The Aftermath, Chaos Marks, and a New Trial
The reconstruction of Heaven Dou City was nearly complete. On the newly paved bluestone streets, the laughter of children chasing and playing drove away the gloom left by war. Tang San stood on the Balance Council's terrace, holding a translucent crystal. It was a fragment of debris he had picked up from the coast after the spatial rift closed. A faint trace of chaos energy still lingered inside, flowing slowly through its depths like frozen lightning.
"Still studying that?" Lin Ye approached with two cups of hot tea and handed one to Tang San. Golden Crow Fire danced at his fingertips, carefully avoiding the crystal. "Sect Master Ning said that thing bears the mark of the Primordial Plane. It's best not to touch it."
Tang San took the cup, its warmth dispelling some of the chill in his fingertips. "The Chaos Azure Lotus can sense its fluctuations. This isn't dark energy or light energy. It's more like... a fragment of a law." He placed the crystal in his palm and slowly infused it with the power of the Chaos Azure Lotus. The chaos energy inside responded at once, giving off a gentle blue light. "Look, it's responding."
Lin Ye leaned closer, frowning slightly. "Golden Crow Fire is very sensitive to it, as though it's encountered something from the same source, yet opposed to it. The Primordial Plane... is it really the origin of all power?"
"Perhaps." Tang San put the crystal away and looked out the window. "But Li Mo was wrong. The origin isn't the end. A river may begin in the snowy mountains, but it doesn't stay at its source forever. It has to flow, to join the sea, to endure storms and droughts. Only then is its life complete."
As they spoke, Xiao Wu came bounding upstairs with a dossier in her hand. "Tang San, the council received a report from the western frontier. Some herders recently saw 'islands in the sky,' and they said there were glowing plants on them. Do you want to go take a look?"
"Islands in the sky?" Tang San took the dossier. It contained several crude sketches of islands floating among the clouds, their edges ringed with colorful halos. They were indeed strange. "The western frontier is close to the Broken Mountains, where space is already unstable. Perhaps they're spatial folds caused when Li Mo opened the passage."
"I'm going!" Dai Mubai poked his head out from the stairwell, Netherworld Thrust glimmering on his right arm. Ever since the spatial energy remaining in his body had fused with his martial soul, his perception of spatial fluctuations had become exceptionally sharp. "It'll be a good chance to see how well my new ability works."
Tai Long followed him up and said in a muffled voice, "Count me in. I've spent so long in the city lately that my bones have gone loose."
Oscar squeezed through from behind, holding up a string of sausages. "Take my Flying Sausages. You can replenish your energy at any time, even in the air!"
Seeing how eager his companions were, Tang San felt the gloom in his heart gradually lift. The impact Li Mo had brought had been heavy, but life had to go on, and their steps toward protecting balance could not stop.
"Then let's get ready and set out tomorrow," Tang San said with a smile. "We can check whether the energy in the western frontier is stable while we're there."
The Broken Mountains on the western frontier were even more desolate than they had imagined. The exposed rock was a strange purplish black, and gullies of varying depths covered the ground, looking as though they had been carved by a giant axe. According to the local herders, strange things had begun happening here on the night the spatial rift closed. Not only had islands appeared in the sky, but some valleys would suddenly fall into darkness, and when they lit up again, the stones inside had all turned into transparent crystals.
"The spatial energy here is too chaotic." Dai Mubai frowned and swept Netherworld Thrust through the air, leaving a faint black mark. "It's like a shattered mirror, with the pieces still colliding."
Lin Ye fully unleashed Golden Crow Perception, his expression grave. "There's more than one island in the sky. I can sense at least three energy sources, all with fluctuations of chaos energy, much like that crystal of yours."
Tang San spread out his Blue Silver Domain, sending vines creeping along the gullies. But they suddenly stopped when they touched a patch of purplish-black rock. The rock's surface was covered in fine, dense lines, identical to the energy trails left when the spatial rift closed.
"These are Chaos Marks." Tang San ran his fingertips over the rock, sensing the violent power concealed within. "Marks left behind by leaking primordial energy. They'll keep eroding the space around them."
"Then the islands in the sky..." Xiao Wu looked up at the clouds, her eyes full of worry.
"They should be fragments of land held up by the Chaos Marks," Tang San reasoned. "If we don't clear these marks away soon, space in the Broken Mountains will collapse completely. When that happens, new rifts might form."
As he spoke, a white light suddenly flashed in the valley ahead. Immediately afterward, the entire valley began floating upward. Where the rock peeled away, shimmering crystals were exposed within. This was the "island in the sky" the herders had spoken of.
"It's getting bigger!" Oscar exclaimed.
