193: Chapter 193 The Time-Space Ship Sets Sail Again, Tracing the Source of the Evil Spirit

On the seventh day after the funeral bell in Yongning City stopped, Guardian Lin Jingyun stood before the Monument of Heroes, gazing at those three gravestones in silence for a long time.

The morning light sprinkled on the surface of the monument, the three characters "Zhou Zhiting" glowing with a faint golden light, and the three characters "Song Xinghe" steady as iron.

And the handwriting on his own monument— "Guardian Lin Jingyun, protecting the Sea of Stars, guarding the original intent" —shone brilliantly in the sunlight.

Ling Shuang stood behind him leaning on a cane, her white hair fluttering gently in the morning breeze.

Over these past few days, her spirits had improved a lot.

After Guardian Lin Jingyun returned, she was finally able to sleep soundly.

But deep in her eyes, a deep exhaustion still remained hidden.

That was the sorrow of losing close friends, something time could not easily smooth over.

"Jingyun, have you really decided?" Ling Shuang's voice was very soft, yet it carried an imperceptible tremor.

Guardian Lin Jingyun turned around, faced her, and bowed deeply.

"Teacher, you must have heard what the Ancestor of Void Evil Spiders said before its death."

There are even more powerful existences in the Void Abyss, and they will come sooner or later.

We cannot sit idly by and await our doom; we must take the initiative and find the source of the evil spirits."

Ling Shuang fell silent for a long time.

She certainly remembered those words— "The Void Abyss... there are even more powerful existences... They will avenge this seat..."

That was the final curse of the Ancestor of Void Evil Spiders, and also a sharp sword hanging over the head of the Sea of Stars.

"However, where is the Void Abyss?"

"And where is the source of the evil spirits?" she asked, her voice filled with deep worry, "We don't even know where they are, so how can we take the initiative to attack?"

Guardian Lin Jingyun raised his head, gazing at the still-shining star map above Yongning City.

That was the early warning ignited by Song Xinghe with his Life, the last gift he left for the Sea of Stars.

On the star map, the conditions of various regions in the Sea of Stars were clear at a glance, but at the very edge of the star map, a certain area remained perpetually blurred.

"Senior Song Xinghe's star map covers the entire Sea of Stars, but what about beyond the Sea of Stars?" he said softly, "The Chaotic Universe is vast and boundless, and the Sea of Stars is only a small part of it."

"The Void Abyss must be outside the Sea of Stars, deep within the Chaotic Universe."

Ling Shuang looked along his gaze and saw that blurred area.

That was a place the Investigation Department had never touched for hundreds of years, an unknown abyss.

"You are going there?" Her voice trembled slightly.

Guardian Lin Jingyun nodded: "The space-time ark can shuttle through any space-time, travel to any Karma node, and cross any Chaos barrier."

The Ancestor said that it is a supreme treasure refined by the Spirit of Space-Time with its own Origin.

"With it, I can find the Void Abyss and the source of the evil spirits."

Ling Shuang knew she couldn't stop him.

Once this Disciple decided on something, not even nine oxen could pull him back.

Just like the Ancestor back then, just like Zhiting back then, just like Song Xinghe back then.

She took a deep breath, took the green lotus jade talisman from her bosom, and handed it to Guardian Lin Jingyun.

"Take this."

"It was left by the Ancestor, and it will bless you."

Guardian Lin Jingyun took the jade talisman and felt that familiar warmth.

That was the power of the Ancestor, the original intent of the Guardian.

He took out the fragment of the battle blood spear again and solemnly put it into his bosom.

The heroic soul of Senior Zhiting would also bless him.

"Rest assured, Teacher, I will return."

Ling Shuang nodded and said nothing more.

She simply stood before the Monument of Heroes, watching his back grow further and further away.

The space-time ark was parked in the plaza in front of the Alliance Grand Hall, its silver-white hull shimmering with faint space-time runes in the morning light.

Shen Qiuyu had already led the Disciples of the Investigation Department to complete the final inspections, confirming that every rune was correct and every energy circuit was unhindered.

