313: Chapter 248: Escape from Desperate Situation, Taoist Talismans Pierce the Void

Cold, darkness, and a sense of weightlessness enveloped Lin Zhou like a tide.

The intense tearing sensation brought by the space jump had not completely dissipated, and the wound on his back, grazed by the Beast God's axe light, felt as if countless red-hot steel needles were constantly churning within it; the destructive blood-colored energy, like maggots on bones, was frantically eroding his divine body tissue and Divine Power, preventing any possibility of self-healing.

Every heartbeat (if deities even had hearts) triggered excruciating pain at the level of his Soul.

He could feel his divine fire was dimmer than ever before, his Divine Power pool was nearly dry (approximately 2000/60000 remaining), and his divinity was sending waves of weakness and stagnation due to overload and rule impact.

The most serious issue was the cracks in the Temple of Law, which made his connection to the rules of Order blurry and painful.

He forced his heavy eyelids open, but what met his eyes was not the anticipated scene of a safe coordinate in a chaotic zone, but an unfamiliar Void Realm filled with broken meteorites and thin, cold stardust.

In the distance, he could faintly see the glimmer of the dark red star of the Red Rock Galaxy—he had not been teleported very far! He was still on the edge of the Red Rock Galaxy!

Under the interference of the Beast God's energy and Lin Zhou's extremely poor condition, the [Disposable Directional Space Jump Beacon] had failed to complete the preset long-distance teleportation, instead suffering from severe deviation and attenuation, throwing him only into this relatively hidden but definitely unsafe area on the periphery of the galaxy.

"Must leave immediately... The Beast God might catch up at any moment..." Lin Zhou struggled to mobilize his Divine Power, but the intense pain and emptiness from within caused him to feel a wave of dizziness.

The wound on his back continued to emit ripples of blood-colored energy, like a conspicuous beacon.

Just as he was attempting to communicate with his divine kingdom to draw upon meager faith and convert it into Divine Power, a familiar, faint, yet clear communication signal was transmitted into his consciousness through the [Shadow Communication Rune]—it was Li Mo! Had they not gone far? Or rather... had they returned?

"Lin Zhou! Can you hear me? We've locked onto your faint signal! Hold on! We're coming right now!" Li Mo's voice was filled with anxiety and a hint of relief.

It turned out that at the very last moment before the cargo ship was about to complete its jump, Li Mo had captured the faint fragments of spatial coordinates that dissipated when Lin Zhou was forcibly dragged into the unstable jump through the control hub.

He immediately disregarded the strong opposition from Zhao Hao and Wang Meng (with Qin Qing's tacit approval), utilized the cargo ship's last remaining maneuverability and reserve energy, forcibly interrupted the jump process, and ventured back following those nearly dissipated coordinate fragments!

They were equally aware of how dangerous it was to stay or return, but they could not abandon their captain and escape alone.

A few minutes later, that modified cargo ship, with its hull damaged in many places and sparking with electricity, appeared in Lin Zhou's field of vision like a stumbling, wounded beast.

The hatch opened, and Zhao Hao and Wang Meng, wearing simple space gear, flew out directly and carried the almost flightless Lin Zhou back into the cabin.

Seeing the hideous wound on Lin Zhou's back, wreathed in destructive blood light, and his ghastly pale complexion, everyone gasped.

"Quick! Put him on the medical table! Qin Qing, use your power of Order to help him stabilize the wound and suppress that destructive energy! Zhao Hao, use all the best healing potions! Wang Meng, stay on guard!" Li Mo commanded rapidly, while his hands worked non-stop on the console, activating all the cargo ship's remaining stealth Systems, attempting to minimize their presence.

Lin Zhou was carefully laid down on the narrow medical table inside the cabin.

Qin Qing immediately stepped forward, the Judgment Angel's power of Order transforming into a soft white-gold light that enveloped the wound on Lin Zhou's back.

The blood-colored energy struggled violently as if encountering a natural enemy, but under Qin Qing's all-out suppression, its spread was temporarily contained.

Zhao Hao took out all the Advanced healing potions and Soul repair essences the team had in reserve, using them all on Lin Zhou to temporarily stabilize his plummeting vital signs.

However, this was merely drinking poison to quench thirst.

The level of the destructive energy left by the Beast God was too high; Qin Qing's power of Order could only temporarily seal it, not eradicate it.

Lin Zhou's own recovery ability had become extremely slow due to the depletion of Divine Power and damage to his temple.

What was even more fatal was that the cargo ship was in extremely poor condition, with less than 20% energy reserves and partially failed stealth Systems, making it impossible to support a long-distance, high-speed escape.

"This won't work!" Li Mo looked at the energy readings on the screen and the several powerful energy fluctuations faintly captured by the long-range sensors, which were rapidly scanning this Star Domain (evidently pursuit troops or scouts sent by the Beast God), his face grim. "Our location may have already been exposed! The cargo ship won't last until the next jump point!"

"Damn it, let's fight those green-skins!" Wang Meng growled, his eyes red.

"Fight them with what? In our current state..." Zhao Hao smiled bitterly.

