Embers and a Glimmer of Light

Shen Moxin broke the silence.

"Treat the injuries." Her voice trembled as she took off her dusty glasses and wiped them. "Those who can move, help those who can't."

Mo Chen coughed up a mouthful of blood. Lin Xiao staggered and was supported by Li Wangye as they moved towards the rock wall. Lu Yuan, leaning against the wall, slowly moved to his father's side.

Lu Qinghe sat leaning against his hoe, his chest rising and falling slightly. He looked up and mouthed, "It's nothing."

Only the sounds of breathing and tearing bandages remained in the mine tunnel.

In the darkness in the distance, something was moving gently. No one mentioned it.

Mo Chen was the most seriously injured. His shoulder blade was fractured, and three ribs were broken. When Shen Moxin was bandaging him, he bit down on the bandage without uttering a sound. After the bandage was finished, he looked at the scattered fragments of the Soul Tool and said in a hoarse voice, "It's ruined. Most of my belongings are gone."

Lin Xiao leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. His right arm muscles were strained, and his Soul Power was sluggish. Dark lines occasionally flashed under his skin, and his pupils dilated and contracted abnormally.

"You..." Li Wangye hesitated.

"He won't die." Lin Xiao didn't open his eyes. "Worry about others first."

Lu Qinghe's old wound reopened, and he had a new injury on his left rib. Shen Moxin, her brows furrowing. "He can't use his Soul Power for at least a month."

"It's not that delicate."

"Father," Lu Yuan said.

Lu Qinghe fell silent after saying just one word.

Shen Moxin looked at Lu Yuan. "Your injury."

"Fractured lumbar vertebra, damaged meridians, and only 20% of Soul Power remaining," Lu Yuan said calmly. "Only one Interference Ball left."

He looked at the completely unrecognizable core area.

The rock walls were riddled with cracks, and most of the defensive runes were no longer effective. The stone chamber where supplies were stored had collapsed halfway. The air was thick with the stench of blood mixed with the smell of burning.

It wasn't even a Pyrrhic victory.

He was just lucky to survive.

"Take stock of the losses," Lu Yuan said, enduring the pain. "We'll begin the cleanup in two hours."

No one objected.

The next three days were spent in pain and silence.

Su Yan woke up at noon the next day, too weak to stand. Li Wangye helped brew the medicine with one hand. Mo Chen lay in bed for two days, and on the third day he could barely sit up and began to tinker with the parts that weren't broken. Lin Xiao recovered the fastest, and by the evening of the third day he was able to walk around and keep watch.

Lu Yuan didn't get much rest.

He only slept for two hours a day, spending the rest of his time recording, analyzing, and deducing.

Record every instance of damage to the base.

Analyze the characteristics and coordination of the Scavengers's Soul Skill, especially the Leader's ability to interfere with the perception of Soul Power connections across a covered area.

And then there was another group of Shadow Guards who appeared at the end.

Lu Yuan drew a relationship diagram on a piece of scrap paper. On one side was the "Scavengers," who eliminated the "Key." On the other side was the "Shadow Guards (the newcomer)," who stopped the elimination, citing "abnormal fluctuations in the lock."

The middle part is a "lock".

Lu Yuan circled the two characters with charcoal.

By the evening of the fourth day, the base had barely managed to restore its basic functions.

The core area has been cleared to create habitable spaces. Seventy percent of the defense system is destroyed, and Mo Chen has cobbled together a few makeshift alarms. Supplies are running low, and food will only last for seven days.

But everyone survived.

Dinner consisted of thin porridge and pickled vegetables. Everyone sat around a flickering, unsteady oil lamp.

Lu Yuan put down the bowl.

"The damage assessment is complete," he said. "The defense system needs a complete rebuild, at least a month. Supplies are scarce, and all personnel are wounded."

He paused.

But we also got something.

Several pairs of eyes turned towards them.

"The Scavengers's combat data." Lu Yuan took out a piece of scrap paper and spread it out. "The leader's sensory interference wasn't Soul Power suppression, but more like a rule-level overlay. When he deployed the interference field, all the subtle connections were forcibly 'assimilated' by a higher-frequency fluctuation."

Mo Chen frowned. "What do you mean?"

"His understanding and use of Soul Power are on a completely different level from ours," Lu Yuan said softly. "And then there were the Shadow Guards. When they appeared, the residual turbulent flow of Soul Power was guided—like someone parting ripples on the surface of water."

Shen Moxin's breathing quickened. "You mean..."

"Their control over Soul Power might be closer to the essence," Lu Yuan said, looking into the depths of darkness. "Moreover, there are internal disagreements among them. The Scavengers wanted to kill us, but they wouldn't allow it. The reason wasn't 'they shouldn't kill us,' but rather 'the lock's fluctuations were abnormal, so the priority was changed.'"

Lin Xiao suddenly asked, "What is a lock?"

The problem struck the rock face.

Lu Yuan was silent for a few seconds. "I don't know. But it's definitely related to us. It's related to my theory."

He recalled the faint throbbing of the Blue Silver Grass within his body when he pressed his left hand into the rock's core.

Just then, the sound of stones rolling down came from deep within the mine tunnel.

Everyone tensed up instantly.

Lin Xiao placed his hand on the dagger. Mo Chen reached for the Soul Tool.

The sound stopped.

A few breaths later, the boy A Tu, who was in charge of the outer perimeter guard, emerged from the darkness, his face pale, clutching something in his hand.

"Sir... someone left this outside."

He opened his hand. In his palm was a rough wooden box, about the size of his palm. On the lid was an orchid, outlined in lines.

Shen Moxin gasped. "Bai Zhi?"

