at the edge of an open area that was relatively "normal"—if that word could still be used in this buffer zone—completely flattened by a huge impact, with only scorched, compacted soil and sporadic huge craters remaining.

The pollution aura here was still strong, but it lacked the uncomfortable additional environmental effects (stench, hallucinations, bitter cold) peculiar to the previous areas.

More importantly, at the other end of the open area, Ling Ye "saw" it.

It was no longer ruins, nor was it a strange terrain.

It was an endless, writhing, churning, flowing, viscous expanse, intermixed with countless filthy colors like dark red, deep purple, dark green, and pale white, impossible to accurately describe in words, as if all the filthiest, most disgusting material and spiritual aggregates in the world had been forcibly fused together, causing one's Soul to freeze and reason to collapse at a single glance—an absolute, pure, dark abyss.

It was the core area of the "abyssal eye" pollution.

Or rather, it was the most intuitive and terrifying external appearance presented after the "Star Gate" had been completely covered, eroded, and assimilated by the pollution.

Before, the distance was still far and the perception was blurred, only having a grand, dark sense of oppression.

At this moment, even though it was still separated by a considerable distance (in terms of the scale of this buffer zone), the outline of that "dark abyss" was clear, immense, and suffocatingly stretched across the end of his vision, occupying nearly half of the "sky".

It was not static, but slowly, eternally, like a living thing, "breathing," "pulsing," and "expanding." Every "pulse" seemed to carry the painful wails of billions of living beings, the lingering echoes of countless worlds shattering, and the deepest, most greedy malice wanting to devour and assimilate everything, transforming into an invisible mental tide, penetrating space, and striking every existence that perceived it.

The "the key" mark on Ling Ye's chest, the moment he "saw" that dark abyss, suddenly shrank, and then erupted with an unprecedented heat, like his heart being grabbed, mixed with intense stinging pain, deep-seated sorrow, and a nearly destructive, crazy impulse to rush over and "repair" or "close" it at all costs!

He groaned, his body swayed, his face instantly turned somewhat pale, and the temporarily dormant Fusion power within him also churned violently due to this intense stimulation, nearly spiraling out of control!

He gritted his teeth tightly and used all his willpower to forcibly suppress that impulse and the rampaging power within him, but cold sweat had already seeped from his temples, and his breathing had become heavy.

Old Shi's reaction was worse.

It only glanced at that dark abyss from afar, and felt as if its head had been heavily struck by a hammer, its vision instantly filled with countless twisted, crazy, malicious hallucinogenic images, and its ears filled with incomprehensible, maddening gibberish and shrieks!

It let out a short, suppressed cry of pain, its body suddenly stumbled backward, and if Ling Ye hadn't caught it in time, it would have almost fallen.

Its face was as pale as paper, and the black cracks on its right arm, as if having received strong stimulation, suddenly became clear and hideous, the color instantly deepened, and even began to spread a few inches above the elbow!

The severe pain made it almost faint.

"Don't look!" Ling Ye whispered sharply, while simultaneously separating a relatively gentle energy that carried the rhythmic guarding of the "Ancient Ring", injecting it into Old Shi's body to help it resist the terrifying mental pollution and hallucinogenic impact. "Lower your head! Close your eyes! Follow me, don't perceive the outside!"

Relying almost on the instinct for survival, Old Shi closed its eyes tightly, used up its remaining strength, and as Ling Ye said, concentrated its energy in its head to resist the pervasive mental erosion, while letting Ling Ye support it, stumbling along behind.

Ling Ye also forced himself to look away, no longer staring directly at that dark abyss, only using the peripheral vision of his "perception" to barely lock onto the direction, while focusing most of his mental energy on maintaining the stability of his own power and helping Old Shi resist the pollution erosion.

He knew that they had finally arrived at the true outer perimeter of the "buffer zone," the area bordering the core region of the "Star Gate" pollution.

The pollution concentration and mental erosion intensity here were not at all on the same scale as the areas they had passed through before.

And the path they had taken to detour seemed to have reached its end.

Ahead, besides that terrifying dark abyss, there seemed to be only scorched, empty, exposed ground with nowhere to hide.

Those pale purple energy chains and the guards behind them were perhaps there to blockade and guard this last zone near the core area.

They had to find a path or method to enter, or at least approach, the core area that was relatively "safe" (if that word still existed).

Continuing to stay in this open area on the periphery, just the continuous tide of mental pollution would be enough to completely crush Old Shi in a short time, and even put himself in danger.

Ling Ye's gaze, like the calmest hunter, began to quickly and carefully search along the edge of this open area, the scorched ground, the huge craters, and the writhing, churning edge of the dark abyss further away.