264: Chapter 264 System, what exactly are you?

At the same moment, above the ruined Wuji City, the deathly silent, ink-black firmament was suddenly torn asunder!

Streaks of brilliant light broke through the air like meteors falling to the world, exploding into a sky full of starlight amidst the lead-gray smoke—

Forcibly lighting up this desperate firmament for a few moments.

Daoist Baimei from the Taiji Dao Palace had hair and beard as white as thousand-year-old cold snow. There was not a ripple on his snow-sculpted face, only a hint of deep concentration hidden in the depths of his eyes.

He lightly waved the whisk in his hand, and thousands of silver threads poured out like a galaxy, supporting a Taiji Diagram that flowed with swirling mist. Black and white Qi intertwined and surged, endless and cyclical, wrapping all dozens of the Sect's Core Disciples within it.

The Taiji Diagram transformed into a vast streak of light, carrying a dignified Dao charm, and forcibly charged through the bloody smoke filling the sky. It cut through the gale and sped toward the horizon—

In an instant, only a phantom remained.

Fen Jiuzhou stood amidst the raging flames, his red robes flapping loudly. Flames surged around his body like a prairie fire, forming a scorching canopy that twisted the surrounding air.

He suddenly summoned the ancient and unadorned Burning Heaven Furnace. The furnace body trembled violently, and the furnace mouth instantly spewed out ten thousand zhang of crimson flames. The fire waves rolled like a Dragon, roaring as they swept in all directions.

The flames carried the few gifted young Geniuses in the valley, and in the midst of the raging sea of fire, they forcibly carved out a scorching path—

The firelight illuminated half the sky red, and also illuminated the shocked faces of the youths.

The high monks of Little Sumeru Mountain, clad in ochre-yellow kasayas, stepped through the air. As they formed seals with their fingers, ten thousand zhang of Buddha light condensed behind them, forming a lotus-patterned skiff.

The lotus petals on the skiff bloomed, and clear radiance flowed, carrying the monks who were chanting with palms pressed together as they moved slowly forward.

The crisp sound of prayer beads rolling was stretched thin by the howling gale, mixed with the deep chanting of the monks, like a desolate requiem piercing through the smoke—

Dispelling some of the bloodiness, while adding a touch of sorrow.

The Elders of the various Dynasties dared not hesitate in the slightest, their hearts already unable to suppress the desire to flee.

The old general in golden armor of the Great Wu Dynasty stood horizontally with his halberd, veins bulging on his aged face, and his white hair disheveled by the gale, yet it could not hide the determination in his eyes.

The black iron halberd in his hand swept out violently, and the brilliant halberd radiance cut across the sky like a ribbon of silk, fiercely tearing through the remaining witch-art black mist in the sky. The shrill shrieks in the black mist came to an abrupt end, dissipating into wisps of black smoke.

At the same time, the Imperial Qi condensed around him erupted, transforming into a golden Dragon shadow with bared fangs and brandished claws. The Dragon roar shook the firmament and made the world tremble, wrapping up the several bloodless, trembling princes, breaking through the Void Realm, and fleeing into the distance—

Not even wanting to leave a single afterimage behind.

They had long been lurking and waiting behind the broken walls of the city. Now, seeing that the killing sounds on the front line had eased slightly, they did not hesitate to use their trump card escape techniques, wishing they could grow wings and do their best to escape this human purgatory—

This desperate situation where blood flowed like a river.

The brilliance of various Martial Skills tore through the heavy twilight. Red clouds, golden light, Buddha light, and Dao charm intertwined and collided, dyeing half the sky colorful, yet making the Wuji City below appear even more deathly silent and desolate.

Those escape lights, carrying the future and hope of their respective Sects and Dynasties, left this Shura field like arrows leaving the bow without looking back—

As if there were ferocious beasts behind them, and if they stayed for even a moment longer, they would be doomed forever.

No one looked back.

The broken walls and ruins of Wuji City shrank rapidly behind them. Broken banners soaked in thick pools of blood had long lost their former majesty; shattered weapons were scattered everywhere, the blood on the blades congealed, reflecting the faint light of the sky; and there were the corpses that had not yet cooled, lying horizontally and vertically in the smoke—

Silently telling of the tragic nature of this crushing defeat, telling of the annihilation of countless lives.

The sounds of killing, explosions, and screams were thrown far behind by the howling gale, dissipating at the end of the horizon.

Only the trembling fingertips of the youths in their arms, or the lingering panic and fear in their eyes, silently engraved the hellish horror they had just personally experienced—

That bone-deep chill could not be dispelled even by the howling gale.

Just when all the escape lights had completely disappeared at the end of the horizon, and Wuji City had once again fallen into deathly silence, only that Emerald Golden Figure remained, floating alone above the city—

Standing proudly like a solitary peak, completely out of place with this broken world.

Chu Changsheng's robes fluttered and flapped loudly. His gaze slowly swept over the devastated land beneath his feet, unresolvable waves surging in the depths of his eyes.

His gaze finally fixed on the direction of the long-destroyed teleportation array in the distance. Only broken stones and marks remained there, with only a few wisps of weak spatial fluctuations left—

A cold glint flashed in his eyes, like an ice blade unsheathed, carrying a hint of inquiry and coldness.

