The Web of Cause and Effect in the Sea of Annihilation

[System notification: Entering area "Sea of Annihilation". Current rule: "Causality Inversion"-cause and effect operate in reverse (for example: wounds heal before they bleed; backlash must be endured before using a skill). Main quest: Find the Evil Clan Mother Empress and recover the other half of the Myriad Phenomena Mirror before the lines of cause and effect fall into complete disorder (countdown: 24 hours). Side quest: Rescue the Gu Clan descendants trapped by the power of cause and effect to unlock the "Causality Immunity" buff.]

Chapter 1: Inverted Wounds on the Sea

The waters of the Sea of Annihilation were ink-black, shimmering with an eerie silver light like a spilled river of stars. Boats sailed with their hulls facing upward, yet still cut through the waves. Cast nets hauled themselves back in, and the fish they caught had birds' beaks and flapped their wings to fly back into the sea-everything here turned common sense on its head.

"Just now, I tried to reinforce the planks with Dou Qi," Hu Gan said, clutching his arm and frowning. "First my arm went numb. I looked down and found a cut, but it didn't start bleeding until half a ke later. Now it's healed on its own again." He held out his arm. A healed scar suddenly split open, blood seeped out, and then it scabbed over at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Causality Inversion." Lu Mu spread out the star chart, its routes growing backward like vines. "Every 'effect' appears first, and the 'cause' follows. For example, 'being wounded' is the effect, and 'being cut by something sharp' is the cause. Here, you'll be wounded first, then encounter whatever wounds you."

Ye Xinlan had just taken out a healing pill when her face suddenly paled and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She had yet to take the pill, but had already experienced the consequences of its "medicinal effect being too strong." A moment later, the pill in her hand suddenly burst, splashing powder all over her face. "This rule... we can't even use pills casually."

As they spoke, a battered wooden raft drifted across the sea toward them. A youth covered in wounds lay on it, and judging by his clothes, he was a Gu Clan descendant. Xiao Yan was just about to help him up when a sharp pain suddenly pierced his palm. Looking down, he found a whip mark identical to the one on the youth's back-the cause of "touching the wounded person" had yet to occur, but the effect of "sharing the wound" had already appeared.

"Don't touch him!" Lu Mu hurriedly stopped him. "Your lines of cause and effect will connect!" He took out a talisman paper and first traced a rune in the air (effect). A moment later, the paper suddenly burst into flame (cause). The flames fell on the youth, and his wounds healed first, then slowly reappeared as faint red marks before finally vanishing altogether.

"Can that cancel out the backlash of cause and effect?" Zi Yan watched curiously.

"It's 'laying the groundwork for the cause in advance,'" Lu Mu said, wiping away his sweat. "First perform the action of 'healing' (effect). When the cause of 'contact' occurs, the consequence becomes healing."

After the youth woke, he said his name was A Mu and that he was a descendant of the Gu Clan's mirror keepers. His clanspeople had all been trapped in an undersea grotto by the Evil Clan Mother Empress, who kept them alive with the power of cause and effect-first making them "live," then slowly draining their vitality until they became soulless puppets.

[System notification: Rescued Gu Clan descendant A Mu. "Causality Immunity" unlocked (slightly reduces the intensity of backlash).]

Chapter 2: The Echo Trap in the Undersea Grotto

Following A Mu's directions, the group dived beneath the sea. The water of the Sea of Annihilation could be breathed, but it gave people the illusion of "drowning"-they first felt suffocated and struggled, only to discover after a while that they could breathe freely. A curtain of water blocked the entrance to the grotto, with runes of cause and effect flowing across it. As soon as Xiao Yan approached, his chest suddenly tightened as though a huge stone were pressing down on it. Half a ke later, the curtain fired an arrow of water that grazed his ribs.

"It's an echo trap," A Mu explained. "The effect of you 'being attacked' came first, and the cause of the attack was triggered afterward. The way to break it is..." He picked up a stone and first threw it into an empty space (effect). A moment later, sure enough, the curtain of water fired a stream toward the spot where the stone had landed (cause). "Use an unrelated action to draw the cause away, and the place you actually want to pass through will be safe."

