165: The Boiling Origin and the Shadow of Chaos

The water in the golden stream suddenly surged backward, as if pulled by an invisible force, forming a rotating water ring around Liu Shan and Lin Qingxue.

The power of the Origin Spiritual Vein no longer flowed gently, but instead transformed into countless tiny golden threads that burrowed into their pores and surged wildly through their blood vessels.

Liu Shan felt his bones creaking, every inch of his muscles being reshaped. The spiral mark between his eyebrows erupted with unprecedented radiance, while the Light and Darkness Power and the golden Spiritual Vein wove together inside his body to form a giant net, firmly trapping the black mist that was attempting to erode them.

"Hold on to me!" he roared, grasping Lin Qingxue's hand. Their powers connected through their palms, creating a marvelous resonance between the Spiritual Vein and the Light and Darkness Power. The rotation speed of the water ring suddenly accelerated, unexpectedly whipping up a golden vortex in the center of the stream.

The giant gray claw lunged to the edge of the vortex but was repelled by the rotating force. The barbs on its claw tips brushed against the water ring, emitting a harsh metallic clashing sound.

It clearly hadn't expected the Origin Spiritual Vein to erupt with such strong defense. A trace of fury flashed in its scarlet eyes, and its massive body began to slowly squeeze into the stone gate, causing the entire underground garden to tremble violently.

"It's coming in!" Lin Qingxue's voice trembled. She could see behind the giant claw that the black mist shrouding its body was constantly churning, and within it, one could vaguely see countless pairs of scarlet eyes, like countless living beings devoured by the power of Chaos.

Liu Shan did not respond. All his attention was focused on his body—the Fusion of the Light and Darkness Power and the Origin Spiritual Vein had reached its most critical moment. The two forces collided fiercely at his Dantian, sometimes transforming into a Light and Darkness Taiji, and sometimes into a golden torrent. Each collision caused his power to surge, while also subjecting his consciousness to tearing pain.

He seemed to see fragments of the ancestor Xuan Jin's memories: a thousand years ago, the ancestor held the Sword of Light and Darkness, fighting bloody battles against the power of Chaos in the depths of the Ancient Ruin; he saw the split between Xuan Jin and the Blood Master, saw the ancestor's determination to Seal Chaos with his remaining soul, and saw that white figure kneeling before the wordless stele, waiting for countless years.

"So... this is my mission."

A thought flashed through his mind, and Liu Shan's consciousness became completely clear. He no longer resisted the collision of the two forces, but instead guided them to converge toward the spiral mark between his eyebrows.

The Light and Darkness Taiji and the golden torrent met in the mark, and instead of colliding again, they transformed into a pillar of light interwoven with cyan, gold, and black colors. It shot up from between his eyebrows, pierced through the golden vortex, and struck the dome of the underground garden!

Wherever the pillar of light passed, the exotic flowers and plants eroded by the power of Chaos instantly recovered, the black mist melted away like ice meeting the sun, and the entire garden was imbued with a layer of holy luster.

The giant gray claw let out a terrified hiss and instinctively retreated, but it was grazed by the edge of the pillar of light. Its claw tips instantly turned to ash, and the black mist churned violently, clearly having suffered heavy damage.

"Now!" Liu Shan shouted in a low voice, and he and Lin Qingxue leaped from the golden vortex simultaneously.

At this moment, his aura had undergone an earth-shattering change. The perfect Fusion of the Light and Darkness Power and the Origin Spiritual Vein made his body both solid and ethereal. The spiral mark between his eyebrows flowed with three-colored light, and his every gesture carried an aura of controlling heaven and earth.

Lin Qingxue's aura also became incomparably pure. The Lingmai Power resonated with the pillar of light, causing the soft sword in her hand to glow with a cyan-gold light, creating a perfect echo with Liu Shan.

"In the name of the Ruin Master, Seal!"

Liu Shan raised his hand, and the three-colored pillar of light instantly branched into countless tiny threads of light, covering the giant gray claw like a spider web. The threads flowed with the Seal runes of the Ancient Ruin, which was exactly the ultimate sealing technique he had comprehended from his ancestor's memories.

The giant gray claw clearly knew the danger and frantically waved its claws, trying to tear the threads of light apart. But the threads were like maggots on a bone; once they touched, they would firmly stick to it, burrowing into the body along the gaps between the scales, emitting a sizzling sound of purification.

The scarlet eyes in the black mist extinguished one by one, and the giant claw's struggle became weaker and weaker. Its massive body was wrapped layer by layer by the threads of light, eventually turning into a giant cocoon that floated at the stone gate, no longer moving.

The underground garden finally returned to peace.

Liu Shan and Lin Qingxue looked at each other, both seeing the relief of having survived the ordeal in each other's eyes.

