As the morning mist dissipated, the outline of the Crystal-Word Ruins emerged from the depths of the dense forest—the entrance to the ruins was a massive crystal gate half-buried in the earth, its lintel etched with twisted patterns. Sunlight falling on these patterns refracted into tiny, colorful lights, as if speaking a forgotten language. Just as the Youth Guardian Camp approached the stone gate, the New Sprout Sword on A Mu's back suddenly trembled, its scabbard's Ice-Fire Entwining Pattern radiating an unprecedented seven-colored light—not resonating with a single element, but rather creating a "multi-frequency resonance" with the crystal patterns on the lintel. The surface of the scabbard even reflected similar tiny patterns to the stone gate.
"Something's wrong with this door. It's cold to the touch, yet I can feel the 'living' energy within it." Loran reached out and lightly touched the stone door. The moment her fingertips touched the crystal patterns, a fleeting illusion flashed before her eyes: a thousand years ago, the Ice Spirit Clan surrounded a glowing stone tablet, holding fragments similar to the Child Crystal Core, as if performing some kind of ritual. When the illusion disappeared, the colorful light on the stone door's patterns dimmed slightly, like a disturbed creature.
In A Ya's bag, besides the fragments of the Child Crystal Core and the Warm Crystal, there were also " Liya pattern rubbing paper" (made from a mixture of swamp glue and Fluorescent Butterfly silk, capable of absorbing crystal pattern energy and temporarily revealing its meaning) and "resonance ink" (mixed with Star Core Fragments powder, which can enhance the connection between the rubbing and the crystal pattern) that Liya had hastily made overnight; A Shi's heat-resistant ceramic plate had been replaced with a "crystal pattern record book" (the cover was inlaid with a small fragment of the Marshheart Sac, waterproof and capable of preserving crystal pattern energy). As soon as he opened the book, the fragment on the cover echoed the colorful light of the stone gate, leaving faint patterns on the pages; the golden figure of the Icefield Wolf appeared particularly vigilant. It circled the stone gate twice, and suddenly growled at an inconspicuous protruding rock on the left—the crystal patterns there were denser than elsewhere, like a "keyhole" for the door.
"Don't touch that stone!" A hurried voice came from under the ancient tree beside the ruins, and a boy in a gray robe emerged—he carried a yellowed animal hide scroll in his arms, the cuffs of his robe embroidered with crystal patterns of the same origin as the stone gate, and a small, polished white crystal pinned in his hair. "That's the 'trigger point' of the protective crystal array; touching the wrong one will trap you in an illusion!"
The boy, A Wen, was the last surviving descendant of the Crystal Language Clan. The animal skin scroll was a " Fragmentary Crystal Pattern Records " passed down through generations of his clan. He unrolled the scroll, which was covered with intermittent crystal patterns, about 70% similar to the patterns on the stone gate. "A thousand years ago, the Ice Spirit Clan recorded the matter of the crystal core here. The crystal array was guarded to prevent outsiders from touching it—the 'fragments of crystal' ( Child Crystal Core fragments) you brought have too mixed energy, and their frequency doesn't match the array's frequency, which is why the gate is showing signs of 'rejection'."
A Mu pulled out the Star Core Fragments from his waist. Just as he approached the keyhole of the stone door, the seven-colored light from the Ice Spirit Clan carrying crystal cores walking by in the illusion. "It's a spatial distortion!" A Wen's expression changed. "The crystal array has superimposed scenes from different times. If we stray off course, we'll be trapped by the illusion!"
Following A Wen, the group walked in, stepping on the "realm lines" he drew with white crystals (white crystals can temporarily stabilize space). Inside the ruins was a circular stone chamber, with a black stone tablet as tall as a person standing in the center—the " Origin Stele." The surface of the stone tablet was covered with dense crystal patterns, some tinged with pale blue (symbols of the Mother Crystal Core ), some with orange-red (symbols of the Child Crystal Core ), and others with intertwined lines (symbols of energy connection). However, some of the crystal patterns had been eroded by time and become blurred.
Before they could even get close to the stone tablet, the stone chamber suddenly blazed with blinding light, and the illusion reappeared: in the stone chamber a thousand years ago, the Mother Crystal Core floated above the stone tablet, surrounded by seven Child Crystal Core Child Crystal Core surged, and the Mother Crystal Core began to vibrate. The Ice Spirit Clan quickly used their own energy to suppress it, barely managing to break the Child Crystal Core into fragments and send them to various parts of the continent—this was the origin scene of the Child Crystal Core. The energy fluctuations in the illusion were exceptionally realistic; the fragments of the Child Crystal Core at A Mu's waist even heated up, and the light from the sword sheath flickered.
"This is ' Crystal Shadow Impact '!" A Wen quickly drew a circle around the stone tablet with white crystal. "The energy in the illusion will affect reality. If this continues, the Child Crystal Core fragments will go out of control!" Loran immediately had A Shi record the positions of the crystal cores in the illusion. "The blurry crystal patterns on the stone tablet might be the arrangement order of the Child Crystal Core in the illusion. We need to place the fragments on it in order to activate the complete crystal pattern."