The group followed his example, using pebbles and the aftershocks of Dou Qi to draw the traps away, and entered the grotto without trouble. Countless glowing clam shells were embedded in the rock walls, each holding a trapped Gu Clan descendant. Their eyes were closed and their faces were twisted in pain, yet eerie smiles lingered on their lips-they first "smiled," then felt the pain. The distortion of cause and effect was gradually clouding their minds.

"The Mother Empress is at the altar in the deepest part," A Mu said, pointing toward the end of the grotto. "She used the other half of the Myriad Phenomena Mirror to build the 'Causality Cycle Formation.' She's using the vitality of our clanspeople as nourishment, trying to break down the barrier of space and time completely."

Suddenly, the clam shells in the rock walls opened as one. The Gu Clan descendants inside opened their eyes and lunged at the group with vacant gazes. Xiao Yan swung a fist at the person in front, but before his fist touched the other person, his own arm ached and went numb (effect). A moment later, the other person's fist landed on his arm (cause).

"We can't attack first!" Lu Mu shouted. "The reactive force of an attack will hurt you first!"

Zi Yan tried sweeping with her dragon tail, and sure enough, a sharp pain shot through it before she sent the puppets flying. An idea struck Lin Yan. He raised his Burning Heaven Flame but did not fire it, instead first "imagining" the scene of the flames burning (effect). A moment later, the flames flew out on their own (cause), and only when they burned the puppets did he feel heat in his palm-he had turned an "active attack" into a "passive trigger," weakening the backlash.

Xiao Yan followed his example, first picturing Heavenly Flames coiling in his mind, then concentrating Dou Qi at his fingertip. Sure enough, a moment later, the Heavenly Flames surged out on their own and enveloped the puppets, while he felt only a slight heat. The group gradually found the pattern: turn "attacking" into "going with the flow," and make the lines of cause and effect follow their own rhythm.

After they rescued all the clanspeople in the clam shells, [System notification: "Causality Immunity" upgraded (you can choose when to endure backlash).] A Mu held out his clan's heirloom-a tortoise shell engraved with runes of cause and effect. "This can help you break the formation at the altar. The Mother Empress's power of cause and effect has no effect on the shell."

Chapter 3: The Core of the Causality Cycle Formation

The altar was a circular platform with a coiling-dragon pillar standing at its center. The other half of the Myriad Phenomena Mirror floated above the pillar, its surface facing downward. It reflected not the actual scene, but countless swaying figures-the Gu Clan descendants whose vitality had been drained. The Evil Clan Mother Empress stood before the mirror, dressed in black robes with her face hidden beneath a hood. Her voice sounded like countless people speaking at once. "You've come at just the right time. The Myriad Phenomena Mirror's resonance will make you the finest sacrifices."

She raised her hand, and countless threads of light suddenly appeared over the altar, weaving into a giant web-the web of cause and effect. Xiao Yan tried to charge forward, but before he could take a step, his knees suddenly buckled and he fell to the ground (effect). A moment later, a stone spike emerged beneath his feet (cause).

"Within this formation, your 'failure' will arrive first," the Mother Empress sneered. "If you want to get close to me, you'll have to taste despair first."

As soon as Zi Yan's Dragon Phoenix Flame ignited, she felt a searing pain all over her body (effect). Only after the flame went out did she see a wisp of black smoke rise from its heart (cause). Lin Yan's Burning Heaven Flame and Hu Gan's Black Tortoise Armor suffered similar problems-the backlash arrived before their abilities could be used.

"Use the tortoise shell!" A Mu shouted.

Xiao Yan tossed the tortoise shell into the air. It unfolded, and its runes collided with the web of cause and effect, producing a hum. The threads of light in the web stalled for a moment, and the Mother Empress's movements faltered for an instant-the effect of her "control" had been delayed by the appearance of the tortoise shell.

"Now!" Lu Mu pulled out the star chart and placed the time fragments they had collected earlier according to their positions. "The time fragments can disrupt the lines of cause and effect, making 'cause' and 'effect' briefly coincide!"

