Chapter 436

Chapter 437: The End of Metamorphosis

Knowledge not of this world thundered through the sea of mind. The information turned into living things of Hunger that chewed the soul full of holes. The Great Sage’s “self” collapsed in a blink, then was snatched by the Spiderweb and forced back together.

In a space of darkness, the shivering soul crawled on the Spiderweb. His body was withered and shrunken. Hair and beard dried and fell away. He lifted his head and the sockets he had gouged were two hollow pits, yet the huge shadow had already stamped itself into his knowing. No matter where he tried to “look,” it was always there before him.

He felt like the Blind Prophet Kong Da Man, who burned his eyes upon the End Web’s giant Spiderweb after one reckless peep, never again able to return to the normal world… Blind Prophet Kong Da Man… who was that?

Irene watched the shaking… thing in the dark with real interest.

She could hardly tell what the thing was now, because in just a few seconds the small soul had shrunk again. At the start it was at least a big bug. Now it was almost a grain of rice.

How funny. Would he keep shrinking? Would he squeeze himself down to a speck of dust from pure fear? If he turned into dust, could a soul still think and talk?

Many ideas popped into Irene’s not-so-bright head, then quickly faded. She remembered that the “outside” was still a battlefield and that she should help Yu Sheng clear away the obstacles standing before Youth Form.

So she cast out one strand of Spider Silk and laid it across the shivering soul.

She wanted to tie him up and take him back. She did not actually know how to carry a soul. She did not even know what this dark, web-covered “space” really was. But she felt there had to be a way.

Maybe she could tie him into a small ball so he would stop shrinking. Then she could put him in her pocket. Her dress had a side pocket that Yu Sheng had sewn by hand. She used it for marbles and rubber bands. It should fit a soul. If not, she could carry him in her mouth, the way the Silly Fox carried things.

Yu Sheng would praise her. Silly Fox and C Buckle could only fight, but clever Irene could capture someone alive.

The doll squinted with delight.

The next second, the quivering soul shattered. The instant the Spider Silk tightened around him, he turned to dust in the dark.

Irene’s eyes went wide. As the soul scattered, she heard his voice travel along the Spider Silk, weak but almost happy to be free: “Ah… thank you for your mercy.”

Irene: “…”

For less than a second she froze. Then she started hopping mad on the Spiderweb: “Hey hey! What are you even thanking your mom for! Seriously, how can you be this fragile… I was not trying to kill you!”

But there was no turning it back. A soul that Youth Form had swallowed once was far more fragile than she thought. The doll had lost her prize, and now the space itself began to wobble. The Spiderweb woven between the sacrifice and her unraveled in a rush.

Irene glanced up, spun around, and crawled back while grumbling under her breath.

She slipped out of the soul prison built from Youth Form’s crystal and passed through the battlefield as time slowly began to flow again. She skimmed past Luna. This time she did not dare meet C Buckle’s eyes. She zipped over the Spiderweb that was about to break and dove headfirst under Yu Sheng’s arm.

Broken crystal howled through the sky, then lost its power and fell like spent rain. The lightning storm brewing between the clouds snarled, then faded in the wind and rain before the bolts could land. A low, strange rumble rolled across the plain.

The Great Sages formed of crystal broke apart and collapsed. Countless shards rained down into the mud and rubble.

Crystal Rifts across the ground trembled, but no new Great Sages Regenerated.

Yu Sheng stared, stunned. He had no idea what had just happened.

Then he felt a small head bump his arm. He looked down. Irene poked her face out and grinned up at him, embarrassed and proud.

“I almost caught him,” the little doll said, a bit guilty.

Yu Sheng blinked: “Huh?”

“It was so close. I found that guy’s soul and the threads were already around him. I tugged and he fell apart. It was dark in that crystal and I did not notice he was that brittle. Also I do not know why, but he was scared out of his mind and had a strong urge to destroy himself. Yes, he must have self-destructed. I was careful. I really only pulled a little and he broke…”

Words tumbled out of Irene so fast that Yu Sheng could not keep up. He understood only that the sudden “death” of the Great Sage had something to do with this doll, and that she had probably unlocked a new trick but had not mastered it yet.

