chsdbacks Chapter 399 Seed of Law
Chapter 399 Seed of Law
As Su Fan turned around, the golden light of Mars shone on the old scar on his left shoulder, and the newly grown skin at the edge of the scar shone with a very faint dark gold in the golden light.
Eros stood on the edge of the non-core area of the city wall, the crystal of the draft agreement still embedded in the center of the core of the law on his chest.
A single beam of light illuminated the translucent dark purple membrane surrounding him, turning it a very pale purplish-gold color.
Su Fan walked to the edge of the battlements and held up the half-shattered mirror that Yang Jian had handed him.
"The Great Sage and the Ruins did not reach the outer edge of the Old Domain."
Yang Jian pieced the two shattered mirrors together, and real-time images of the laws of the outer perimeter of the ancient domain deep within the void appeared on the mirror surface.
The outline of the old domain was extremely blurry, so blurry that the boundaries were almost indistinguishable, but the law vortex in the very center of the outline had already taken shape and was rotating at an extremely fast speed, so fast that the last few layers of law sedimentation were being forcibly torn apart by the law traction force of the vortex core.
Two tiny points of light were moving at high speed at the edge of the vortex, one dark gold and one silver-white. The dark gold one was the crystallized ember of flint on Sun Wukong's chest, and the silver-white one was the core of the stone embryo in Xu's hand.
"We've arrived. They're adjusting the synchronization accuracy of the aftershocks of the calamity and the vortex condensation frequency on the outer edge of the old domain."
"The heart network of the Ruins just transmitted a pulse of law, saying that the condensation speed of the old domain law vortex is faster than expected. The law vacuum zone at the core of the vortex is being squeezed inward by the outer law deposition layer, and the vacuum zone is shrinking."
"Once it shrinks to its limit, the vortex will take shape. The moment it takes shape, the traction force will be released, and the gatekeeper of the first branch will be pulled in. They don't have much time left."
Yang Jian tapped the mirror with his finger, magnifying the mirror to the law vacuum zone at the very center of the old domain's law vortex core.
Inside the vacuum zone was an extremely dark void, with a tiny gray-white fragment of law suspended in the very center of the void.
That was the remnant of the encrypted beacon left inside the old domain by the second branch detector. The remnant was still continuously emitting extremely weak law pulses towards the outer edge of the vortex, and each pulse would cause the edge of the vacuum zone to shrink inward by a tiny bit.
The vacuum region is being eroded from the inside by the pulses.
"That beacon debris is not a fragment of the probe's outer shell, but a law fuse that the second branch planted in the core of the vortex before the old domain was evacuated."
"The fuse itself has an extremely ancient legal structure, originating from the same source as the laws of the Old Domain. Just now, when the Ruins approached the edge of the vacuum zone, the frequency of the laws inside the fuse briefly jumped."
"After the jump, the heart network of the Ruins detected an extremely weak law signal. The signal contained only one sentence: If you detonate the vortex, the fuse will simultaneously release the devouring pulse from the deepest level of the Old Domain Law Origin."
"The devouring pulse will propagate in reverse along the trajectory of the aftershocks of the calamity, causing all the core laws within the detonator to become causal."
"This sentence is not a warning left to us by the second branch, but an instinctive defense mechanism of the law inherent in the fuse itself. As long as it senses an external law approaching the vacuum zone, the fuse will automatically release this signal."
Su Fan slammed the broken mirror against the edge of the stack.
"Can the Devouring Pulse be cut off by the Pangu Axe?"
"The will of all living beings on the Pangu Axe can sever the devouring channel of the original laws of the old domain, but it cannot sever the devouring pulse."
"The Devouring Pulse is not a channel of law, but a shock wave of law generated after the fragments of law are detonated. Its propagation does not require a medium and it directly penetrates the void."
