"The psychological shift is a start, Lin Feng, but the geometry in your sternum doesn't care about your newfound resolve," Xiao Chen said, pacing back and forth across the shattered marble tiles, his brass compass humming in his palm. "The inner altar is physical energy. If we do not locate the origin node of their network, your heart will detonate whether you believe in destiny or not."Lin Feng buttoned his linen tunic over his chest. "Then we open the gate ourselves. We stop waiting for them to drag us in."Xiao Chen stopped dead in his tracks, staring at him. "Dive into their network deliberately? That is suicide! You will be floating in raw psychic static. Your mind will dissolve in three minutes!""I am going with him," Zhang Wei said instantly, crossing his heavy, bandaged arms over his chest."You certainly are not!" Xiao Chen snapped, throwing his hands in the air. "Your mark is half an inch from your collarbone! You step one foot inside

"I don't know you," Lin Feng said, his spiritual body trembling against the dark pressure radiating from the two sun-sized eyes below. "I have never seen you.""You have seen me ten thousand times, descendant," the ancient voice thrummed, shaking the structural web of the void until static crackled like breaking bone. "You simply forget my face every time your blood hits the stone."The flickering spirit of the ancient warrior materialized beside Lin Feng, its ghostly form shrinking in terror. "Leave, boy! That is not a god! That is the first mind! It woke inside the cosmic web before the stars cooled. The marble gods are just its hounds, built to round up stray worlds and feed the core!"Lin Feng stared down into the abyss. "Why do you call me back?""Because your soul is a stubborn fragment," the voice echoed, vibrating through his chest. "In every cycle, we tear your world down to salt, and in every cycle, you rebuild your strength and walk up

"You need Zhang Wei down here now," Lin Feng's voice echoed through the glowing black crystal in Meng Yao's palm, rattling the glass in Xiao Chen's brass compass on the balcony above."Have you lost your absolute mind?" Xiao Chen shrieked into the wind, his hair standing on end from the sheer static in the air. "The black mark on his throat is practically bleeding purple! If he enters the web now, his brain will fry in ten seconds!"Zhang Wei didn't ask questions. He spat on his palms, shoved the heavy, rusted black spear into the hands of a trembling palace guard, and stepped directly into the chalk ring beside Meng Yao. "Tell me what to do, Chen.""Wei, no," Lin Feng's spiritual projection flickered in the center of the ring, his face pale with panic. "It's too dangerous. Your mark is unstable—""Shut your mouth, Lin Feng," Zhang Wei growled, cracking his neck as he grabbed Meng Yao's left shoulder with an iron grip. "You spent three years deciding who gets to die for this kingdom.

The descending upside-down pyramid hung motionless half a mile above the capital. It did not fire its red beams, nor did it drop shadow beasts into the streets. Instead, long violet tendrils crept out from its base, attaching themselves to the city's protective dome like thick leech mouths, silently drinking the energy.The city fell utterly quiet. The constant thrum of war died away, replaced by an unnatural stillness that made the hair on Lin Feng's arms stand on end."They are waiting," Lin Feng muttered, leaning his forearms on the balcony balustrade. "They want us to sit in this silence until our knees give out."Xiao Chen crouched near the weapon crates, wiping grease from a heavy bronze gear. "They aren't just waiting, Lin Feng. Look at the balance array on these ancient relics Zhang Wei brought up. The first civilization didn't design these weapons to crack cosmic armor. They built them to disrupt the frequencies between the entity and its physical vessel."Lin Feng turned his

Lin Feng watched the slight bulge in Meng Yao’s tunic pocket as they climbed the stone steps out of the catacombs. He knew she was keeping something from him about the black crystal. He saw the way her thumb kept tracing its edge, the way her eyes darted away whenever he looked at her too closely. In the past, he would have demanded the truth, stripped the stone from her grip, and taken the burden onto his own shoulders.This time, he kept his mouth shut. He let her keep her secret, choosing to trust her rather than control her.When they pushed open the double doors into the imperial command hall, the situation had grown grim. The map table was littered with flickering scrying stones. The violet dome covering the city was turning thin and pale, like wet paper, while report after report confirmed that the outer defensive nodes were going dark one by one."The ancient relics can patch the barrier," Zhang Wei said, slamming a fist onto the map of the capital's perimeter. "But only if we