The Core of Chaos and the Plane Guardian's Trial

The red core slowly unfurled in Xiao Yan's palm, becoming a warm orange flame-the Flame of Creation had finally revealed its true form. It no longer gave off a destructive presence. Instead, healing energy flowed from it, sweeping away the mental exhaustion the consciousness prison had left in everyone.

"It's sending us a message." Lu Mu adjusted his glasses as a complex star chart appeared on his detector's screen. "There's a 'Core of Chaos' in the central region of the Realm of Nothingness. It's the point where the energy of every plane converges. The colonizers' remnants want to use the origin energy of the Flame of Creation to detonate it. That's the key to the 'Great Plane Explosion.'"

Peering through the star chart with her dragon eyes, Zi Yan saw bands of dark purple energy wrapped around the central region. "That's the 'Aura of Deathly Silence.' It can devour all life, and the Flame of Creation will be tainted if it gets close."

"But the Flame of Creation has given us a way to counter it." Xiao Yan opened his palm, and the Flame of Creation turned into seven streams of light that entered their bodies. "It can leave a 'Life Mark' on us to resist the Aura of Deathly Silence. But..." He looked at Wu Hao. "Your Space-Splitting Axe absorbed too much residual energy from the World-Destroying Fire just now. It needs to be purified first."

Wu Hao had just raised his axe when the dark purple clouds in the distance suddenly split apart. The fleet of the colonizers' remnants burst through them-thirty "spacetime warships" hovered in the air, their hulls covered in twisted runes and their cannons trained on the group's anchor point.

"It's the 'Time Eroder'!" Lu Mu's detector sounded a piercing alarm. "He's part of the colonizers' remnants' elite force. He can control the local flow of time!"

On the lead warship, a black-robed figure stood on the deck, a bronze mask covering his face. His voice came through a loudspeaker. "Xiao Yan, after three hundred years, I've finally found someone who can purify the World-Destroying Fire. Hand over the Flame of Creation, and I can make you the new 'Plane Administrator.'"

"Like hell, you motherfucker!" Wu Hao planted the Space-Splitting Axe in the ground, his Dou Qi erupting. "When you slaughtered my family back then, why didn't you think of giving us a way out?"

The Time Eroder sneered. "Stubborn fools. Activate the 'time acceleration cannons.' Let them taste what it's like to be killed by their own aging!"

The cannons of the thirty warships glowed green, firing countless warped beams of time at the anchor point. Xiao Yan immediately had the Flame of Creation raise a barrier. The beams struck it, sending ripples across its surface-the flames on the barrier switched frantically between "accelerated aging" and "instant rejuvenation," making a sizzling sound.

"It won't hold much longer!" Zi Yan added her Dragon Phoenix Flame to the barrier, gold-red and orange flames intertwining. "Their cannons are charging. The next attack will be even stronger!"

Lin Xiuya suddenly pointed to the left. "The runes on that warship are dark! That's a weak point!" Dou Qi gathered on his longsword. "Xiao Yan, lend me your Heavenly Flame Origin!"

Xiao Yan understood at once. The Green Lotus Core Flame spread along the longsword. Lin Xiuya sprang into the air, and the flame on his blade became a stream of light, piercing a gap between the beams of time and striking the warship's rune core with pinpoint accuracy.

Boom! The warship's time engine exploded, and its hull began to age rapidly. Its pristine metal exterior became a rust-covered wreck, before finally breaking apart into cosmic dust.

"It worked!" Wu Hao's eyes lit up. He hefted the Space-Splitting Axe onto his shoulder and charged at another warship. "My turn to try!"

Xiao Yan controlled the Flame of Creation to protect the anchor point and shouted to Lu Mu, "Analyze the other warships' weak points!" Lu Mu's detector worked at full speed, flashing red dots appearing one after another on its screen-unstable nodes left behind when the colonizers had forcibly fused time energy.

The battle lasted half an hour, and ten warships were destroyed. But the remaining twenty suddenly changed formation, the green light at their cannons turning deep purple.

"Oh no! They're going to release a 'time black hole'!" Lu Mu went deathly pale. "It'll devour all the time around us, including our lives!"

System notification: High-risk energy reaction detected. Immediate evacuation from the anchor point is advised.

Xiao Yan made an immediate decision. "Wu Hao, cover our retreat! We'll take the Flame of Creation to the central region!"

Wu Hao grinned and swung the Space-Splitting Axe, carving out three spatial rifts that diverted the black hole's pull toward the enemy fleet. "Go! I'll be right behind you!"

Zi Yan grabbed Xiao Yan's arm, enveloping them both in Dragon Phoenix Flame. Lu Mu activated a backup energy array and teleported away with Lin Xiuya. The Flame of Creation's marks lit up behind them, forming a gate of light that shut out the time black hole's pull.