"The moment the aftershocks of the Great Calamity detonate the vortex, the devouring pulse will propagate in the opposite direction along the detonation trajectory. Both the Great Sage and the Ruins are on the detonation trajectory. They cannot escape."
Yang Jian's voice was extremely calm and steady.
"If you can't avoid it, then tough it out."
Nezha's voice boomed from the shattered mirror. He leaned against a pillar of the city tower, carrying his Fire-Tipped Spear, the Law Mark on his left shoulder shining with an extremely stable brightness under the blessing of the Pure Yang Talisman.
"The Great Sage was once cleaved by the Chaos Calamity outside the Tai Sui Crack, corroded by the extraterrestrial laws in the extraterrestrial cage, and refined by Laozi's Samadhi True Fire for forty-nine days in the Eight Trigrams Furnace."
"His physical body withstood far more impact from the laws than the Devouring Pulse; the Devouring Pulse could withstand it."
"The heart network of the Ruins grew from the fragments of the Eastern Emperor Bell and the roots of the flint tree. Its tolerance for the laws is extremely wide. When the devouring pulse hits him, it will be automatically diverted by the heart network to the larva deep in the foundation of the Ruins."
"The chaotic life laws within the larva are of extremely high purity, and the Devouring Pulse cannot swallow them."
"The heart network of the Ruins will be suppressed on the periphery of the Old Domain's law vortex. The density of laws inside the Old Domain is extremely high, so high that even the light of the Eastern Emperor's Mother Liquid can only barely maintain the basic operation of the heart network."
"If the Devouring Pulse hits Xu, his heart's vascular network won't have time to divert the impact to Guixu—the communication delay between the Old Domain and Guixu far exceeds the normal flow rate of the void. By the time the impact reaches Guixu, the core of Xu's laws will have already been causally altered."
Yang Jian turned the shattered mirror towards Yuanshi Tianzun.
The Primordial Celestial Venerable sat cross-legged with his back straight, a whisk lying across his knees, and one hundred and eight transparent runes slowly flowing on the whisk's threads.
He took the whisk from his lap and drew a very simple law seal in the air. The seal flew out of the South Heavenly Gate, pierced through the membrane wall, and flew towards the old domain.
"This talisman can temporarily create a law barrier on the outer perimeter of the old domain. The law frequency inside the barrier is in sync with the heart network of the Ruins."
"When the Devouring Pulse hits the barrier, it will be neutralized by the same frequency. After neutralization, the impact force of the pulse will be reduced to less than one-tenth of the original. Both Xu and the Great Sage can withstand it. However, the barrier can only withstand it once. After that, the seal will dissipate on its own."
The law sedimentation layer on the outer edge of the old domain was trampled under Sun Wukong's feet by the aftershocks of the great calamity, creating countless extremely deep white electric arc cracks.
The law vortex at the very center of the old domain's outline has taken shape, rotating at an extremely high speed. The law sediment layer at the edge is torn into countless extremely thin law fragments by the vortex's pulling force. The fragments rotate at high speed in the void, forming an extremely wide band of law fragments.
Xu stood at the edge of the debris field, his right hand pressed against the pale gold line on his chest, and his left hand supporting the core of the stone embryo, on the surface of which a silver-white crystal was pulsating at an extremely fast frequency.
The pulsating rhythm was perfectly synchronized with the speed at which the vacuum zone of the law at the core of the vortex was being compressed.
"There's only a tiny bit of space left in the vacuum zone. The fuse remnants are eroding the edge of the vacuum zone, and the rate of erosion is accelerating. Laozi's law seals have reached the outer edge of the old domain and are spreading out a law barrier."
"The frequency of the laws within the barrier has been tuned to match the heart's pulsation network. If the devouring pulse hits after the detonation, the barrier can neutralize 90% of the impact, and the heart's pulsation network can withstand the remaining 10%." Xu opened his eyes.
Sun Wukong unfastened the Pangu Axe from his waist, and the golden light on its blade cleaved a bright rift in the dark purple aura of the old domain's law fragments.
