Chapter 164

 Wen Xiaoxing moved steadily through the dim, crystal-filled corridors. There wasn’t even a hint of worry or fear on his face. Instead, he felt an overwhelming sense of comfort. He had never been here before, yet everything felt so natural, as if he were simply returning home.

Saying he had never been here wasn’t entirely precise. Fragments of memories from before he became “Wen Xiaoxing” still lingered within his consciousness. Because of that, he clearly understood that his life had, in fact, originated from this very place.

The so-called S-class Aberrant Realm 【Spatial Turbulence】 actually possessed a true danger level of SS-Class. To prevent public panic and avoid raising doubts about the station’s safety, the empire’s main station had deliberately announced it as only an S-class Aberrant Realm.

Back then, most citizens had strongly opposed the construction of a station built upon what was claimed to be an S-class Aberrant Realm. Passenger traffic at the empire’s stations had once dropped sharply because of it. If the real rating had been revealed, the consequences would’ve been even more severe.

But no matter how dangerous this place was, it posed absolutely no threat to him, Wen Xiaoxing.

The brown-haired boy casually reached out and touched the green crystals beside him. In response, they stretched gently toward him like living plants, as if they were quietly greeting his presence.

A soft, cheerful hum echoed through the silent corridor. Wen Xiaoxing’s steps were light and springy. His remaining right eye blinked rapidly, brimming with excitement.

Soon, as long as he dug out a portion of the core and embedded it into his left eye socket, the 【Fate Singularity】 would most likely return at once!

Wen Xiaoxing’s pace became faster and faster. As he turned into yet another dim corridor, he suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of urgency. His unfamiliar human heart thudded loudly in his chest. He pressed a hand against it and glanced back. Aside from the green crystals glowing faintly in the darkness, there was nothing else.

He tilted his head slightly, puzzled. He had only come here on a sudden impulse. Along the way, he’d been extremely cautious and had already shaken off the people the Pope had assigned to watch over him.

It was impossible for anyone to have followed him into this place.

This area had always been sealed. It was unlikely that anyone would deliberately enter, and even less likely that someone would choose the exact same time as him. How could such a coincidence possibly occur?

Wen Xiaoxing slowly turned back around and continued forward. His steps grew quicker, yet his expression became far more alert. His right eye flicked from side to side, carefully surveying his surroundings.

The deeper he went, the more wildly the green crystals proliferated. Wen Xiaoxing even struggled to find proper footing. His pant legs were torn in several places, yet his speed didn’t falter in the slightest. Instead, the eagerness in his expression intensified.

When the translucent green glow illuminated his face, his right eye shimmered with light, as though a cluster of eerie green flames had suddenly ignited within it, carrying an obsessive hunger and relentless desire.

“…I’m back.”

At the end of the corridor lay a vast expanse almost completely filled with green crystals. At its center stood a gigantic green glass figure seated upright, towering all the way to the ceiling. Green crystals coiled around it like thorns, while countless mirror-like facets reflected Wen Xiaoxing’s figure from every angle.

“SS-class Aberrant Realm, 【Spacetime Turbulence】.”

Wen Xiaoxing let out an admiring exclamation as he spoke the Aberrant Realm’s true name.

The surface of the enormous green crystal figure was smooth and flawless. It had no human facial features, only a vaguely human outline. Upon closer inspection, however, many parts of its body were pitted and gouged, as though chunks of flesh had been carved out of it.

Wen Xiaoxing lifted his gaze. Several flat, track-like mirror surfaces extended from the ceiling. Within those mirrors, he saw the boy wearing a sly, knowing smile.

“【Fate Singularity】 only inherited your spatial characteristics. That’s the reason for my defeat. If I could master both space and time simultaneously, no one would be a match for me.”

The boy’s words brimmed with intense desire, yet his footsteps came to a complete halt at the corridor’s exit.

“As long as I take more of the core, I’ll become the most perfect creation in this world…”

Wen Xiaoxing’s right eye stayed locked onto the figure’s mirror-like green body. Within it, he saw his own exaggerated expression reflected back at him. Just as another exclamation was about to leave his lips, a figure silently emerged behind him.

