Chapter 89: Shattering the Core Network and the Bloody Battles Within and Without
The main node of dark blue light hovered at the end of the tunnel. Its fist-thick fluorescent veins spread outward in all directions like blood vessels, connecting to the tens of thousands of subsidiary nodes throughout the entire underground tunnel. All the psychic energy of this massive network converged and flowed here.
Lin Yan pushed his ancient martial arts "Treading Snow" footwork to its absolute limit, his figure drifting and shuttling through the gaps between the scaled beasts. The high-tier scaled beasts on both sides roared and swiped their claws, the foul wind rushing toward his face. The claws grazed his robes, leaving deep gouges on the rock wall.
Seeing this, the two secondary priests stopped tangling with Jiang Tao. They each split off a pitch-black, condensed psychic spear that crossed the dozens of meters of tunnel, aiming straight for Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness.
The psychic spear was so fast it was almost invisible to the naked eye.
Lin Yan's mind remained unmoved. The psychic web on the surface of his Sea of Consciousness, tempered over a long period, instantly tensed.
Puff!
The psychic spear slammed fiercely into the web. Its power was diverted and weakened layer by layer, but the aftershock still made his head go numb, and a trace of blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth. Yet, his footsteps did not halt for even a fraction of a second.
"Stop him!" one of the priests let out a psychic roar, mobilizing the nearby subsidiary nodes to erect a heavy psychic barrier in front of Lin Yan.
The barrier spanned across the tunnel, the dark blue light curtain blindingly bright. If he were to forcefully crash into it, his Sea of Consciousness would suffer severe trauma instantly.
Lin Yan's gaze quickly swept over the energy veins of the light curtain. All the energy of the barrier came from the main node. Instead of charging head-on, he scattered countless fine psychic threads, tracing backward along the veins of the light curtain. In an instant, he found the energy input point of the barrier.
"Sever!"
The psychic threads suddenly tightened, cutting off the energy link supplying the light curtain.
The dark blue light curtain instantly dimmed and collapsed with a roar.
Lin Yan broke through the barrier, with only a little over ten meters left to the main node.
In the middle of the underground tunnel, the instructor wielded his long spear, stubbornly resisting the impact of the beast tide. Scaled beasts poured out endlessly from various forks. He already had several claw wounds on his body, his blood soaking through his combat uniform. Jiang Tao used his fourth-tier Sea of Consciousness to simultaneously restrain the psychic power of the two priests. The massive psychic clash continuously drained his origin. His face was deathly pale, and cold sweat constantly rolled down his forehead.
"Hold on! Lin Yan is almost at the main core!" Jiang Tao roared through gritted teeth.
On the surface, the slaughter was equally brutal.
The four squad members who had stayed behind relied on the rubble cover, taking turns attacking with long spears and short blades to resist the encirclement of dozens of high-tier scaled beasts. The corpses of scaled beasts piled up across the wasteland, and every squad member was wounded. Communications were still blocked by the psychic field, making it impossible to send out a distress signal. They could only fight to the death to guard the crevice exit, preventing the scaled beasts underground from rushing onto the wasteland and cutting off everyone's last retreat path.
Deep underground, the Ancient Progenitor's heavy, icy will swept through the entire tunnel once again.
"Delusional. This main node bears the weight of the entire tunnel network; it will not be so easily destroyed."
The blue light of the main node surged, erupting outward with a large-scale psychic impact. Countless fragmented illusions, like a tidal wave, frantically poured into Lin Yan's mind. Collapsed bastions, the corpses of comrades, and countless scenes of despair exploded before his eyes.
Lin Yan operated his mind-guarding technique with all his might, his mind as still as an ancient well.
No matter how real the illusions were, they were ultimately external disturbances. His mind firmly guarded its core, completely unswayed by any deception.
In the blink of an eye, he had already rushed to the front of the main node. The massive crystal core pulsed slowly in the dark blue light, like a living heart.
Lin Yan gripped his short blade tightly, fully unleashing his third-tier Sea of Consciousness. All his psychic threads pierced into the interior of the crystal core simultaneously, disrupting the energy flowing within.
"Shatter!"
The short blade pierced into the physical body of the crystal core with full force.
Crack————
A crisp shattering sound echoed deep within the tunnel.
