The gray-blue streams of light on the stone crystal's surface slowly rotated, like a tamed river, sinking into the base along invisible channels. Chen Wuya's palm was still pressed to the obsidian edge, his fingertips slightly numb as residual Misaligned Force wandered through his meridians, pricking like fine needles. He did not move, nor did he dare withdraw his force carelessly—his "Mirror Reversal" just now had only forcibly matched the rhythm of this energy. If interrupted, the synchronization rate in the system prompt would immediately begin to drop.
[Primitive Source synchronization rate maintained at 67%, error expanding]
The voice in his sea of consciousness was low and unceasing, like a taut string. He knew this temporary suppression would not last long.
"Stabilized?" Mo Feng leaned against a broken pillar, breathing heavily. The bronze token was pressed to his chest, his knuckles white from the strain. "That just now... how did you make it obey?"
Chen Wuya did not answer. He merely brushed the scorched mark on his right palm with the fingers of his left hand, his brow faintly furrowed. That moment of insight had come abruptly: he had traced the third level cultivation method of the Canglang Art, but in the complete opposite direction. Even the opening form had gone from right to left, reversing from outside to within. Yet as a result, the light streams inside the stone crystal had actually changed course with him.
"It doesn't recognize the proper path." He finally spoke, his voice somewhat hoarse. "What it wants is 'wrong.'"
Bai Zhi stood three steps away, her sword already returned to its sheath, but her gaze remained locked on the node's surface. Those once-chaotic patterns of light had trembled faintly with Chen Wuya's movements moments ago, as though alive, responding to the direction