303: Chapter 303 Energy Out of Control

"Crack... crackle..."

The terrifying sound of massive ice layers collapsing and disintegrating from deep within the metal plate rang out like a death knell in the depths of Ling Ye's Soul!

The faint, cold hope that had just risen from gaining power was instantly frozen solid by this sudden, destructive turn of events!

He could clearly "perceive" that the vast, cold "energy ice wall" had lost its final stability.

The fragile balance maintained by long ages and the extreme Seal within it had been shattered by his reckless ignition of "the key" spark and the passive response of the "Ancient Ring" mark, much like a huge, already cracked iceberg that seemed calm but was now being struck by a pebble, destined to collapse!

A more massive, more chaotic, more... unstable torrent of dark blue, destructively cold, and inert energy was pouring out from the depths of that "ice wall" along the tiny crack he had initially "melted."

It was like a flood of hundreds of millions of tons of absolute zero, Order energy from the depths of the Universe, frozen for eons, uncontrollably, crazily, and unstoppably surging, erupting, and pouring toward him, toward this fragile metal plate, toward this living flesh Hell!

This torrent of energy was an entirely different concept from the pure, stable, cold energy he had carefully guided out before!

If what he had guided before was a trickle, what was erupting now was a dam-bursting, ice-age flood of world-ending proportions!

Its total volume, impact, and that pure, inhuman, absolute Order-based, cold, destructive will—which sought to completely "freeze," "solidify," and "annihilate" all "activity" and "change"—were enough to instantly turn any tangible or intangible existence daring to stand in its path into the smallest, coldest specks of Order energy dust!

The "the key" mark he had just restored, and even sublimated, was like a freshly lit match trying to block a tsunami in the face of this uncontrolled, vast, cold torrent of energy—tiny, fragile, and vulnerable!

And he himself, though just repaired and strengthened, was like a toddler just learning to walk in the midst of a violent storm when faced with this pure, high-level, out-of-control Order energy capable of freezing stars and annihilating space-time; he could be completely torn apart, frozen, and assimilated at any moment!

Retreat! Must retreat immediately!

Sever the connection!

Leave this metal plate!

Take Old Shi and escape from this energy core that is about to erupt!

This thought, like a cold electric current, instantly pierced through Ling Ye's entire body!

He didn't even have time to think; it was almost purely out of survival instinct—

"Hah—!"

He let out a short, low roar, using every ounce of the strength he had just recovered to violently pull his left hand, which was pressed against the groove, back as if he had received an electric shock!

At the same time, he leaned back violently, using his waist to force his body to twist, and slammed his back into Old Shi, who was still unconscious and leaning against the metal plate beside him, trying to take it away from this dangerous metal plate that was about to become the center of an energy eruption!

"Bang!"

A dull, loud thud of flesh hitting metal!

With his full-force shove, Ling Ye sent both Old Shi and himself flying diagonally away from the metal plate!

The two of them rolled several times on the slippery, viscous, fleshy "ground" before stopping against the constantly writhing, warm, fleshy cavity wall opposite them.

And just the next instant after they left the metal plate—

"BOOM—!!!"

A sound that did not travel through the air, but exploded directly on the level of the Soul, on the level of the spatial structure, and on the level of the "will" of this flesh Hell—a silent, yet seemingly all-destroying, absolute Order energy, destructive, cold explosion erupted violently from the position of the ancient metal plate behind them!

There was no fire, no heat.

There was only a pure, cold, dark blue glow of absolute zero, Order energy—like the first ray of light at the birth of the Universe, and the last frozen wisp at the end of all things—that, like a silent, cold, tsunami-like energy tide, centered on that metal plate, spread in a perfect sphere in all directions, crazily expanding, impacting, devouring, freezing, and annihilating everything!

Wherever the light passed—

The dark red, living, fleshy cavity walls, which were constantly writhing and secreting digestive fluids, were instantly stripped of all "activity," as if plunged into liquid nitrogen at absolute zero, freezing into pieces of dark red, stiff, brittle, fossil-like, dead matter!

Then, in the next instant, they were completely shattered by the more violent, subsequent energy shockwave, turned into powder, and then completely annihilated, assimilated, and absorbed by that pure, cold Order energy, without even a speck of dust left behind!

The viscous, dark red, blood-like liquid on the ground instantly solidified, crystallized, shattered, and was annihilated!

The stifling, bloody, foul, and crazily mentally polluting atmosphere in the air was instantly erased, purified, and dispelled as if by an invisible, huge, cold eraser!

Replacing it was an absolute, cold, dead, empty, void, Soul-freezing aura of pure Order energy that contained no Impurities or activity!

