bioinnovel Chapter 378 Arrival on the Moon
Chapter 378 Arrival on the Moon
The silvery-white light of the Moon Star reflected from the dome of the Guanghan Palace in the center of the Moon Sea, shining on the flames of Nezha's Wind Fire Wheels. The Li Fire Law was suppressed to only a thin ring of flames clinging to the soles of his feet.
The two landed on the surface of the lunar sea. The basalt beneath their feet had been frozen by the cold air of the moon for 30,000 years, and every crack on the rock surface was inlaid with extremely thin frost crystals.
Deep within the frost crystal, patterns of laws flowed slowly. These were the first batches of Guanghan cold air sealed in the bottom layer of the moon's sea when the Taiyin star was first formed. They were even colder than the original water essence, so cold that even Nezha's Wind Fire Wheels could only leave very shallow scorch marks when they stepped on them.
Su Fan took the Pangu Axe off his back; its azure light and golden patterns were three times dimmer than usual in the Taiyin cold air.
After the power of Pangu's axe to create the world was exhausted, the remaining protective power and the will of all living beings were not restrained by the cold air, but the material of the axe blade itself would become brittle under extreme low temperatures.
He held the axe in his hand and weighed the handle in his hand. The temperature of the handle was still normal. The warm current of Laozi's Pure Yang Talisman was enveloping the two of them along the edge of Nezha's Wind Fire Wheels flames.
He hoisted the axe onto his shoulder and walked towards the Guanghan Palace, stepping on the surface of the moon sea.
Nezha followed on his right, the tip of his Fire-Tipped Spear trailing behind him, leaving a very shallow spark on the basalt.
"This place is even colder than Guixu. At least the Wind and Fire Wheels could maintain two rings of fire in the Guixu cave, but here they can only burn against the skin of our feet."
Nezha looked down at the thin flames on the soles of his feet, pressed the pure yang talisman on his chest's Tanzhong acupoint, and the warm current of the talisman spread along the meridians to his limbs, and his frozen left big toe regained feeling.
He wiggled his toes and looked up ahead.
"The door to the Guanghan Palace is open. There are no lights inside."
The main gate of the Guanghan Palace is an archway carved from a single piece of lunar basalt, with the lintel engraved with the patterns of the laws that Pangu’s eyelashes fell to the ground when the Taiyin star was first formed.
The engravings were very shallow, and although they had been eroded by the cold Yin energy for countless years, they had not been worn away. Each line shimmered with a faint silver glow under the moonlight.
The palace doors were wide open, and inside there were no lights, only a deep, silvery-gray shadow.
Su Fan walked to the door, but instead of stepping inside, he took the Pangu Axe off his shoulder and tapped it lightly against the door frame with the blade.
The axe blade struck the basalt, producing a crisp, metallic sound that echoed three times within the hall before dissipating.
A very faint response came from deep within the hall, a subtle hum of some kind of law, in sync with the sound emanating from the scorch mark left by the flint flame on Xu's finger.
"Something inside is responding." Nezha gripped the gun barrel tighter.
"They are the roots of a laurel tree." Su Fan stepped into the hall.
The main hall of the Guanghan Palace is extremely spacious, with a hemispherical dome on the roof. Countless fragments of lunar basalt are embedded in the dome, each reflecting the silvery light of the moon's surface, forming a complete picture of the moon on the dome.
In the center of the hall stands a stone pillar, on which is carved the complete shape of a laurel tree, hollowed out from the crown to the roots, with a tiny silver-white crystal embedded at the root.
The cold air flowing over the surface of the crystal was even denser than the frost on the surface of the lunar maria, so dense that the air around the crystal condensed into extremely fine ice mist.
Nezha walked to the stone pillar, looked down at the crystal, pointed at it with his finger but then pulled it back.
"Could this be the Moon Crystal? Just one tiny grain is enough to seal Rahu for three thousand years?"
"No. This is a crystal from the roots of the laurel tree, which acts as a catalyst for the Guanghan Crystal. The real Guanghan Crystal is located deep within the main root of the laurel tree, and this catalyst is needed to locate it."
