88: Chapter 88 Return to the Sea

A beam of twilight light shot straight into the sky from the top of the giant tower, intertwining with the light networks of the four Founding Towers to form a stable, dark golden firmament.

Shen Ye stood at the edge of the ruins outside the tower gate, casting one last look back in the direction of the altar.

Gu Yan's bone blade fragments were embedded quietly in the grooves of the twilight script, and the broken sword lay beside that tiny flame of the Heart of Twilight, its cracks filled with the flame.

He would not leave the broken sword here—Qin Shu had said that a full-power strike from when Gu Yan broke through to True God was sealed within this sword; when facing the Void Race King in the future, this sword still had one final battle to fight.

But for now, let it lie quietly beside the Heart of Twilight, like an old soldier wiping his weapon one last time before changing shifts.

Ye Qiu leaned against the inside of the tower gate with his sword case across his knees, while the sword spirit circled down from the top of the giant tower, the long, lingering hum of the sword echoing within the beam of twilight light.

He did not speak, only nodded at Shen Ye.

Shen Ye did not speak either.

Some farewells do not need to be spoken.

The flying boat ascended from the core area, returning north along the route they had taken.

Qin Shu pushed the engine to its limit, and the flying boat trailed a pale blue exhaust as it swept over the belt of ash residue.

Looking down from the porthole, those dark red Time Law burn marks were slowly fading under the continuous coverage of the Twilight Light Network, and a faint grayish-white began to emerge on the surface of the scorched earth—it was not being erased, but restored.

When the flying boat landed at the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist outpost, General Lin Yuan was standing at the entrance of the camp canteen, holding the newly updated frontline deployment map.

After the twilight beacon was activated, the Void Tribe Scout units within the area covered by the light network had all been driven away, the remnants of the Nomadic Royal Court were retreating toward the northwest, and the frontline camp had expanded southward by nearly double its size.

Second Lieutenant Meng Yan was cutting potatoes in the kitchen, his apron stained with potato peels, while a large pot of spirit beast bone soup simmered on the stove; the gurgling sound of the boiling soup mixed with the low-frequency buzzing of the military communicator.

"Gu Changfeng's old injury on his right hand has been nourished by the beam of twilight light at the camp medical station for a few days, and it has recovered quite well.

Before he left, he asked me to tell you that he left the wind-thunder twin spears at the medical station for the military doctors to test the healing effects of high-frequency law impact, and he will re-forge the spear shafts based on the test data after returning to Wanxiang University."

Qin Youyou stood at the edge of the spaceport, the ancient war spear resting in the crook of her arm.

She had been officially incorporated into General Lin Yuan's frontline Independent Pioneer Sequence, and the bone blade fragments remaining on the spear tip had not yet been cleaned off.

She untied the wild wine flask from her waist and handed it to Shen Ye.

"Leave this flask of wine for Yan Shan."

Of the two flasks of wild spirits gifted by Qin Sese, one had been finished by Qin Youyou after the National Competition, and the other was now being tucked into the side pocket of Shen Ye's backpack, placed alongside Yan Shan's spiral mineral crystal samples.

It could be considered a promise that had extended from the National Competition to the frontline, finally coming full circle in this outpost shrouded by the beam of twilight light.

Bai Ye stood by the flying boat's gangway, his hands in his pockets.

He was returning to Shenyu University; the Bai family's Time Stop domain still needed to be coordinated with the beam of twilight light for further law stability testing.

"Next time we meet, I will adjust the law parameters of the Time Stop domain to be able to coordinate with the beam of twilight light.

It won't be passive cooperation, but active coordination."

He paused, "My father's old injury is also preparing to receive stable treatment from the beam of twilight light.

The heir of the Bai family should not die from the backlash of the Time Law."

"Bai Ye."

Shen Ye called out to him.

Bai Ye stopped.

"On the day of the National Competition quarterfinals, you used Time Stop to lock my kin.

Yan Shan was still throwing punches inside the Time Stop.

At that time, I thought you were testing his limits."

Shen Ye said, "Later, when I was receiving the twilight inheritance in the underground palace, I perceived that your Time Law at that moment was not trying to suppress him, but was helping him temper his Rock Pattern—you slowed the flow of time to the limit, allowing the force of his every punch to land on the beat most suitable for the Rock Pattern's endurance.

Yan Shan told me later that throwing punches in Time Stop doesn't hurt."

Bai Ye was silent for a moment.

"My Time Stop was never meant to trap anyone.

But it took my father half a lifetime to make me understand that using it to help people is harder than using it to trap them."

He pulled his hands out of his pockets, his fingertips slightly curled, then tucked them back in.

"Next time we meet, I'll teach your kin how to coordinate with the beam of twilight light inside the Time Stop.