Lin Zhou lay on the medical table, his consciousness drifting in intense pain and weakness, but his mind was spinning rapidly.

Cannot die here... The intelligence must be sent back... Teammates cannot be sacrificed because of him... What other options are there? Divine Kingdom? Too far, and the connection is weak.

Temple of Civilization? The Fire of Civilization might be able to counter the energy in the wound, but it requires time and Divine Power, and they don't have time...

Wait... Cave Heaven... Ruins...

A flash of inspiration streaked through his chaotic consciousness like lightning!

When exploring the ancient Huaxia civilization Cave Heaven, besides treasures like the [seed of civilization] and [Xirang], he had also obtained three relics, one of which had never been used because he did not know its specific utility, and its energy properties felt special...

[Taoist Talisman · Void-Breaking Talisman (Disposable)]!

The Talisman recorded in that Jade Slip! Its description was: "Absorb the Qi of the Void Realm, merge with the principles of Yin and Yang, can carve out a path of life in a desperate situation, forcibly break through spatial barriers, teleport in a specified direction, with distance depending on the caster's cultivation and the Talisman's grade."

At that time, his cultivation was still shallow, he felt unable to control it, and there was only one, so he had kept it treasured.

Now, he was at a high-level Lesser Divinity (though injured), and in such a desperate situation... perhaps, he could try! This was a typical Taoist method of "escaping"!

"Li Mo..." Lin Zhou spoke with difficulty, his voice hoarse, "My... storage card... inside... there is a jade Talisman... pale cyan... with Yin and Yang fish and cloud patterns on it... take it out..."

Li Mo was stunned, then immediately complied. Soon, he found that pale cyan jade Talisman from Lin Zhou's storage card, which felt warm to the touch and radiated a mysterious, ethereal aura.

The jade Talisman was not large, only a palm long and two fingers wide, made of a material that was neither gold nor jade, and engraved with rotating Yin and Yang fish and flowing cloud patterns in an extremely ancient and profound brushwork, faintly resonating subtly with the surrounding space.

"This is..." Li Mo felt the power contained within the jade Talisman, which was completely different from any Divine Power or magical energy he knew, and was closer to "Nature" and the "Origin of Rules."

"Taoist... Void-Breaking Talisman..." Lin Zhou gathered his last bit of clear Divine Thought and transmitted the method of using the Talisman and his intention to everyone, "With all your might... help me... activate it... target... lock on... frontline base... nearest... space beacon..."

There was no time to explain more, nor time to hesitate. Although they didn't understand, they had absolute trust in Lin Zhou.

Qin Qing immediately strengthened the output of her power of Order to temporarily stabilize Lin Zhou's condition. Zhao Hao and Wang Meng placed their hands on Lin Zhou, channeling their remaining meager Divine Power to him without reservation.

Li Mo directed all the cargo ship's remaining energy, except for what was needed to maintain basic life support and sensors, to the medical table, forming a temporary, high-concentration energy environment to assist Lin Zhou in casting the spell.

Lin Zhou held the [Void-Breaking Talisman] in his hand, his Divine Thought sinking into it, communicating with those mysterious Yin and Yang cloud patterns.

He did not understand the specific cultivation methods of the Taoist school, but the Legacy of the Temple of Civilization gave him an instinctive affinity and understanding of concepts like "Tao Follows Nature," "Yin and Yang Circulation," and "One Qi of the Void Realm."

At this moment, he no longer tried to drive it forcibly with Divine Power, but attempted to use his Divine Thought to trigger the Innate "Void-Breaking" Dao charm contained within the jade Talisman.

"The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao... The name that can be named is not the eternal name... Non-existence is the beginning of heaven and earth; Existence is the mother of all things..." Passages from the tao te ching flowed in his heart, not recited intentionally, but rather, his understanding of the core Taoist philosophy resonated with the jade Talisman.

In an instant, the Yin and Yang fish on the jade Talisman seemed to come alive, starting to rotate slowly, and the surrounding cloud patterns also began to flow, emitting a clear, hazy radiance.

An indescribable "Qi," which seemed to encompass all things and yet transcend them, permeated from the jade Talisman, enveloping the entire medical table and then wrapping around the entire cargo ship.

This "Qi" was not Divine Power, nor magical elements, but rather more like the manifestation of the most primitive spatial fluctuations and rhythmic rules!

It was soft yet incredibly tough, naturally repelling the surrounding unstable energy (including some of the destructive energy in Lin Zhou's wound), and creating a temporary, relatively calm "Void Realm bubble" around the cargo ship.

"Now!" Lin Zhou endured the Soul-tearing pain, injecting the Divine Power sent by Zhao Hao, Wang Meng, and Li Mo, along with the last bit of strength he squeezed out, and a faint but pure trace of the Origin of the Fire of Civilization from the Temple of Civilization (used for stabilization and guidance), all into the jade Talisman, and based on the coordinate frequency of a hidden space beacon on the periphery of the frontline base obtained from the military earlier, he constructed a clear image of "direction" and "destination" in his mind!