"Ancestor, the space-time ark is ready." Shen Qiuyu's voice was very calm, but her hands were trembling slightly.

Guardian Lin Jingyun patted her shoulder: "Qiuyu, I leave the Investigation Department to you."

"Teacher is getting older, so take good care of her."

Shen Qiuyu nodded solemnly: "Rest assured, Ancestor, I will definitely guard the Investigation Department and protect the Sea of Stars."

Guardian Lin Jingyun turned around, facing those who had come to see him off.

The soldiers of the Realm Guardian Army stood in solemn rows, the Disciples of the Guardian Academy held white chrysanthemums, and the representatives of various realms wore grave expressions.

There were also countless commoners who spontaneously rushed over from all parts of Yongning City, standing on the outer periphery of the plaza and watching him silently.

He took a deep breath, and his voice spread across the entire audience.

"Everyone, my trip this time is to head to the Void Abyss and pursue the source of the evil spirits."

The road ahead is perilous, and Life and death are uncertain.

But I promise you, no matter what I encounter, I will return.

"Because here, there are you, there is the Sea of Stars, and there is everything I swore to protect."

The plaza was dead silent, with no one speaking.

There was only the sound of the wind and the morning bell of the Guardian Academy in the distance.

Ling Shuang stepped forward and shoved a bundle into his hands.

Inside the bundle were steaming hot steamed buns and a few pots of clear water.

"Eat this on the road."

"Don't go hungry."

Guardian Lin Jingyun took the bundle and felt its warmth.

He remembered back then, when the Ancestor conducted the first domain patrol, Ling Shuang had seen them off in the same way.

At that time, she was still a young woman, her eyes full of yearning for the future.

Now, she was old with gray hair, but that sentiment had never changed.

He bowed deeply, then turned around and boarded the space-time ark.

The cabin door closed, and a silver-white light lit up.

The space-time ark slowly rose into the air, higher and higher, further and further, and finally turned into a stream of light, disappearing into the depths of the Sea of Stars.

Ling Shuang stood before the Monument of Heroes, gazing at the direction where that stream of light had departed, remaining silent for a long time.

Shen Qiuyu walked to her side and asked softly: "Senior, can the Ancestor... return safely?"

Ling Shuang was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke: "He can."

"Since he said he would come back, he will definitely come back."

She lowered her head and looked at the fragment of the battle blood spear in her hand.

The golden light on the fragment beat slightly, like a heartbeat.

"Zhiting, bless him."

The fragment beat gently, as if responding to her.

The space-time ark sped through the Sea of Stars, heading toward that blurred area at the edge of the star map.

Guardian Lin Jingyun stood before the porthole, watching those familiar stars being left behind one by one.

The lights of Yongning City grew more and more distant, and the bell of the Guardian Academy could no longer be heard.

He took a deep breath, suppressed that reluctance deep into his heart, and then turned around, walking toward the console.

On the crystal core, those space-time runes were slowly flowing and revolving.

He raised his hand and touched them gently.

"space-time ark, target: outside the Sea of Stars, deep within the Chaotic Universe."

The crystal core lit up, and a silver-white light enveloped the entire control room.

The surrounding scenery began to twist, stretch, and shatter, turning into countless streams of light flying past outside the porthole.

The edge of the Sea of Stars was even more desolate than Guardian Lin Jingyun had imagined.

There were no stars, no stardust, and no Spiritual Qi whatsoever.

There was only endless darkness and boundless nothingness.

The light of the space-time ark was like a faint firefly in this darkness, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

He stared at the darkness outside the porthole, a nameless palpitation surging in his heart.

This place was outside the Sea of Stars, deep within the Chaotic Universe.

Back then, the Three Great Spirits had created the Chaotic Universe right here, and back then, the Outer Realm Evil Spirits had invaded from here.

This place was where everything began, and also where everything ended.

The space-time ark continued forward, passing through patch after patch of nothingness.

I don't know how much time had passed, when a faint light suddenly appeared ahead.

That light was very faint, so faint that it was almost imperceptible, yet it truly existed.

It was like a lonely star in the darkness, exuding a faint golden light.