The Void Race won't wait for us to be ready."

The flying boat ascended again.

Shen Ye leaned against the porthole, watching the thick fog of the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist grow thinner under the dispersion of the beam of twilight light.

Bai Ye's token, Gu Changfeng's silver bracelet data, Qin Youyou's wild wine flask, Ye Qiu's sword spirit left in the giant tower—every connection that extended from the National Competition to the frontline was continuing forward on its own track.

It was already late at night when they returned to Wanxiang University, and the light beams of the four towers on Lake Heart Island were slowly rotating in the night.

Shen Ye took Gu Yan's broken sword out of his backpack; the twilight light flowing within the crack on the sword's body had stabilized and was no longer flickering uncertainly.

He took the items out of his backpack one by one and lined them up on the desk—Gu Yan's broken sword, the Ash King's bone blade fragments, Second Lieutenant Meng Yan's resonator chip, the flame of the Heart of Twilight, the Bai family's dark gold token, and Qin Youyou's wild wine flask.

Each item had once been a glimmer pointing in a different direction during the long, endless night, and now they were connected together by the Twilight Light Network, lying quietly in the moonlight.

Early the next morning, he opened his spiritual power logbook in the student dormitory and listed one by one all the directions that needed to be continuously advanced:

Tie Chui and Qing Ye had already brought a copy of the complete cultivation method for the Twilight Apostle to the Wanxiang University Law Analysis Laboratory, and together with Lin Tianyin, they were breaking down the ancient inheritance into reproducible technical standards;

Yan Shan was using the mineral vein vibration frequency sent by Hou Tu to guide the newly born Rock Pattern to complete the final round of adaptation to ancient laws;

Jin Lin was breaking the twilight sword intent into finer resonance fragments in front of the sword stele, leading a hundred-man sword cultivator squad to practice synchronous resonance with the twilight beacon;

And in the exploration data of the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist outpost that Second Lieutenant Meng Yan updated regularly, there were still several ancient law nodes in the unexplored deep areas on the periphery of the shelter awaiting analysis.

He finished writing them down one by one, closed the logbook, and pinned Liu Yang's amulet, which had been sewn with the corner inside out, back onto his chest.

Outside the window on the lake, the twilight was slowly rising from the intersection of the four tower light beams.

Shen Ye pushed open the door and walked toward the Law Analysis Laboratory.

Lin Tianyin had just finished the technical standard breakdown of the first batch of twilight beacons and was encrypting the blueprints to send to Su Wanqing's chamber of commerce channels.

Tie Chui had built a miniature model of the mobile alchemy room in the corner of the laboratory, and Little One was squatting beside it, copying data into a spiritual power logbook.

"Where to next?"

Lin Tianyin didn't even look up.

"First, help Tie Chui finalize the blueprints for the mobile alchemy room."

Shen Ye sat down at the lab bench, "Then, wait for the flight route map to be updated—there are still large areas of unexplored gray zones at the northern end of the Sea of Thousand Realms Mist.

The Void Race has retreated further, but the core area of the Abyssal Empire is still deeper inside."

He paused, "The Crown Prince won't wait too long.

The Perfect Abyss-Devouring Body project will restart sooner or later, and by then, we will need strength greater than what we have now."

"You are already at the peak of Demigod.

What do you need for the next step to Tier 3 God?"

"Power of Faith.

The number of kin in the Cultivation Divine Kingdom and the Land of Gods and Demons needs to continue to expand; the Faith Crystal reserves to break through to a Tier 3 God need to at least double based on the current foundation.

Additionally, the mass production of Twilight Apostle also requires time—Chen and Ye have just awakened from the fusion of light and darkness, and the operation of the altar base is not yet fully stable.

They need a batch of stable high-ranking angels and succubi to serve as the core guards of the altar."

Lin Tianyin pushed up her glasses.

"There is a batch of undisclosed ancient Faith Crystal mine coordinates in the deep database of Wanxiang University.

I'll pull them up for you."

Shen Ye nodded.

Outside the window, the four tower light beams rotated slowly in the twilight, the lake surface reflecting the flowing dark golden light network.

All inheritances had been handed over, and all comrades-in-arms were continuing to move forward at their respective positions.

The road he had to walk was still very long—Tier 3 God, Main God, until he could directly confront the Crown Prince's Perfect Abyss-Devouring Body.

But for now, the furnace fire in the laboratory was burning bright, Chen and Ye opened their eyes simultaneously on both sides of the Twilight Altar, and a new batch of Twilight Apostle was being born.

Everything was growing quietly, like that eternal Twilight Light Network on the lake surface, unhurried and patient; when the season arrived, it would naturally light up.