90: Chapter 90 The Truth Is a Bit Hot to Handle
Shen Xiao's gaze flickered slightly in the dim light, like a lone wolf stalking its prey in the depths.
The icy blue glow of the ice fragment reflected in the depths of his pupils, wrapping that hint of scrutiny and calculation into a pool of still, dead water.
The icy blue and dark gold threads of light on the Light Cocoon twisted and writhed, like two pythons that loathed each other yet were forced to coil and mate.
He calmly scrutinized the twisted "cocoon," his gaze lingering for a moment on the curled-up outline of the Consciousness Entity. That "humanoid" posture was less like a prisoner and more like a butterfly pinned to a specimen board by countless threads of rules.
It was just a pity that a butterfly would not emit such a sinister, decaying laughter.
Xia Lengbai's figure had already drifted past his side, the icy blue light shield circulating around her body, its pulsation frequency gradually synchronizing with the Light Cocoon, like a drop of water attempting to merge into another.
The scorching heat in the depths of her eyes seemed almost ready to burn through her cold pupils. Shen Xiao could see clearly that this was not a thirst for the truth, but an addiction to the "answer" itself.
The Gravekeeper's fate was like a hook driven into her bone marrow, pulling her toward that Light Cocoon.
Shen Xiao did not speak to stop her; he even quickly deduced the worst-case scenario in his heart: Xia Lengbai being backlashed by the torrent of memories and suffering a mental collapse; the Consciousness Entity taking the opportunity to perform Possession or be Reborn through her shell; or perhaps this so-called "transaction" was simply a trap, waiting for two "variables" who had walked right into the net to offer more fuel.
His throat rolled slightly, and a fishy, sweet warmth surged up his windpipe, which he forcibly swallowed back down.
The injuries to his internal organs had not yet healed, and after being stirred by the information pollution of this Chaos space, his internal organs now felt as if they had been polished with sandpaper; a dull, dense pain was everywhere.
He quietly reduced the injection of spiritual power into the ice fragment in his palm.
The icy blue light dimmed accordingly, no longer straining to expand as before, but shrinking back into a smaller range, like a weary bird tucking in its wings.
Disguise.
He needed to make that Consciousness Entity believe that he was merely a "fire-stealer" clinging to broken fragments and struggling to survive—nothing more.
Deep within his Dantian, the System Silver Pattern flowed in secret, quietly wrapping up the sliver of "resonance" frequency he had just analyzed and mixing it into the fluctuations of his breath, which were chaotic due to his severe injuries.
It was an extremely subtle simulation, like learning a few local dialects in a noisy market; it might not necessarily fool the locals, but it could at least lower their vigilance a bit.
The probe had already been cast.
That wisp of dark gold mental tentacle from the Consciousness Entity pointing at him indeed paused slightly.
That "pause" lasted only for an instant, but Shen Xiao captured it. It was "identifying," attempting to distinguish from his chaotic aura which parts were disguises and which were the true characteristics of a holder of "protocol fragments."
Intermittent mental fluctuations came again, still sinister, yet seeming to carry a hint more… deliberation than before.
"Bai Lian… is in… the Kunlun Ruins…"
"The Gravekeeper clan… the final… 'Seal Key'…"
The voice sounded as if it were being squeezed out from a crack in the ground, every word carrying the weariness and gloom of having been imprisoned for countless years.
"Just like you… also… a 'variable'… that has been marked…"
Shen Xiao's eyes did not fluctuate in the slightest, but his mind raced.
The Kunlun Ruins. It was the Kunlun Ruins again.
In the original work, that was the key node where the Child of Destiny, Lin Yun, obtained the Heavenly Dao Legacy, and also the place where the Gravekeeper Bai Lian sacrificed herself to open the Legacy for Lin Yun.
This Consciousness Entity wanted him to take the "coordinates" to Bai Lian… did it want Bai Lian to also enter this Gate of Protocol? Or was there another scheme?
And also, "marked variable."
This title sent a faint chill rising in the depths of Shen Xiao's heart.
A variable meant a "chess piece" on the heavenly dao chessboard, an existence that was selected and destined to be pushed and consumed.
And "marked" added another layer of meaning—it meant this variable had already attracted some kind of "attention," perhaps from the Heavenly Dao, or perhaps from… a higher-ranking protocol executor.
He suppressed these churning thoughts, maintaining the appearance of someone severely injured and on the verge of death, struggling to hold on. He spoke hoarsely, his voice twisted into fragments by the viscous mire of information:
"The transaction… begin first…"
These words were spoken to the Consciousness Entity, but they felt more like a compromise after hesitation.
The Light Cocoon of the Consciousness Entity fluctuated slightly, and the dark gold threads of light seemed to become a bit more active, as if they had caught the scent of the prey yielding.
"Gravekeeper… unlock… the third layer of the Seal…"
Its urging sounded almost simultaneously. It tried to disguise that urgency with weakness, but it still leaked out a little.
Shen Xiao did not speak again, merely lowering his eyelids slightly, as if he had already handed over the power of choice.
However, his peripheral vision was locked tightly onto Xia Lengbai.
And Xia Lengbai was clearly unable to hear any dissuasion anymore.
She drifted a step closer, her posture eerily light, like a puppet pulled by invisible threads, or like a moth drawn to a flame that had finally found the edge of the fire.
The pulsation frequency of the icy blue light shield and the Light Cocoon completely synchronized at this moment, like two hearts finding a common beat.
