170: Chapter 170 The Choice of Return
Inside the ancient temple, it was deathly silent.
Mo Wen and Lin Qingzhi stood side by side before the massive, mottled mural. Both of their gazes were locked tightly onto the center of the mural—the giant teleportation array that was currently flickering with unstable light.
"We found it."
Lin Qingzhi's voice held a trace of tremor that even she hadn't noticed.
It wasn't just the excitement of finally locating the soul nurturing wood.
It was because, on the other side of that teleportation array, she saw the homeland she both loved and hated...
The Xuan Realm!
"How do we activate it?" Mo Wen shifted his gaze from the mural to the ancient altar in the center of the temple, which was identical to the one on the mural, covered in dust and cracks.
That altar was the core of the teleportation array.
"The mural has the record," Lin Qingzhi's eyes flashed with wise light. She extended her slender jade fingers and pointed to the corner of the mural, at the ancient demonic script that had long since become illegible.
"This teleportation array is not driven by a single energy source. It requires two completely different World Origin Powers to be injected simultaneously to form a stable spatial coordinate for cross-planar teleportation."
"Two... completely different Origin Powers?" Mo Wen was slightly stunned, then, as if realizing something, he exchanged a glance with Lin Qingzhi beside him.
In each other's eyes, they saw a hint of understanding.
One was the chaotic power from the Desolate Ruins, filled with deathly stillness and devouring energy.
The other was the Origin Power from Blue Star, full of life and gentle aura.
And the two of them happened to be the most perfect vessels for these two forces!
Under the modification of the myriad manifestations evolution codex, Mo Wen had long ago achieved the deepest resonance with the Origin of the Desolate Ruins. The Devouring Law he mastered was essentially the materialization of the Desolate Ruins' power!
As for Lin Qingzhi, her innate Ice Crystal Phoenix Soul Imprint was a World Imprint belonging exclusively to the newly formed plane of Blue Star! It was the purest proof of origin for this realm!
This seemed to be a destiny already decided in the unseen workings of fate!
"It seems we are the chosen ones," Mo Wen looked at Lin Qingzhi and, uncharacteristically, made a joke.
However, Lin Qingzhi did not smile.
She just looked at him quietly, and a trace of extremely complex, ineffable emotion flickered in her cold phoenix eyes.
"Let's begin," she said softly.
The two no longer hesitated.
They walked to opposite ends of the ancient altar and stood facing each other.
Mo Wen took a deep breath and urged the energy core in his body—which had long transformed into a chaos demon core—to its absolute limit!
A grayish power of the Devouring Law, filled with the aura of devouring and destruction, slowly surged from his palm. Like the thickest, deathly gray mist, it injected into a groove on the altar that represented the Desolate Ruins!
Across from him, Lin Qingzhi also slowly closed her eyes.
The Ice Crystal Phoenix Imprint that had long faded from her brow slowly reappeared at this moment!
A strand of pale golden Origin Power, belonging exclusively to Blue Star, filled with sacredness and nobility, slowly rose from that imprint. Like the warmest, life-filled golden stream, it flowed into the other groove on the altar, the one representing Blue Star!
"Buzz—!"
The instant the two completely different Origin Powers were injected into the altar simultaneously!
The ancient teleportation array, which had been silent for who knew how many tens of thousands of years, suddenly let out a mournful cry, unable to bear the strain!
The ancient runes on the altar, which had long lost their luster, were as if injected with new life, lighting up one after another with blinding speed!
"Rumble—!"
The entire underground temple violently shook and trembled under the terrifying energy on the verge of awakening!
Countless dust and rubble rained down from the dome!
A brilliant pillar of light, filled with fluctuations of Space Law, shot up from the center of the altar, forcibly tearing a massive hole in the temple's thick dome!
The teleportation array was activated!
However, before they could show any joy, another sudden change occurred!
"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!"
The spatial light pillar, which should have stabilized, began to flicker and distort wildly, like a poorly tuned television screen!
"Not good!" Lin Qingzhi's expression changed instantly!
"Because this teleportation array is too ancient, the 'Law Crystal' used internally to lock the spatial coordinates has suffered severe wear and tear!"
"It can no longer perform precise positional teleportation!"
As her voice fell!
The flickering spatial light pillar suddenly split in two!
Transforming into two completely different energy vortexes, filled with the unknown and danger!
One was blue.
It emitted a faint, yet incredibly familiar aura to them...
That was the scent of slightly damp earth, mixed with the faint smell of steel from the industrial age.
That was the aura of Blue Star!
That was the smell of home!
The other was golden.
It exuded a majestic, vast, terrifying aura filled with endless spiritual energy and profound Laws!
Just standing before it, they could seemingly 'see' the new world on the other side of that vortex—a place where immortal mountains stood tall, spiritual energy rained down, divine birds soared, and auspicious beasts galloped!
That was the aura of the Xuan Realm!
That was a new world where Lin Qingzhi could truly recover her strength, and even return to her peak!
A choice.
An incomparably cruel, yet utterly realistic choice, lay before the two of them.
Should they choose to return to that familiar homeland, which was ordinary but filled with all their memories?
Or should they choose to head to that new world, which was filled with unknowns and dangers, but also boundless opportunities and hope?
Mo Wen looked at the vortex emitting the blue glow, and an unprecedented yearning surged in his heart.
To go home.
He wanted to go home.
However, when he turned his head to look at Lin Qingzhi beside him, he saw the fleeting hesitation and struggle in her cold phoenix eyes.
He instantly understood all her thoughts.
She wanted to return to the Xuan Realm.
The homeland that carried all her glory and hatred.
The stage that would allow her to truly break free from the shackles of this frail body and reign supreme once more!
But she didn't want him, a 'passerby' who should belong to Blue Star, to accompany her into that danger which made even her heart palpitate.
She didn't want to drag him into her destiny filled with blood and fire.
"Lin Qingzhi,"
Just then, Mo Wen slowly spoke.
His voice was very light, yet filled with an unquestionable firmness.
Lin Qingzhi suddenly looked up at him.
She saw that the young man, whom she always perceived as somewhat cynical and even 'rogueish,' was now looking at her with an incomparably serious gaze she had never seen before.
In his crimson eyes, deep as a blood-colored starry sky, there was no longer any mockery or jest.
There was only a gentleness and protection sufficient to completely melt the Imperial Heart she had kept frozen for two lifetimes.
"No matter where we go..."
He looked at her and uttered, word by word, the promise that she would never forget in her life.
"I will accompany you."
Boom!
When those words, filled with unquestionable will to protect, clearly echoed deep within her soul, all of Lin Qingzhi's tension, pretense, strength, and pride completely crumbled at that moment.
She looked at him.
At this young man who was willing to leave his home for her sake.
Willing to risk danger for her sake.
Willing to give up returning home for her sake.
She smiled.
A truly gentle smile, capable of making heaven and earth lose their color, slowly bloomed on her exquisitely beautiful face, which was always as cold as frost.
In that smile, there was no longer any hesitation.
No more struggle.
Only a sense of relief and happiness.
She no longer hesitated.
She gently extended her fair, jade-like right hand and grasped his large hand, which was also reaching out to her.
"Good."
One word was worth a thousand words.
She pulled him, and together they turned.
Then, before the blue and gold vortex flickering with unstable light, she stepped without hesitation into the teleportation gate shining with magnificent golden light... leading to the Xuan Realm!