Projection of the Heavens: I prove my immortality through slaughter.

His consciousness flickered like a candle in the wind, swaying in the boundless darkness and deathly silence. Lin Xuan could clearly feel the eerie power called "Dark Tide," which, like cold venom, was constantly eroding his projected consciousness. This erosion was not a physical attack, but a more fundamental pollution targeting the concept of existence and the origin of the spirit, attempting to assimilate him into the endless despair of this place.

If it weren't for his extremely high projection ability and his unbreakable Dao heart, he would probably have been lost and dissipated in this silent erosion long ago.

"This place is no place to linger." Lin Xuan immediately realized. In his current rootless and adrift state, let alone exploring the mysteries of this world, even self-preservation would be a problem. He needed to find an "anchor point," a vessel that could carry his consciousness and temporarily isolate him from the erosion of the dark currents.

Divine senses (more akin to perception in this context) spread outwards like ripples, struggling to penetrate the suffocating darkness. The world was too vast and filled with interference, compressing the range of perception to its limit.

Deathly silence remained the dominant theme. He swept past countless ruins of collapsed mage towers, sensing the lingering magical aura within, long since corrupted and distorted by the dark currents; he swept past dried-up riverbeds, once the wellspring of life now reduced to murky sediment; he swept past massive ruins of city-states, as if torn apart by an invisible giant hand, with only weathered skeletons telling tales of past carnage.

Just as his consciousness was fading further and further, almost being completely swallowed by the undercurrent—

A faint yet exceptionally pure and resilient "fluctuation," like the last star in the night, suddenly entered his field of perception!

That fluctuation was neither the filth of an undercurrent nor the silence of life, but a... rhythm of life! A spark of the soul that was a mixture of despair, resentment, and fear, yet clung to the last glimmer of clarity and hope!

found it!

Without hesitation, Lin Xuan's consciousness, like a weary bird finding its way home, followed the ripple and sped off in a certain direction.

It was a half-collapsed mage tower situated on the edge of a massive crack. The tower leaned, its protective runes long since faded and broken, covered in signs of corrosion. But deep within the tower's base, in a small space shrouded by layers upon layers of protective magic arrays, their light so faint as to be almost imperceptible, the fluctuations emanated from there.

Lin Xuan's consciousness penetrated the crumbling protective array (which seemed to be mainly aimed at the Dark Tide, and had limited obstruction to Lin Xuan's special form of consciousness) and entered the small shelter.

Inside the space, there was only a stone bed, a bookshelf (most of the books on it had turned to ashes), and a figure huddled in a corner.

It was a man who appeared quite young, dressed in a gray mage's robe stained and torn in several places. He had short, dull, flaxen hair, deeply sunken cheeks, chapped lips, and a deathly pale complexion. But his eyes, a pair of emerald green pupils, were burning with an almost obsessive flame, fixed on a book floating before him, made of unknown metal foil and emitting a faint white light.

His body was trembling slightly, clearly on the verge of exhaustion, both physically and mentally. But his fingers, resting on the metal book, remained as steady as a rock, with a barely perceptible, spider-silk-like magic flowing from his fingertips, maintaining the fragile protective array around him and sustaining the last embers of his own life.

"Elwin West..." A name naturally surfaced in Lin Xuan's perception, information gleaned from the young mage's lingering, intense self-awareness. He was a mage, or rather, he once was. In this desolate magical domain, with the magic network collapsed and magic power depleted, he had long lost the ability to cast true magic. He could only rely on the remaining power of this specially crafted spellbook inherited from his mentor, and on squeezing out his own life essence, to barely maintain this last sanctuary.

He was one of the last strugglers in this dying world. He was the last, undried stroke of blood on the tombstone of civilization.

Lin Xuan could sense the overwhelming despair deep within Erwin's soul—the helplessness in the face of the impending apocalypse, the grief over the successive deaths of his companions and mentors, the anger at his own insignificance, and the fear of this eternally dark future. But at the same time, there was also a deep-rooted yearning for "life," a pursuit of "light," that he would not give up even if it meant burning himself out!

This unwavering will in the face of absolute despair stirred even the most steadfast Dao heart in Lin Xuan.

"It's you."

There was no better option; Erwin was currently the only living being who remained conscious. Moreover, his unwavering will was the best barrier against the erosion of the dark currents.

Lin Xuan no longer hesitated. His already very weak projected consciousness, like a gentle stream of water, slowly and carefully merged into Elwin's almost defenseless, collapsing sea of ​​consciousness.

没有抵抗.

Or rather, Elwin was too weak, so weak that he couldn't even detect this invasion of consciousness from another world. All his attention was focused on maintaining the protective array and fighting the pain of his soul being devoured by the dark tide.

The integration process went surprisingly smoothly.

The instant Lin Xuan's consciousness made complete contact with Elwin's sea of ​​consciousness—

"boom!!!"

It was as if two stars had collided! Countless fragments of Erwin's memories surged and crashed against Lin Xuan's consciousness like a flood bursting its banks!