"I need to see the memories."
Her voice was cold and clear, like an underground river flowing beneath an ice sheet—calm on the surface, but with uncontrollable undercurrents surging beneath.
"The birth of the First Child… that is the source of the break in the Tomb Guardian Seal Legacy."
She gave no one any room to refute.
Her fingers were already raised, icy blue light lingering at her fingertips, as she precisely and firmly tapped the leaping Tomb Guardian Seal between her brows.
Shen Xiao's eyes sank to the bottom in that instant.
He did not speak.
It was not that he did not want to stop her, but that he knew he could not.
The Gravekeeper's Bloodline had been thoroughly activated. This was not an impulse that could be suppressed by reason, but an instinctual drive etched deep within her Soul, passed down for eternity.
At this moment, Xia Lengbai was less of a living person and more of a vessel executing a "mission."
But he did not look away.
His gaze was like a knife, scanning the surface of the Light Cocoon inch by inch, passing over those icy blue and dark gold threads of light, and scanning the curled-up, blurred humanoid outline, attempting to read more information from this twisted "cocoon."
Xia Lengbai's hands had already formed an ancient Seal.
The Seal was complex and unfamiliar, not any kind she had used before, but one that had "emerged" on its own from deep within the Tomb Guardian Seal. It was as if an instruction left deep in her Soul by some Senior over countless eons had finally been triggered.
The Tomb Guardian Seal between her brows shone brilliantly.
The icy blue radiance poured out like mercury, gushing from her forehead—no longer the slow infiltration from before, but an unreserved, almost desperate downpour!
Following the faint, tenuous connection between the two and the icy blue threads of light on the surface of the Light Cocoon that resonated with it, that radiance instantly constructed a brilliant bridge of light!
The Light Cocoon trembled violently!
The icy blue and dark gold threads of light twisted and tore frantically, emitting a sharp, grating "creak" like metal snapping.
An extremely dim barrier, composed of countless tiny runes, began to peel off and dissolve from the surface of the Light Cocoon—that was the third layer of the Seal!
Shen Xiao saw clearly that those runes were so ancient they did not seem like the writing of this world. Each one exuded an aura of decay and wear from the passage of time, yet they still stubbornly resisted Xia Lengbai's unsealing power.
But the resistance was, in the end, futile.
The radiance of the Tomb Guardian Seal was too pure, too stubborn, like a wanderer that had found its home, or an ancient will that had finally been awakened.
The rune barrier disintegrated bit by bit, turning into tiny specks of light that dissolved into the chaotic mire of information.
Just at the moment the third layer of the Seal completely dissolved,
a massive, fragmented torrent of consciousness, filled with sorrow and madness, rushed out from within the Light Cocoon!
That torrent was unreserved, without the slightest buffer. Like a burst dam, it surged, carrying countless sharp, Soul-piercing memory fragments, and slammed forcefully and precisely into the center of Xia Lengbai's brows!
The memory of the first move on the heavenly dao chessboard.
Shen Xiao's pupils contracted sharply.
He "saw" the images that flashed through those fragments: at the beginning of Chaos, a blurred figure stood upon the wreckage of countless stars, holding a chess piece in its hand, on which was carved a twisted rune he had never seen before.
The figure's face was obscured by Chaos, but the indifference and control that looked down upon all living beings came crushing down like a physical substance.
There were also silhouettes of countless races wailing, sacrificing themselves, and turning into dust under the power of the rules…
And that silent, ancient question that pierced through eons: "By what right do you decide our fate?"
These images only flashed by, most of them surging into Xia Lengbai's Sea of Consciousness.
But even just this remnant made Shen Xiao feel a cold chill shoot straight up his spine to his crown.
Xia Lengbai's body began to tremble violently.
The trembling started from her fingertips and quickly spread to her whole body. It was as if she could not withstand the impact of that torrent of memories, and her whole person was like a candle in the wind, teetering on the edge.
Her complexion turned deathly pale in an instant, her lips devoid of any color, the brilliance in her eyes rapidly dissipating, and her pupils dilating, as if her Soul were being torn, reconstructed, and torn again by those fragmented memories.
But she did not make a sound.
No cry of pain, no moan, even her breathing seemed to have stalled.
Only that trembling, which became more and more intense, more and more out of control.
Shen Xiao's fingers tightened silently in his sleeves, his knuckles turning white from the force.
His gaze was locked tightly on Xia Lengbai, then quickly scanned the Light Cocoon. The curled-up humanoid outline of the Consciousness Entity seemed… to have stretched out a little after the third layer of the Seal dissolved.
The dark gold threads of light were also much more active than before.
His throat rolled slightly, and he forcibly swallowed the words "Xia Lengbai" back down.
It was not the time.
Any interference at this moment could become the last straw that broke her.
He could only wait.
Wait for her to walk out of that torrent of memories alive, or to sink completely.
The light of the Light Cocoon flickered uncertainly, and the fluctuations of the Consciousness Entity also became intermittent, as if it were conducting some kind of "transmission" that consumed a huge amount of energy.
And Xia Lengbai's trembling finally stopped abruptly at a certain critical point.
Her body stopped swaying and became rigid, suspended beside the Light Cocoon, motionless, like an ice-sealed sculpture.
Those unfocused eyes slowly regained focus.
But the focal point was not Shen Xiao, nor the Light Cocoon, but… a certain point in the Void Realm.