The details could wait.

The strange rumble kept rolling and did not fade with the Great Sages’ end. Something terrible was brewing deep underground. It was getting closer.

Distant mountains seemed to sway. The Crystal Jungle between the peaks and the plain heaved and crawled. Crystal structures that had drilled up from the ground stirred like living things, restless in the low roar.

Immortal Yuan Hao descended with Xuan Che. Both had sensed the wrongness below. Yuan Hao’s face was tight as he said: “A wicked thing is spreading malice.”

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, but a stronger wave of noise rushed past his ears. His mind blurred. In that blur he saw endless crystals rising and piling up, forming a massive cave of crystal. In those crystal walls, a figure appeared.

Yun Qing Zi stood there. He raised his head inside the crystal, his flesh and the crystal fused into one. He smiled.

“Fellow Daoist… how have you been.”

Yu Sheng snapped out of the vision with a start.

Foxy noticed first and turned to him: “Benefactor, are you okay?”

“I am fine. I found that guy,” Yu Sheng said, waving a hand and even smiling a little. “I was worrying about how to locate something this huge, where the ‘core’ was. I did not think he would reach out to me first.”

Xuan Che brightened, but before he could speak, a deeper rumble blasted up from the ground and stopped them all.

They all looked toward the source.

One of the mountains near the End Web split open.

It was like a living thing had grown inside the mountain. Heavy rock layers cracked like a thin eggshell. Inside the broken mountain, a hidden crystal structure flashed. Then a giant limb, clear as glass and shining with eerie light, pushed out from the crack like a titanic tentacle.

That limb, big as a mountain range, thrashed blindly in the thick air of Sentinel Silence.

More rumbles boomed, this time from farther away.

In the endless rain of Sentinel Silence, far-off clouds opened as another monstrous limb appeared. It pierced the ground, speared into the air, flipped the thick clouds, and churned the storm winds.

Irene’s eyes went as round as coins: “What… what is that!”

Foxy’s whole body went taut. Her fur puffed up and her tail fanned wide in the rain as she growled a warning: “Wroo…”

Noise thundered in Yu Sheng’s skull. He fought to catch hold of Youth Form’s current state inside the flood of chaotic signals. Insight struck him hard. Cold sweat prickled his back as he said: “No. Youth Form is forcing an end to Metamorphosis. It wants to Ascend early.”

“Huh?” Irene yelped. “But did Bai Li Qing not say that even after it starts Ascension, it still needs several days?”

“Now Youth Form has a mind,” Yu Sheng said, fast and firm. “It has noticed the cognitive barrier and the servants it set in Sentinel Silence keep failing, so it wants to leave this unsafe nest early. Yun Qing Zi is helping it weigh the tradeoffs.”

Xuan Che stepped forward: “Then…”

Yu Sheng cut him off with a hard wave. He frowned, as if listening through the rain, then spoke quickly: “You and your Elder Senior Uncle go to Ink City. That city is the largest tear point on Sentinel Silence right now. As long as the city holds, Youth Form’s movements will be suppressed to some degree. That buys us time.”

Xuan Che and Immortal Yuan Hao nodded at once: “Okay.”

Foxy turned to Yu Sheng: “Benefactor, what about us?”

Yu Sheng lifted his gaze to the distance and narrowed his eyes.

The earth was cracking open. Terrible crystal limbs were pushing out of Rifts and waving through the atmosphere.

It felt like an invitation.

But Yu Sheng was not staring at that limb. His eyes settled on a closer Rift, the very first place where a Great Sage had revived and climbed out.

Through the link of blood, he could see the deep, tangled structures below that Rift, and the chambers writhing under the ground.

He said, calm and cold: “We are going underground to pay the Angel a visit.”