86: Chapter 86 The light coming through the crack in the door was dazzling.

At the same time, Shen Xiao's ears were almost completely filled with the shockwaves of the violent collision between the icy cold and the golden energy, while his field of vision was left with nothing but the wildly raging ice dust and the flickering golden light.

He had no time to delve into what the System's intermittent prompts meant, nor did he have the leisure to ponder whether that "Same-Origin Protocol Fluctuation" was a blessing or a curse.

He only knew that above him was the enraged Lin Yun and golden light capable of blasting him into smithereens; at his side was the unfathomable and inscrutable Xia Lengbai; and beneath his feet, from within that bottomless dark rift, came a scalp-numbing suction and resonance.

A desperate situation.

A typical desperate situation belonging to a cannon fodder villain.

According to the script, he should be in despair now, should be scrambling in a panic, should be firmly locked down by Lin Yun's net of Luck, and then, just like in the original story, contribute his last bit of residual value.

But Shen Xiao was not.

The trace of poisonous cold light in his eyes burned even brighter amidst the swirling ice mist.

Damn it, time to gamble!

Rather than being caught like a turtle in a jar by that "Child of Destiny" outside, it would be better to see whether what lies behind the "door" pointed to by this ice fragment is a dragon's pool or a tiger's den!

As his thoughts raced, he didn't even look at Xia Lengbai's reaction, nor did he care about the agonizing pain churning within his body.

He flipped his palm, which was tightly clutching the ice fragment, and that remaining strand of aura—mixed with Dark Gold Spiritual Energy and the System Silver Pattern—was no longer used to maintain stealth or defense; instead, with a violence bordering on self-destruction, he ruthlessly pierced it into the core of the scorching ice fragment in his palm!

"Light up, damn it!"

This maneuver was reckless and lacked any technical skill; it was purely a desperate, brute-force activation.

Yet the effect was explosive, exceeding everyone's expectations.

"Hum!!!"

There was no sound, yet a humming vibration, more Soul-shaking than any loud noise, exploded from Shen Xiao's palm!

It was not an explosion of spiritual energy, but a roar of a more essential, more ancient "information."

Inside the ice fragment, those crazily flickering frozen starlight points were instantly ignited!

The blinding ice-blue light was no longer a cold radiance, but transformed into a tangible, surging tide of light, expanding violently in a ring with Shen Xiao at the center!

This fluctuation...

Pure!

Vast!

It carried a sense of cold and overbearing "authority" that transcended the existing rules of the world!

It was more than a hundred times stronger than the aura Xia Lengbai had previously simulated with the help of the Tomb Guardian Seal!

That was not "imitation," but "awakening," a "summons"!

Wherever the ice-blue tide of light passed, the raging ice dust instantly froze, and the violent golden energy spear shadows seemed to crash into an invisible iron wall, emitting a "hissing" sound like red-hot iron quenched in ice water, their momentum brought to a screeching halt!

Even more terrifying was that this fluctuation, like a drop of ice water thrown into boiling oil, instantly generated an extreme resonance with the heavily sealed "door" deep within the ice plains beneath his feet!

Rumble rumble rumble!!!

The entire Ice Rift Valley—no, the entire Eternal Ice Plain—began to shake violently!

It was not an earthquake, but the low groan and resistance of some sleeping, massive entity being rudely awakened when the "key" violently turned the lock core!

In the distance, that deep, sealed cave entrance, which had previously been simulated by Xia Lengbai's aura, was now undergoing a horrifying transformation.

The ten-thousand-year black ice at the edge of the cave entrance collapsed and flowed downward like melting wax—not melting, but having its form "erased" by some power.

The cave entrance expanded rapidly, from a size that could only accommodate a few people to a pitch-black giant hole with a diameter of several dozen zhang, its edges constantly twisting and rippling in the blink of an eye!

There was no wind, but a "cold air" mixed with extreme dead silence, a torrent of chaotic information, and an ancient will that made the Soul tremble, gushed out from the giant hole like a burst river of the underworld!

This "cold air" was not a physical low temperature; wherever it passed, space rippled like water, light was distorted, and even the flow of time seemed to become viscous and strange.

Even more terrifyingly, this airflow carried countless broken, shimmering "fragments"—remnants of "emotions" and "memories" that had been recorded by the protocol, sealed away, but were now being forcibly stirred up and spewed out!

Joys and sorrows, love and hatred, greed, fear, loyalty, betrayal... countless intense, primal fragments of emotion and memory, like a river of the underworld composed of billions of fireflies, surged out crazily, instantly submerging a vast area of the ice plain!

"Puff!"

Lin Yun bore the brunt of it.

The net of golden Luck light he had cast, which covered a vast area, became riddled with holes in an instant under the impact of this pure and ancient protocol fluctuation, like a spider web splashed with concentrated acid.

Those incredibly tough golden light threads, imbued with the blessing of the "Heavenly Dao," emitted mournful trembling sounds the moment they touched the gushing chaotic cold airflow, especially the ancient protocol aura mixed within it.

Some of the golden light dimmed and mottled directly, as if contaminated, taking on an ominous, grayish hue!

Lin Yun, whose mind was connected to the golden light of Luck, felt as if he had been struck hard; his handsome face instantly turned pale, a sweetness rose in his throat, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

For the first time, a look of shock and disbelief appeared in his eyes, and the golden Luck light around him fluctuated violently, appearing extremely unstable.

"What... what kind of power is this?! The Seal... how is it possible?!" He roared in a low voice, looking at the terrifying cave entrance spewing the river of memory and chaotic information, as if he were seeing the beginning of the end of the world.