"Break!" Lin Zhou let out a low shout, not a roar, but as if it were an imperial decree conforming to some principle of heaven and earth.

"Crack—" A crisp sound, like glass shattering or spring wind melting ice, rang out deep in everyone's Soul.

The clear light on the jade Talisman shone brightly, the Yin and Yang fish rotated to the extreme, turning into two streams of black and white Qi, connecting head to tail, and expanded outwards violently!

The Void Realm in front of the cargo ship was not violently torn, but rippled naturally like water waves; in the center of the ripples, light distorted, the spatial structure seemed to be smoothed and straightened by an invisible force, and then spontaneously opened a stable, soft, and faintly glowing channel!

The inside of the channel was incredibly calm, completely devoid of the tearing and chaos of ordinary space jumps, as if it were a naturally existing "shortcut"!

The Taoist Talisman, breaking the void, was not "breaking," but "complying with" and "guiding" the rhythm of space itself, creating a temporary thoroughfare! Its ingenuity and peace were completely different from the Beast God's brutal way of tearing space!

"Quick! Enter the channel!" Li Mo was the first to react, maneuvering the broken cargo ship, and without hesitation, drove into that clear light channel.

The channel closed rapidly behind them, sealing off the cold and crisis of the Red Rock Galaxy.

However, at the very last moment just before the channel was about to disappear completely, a sudden change occurred!

A Beast God's giant claw, wreathed in thick blood light, immensely huge, with nails as sharp as mountain peaks, actually forced its way in from the edge of the spatial ripples that were about to heal!

Clearly, that LV480 Beast God had not given up, had been tracking the spatial fluctuations, and at the last moment, had discovered this closing channel, attempting to tear it open or drag them back!

The terrifying power and destructive will contained in the giant claw instantly caused the channel, which had just regained a bit of calm, to shake violently, and the clear light became flickering and unstable!

The cargo ship was like a small boat in a storm, on the verge of being grabbed by that giant claw or torn apart by the spatial turbulence generated by the channel's collapse!

Just at this critical moment, deep within Lin Zhou's divinity, that point of the Fire of Civilization that had always been burning seemed to be angered by this invasion of pure evil and destruction, autonomously splitting off a wisp, and along the connection between Lin Zhou and the jade Talisman, quietly merged into the clear light of the channel!

The pale gold Fire of Civilization blended with the clear, hazy light of the channel, not increasing its power, but endowing it with an inviolable resilience of Order and civilization Legacy!

When that blood-colored giant claw touched this clear light mixed with the Fire of Civilization, it was as if it had touched a red-hot iron, or as if it were grabbing at a torrent of information that could not be destroyed and contained infinite history and wisdom!

"Sss—!!!" A painful roar, filled with shock and rage, came faintly from outside the channel!

The thick blood light and destructive energy on the giant claw, the moment they came into contact with the Fire of Civilization, actually evaporated and purified violently, as if meeting their nemesis!

The rule structure constituting the giant claw seemed to be subjected to some kind of "negation" and "repulsion," becoming unstable!

The Beast God clearly had not expected that this seemingly soft channel actually contained such strange and high-level counter-attacking power, and in pain, the giant claw retracted violently!

The moment it retracted, the last ripple of the channel completely calmed down and disappeared without a trace.

In the Void Realm on the periphery of the Red Rock Galaxy, only the Beast God's angry and confused roar remained, and on the tip of his claw, a trace of an indelible, pale gold flame scorch mark was slowly and firmly eroding his rules, which were filled with destruction and blood.

...

A soft yet irresistible pushing force came, and the broken cargo ship was spat out, falling out of a piece of distorted light and shadow, appearing in a relatively familiar Star Domain—the periphery of the Vigilance range of the Human Race's 7th Legion frontline base!

Not far away, a small artificial satellite serving as a navigation beacon was flashing a safe green light.

They had returned.

The inside of the cargo ship was a mess, energy was completely exhausted, and the System was paralyzed on a large scale.

On the medical table, the moment the channel closed and the crisis was resolved, Lin Zhou's mind relaxed, he completely lost consciousness, and the [Void-Breaking Talisman] he held tightly in his hand turned into a wisp of blue smoke and dissipated.

Although the wound on his back was still hideous, the destructive blood light attached to it seemed to have been partially burned away by the Fire of Civilization and purified by the clear light of the channel, no longer as active.

Zhao Hao, Wang Meng, Qin Qing, and Li Mo were also almost exhausted, all injured, with their Divine Power completely drained, but their eyes were filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.

Qin Qing forced herself to hold on and activated the last emergency distress signal on the cargo ship.

Soon, two rapid-response frigates painted with the 7th Legion insignia broke through the void and arrived, and after confirming their identities, they quickly took the dilapidated cargo ship and the five seriously injured people inside away, speeding towards the frontline base.

In a desperate situation, relying on the Taoist relic and the Fire of Civilization, they narrowly escaped from under the Beast God's claws; although everyone was seriously injured, they ultimately brought the crucial intelligence back to the Human Race territory.