The newcomer was dressed entirely in black, nearly blending into the dim surroundings. Wen Xiaoxing turned his head, shock written plainly across his face.

His arm was abruptly seized, and his body was yanked backward. In the instant he lost his balance, his eyes widened in unwilling alarm, yet a trace of cunning laughter flickered deep within them.

No one would coincidentally enter this place at the same time as him, unless that person was Ye Zheng!

“Saintess, when you tried to play the mantis stalking the cicada and scheme against me, did you ever consider that I might be the final hunter?”

Wen Xiaoxing smirked to himself. He watched as Ye Zheng rushed past him, her black hair brushing lightly against his side. Just as she was about to step into the space filled with green crystals, Wen Xiaoxing reached out from behind, trying to shove her forward.

In the very next instant, Ye Zheng suddenly turned her head. Her black eyes shone with an unusual brightness under the fluorescent lights, so vivid they almost seemed capable of speaking.

She seized the hand he had extended. As his body was violently flung forward by Ye Zheng, Wen Xiaoxing felt certain those eyes were hurling something vicious and contemptuous at him!

With a heavy thud, the boy’s body crashed into the crystal-covered space, landing not far from the feet of the towering green figure.

Ye Zheng clapped her hands lightly and said with a hint of amusement, “Your acting is far too exaggerated. You’re not even qualified to play a minor role on stage.”

According to Wen Xiaoxing, the true name of this Aberrant Realm was SS-class 【Spacetime Turbulence】. For an Aberrant Realm of such a terrifying rating, how could its core possibly be approached so easily?

His earlier display of urgency had been nothing more than an act, meant to provoke the same urgency in her. He’d already realized she was tracking his movements.

Ye Zheng stood at the end of the corridor, carefully observing the hall where the massive figure stood. There was no door, no barrier of any kind separating the two spaces. Anyone who walked from the corridor to this point would naturally step into the territory of the green figure. But what would happen then?

The boy who had been thrown to the feet of the green figure twitched a few times before slowly pushing himself up from the ground. His body had been pierced in several places by the green crystals scattered across the floor, and dark blood seeped out sluggishly.

No, something was off. The color of the blood and the way it flowed were both wrong. This wasn’t how a living body should react. It looked far more like a corpse that had been punctured.

...Of course. If Wen Jian could freely create human life using 【Mother of All Things】, then there would’ve been no need for the Hope Project to exist at all. After all, the very purpose of the Hope Project was to use creations born from Aberrant Realms to bring forth even more powerful humans.

Wen Xiaoxing couldn’t even be regarded as human. He was nothing more than a patchwork existence, stitched together from the dead Yin Xing and the green figure standing before them. Ye Zheng recalled him saying that Wen Jian had expended tremendous effort to sustain his existence. It was likely that Wen Xiaoxing’s life force depended on Wen Jian’s continuous supply.

This kind of supply probably wasn’t something that could be cut off at will. Wen Xiaoxing’s attempt to assassinate her had already failed, and he’d also lost the 【Fate Singularity】. There was no longer any reason for Wen Jian to keep him around, unless Wen Jian had no means of dealing with Wen Xiaoxing.

Wen Xiaoxing, who had already struggled back to his feet, followed Ye Zheng’s startled gaze and looked down at the bloody holes riddling his own body. He clenched his teeth and lifted his head, fixing Ye Zheng with eyes brimming with resentment and hatred.

When Ye Zheng met that venomous stare, she instinctively took a step back, appearing as though she’d been somewhat frightened.

But it wasn’t his venomous emotions that unsettled her, it was his eyeball, the eyeball now lodged vertically on his right cheek.

Wen Xiaoxing’s originally intact right eye had slipped free after the fall and now rested against his cheek. The glass bead-like eyeball was half embedded in flesh, while his right eye socket was left as nothing but a pitch black void.

　　Ye Zheng felt a flicker of confusion. Was the body Wen Jian had created for this guy really that poorly made? One fall and his eye broke… or had she used too much force?