Deep in the rift, beside Shen Xiao.

Xia Lengbai bore the brunt of it.

When that pure, vast fluctuation, directly originating from the core of the "protocol," swept past her, the Tomb Guardian Seal on her forehead, which had been dim, was like an ice cube thrown into boiling oil, suddenly erupting with unprecedented heat and blue light!

"Hum!"

The Tomb Guardian Seal jumped frantically, and as if beyond her control, it actively generated a powerful suction, like a hungry infant, greedily capturing and absorbing the purest strand of ancient contract aura within the fluctuation.

Deep within Xia Lengbai's pupils, ice-blue light rotated rapidly, almost solidifying.

Her gaze towards Shen Xiao instantly became incredibly deep and complex, churning with shock, realization, and a fervor bordering on greed.

She had always known of the existence of the "door" and the "key," but she had never imagined that the "key" could be activated so crudely, triggering such a massive resonance and releasing such pure power!

She clearly sensed that the "Tomb Guardian" duty and shackles within her, which had been passed down through the ages and were incredibly heavy, had loosened slightly under the scouring of this power!

The price was huge, but the opportunity... was equally tempting.

In a flash, Xia Lengbai made a decision.

Not only did she not move away from this chaotic center, but taking advantage of the moment when Shen Xiao's energy field was extremely chaotic and his defenses were at their lowest due to activating the ice fragment, her blood-stained right cuff moved imperceptibly.

A wisp of pale blue aura, thinner and more subtle than a strand of hair, carrying the core mark of her own Tomb Guardian Seal, snaked like the most agile viper, silently mixing into the Dark Gold Spiritual Energy and System Silver Pattern fluctuations overflowing from Shen Xiao's body due to his loss of control, taking root instantly and disappearing.

It was a mark, a coordinate, and even an extremely subtle, one-way "information receiver."

She wanted to see what this "variable," which was always full of surprises, and this "key," which had been shaken prematurely by accident, would lead to and where it would go.

After doing all this, Xia Lengbai's face turned even paler, but her eyes were startlingly bright.

Meanwhile, Shen Xiao was currently enduring the terrifying backlash of activating the ice fragment.

"Cough!"

He spat out a mouthful of stagnant blood, the bloody foam containing specks of intertwined Dark Gold and ice-blue light.

The ice fragment in his palm was as scorching as a branding iron, and fine cracks had even appeared on its surface, as if it would explode in the next second.

The powerful suction coming from the sealed cave entrance, targeting the ice fragment, was almost pulling his entire arm along with it!

What made him even more anxious was the change within his body.

Deep in his Dantian, the silver pattern representing the [Destiny Plunderer] System was flashing and pulsing at an unprecedented frequency, emitting a strong, almost hungry resonance.

This pulsation was not directed at him, nor at Xia Lengbai or Lin Yun, but was firmly locked onto the pitch-black giant hole below that was spewing the river of memory, locked onto the absolute dark void where the ice stele lay, faintly visible deep within the cave entrance!

The System... was it craving that "door"? Craving what was behind the door?

Shen Xiao had no time to think, because the chaotic cold airflow gushing out from the cave entrance, mixed with countless memory fragments, had already surged towards the narrow ice crevice where they were hiding like azure giant dragons that were ready to devour people, carrying whispers and screams that confused the mind!

Some of the clearer, shimmering fragments passed before Shen Xiao's eyes; he even briefly "saw" a scene of an old farmer weeping in despair on a dried-up field ridge, heard the tired yet happy sigh of a mother when her baby first cried, and felt the ecstasy and emptiness of a scholar the moment he topped the imperial examination list... countless complex emotions assaulted his mind.

Retreat? Where to retreat?

Above was Lin Yun, enraged to the point of heart-attack, who might strike again at any moment.

Below was the unknown, terrifying suction and the frantically resonating System.

In the middle was Xia Lengbai, who was watching like a tiger preying on its prey and might have just made a small move.

The suction from the ice fragment in his palm was getting stronger and stronger, and the burning sensation of the System Silver Pattern was almost about to ignite.

Shen Xiao gritted his teeth, the Dark Gold Spiritual Energy rampaging within his body, resisting the suction, while he stabilized his posture, his gaze locked firmly on the incoming river of memory cold air, and the cave entrance deeper within that seemed to connect to eternal darkness.

Just then, the moon-white figure beside him moved slightly.

Xia Lengbai moved half a step closer, almost shoulder-to-shoulder with him, her cold aura brushing against his blood-stained cheek.

Her voice sounded in his ear, still cold, but carrying a trace of an extremely subtle tremor, like an undercurrent flowing beneath the ice, and a certain unspeakable depth.

"The door..." She paused, her ice-blue eyes reflecting the surging azure cold tide and memory light ahead, and also reflecting Shen Xiao's pale, blood-stained profile and his hand, which was tightly gripping the ice fragment, veins bulging.

"Has been pried open a crack by your 'key'."

Her gaze shifted from the cave entrance, falling back onto Shen Xiao's hand tightly gripping the ice fragment, and then slowly shifted to his body, which was trembling slightly due to the System's agitation.

"Now," her voice was very low, yet every word was clear, like ice beads falling onto a plate, striking Shen Xiao's taut nerves, "it's time to think about how to pay the 'toll'."

Shen Xiao's pupils shrank sharply.

The next second, the suction from the ice fragment in his palm surged violently, the frequency of the System Silver Pattern pulsing within his body reached its peak, and the chaotic cold tide, mixed with billions of fragments of emotion, was already right before his eyes!