Chapter 2: The Sea of Deathly Silence and the "Phantoms of the Past"

Passing through the gate of light, the group landed on a gray plain-the Sea of Deathly Silence. Time did not flow here. The ground was covered in "Energy-Eroding Sand" that could devour energy, and frozen lightning floated in the sky. Even the Flame of Creation's marks dimmed somewhat.

"The detector shows that the Core of Chaos is in the 'Tower of Time' at the center of the sea, but this sea will weaken the Life Marks." Lu Mu's voice sounded a little weak, and his mechanical prosthetic eye was being corroded by the Energy-Eroding Sand. "Our energy will last four hours at most."

Zi Yan suddenly transformed into a dragon, her gold-red scales gleaming amid the Aura of Deathly Silence. "Get on! I'll fly you across!" Her dragon wings spread ten meters wide, and the gust stirred up the Energy-Eroding Sand, exposing a layer of silvery rock beneath.

Xiao Yan and Lin Xiuya jumped onto her back, while Lu Mu activated his levitation device and followed close behind. They had flown for less than ten minutes when great waves suddenly rose from the Sea of Deathly Silence-the Energy-Eroding Sand turned into countless hands that grabbed Zi Yan's dragon claws, each hand bearing a colonizer's face.

"These are... the lingering resentment of the inhabitants of the planes that were devoured!" Lin Xiuya swung his sword and severed several hands, only to find them quickly emerging from the sand again. "There are too many to kill!"

Xiao Yan sent the Flame of Creation into Zi Yan's body. Orange flames spread along her dragon claws, and the hands turned to wisps of smoke on contact. "Don't fight them head-on. Speed up and break through!"

Zi Yan roared and spewed dragon breath mixed with the Flame of Creation, opening a path across the sea of sand. Just then, the sky ahead suddenly split open, and a familiar figure fell from the rift-it was Wu Hao, but his clothes were in tatters, his body was covered in wounds, and the Space-Splitting Axe in his hand was broken in half.

"Wu Hao!" Xiao Yan shouted, only to find his eyes vacant, his mouth repeating, "I failed to protect everyone..."

"It's an illusion!" Lu Mu's detector sounded an alarm. "His Life Mark is fake!"

The fake Wu Hao suddenly raised his broken axe and stabbed at Zi Yan's wing. "Let's die together!"

Xiao Yan had been on guard. The Green Lotus Core Flame became chains that bound the fake Wu Hao. On closer inspection, he saw a colonizer's rune on his neck. "Who are you?"

The fake Wu Hao's face twisted into the Time Eroder's likeness. "I am your 'past'-every companion you abandoned, every life you failed to save, they are all your sins!" His body suddenly swelled and turned into countless hands of resentment that enveloped them.

System notification: "Heart Demon Trial" triggered. Hold fast to your convictions, or you will be assimilated by resentment.

Images suddenly flashed through Xiao Yan's mind: Yao Lao's disappearance, Xiao Xun'er's tears, his brothers who had fallen in battle... These memories pierced his heart like needles. He nearly loosened his grip on the Flame of Creation as the Time Eroder's voice sounded in his ear. "Give up. You can't protect anyone."

"Bullshit!" Zi Yan's dragon roar broke him out of his despair. "Aren't we protecting each other right now?" Though her dragon claws trembled, she held them firmly around Xiao Yan. "These damned memories won't fool us!"

Lin Xiuya suddenly pointed his longsword at the sky. "Look!" Everyone raised their heads to see the fake Wu Hao's illusion dissolving-the real Wu Hao was leaping down from the rift, the Space-Splitting Axe cleaving through the hands of resentment, a familiar grin on his face. "How could a little trick like that ever trap me?"

He had used a spatial rift to circle behind the illusion and shattered the colonizers' rune core with one swing of his axe.

Deprived of the energy sustaining them, the hands of resentment turned into Energy-Eroding Sand and fell back onto the sea. Wu Hao landed on Zi Yan's back and patted Xiao Yan's shoulder. "What are you staring into space for? It's not time to give up yet."

Xiao Yan smiled, and the Flame of Creation's mark lit up again. "Come on, to the Tower of Time!"

Chapter 3: The Tower of Time's Thousand-Layered Trials and Energy Resonance

The Tower of Time was a spiral structure made of crystal and obsidian. Countless glowing "strings of time" wound around it, each corresponding to a plane's timeline. A line of ancient characters was carved into the gate at the tower's base: "None may enter without a guardian's blood."

"A guardian's blood?" Lin Xiuya's sword suddenly gave a soft hum, and a drop of blood welled from his fingertip and fell onto the gate. The ancient characters glowed red, and the gate slowly opened.

"You're... a descendant of a Plane Guardian?" Lu Mu stared at him in shock. Lin Xiuya nodded, finally revealing the secret he had kept hidden. "My father was the leader of the resistance against the colonizers. Before he died, he said that only a guardian's blood could open the Tower of Time."