Tang San's gaze sharpened. "Dai Mubai, come up there with me! Lin Ye, you, Xiao Wu, and Tai Long stand guard on the ground and prevent any changes in the other valleys! Oscar, get the Purification Sausages ready!"
"Okay!"
Dai Mubai grabbed Tang San's arm and infused Netherworld Thrust with spatial energy. Their bodies instantly grew light, and they flew toward the floating island like feathers. The closer they got, the clearer the fluctuations of the Chaos Marks became. Tang San could even see fragments of energy drifting through the air, flickering like fireflies and giving off faint popping sounds when they touched.
A layer of transparent crystal covered the island's surface. All manner of plants and rocks were encased within it, like specimens frozen in time. At the center of the island, an enormous purplish-black rock radiated dense chaos energy. It was clearly the core of the Chaos Marks.
"There!" Tang San pointed at the rock. Blue Silver Grass suddenly burst forth and wrapped around its base. "Cut it with your spatial energy. I'll purify it!"
Dai Mubai nodded. Black spatial power coated Netherworld Thrust as he slashed viciously at the rock. When the claws struck, there was no thunderous crash. Instead, a tiny spatial rift appeared and forcibly tore away a corner of the rock.
"It's working!" Tang San immediately infused the Blue Silver Grass with the power of the Chaos Azure Lotus. Seven-colored light spread along the vines and covered the rock's surface. The black lines of the Chaos Marks writhed violently in the light, hissing and sizzling as though struggling in pain.
But just then, the island suddenly trembled violently, and the surrounding crystals exploded one after another. Countless fragments of energy shot toward them like a rain of arrows. Dai Mubai hurriedly formed a barrier with spatial power, but the fragments slammed into it, driving him back again and again. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"There are spatial blades in these fragments!" Dai Mubai roared. "They're absorbing chaos energy and getting stronger and stronger!"
Tang San looked toward the edge of the island and saw more land breaking away from the ground and converging on the island in the sky. The Chaos Marks were devouring the surrounding space, making the island grow larger and larger!
"We can't delay any longer!" Tang San gritted his teeth, took out the crystal fragment, and infused it with the power of the Chaos Azure Lotus. "In the name of balance, draw!"
The crystal fragment erupted with dazzling blue light, drawing the energy of the Chaos Marks toward it like a magnet. The black lines peeled away from the purplish-black rock and converged on the crystal, while the rock's color faded at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Now!" Dai Mubai seized the opportunity and unleashed the full power of Netherworld Thrust, shattering the rock completely.
As the rock broke apart, the island's trembling gradually stopped. Deprived of their source, the floating fragments of energy dissipated one after another. The island began to sink slowly, finally settling back onto the ground and rejoining the fractured mountains.
Tang San and Dai Mubai landed and both breathed a sigh of relief. But Tang San frowned as he looked at the crystal fragment in his hand. The chaos energy inside was much denser than before, and the crystal had even begun to heat up, as though it were... growing?
"What's wrong?" Dai Mubai noticed that something was amiss.
"This thing is absorbing the energy of the Chaos Marks." Tang San tightened his grip on the crystal. "It isn't an inanimate object. It seems to be alive."
Just then, the ground suddenly shook violently. Two valleys in the distance lit up with white light at the same time and floated into the air, moving several times faster than the previous one.
"This is bad! The other Chaos Marks have been activated!" Lin Ye's anxious voice came from afar. "They're attracting each other!"
Tang San looked up and saw the two newly formed islands in the sky rapidly drawing together. The space between them twisted into a funnel, sucking in countless rocks and fragments of energy with a piercing shriek.
"They're going to merge!" Tang San's expression changed drastically. "If three chaos cores merge, they might form a new spatial rift!"
He looked at the crystal fragment in his hand and suddenly understood something. Although Li Mo was dead, the effects of the passage he had opened had not disappeared. These Chaos Marks were like seeds, taking root and sprouting in the Broken Mountains as they waited for the chance to detonate again.
"Dai Mubai, let's stop them from merging!" Tang San put away the crystal fragment, his gaze becoming exceptionally resolute. "Lin Ye, notify the council and request reinforcements! Clearing the Broken Mountains may be harder than we imagined!"
Sunlight pierced the clouds and fell on the floating islands, reflecting a blinding glare. Tang San knew this was only the beginning of a new trial. What Li Mo had left behind was not just the scar of a spatial rift, but also an ultimate question about balance and chaos.
But he would not retreat. He understood that true guardianship did not mean wiping out all chaos and the unknown, but finding a new balance amid change and strengthening one's convictions through trials.
The wind in the Broken Mountains carried the breath of chaos, stirring the hem of Tang San's clothes. He and Dai Mubai exchanged a glance, then flew toward the new islands in the sky together.
The path of guardianship had no end.