Deep blue and dead silence. Only the dull echo of footsteps on the cold bronze roots and Li Hua's own heavy and difficult breathing tore through the darkness that seemed to have solidified for eternity. He held Mei, and every step he took was like stepping on the tip of a knife. After a moment of silence, the ink poison on his right arm began to slowly and firmly erode upwards again like a waking poisonous snake. The cold numbness had spread over his elbow, bringing a dull pain as if his soul was frozen. The fragment mark on the palm of his hand was like an angry trapped beast. The dark blue light pulsated wildly under his skin, clashing violently with the ink poison. Every collision made his meridians feel like being repeatedly burned by an iron.
Mei's breath was so weak that it was almost cut off. Her body leaned softly on his chest, cold and lifeless. Only the copper ring magic weapon against her chest still exuded an extremely weak, warm luster with a silver glow, like a candle in the wind, stubbornly maintaining the last bit of life.
The direction where Qingluan disappeared was the area where the bronze roots were most densely coiled. The huge roots were twisted like a dragon, casting a twisted and grotesque shadow in the faint blue light, forming a deep, oppressive passage that seemed to lead to the throat of a giant beast. The air was as thick as solidified glue, filled with a strong smell of metal rust and a deeper, fishy and sweet smell like old blood drying up. The pressure from the core of the huge skeleton was not weakened here, but even heavier, like an invisible giant hand strangling the throat.
Li Huaqiang endured the dizziness and the pain in his body, and his eyes were like a lone wolf, vigilantly scanning the front. The passage was not flat, and the huge roots were raised and sunken, forming natural obstacles and blind spots. Dead silence is the only theme here, but it is more frightening than any noise.
Suddenly!
In the shadow of a bronze root that stretched out diagonally on the right and was as thick as a man's arms, a sticky ink ripple spread out without warning! A twisted shadow puppet with geometric light spots flashing on the edge, like an evil ghost crawling out of an ink pool, condensed silently and formed! It was more solid than the previous one, and the light spots on its body showed a dirty dark purple. It moved as fast as a ghost. A claw made of pure light and shadow, but emitting a piercing chill, with a scream that tore through the air, went straight to Mei in Li Hua's arms! The angle was tricky and the timing was vicious. It was obviously lurking for a long time, designed to be a fatal blow!
Sneak attack!
Li Hua's pupils shrank suddenly! Severely injured and holding Mei, his reaction was half a beat slower after all! Seeing that the cold claw was about to penetrate Mei's defenseless back!
"Get out!"
A loud shout with the fury and recklessness of being forced into a desperate situation! Li Hua didn't even have time to think about the use of any "Qin Xin"! The instinct for survival and the violence of being offended instantly overwhelmed everything! He hugged Mei's body and turned to the left, using his relatively intact left shoulder to face the deadly claws! At the same time, the right hand that was flowing with dark blue blood and was cursed by fragments and ink poison, with the ferocity of dying together, formed five fingers into claws, and fiercely grabbed the head of the shadow puppet that was flashing with dark purple spots!
Swish——!
The cold claws fiercely tore open the Taoist robe on Li Hua's left shoulder, leaving three deep wounds on his shoulder that were visible to the bone and the edges were instantly frozen and blackened! The biting cold and severe pain instantly swept through his body! But at the same time, his right hand also fiercely grabbed the head of the shadow puppet!
At the moment when his five fingers touched the cold light and shadow!
Buzz! ! !
A far more violent and chaotic thought impact than any previous one, like a flood bursting through a dam, ran down his arm and slammed into his mind!
It was no longer the cold, inhuman killing intent of the shadow puppet before! Instead, it was a kind of sticky, chaotic, full of endless pain, crazy mumbling and distorted geometric patterns - mental pollution! It was the vicious curse against the soul contained in Mo Li's shadow poison!
Li Hua's eyes were instantly flooded by countless broken, rotating, illogical geometric light spots and distorted screaming images! Consciousness was like being thrown into a blender, with severe pain, dizziness, and nausea surging! His right hand, which was grabbing the shadow puppet's head, froze instantly!
A trace of cold mockery flashed in the scarlet "eyes" of the shadow puppet (if the flashing light spots can be called eyes), and the other claw was silently raised, like the tail sting of a poisonous scorpion, with a deadly cold light, piercing Li Hua's throat, which was wide open due to severe pain and confusion of consciousness!
The shadow of death, cold and piercing!
At this critical moment!
"Ugh...!"
In Li Hua's arms, the dying Mei trembled violently! A faint and extremely painful groan escaped from her lips! Her left hand twitched unconsciously and violently, and her fingertips brushed across Li Hua's arm holding her, stained with the cold blood mixed with ink poison and faint blue light spots flowing from his shoulder wound!
This finger stained with Li Hua's blood unconsciously and heavily pressed on the copper ring magic weapon emitting a faint silver light on her chest!
Buzz——!!!
The copper ring magic weapon seemed to be thrown into a boiling oil pan, and suddenly burst into an unprecedented blazing silver light! The light was no longer the warm moonlight, but like thunder tearing through the darkness! In the silver light, several new blood-colored lines that moved like living things instantly lit up, which were transformed from the essence and blood injected by Mei before!
