Chapter 555: Two?

The battle with the rotting remains of the aberrant god seemed endless and meaningless—the twisted shadows of the past generated from the divine corpse were inexhaustible, and the stubborn memories could not be eliminated by conventional means. In this ancient temple ruin forgotten by all things, the shattered and corrupted god, the echoes of a bygone alien world, and the entire space itself seemed to form a complete "cycle," everything endlessly recurring... just like...

A dead soul that refused to die, yet had no homeland to return to.

Yu Sheng and the others retreated to a high platform at the edge of the mountaintop. By relying on layers of fox fire to form a blockade, they barely managed to hold their ground.

Distorted doorways opened one after another on the high platform, and one mass-produced doll after another stepped out from the twisted doors, using dense "Aline Rays" to sweep the writhing shadows below the platform. The viscous, mud-like tide of shadows surged forward, and countless indescribably distorted entities crawled up from the shadows. Individuals kept falling under the sweeping fire, but more and more individuals broke through the dolls' volley blockade, even charging toward the high platform, braving the terrifying fox fire flames.

Twisted forms wrapped in fire and smoke charged up. The stone ground of the high platform corroded with a hissing sound. Yu Sheng fought with all his might to repel the enemies closest to him. Every time he struck down a shadow, he once again felt that strange sense of "emptiness."

He tried to use his own blood to establish a connection with the "tide of shadow" below the platform, and use that as a stepping stone to communicate with the "divine corpse" at the center of the temple, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't feel anything.

Everything was empty—utter emptiness, utter nothingness. The shadows had no purpose, and the rotting god had no self-awareness. The alien god, shattered three thousand seven hundred years ago, had long since had its essence merged with the ancient doll named Aline into a brand-new entity. What remained... wasn't even enough to serve as a vessel for "death."

Yu Sheng vaguely sensed that this was something even more fragmented than the "Twilight Angels" he had dealt with before—extreme fragmentation had instead made it a target that was difficult to lock onto.

But the more this happened, the more Yu Sheng felt something was wrong.

The bridge was extending toward the boundary land; the shattered tower was continuously repairing itself. This process was filled with the flavor of "obsession"... If the former Omen Goddess had already been merged with the ancient puppet "Aline," and the temple ruins only contained an empty shadow, then what was currently driving the bridge's operation?

A slight warmth came from somewhere close to his body. Yu Sheng was startled, then immediately pulled something out from his chest.

It was a cube less than the size of a palm, made of a material similar to jade—it was the "core" that had fallen out when the Zolda blackstone shattered.

Holding this unremarkable-looking black cube, Yu Sheng recalled the memories of the Omen Goddess he had seen in the illusions recorded by the "little bear" earlier—

An alien civilization born in the final stage, a sanctuary plan that failed due to insufficient universal mass, a world devoured by the annihilating crimson light...

After the apocalypse, that civilization's story ended.

...But the story of the "Omen Goddess" seemed not to have ended yet!

The bridge was not built by the "Omen's children." The Omen Goddess's "descent" into the boundary land had clearly occurred after the destruction of her home world. So... between the destruction of the Omen Goddess's home world and her attempt to descend into the boundary land three thousand seven hundred years ago, there was a "blank" period!

How did the bridge come about?

Based on existing information, the entire "descent" plan and the birth of the bridge itself were more likely related to other Twilight Angels, even... like something that the Twilight Angel "group" had cooked up!

Yu Sheng subconsciously tightened his grip on this cubic core of unknown material until the sharp edges of the cube cut into his palm, and warm blood slowly seeped into its jade-like surface.

A sharp, piercing roar once again split the sky. Hu Li once again launched a volley of "Hu Li Carrot Missiles" into the distance. The fox tails, propelled by thrust, crossed over those viscous, writhing shadows and bombarded the mountain-like divine corpse at the center of the temple ruins, one after another.

Explosions boomed. Blue flames erupted. The shockwave briefly halted the surging tide of shadows. The rising fox fire spread across the temple square.

The massive corpse wobbled slightly in the shockwave. Ripples spread across the surface of the "mountain" that seemed entirely composed of chaotic shadows. After repeated impacts, its internal "operation" finally seemed to falter slightly. A small crack was torn open in the originally tightly covered surface.

Hu Li was busy releasing the next wave of tails when she suddenly froze. Immediately after, she jumped up, pointed into the distance, and shouted loudly: "Benefactor! Benefactor! There's something! There's something inside!"

Yu Sheng immediately looked up in the direction Hu Li was pointing. The next second, he saw a small-scale "collapse" on the surface of the aberrant god's remains, which were like a small mountain. The shadows peeled off like mud shells, revealing... something inside—a slow-operating, massive ancient mechanism.