They walked to the giant light cocoon and could feel the power of Chaos inside being slowly purified by the threads of light, and it wouldn't take long for it to completely dissipate.

"Is it over?" Lin Qingxue asked softly.

Liu Shan shook his head, his gaze cast toward the stone house at the end of the garden: "Perhaps... not yet."

He always felt that this underground garden was not simple, especially the stone house and the wordless stone stele, which gave him a strong sense of familiarity, as if some secret closely related to him was hidden inside.

The two walked to the stone house and found the door was ajar. Pushing open the door, the sight inside stunned them.

The stone house was very small, containing only a stone bed and a stone table, on which sat a simple, ancient wooden box.

The wooden box had no decorations, yet it emitted an aura of the same Origin as Liu Shan.

Liu Shan took a deep breath, stepped forward, and opened the wooden box.

Inside, there were no gold or silver jewelry, nor any peerless Cultivation Technique, only a cyan-black token. Carved on the token was a simple "Ruin" character, exactly the same as the Bronze Token at the bottom of Chenyuan Lake, only older and more dilapidated.

Beneath the token lay a yellowed piece of paper, on which a few lines of text were written in the script of the Ancient Ruin.

Liu Shan recognized it as his ancestor's handwriting, which read:

"Chaos is sealed, the Ancient Ruin will close. When the Ruin Master returns, heaven and earth will restart. If this token is seen, one must seek Reincarnation. The day the blood color reopens is also the time of reunion."

Reincarnation? Blood color reopens? Liu Shan's heart contracted violently.

Just as he was puzzled, the entire underground garden suddenly began to vibrate violently! It was not a counterattack of the power of Chaos, but the entire space was collapsing!

The exotic flowers and plants in the garden began to wither rapidly, the water in the golden stream became thinner and thinner, and even the three-colored pillar of light began to flicker, as if it would extinguish at any moment.

"The Ancient Ruin is closing!" Lin Qingxue's expression changed drastically.

Liu Shan picked up the token from the wooden box and could feel it heating up, generating a strong resonance with the mark between his eyebrows.

Outside the stone house, the giant light cocoon suddenly erupted with blinding red light, and the black mist filled the air again. The giant gray claw actually slowly raised its head amidst the entanglement of the light threads! In its eyes, it was no longer scarlet, but a dead, gray-white.

"Not good! It's detonating itself, wanting to drag us down with it!" Liu Shan realized in an instant.

The red light of the light cocoon grew brighter and brighter, a destructive aura began to permeate, and the collapse speed of the entire underground garden suddenly accelerated.

Liu Shan grabbed Lin Qingxue and turned to run outside: "Hurry, go!"

They rushed out of the stone house and ran toward the small crack they had come from. Behind them, the light cocoon exploded with a roar, and the black mist and red light intertwined into a destructive storm, sweeping toward them!

The storm was extremely fast, instantly catching up to them, and the scorching heat wave almost scorched their backs. They were less than ten steps away from the small crack. But the edge of the storm had already touched the hem of Lin Qingxue's clothes.

Liu Shan turned around abruptly, shielding Lin Qingxue in his arms, using his own body to block the storm, while simultaneously injecting all his power into the cyan-black token in his hand!

The token erupted with a cyan-black light, forming a huge protective barrier that temporarily blocked the impact of the storm.

"Hold on to the token!" he shouted to Lin Qingxue. Lin Qingxue gripped the other end of the token tightly, feeling a powerful spatial force surging from within it.

The protective barrier flickered violently under the impact of the storm and could shatter at any moment. Liu Shan looked at the small crack within reach, then looked at Lin Qingxue in his arms, a flash of determination in his eyes.

He suddenly pushed Lin Qingxue toward the direction of the crack: "Live on!"

Lin Qingxue's body traced an arc in the air, flying toward the crack, and the token in her hand emitted an intense light, clearly triggering the power of spatial teleportation.

She looked back and saw Liu Shan's figure completely swallowed by the exploding storm. The last thing that came into her view was that familiar, gentle smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Liu Shan—!" Her cry was swallowed by the spatial turbulence. The moment her body passed through the crack, she lost consciousness.

At the center of the storm, Liu Shan was wrapped in the three-colored pillar of light, his body constantly becoming transparent under the impact of the power of Chaos.

He looked down at the token in his hand, and the "Ruin" character on it was slowly disappearing.

"The day the blood color reopens is also the time of reunion..." He whispered his ancestor's words, a smile of anticipation appearing at the corner of his mouth.

The moment before his consciousness completely dissipated, he seemed to hear the Spiritual Vein of Luoxia Valley whispering, and heard the sound of the biye flower blooming. And... Lin Qingxue's call.