sinovels Chapter 995 A Blank Mind
Chapter 995 A Blank Mind
Lin Qiye's body stiffened abruptly, almost losing control of his body.
In that instant, a gigantic claw suddenly emerged from the swirling, gray-black clouds overhead. The claw was entirely black, covered in a bony carapace, each claw several tens of feet long, its tips gleaming with a chilling light. It slowly extended from the clouds, and unhurriedly slammed down towards the four people on the mountain ridge.
It was like swatting four ants.
Mo Yuan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He roared, and the narrow blade in his hand erupted with a dazzling azure light. A blade aura several meters long shot out, slashing head-on at the giant claw. But the blade aura, powerful enough to split a small mountain, only sparked a trail of tiny sparks when it struck the bone armor on the giant claw's surface. It didn't even leave a white mark before being silently absorbed by the patterns on the bone armor.
Mr. Xun formed hand seals, activating all the defensive talismans on his body simultaneously. Layer upon layer of golden light screens unfolded above the four people's heads, instantly creating more than ten layers of protection. This was his trump card for survival; each layer of light screen could withstand a full-force attack from a high-ranking deacon, and with more than ten layers stacked together, it was enough to block any defense.
Then the giant claw merely approached the outer light barrier—
The first layer of light curtain shattered silently.
Second floor, third floor, fourth floor—
The dozen or so layers of light barriers shattered in less than a breath, like soap bubbles being gently popped by a finger. Those defensive formations, strong enough to withstand a high-ranking deacon's full-force attack, couldn't even delay the giant claw for a second.
Mr. Xun spat out another mouthful of blood, his whole body leaning backward, only managing to stay upright because Ajiu held him tightly.
Lin Qiye didn't attempt to attack the giant claw. He grabbed Mr. Xun's arm, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and simultaneously pulled Ajiu's wrist with his other hand. With a sudden burst of power, he sprinted towards the steep slope on the other side of the ridge. His Blood Demon Power erupted in full force at that moment, dark golden light exploding around him. Each step he took left a deep footprint in the layer of bone ash, and he was like a dark golden meteor hurtling close to the ground, dragging the two of them forward.
Mo Yuan followed closely behind, his movements fully unleashed. His narrow blade slashed behind him, creating a continuous curtain of cyan light, attempting to delay the giant claw for even a few moments. However, he knew in his heart that the effect of those blade curtains was minimal; their survival depended entirely on whether Lin Qiye could find cover before the giant claw landed.
Lin Qiye's gaze swept frantically across the area at top speed, finally locking onto a massive bone spike protruding from the side of the ridge in the next instant. Beneath the spike was a naturally formed narrow crack. Without hesitation, he carried the two men and crashed directly into the crack. Mo Yuan also slipped in at the last moment.
Then, the giant claw came down.
The ridge crumbled and collapsed under the giant claws like a crushed cookie, and large amounts of rubble and bone fragments tumbled down from above, completely blocking the entrance to the fissure. The shockwave swept past the fissure where they were hiding, carrying a suffocatingly heavy pressure that made the rock walls inside the fissure tremble.
The four people were crammed into the narrow crevice, surrounded by darkness. The only source of light was the still-burning blue aura of the Mo Yuan sword, which illuminated their four pale and solemn faces.
Outside, the deep, ancient heartbeat continued.
Each sound caused the cracked rock wall to tremble slightly, as if the entire mountain range was beating along with that heart.
Mo Yuan leaned against the rock wall, panting heavily for a few moments, then pulled out a jade talisman from his robes. It was an emergency communication talisman from the Overwatch Council, crafted from special materials, capable of transmitting distress signals in a short time. He bit his fingertip, dripping a drop of blood onto the jade talisman. The runes on its surface glowed with a pale golden light and began to operate.
Then, the light flashed twice and went out completely.
Mo Yuan's face darkened to the bottom.
"Communication has been blocked. The spatial laws of this area have been completely distorted by the pulse of that heart. Not to mention communication, even teleportation arrays cannot function here."
"That means we're trapped here." Ajiu's voice was low, but surprisingly calm. She took out a few emergency pills from her pouch and distributed them to everyone. She then checked Mr. Xun's pulse and confirmed that although the backlash of his source energy was severe, it was not fatal. Only then did she begin to treat the wounds on her body caused by the rubble.
Mr. Xun leaned against the rock wall, his eyes closed, his breathing shallow and rapid. He had clearly suffered a severe blow to his spirit, not only from the backlash of the shattered array stones, but also from the psychological trauma left by the monster on the rock wall earlier.
Lin Qiye placed Mr. Xun against the rock wall, then sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing. The extreme sprint just now had consumed a lot of his Origin Qi, but at this moment, the Blood Demon Power within his body was recovering at a speed far exceeding usual—the resonance from the depths of the mountains, although unsettling, had also accelerated the circulation of his Origin Qi to some extent, as if something had awakened a dormant part of his power.
After a brief respite, the four of them gradually calmed down.
Mo Yuan leaned against the rock wall on the other side of the crevice, his sword resting across his knees. The azure blade's light had completely faded, leaving only a faint glow on its surface. He took out a piece of dry rations from his robes, broke it into several pieces, and distributed them to the others, his movements unhurried, as if performing some kind of ritual to restore his composure. A-Jiu took the rations and silently ate them, her gaze sweeping across the darkness, occasionally glancing at the pile of rubble at the entrance of the crevice—the giant claw outside had retracted, or rather, there was no sign of it striking again. But the oppressive feeling hadn't disappeared; instead, it had grown even heavier, as if something even larger was slowly approaching.
After taking a few emergency pills, Mr. Xun's complexion improved slightly, but his mental state remained very poor. He leaned against the rock wall, his eyes half-closed, his lips moving but no sound coming out, as if he was repeatedly recalling the words spoken by the "himself" who had been nailed to the rock wall.
"Mr. Xun," Mo Yuan said calmly, brushing the crumbs off his hands after finishing his dry rations, "what that thing said just now—"
"It's true." Mr. Xun suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse as if it came from a dry well. "At least the part about the exploration team from twenty-six years ago is true."
There was a moment of silence in the crack.
"That year, I was indeed a trainee array master in the Oversight Council, and I did participate in that exploration team to investigate the Bone Tower's anomaly in Blackwater Canyon. As for the other five team members... I really can't remember their names or faces now. It's not that I've forgotten them because of the passage of time, but rather it feels like... something forcibly dug them out. I know they existed, but whenever I try to recall who they were, my mind goes completely blank."