But when she saw Wen Xiaoxing’s left arm suddenly pierce out through his abdomen, she immediately realized it wasn’t an issue with his body at all.

It was this Aberrant Realm, whose true name was 【Spacetime Turbulence】, that was throwing everything into chaos!

Blood gushed out once more along with the arm that had torn through his abdomen. Ye Zheng stared at the displaced limb and suddenly noticed the brownish stains on Wen Xiaoxing’s white shirt. Those were the marks left earlier when the green crystals on the ground had pierced his body.

His blood flowed sluggishly, a dull, dark red. Yet only a few minutes had passed, and the dark red stains on the white fabric had already turned brownish.

That wasn’t normal. In such a dim underground environment, bloodstains should change color even more slowly. There was no way they could transform this quickly…

There could only be one explanation: the flow of time affecting the bloodstains was different from normal time!

Ye Zheng’s pupils trembled slightly. She watched as Wen Xiaoxing spat out a length of intestine from his mouth. It dropped into the cluster of green crystals at his feet.

Her gaze fixed on the faintly glowing crystal cluster in the darkness. Three hundred years had passed since the empire’s main station had subdued this Aberrant Realm. Who knew how many human skeletons lay buried here? Did these green crystals consume corpses as nutrients, just like plants?

Time and space across Wen Xiaoxing’s body had begun to fall into disorder. His blood was drying at an accelerated rate, and his body parts were shifting erratically.

At last, Ye Zheng understood why this Aberrant Realm was called 【Spacetime Turbulence】.

“Ye… Ye Zheng, save me, quickly!”

Damn it, damn it. He should’ve tricked Pei Xi and the others into coming to help him. Even if his core belonged to this Aberrant Realm, a human body would still be rejected!

If this body completely vanished, then what difference would there be between him and being dead?

Wen Xiaoxing staggered toward her. Any normal person would’ve died long ago, yet he was still able to move.

“If this keeps up, I’m going to fall apart! Didn’t we agree to work together against Wen Jian? I even helped you make Wu Shu the champion!”

Was damage at this level only enough to make him fall apart? Ye Zheng watched Wen Xiaoxing’s body, which was twisting into a grotesque shape, her eyes filled with quiet contemplation.

“Just now, you tried to push me into this hellish place. That was your choice to remain my enemy.”

“No! I was just… just… Anyway, you can’t kill me. Keeping me alive will weaken Wen Jian!”

“Really?”

Ye Zheng looked at him with a faint, half-smile. Wen Xiaoxing’s right leg bones had warped out of shape. He could now only hop forward clumsily on one foot.

“…As long as I stay alive for one more day, Wen Jian has to sacrifice a whole month of his lifespan to sustain me. His lifespan decreasing should benefit you, right!”

Ye Zheng lowered her head and idly played with her fingers, her expression showing no surprise, as if she had already anticipated this.

“One day only gives you one month?” There was a trace of disappointment in her tone.

Wen Xiaoxing was furious. It felt as if his lungs were about to burst and spill out at any moment. He was clearly not far from the exit of this space, yet every extra second he remained here caused his deformed body to drag him back by several steps.

“I also know the method to obtain 【Mother of All Things】!” He spoke at a frantic pace. “One of the inheritance conditions is that the holder must die naturally after their lifespan is completely exhausted. Do you understand? Unless you’re willing to wait more than ten years, you can only rely on me!”

“Only my existence can drain his life and hasten his death!”

“You can’t let me die here…” Wen Xiaoxing’s left leg had also twisted out of shape. He collapsed completely onto the ground, the green eyeball embedded in his cheek fixed on Ye Zheng, who stood not far away.

Ye Zheng’s expression finally eased. She murmured softly, “It has to be the user’s lifespan being fully exhausted through natural death… This condition is quite intriguing.”

If such a condition didn’t exist, then in the face of an ability as tempting as 【Mother of All Things】, no holder would ever willingly pass it on to the next generation. Countless bloody conflicts would erupt in the struggle to seize it.