Guardian Lin Jingyun had the space-time ark slow down and slowly approach.

That was a huge boulder floating in the Void Realm, fully a thousand zhang wide.

The surface of the boulder was densely carved with runes; those runes were identical to the ones on the space-time ark, yet they were even more ancient and profound.

He stepped out of the space-time ark and landed on the boulder.

The runes lit up beneath his feet, and an aged and weary voice sounded in his mind.

"Latercomer... you have finally come..."

Guardian Lin Jingyun's heart shook: "You are... the Spirit of Space-Time?"

That voice laughed, laughing with incomparable desolation: "No... This seat is not the Spirit of Space-Time... This seat is... the last consciousness left behind by the Spirit of Space-Time... guarding this boundary monument... waiting for the true successor..."

Boundary monument?

Guardian Lin Jingyun lowered his head and looked at the boulder beneath his feet.

So this was the boundary monument of the Chaotic Universe, the dividing line between the Sea of Stars and the Void Abyss.

That voice continued: "Passing through this boundary monument... is the Void Abyss... it is the territory of the Outer Realm Evil Spirits... Latercomer... are you sure you want to go?"

Guardian Lin Jingyun did not hesitate: "I am sure."

That voice fell silent for a moment, then slowly said: "Good... very good... This seat has waited for this day... for hundreds of millions of years..."

The runes suddenly lit up, and the boulder split apart from the middle, revealing a deep and quiet passage.

At the end of the passage was endless darkness and faint, indistinct roars.

"Go... Latercomer... Remember... in the Void Abyss... time and space are both chaotic... do not trust your eyes... do not trust your perception... only trust your Dao Heart..."

As the voice fell, that voice completely dissipated.

The runes on the boulder also gradually dimmed, as if completing their final mission.

Guardian Lin Jingyun took a deep breath and stepped into the passage.

The passage was very long, very long.

He walked for a long time, so long that he forgot the time.

All around him was only darkness, only nothingness, and only the sound of his own footsteps.

He didn't know how long he had walked, perhaps a day, perhaps a year, or perhaps just a couple of hours.

Here, time lost its meaning.

Finally, a beam of light appeared ahead.

That was not a golden light, nor a silver-white light, but a grayish light, like the sky before dawn.

Guardian Lin Jingyun quickened his pace and walked toward that light.

When he crossed the end of the passage, the scene before him made him stop in his tracks.

This was a grayish space, boundless and limitless, with no up or down, no left or right.

Countless huge fragments floated in the space—some were shattered stars, some were collapsed Void Realms, and some were fractured timelines.

Each fragment was slowly rotating, emitting a faint grayish-black glow.

Deep within the space, countless huge black shadows could be faintly seen swimming around.

Those black shadows had no fixed shape; at times they looked like giant pythons, at times like octopuses, and at times like some indescribable monsters.

As they swam, the surrounding space twisted and time became disordered.

Outer Realm Evil Spirits.

Guardian Lin Jingyun clenched his fists, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart.

He did not rush to approach; instead, he found a relatively large fragment, sat cross-legged, and began to observe.

He observed for a long time.

Long enough for him to memorize the movement trajectories of those black shadows in his heart.

They seemed to have no fixed lair, always wandering in space and devouring everything they could devour.

Fragments, energy, time, space—they ate everything.

However, their swimming was not entirely without pattern.

Guardian Lin Jingyun discovered that the movement trajectories of all the black shadows pointed in the same direction—the deepest part of space.

Something there was attracting them.

He got up and quietly sneaked along the direction the black shadows swam.

The power of the space-time ark was restrained to the extreme by him, his entire person shuttling between the fragments like an invisible shadow.

The deeper he went, the denser the black shadows became.

Some were only a zhang in size, while others were tens of thousands of zhang wide.

They swam past him without perceiving his existence.

The concealment power of the space-time ark could not be seen through even by these evil spirits that fed on space-time.

He did not know how long he had walked when a huge black shadow suddenly appeared ahead.

That black shadow was indescribably huge; a mere part of it occupied his entire field of view.

