132: Chapter 132 Interfaces and Costs

Xia Lengbai did not answer; she merely bit her lower lip, her knuckles turning white from the force.

The light on that fragment of ice-blue crystal continued to dim, as the absurd drama of a trap being "reverse-harvested" by its own designer continued to play out.

Shen Xiao was in no rush to collect the crystal; instead, he pulled Xia Lengbai, bypassed the stone platform, and walked deeper into the Ice Cave.

Since the owner of the trap had left a passage further "inside," it meant that the truly "good stuff" was never out in the open.

The end of the Ice Cave was, as expected, not a dead end.

A narrow crack was hidden behind several collapsed pieces of black ice, wide enough for only one person to pass through sideways.

The inner walls of the crack remained smooth, but the temperature was soaring—not with warmth, but with a dry, oppressive heat, as if something were burning in the depths, yet stingily unwilling to cast a single ray of light.

The two entered one after another.

The crack extended downwards for about twenty zhang before suddenly opening up.

The scene before him made Shen Xiao pause.

It was an even larger underground space; the dome was so high that its edges could not be seen, and the four walls were no longer black ice, but a kind of deep, black rock, its surface polished like a mirror, clearly reflecting the two of them.

But what truly made one unable to look away was the stone wall directly opposite.

The stone wall was a hundred zhang high and dozens of zhang wide, impossibly smooth, as if measured by a god with a ruler and cut by a blade.

On the stone wall, countless golden runes were slowly flowing, like liquid gold wandering wantonly across the wall, converging, dispersing, and converging again, eventually forming a huge, constantly rotating vortex pattern in the center of the stone wall.

The vortex was not a physical entity, yet it gave people a substantial sense of oppression.

Between the flowing runes, a faint humming sound emerged, like millions of bees whispering, or perhaps like some ancient language murmuring.

Each rune was extremely tiny, with strokes almost impossible to distinguish with the naked eye, but when one's gaze touched them, one could clearly "perceive" the unspeakable pressure contained within.

Merely by gazing at it, Shen Xiao felt a wave of dizziness.

His Divine Soul felt as if it were being gently plucked by an invisible hand, swaying unsteadily.

Deep in his heart, a kind of instinctive fear, stemming from the most primitive biological roots, began to spread. It was a sense of insignificance when facing a "higher existence," like an ant looking up at a human, or a Mortal staring directly at a god.

"Kneel..."

A voice rang out in his mind; it was not a real voice, but rather more like some "rule" branded deep within his Soul being activated.

Shen Xiao gritted his teeth, forcing that impulse down.

But Xia Lengbai, beside him, was not so lucky.

"Ugh!"

With a muffled groan, Xia Lengbai dropped to one knee, the veins on her forehead bulging, and her face instantly turning deathly pale.

Her hands pressed hard against the ground, her fingertips deeply embedded into the rock, her knuckles turning an unnatural blue-purple.

Her ice-blue pupils contracted violently, with golden light and blue radiance crazily intertwining within them, as if two forces were engaged in the most primitive struggle within her body.

The Tomb Guardian Seal had gone mad.

That ancient mark embedded in the center of her brow was now beating crazily at an unprecedented frequency, the ice-blue light it emitted flickering on and off, like a heart pulsating violently.

Every flicker was accompanied by the violent trembling of Xia Lengbai's body. Within that light, there was both an extreme longing to approach the golden vortex, as if that were the source of all its power, the "final destination" it had finally found after ten thousand years of loneliness;

And also a bone-deep fear, as if traumatic memories branded deep within her Soul were being forcibly awakened, instinctively wanting to escape, wanting to stay away from this power.

Longing and fear tore at each other within her, becoming a tangled mess.

"Xia Lengbai!" Shen Xiao shouted in a low voice, reaching out to pull her.

However, the moment his fingertips touched her shoulder...

The golden runes on the stone wall suddenly accelerated their flow!

The vortex suddenly expanded by a circle, and the golden light shone brilliantly, illuminating the entire underground space.

