Chapter 437

Chapter 437: The End of Metamorphosis

Knowledge that did not belong to this world roared through the Great Sage’s sea of consciousness. Information became a hungry living thing and devoured his soul in an instant, chewing it full of holes. The “self” collapsed in a blink—then was caught in the Spiderweb of End and forcibly reassembled.

In that dark space, the shivering soul lay prostrate on the web. It shriveled and withered, beard and hair drying up and falling away. Trembling, it raised its head. The eyes it had gouged out left only hollow sockets, but the massive shadow had already branded itself into his understanding. No matter which way he tried to “look,” the presence stood before him all the same.

He felt like the blind prophet Kong Da Man from legend—who had once dared to pry into the Spiderweb of End, burned his eyes forever, and could never return to a normal world again…

But who was Kong Da Man?

…

Irene watched with interest.

She could barely tell what the trembling thing even was anymore. In just seconds, the soul had shrunk again and again. At first it had been like a decent-sized bug, but now it was almost the size of a grain of rice.

How fun. Could it keep shrinking?

Would fear compress it into a speck of dust?

And if it became a speck, could it still think? Could it still talk?

So many thoughts bubbled up at once—then drifted away just as quickly in her not-too-bright little head. She finally remembered the outside world was still fighting, and that she was supposed to help Yu Sheng clear the obstacles blocking the way to Yanxing Entity.

So she extended a strand of spider silk in the darkness and laid it over the shivering soul.

She wanted to bind him and take him back.

Even though she didn’t know how to carry a soul. Even though she still didn’t understand what this dark, web-covered space even was. She just felt there had to be a way.

Maybe she could tie him into a little ball and keep him from shrinking anymore.

Then she could put him in her pocket and carry him back. There was a pocket on the side of her skirt—Yu Sheng had sewn it on himself. She kept marbles and rubber bands in it. It should hold a soul too.

And if that didn’t work, she could carry him in her mouth, like Silly Fox.

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

The Little Doll narrowed her eyes happily.

Then, the instant her spider silk wrapped around the soul, it shattered.

It turned to ash and vanished into the darkness.

Irene’s eyes flew open.

As the soul dispersed, a weak voice traveled along her spider silk—thin, but bright with relief.

“Ah… thank you for your mercy…”

Irene froze.

Then she jumped on the web in panic, shouting, “Hey, hey! Why are you thanking me?! Damn it—how can you be this fragile?! I didn’t tell you to die, ahhh!”

But nothing could be undone. A soul that had already been swallowed once by Yanxing Entity was far more fragile than she’d imagined. Her “spoils” were gone—and with them, the space itself began to destabilize. The spiderweb she’d built between herself and the sacrifice started collapsing fast.

Irene glanced up, then spun around and crawled back, cursing nonstop.

She scrambled out of the soul prison built from Yanxing Entity’s crystals and back into the battlefield as time flowed toward normal again. She crawled past Luna. This time she didn’t dare meet C Buckle’s eyes. She shot along the spider silk like a gust of wind—right as the thread snapped—then slammed headfirst under Yu Sheng’s arm.

Above them, broken crystals screamed through the air—then lost power and fell, limp and dead. The lightning storm boiling in the clouds roared, but before it could strike, it dispersed into wind and rain.

And then a strange, low rumble rolled across the wilderness.

The Great Sages made of crystal began to crumble at once. Their bodies collapsed in that rumble, fragments scattering into mud and rubble. Crystal rifts on the ground trembled, but no new Great Sage crawled out.

Yu Sheng stared in shock, not understanding what had just happened.

Then he felt a small head nudge beneath his arm. He looked down. Irene poked her head out and tilted her face up at him with an awkward, sheepish grin.

“I-I almost caught him,” the Little Doll said guiltily.

Yu Sheng blinked. “…Huh?”

“Just a little bit more! I found that guy’s soul. The black silk threads were wrapped around it, and when I pulled, it shattered. It was all black inside those crystals, and I didn’t notice it was that fragile, and I don’t know why he was scared to death the whole time, and he had a really strong self-destruct tendency. Yeah, he definitely self-destructed. I was super careful. Really. I barely tugged and he just broke…”

She rattled off words like they were spilling out faster than her brain could sort them. Yu Sheng didn’t even have time to process half of it. In the end, he only managed to piece together that the Great Sage’s sudden “death” was connected to Irene, and that she might have developed some new ability she couldn’t control yet.

