293: Chapter 293 Core Probe

Beyond the dark blue, gently rippling "barrier" that resembled water waves, lay an endless torrent of Chaos, crazy and filled with malice.

Inside the barrier was a relative "tranquility," holding a faint hum of energy flow within the deathly silence.

Ling Ye sat cross-legged before the basin-sized core metal plate that emitted a faint dark blue glow; his gaze was calm and his breathing long, but every nerve in his body was taut, like a fully drawn bowstring.

His fingertips hovered over the precise, ancient energy array patterns on the surface of the metal plate, barely an inch away.

He could clearly feel an energy aura emanating from those patterns—pure, stable, yet carrying a bone-chilling coldness and "inertia."

This energy was of the same origin as the thin halo on the ground earlier, but its concentration and quality were clearly on a much higher level.

Old Shi leaned against the nearby metal wreckage, its breathing still weak, but thanks to that ice-blue isolation layer, the spread of the black cracks was temporarily contained at its shoulder and neck, not continuing to erode toward its heart and head.

Yet, under the illumination of the dark blue glow, its complexion presented an unhealthy, almost transparent blue-white, as if its vitality were being slowly drained away.

That isolation layer also required energy to maintain, otherwise it would sooner or later fail.

There was no time to hesitate.

Ling Ye slowly closed his eyes and sank all his focus into his body.

His Meridians still ached faintly, like parched and cracked earth, but at least, under the recent basic recovery and "internal observation" guidance, a very weak but truly existing, most fundamental life energy cycle had been re-established.

The "the key" mark on his chest also emitted a gentle, stable pale golden light, like a tiny heart continuously providing warmth and the power of "definition."

He took a deep breath and gently pressed his fingertips into the air above a relatively "peripheral" pattern on the metal plate's energy array, which looked like an "energy output node."

Then, he began to mobilize the energy from "the key" mark.

He simulated and radiated a pale golden "Order" energy fluctuation that was extremely gentle, pure, and filled with a sense of "permission" and "acceptance."

This fluctuation, like the gentlest of tentacles, slowly probed toward that cold, inert dark blue energy, attempting to "contact" and "communicate" with it.

At first, there was no reaction.

The dark blue energy continued to flow and circulate according to its own slow rhythm, turning a deaf ear to the fluctuations of "the key," and even faintly showing a tendency to repel and freeze.

Ling Ye did not get discouraged, maintaining absolute patience and focus.

He minutely adjusted the "frequency" and "texture" of "the key" energy fluctuation, trying to find a point that could "resonate" or be "compatible" with this dark blue energy.

It was like using an extremely fine probe in endless darkness to find the location of a keyhole that might not even exist.

Time passed bit by bit.

Sweat seeped from his temples again, sliding down his cheeks.

Maintaining this high-precision, continuous energy simulation and detection was a huge drain on the Mental Energy he had just barely recovered.

Just as he felt his Mental Energy was becoming unsustainable and was preparing to give up temporarily to think of another way—

"Hum..."

An extremely faint, low-pitched resonance, as if it were an illusion, came from the metal plate beneath his fingertips!

Immediately after, Ling Ye felt that a specific frequency within the "the key" energy fluctuation he was simulating, which carried the nuances of "stability," "Guardian," and "recording," seemed to overlap and resonate momentarily with a certain inherent "rhythm" of the dark blue energy flow!

The instant this resonance occurred, the patterns of the metal plate's energy array brightened slightly!

A wisp of dark blue energy flow, more pure and condensed than before but still cold and inert, and as thin as a hair, seemed to be "attracted" by this "resonance." It spontaneously flowed out along the invisible "bridge" formed by the energy fluctuations of "the key," making contact with Ling Ye's fingertips!

The moment they made contact, Ling Ye's body trembled slightly.

An extreme coldness, deep into the marrow, as if it wanted to freeze his Soul, instantly spread from his fingertips, making him almost want to pull his hand back immediately!

This was not an attack, but the most essential attribute of this energy itself—an absolute, cold "Order" that seemed capable of freezing time and solidifying all things.

He forcibly suppressed his instinctive reaction, maintaining the stability of his fingertips.

At the same time, he carefully guided and restrained this intruding, cold dark blue energy, not letting it spread wantonly to impact his already fragile Meridians, but slowly introduced it into his body along a pre-planned, shortest, and most direct path, finally merging it into "the key" mark on his chest.