Guardian Lin Jingyun stopped in his tracks, his heart beating wildly.

What did he see?

That was a behemoth, a behemoth so huge it defied description.

Its body was like a continent, its tentacles like mountain ranges, and its eyes like stars.

It curled up in the deepest part of space, motionless, as if sleeping.

And those wandering black shadows were all converging toward it.

They swam to its side, merged into its body, and became a part of it.

Mother of Evil Spirits.

Not the Mother of Void Evil Spiders, but the true Mother of Evil Spirits.

The source of all Outer Realm Evil Spirits, the root of all devouring power.

In Guardian Lin Jingyun's mind flashed the information left behind by the Three Great Spirits—"Mother of Evil Spirits, source of all evils.

It devours everything, it creates everything.

It is both destruction and new birth."

He stared at that behemoth, feeling an unprecedented sense of oppression.

That was not oppression of power, but oppression of Origin.

Facing it was like facing the Universe itself.

It was too huge, so huge that it made people despair.

But he did not flinch.

He continued to approach, more carefully and more cautiously.

He wanted to find its weakness, to find a way to completely destroy it.

The body of the Mother of Evil Spirits was covered with countless tiny cracks.

From those cracks, grayish-black mist continuously surged out, transforming into those wandering black shadows.

Turns out, those black shadows were not her children, but a part of her body.

They were her overflowing power, her scattered fragments.

And in the deepest part of those cracks, Guardian Lin Jingyun saw a faint light.

That light was very faint, so faint it was almost imperceptible, yet it truly existed.

Within the grayish-black expanse, it was like a lonely star, emitting a faint golden light.

What was that?

He gazed intently, running the Chaos Eye to its full capacity.

The light penetrated layers of grayish-black mist, finally revealing the true appearance of that thing.

That was a crystal.

A fist-sized crystal, entirely transparent, containing endless Power of Space-Time within.

On the surface of the crystal, countless tiny runes circulated; those runes were identical to the ones on the space-time ark, but much more ancient and profound.

space-time crystal.

One of the Origin crystals of the Three Great Spirits, juxtaposed with the Chaos crystal and the karma crystal.

Guardian Lin Jingyun's heart beat violently.

How could the space-time crystal be here?

Wasn't it in the hands of the Spirit of Space-Time?

Wasn't it in the space-time rift?

He recalled what the Spirit of Chaos had said—"Back then, during the decisive battle between the Three Great Spirits and the Mother of Evil Spirits, the Spirit of Space-Time used itself as a price to Seal the Mother of Evil Spirits in the Void Abyss.

But the Origin crystal of the Spirit of Space-Time was also lost in that battle."

So, it was here.

Inside the body of the Mother of Evil Spirits, in the deepest part of those cracks.

Guardian Lin Jingyun stared at that crystal, a flash of enlightenment surging in his heart.

As long as he got the space-time crystal, he could obtain the complete power of the Spirit of Space-Time.

As long as he obtained the complete power of the Spirit of Space-Time, he could completely Seal the Mother of Evil Spirits.

But how to get it?

The body of the Mother of Evil Spirits was covered with cracks, but around every crack, countless black shadows were wandering.

As long as he approached, those black shadows would discover him.

He pondered for a long time and finally made a decision.

He could not charge in forcefully; he could only win with wits.

He took out the green lotus jade talisman and held it in his hand.

The jade talisman emitted a warm energy; that was the power of the ancestor, the original aspiration of the Guardian.

"Ancestor, bless me."

He pressed the jade talisman against his chest, then took a deep breath, leaped up, and rushed toward a crack on the body of the Mother of Evil Spirits.

Those black shadows sensed his aura, turned around one after another, and pounced toward him.

Countless grayish-black tentacles surged from all directions, attempting to entangle him.

Guardian Lin Jingyun did not dodge or evade; the Chaos Origin operated at full capacity.

Golden light surged out from his body, shaking those tentacles away.

His speed reached the extreme, shuttling between the tentacles like a swimming fish.

One crack, two cracks, three cracks...

He passed through crack after crack, getting closer and closer to that space-time crystal.

