The crisis was temporarily averted. The Star Chaser hovered beside the Eternal Furnace like a loyal guard. Aidera set up warning formations around it, Jiyun sat in meditation to regulate his breathing, while Bao Bao anxiously kept watch by the furnace.
The Great Elder floated before the massive furnace mouth, her expression incomparably grave. Her divine sense cautiously probed inside, only to be immediately enveloped by a chaotic, decaying, yet faintly tenacious aura of life. The space within the furnace was severely damaged, its laws in disarray. At its center, the tiny glimmer of Chaos Origin was like a dying candle in the wind, while Li Wuyang's consciousness fluctuations were so weak they were nearly imperceptible.
"Little friend Wuyang... can you hear this old woman's words?" The Great Elder transmitted a gentle yet resolute thought with her divine sense, while slowly channeling pure life essence into the furnace, nourishing the damaged furnace body and Li Wuyang's nearly exhausted vitality.
There was no response. Only that wisp of Chaos Origin light seemed to sense the benevolent aid from outside and flickered slightly, like a silent expression of gratitude.
"His consciousness is too badly damaged, and he has sunk too deeply. Ordinary methods will be difficult to use to awaken him." Jiyun had somehow come to stand beside her. He gazed at the furnace mouth with empty eyes and said softly, "Perhaps we need a special 'catalyst.'"
The Great Elder fell into thought and looked toward Bao Bao. "Bao Bao, can you sense the aura of... the other one inside the furnace?" She meant Xuan's Embryo.
Bao Bao tried hard to sense it, starlight flowing through his silver eyes. After a long while, he transmitted a somewhat dejected thought. "There is one... very, very small... very warm... and also very cold aura...