Spiderweb-like cracks spread across the surface of the main node, and the flowing dark blue light flickered violently. The energy supply to the tens of thousands of branching nodes relying on the main core was instantly severed. The fluorescent veins spreading across the rock walls extinguished one by one at a visible speed.
The massive psychic network shrouding the entire area collapsed with a roar.
The illusions dissipated, and the large-scale psychic heavy pressure vanished. The electromagnetic shielding was lifted simultaneously.
"The network is broken!" Jiang Tao breathed a massive sigh of relief. As the immense psychic pressure suddenly receded, he staggered back half a step.
Deprived of the main node's energy boost, the two secondary priests suffered a cliff-like drop in power, their psychic fields becoming extremely weak.
Having lost the unified dispatch of the psychic network, the originally neat and orderly beast tide instantly descended into chaos. The scaled beasts fell into instinctual frenzy, crashing into each other.
Seizing the opportunity, the instructor swept his spear horizontally, forcing back the scaled beasts in front of him, and shouted loudly, "Retreat! Break out toward the crevice exit!"
Lin Yan pulled out his short blade, quickly turned around, and headed back toward the instructor and Jiang Tao.
Unwilling to accept the failure of their plan, the two secondary priests burned their own psychic origins, launching their final two psychic spears regardless of everything else, their targets still locked onto Lin Yan.
Seeing this, Jiang Tao forcibly summoned his remaining Sea of Consciousness power, stepped forward, and erected a psychic barrier horizontally in front of Lin Yan.
The two psychic spears slammed fiercely into the barrier. Jiang Tao let out a muffled groan, blood seeping from his mouth and nose as he stumbled and fell to the ground.
"Jiang Tao!" Lin Yan quickly stepped forward to support him.
"I'm fine... I can still walk," Jiang Tao panted heavily, barely managing to support his body.
The chaotic beast tide was still crashing around inside the tunnel. The three of them no longer lingered to fight, turning around and breaking out toward the crevice exit. The scaled beasts along the way, having lost unified command, attacked in a disorganized manner. With the three of them coordinating, they fought their way out.
On the surface, the squad members who had stayed behind suddenly noticed that the invisible shield shrouding the wasteland had vanished, and their communicators had regained their signal.
"Communications restored! Hurry and send the distress coordinates!" A squad member immediately operated the equipment, transmitting the location and enemy situation back to the Panshi City Command Center.
At the exit of the underground tunnel, Lin Yan and the other two burst out of the crevice, reuniting with the four squad members who had stayed behind. Everyone was injured and exhausted to the extreme.
"The main node is destroyed, and the entire underground network is paralyzed," Lin Yan reported briefly. "But there are still a large number of high-tier scaled beasts inside the tunnel, and the two secondary priests are still alive."
Before he had even finished speaking, the earth trembled slightly once again.
Having lost the stable energy support of the main node, the rock stratum structure of this massive underground main tunnel began to loosen, and continuous, rumbling vibrations came from the distance.
"The tunnel is collapsing! We cannot stay here!" The instructor immediately ordered, "Everyone evacuate, retreat to the outer side of the wasteland, and wait for reinforcements!"
No one dared to linger. Supporting each other, they quickly retreated away from the crevice. Behind them, the massive crevice continuously dropped rubble, and the rock walls kept collapsing, gradually burying this main tunnel, which the Ancient Progenitor had spent months excavating, beneath the rock strata.
Deep underground, in the resonance rock cave, the Ancient Progenitor sensed the shattering of the main node of the main tunnel and the complete collapse of the massive underground network. Its massive body trembled slightly. The main tunnel it had planned for so long, intended for the general offensive against the six major bastions, was largely destroyed.
The surviving secondary priest transmitted its thoughts, filled with fear: "My Lord, the main tunnel is destroyed, and the ambushing beast swarm has suffered heavy losses..."
The Ancient Progenitor remained silent for a long time. A deep, heavy rage churned within its dark gold vertical pupils, but it did not roar in fury.
"Advance the plan," it issued its icy thoughts slowly. "Although the main tunnel is damaged, the other five branch tunnels are close to being fully connected. Notify all outposts to awaken all hoarded high-tier scaled beasts. The general offensive begins immediately."
