78: Chapter 78 The Sky

Qin Youyou sat by the window, focused on sharpening the tip of her ancient war spear with a whetstone; the blade's edge gleamed with a cold luster in the daylight filtering through the porthole.

Shen Ye leaned back in his seat, his consciousness sinking into the Land of Gods and Demons.

Under the joint efforts of Chen and Ye, the base of the Twilight Altar was slowly taking shape, and dozens of Twilight Apostles had already been born; they stood silently in formation on both sides of the Twilight Spirit Spring, their left eyes golden and right eyes purple, their forms flowing endlessly between light and darkness.

Tie Chui carefully separated a wisp of flame from the Heart of Twilight and integrated it into the refining furnace for the next batch of spiral purification pills.

Yan Shan's right arm, which had been feared by all his opponents, was currently soaking in a medicinal liquid mixed with the Twilight Altar's light beam and the spiritual energy of the mineral veins introduced by Hou Tu; new Rock Pattern marks were slowly extending along the old scars, each texture denser and tougher than before—this was the result of being repeatedly crushed and regenerated after enduring Han Yuan's Abyssal Assimilation, Yun Qianqian's Sea of Laws, Cang Ming's ancient god king echo, and Bai Ye's Time Stop law during the National Competition.

Hou Tu knelt deep within the Body Refining Cave, his palms pressed against the stone floor to sense the flow of underground spiritual energy, transmitting the rhythm of the vibrations to his father to assist him in re-refining the Rock Pattern.

"We have arrived at Cangyin City."

Qin Shu's voice came from the cockpit.

Shen Ye opened his eyes.

Outside the porthole, a giant silver-white tower stood in the center of Cangyin City, its body wreathed in extremely fine silver-white lightning, which was of the same origin as the lightning radiance on Gu Changfeng's wind-thunder twin spears—that was the symbol of the Founding Tower of Cangqiong University.

The airship landed slowly at the military port, and Ye Qiu was already waiting by the gangway.

"The EC-204 file is in the high-risk seal zone and requires internal researcher authorization from Cangqiong University."

Ye Qiu led the four of them through the military port as he spoke, "I am a core student of the Sword Cultivator Divine Kingdom and have permission to enter the outer perimeter of the seal zone, but the core seal requires the resonance of a sword spirit to open."

"Your sword spirit is still guarding the Twilight Palace in the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist," Shen Ye said.

"Correct. But there is a sword embryo fragment in the seal zone, which is one of the most core collections in the high-risk seal zone. The file records that it came from an ancient ruin and is of the same origin as my sword spirit. It might be able to replace the sword spirit to complete the resonance."

Ye Qiu stopped in front of the thick door of the seal zone, verified his authorization, and reached out to press the identification array on the side of the door.

Silver-white lightning struck down along the door frame, and the heavy seal door slowly slid open.

The interior of the seal zone was filled with a faint silver-white lightning mist.

The four walls were carved with seal laws, and every line was a safety restriction left by senior researchers of Cangqiong University.

On the central display stand, an ancient sword embryo fragment was sealed within a transparent crystal cover reinforced by laws.

The fragment was only the size of a palm, its surface covered with hammer marks from forging; the edge had long since dulled, but the Twilight Sword Qi remaining deep within the sword body was still flickering faintly—it was exactly the same as the sword spirit in Ye Qiu's sword box.

Jin Lin's thoughts suddenly entered Shen Ye's sea of consciousness through their mental link, carrying a trace of extremely rare unease.

Shen Ye did not ask further and summoned Jin Lin to his side.

Jin Lin placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, the little golden dragon on his shoulder moving slowly, his gaze falling on the sword embryo fragment.

"The sword intent on this fragment is of the same origin as what I felt when refining Twilight Sword Qi before the sword stele—it's not just similar; it was left by the same person."

He turned to Ye Qiu, "Your sword spirit was also born from this kind of sword embryo. When it left the Twilight Civilization back then, it was still an unformed sword embryo. The one in your sword box and this one before us are from the same furnace."