This silver light did not explode outwards to attack, but as if it had life, it rolled back in an instant and sank into Mei's heart! At the same time, an extremely weak strange wave with the breath of Li Hua's blood (a mixture of fragmented star power and ink poison) followed the bodies of the two people in contact and suddenly fed back to Li Hua's consciousness!
This strange wave mixed with Mei's protective will, the power of purification of the copper ring, and Li Hua's own chaotic power was like ice water thrown into a boiling oil pan, and like a lighthouse that suddenly lit up in the darkness!
Boom!
Li Hua's mind, which was confused by the mental pollution of the shadow poison, was like being split by a thunderbolt! Most of the sticky and chaotic geometric light spots and whispering screams were instantly dispelled! Although the severe pain and dizziness were still there, his consciousness was restored to clarity in an instant!
He saw the deadly claws piercing his throat, close at hand!
"Die!"
Li Hua, who had regained clarity, had a fierce light in his eyes! All the pain, anger, and calculated fury turned into the purest will of destruction at this moment! He no longer tried to mobilize any "Qin Heart", but poured all the remaining power in his body - the manic star power of the fragments, the cold erosion of the ink poison, and the life potential that was forced into a desperate situation - like compressed explosives, along the right hand that was still holding the shadow puppet's head, madly and unreservedly!
Give me - explode!
Puff! ! !
A dull and heart-pounding explosion!
The shadow puppet's head, which was flashing with dark purple spots, exploded instantly like a watermelon hit by a heavy hammer under the violent and chaotic energy impact in Li Hua's palm! There was no blood and flesh flying, only countless broken light fragments that were quickly polluted and swallowed by the ink color and a sticky, smelly black smoke gushing out!
The headless body of the shadow puppet twitched and swelled violently, then shrank and disintegrated like a deflated ball, and finally turned into a pool of filthy mucus with thick black smoke, and collapsed on the cold bronze ground, making a "sizzling" corrosion sound.
Li Hua staggered back two steps, gasping for breath, and the wound on his left shoulder sent waves of tearing pain and cold numbness, and the ink poison was eroding his body along the wound. The forced outbreak just now almost drained his last bit of strength, and the backlash of the two forces in his body became more violent, and his eyes were black. But he held Mei tightly and didn't let her fall.
The crisis was temporarily resolved, but Li Hua's heart sank deeper. Mo Li's shadow puppet became more cunning and more vicious, and could even launch mental pollution! And Mei... the copper ring's abnormal movement just now seemed to have consumed her last bit of potential. Her breath was so weak that it was almost cut off, and her body was cold and stiff.
I can't stay here any longer! We must find Qingluan as soon as possible, or... find the entrance to the so-called "crossroads"!
He gritted his teeth, forced himself to ignore the protests of his body and the severe pain in his left shoulder, and continued to move deeper into the tunnel while holding Mei. Every step was more difficult, and his consciousness was repeatedly pulled by the severe pain, the cold erosion of the ink poison, and the dizziness of the backlash.
The tunnel began to tilt downward, and the roots were more densely coiled. The air seemed to become thinner, and the smell of old blood became stronger. The blue light flowed through the gaps between the roots, flickering like the breathing of a sleeping giant.
Just when Li Hua felt that he was about to collapse, the scene in front of him suddenly changed!
The tunnel suddenly became clear, but it fell into a suffocating sense of closure. This is a relatively open "cave", but it is not formed naturally, but a space that is forcibly squeezed, penetrated, and supported from all directions by countless thicker and older bronze roots! The roots were like huge cage fences, deeply embedded in the bronze walls around and on the dome. In the center of the cave, there stood a huge bronze wall that almost occupied the entire field of vision!
This bronze wall was not smooth and flat, but was twisted by a huge force, melted and re-condensed, and the surface was covered with hideous wrinkles, huge depressions and traces of tearing. What was even more shocking was that in the center of the bronze wall, an extremely huge and deep dent was clearly visible! The shape of the dent... was the mark of a giant claw covered with bronze scales that was magnified countless times!
It was as if there had been a giant beast that stood tall and upright, with endless anger and unwillingness, and slapped this bronze wall with a claw, leaving this eternal trauma!
A strong and indissoluble thought of sorrow, anger and despair that had been deposited for countless years, like a real tide, spread out from this bronze wall covered with claw marks, and hit Li Hua's mind fiercely! The marks of the fragments in his body pulsated violently, conveying a kind of throbbing and sorrow from the depths of his blood!
Just then!
"Ugh!"
Mei in his arms suddenly twitched violently! As if strongly stimulated by this tragic thought, she unconsciously uttered a groan of extreme pain, and two lines of shocking blood and tears oozed out of the corners of her tightly closed eyes!
The blood and tears slid down her pale and cold cheeks and dripped onto the bronze ground below.
Hiss!
The moment the blood and tears fell to the ground, it was like a hot iron touching ice, making a slight burning sound! What was even more bizarre was that the huge bronze wall covered with claw marks suddenly lit up at the moment when Mei's blood and tears fell!