He shoved the axe into Xu's hand, took the crystal of flint from the Tanzhong acupoint on his chest, and held it in his hairy palm. When the flint inside the crystal came into contact with the law fragments on the outer edge of the old domain's law vortex, it spontaneously exploded into a ring of extremely faint dark red flames.
"After detonation, the devouring pulse is transmitted in reverse, and the strongest wave will hit the detonator first. The person who detonates the explosion must stand at the edge of the vacuum zone, closest to the vortex core."
"I'll detonate it. You take the Pangu Axe. If my spiritual platform is pierced by the devouring pulse, use the axe to cut out the source of that calamity's aftershock deep within my spiritual platform."
"After the calamity is cut out, the aftershocks will automatically transfer to your body. You can complete the remaining detonation process for me."
Xu took the Pangu Axe, and the golden light on the axe blade reflected in his pale golden pupils.
He remained silent for a moment, then pressed the stone core onto Sun Wukong's chest at the Tanzhong acupoint. The silvery-white crystal on the surface of the core brightened upon contact with the flint crystal.
After a brief clash between the internal laws of the two crystals within the Tanzhong acupoint in his chest, they merged on their own. After the fusion, the white arc armor woven from the aftershocks of the great calamity surrounding Sun Wukong changed from extremely bright to extremely pale silver-white.
The silvery-white interior contained extremely fine, dark red flames, and each flicker of the flames created a faint ripple of law in the void.
When the ripples spread to the surface of the old domain's law debris belt, the law structure inside the debris belt was slightly displaced for a moment by the ripples.
"The resonance frequency of the stone core can briefly disrupt the law structure of the old domain law fragments. The disruption lasts for a very short time, but it is enough for you to open a path directly to the vacuum zone in the fragment zone."
After saying this, Xu stuck the Pangu Axe into his back, turned around and retreated to the back of the law barrier created by Laozi's talisman.
The frequency of the laws within the barrier is in sync with the heart's pulsation network, and the pale golden law membrane stands out conspicuously in the dark purple halo of the old domain's law debris.
Sun Wukong turned to face the vortex of the old domain's laws, and the aftershocks of the great calamity beneath his feet exploded into a circle of extremely bright silver-white electric arcs in the void.
He carried the golden cudgel and charged into the zone of law fragments.
The resonant frequency of the stone core formed a very faint silver-white law membrane around him, and wherever the membrane passed, the law structure inside the debris belt was briefly disturbed.
The debris automatically pushed aside, revealing a straight vacuum channel of law. The channel pointed directly to the vacuum zone of law in the very center of the vortex core, which was being devoured by the fuse remnants.
As Sun Wukong approached, the law membrane at the edge of the vacuum zone suddenly contracted inward. After the contraction, countless extremely fine law cracks appeared on the surface of the membrane, and ancient dark purple law light surged from the depths of the cracks.
The fuse remnant accelerated and pulsated in the very center of the vacuum zone. Each pulsation released an extremely weak pulse of law, which struck the cracks at the edge of the vacuum zone, further widening them.
Sun Wukong rushed to the edge of the vacuum zone, gripped his staff with both hands, and the aftershocks of the great calamity on the staff exploded into a circle of extremely bright silver-white electric arcs on the law membrane wall at the edge of the vacuum zone.
The electric arc spread along the cracks on the membrane surface into the vacuum zone, and was blocked by the law defense mechanism inside the fuse debris when it reached the front of the debris.
A thick layer of grayish-white law-based slurry film spontaneously condensed on the surface of the wreckage. The law structure inside the film was completely homologous to the camouflage layer on the outer shell of the previous detector.
However, being thicker and denser, the electric arcs from the aftershocks of the cataclysmic event could only leave very shallow indentations on the membrane wall.