Su Fan placed the Pangu Axe next to the stone pillar, stretched out his left hand, and the three crooked human-shaped scars on his palm gleamed with a faint golden light under the silver light of the stone pillar.
He pressed his palm against the surface of the stone pillar, and the will of all beings was transmitted into the interior of the stone pillar through the scar on his palm.
The laurel tree carved on the stone pillar lit up the moment it received the will of all living beings, shining from the crown to the roots. The crystal at the root suddenly exploded with a ring of silvery-white light.
The halo spread across the entire dome of the Guanghan Palace, and the lunar star chart on the dome began to rotate simultaneously, fixing itself directly above the North Star after three rotations.
At the location corresponding to the North Star, a hidden door to the law, sealed by the cold energy of Taiyin for countless years, automatically cracked open. Below the hidden door was an extremely deep spiral staircase, with the rock walls on both sides covered with aerial roots of laurel trees.
The surface of the aerial roots is covered with a very thin layer of silvery-white frost crystals, and deep within the frost crystals, fine patterns of laws are slowly flowing.
"The aura of the Guanghan Crystal is right under the tree roots."
Su Fan shouldered the Pangu Axe and stepped onto the spiral staircase.
Nezha followed behind him, holding his Fire-Tipped Spear. The thin flames of the Wind-Fire Wheels were compressed into a very thin ring of fire by the cold air emanating from the air roots on both sides in the narrow stairwell, barely illuminating the three feet below.
At the end of the stairs lies a vast underground space containing the main root of the laurel tree.
The spatial dome is composed of countless thick main roots that intertwine, each as thick as several people could hug. The surface of the root bark is engraved with the first Guanghan Law patterns from the early days of the Taiyin Star's formation.
The engravings on the Guanghan Palace's lintel were deeper and denser than those on the lintel itself, and each line seemed to emanate a silvery-white chill.
In the very center of the space, the main root of the laurel tree plunges vertically into the ground from the dome, and the base of the main root is wrapped in a cluster of crystals formed from the condensation of Guanghan Crystal.
The crystal cluster is hexagonal in shape, with each crystal pillar as thick as a human arm. The inside of the crystal pillar is sealed with extremely pure Yin cold energy, which flows slowly within the crystal lattice. The rhythm of the flow is completely synchronized with the beating frequency of the Eastern Emperor's heart in Xu's chest cavity.
Nezha stuck his Fire-Tipped Spear into the ground, walked to the crystal cluster, squatted down, and stopped his hand an inch away from the surface of the crystal pillar.
The chill emanating from the crystal pillar penetrated the residual warmth of the Fire Law on his fingers, freezing the fine hairs on his fingertips into extremely fine ice needles.
He withdrew his hand, watched the ice needle melt on his fingertip, and spoke.
"So many Guanghan Crystals, enough to seal Rahu for three thousand years. The problem is how do we dig them out—the power of Pangu's axe to open the world is exhausted. The blue light and golden patterns are the power of protection and the will of all living beings, and they can't cut through this kind of extremely cold crystal cluster."
Su Fan did not answer immediately.
He placed the Pangu Axe next to the crystal cluster and walked around it once.
The hexagonal columnar structure of the crystal cluster grows outward from the inside of the laurel tree's main root. The root of each crystal column is embedded in the pattern of the main root's bark, sharing the same Taiyin cold energy circulation system with the main root.
Cutting it hard will tear off the law patterns of the main root and damage the laurel tree, but the Guanghan Crystal itself is a law crystal used by the laurel tree to regulate the concentration of Taiyin cold energy.
When the concentration of cold air inside the tree roots exceeds a certain threshold, the main root will automatically condense the excess cold air into Guanghan crystals and expel it.
"No need to cut it down. The root crystals of the laurel tree are alive, and the Guanghan Crystal is not inanimate. The will of all living beings can make the roots of the wood in the ruins regrow, and can also make the main root of the laurel tree actively expel excess Guanghan Crystal."
Su Fan squatted down and placed the 'human' character scar on the palm of his left hand onto the surface of the outermost crystal pillar of the crystal cluster.