It was not the dark blue root light, but a deep and restrained dark red color like solidified blood! The dark red light flows in the hideous wrinkles and claw marks of the bronze wall, as if blood has been re-injected into the blood vessels that have been dry for thousands of years!
As the dark red light lights up, the twisted traces on the surface of the bronze wall seem to come alive! Countless broken, twisted, and bizarre fragments of the picture, like a revolving lantern, flash wildly in the dark red light, impacting Li Hua's vision and consciousness!
Picture 1: The raging black flood submerged the earth, and the stars fell like rain! Countless creatures wailed and struggled in the flood, turning into dry bones! The flood was not ordinary water, but a tide of Guixu that rolled with countless painful faces and exuded cold and dead silence!
Picture 2: A huge Nuo masked statue standing upright, with a green face and fangs, and three eyes crying blood! It looked up to the sky and roared silently, with its arms open, tearing the sky apart, forming a huge crack across the sky and the earth! Deep in the crack is a dark vortex that swallows everything!
Picture 3: The statue shattered! A blurry figure (the first generation Nuo God?) rushed out of the shattered statue, and rushed towards the dark crack that swallowed the world without hesitation! The moment his body touched the darkness, it was entangled, eroded, and covered by countless bronze root-like substances!
Picture 4: The figure struggled painfully in the dark crack, and a giant claw covered with heavy bronze scales, with the power to destroy the world, slammed hard on some invisible barrier (bronze wall?)! Leaving the eternal claw mark! In the picture, a little blue starlight (the heart of the door?) on the chest of the figure is being eroded by countless sticky ink (shadow poison?)!
Picture 5: Countless tiny figures like ants, wearing ancient Nuo witch costumes, danced a crazy and tragic sacrificial dance around the huge bronze wall! They cut their wrists and let the hot blood spray on the bronze wall. The blood seeped into the grooves of the claw marks and turned into a dark red light! Their eyes were full of desperate piety and determination to die! In the end, they fell one by one and turned into piles of bones surrounding the bronze wall! In the center of those bones, a vague female figure (Qingluan?) embraced the jade harp, blood dripping from her fingertips, playing a silent song of requiem...
Countless broken pictures, mixed with deafening roars, the wailing of creatures, the drum beats of sacrifice, and the sad cry of broken strings, like a violent torrent, rushed into Li Hua's mind crazily! This is the memory fragment of the first generation of Nuo God being polluted and eroded, and the last desperate struggle! It is the tragic epic of the gatekeeper clan trying to stabilize the seal with flesh and blood souls as sacrifice! It is the deepest pain and secret of this bronze maze!
"Ahhhh——!" Li Hua let out a painful roar, holding his head tightly with both hands! The impact of these memory fragments far exceeded the spiritual pollution of Shadow Poison! It was the grief of the fall of gods, the despair of billions of lives, and the wailing of countless souls being sacrificed! The resonance with the marks of the fragments in his body and the cold and dead induction of Mo Du made him feel as if he had personally experienced the devastating disaster! The soul seemed to be torn apart!
Just when his consciousness was about to be completely submerged and collapsed by this violent torrent of memories!
Buzz...
A clear, ethereal piano sound that seemed to be able to cleanse the dust of eternity, like a sweet spring, suddenly sounded in this space filled with sadness and chaos.
The piano sound was not high, but it had a strange penetrating power, instantly soothing the violent memory fragments and dispelling the suffocating sad thoughts.
Li Hua's confused mind seemed to be injected with a stream of clear water, and the severe pain and dizziness quickly subsided. He gasped and raised his head with difficulty.
In front of the huge bronze wall with a dark red light, a green figure appeared quietly.
Qingluan.
She still held the ancient jade zither, and the light veil covering her face fluttered slightly under the interweaving light of dark red and faint blue. She did not look at Li Hua, but slightly raised her head, staring calmly at the huge and hideous claw marks on the bronze wall, as if staring at an eternal wound.
"Did you see it?" Her voice sounded, still cold, but seemed to have a hint of indescribable fatigue and desolation, "This is the starting point of the 'crossroads', and also... the mark of the sorrow of Guixu."
She slowly lowered her head, her clear eyes piercing through the space, falling on Li Hua's right hand that was still flowing with dark blue blood and was doubly cursed by fragments and ink poison, and also on Mei in his arms, whose eyes were still bloody and tears, and whose breath was as weak as a candle in the wind.
"Use your ink blood to burn her residual soul, which can temporarily trigger the resonance of the 'Heart of the Gate', suppress the Mo Li projection, and open a gap leading to the core of the 'Root of Guixu'." Qingluan's voice was calm and almost cruel, stating a cold possibility, "But this gap can only allow one person to pass through. And the person who enters... will be assimilated by the power of Guixu and become the nourishment of the new 'Heart of the Gate', or... the next out-of-control 'Mo Li'."
She paused, and her eyes finally fixed on Li Hua's face twisted by pain and anger. Every word was like the final judgment:
"This road is a nine-way death, and there is no return."
"Do you still want to go?"