But those black shadows also became more and more numerous and dense.

They frantically pounced on him, desperately trying to stop him.

Wounds began to appear on his body.

One, two, three...

Grayish-black blood surged out from the wounds; that was the power of the evil spirit eroding him.

But his speed did not slow down, and his gaze did not waver.

Finally, he arrived before that largest crack.

Deep within the crack, that space-time crystal was right before his eyes.

He leaped into the crack, reaching out to grab the crystal.

At the very moment his fingertips were about to touch the crystal, a terrifying aura erupted from the depths of the crack.

That aura was so strong that even he felt palpitations.

The Mother of Evil Spirits had awakened.

Her eyes slowly opened—sixteen crimson eyes, each as large as a star.

They stared at Guardian Lin Jingyun, their eyes filled with greed and murderous intent.

"Human... How dare you trespass into this seat's territory..."

Her voice exploded in Guardian Lin Jingyun's mind, shaking him so hard that blood seeped from his seven orifices.

Guardian Lin Jingyun gritted his teeth and did not retreat.

His fingers touched that space-time crystal.

The crystal lit up, and silver-white light surged out from it, enveloping his entire person.

Within that light contained the complete power of the Spirit of Space-Time, hundreds of millions of years of enlightenment, and the ultimate mystery of Transmigration through space and time.

Massive amounts of information poured into his Sea of Consciousness; he closed his eyes and quietly absorbed it.

The Mother of Evil Spirits went mad.

Her tentacles lashed out wildly, attempting to pull him off the crystal.

But the silver-white light formed a barrier, blocking all attacks outside.

"No—! That is mine! That is this seat's property!"

Guardian Lin Jingyun opened his eyes, the silver-white light in his eyes flashing past and disappearing.

He grasped the space-time crystal and pulled it out from the crack.

The Mother of Evil Spirits let out a heart-rending hiss, and her huge body began to tremble.

The grayish-black mist surging from those cracks instantly thinned, and those wandering black shadows began to dissipate.

The space-time crystal was the source of her power.

Losing the crystal, her power would be greatly discounted.

Guardian Lin Jingyun did not linger in battle; he turned around and fled.

He passed through crack after crack, broke through the encirclement and interception of countless black shadows, and sprinted toward the direction he came from.

The tentacles of the Mother of Evil Spirits pursued frantically; every lashing caused a large area of the surrounding space to collapse.

But Guardian Lin Jingyun's speed was too fast, and she simply could not catch up.

When he rushed out of the body of the Mother of Evil Spirits and returned to that grayish expanse of space, a despairing hiss came from behind.

"Human... You will regret this... This seat will not let you go... Will not let the Star Sea go..."

Guardian Lin Jingyun did not look back; he ran desperately toward the direction of the boundary monument.

Behind him, the tentacles of the Mother of Evil Spirits were still pursuing, but they became slower and slower, more and more powerless.

When he passed through the boundary monument and returned to the edge of the Star Sea, those tentacles finally stopped.

Unreconciled, they retracted back into the Void Abyss and disappeared into the darkness.

Guardian Lin Jingyun slumped down on the boundary monument, panting heavily.

There were wounds all over his body, and grayish-black blood was still flowing.

But in his hand, he tightly grasped that space-time crystal.

The crystal emitted a silver-white light, warm and gentle.

He lowered his head, looked at this crystal, and smiled.

"Got it."

He struggled to stand up and walked toward the direction of the space-time ark.

Behind him, the runes on that boundary monument lit up again, sealing the entrance of the Void Abyss.

That voice sounded once more, ancient and weary.

"Later comer... You have done it... This seat... can rest in peace..."

Guardian Lin Jingyun turned back and made a deep bow toward the boundary monument.

"Senior, thank you."

He turned around and boarded the space-time ark.

Silver-white light lit up, and the space-time ark slowly rose into the air, flying toward the direction of the Star Sea.

Guardian Lin Jingyun leaned against the porthole, looking at the space-time crystal in his hand with a smile on the corner of his mouth.

"Teacher, I found it."

In the distance, the lights of Yongning City were faintly visible.

He closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.