Extremely pale golden blood seeped from the scar and crack. The blood did not freeze upon contact with the surface of the crystal pillar, but instead seeped into the interior of the crystal pillar along the natural patterns of the crystal lattice.
The will of all beings was transmitted through the blood into the law circulation system of the laurel tree's main root. The silvery-white patterns on the bark of the main root, which had been flowing for countless years, all paused for a moment upon receiving the will of all beings, and then accelerated their flow.
The concentration of cold energy inside the main root was artificially increased, and the crystal cluster root began to loosen on its own. One hexagonal crystal pillar after another slid out from the main root cortex.
The crystal pillars that slid out fell onto the basalt ground at Su Fan's feet with a very crisp tinkling sound. Each crystal pillar automatically retracted into a small hexagonal crystal bar about the length of a finger when it hit the ground.
Su Fan counted them; there were nine in total.
He picked up the nine crystal bars, wrapped them in the cloth strips wrapped around his left palm, and stuffed them into his pocket.
The golden blood on the cloth strips came into brief contact with the Yin coldness on the surface of the crystal strips, forming an extremely thin layer of frost-gold mixture on the cloth strips, firmly fixing the nine crystal strips together.
"We've got the Moon Crystal. Let's go back to Buzhou Mountain."
Su Fan turned around and stepped onto the spiral staircase.
Nezha drew his Fire-Tipped Spear and followed behind him. After a few steps, he suddenly stopped and looked back at the nine shallow holes left on the bark of the laurel tree's main root after the crystal clusters had been peeled off.
The patterns around the shallow pores are repairing themselves very quickly, but the main root cortex is a shade lighter than before after the repair.
He turned his head back and continued walking uphill, asking a question.
"Since Guanghan Crystal took nine of them, will the laurel tree be affected?"
"The nine Guanghan Crystals are the excess cold energy reserves of the main root. The laurel tree can regulate itself and re-condense new crystal clusters every once in a while. Wu Gang can't cut the tree because the main root is supported by Guanghan Crystals. When the axe hits the bark, the cold energy surges up from the root and instantly freezes the wound, so it grows back after being cut. As long as the main root is still there, the Guanghan Crystals are inexhaustible."
As Su Fan walked, he put the Pangu Axe back on his shoulder.
When the two walked out of the spiral staircase and returned to the main hall of the Guanghan Palace, the laurel tree shape on the central stone pillar had returned to its normal brightness, and the crystal at the root of the tree was still glowing faintly.
A person stands on the surface of the moonlit sea outside the palace gate.
The person had their back to the palace gate, and their figure was extremely tall and slender. Their long, silvery-white hair reached their waist, and the surface of their hair was covered with the same silvery-white frost patterns as those on the aerial roots of the laurel tree.
She stood barefoot on the lunar basalt, and instead of frost forming where her feet touched the rock, she left a pair of very faint warm marks on the surface.
Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned around. Her face was cool but not cold, and her eyes did not have the eternal loneliness often seen in the Moon Palace Master, but only a very calm waiting.
Her voice was so soft that the silver light of the basalt fragments on the dome of the Guanghan Palace trembled.
"You took the Guanghan Crystal. It was meant for Gonggong's Water Essence. The Wedge of Creation was driven three inches into Rahu's spiritual platform to seal the lack of coldness in the laws. The Guanghan Crystal from the Taiyin Star is the only thing in the primordial world that can sustain the Water Essence for three thousand years."
"You didn't take the wrong one, nor did you take too many. Nine are just enough to seal Rahu for three thousand years; not even one less will do."
After saying this, Chang'e took off a tiny jade rabbit pendant from her waist, held it in her palm, and handed it to Su Fan.
"This jade rabbit is a token of the Guanghan Palace. Gonggong's water spirit body maintained the seal for 30,000 years, and I watched him maintain it from this Moon Palace for 30,000 years. Now that the Guanghan Crystal has stepped down for him, this jade rabbit will see him off on my behalf."
Su Fan accepted the jade rabbit pendant.
The pendant feels extremely cold to the touch, even colder than the surface temperature of the Guanghan Crystal Pillar, but the chill is not piercing and only stays on the surface of the palm.
