Young Jiang Ziya

Darkness is not a complete void.

Lu Shang's consciousness floated in a chaotic, dim light. He couldn't feel his body, only a pure sense of "existence." The ancient sigh echoed in his ears—"Dao Seal." These two words, like a pebble thrown into a still lake, stirred up ripples that slowly spread deep within his consciousness.

He "saw" some fragmented images:

In the endless void, a colossal rift stretched across the galaxy, its interior swirling with gray mist and dark currents. At the rift's edge, several towering, indistinct figures struggled to lay down countless points of light, attempting to mend the crack, but with little success. One of the figures seemed to glance back, its gaze piercing through endless space and time, meeting Lü Shang's eyes for a fleeting moment. That gaze contained a heavy sense of responsibility and a faint…hope.

The scene shattered and then reformed. It was a vibrant land, teeming with life, where a hundred races coexisted, brimming with spiritual energy. But the cracks in the sky remained, only now covered and suppressed by layers of seals and a strange "network." The points of light had become part of the earth's mountains and rivers, faintly forming a vast and intricate array. Deep within the cracks, a cold gaze seemed to be watching.

The scene shifted again. The earth trembled, the sky and earth cracked. The seal on the rift shuddered violently, and countless points of light dimmed and extinguished. An ancient-looking object, emitting a soft white light, was thrown into the depths of the rift, bursting forth with dazzling light and temporarily calming the turmoil. That object… vaguely resembled the outline of a “key.” And the rift itself seemed to undergo some indescribable change because of the input of this “key,” its desire to devour becoming more hidden and persistent.

Countless fragments of information, emotions, and whispers flooded into Lü Shang's "perception": desperate sacrifices, difficult balances, continuous confrontations, heavy vigils... and a core concept—a vast array of locks constructed with heaven and earth as the furnace, all spirits as the fuel, and the "Dao Seal" as the pivot.

These fragments were too vast and chaotic, far exceeding Lü Shang's comprehension. He felt as if his consciousness was being torn apart, assimilated, and sunk into that eternal responsibility and sigh.

Just as consciousness was about to completely dissipate, a cool and gentle power was injected, like sweet dew dripping into a scorching desert.

That power was both familiar and strange, carrying the tides of the sea and the depth of the starry sky. It gently enveloped Lü Shang's collapsing core of consciousness, isolating it from most of the impact, sorting out and suppressing the fragmented images and information, leaving only the most superficial and crucial impressions.

Lü Shang's consciousness was like that of a drowning person being pulled to the surface, suddenly "awakening".

He gasped for breath, finding himself lying on a cold metal platform. His entire body ached as if it were falling apart, especially his right arm, where he had touched the mark; the skin was an unnatural, burnt red, with a faint golden light emanating from it, sending waves of burning and tingling sensations through him. The azure orb lay quietly beside him, its light dim, yet still radiating a steady coolness.

"woke up?"

Yin Jiao's voice came from above. Lü Shang turned his head with difficulty and saw Yin Jiao walking quickly down the maintenance passage, his face showing an unusual solemnity and a hint of barely perceptible concern.

"What...what's wrong with me?" Lu Shang's voice was hoarse and dry.

"You activated something you shouldn't have." Yin Jiao crouched down, examining his arm. His gaze lingered on the wandering golden light for a moment, his eyes filled with complex emotions. "What you just touched wasn't a simple energy channeling rune of the Kunxu Clan. That was a 'Dao Seal,' or rather, a 'mark' or 'interface' left by the 'Dao Seal' in the core of this Ark."

"The Dao Seal?" Lü Shang recalled that ancient sigh. "What is that? I seem to see many things, yet I seem to grasp nothing at all."

"It's a good thing you couldn't catch it." Yin Jiao's tone was serious. "'Dao Seal' is connected to the most fundamental laws and ancient secrets of this world. Directly receiving its information impact is enough to cause the soul of an ordinary cultivator to collapse. It's already a blessing that you were able to wake up." He pointed to the precious pearl. "It's also thanks to it that you had a sliver of clarity in your mind. Your last 'Stop,' and the certain... special affinity that seems to exist within you, triggered a faint resonance of the Dao Seal mark, which miraculously stabilized the core."

Yin Jiao helped Lü Shang sit up and fed him a pill with a seaweed fragrance. As the medicine took effect, Lü Shang felt the pain lessen and his strength return somewhat.

"So, the 'Dao Seal' is the key to sealing the Ruins of Return? Not the 'Key'?" Lü Shang grasped the key point in his thoughts.