Countless runes seemed to sense something, "peeling" off the wall and turning into tiny ribbons of light, dancing crazily in the air.

Then, Shen Xiao felt it.

It was a feeling that could not be described in words.

It was like being "watched" from some higher dimension by an invisible, cold, and unimaginably huge eye.

It was not a threat, not murderous intent, not even hostility.

It was simply, purely, "seeing."

Just like a human looking down to see an ant at their feet—not angry, not afraid, just glancing at it indifferently, then continuing on their own way.

But it was precisely this "indifference" that sent a chill rising from the depths of Shen Xiao's Soul.

Because it meant that in the eyes of the owner of this "gaze," he and Xia Lengbai did not even qualify to be considered enemies.

They were merely... "existing," that was all.

"Hum!"

A low tremor came from deep within the stone wall, and the entire underground space shook slightly.

Shen Xiao felt all the blood in his body freeze in an instant.

Not a metaphor, but a literal "freezing."

The liquid in his blood vessels became viscous, its flow speed dropping sharply, and every heartbeat felt like pushing a giant rock, emitting a dull, overwhelmed "thump-thump" sound.

His bones began to emit faint "crackling" sounds, as if some invisible force were squeezing his body from all directions, trying to press him into a sheet of paper.

The edges of his vision began to turn black, and his consciousness became blurred.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

The System interface flashed crazily in his vision, the piercing blood-red light almost burning his eyes:

[Emergency Warning! Direct observation by "Heavenly Dao Projection" detected!]

[Current lock-on intensity: Early Stage of Void Return]

[Warning: Intensity is continuously increasing!]

[Host's destiny value is being forcibly drained! Current loss rate: 1 point/breath!]

[destiny value: 94/100... 93/100... 92/100...]

[Emergency suggestion: Evacuate immediately or detonate specific energy interference!]

Evacuate?

A bitter curve tugged at the corner of Shen Xiao's mouth.

That "gaze" was like a physical chain, pinning him and Xia Lengbai firmly in place.

Every muscle, every bone, every strand of his Divine Soul was firmly bound by that power, making it incredibly difficult to even move a finger.

Let alone evacuate, he didn't even have the strength to turn around and run right now.

And the destiny value was still draining crazily.

92, 91, 90...

If this continued, it wouldn't be long before he was completely "drained," turning into an empty shell without a Soul.

"No... way..."

Beside him, Xia Lengbai's voice came intermittently, filled with suppressed pain.

She still maintained the posture of kneeling on one knee, but her body was no longer trembling—not because her condition had improved, but because the pressure of that "gaze" had left her almost without the strength to even tremble.

The light of the Tomb Guardian Seal was still flickering, but the frequency had clearly slowed down, like a battery about to run out.

"Shen... Xiao..." She turned her head with difficulty, her ice-blue pupils reflecting his figure, "You... go... I will... block it..."

Block it with what?

Shen Xiao looked at her, his eyes cold, but a fire was burning in the bottom of his heart.

He, Shen Xiao, was not a good person—not before his Transmigration, and even less so after.

He cheated, lied, stole, robbed, and intercepted; he would do anything to survive.

But there was one thing he never did.

That was, abandoning a teammate to run away.

Even if this "teammate" was initially just a "target" he had deliberately approached to plunder destiny value.

"Shut up." Shen Xiao said in a low voice, his voice raspy like sandpaper rubbing.

His brain was running crazily, and the data on the System interface kept jumping before his eyes:

destiny value: 88/100... 87/100...

The "Heavenly Dao Projection" of the Void Return stage, even if it was just a single gaze, was not something he could contend with right now.

But he still had that wisp of alien cold Qi.

That ice-blue aura from the Tomb Guardian Seal, stubbornly entrenched deep within his Meridians.

And, a small portion of the Heavenly Dao correction force that had been "neutralized," which he had just intercepted from the trap.

These two forces—one from the Tomb Guardian Seal, one from the Heavenly Dao—should have been opposing existences that were incompatible like water and fire.