The entire fleshy passage, within a radius of tens of meters centered on the metal plate—all the writhing flesh, secreted mucus, floating spores, pervasive malice, chaotic energy... everything was instantly and completely frozen, purified, annihilated, and erased by this sudden, uncontrolled, ancient, cold torrent of Order energy!

Leaving only a hemispherical, perfect, empty "Purification Domain" with a diameter of tens of meters, its surface smooth as a mirror, presenting an absolute, cold, dark blue color, as if composed of pure crystallized Order energy!

And, in the center of the Domain, that metal plate that had originally been embedded in the flesh was now quietly hovering about a meter above the ground, its entire body emitting a cold, majestic, pure dark blue Order light that was countless times brighter and more stable than before, like a miniature, cold, Order star, slowly rotating, radiating a heart-stopping, high-level, absolute Order pressure!

As for Ling Ye and Old Shi, because of that timely, reckless "escape," they happened to be pushed by the shockwave of the explosion to the edge of this "Purification Domain," with their backs against the frozen, crystallized, dark blue, cold "barrier," and thus were not directly swept into the core by the destructive energy torrent and met the same fate as those flesh tissues.

But even so, they suffered a huge impact.

Ling Ye felt as if his internal organs had been violently smashed by a cold giant hammer, his throat turned sweet, and a mouthful of pale golden blood mixed with ice-crystal-like energy sprayed out, landing on the crystallized, dark blue, cold "ground" in front of him, instantly solidifying into a small patch of pale golden, ice-like traces.

And Old Shi beside him, although protected by his body from most of the impact, also let out a painful muffled groan, its body trembling violently, and that layer of pale golden and ice-blue intertwined composite isolation layer that he had just repaired began to fluctuate and flicker violently again, as if it might collapse again at any moment.

But regardless, they survived.

They survived the first, and most lethal, wave of that uncontrolled, destructive, ancient torrent of Order energy.

And that uncontrolled energy eruption, after "purifying," "freezing," and "annihilating" everything around it, seemed to have exhausted its initial, most violent momentum.

The metal plate hovering in mid-air, though still emitting a cold, majestic dark blue light, seemed to have gradually stabilized, no longer as crazy, uncontrolled, and destructive as when it first erupted.

It seemed... to have completed some kind of "cleaning" or "reset" program and entered a new, stable, low-power standby state.

This hemispherical space, just "purified," absolutely cold, dead, empty, and dark blue, became an unprecedented "island" of absolute Order, completely out of place with the living flesh Hell around it.

Ling Ye leaned against the cold, crystallized "barrier," panting heavily, inhaling the cold, pure, impurity-free, but also devoid of any "activity," pure Order energy aura with every breath.

He felt the power within his body, which had just recovered and then become somewhat disordered again due to the impact and consumption, but was still generally full, as well as the "the key" mark on his chest, which was emitting a warm, stable, and even faintly tinged with an ancient, cold, and majestic pale golden and dark blue intertwined light.

He had won the most dangerous gamble and survived.

Moreover, as a blessing in disguise, not only had his own strength recovered and been sublimated, but he had also "activated" this ancient metal plate, creating this temporary "safe zone" of absolute Order.

But the price was also huge.

The energy inside the metal plate seemed to have been consumed significantly by this uncontrolled eruption; although it was still vast and majestic, it seemed... to have lost some kind of "core" activity, becoming more "inert," more "stable," and also more... "dead."

It was as if that deep, final Seal or mechanism, which might have contained the function of a "portal" or "channel," had been completely destroyed in this energy runaway, or... exhausted its final power and gone completely silent.

Moreover, this island of absolute Order, just "purified," although temporarily isolating them from the flesh Hell outside, was like the brightest lighthouse in the darkness, which would inevitably attract, stimulate, and anger the deeper, more powerful existences of this living Hell more violently and directly.

They had only moved from a relatively "safe," fragile, passive "shelter" to a more "conspicuous," more "provocative," active, but potentially even more dangerous "Order position."

Ling Ye's gaze, like a cold, quenched blade, swept across this empty, dead, dark blue, crystallized space, and finally landed on the ancient metal plate quietly hovering and emitting cold, majestic light in the center of the space.

He slowly, strugglingly, stood up.

Although his body still felt waves of sharp pain, at least his strength had mostly recovered, and movement was no longer a major issue.

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

The isolation layer was fluctuating but had not collapsed, and its vital signs were relatively stable.

For the time being, there was no life-threatening danger.

Then, he turned around and looked at the hovering metal plate.