The door to the Twelfth Layer stood half open.
The snowy light beyond it was so bright that even the cracks in the Eleventh Layer's empty hall looked frosted. Shen Yu stood inside the doorway with the black Clock Core, half his face swallowed by white light. The clock patterns in his eyes had already turned into a ring of fine black lines.
Xu Zhihan and Lu Wenchuan did not go in immediately.
The Eleventh Layer was still collapsing. Clock cabinets toppled, old clocks tumbled, and the faces the Tower Master had swallowed were slowly dispersing within the shattered clock faces. Some briefly regained their human appearance before quickly dissolving into motes of light. True Shen Cheng's Work Badge flew over from afar and landed beside Xu Zhihan's feet.
Its soul light was faint.
True Shen Cheng's voice came from within.
"The Tower Core... has cracked."
Xu Zhihan looked down. "You can still talk?"
"One more sentence."
Lu Wenchuan crouched, picked up the Work Badge, and handed it to Xu Zhihan.
True Shen Cheng paused for a long time, as though squeezing the last bit of strength from the depths of his remnant soul.
"Shen Yu isn't the Tower Core. The Clock Core he's holding is the Eleventh Layer's true core. If the Twelfth Layer's heavenly judgment connects to the Clock Core, the Oracle Tower will link directly to the Divine Throne."
Xu Zhihan looked into the doorway.
Shen Yu did not stop them from listening.
Lu Wenchuan asked, "How do we sever it?"
True Shen Cheng's soul light flickered.
"Don't let Xu Zhihan touch the Clock Core."
Xu Zhihan's gaze darkened.
True Shen Cheng continued, "The Clock Core will read the Divine Spark’s True Name. Touch it, and heavenly judgment will pinpoint you immediately."
Lu Wenchuan said quietly, "What