Xiao Yan seized the chance. No longer deliberately controlling the timing of the "effect," he let his Heavenly Flames surge forth. This time, the burning pain and the eruption of the flames came at the same instant, with no delay and no backlash-when cause and effect overlapped, the Reversal Law lost its power. He rushed to the coiling-dragon pillar and clashed with the wind from the Mother Empress's palm. They both staggered back, each spitting out a mouthful of blood (cause and effect occurring simultaneously).

Zi Yan, Lin Yan, and the others followed suit, circulating their Dou Qi to its limit to synchronize their attacks and backlash. Light flashed brilliantly across the altar. Under the combined effect of the time fragments and the tortoise shell, the web of cause and effect gradually tore apart. The two halves of the Myriad Phenomena Mirror sensed each other and gave off a powerful resonance, and light shot from the mirror's surface to envelop the Mother Empress.

"No-!" The Mother Empress's black robes shattered inch by inch, revealing countless twisted faces beneath. "I clearly set up the formation first (cause). Why didn't the effect of 'success' come?"

"Because you reversed the most important cause and effect," Xiao Yan said, gripping the two halves of the Myriad Phenomena Mirror. "It isn't that the cause of 'control' comes first, followed by the effect of 'victory.' It's that the cause of 'protection' comes first, followed by the effect of 'survival.'"

The instant the two halves of the Myriad Phenomena Mirror became one, the web of cause and effect shattered completely, and the stolen vitality flowed back into the Gu Clan descendants. The Mother Empress screamed and dissolved in the light. The effect of her "failure" had finally caught up with the cause of her "greed."

Chapter 4: The Voyage Back and New Causes and Effects

The waters of the Sea of Annihilation gradually cleared, the overturned boats righted themselves, and the fish flying through the sky fell back into the water. The Gu Clan descendants in the grotto woke and knelt before Xiao Yan and the others. A Mu presented the tortoise shell. "This is a gift of thanks from the Gu Clan. With it, no matter where you go, the turbulent currents of cause and effect won't be able to hurt you."

[System notification: Main quest "Recover the Myriad Phenomena Mirror" completed. The team has gained "Gu Clan Bloodline Resonance" (members can share 50% of their Dou Qi). New area "Reincarnation Ferry" unlocked.]

On the boat back, Ye Xinlan bandaged everyone's wounds-this time, they were cut first and felt the pain afterward. Cause and effect had finally returned to their normal order. Hu Gan gnawed on a roasted fish and remarked, "Pain feels better the normal way. Feeling the pain before getting hurt was enough to drive a person mad."

Zi Yan played with the fragments of the Myriad Phenomena Mirror, which had been put back together but still needed energy to activate. Suddenly, she said, "The barrier of space and time the Mother Empress mentioned... could it have something to do with the rift we came through?"

Xiao Yan looked at Lu Mu, who was marking a route on the star chart. "The Reincarnation Ferry is a hub connecting the various realms. Cause and effect are faintest there, so perhaps we can find a way home. But I keep feeling there's more to the Myriad Phenomena Mirror's secret than that-it can reflect cause and effect, so perhaps it can also reflect our true origins."

A Mu stood at the stern, gazing at the undersea grotto as it receded into the distance. He suddenly turned back with a smile. "A Gu Clan prophecy says that when the Myriad Phenomena Mirror becomes whole again, a group of outsiders will come bearing new causes and effects-either destruction or renewal. It seems you're the latter."

The sea breeze swept across the deck, carrying a salty dampness. Xiao Yan tightened his grip on the Myriad Phenomena Mirror. Its surface reflected the figures of the group, each with a faint band of light coiled around their shoulders-the mark of bloodline resonance. He suddenly recalled what Mirror Image Xiao Yan had said in Mirror Image City: "The extreme of reversal is coexistence."

Perhaps the cause and effect of fate had never been a one-way line. Those seemingly inverted encounters, those moments when bitterness came before sweetness, those times spent shoulder to shoulder with his companions had long since, without anyone noticing, woven themselves into a warm web.

[System notification: Exploration of the area "Sea of Annihilation" complete. The team's condition has been fully restored. Automatic teleportation to "Reincarnation Ferry" will begin in 1 hour. Please prepare.]

The sails swelled with wind as the boat headed toward the rising sun. Laughter on the deck mingled with the cries of seabirds, becoming the loveliest "cause" and "effect" of this strange journey.