Inside the tower was a circular hall with twelve stone doors around it. A different trial was inscribed on each door: "Speed," "Strength," "Wisdom," "Conviction"...

"The detector shows that we have to pass at least six trials to reach the Core of Chaos on the top floor." Lu Mu pointed to the stone door marked "Strength." "That one has the weakest energy reading. Let's start there."

Strength trial: A hundred-meter-tall stone giant stood in the room. Its fists could shatter space, but it moved slowly. Wu Hao volunteered. "Leave this thing to me!" He tossed the Space-Splitting Axe into the air and infused it with Dou Qi, causing it to grow as large as the stone giant. "Take my axe!" The giant axe fell and split the stone giant's shoulder open, but it healed in an instant.

"It can absorb energy to regenerate!" Lu Mu shouted. "Attack the rune array under its feet!" Wu Hao immediately changed targets, swinging the axe blade at the soles of the stone giant's feet, where the colonizers' runes were carved. The runes shattered, and the stone giant's body dissolved into specks of light that condensed into a "Strength Badge."

Wisdom trial: The room was a gigantic chessboard, and the pieces were stone soldiers made of time energy. Lu Mu sat before the board, playing against an invisible opponent-every move required him to predict the next ten, and one wrong move would burn him with time energy. Sweat beaded on his forehead as his fingers moved swiftly across the board. Suddenly, he recalled the idea of "symbiosis" Xiao Yan had used when fusing Heavenly Flames. "I don't have to win. A draw will do!" He deliberately let his opponent capture his "king" while taking the opponent's "queen." The board lit up at once, and a "Wisdom Badge" appeared before him.

Conviction trial: There were no enemies in the room, only countless mirrors, each reflecting the future the group feared most. Zi Yan saw herself become a monstrous dragon that had lost its reason, Xiao Yan saw all his companions die because of him, and Lin Xiuya saw his family's curse remain unbroken...

"None of this is real!" Xiao Yan scattered the Flame of Creation over the mirrors, and the images in the flames began to change-Zi Yan taught young dragons to breathe fire in Dragon Valley, their companions raised their cups with smiles, and Lin Xiuya's sword protected a peaceful home. The mirrors shattered, and a "Conviction Badge" floated into his hand.

After they passed five trials in succession, the last door was marked "Resonance." A crystal pool stood in the center of the room, with a phantom image of the Core of Chaos floating in it. It was waiting for someone "capable of resonating with all energy."

Xiao Yan, Zi Yan, Wu Hao, Lin Xiuya, and Lu Mu's badges flew toward the crystal pool at once. Five kinds of energy met above it: the blazing heat of the Heavenly Flame Origin, the domineering might of the Dragon Phoenix Flame, the fierce power of the Space-Splitting Axe, the keen edge of the guardian sword, the precision of the mechanical style... Rather than repel one another, they fused into a rainbow that flowed into the phantom image of the Core of Chaos.

System notification: Multiple forms of energy resonating. "Plane Guardian" criteria met. The top floor of the Tower of Time has opened.

The ground beneath the crystal pool split open, revealing a staircase to the top floor. Each step shimmered with the light of a different plane.

Chapter 4: The Colonizers' Final Plot and the Price of the Flame of Creation

The top floor was a circular platform, with the Core of Chaos floating at its center. It resembled a black star, surrounded by countless lines of energy that connected it to different planes. The Time Eroder stood beside the core, holding a metal device-the "detonator."

"You're just in time." The Time Eroder turned and removed his bronze mask, revealing a face that looked remarkably like Xiao Yan's. "Surprised? I'm you from three hundred years ago."

Everyone's pupils contracted. The Time Eroder sneered. "Back then, I failed to purify the World-Destroying Fire and was captured by the colonizers. They used the Core of Chaos's energy to twist my timeline and turn me into their tool. Now, I'll make you follow in my footsteps!"

He pressed the detonator halfway down. The Core of Chaos began to tremble, and the energy lines connecting it to the planes glowed red. "The Flame of Creation can purify the World-Destroying Fire, and it can also activate the full energy of the Core of Chaos. Xiao Yan, fuse it with your blood, or I'll detonate thirty percent of its energy right now and make half the planes disappear."

Zi Yan stepped in front of Xiao Yan. "Don't believe him!"

"I have no choice." Xiao Yan pushed her aside and walked toward the Core of Chaos. "If I made a mistake three hundred years ago, then I have to put it right now." He looked at the Time Eroder. "But don't forget, the origin of the Flame of Creation is 'life,' not 'destruction.'"

He cut his palm, and blood dripped onto the Core of Chaos. The Flame of Creation's mark resonated with the core, and orange flames spread along the energy lines. Wherever they passed, the red light gradually turned green.