"This membrane is harder than the detector's outer shell, so the aftershocks of the cataclysm can't penetrate it. The fuse remnants are still emitting pulses inside the membrane, and the cracks at the edge of the vacuum zone are getting wider and wider. If this continues, the vacuum zone will collapse completely."
"Once the vacuum zone collapses, a vortex forms, the traction force is released, and the gatekeeper is pulled in."
Xu pressed his hand against the pale gold line on his chest. The heart's vascular network translated the real-time expansion speed of the cracks in the law at the edge of the vacuum zone into specific data, and the data was extremely pessimistic.
At the current rate of expansion, the vacuum zone could collapse completely in an instant.
The synchronization accuracy of the aftershocks of the calamity and the vortex of the old domain's laws has been adjusted to over 90%, and it can be detonated at any time.
After the explosion, the devouring pulse is transmitted in reverse, and the strongest wave will hit Sun Wukong first. The barrier created by Laozi's law seal can neutralize 90% of it, and Sun Wukong will have to bear the remaining 10%.
"Detonate it. If we drag this out any longer, the vacuum zone will collapse."
Su Fan stood at the edge of the South Heavenly Gate, holding the shattered mirror up to his eyes. The real-time image of the core of the Old Domain Law vortex on the mirror was extremely clear, so clear that he could see the trajectory of every arc of the aftershocks of the Great Calamity on Sun Wukong's staff.
Sun Wukong slammed his golden cudgel against the law membrane at the edge of the vacuum zone, the end of the cudgel wedging into the deepest crack on the membrane's surface.
The aftershocks of the great calamity on the rod flowed into the membrane wall along the cracks, creating a very brief resonance with the condensation frequency of the old domain's law vortex inside the membrane wall.
He pushed the frequency of the aftershocks of the calamity upwards by a fraction, until it was completely synchronized with the frequency of the condensation of the old domain's laws. At that moment, the law shockwave generated by the resonance exploded violently inside the vacuum zone.
As the fuse wreckage exploded, the law defense mechanism inside automatically released that extremely ancient devouring pulse. The pulse was transmitted in the opposite direction along the detonation trajectory, and the first wave of impact hit Sun Wukong's chest acupoint.
The stone core and the crystallized embers of flint on the surface of the Tanzhong acupoint exploded simultaneously under the impact, creating a ring of extremely bright law ripples that dispersed the impact force in all directions.
When the energy disperses onto the barrier created by Laozi's Law Seal, the Law Frequency and the frequency of the Devouring Pulse within the barrier dissipate simultaneously after neutralization.
The barrier shattered into countless faint fragments of the law, which slowly drifted away in the void.
The remaining ten percent of the impact force passed through the barrier and directly struck the source of the aftershock of the great calamity deep within Sun Wukong's spiritual center.
The internal laws and structures of the spiritual platform vibrated violently under the impact, and the vibration stabilized on its own after a short while.
After the explosion, the law membrane inside the vacuum zone began to disintegrate layer by layer from the center outwards. The disintegration was so fast that the fuse remnants were swallowed up by the disintegrating law fragments before they could fire the last pulse.
The condensation rhythm of the vortex core was disrupted. After the disruption, the vortex began to spread outward from the center. When it spread to the edge of the debris zone, the vortex's law-based traction force completely dissipated.
After it dissipated, the old domain returned to a state of extreme darkness and silence, with only the fragments of laws torn apart by the vortex slowly drifting away in the void.
Sun Wukong pulled the golden cudgel out of the wreckage in the vacuum zone, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and turned to walk towards the ruins.
After the stone embryo core and the molten flint crystal on the Tanzhong acupoint in the chest exploded, they each cracked with an extremely fine fissure. The residual aura of the laws emanating from the fissure was extremely weak but extremely stable.
"The Devouring Pulse withstood. Laozi's seal blocked ninety percent of it, and the Stone Embryo Core and the Flint Ember Crystal blocked the rest. The source of the Great Calamity's aftershock deep within my spiritual platform was shaken by the shockwave, but it became even more stable afterward."