As for what that ability was, or how she’d done it, he had no clue.

And right now clearly wasn’t the time to dig.

That strange rumble hadn’t stopped. It echoed through the ground like a heartbeat. Something terrifying was waking deep underground—and it was getting closer.

In the distance, mountains trembled. The crystal jungle between mountains and plains rose and fell in grotesque ripples. Crystal structures pushing up from the depths seemed to come alive, stirring restlessly in the low rumble.

Immortal Yuan Hao descended from the sky with Xuan Che. They’d already sensed something wrong below, and Immortal Yuan Hao’s expression was grim. “A demonic thing is releasing malicious intent.”

Yu Sheng parted his lips, but before he could speak, a stronger burst of chaotic noise roared through his mind. His thoughts blurred, and in that blur he saw endless crystals growing and stacking. He saw a massive cave formed from piled crystal, and among it, a figure appearing like an answer.

Yun Qing Zi stood there. He lifted his head within a crystal wall, smiling with a face fused from flesh and crystal.

“Daoist Friend… long time no see.”

Yu Sheng snapped back to himself.

Foxy noticed first and immediately turned. “Benefactor, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Yu Sheng waved quickly, and instead of fear, a sharp smile flashed across his face. “I found him. I was worried about how to locate the core of something this big, but I didn’t expect it to reach out and contact me on its own.”

Xuan Che’s face lit up, but before he could speak, an even more terrifying rumble surged up from underground and cut everyone off.

All of them turned instinctively toward the source.

A mountain at the edge of the wilderness split open.

Something had parasitized it from within. Thick rock layers cracked apart like brittle eggshell, forced open by brute pressure. A hidden crystal structure gleamed inside the broken mountain—then a gigantic limb thrust out through the fissure.

It was like a tentacle, yet entirely crystalline, shining with an eerie luster.

That mountain-range-like limb writhed blindly in Shu Ji’s thick atmosphere, moving with a motion that made the skin crawl.

More rumbles answered from farther away.

Through Shu Ji’s endless curtain of rain, another horrifying limb seemed to appear between distant clouds. It pierced up from the earth into the sky, rolling cloud banks and stirring wind and rain into frenzy.

Irene’s eyes went wide. “This… what is this, ahhh?!”

Foxy’s body tensed. Her fur fluffed up. Her tails fanned in the storm like a peacock display, and she let out a threatening sound. “Woooaaaooo—”

Yu Sheng’s mind filled with roaring static. He forced himself to grasp Yanxing Entity’s current state through the chaos, and sudden understanding detonated behind his eyes. Cold sweat broke out across his skin.

“…No,” he breathed. “Yanxing Entity is forcibly ending its metamorphosis. It wants to ascend early!”

“What?!” Irene froze. “No, wait—didn’t Bai Li Qing say even if it starts ascending it still needs several days?!”

“But Yanxing Entity has a brain now,” Yu Sheng shot back. “It’s realized its cognitive screen and its claws on Shu Ji have been failing one after another, so it wants to leave this nest early. It’s not safe anymore.” His voice tightened. “And Yun Qing Zi is helping it weigh the cost.”

Xuan Che stepped forward. “Then—”

Yu Sheng cut him off with a sharp wave. He listened, as if through the wind and rain he could hear something deeper, then spoke fast. “You and your Senior Uncle go to Ink City. That city is the biggest tear point on Shu Ji. As long as the city still stands, Yanxing Entity’s activity will be suppressed to some extent. It can buy time.”

Xuan Che and Immortal Yuan Hao nodded without hesitation. “Alright!”

Foxy turned her head. “Benefactor, what about us?”

Yu Sheng narrowed his eyes toward the distance.

The earth was splitting open, and crystalline limbs were pushing up through the cracks, flailing blindly in the atmosphere like an invitation.

But Yu Sheng wasn’t watching the largest tentacle. His focus snapped to a nearer rift—the place where the Great Sage had first resurfaced.

Through the blood-formed link, he could see the complex structure beneath it… and the writhing cavities far below.

“We’re going underground,” he said quietly, “and saying hello to the angel.”