Lu Yuan took the wooden box and opened it. Inside were several dried herb leaves, with secret characters pierced on them with a needle.

Shen Moxin closer. "The leaves of the Moonlight Orchid only develop their appearance when stimulated by a specific Soul Power frequency."

Lu Yuan gathered his soul power at his fingertips and brushed the leaves at the frequency of Bai Zhi's martial soul.

Pale blue specks of light appeared and connected to form characters.

[The Shadow Guards is divided into two factions.]

[One faction is the ' Elimination Faction,' which advocates eliminating any ' Abnormal Key ' that might affect the stability of the 'lock.' Scavengers belong to this faction.]

[The second group is the ' Observation Faction,' who believe that certain ' Key ' might provide an opportunity to understand and repair the 'lock.' Those who intervened to stop the action belong to this group.]

Information regarding the 'lock' is incomplete. Based on scattered information, it is speculated that it may be related to the ' Origin limitations' and 'rule flaws' of the Soul Power cultivation system in the Douluo Continent. Its invisible nature restricts the cognitive limits and development paths of all Soul Master, seemingly a ' Shackles ' left over from ancient times.

[Your theories, especially your exploration of the essence of Soul Power and the Martial Soul Evolution, may have touched the edge of the 'lock'. Therefore, we must both clear it and observe it.]

[Note: Listening Wind Pavilion has detected abnormal Soul Power fluctuations in the Old Crow Ridge area and is tracing their source. The Cloud Mist Sect has not withdrawn and is still lingering nearby. Please be cautious.]

[Source of this information cannot be disclosed, but it is reliable. (Zhi)]

The light lasted for ten breaths before dimming and disappearing.

Dead silence.

The lamplight flickered on everyone's faces.

Mo Chen was the first to break the silence. "Origin limitations... flaws in the rules..." His voice was dry, "Does that mean we've been Shackles ever since we awakened our Martial Soul?"

Shen Moxin's fingers trembled. "If that's really the case, then many phenomena can be explained. Why does Innate Soul Power level almost determine the upper limit of one's life? Why are so many 'possibilities' that can never be broken through in practice...?"

She looked at Lu Yuan, her eyes filled with an almost fearful excitement. "Your theories! Your redefinition of the essence of Soul Power are all attempts to describe the form of that ' Shackles,' even... to find a way to break it!"

Lu Yuan remained silent.

The vague guesses from my past life memories were now split open by lightning, connecting into a clear narrative.

Origin limitations, rule flaws—an invisible "lock" that binds the entire Soul Master civilization of the Douluo Continent from its very origin.

So the Scavengers wanted to kill him—he was trying to pick the lock.

So another group of Shadow Guards came to stop them—they wanted to see if the Key could actually open the lock.

Lu Yuan slowly raised his head.

Under the lamplight, his eyes shone exceptionally brightly, as if two flames were burning deep within them.

"Our previous thinking," he began, his voice low but overwhelming, "Was perhaps too conservative."

Everyone looked at him.

"Hiding and defending will never bring true safety." Lu Yuan said, emphasizing each word, "Only when the power we wield, the 'possibilities' we represent, make them feel that the cost of eliminating us far outweighs the value of observation or even cooperation, will we have truly established ourselves."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over each face.

Shen Moxin's pale face flushed. Mo Chen gritted his teeth. Lin Xiao's vertical pupils dilated slightly. Li Wangye clenched his fists. Su Yan struggled to sit up straight. Lu Qinghe slowly nodded.

"This attack, though devastating, also exposed a lot," Lu Yuan continued, "the Scavengers ' fighting style, the internal conflicts within the Shadow Guards, and..."

He raised his left hand, palm up.

A faint, ethereal image of a Blue Silver Grass slowly emerged. Under the lamplight, it appeared so small and insignificant.

But Lu Yuan remembered very clearly—at the most violent moment of the Soul Power storm, this Martial Soul, which was considered trash, had a faint but completely different tremor.

"That slight anomaly in my Martial Soul within the Soul Power storm," Lu Yuan said, withdrawing his Martial Soul. "We need to study this more deeply and grow stronger faster. The trouble with the Cloud Mist Sect hasn't been resolved yet, the Listening Wind Pavilion is still spying from outside, and now we have the Shadow Guards 'observing' us too..."

His voice deepened, carrying a metallic weight.

"We have no way out."

The oil lamp flickered again.

The atmosphere in the mine tunnels had changed. The weariness of surviving a disaster was replaced by something heavier, yet more solid.

Mo Chen spat and struggled to his feet. "I'm going to the repair workshop. If the Soul Tool is ruined, I'll make a new one from scratch."

Lin Xiao moved his right arm. "We need to increase the number of alert points. I'll go set them up."

Shen Moxin put away her first-aid kit and took out her notebook. "I need to reorganize the theoretical framework. If the 'lock' really exists, the teaching direction also needs to be adjusted."

Li Wangye helped Su Yan up. "Let's go take stock of the remaining supplies."

Lu Qinghe tried to move, but Lu Yuan held him down.

"Father, you should rest," Lu Yuan said. "You are the last line of defense. You need to get better first."

Lu Qinghe looked at him for a long time, and finally nodded. "Okay."

The crowd dispersed.

Lu Yuan sat there, looking down at his palm.

Theories of the past life, practice in this life. The starting point of Trash Martial Soul, touching the edge of Shackles. All clues, crises, and possibilities converge at this moment.

It's not about survival, it's about breaking through.

Deep in the mine, darkness still lingered. But the light of the oil lamps shone stubbornly.

In the distance, that faint, wriggling sound seemed to come again.

But this time, no one bothered to listen.

They have something more important to face.