“But once Wen Jian dies, you’ll lose your source of sustenance. Won’t you die as well?”

Wen Xiaoxing, lying sprawled on the ground, strangely curled the corners of his mouth. For a brief moment, he seemed to recover some of the lively and enigmatic aura he had when they first met. “What sustains me isn’t Wen Jian. It’s 【Mother of All Things】.”

Ye Zheng watched his twitching body intently. Their gazes stayed locked for a moment before she finally smiled. “Alright. I’ll keep you alive for now.”

A stream of water suddenly coiled around Wen Xiaoxing’s neck. He revealed an expression of delighted surprise and looked at Ye Zheng with hopeful anticipation.

All at once, tiny specks of light began drifting down before his eyes. Wen Xiaoxing wondered if this body was starting to hallucinate. A sudden sense of dread rose within him.

The water chains quivered unstably, as though they might dissolve into the chaotic spacetime field at any second. Yet Ye Zheng remained completely unhurried. She called out, “Muqing.”

A pale figure stepped up beside her. From her hair down to the tips of her shoes, not a single spot lacked that pure white. The drifting motes of white light lent her a holy, solemn presence within the oppressive, ghostly green space.

“Yes, I already understand how the empire’s main station stabilizes the space,” Bai Muqing said.

After realizing that Wen Xiaoxing had deliberately tried to lure her away, Ye Zheng had instructed Bai Muqing to first use her ability to probe the structure of this underground level while she went alone to confront Wen Xiaoxing. After all, dealing with him didn’t require both of them to stay fully guarded.

【Spacetime Turbulence】, just as its name implied, was a place where both time and space were steeped in randomness. Yet the empire’s main station had discovered a way to harness this Aberrant Realm, constructing stable passages that allowed trains to travel safely back and forth.

“That’s really great.”

Ye Zheng spoke, her eyes curving into a faint smile.

For every extra day Wen Xiaoxing remained alive, Wen Jian’s lifespan would be reduced by one month.

But Ye Zheng wasn’t satisfied. If the flow of time acting on Wen Xiaoxing’s body could be accelerated even further, it would mean Wen Jian would reach his twenty-five-year death deadline far sooner.

From the moment someone obtained 【Mother of All Things】, the holder was limited to only twenty-five years of life, and it could only be passed on to the next generation through natural death. However, Ye Zheng couldn’t afford to wait more than ten years for Wen Jian to die naturally.

“Ye Zheng, hurry and save me—”

Under the amplification of Bai Muqing’s 【Divine Domain】, the water chains suddenly tightened. Wen Xiaoxing’s body was dragged and jammed at the exit.

“They laid out a path of green crystals in the interlayer between the ceiling and the tracks. The smoother the surface of those green crystals, the more stable the space becomes.”

Ye Zheng lowered her gaze to Wen Xiaoxing, then shifted it toward the green crystal figure not far away, its surface smooth and reflective like a mirror. She felt she’d found the most suitable place for him.

She had no intention of killing Wen Xiaoxing, nor did she plan to save him. What she needed was for him to remain in a stable condition where he wouldn’t die, while the flow of time across his body was accelerated.

“Muqing, can you push the amplification of your 【Divine Domain】 any further?”

Bai Muqing’s brows knit ever so slightly, yet she still nodded. The violent, chaotic energy field here interfered with her ability, but she was, after all, an SS-class.

After receiving her confirmation, Ye Zheng soon sensed a vigorous, warm force surging through her body. She released the water chains coiled around Wen Xiaoxing’s neck. The slender streams of water extended outward, probing into the pitted sections of the green crystal figure before forcefully carving out a clean, human-shaped cavity within it.

Amid Wen Xiaoxing’s frantic cries and shouts, she flung him straight into the hollow interior of the figure. His body fit perfectly within the crystal form.

It fulfilled his desire to remain alive, while also allowing him to stay with his true “family.”

More importantly, it fulfilled her own purpose.

“Time is about to begin accelerating.”

As the two of them left the restricted zone, Ye Zheng spoke with a faint smile, her words carrying a deeper, unspoken meaning.