But what if... he injected both of them into Xia Lengbai's body at the same time?

The Tomb Guardian Seal would go crazy and clash violently with that Heavenly Dao force.

But at the same time, the energy fluctuations generated by that clash might be able to temporarily interfere with the focus of that "Heavenly Dao gaze" behind the stone wall!

This was a gamble.

A gamble that Xia Lengbai's body could withstand the tearing of the two forces, a gamble that the energy produced by the clash was strong enough, and a gamble that he could find a chance to escape in that instant.

But Shen Xiao was never afraid of gambling.

What he feared was not having the qualifications to gamble.

And now, he still had chips.

"Xia Lengbai." He said in a low voice, his tone terrifyingly calm, "It's going to hurt a lot, hold on."

Xia Lengbai was stunned, and before she could react, Shen Xiao's hand had already fiercely grabbed her wrist.

The force was so great that it almost crushed her bones.

The next instant, two completely different forces surged crazily into her body along his palm!

The first was that wisp of alien cold Qi from the Tomb Guardian Seal.

An ice-blue, pure cold current carrying the aura of ten thousand years of loneliness surged along her Meridians, instantly creating a strong resonance with the Tomb Guardian Seal at the center of her brow.

The second was that wisp of "neutralized" Heavenly Dao correction force.

A golden, cold aura carrying the characteristics of "rules" and "order" followed closely behind, also surging into her body.

The moment the two forces met inside her body...

"Ah!"

A sharp, almost shrill scream erupted from the depths of Xia Lengbai's throat.

Her body arched violently, the veins on her forehead bulging, and blood seeped from her seven orifices simultaneously.

The Tomb Guardian Seal at the center of her brow erupted with unprecedented light, ice-blue and gold crazily intertwining, colliding, and tearing at each other, like two beasts trapped in the same body, engaged in the most primitive and tragic slaughter.

"Boom!"

A strong energy fluctuation spread out in all directions with her as the center!

The entire underground space shook violently, countless cracks appeared on the black rocks on the four walls, and rubble fell down with a rustle.

And that "Heavenly Dao gaze" coming from behind the stone wall clearly fluctuated at this instant!

It was no longer that cold, stable "gaze," but had become somewhat... chaotic.

Like a radar receiving strong electromagnetic interference, unable to accurately lock onto the target.

Now is the time!

A sharp light shot from Shen Xiao's eyes, and he did not hesitate at all.

He did not pull Xia Lengbai back, did not try to run away, but used the last ounce of strength in his entire body to scoop her up and head towards the stone wall where the golden runes were crazily flowing...

To crash into it!

Not to escape, but to break in!

"You're crazy!" Xia Lengbai let out a hoarse cry of shock amidst the intense pain.

Shen Xiao did not answer, but a curve that was almost frantic tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Perhaps.

But he knew even better that behind that vortex of runes was the "Heavenly Dao interface."

It was the "node" where the will of the Heavenly Dao projected into this world.

It was one of the control hubs of the entire "heavenly dao chessboard."

If he wanted to flip this chessboard, he had to first break into the inside of the chessboard and touch those "chess pieces" that controlled fate with his own hands.

His retreat was cut off, so he would move forward.

Even if there was an abyss ahead, he would drag the entire chessboard down with him!

"System!" Shen Xiao roared in his heart.

The System interface flashed in his vision, and a line of large, blood-red characters came into view:

[destiny value: 85/100]

[Detected that the host is about to enter the "Heavenly Dao interface" area]

[Survival probability estimate: 7%]

[Confirm entry?]

[Yes/No]

Shen Xiao did not hesitate.

"Confirm!"

The moment his fingers touched that golden vortex, the entire world seemed to stand still.

Then, endless golden light completely engulfed the two of them.

The last thing that reached Shen Xiao's ears was the cold prompt sound of the System:

[Entering Heavenly Dao interface...]

[destiny value: 84/100]

[Wish the host... good luck.]

Darkness.