"The key is the 'lock,' and the Dao Seal is the 'blueprint' and 'source of power' that constructs the entire 'lock,'" Yin Jiao explained, his gaze fixed on the core that had returned to calm and was slowly rotating. "According to the Kunxu Clan's most confidential speculation, and the scattered information I just gleaned from the Ark's deep database after you activated the Dao Seal... In ancient times, some powerful beings realized that they couldn't completely heal the 'scar of the world' that was Guixu. So, as a second choice, they used their supreme divine powers to imprint a power close to the fundamental laws of the world—the mark of the 'Dao'—on the spatial structure and even the timeline surrounding Guixu, weaving it into a vast, all-encompassing net to limit its expansion and devouring. The 'key' is more like an 'adjustable valve' or 'emergency latch' that later beings added to this net to deal with a particular crisis. But this latch itself seems to have become a focal point for Guixu's perception and erosion."

He paused, looking at the golden light on Lü Shang's arm that had not yet completely subsided: "You were actually able to trigger the resonance of the Dao Seal... Even though it's only the most peripheral mark, it's enough to show that your spiritual energy, or your 'existence,' has some kind of extremely deep connection with this Dao Seal system. This connection is probably more direct than the inheritance of the Goddess Daiqing, or the dream of Yi Jiang."

Lu Shang looked down at his arm, feeling the strange power that subtly resonated with his own spiritual energy yet far surpassed it, and was deeply shocked. He recalled his peculiar journey to enlightenment, his extraordinary perception of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth… Could all of this be related to this so-called "Dao Seal"?

"Who...am I?" A bewildering and heavy question uncontrollably surfaced in my mind.

Yin Jiao was silent for a moment. "Perhaps you need to find the answer to this question yourself. But right now, we have a clearer direction and... leverage."

He helped Lü Shang up: "The resonance of the Dao Seal not only stabilized the core of the Ark, but also briefly 'purified' a small area around it. The 'Ancient Evil' outside has temporarily retreated, and the suction of the Ruins has returned to normal tidal levels. More importantly, it opened a path to the database deeper inside the Ark—the core storage area of ​​the Kunxu Clan's research on the Ruins and Dao Seals, which had been inaccessible before due to energy and access issues."

The two returned to the observatory along the maintenance corridor. Outside the transparent barrier, the gray fog remained, but the terrifying shadows had indeed temporarily disappeared. Only the Void Vortex swirled slowly in the far distance, appearing much "calmer."

Yin Jiao led Lü Shang to the other side of the star-gazing room, where there was originally a smooth metal wall. At this moment, a complex three-dimensional rune composed of soft white light slowly rotated on the wall, somewhat similar to the Dao seal that Lü Shang had just touched.

"Place your hands on it. Concentrate and recall the feeling you had when you activated the Dao Seal just now," Yin Jiao instructed.

Lu Shang did as instructed, placing his right hand, still faintly glowing with golden light, on the white runes. He closed his eyes, trying to recall the thrill of that moment, that feeling of connecting with a vast being.

The white light runes suddenly brightened, rippling out like water and rapidly expanding across the entire wall. The solid metal wall silently transformed into light, then "melted" inward to create an arched passageway entrance. Inside the passageway, the light was soft, and the walls were a translucent milky white, flowing with energy patterns even denser and more mysterious than those in the observatory.

"Walk."

The passageway wasn't long, ending at a small spherical room. Suspended in the center of the room was a head-sized, prismatic crystal that constantly shifted its iridescent light. Below the crystal was a small platform, also composed of white light, projecting densely packed, layered texts, diagrams, and dynamic images—content far more in-depth and systematic than what was seen in the observatory.

This is the true core of the Kunxu Clan's research on the Return to the Void.

Yin Jiao immediately began browsing and filtering through this massive amount of information. Lü Shang also mustered his energy to help identify some graphic data related to energy structures and spiritual frequencies (he discovered that his intuitive understanding of these things far surpassed that of written text).

The information flow is astonishingly large, but several key points are gradually becoming clear:

1. **The Structure of Guixu:** The Kunxu Clan modeled it as a multi-layered "onion" or "vortex" structure. The outermost layer is a "graveyard" formed by the remnants of matter and energy (the outer edge where they currently reside); inwards are areas of turbulent energy flow and breeding grounds for "ancient evil"; the core is speculated to be an extremely distorted "singularity" or "interface," possibly an unstable channel connecting other dimensions, or perhaps a nest of some kind of "sleeping will." The giant "Dao Seal" network primarily acts on the "interface area" between the core and the outer layers, suppressing its activity.

2. **The Essence of Ancient Evils**: They are not native to the Ruins of Return, but rather beings attracted and mutated by the unique environment of the Ruins of Return, or "leaked" from other dimensions. They rely on the high concentration of chaotic energy emanating from the Ruins of Return to survive, and exhibit a strong aversion to and desire to devour ordered spiritual energy and life force. Some higher-level Ancient Evils may possess rudimentary intelligence and be influenced by a "collective consciousness" or "dominant will" that may exist deep within the Ruins of Return.

