"Rumble..."
The instant the dark-golden rift was forced open, a muffled roar rose from deep underground, like an ancient beast awakening.
Yue Wushuang was forced half a step back by the dark-golden light pouring from the rift. She turned the dark-red longsword in her hand, trying to sever the widening rift. The moment her blade fell, a dazzling arc of light exploded around its edges, jolting her another step back.
Lin Shisan did not turn to look at her. His left hand gripped the pitch-black artifact, while his right palm pressed against Zi Yuner's back, continuously pouring Dragon Breath Power into her meridians. The golden patterns on the artifact's surface pulsed violently in response to the dark-golden light. Streams of warm spiritual light seeped between his fingers, wrapped around the aura pouring from the depths of the rift, and spread up his arm.
"Now."
Gai Jiuyou's voice came from Zi Yuner's Sea of Consciousness.
Zi Yuner's body suddenly pitched forward. She pressed both hands against the edges of the expanding rift, and deep-purple Spiritual Power surged wildly from her palms, intertwining with the dark-golden light pouring out. Like two strands twisted into a single rope, they forcibly tore an opening wide enough for one person to pass through.
Beyond the opening lay neither earth nor stone, but a chaotic expanse of dark-golden light, churning as though boiling, with no visible end or fathomable bottom.
"Go!"
Lin Shisan did not hesitate. Still clutching the artifact in his left hand, he caught Zi Yuner's wrist with his right and pushed them both toward the opening. Yue Wushuang's dark-red longsword traced a fierce arc behind them. Its edge struck the ground beside the opening, blasting rubble into the air, but failed to cut into the churning dark-golden light. Like a blade striking flowing