He saw the sun-drenched Wester family manor, the carefree days of chasing light butterflies in the garden as a child; the excitement and thrill of first successfully sensing the magic network under his mentor's guidance, the tiny flames leaping from his fingertips; the passionate years of diligent study in the magnificent mage tower, debating magical principles with his classmates; he also saw the sky shatter, the seven moons dim, the world lose its color, and all living beings wail as the dark tide descended; he saw his mentor, to cover their retreat, resolutely detonating the core of the mage tower, perishing together with the surging dark tide creatures; he saw his companions collapse one by one in despair, either corrupted by the dark tide into monsters or taking their own lives…

Finally, all the images freeze in this dark, cold, and crumbling shelter, depicting the endless torment of struggling alone against eternal darkness.

The overwhelming negative emotions—despair, sadness, fear, and anger—almost overwhelmed Lin Xuan's consciousness. If his Dao Heart had not been indestructible, far surpassing those of his peers, he would likely have been instantly overwhelmed by this torrent of memories, or even assimilated by Elwin's despair.

"Hold fast to your true self, I am Lin Xuan!" Lin Xuan shouted in his heart, like a stabilizing force, firmly guarding the clarity of his own consciousness. He began to use his powerful divine soul essence to sort out and soothe Elwin's chaotic and collapsing consciousness, while slowly and tentatively taking over control of this body.

This is not possession, but more like a kind of "symbiosis" or "possession". Lin Xuan's consciousness is dominant, while Elwin's consciousness is in a deep slumber. His memories, knowledge, and emotions become a "database" that Lin Xuan can access, and his body becomes the "shell" for Lin Xuan to move in this world.

The process lasted for an unknown amount of time. When Lin Xuan "opened" his eyes again, what came into view was the unchanging leaden-gray sky seen through the cracks in the broken tower top. He looked down and saw his (Elwin's) hands, with distinct knuckles, covered in dirt and tiny scars, and felt the extreme weakness, hunger, and cold of this body.

An unprecedented sense of heaviness and constraint washed over him. This body was too weak, and due to the collapse of the magic network and the long-term depletion of its life essence, its interior was riddled with hidden injuries, and its meridians (or rather, the magic circuits of this world) were blocked and atrophied. Let alone casting immortal cultivation spells, even moving was extremely difficult.

At the same time, the pervasive, corrosive power of the dark current, through the crumbling protective array, continuously acted on this body and the consciousness of Lin Xuan attached to it, bringing a cold, malevolent intent that seemed to freeze the soul.

The harshness of the environment and the fragility of the carrier far exceeded expectations.

Lin Xuan (possessed by Elwin) tried to mobilize the negligible, almost depleted magic power within his body, only to be able to emit a faint light at his fingertips, dimmer than a firefly, unable to even perform the most basic magic tricks.

He then focused his consciousness into his dantian, attempting to circulate the cultivation techniques of the Azure Netherworld and draw energy into his body. However, the sparse energy in the outside air was not only violently distorted but also mixed with a dense aura of dark currents, making it impossible to refine and absorb normally. Forcibly introducing it would only accelerate the collapse of his body and further pollute him.

"The Absolute Magic Domain... truly lives up to its name." Lin Xuan thought with a chill. In this world, any cultivation system that relies on external energy is an absolute death trap!

He turned his gaze to the floating, faintly glowing metallic book before him. This was a relic left by his mentor, Elwin—the "Root Codex (Fragment)." He scanned it with his divine sense (using Elwin's mental power). It didn't contain specific magical incantations, but rather much about the nature of magic, the structure of the magic network, the origin of elements, and some conjectures and discussions concerning the rules of the world. It even included some observations about the "Dark Tide" and… unverified, hypothetical countermeasures.

One of the arguments caught Lin Xuan's attention:

"...Magic doesn't arise from nothing; it originates from the soul's manipulation and resonance with the world's rules. The magic network is merely a channel through which the rules manifest, not the power itself. When the channel collapses, the rules still exist. Perhaps there is a way to bypass the magic network and directly touch the source of the rules with the soul... However, this path is fraught with peril, bordering on self-destruction, requiring immense perseverance and wisdom, and the road ahead is unknown..."

Bypassing the magic net and directly touching the origin of the rules with one's soul?

A glint of light flashed in Lin Xuan's deep eyes (at this moment, they were Elwin's emerald eyes, yet they contained the depth of Lin Xuan's eternal starry sky).

For other mages, this might be a dead end. But for him, it seems... to be a path worth trying?

His path to immortality emphasizes the tempering of his own soul and the comprehension of the great Dao of Heaven and Earth. His ability of "projection of all heavens" may, in essence, involve contact with and mapping of the underlying rules of the world in a way that transcends the conventional.

In this special world where energy is depleted, rules are distorted, and contradictions between various laws are highlighted due to the closure, it may be a perfect "furnace" to cast aside appearances, go straight to the source, and verify and temper one's own way!

Danger and opportunity, once again, were presented to him in the most extreme form.

He glanced at the increasingly dim protective array around him, and then sensed the condition of his body.

Time is running out.