When the two made contact, no violent conflict occurred.

After coming into contact with the gentle pale golden light emitted by "the key" mark, that wisp of dark blue energy seemed to be "tamed" and "assimilated" in part; its extreme cold attribute slightly eased, becoming more "docile," and then it was slowly absorbed, stored, and converted by "the key" mark.

Success!

Although the efficiency was pitifully low, and this wisp of absorbed energy was like a drop in the bucket for his massive deficit.

But at least, it proved that this path was feasible!

Moreover, this method was sufficiently "gentle," and the interference with The Shelter's core energy node was reduced to a minimum.

Ling Ye felt relieved, but he did not dare to be the least bit careless.

He maintained this extremely subtle, stable "resonance" and "guidance," like the most patient craftsman, "extracting" precious energy from that cold core, bit by bit.

About half an hour later, when the converted energy stored in "the key" mark, a mixture of pale gold and dark blue, reached about one percent of his peak state, Ling Ye voluntarily stopped the guidance.

He felt that the dark blue light emitted by the metal plate beneath his feet seemed to have dimmed by an extremely tiny fraction compared to before.

Although the change was almost imperceptible, he did not dare to take risks.

This "The Shelter" was their only refuge at the moment; he could not drain the pond to catch the fish.

He slowly withdrew his fingers, a trace of cold touch remaining on his fingertips.

"the key" mark on his chest was now emitting a more solid, stable, and even faintly ice-blue glowing, gentle light.

The sense of fullness in his body brought about by the energy recovery, although still weak, was like drinking the first sip of sweet spring water in a parched desert, which refreshed his spirit.

Strength had recovered a little.

More importantly, he had found a relatively safe and sustainable path for obtaining energy.

Next was Old Shi.

He walked to Old Shi's side and checked its condition again.

The ice-blue isolation layer still existed, but its light seemed to have become slightly dimmer and thinner as time passed.

Clearly, maintaining this isolation layer was also continuously consuming energy, and it seemed unable to get effective replenishment from Old Shi itself.

Ling Ye stretched out his hand, his palm gently pressing above the scar on Old Shi's right wrist "interface," which was covered in black cracks and the isolation layer.

He mobilized the wisp of mixed energy stored in "the key" mark, converting it into a more gentle, more "nourishing" and "reinforcing" mode, and then, carefully, like watering the most precious droplets onto parched earth, injected it into that fragile ice-blue isolation layer.

The moment the energy was injected, the isolation layer brightened significantly; the light became more solid and stable, and even faintly expanded outward a fraction, forcing back a few of the finest black cracks that were attempting to "infiltrate" from the edges!

At the same time, a cool, calming sensation, following the energy injection, was transmitted deep into Old Shi's body, causing its tightly knit brows to seem to relax a fraction, and its breathing to become a bit steadier.

Ling Ye was secretly delighted, but his movements remained cautious.

He did not inject too much energy at once, but proceeded in batches, in small amounts, constantly observing the reactions of Old Shi's body and the changes in the isolation layer to ensure it would not cause an extra burden on its already weak body.

When about one-third of the mixed energy stored in "the key" mark had been consumed, Ling Ye stopped.

The ice-blue isolation layer on Old Shi's right wrist and shoulder/neck had become quite stable and bright, firmly blocking those black cracks outside; even the dull color on its surface seemed to have been suppressed, dimmed, and retracted a fraction by the energy emitted by the isolation layer, which was a mixture of "Order" Purification and "freezing" properties.

Although it was far from the level of "Purification," at least the trend of deterioration had been significantly curbed, and there were even signs of a brief improvement.

Old Shi's complexion also seemed to have recovered a trace of extremely faint blood color; although still pale, it was no longer that deathly sensation of being almost transparent.

The situation was developing in a good direction.

Ling Ye let out a long sigh of relief; his long-taut heartstrings could finally relax a fraction.

He also sat down cross-legged and began to circulate the recovered energy within his body, conducting a new round of deeper healing and strength recovery.

This time, with the mixed energy stored in "the key" mark acting as a "primer" and "fuel," the speed of recovery was many times faster than before when he had to rely solely on his own willpower to hold on.