497: wake

Time slowly passed in suffocating oppression.

The Chaos field was like a breathing, highly unstable heart, expanding and contracting.

The twisted light at its edges and the aura of annihilation stopped even the most fearless Undead Mage.

But they did not retreat; their greedy instincts and desire for the Souls of the living made them swarm like sharks smelling blood, layer upon layer, besieging the small ruins.

Cold sweat constantly seeped from the Undead Mage's forehead, only to be quickly frozen by the surrounding chilling air.

The light from his bone staff had dimmed to its extreme, barely maintaining the minimum level of summoning.

The Skeleton Warriors were incomplete and moved increasingly slowly. The specters' forms were so faint they almost merged with the air, and their wails carried fatigue and powerlessness.

All hope rested on the young man who lay unconscious at the center of the destructive field.

Su Han's consciousness seemed to sink into the depths of a boundless Chaos ocean.

Coldness and heat alternately scoured his Soul, as fragmented memories and indescribable energy currents intertwined and collided.

He felt as if he was sometimes thrown into an absolute zero ice hell, every inch of his Soul freezing and shattering; other times, he was cast into the core of a star, being forged in endless flames.

Pain, extreme pain.

But at the peak of this pain, something deeper was being awakened.

It wasn't memory, nor knowledge, but a kind of… instinct.

A most primitive understanding and desire for control over "existence" itself.

He "saw" the three rampant forces within his body.

The grayish-white stillness, like the end of all things, coldly devoured all vitality; the crimson-gold lava, violent and scorching, contained the dual extremes of creation and destruction; the golden-red flames, on the other hand, carried a Concept of immortal Reincarnation, stubbornly resisting death and repairing wounds.

They conflicted with each other, annihilated each other, yet strangely, they also nourished each other.

It was this extremely unstable balance that formed the terrifying Chaos field outside his body.

"Control…"

A vague thought emerged from the depths of his Soul, like the only straw a drowning person could grasp.

"Must… control…"

The instinct for survival transcended the intense pain, transcended unconsciousness.

His will began to painstakingly attempt to intervene in this war of destruction and creation unfolding within him.

This process was more difficult and painful than imagined.

His will was like a fragile spider silk; each time he tried to entangle or guide any one of the forces, he would suffer a violent backlash.

His Soul felt as if it was torn apart and reassembled repeatedly.

However, under the continuous threat of death from the outside, and with his body on the verge of complete collapse, his will was tempered to become even more resilient.

One, two, countless failed attempts…

Gradually, his perception of the three forces became clearer and clearer.

The stillness of cold, the ferocity of lava, the tenacity of flame…

He stopped trying to forcibly "command" them, but instead sought to "understand" their essence, to "comply" with their characteristics, and to find that subtle balance point where they could coexist.

This was not achieved overnight, but changes had already begun to occur.

Outside, the Undead Mage suddenly looked up, a hint of surprise flashing in his cloudy eyes.

He felt that the fluctuations of the Chaos field in the center seemed… to have a bit of regularity?

Although still destructive, the originally chaotic expansion and contraction seemed to be slightly restrained by an invisible hand, becoming… more rhythmic?

Just as doubt arose in his mind, the heavily wounded Abomination let out an extremely agitated roar.

It had lost a large number of limbs, and its Soul fire was damaged, but its greedy craving for the Souls and flesh of the living overwhelmed its fear of the field.

It noticed that the field's range seemed to have shrunk slightly, and its light had also dimmed a little!

"Grumble!!!"

It let out another attacking roar, grabbing handfuls of low-level Skeletons and zombies with its remaining arms, frantically throwing them towards the field!

It wanted to exhaust that power!

It wanted to devour that delicious Soul that had severely wounded it!

The tide of Undead was driven once more!

The low-level Undead, driven by instinct and the coercion of higher-level beings, surged forward like a tide again!

"Not good!"

The Undead Mage's heart tightened; he desperately squeezed out the last bit of his magic, commanding the tottering Skeleton defense line to try and block them.

Several fragile Skeletons were smashed to pieces by the incoming "projectiles."

A rotting zombie broke through the sparse defense line, howling as it lunged towards the edge of the field—

Just as it was about to touch the boundary of the twisted light, at the center of the field, Su Han, who had been unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes!

What kind of eyes were those!

In the depths of his left pupil, there was an ancient, unchanging grayish-white stillness, like a tomb where countless stars were buried, cold, void, chilling the Soul of anyone who looked upon it.

In his right eye, crimson-gold lava and golden-red flames simultaneously pulsed, scorching, violent, containing the infinite power to incinerate all things and achieve Nirvana.

Two completely different terrifying Concepts existed simultaneously within a single pair of eyes!

There was no confusion, no weakness, only a cold clarity as if waking abruptly after slumbering for eons, and… a fierce killing intent towards these Undead creatures that dared to disturb his "peaceful rest"! (End of Chapter)