A Comprehensive Network: An Endless Adventure Begins as a Wanderer

Chapter 123 The Devil and the Prospect

Cheng Yi looked at the scarlet message on the panel, his expression turning somewhat grim.

He frowned and began to ponder.

0.12% seal integrity.

It can only last for ten calendar years.

Something's wrong, something's very wrong.

If he remembered correctly, the seal on the Shadow Realm in the Shadow Realm was at least 26% intact.

This was before he made some repairs to maintain its integrity.

This precipitous drop in integrity likely indicates some enormous change has occurred within the seal.

Cheng Yi took a deep breath and sat up from the sofa.

Although the exhaustion had subsided and his body had regained its former lightness, his mood was now heavier than it had been two days prior.

He opened the Secret Realm panel.

【Dimensional Realm: Shadowy Demon Realm】

[Current seal integrity: 0.12%]

[Estimated remaining time: 10 calendar years]

[Reason for seal damage: Powerful external attack (suspected artifact-level item)]

[Damaged Level: Third Layer - Inner Sealed Wall]

A divine artifact-level item.

Cheng Yi's eye twitched.

So there was something like this inside the seal from our ancestors?

Regardless, Cheng Yi felt he had to go check out the seal.

The shadows spread silently from his feet, engulfing him.

After visiting the Shadow Realm, when Cheng Yi opened his eyes again, he was already standing in the Shadow Realm.

The world was dark, and the surroundings were made up of shadows.

Gray mist swirled beneath his feet, and in the distance lay the collapsed, massive palace, its shadows slowly swirling on the dome of the main hall.

Cheng Yi walked through the ruins and entered the main hall.

But unlike the last time I came, the Shadow Paradox Star was much dimmer, and its surface was covered with fine cracks.

Dark purple light fragments occasionally spilled from the cracks, rippled a short distance from the celestial body, and were then swallowed up by the surrounding shadows.

Cheng Yi stopped and looked up at the shadowy, paradoxical star.

At that moment, he felt a sense of extension in his perception.

The vastness and profundity connected to the core of the seal before him—

[Network notification: Consciousness fluctuations detected in this dimension; character granted temporary observation privileges for the dimensional secret realm —]

Cheng Yi's consciousness was pulled into the core of the Shadow Star seal.

He saw the inside of the seal.

The structure is three-layered, nested within each other, with each layer inscribed with a dense array of shadowy talismans.

Cheng Yi could sense the power of these talismans.

Sealing, suppression, imprisonment—every stroke of the pen contains the glory of the past and the weight of eternity.

But now, a hole has been torn in this thick layer of fabric.

There is a huge crack on the inner wall of the third seal.

Dark blue frost had condensed at the edge of the crack, and the frost was slowly spreading like a living thing, eroding the surrounding shadowy talismans.

With the temporary enhancement of his perception within the dimensional secret realm, Cheng Yi could sense the residual energy fluctuations at the crack.

The energy was cold, violent, and carried a peculiar sulfurous odor.

Someone broke into the seal with a divine artifact and caused damage from the inside out.

Cheng Yi controlled his senses and explored deeper into the third layer.

A dead silence.

From the outside, the third layer looks similar to the first layer, both being a desolate wilderness.

However, with the temporary enhancement of observation and perception granted by the dimensional consciousness and sealing authority, Cheng Yi saw huge skeletons buried beneath the ordinary and desolate appearance!

Even though these skeletons had long been buried here, Cheng Yi could still feel the terrifying aura emanating from them.

On this vast wasteland above the skeletons, the only living thing Cheng Yi could see was the blue devil sitting quietly on a hill.

[Level 19 Ice Demon/High-Rank Demon/Artifact Overdraft/Unpredictable Mark/Shadow Seal/Isto Kanavich]

The moment Cheng Yi saw this demon, he knew that this ice demon, which was only one step away from becoming a legend, was the demonic nemesis that had been brought here by the Impermanence of All Things Card.

However, it seems this demon was sealed away by the hidden measures of the elders of the Dark Path.

Cheng Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

A level 19 high-ranking demon.

They're just one step away from becoming legends.

Cheng Yi silently withdrew his previous thought that he "had to go and take a look at the seal."

What are you looking at? What's so interesting?

They could crush you with a single finger.

However, Cheng Yi wasn't too frustrated.

After all, that ice demon is still sealed and imprisoned, and it can't get out even if it wants to.

10 years.

Cheng Yi looked at the line "Estimated remaining time: 10 calendar years" on the panel and quickly started calculating in his mind.

Ten calendar years is neither a long nor a short time.

On the scale of ordinary life, 10 years is enough for a naive teenager to grow into a young adult, and for a middle-aged person to enter old age.

Cheng Yi estimated that in three to five years, he would be able to reach or even surpass the current level of that ice demon.

Moreover, there are also the new players who have joined the integrated network.

They will grow too.

Once these players reach level 5, the Shadow Realm will be open to them.

At that time, the players who flood into the secret realm will clear out the monsters layer by layer, like ants gnawing at bones, and repair the seal little by little.

From this perspective, the future looks quite bright.

Thinking about this, Cheng Yi felt much more relaxed.

However, we cannot place all our hopes on the future.

After all, the seal only has 10 years left.

If players don't grow fast enough, or if the seal breaks down faster than expected, then ultimately they'll have to rely on themselves.

Cheng Yi took a deep breath and exited the temporary observation mode.

His consciousness returned to the main hall, where the shadowy star above his head was still slowly rotating, and dark purple light fragments overflowing from the cracks sprinkled onto his shoulders.

He turned and walked out of the main hall, through the ruins, and back to the wasteland of the Shadow Realm.

The gray-black mist churned beneath his feet, and the shadowy peaks in the distance were outlined in a blurry silhouette in the darkness.

Cheng Yi did not rush to leave, but stood on the stone steps outside the hall and looked back at the broken plaque that read "Shang An Dao".

The blurred ancient seal script appeared and disappeared in the shadows, with a dim, ghostly light flowing between the strokes.

"ten years."

Cheng Yi said something in a low voice, as if making a promise to this palace that had been silent for thousands of years, or as if he were talking to himself.

It's like making a promise to the world—

Then, shadows surged forth from beneath his feet—

When Cheng Yi opened his eyes again, he was already back in the living room of the old house.

He walked to the sofa, sat down, and turned on the integrated network panel.

The unexpected situation just now reminded him of something.

It's time to put advancing to the extraordinary level on the established agenda.

Cheng Yi's gaze fell on the daily dungeon icon —

The Comet card's effect should be triggered now.