173: Chapter 173 He Had No Choice

Just as the Nirvana Battle Team was closed off for repairs.

Deep in the uninhabited restricted zone, dozens of kilometers away from the camp.

Two dark shadows were moving through the dense jungle like ghosts.

"Brother Ye, are you sure that Black-Robed Man will still see us?"

Xia Qing asked, panting while vigilantly scanning the surroundings:

"Last time we sold him out completely and turned around to tell Chen Xi his secret."

Shen Ye walked in front, a firm light flashing in his single eye.

He touched his eyepatch, his voice low:

"He has no choice."

"Although he is my future self, he is now just a spiritual projection without a physical body. If he wants to interfere with this world and achieve his goals, he must rely on us."

"Besides..."

Shen Ye paused, his eyes becoming even deeper:

"I always felt that day at the altar, he had more to say."

"That look in his eyes... it didn't look like a martyr simply trying to save the world, but more like a... gambler driven mad by some obsession."

The two passed through the final patch of the thorn forest, and that familiar ancient altar appeared before their eyes again.

However, the atmosphere this time was even more oppressive than last time.

The trees around the altar seemed to have withered, their leaves displaying a grayish, decayed color. The air was filled with a faint, fishy, sweet smell similar to rotting meat.

And in the center of the altar, beneath the statue of the woman named "Ye Fei".

The Black-Robed Man was still sitting there.

But unlike last time, his figure had become extremely illusory, just like a hologram with a bad signal, flickering from time to time, and one could even see the stone steps behind him through his body.

"You've come."

Black-Robed Shen Ye did not turn around, his voice raspy like two rusted iron plates rubbing together.

He seemed to have anticipated their arrival long ago.

"It seems you have already met Chen Xi."

Black-Robed Shen Ye turned around slowly, his face, identical to Shen Ye's, filled with exhaustion and deathly stillness.

Shen Ye's heart tightened.

This guy's condition was much worse than last time. Was it because maintaining the cross-time-space projection consumed too much, or was it because... of something else?

"We met him."

Shen Ye did not hide it, looking directly into the other's eyes:

"We followed your instructions and confirmed that Ye Fei is indeed in his team. And... she has advanced to a Beast Tamer."

Hearing the words "advanced", Black-Robed Shen Ye's originally murky eyes suddenly brightened, a complex emotion—surprise, fear, and even a hint of imperceptible greed.

"Beast Tamer... Good, very good."

Black-Robed Shen Ye muttered to himself, as if calculating something.

"Good what?"

Xia Qing couldn't help but interject:

"Didn't you say you wanted to stop her from getting stronger, to stop her from becoming a creator? Now she has advanced, one step closer to destroying the world, and you actually say it's good?"

Black-Robed Shen Ye froze for a moment, then shook his head with a bitter smile:

"Apologies, I lost my composure."

"What I meant was... since it has already happened, we have no choice but to face it."

"Things have reached this point, simple obstruction is meaningless. We must adopt Plan B—Source Purification."

"Source Purification?"

Shen Ye frowned, instinctively feeling that this term was filled with an ominous aura.

"That's right."

Black-Robed Shen Ye tremblingly took something out from his bosom.

It was a small black bottle with an ancient design, made of a material that seemed like jade but wasn't, covered in dense, eerie runes, with the bottle mouth sealed by a blood-red talisman.

"This is the spirit sealing bottle."

Black-Robed Shen Ye handed the bottle to Shen Ye, his tone becoming exceptionally solemn:

"Since Ye Fei has begun to awaken her creator abilities, the 'divinity' within her will begin to revive. If this divinity is not guided, it will eventually turn into a beastly nature that destroys everything."

"I need you to do one thing for me."

He pointed to this vast uninhabited area:

"In this direction, three hundred kilometers to the east, there is a forbidden land known as the Silent Dead Sea."

"A very special Fourth-Order Fierce Beast lives there—the Abyss Sea Demon."

"Within this sea demon's body, a crystal known as the tear of the siren is conceived. It is the purest spiritual energy in the world, and also the only material that can suppress, or even purify, the violent divinity within Ye Fei."

Black-Robed Shen Ye stared fixedly at Shen Ye, his eyes filled with pleading:

"Go kill the Sea Demon Emperor and use this bottle to collect its tears."

"As long as we have this, I have a way to create an inhibitor to, at the critical moment... preserve Ye Fei's humanity and prevent tragedy from happening!"

Shen Ye took the cold black bottle.

The bottle was light, but it felt as heavy as a thousand jun in his hand.

Silent Dead Sea... Fourth-Order Sea Demon Emperor...

This was definitely a mission with nine deaths and one life.

But he did not refuse.

"If this can really prevent the end of the world..."

Shen Ye gripped the bottle tightly, a trace of determination flashing in his single eye:

"I'll go."

Black-Robed Shen Ye looked at his younger self, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, revealing a meaningful smile.

That smile appeared particularly eerie in the flickering light.

"Go..."

"You must... bring the complete 'tears' back."

"That is... the only hope."

After leaving the altar, Shen Ye and Xia Qing did not immediately set off for the Silent Dead Sea.

They found a relatively safe cave to stay for the time being.

"Brother Ye, why do I feel... that old guy is a bit off?"

Xia Qing said while making a fire, frowning:

"Just now when he gave us the bottle, that look in his eyes... it didn't look like someone trying to save the world, but more like someone starving to death seeing bread."

"And, what Source Purification, inhibitor, it all sounds weird."

Shen Ye sat by the fire, toying with the black spirit sealing bottle in his hand.

He gently rubbed his fingers over the runes on the bottle, the ice-cold touch making him feel very uncomfortable.

"I also feel something is off."

Shen Ye said in a deep voice:

"As a Time-Space Traveler, I am not unfamiliar with these runes. Although I cannot understand them all, the patterns on this... do not look like they are used for 'sealing' or 'purifying'."

"The flow of these lines looks more like a kind of... conversion and refinement."

"Conversion?" Xia Qing was stunned.

"That's right."

Shen Ye recalled the scene at the altar just now.

When Black-Robed Shen Ye handed him the bottle, because his body was too weak, the Black-Robed Man's hand shook.

In that instant, Shen Ye acutely heard a very, very low murmur.

That sentence sounded like he was talking to himself, and also like some kind of crazy gibberish—

"...As long as we have the soul characteristics of the sea demon, plus the flesh and blood remodeling of the beast king... we can turn that cage... into a container..."