"System, what exactly are you?"

Chu Changsheng said in a deep voice, his voice carrying a trace of suppressed gravity. His consciousness instantly sank into his own Sea of Consciousness—

Cutting off all the clamor and sorrow from the outside world.

Deep in the Sea of Consciousness, an electronic screen glowing with a cold, emerald-gold luster floated quietly. The edges of the screen flowed with lustrous halos, completely out of place with the ancient Dao charm swirling around it, revealing a cold, mechanical texture that did not belong to this world—

Like a star that had abruptly intruded into the Chaos, carrying unknown secrets.

There were no complex patterns on the screen, only lines of silver text as fine as ants, frantically refreshing, jumping, and flashing at a speed invisible to the naked eye. The characters intertwined and collided, as if deducing some shocking secret—

Or perhaps operating the most secret rules of heaven and earth.

"System?"

Chu Changsheng emphasized his tone, his fingertips condensing a wisp of light from the World Dao Seed. That light contained the life-giving power of creation, circulating with the vast Aura of heaven and earth.

He carefully and slowly pointed toward the edge of the screen, his fingertips moving slightly—

Carrying a bit of probing, a bit of vigilance.

Just at the moment when that wisp of light was about to touch the screen—

Hum!

A humming sound that shook the Sea of Consciousness suddenly rang out. The entire screen trembled violently, transforming into a surging torrent of emerald-golden energy. The light rapidly gathered and condensed like a tide, and amidst the flowing brilliance—

It slowly outlined the silhouette of a slender and upright figure, its Aura concentrated and steady, like a deep pool or a towering mountain.

This was not a flesh-and-blood body, but an existence composed of countless flowing data runes, crisscrossing emerald-gold light lines, and a certain calm and vast Dao charm.

The runes flickered, as if telling the secret language of heaven and earth; the light lines flowed endlessly, like a galaxy flowing within; the Dao charm lingered, carrying the vastness and majesty of the same origin as heaven and earth—

Making people involuntarily feel awe.

It stood quietly in that void of consciousness, its face always blurry, as if shrouded in a layer of hazy mist, making it impossible to see the contours of its brows and eyes.

Only at the position of its eyes could two silver vortexes be faintly seen slowly rotating. Deep within the vortexes, it seemed as if stars were being born and dying, the sun and moon were rotating, and even invisible rule threads were intertwined and woven within—

Containing unfathomable power.

"Host, you do not need to know who I am."

The Emerald Golden Figure's voice, calm to the point of indifference, exploded in the core of Chu Changsheng's consciousness without warning. It had no trace of fireworks, yet it carried a pressure that pierced the Soul.

This voice was not transmitted through hearing, but more like a declaration of rules overriding the five senses, carrying unquestionable majesty—

Shaking Chu Changsheng's consciousness slightly.

"You only need to know that I will not harm you."

Chu Changsheng's consciousness suddenly condensed, the Dao charm around his body suddenly retracted, forming an invisible barrier. Looking at the figure composed of emerald-gold light streams and runes, his brows involuntarily furrowed tightly—

Vigilance and doubt surging in the depths of his eyes.

The Aura of this existence was both familiar and strange—familiar was the vast Dao charm that originated from the same source as heaven and earth, as if innate, making him feel an inexplicable closeness, like meeting an old home; strange was the endlessly flowing data runes, carrying a cold, non-living sense of order, without a trace of temperature—

Making him feel cold all over, as if facing an abyss.

"Not harm me?"

Chu Changsheng sneered, the light of the World Dao Seed at his fingertips becoming even more brilliant. As the power of creation circulated, it made his conscious figure even clearer:

"Then why have you been hiding in the depths of my Sea of Consciousness, never appearing easily? Why do you call yourself by such a strange name as 'System'?"

"And why... would you give me such a Heaven-Defying treasure as the World Tree Dao Seed for no reason?"

His voice rose sharply, carrying a trace of long-suppressed anger. His consciousness fluctuated more and more violently, and the surrounding Sea of Consciousness void rippled with layers of waves:

"Could it be that all of this is just your layout, and I... am just a chess piece in your hands that can be manipulated?"

"A tool used to pry open heaven and earth and complete your conspiracy?"

The Emerald Golden Figure did not answer immediately. The emerald-gold light streams around its body fluctuated gently, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, causing layers of ripples, and also as if it were sorting through countless complex fragments of information—

The silence was suffocating.

For a long time, when Chu Changsheng's patience was about to run out and the power of creation at his fingertips was ready to be unleashed, the Emerald Golden Figure's calm, emotionless voice slowly sounded again, still without a trace of emotion, but with a calmness that saw through everything:

"Host, my existence is only to conceal the heavenly secrets on you."

"You are too weak right now."

The last two sentences were understated, yet they hit Chu Changsheng's consciousness core like a heavy hammer, carrying a certainty that could not be refuted, and also hiding some unspeakable secrets—

Making his heart sink suddenly. The anger subsided slightly, replaced by deeper doubt and inquiry.