254: Chapter 246 A Possibility

Just as Xu Yan's vigilance reached its peak due to this thought, Return to Dust, who had been unable to appear due to the tournament rules, suddenly appeared behind Xu Yan.

At the same time, the ruomu spirit jade that Xu Yan was wearing, which should also have been ineffective, began to glow with a crimson light.

Then, under the dual summoning of Return to Dust and the ruomu spirit jade, a cyan-red projection of the divine tree traversed through layers of space-time, descending into the time-frozen space where Xu Yan and the others were, eventually positioning itself behind Xu Yan and Return to Dust in a protective stance.

After feeling the familiar and powerful aura of the Ruomu of the Western Extreme behind him, Xu Yan's heart, which had been somewhat hanging, finally settled a little.

With an elder backing him up, no matter what, his side wouldn't suffer too great a loss.

At the same time the Ruomu of the Western Extreme's projection appeared, another figure slowly emerged behind Zhong Su on the opposite side.

Judging by its appearance, this was a spider-like creature with a black and white color scheme. Even before it fully manifested, Xu Yan could feel the chaotic and violent aura emanating from it through its phantom image.

The first impression it gave Xu Yan was: "This did not seem like an easy entity to deal with."

Under Xu Yan's gaze, the figure of the spider-like creature on the opposite side fully solidified. Without any communication, just by looking at its figure, a name suddenly surfaced in Xu Yan's mind.

Chaos · Yin-Yang Fate-Reversing Spider

True Name Imprint. Xu Yan didn't know much about the specific details because his strength hadn't reached that level yet, only that it was one of the necessary conditions for a Beast Tamer or spirit beast to advance from the Saint Spirit Rank to the Mythical Rank under normal circumstances.

Its most superficial effect was that, provided the other party was not intentionally concealing it, any living being, regardless of region, nation, or even race, would automatically know the name imprinted by the other party the moment they saw them.

In other words, the one on the opposite side was, at the very least, an existence standing at the pinnacle of the Saint Spirit Rank, and highly likely to be of the Mythical Rank.

For such an existence to suddenly seek him out, he didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse.

Just as Xu Yan was contemplating whether to speak up and break the deadlock, the spider-like figure on the opposite side suddenly moved. Its black and white right forelimb lifted, slowly but firmly pointing towards Xu Yan's head.

Unexpectedly, facing the suddenly pointing spider leg, the Ruomu projection behind Xu Yan did not offer any obstruction, allowing it to approach rapidly and finally land slowly on the center of Xu Yan's forehead.

The moment the center of his forehead made contact with the tip of the spider leg, Xu Yan suddenly felt a sense of trance. When he recovered, an image had already appeared in his mind.

A youth, covered in blood, with one arm severed, spiritual energy nearly exhausted, and his Innate Talent uses already depleted, was being carried by a giant black and white spider, fleeing rapidly. Behind the human and the spider were six powerful enemies rapidly closing in.

For the human and the spider, no matter how one looked at it, this was a dead end.

The enemies were drawing closer and closer. Under the enemies' long-range sniping, the human and the spider were injured, and their speed began to drop sharply; it looked like they were about to be caught.

Just as the human and the spider were about to fall into the enemies' hands, the youth on the spider's back suddenly revealed a look of determination. Then, enduring the pain, he struggled to lift his remaining, though incomplete, hand.

Flesh, lifespan, soul, Innate Talent, fate—using himself as a sacrifice to forcibly activate his Innate Talent one last time.

The last scene Xu Yan saw in his mind was the youth turning into dust, and a golden thread appearing from the youth's "remains," slicing open the surrounding space and taking the spider beneath the youth into it.

And, a voice that suddenly appeared in his ears, weak and determined, yet filled with expectation and guilt.

"The final mandate of heaven, Zhu Yan, live on, in peace and joy, year after year."

The voice faded, the image simultaneously returned to nothingness, and Xu Yan recovered from his trance.

Looking at the projection on the opposite side that had already retracted its spider leg, a look of complexity flashed in Xu Yan's eyes.

It was very clear that the human and the spider that had appeared in his mind just now were none other than himself and Zhu Yan.

Or rather, himself and Zhu Yan from the future, or some parallel world.

And the Mythical Rank existence before his eyes, bearing the prefix 'Chaos' and named the Yin-Yang Fate-Reversing Spider, was precisely the Zhu Yan who had been sent away by "his" final mandate of heaven in that future or parallel world.

Reason told Xu Yan that under these circumstances, he could actually utilize the bond between that "himself" and this "Zhu Yan" before him to close the distance, while also gaining a huge benefit from it.

After all, neither traversing parallel worlds nor reversing time was a simple matter. And the "Zhu Yan" on the opposite side who could accomplish such things naturally possessed extremely powerful strength.

However, no matter how much his reason told him that he should use "emotion" to respond and not provoke the other party, when he truly opened his mouth, the voice that came out was:

"Although I don't know the reason you came to find me, regardless of whether it's a parallel space-time or the future, I am not him."

When these words were spoken, even Xu Yan himself wanted to slap himself.

No, what are you saying?

Even if you don't want to rely on the bond between "himself" and the other party to build a relationship or anything, at least don't directly provoke the other party to their face! How is this any different from courting death?

While thinking this, Xu Yan subconsciously took a small step back towards the Ruomu phantom behind him.

Listening to Xu Yan's words and watching his somewhat cowardly step back, the "Zhu Yan" on the opposite side did not reveal any negative emotions. Instead, it was as if it were seeing another person through Xu Yan, and the entire spider was filled with a sense of nostalgia, "reminiscing about the past."

However, this emotion did not last long, and the other party quickly returned to a state of having no emotion at all.

Then, without any words or actions, the entire spider's form began to slowly dissipate.

At the moment its figure completely dissipated, a golden light flew out from within it, heading towards Xu Yan, who subconsciously raised his hand to catch it.

As the golden light dispersed, in Xu Yan's raised hand appeared a white jade pendant tied with a gold thread.