3. **The Relationship Between the Key and the Dao Seal:** Later research by the Kunxu Clan suggests that the materials or principles used to forge the "Key" may have stolen or imitated some of the power of the "Dao Seal," giving it the ability to interfere with the Guixu seal. However, this is a crude and unstable imitation, like using a stolen fragment of a seal to stamp something, which only exposes the seal's location and may interfere with its original effectiveness. The use of the "Key" is like tearing a temporary opening in the giant web of the Dao Seal. This opening will slowly repair itself, but each time it is torn open, it weakens the integrity of the giant web and allows Guixu to become more familiar with this "interference pattern."

4. **Possible Countermeasures**: The Kunxu Clan has proposed several theoretical directions. First, "Strengthening the Dao Seal": Finding and repairing the weak points in the Dao Seal network, even attempting to supplement it with new Dao Seal power (but they lack the methods and qualifications). Second, "Reverse Analysis of the Key": Thoroughly understanding the principles of the key, eliminating its negative effects, or transforming it into a tool to truly strengthen the seal (again, lacking crucial data). Third, "Direct Intervention in the Core": Sending elite forces to infiltrate the deepest part of the Guixu to attempt to communicate with the possible "will" (considered a suicidal mission), or directly attacking the "Primordial Vortex Eye" (considered a theoretical possibility, but without a feasible solution). Fourth, "Constructing a Spiritual Energy Barrier": Establishing a large-scale, continuous energy filtering and neutralization field between the Guixu and the mortal world (requiring unimaginable resources and a continuous energy supply).

After reading this, Lü Shang and Yin Jiao fell silent. The prospect was more severe than they had anticipated, but it was not without hope. At least, they had clarified the level of the problem and that the "Dao Seal" was the real key.

"We must go back." Yin Jiao broke the silence first, his tone resolute. "The anomaly in Yunmengze is the breakthrough point through which the Guixu Erosion has penetrated into the mortal world through the weak point of the 'Key.' We must stabilize there, otherwise, once the breach widens, the Dao Seal Network may experience a chain reaction of collapse. Moreover, we need to bring the information here back. The issue of the Key must be reassessed, and the connection to Yi Jiang must be investigated as soon as possible."

Lu Shang nodded, then a thorny problem came to mind: "How do we get back? Back the way we came? What about the tides and the Ancient Evil outside..."

Yin Jiao pointed to a corner of the room where there were several inconspicuous metal cabinets. He opened one of them, inside which were neatly arranged several folded, matte silver-gray garments, as well as a few palm-sized flat devices.

"The Kunxu Clan's 'Void Walker' equipment." Yin Jiao took out two sets of clothing and devices. "The close-fitting protective suit can isolate the erosion of the Guixu environment to a certain extent and provide short-range flight and survival functions. This," he picked up a flat device, "is a short-range directional jump beacon, preset with the coordinates of the nearest stable exit to return to the 'Sea Eye Tunnel.' After the Ark Core recovers to minimum stability, it should be able to provide enough energy for one jump."

This was undoubtedly a timely help. The two quickly changed into their protective suits. The clothing was thin yet exceptionally durable, automatically conforming to their bodies, providing a cool sensation, and making breathing much easier. Yin Jiao secured the beacon device to his wrist and began calibration.

"Hold on tight. The jump process might be bumpy," Yin Jiao gestured.

Lü Shang gripped Yin Jiao's arm tightly. Yin Jiao pressed the beacon.

The light in the spherical room dimmed abruptly, and a thin beam of blue light projected from the central prismatic crystal, enveloping the two. The familiar sensation of penetrating the viscous medium returned, even more intense than when they entered.

Just as their figures began to blur and were about to disappear, out of the corner of Lü Shang's eye, he seemed to catch a fleeting image flashing by extremely quickly within the interior of the suspended prismatic crystal, deep within the seven-colored halo—

It was a figure standing alone beneath a transparent dome resembling an observatory, gazing at the eternal gray fog and the desolate ruins outside. The silhouette of that figure bore a striking resemblance to Yin Jiao. A faint, almost imperceptible fluctuation of consciousness emanated from the crystal, carrying with it endless vicissitudes and a hint of resignation:

"Witnesses...the mission continues..."

The next second, the world spun around.

They were thrown into a light tunnel of leap.

After they left, the observatory of the Ark of Desolation fell silent once more. The core blue light maintained a minimal flicker. Outside the transparent dome, deep within the gray fog, several enormous, cold "eyes" slowly opened and then slowly closed, as if everything that had just happened was merely an insignificant ripple.

Only beside the core base, the Dao seal imprint soaked in Lü Shang's blood retained a faint but pure golden light, like a spark that refused to be extinguished in the darkness.