Far away on the wasteland, between the gray sky and earth, low rumbles echoed continuously across various parts of the land. Countless rifts began to spew out scaled beasts.
The beast tides arrived simultaneously at the six major bastions.
End of Chapter.
Lin Yan pushed his ancient martial arts "Treading Snow" footwork to its absolute limit, his figure drifting and shuttling through the gaps between the scaled beasts. The high-tier scaled beasts on both sides roared and swiped their claws, the foul wind rushing toward his face. The claws grazed his robes, leaving deep gouges on the rock wall.
Seeing this, the two secondary priests stopped tangling with Jiang Tao. They each split off a pitch-black, condensed psychic spear that crossed the dozens of meters of tunnel, aiming straight for Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness.
The psychic spear was so fast it was almost invisible to the naked eye.
Lin Yan's mind remained unmoved. The psychic web on the surface of his Sea of Consciousness, tempered over a long period, instantly tensed.
Puff!
The psychic spear slammed fiercely into the web. Its power was diverted and weakened layer by layer, but the aftershock still made his head go numb, and a trace of blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth. Yet, his footsteps did not halt for even a fraction of a second.
"Stop him!" one of the priests let out a psychic roar, mobilizing the nearby subsidiary nodes to erect a heavy psychic barrier in front of Lin Yan.
The barrier spanned across the tunnel, the dark blue light curtain blindingly bright. If he were to forcefully crash into it, his Sea of Consciousness would suffer severe trauma instantly.
Lin Yan's gaze quickly swept over the energy veins of the light curtain. All the energy of the barrier came from the main node. Instead of charging head-on, he scattered countless fine psychic threads, tracing backward along the veins of the light curtain. In an instant, he found the energy input point of the barrier.
"Sever!"
The psychic threads suddenly tightened, cutting off the energy link supplying the light curtain.
The dark blue light curtain instantly dimmed and collapsed with a roar.
Lin Yan broke through the barrier, with only a little over ten meters left to the main node.
In the middle of the underground tunnel, the instructor wielded his long spear, stubbornly resisting the impact of the beast tide. Scaled beasts poured out endlessly from various forks. He already had several claw wounds on his body, his blood soaking through his combat uniform. Jiang Tao used his fourth-tier Sea of Consciousness to simultaneously restrain the psychic power of the two priests. The massive psychic clash continuously drained his origin. His face was deathly pale, and cold sweat constantly rolled down his forehead.
"Hold on! Lin Yan is almost at the main core!" Jiang Tao roared through gritted teeth.
On the surface, the slaughter was equally brutal.
The four squad members who had stayed behind relied on the rubble cover, taking turns attacking with long spears and short blades to resist the encirclement of dozens of high-tier scaled beasts. The corpses of scaled beasts piled up across the wasteland, and every squad member was wounded. Communications were still blocked by the psychic field, making it impossible to send out a distress signal. They could only fight to the death to guard the crevice exit, preventing the scaled beasts underground from rushing onto the wasteland and cutting off everyone's last retreat path.
Deep underground, the Ancient Progenitor's heavy, icy will swept through the entire tunnel once again.
"Delusional. This main node bears the weight of the entire tunnel network; it will not be so easily destroyed."
The blue light of the main node surged, erupting outward with a large-scale psychic impact. Countless fragmented illusions, like a tidal wave, frantically poured into Lin Yan's mind. Collapsed bastions, the corpses of comrades, and countless scenes of despair exploded before his eyes.
Lin Yan operated his mind-guarding technique with all his might, his mind as still as an ancient well.
No matter how real the illusions were, they were ultimately external disturbances. His mind firmly guarded its core, completely unswayed by any deception.
In the blink of an eye, he had already rushed to the front of the main node. The massive crystal core pulsed slowly in the dark blue light, like a living heart.
Lin Yan gripped his short blade tightly, fully unleashing his third-tier Sea of Consciousness. All his psychic threads pierced into the interior of the crystal core simultaneously, disrupting the energy flowing within.
"Shatter!"
The short blade pierced into the physical body of the crystal core with full force.
Crack————
A crisp shattering sound echoed deep within the tunnel.
Spiderweb-like cracks spread across the surface of the main node, and the flowing dark blue light flickered violently. The energy supply to the tens of thousands of branching nodes relying on the main core was instantly severed. The fluorescent veins spreading across the rock walls extinguished one by one at a visible speed.