The warmth from the cube increased a bit more. After the blood seeped in, the information transmitted became slightly clearer through the rumbling noise. Yu Sheng stared at the thing buried within the divine corpse's remains, and suddenly his heart shook fiercely.

"Right, that's it," he took a light breath and muttered softly, "Two... there are two!"

"Ah? What?" Aline, sitting on his shoulder, shouted while frantically directing the mass-produced doll army on the scene, "What two?!"

"Twilight Angels! Two!" Yu Sheng slapped his thigh, fully understanding now. "The bridge—this thing itself is essentially a Twilight Angel! Back then, 'Aline' did solve the problem of the Omen Goddess—but she didn't expect that the bridge was also alive!"

Aline's expression froze in an instant at the words, and then she let out a shout: "Holy shit?!"

"The bridge broke, but it wasn't destroyed. The Omen Goddess stopped moving after merging with Aline, but the bridge has never shut down in these three thousand seven hundred years!" Yu Sheng had sorted out the logic by now, his mind spinning fast, and he was continuously reading the information coming from the cube. "This 'cross-border mechanism' can't understand why its partner suddenly stopped 'running,' so it has been trying to revive the dead Omen Goddess..."

"Holy—" The little doll was about to curse again, but the situation even made her too worried to swear. She could only stare with wide eyes at Yu Sheng. "Well, well, what do we do then?"

"Not sure, but I think the best way is for me to go over there and take a look directly," Yu Sheng pointed at the center of the temple ruins. "That thing should be some kind of control mechanism for the bridge. After the bridge broke back then, it stayed in this place. Maybe I can figure out a way to shut it down."

"Sounds pretty unreliable," Aline said, but she nimbly climbed down from Yu Sheng's shoulder. "But none of your usual ideas sound reliable either... In the end, you always just brute-force through it by not valuing your life and relying on execution."

Yu Sheng had already prepared to charge forward brute-force, but he couldn't help retorting after hearing the little thing's merciless jab: "Come on, can't you say something nice at a time like this?"

Aline looked up and blinked. After a moment's hesitation, she waved her little fist: "Then, good luck?"

Yu Sheng waved his hand, turned, and looked at Hu Li.

Before he could speak, a fluffy big tail had already floated in front of him.

"Benefactor, the tail is ready."

"... Got to say, that sounds a bit weird," Yu Sheng muttered, but he didn't hesitate at all as he swung up onto the tail. Then he thought for a moment and added seriously, "This time, try your best to get me there alive—falling into those shadows halfway would waste the opportunity."

The fox girl frowned. This was clearly an unprecedented challenge for her.

So she released her remaining seven tails as well, forming an escort formation around Yu Sheng.

But she obviously felt that wasn't enough.

Frowning again, she thought hard for a moment, then reached into her remaining storage tail and rummaged around.

Then, two streaks of light—exuding immortal energy, radiant, colorful, and imposing—burst out from her tail. As soon as they emerged, they started flying in circles in the air, scattering specks of light while letting out clear, resonant cries.

In simple terms, they were circling and crowing at the top of their lungs...

"Holy shit, Baichie and Yanju—" Yu Sheng looked up, stunned. "Wait, hasn't it been a while? Have you raised these two chickens to be even more ridiculous than before?!"

"Benefactor, Baichie and Yanju can certainly protect you," Hu Li said solemnly to Yu Sheng. "With my careful nurturing and teaching, their strength is now on par with Xuanche's..."

Yu Sheng's expression stiffened for a moment: "... Better not let Xuanche hear that."

"Mm-hmm."

"Alright, I'm off," Yu Sheng took a breath, waved his hand while riding on the fox tail. "You all hold your ground here. If I don't succeed, you immediately retreat—the boundary land side should be able to hold out for a while longer. You can still think of something when you get back."

"Alright, Benefactor!" "Okay." "Ah, just get going already!"

Propulsion flames ignited with a roar. A howling wind suddenly assaulted, blocked by the protective spiritual energy around the fox tail.

Yu Sheng rode on the fox tail, charging straight toward the mountain-like corpse at the center of the temple ruins.

The battle on the ground continued. The roar of fox fire explosions and the heat of rising flames surged one after another. Aline Rays tore bright, blazing fissures in the dark, viscous shadows. Luna's figure flashed around the high platform, continuously slashing at approaching shadows, protecting Hu Li and the dolls on the platform.

Yu Sheng flew swiftly through the sky, surrounded by the seven fox tails forming an escort formation, and two chickens at the Great Perfection of the Spirit Realm stage circled up and down around him, crowing at the top of their lungs as they rotated...

Aline stood on the high platform, looking up at this scene. After a long moment, she let out a long sigh: "Fucking surreal."

Hu Li nodded vigorously.

Luna's figure moved like the wind, whirling back to the high platform. She paused to nod: "Mm, true."

Then she rushed out again.