He slammed the golden cudgel into the void and reached out to catch the Pangu axe that Xu handed him.
As Xu handed over the Pangu Axe halfway, the transparent scorch mark on his finger suddenly split open, and the embers of flint that surged out from the crack exploded in the void, creating a ring of extremely faint dark red flames.
The fuse remnant deep within the old domain, which had been swallowed by fragments of the law of disintegration, lit up again at the very bottom of the disintegration fragments.
It wasn't completely dead.
The core of the laws inside the wreckage was mostly shattered by the shockwave from the explosion, but a tiny seed of the laws remained deep inside.
After the old domain's vortex of laws dissipated, the seed absorbed the scattered fragments of laws around it and re-condensed into a very weak pulse of laws in a very short time.
The frequency of the pulse is exactly the same as the silver-white waveform that sent the encrypted message to the old domain before, but the direction is opposite. It is not towards the old domain, but towards a very distant area of dense laws in the depths of the void outside the old domain.
"That pulse was sending a signal deeper into the old domain. The signal's content lasted only a very brief moment. What was its content?"
Su Fan held the shattered mirror up to his eyes. The signal from the seed of law deep within the old domain on the mirror surface was extremely weak but extremely stable.
Xu closed his eyes and focused all his perception of his heart's pulse network on the frequency of that pulse.
A moment later, he opened his eyes, and his pale golden pupils reflected a very faint dark purple halo from the direction of the Old Domain.
"The signal contained only one sentence: The vortex of the old domain's laws has been forcibly detonated by an external force, and the detonator's body contains an extremely complete source of the chaotic laws and the will of all living beings."
"Both law samples have been transmitted back into this seed via the devouring pulse. The seed will soon return along the deep law channel of the old domain, sending the samples back to the origin of the second branch."
"It collected the aftershocks of the Great Sage's eon and samples of the will of all living beings within his body. The method of collection was to absorb a fragment of law from the depths of the Great Sage's Holy Spirit Platform during the reverse transmission of the Devouring Pulse."
"The fragment was extremely small, so small that even the Great Sage himself could not perceive it. But that tiny fragment contained the complete law frequency of the aftershocks of the calamity and the will of all living beings."
"If the second branch obtains this sample, they will be able to develop a causal law weapon that can specifically counter the laws of the primordial beings."
Su Fan slammed the broken mirror against the edge of the stack:
"After that fragment of the Great Sage was taken away, did it have any effect on him?"
"There was no substantial damage. The removal of a tiny fragment of the laws from the depths of his mind had almost no impact on the integrity of his law structure, and the intensity of the aftershocks of the Great Calamity would not decrease."
"But the frequency of the laws within that fragment is completely in sync with the will of the Dao of All Beings. If the second branch obtains the sample, they will not need to send detectors to scan the membrane wall. They can directly use the sample to analyze the complete law structure of the Dao of All Beings."
Xu placed his hand on his chest, and the rate of his heartbeat quickened a beat after he finished speaking.
"We must intercept the seed of law before it returns. However, the flow of laws within the deep law channel of the old domain is extremely fast, and the seed has already entered the channel."
"The exit of the channel is inside the origin of the second branch. The distance between the outer side of the membrane wall and the origin of the second branch is extremely far, but the movement speed inside the channel is extremely fast, leaving us very little time to intercept it."
"The only way to intercept it is to blast through the law membrane of the channel from the outside with the aftershocks of the kalpa before the seed reaches the origin of the second branch."
"After the tunnel is blasted open, the flow rate of the laws inside will drop sharply. After the drop, the seed will be sucked out of the tunnel by the vacuum of laws. After it is sucked out, use the Pangu Axe to erase the sample of laws inside the seed."
"After being erased, the seed becomes an extremely ordinary remnant of the law, and the remnant will no longer send any data to the second branch."