The massive psychic network shrouding the entire area collapsed with a roar.
The illusions dissipated, and the large-scale psychic heavy pressure vanished. The electromagnetic shielding was lifted simultaneously.
"The network is broken!" Jiang Tao breathed a massive sigh of relief. As the immense psychic pressure suddenly receded, he staggered back half a step.
Deprived of the main node's energy boost, the two secondary priests suffered a cliff-like drop in power, their psychic fields becoming extremely weak.
Having lost the unified dispatch of the psychic network, the originally neat and orderly beast tide instantly descended into chaos. The scaled beasts fell into instinctual frenzy, crashing into each other.
Seizing the opportunity, the instructor swept his spear horizontally, forcing back the scaled beasts in front of him, and shouted loudly, "Retreat! Break out toward the crevice exit!"
Lin Yan pulled out his short blade, quickly turned around, and headed back toward the instructor and Jiang Tao.
Unwilling to accept the failure of their plan, the two secondary priests burned their own psychic origins, launching their final two psychic spears regardless of everything else, their targets still locked onto Lin Yan.
Seeing this, Jiang Tao forcibly summoned his remaining Sea of Consciousness power, stepped forward, and erected a psychic barrier horizontally in front of Lin Yan.
The two psychic spears slammed fiercely into the barrier. Jiang Tao let out a muffled groan, blood seeping from his mouth and nose as he stumbled and fell to the ground.
"Jiang Tao!" Lin Yan quickly stepped forward to support him.
"I'm fine... I can still walk," Jiang Tao panted heavily, barely managing to support his body.
The chaotic beast tide was still crashing around inside the tunnel. The three of them no longer lingered to fight, turning around and breaking out toward the crevice exit. The scaled beasts along the way, having lost unified command, attacked in a disorganized manner. With the three of them coordinating, they fought their way out.
On the surface, the squad members who had stayed behind suddenly noticed that the invisible shield shrouding the wasteland had vanished, and their communicators had regained their signal.
"Communications restored! Hurry and send the distress coordinates!" A squad member immediately operated the equipment, transmitting the location and enemy situation back to the Panshi City Command Center.
At the exit of the underground tunnel, Lin Yan and the other two burst out of the crevice, reuniting with the four squad members who had stayed behind. Everyone was injured and exhausted to the extreme.
"The main node is destroyed, and the entire underground network is paralyzed," Lin Yan reported briefly. "But there are still a large number of high-tier scaled beasts inside the tunnel, and the two secondary priests are still alive."
Before he had even finished speaking, the earth trembled slightly once again.
Having lost the stable energy support of the main node, the rock stratum structure of this massive underground main tunnel began to loosen, and continuous, rumbling vibrations came from the distance.
"The tunnel is collapsing! We cannot stay here!" The instructor immediately ordered, "Everyone evacuate, retreat to the outer side of the wasteland, and wait for reinforcements!"
No one dared to linger. Supporting each other, they quickly retreated away from the crevice. Behind them, the massive crevice continuously dropped rubble, and the rock walls kept collapsing, gradually burying this main tunnel, which the Ancient Progenitor had spent months excavating, beneath the rock strata.
Deep underground, in the resonance rock cave, the Ancient Progenitor sensed the shattering of the main node of the main tunnel and the complete collapse of the massive underground network. Its massive body trembled slightly. The main tunnel it had planned for so long, intended for the general offensive against the six major bastions, was largely destroyed.
The surviving secondary priest transmitted its thoughts, filled with fear: "My Lord, the main tunnel is destroyed, and the ambushing beast swarm has suffered heavy losses..."
The Ancient Progenitor remained silent for a long time. A deep, heavy rage churned within its dark gold vertical pupils, but it did not roar in fury.
"Advance the plan," it issued its icy thoughts slowly. "Although the main tunnel is damaged, the other five branch tunnels are close to being fully connected. Notify all outposts to awaken all hoarded high-tier scaled beasts. The general offensive begins immediately."
Far away on the wasteland, between the gray sky and earth, low rumbles echoed continuously across various parts of the land. Countless rifts began to spew out scaled beasts.
The beast tides arrived simultaneously at the six major bastions.
End of Chapter.