Ye Qiu's sword box emitted a long, resonant sword hum—the sword spirit far away in the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist crossed the vast distance and responded with a sword hum.

Jin Lin placed his hand above the sword embryo fragment without touching it, only slowly injecting the Twilight Sword Qi with extremely light force into the depths of the hammer marks on the fragment's surface.

The sword embryo fragment suddenly lit up—it was not being activated, but rather recognized the power in Jin Lin's Twilight Sword Qi that it was most familiar with, a resonance that could penetrate the seal of laws even after thousands of years.

Like an old soldier who had finally waited for an old friend, it responded to the heavy seal laws of the seal zone.

The seal door opened completely.

The core content of the EC-204 file was a twilight crystal of the same origin as the one from Wanxiang University, which was now floating quietly deep within the sealed display stand.

Jin Lin gently took it out, placed it in Shen Ye's palm, and then withdrew his sword intent and stood back by his side; the little golden dragon on his shoulder slowly coiled back into the hollow of his neck and closed its eyes.

Shen Ye walked out of the seal zone and activated the second twilight crystal at the top of the silver-white tower of Cangqiong University.

A beam of twilight light, brighter than the previous one, shot up from the top of the tower, echoing from afar with the two already activated Founding Towers.

The light beams of the four towers intertwined in the sky, enveloping the entire Cangyin City in a flowing halo of twilight.

Jin Lin stood at the edge of the light beam on top of the tower, and for the first time, the little dragon on his shoulder did not coil around his neck to sleep—it opened its eyes, quietly gazing at the twilight beam swirling and rotating within the silver-white lightning of the tower, its pupils reflecting the flowing light of the twilight and silver-white intertwined.

After coming down from the top of the tower, Qin Sese leaned against a stone pillar stained pale gold by the afterglow of the twilight beam, her spear tip tapping lightly on the floor.

"How is Yan Shan's Rock Pattern recovering?"

"Deep in the Body Refining Cave, there is an ancient law residue brought back from the palace in the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist. Hou Tu transmitted the vibration frequency of that location to him, and he is slowly refining it with his new Rock Pattern," Shen Ye said, taking the savage wine flask from the side pocket of his backpack.

Qin Youyou took it, drank it all in one gulp, and then placed her own wine flask in Shen Ye's palm.

"This flask of wine is still for Yan Shan. Next time you see him, tell him he worked hard for me."

She paused, "When you fought Cang Ming, I was sitting in the stands, and the ancient war spear sensed the vibration at the exact moment Yan Shan's Rock Pattern shattered. That crack was not fatal, but it was extremely deep. He has managed to hold on until now not just by brute force."

Shen Ye took the wine flask.

Qin Youyou lifted the war spear from her arm, saying that she had submitted a formal application to the Independent Pioneer Sequence, and the first thing she would do after joining the sequence was to go to the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist.

"When my father was young, he missed a comrade he could fight alongside because of hesitation, and he never saw them again. I am making up that application for him—I will repay what needs to be repaid with my own hands."

Her tone was calm, but every word was as heavy as the war spear striking the ground.

Shen Ye put her wine flask into his backpack, placing it side by side with Qin Sese's flask.

Before the airship took off again, Gu Qinghan's encrypted message lit up—the route map had been updated.

The approval process for file BD-103 in the ancient artifact repository of the golden tower at Shenyu University had been pushed forward by the Bai family. Bai Ye asked her to convey that he would not enter the ruins himself, but would wait for Shen Ye in Jin Ta City.

Shen Ye forwarded the message to Qin Shu and leaned against the porthole.

Jin Lin sat beside him, the little dragon on his shoulder coiled in the hollow of his neck, fast asleep.

The flame of the Heart of Twilight was burning quietly deep in the Land of Gods and Demons, and the night was slowly rising from the vast wilderness outside Cangyin City.

Next stop, Jin Ta City.

Only the last crystal fragment is missing.