Yang Jian pieced the broken mirrors back together, and the mirror surfaces were marked with the real-time location of the deep law channel of the old domain and the speed at which the seed moved inside the channel.
Su Fan hoisted the Pangu Axe onto his shoulder and turned to walk towards the membrane wall.
Nezha followed behind him, carrying the Fire-Tipped Spear. After a few steps, he suddenly stopped and looked back at Eros.
"Since your third branch advocates neutrality, at least give us a straight answer: how many layers of the law defense structure of the second branch's origin are there, and where are the weak points of the outer defense? Even if you don't help us fight, at least give us the coordinates."
Eros remained silent for a moment.
He raised his right hand from his side, palm facing up, and the law crystal reappeared in his palm, with only one law clause still lit up inside.
He handed the crystal towards Nezha, and the crystal exploded in the void on its own. After the explosion, the crystal fragments pieced together a very simple map of laws above the city wall.
The map marked the precise locations of the three law defense layers surrounding the origin of the second branch, with the weak points of each defense layer marked by extremely fine purple-gold light dots.
"The second branch's origin is surrounded by three layers of legal defense. The first layer is a quantum beam interwoven with causal laws, the frequency of which is the same as the encrypted communication frequency of the detector, and the weak point is in the northeast corner of the network."
"The second layer is the old domain law fragment deposition layer. The law structure is extremely unstable, and the weak point is at the thinnest part of the deposition layer."
"The third layer is a collective defensive array of the core aggregates of the second branch of the law. The weak point is near the exit of the main law communication channel in the very center of the array."
"The Seed of Law returned from the deep passage of the Old Domain to the origin of the second branch, and the exit point of the passage was near the weak point of the third layer of defense."
"If you want to intercept the seed, you must use the aftershocks of the eon to blast open the exit of the channel the instant the seed leaves. After the blast, the seed's law structure will be forcibly torn apart by the pressure difference between the laws inside and outside the channel. After the torn apart, the law sample inside the seed will be automatically exposed."
Nezha slung his fire-tipped spear over his shoulder and curled his lips into a slight smile.
"Three layers of defense, and all three weak points have been marked. Your third branch's neutral stance is basically revealing the second branch's entire secrets to us—this neutrality is quite valuable."
"Alright, I thank you on behalf of the Primordial Era. I'll treat you to fried dough sticks after this battle." With that, he shouldered his gun and caught up with Su Fan. The two passed through the narrow opening in the membrane wall, stepping on fragments of Kunlun mother rock floating in the void, and flew towards the origin of the second branch.
Sun Wukong slammed his golden cudgel into the air, then followed Su Fan on his right, carrying the cudgel.
The two crystal cracks on the chest's Tanzhong acupoint were automatically filled by the aftershocks of the calamity during the flight. After they were filled, very faint dark gold law patterns were left on the cracks. The direction of the patterns was exactly the same as the faint gold line on Xu's chest.
Xu sat cross-legged on the rampart of the South Heavenly Gate, his right hand pressed against his chest. His heart network transmitted the real-time movement speed of the seeds inside the deep law channel of the old domain to Su Fan.
Yuanshi Tianzun sat cross-legged with his back straight, his whisk resting on his knees. His Dao heart pierced through the extremely dark void outside the membrane wall, locking onto the real-time law fluctuations of the three law defense layers surrounding the origin of the second branch.
Su Fan held the shattered mirror up to his eyes, and the signal movement speed of the law seed on the mirror surface jumped upwards at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The flow of laws within the deep law channel of the old domain is extremely fast, and the seed is already very close to the channel's exit.
He untied the Pangu Axe from his waist, gripped it with both hands, and the will of all living beings surged from the golden threads in his palms, flowing along the axe handle and into the axe blade. The golden light on the axe blade cleaved a bright rift of law in the void.
"The seed is about to emerge from the passage. Three layers of defense, knock it down one layer at a time."