The Time Eroder's expression grew uglier. "Impossible! The Core of Chaos can only be activated by destructive energy!"

"The colonizers lied to you." Xiao Yan's voice rang across the top floor. "It's the origin of life for every plane. What it needs is 'protection,' not 'possession'!" His body began to turn transparent-the Flame of Creation was burning his life energy as it fused deeply with the Core of Chaos.

"Xiao Yan!" Zi Yan tried to rush over, but Wu Hao held her back. "Don't disturb him! This is his choice!"

Watching more and more of the energy lines turn green, the Time Eroder suddenly broke down and roared, "No! I've waited three hundred years for this day!" He lunged at Xiao Yan, the face beneath his bronze mask full of madness. "Let's die together!"

Lin Xiuya's sword blocked his attack just in time. "I understand your pain, but revenge won't solve anything!" A guardian's runes appeared on his blade. "My father said that true strength is forgiving your past self."

The Time Eroder froze. He looked at Lin Xiuya's sword, then at Xiao Yan's gradually fading body, and his three-hundred-year obsession loosened in that moment. The Core of Chaos suddenly burst with brilliant light, enveloping him. When the light faded, only a bronze mask remained where he had stood, its runes turned green.

System notification: The obsession of the colonizers' remnant leader, "Time Eroder," has dissipated. Purification of the Core of Chaos complete. Host's life energy detected below 1%. Initiating emergency restoration procedure...

The Flame of Creation suddenly poured out of the Core of Chaos and returned to Xiao Yan's body, which gradually became solid again. Lu Mu's detector displayed a reading. "The Core of Chaos is giving energy back! It recognizes your protection!"

The Core of Chaos slowly shrank, finally becoming a green crystal that fell into Xiao Yan's palm. The Tower of Time around them began to shake, and Lu Mu shouted, "Get out, quickly! This place is collapsing!"

The five ran down the stairs as the Tower of Time behind them turned into specks of light and merged into the Sea of Deathly Silence-green shoots sprang up across the gray plain, frozen lightning became raindrops, and the Flame of Creation's mark glimmered warmly on each of them.

Chapter 5: New Guardians and the Journey Ahead

After leaving the Realm of Nothingness, the group returned to their familiar plane. The Flame of Creation's marks allowed them to travel freely between planes, while the Core of Chaos became a new set of "plane coordinates" suspended in Xiao Yan's sea of consciousness.

Three days later, in Wutan City's square, Xiao Yan embedded the Core of Chaos in the newly completed "Guardian Stele." The stele lit up, connecting to every purified plane. Its screen showed live images of each one: in some, people were rebuilding their homes; in others, they were celebrating new life; and in yet another, Wu Hao's clanspeople were reclaiming wasteland alongside Zi Yan's Dragon Clan.

System notification: Main quest "Prevent the Great Plane Explosion" complete. Rewards: "Plane Guardian" title, "cross-plane teleportation" permission unlocked, Flame of Creation evolved into "Origin Flame."

Lin Xiuya hung the bronze mask left by the Time Eroder on the Guardian Stele as a symbol of "vigilance and redemption." Lu Mu was adjusting his detector. His mechanical prosthetic eye had been replaced with a new one that could see the flow of energy lines. "According to the Core of Chaos's feedback, three hidden planes are still under the control of the colonizers' remaining forces."

Wu Hao carried the repaired Space-Splitting Axe on his shoulder and patted Xiao Yan's shoulder. "What are you standing around for? A new dungeon's opened. Aren't we going to farm it?"

Zi Yan transformed into human form, holding a skewer of Dragon Valley fruit. "I heard there are singing trees in that 'Forgotten Plane.' If we get there too late, they might be cut down."

Lin Xiuya's sword gleamed in the sunlight. "My father's diary mentioned that a guardian's inheritance is there."

Xiao Yan looked at the companions beside him, then at the plane coordinates flashing on the Guardian Stele, and closed his hand around the Origin Flame in his palm. It was no longer just a Heavenly Flame. It had also fused with the domineering might of the Dragon Phoenix Flame, the fierce power of the Space-Splitting Axe, the keen edge of the guardian sword, and the precision of the mechanical style. Just like the five of them, they seemed different, yet had long since become an indivisible whole.

System notification: New exploration target detected. Activate teleportation to the "Forgotten Plane"?

Xiao Yan smiled and clicked "Yes."

The Guardian Stele shone with dazzling light, and a new portal opened in the center of the square. Beyond it lay an unknown starry sky and a world waiting to be explored. The five exchanged smiles and walked in side by side, their figures disappearing into the light. All that remained were the ever-increasing plane coordinates on the Guardian Stele and a newly carved line beneath it:

"To protect is not one person's battle, but countless glimmers joining together to form a flame that lights the darkness."