He put the Jade Rabbit into his bosom and placed it together with the nine Guanghan Crystals, then looked up at Chang'e and asked.
"At the base of the laurel tree, there is a root crystal, which is the catalyst for the Guanghan Crystal. Within the catalyst are the law patterns that can be activated by the will of all living beings. You know about the Path of All Living Beings?"
"I know. When the Ruins were born, Mars turned from red to gold. The aerial roots of the laurel tree sensed the solidification of the Ruins' foundation, and all the roots shook at the same time. That tremor cracked one of the Guanghan Crystal Clusters at the base of the laurel tree."
"The cracked crystal pillar contains a fragment of an extremely ancient law. On the fragment is a sentence left by Pangu when he transformed his eyelashes into a laurel tree."
"What are you saying?" Su Fan asked.
"The Path of All Beings is not a new path. Before Pangu separated heaven and earth, there were twelve primordial stone embryos in the chaos. Eleven of them shattered, and the largest one was washed ashore on Flower Fruit Mountain by the East Sea. It absorbed the essence of the sun and moon and cracked open, giving birth to Sun Wukong. But among the twelve stone embryos, there was one smallest one that did not shatter."
"It was entangled by the laurel tree roots that were formed from Pangu's eyelashes, and was sealed deep underground at the North Pole of the Taiyin Star. That stone embryo had no consciousness or form, only an extremely primal will to protect it."
"Pangu left a message saying that if one day someone in the primordial world were to recreate the Dao of all living beings, this stone embryo should be given to that person."
After saying this, Chang'e raised her right hand above her head and gently patted it.
The applause was very soft, but a very deep response came from the direction of the laurel tree canopy behind the Guanghan Palace. It was the sound of a stone shell that had been sealed for countless years cracking open from the inside.
Immediately afterwards, a crack appeared in the ground directly beneath the laurel tree canopy, and a fist-sized grayish-white stone emerged from the crack, slowly drifting along the surface of the lunar sea towards the Guanghan Palace.
The stone embryo stopped in front of Su Fan, hovering in mid-air and slowly rotating, its surface covered with extremely fine chaotic law patterns.
The arrangement of the patterns is completely identical to the original casting patterns on the golden cudgel in Sun Wukong's ear, which is a common mark of the twelve Chaos Stone Embryos.
"This is the twelfth Chaos Stone Embryo, and the only one that hasn't shattered. It has no consciousness, no form, only an extremely primordial will to protect. Pangu said that the day the Dao of all living beings was formed was the time this stone embryo was born. You are the foundational vessel of the Dao of all living beings; it belongs to you."
Chang'e lowered her hand, turned and walked deeper into the Guanghan Palace. After a few steps, she stopped, looked back at Su Fan, and added a sentence.
"If the Great Sage returns from Zixiao Palace, tell him that the laurel tree has been chopped down again. This time it wasn't Wu Gang who chopped it down, but his mortal son. The laurel tree is still alive, so it won't stop him from making wine."
Su Fan held the grayish-white stone embryo in his arms.
The surface temperature of the stone core was extremely low, but after reaching a certain point, it suddenly turned warm. The warmth penetrated into the 'human' character scar on his palm and automatically connected with the transmission channel of the will of all living beings.
The dormant guardian spirit inside the stone embryo twitched slightly the moment the connection was completed. It didn't awaken; it simply turned over and continued sleeping.
But the aftershocks of this transformation spread along the network of wills of all living beings to the fragments of weapons belonging to the ten thousand soldiers on the South Heavenly Gate. The pale gold patterns on all the fragments flashed simultaneously, brighter than ever before.
Nezha walked over, looked down at the stone embryo in Su Fan's palm, and slung the Fire-Tipped Spear over his shoulder.
"The Great Sage is the largest of the twelfth stone embryo, and this one is the smallest. The largest one is in Zixiao Palace demanding repayment from Hongjun, while the smallest one is sleeping soundly in your palm. Of the twelve stone embryos, two came to life, and the remaining ten shattered in the chaos. What kind of probability is that?"
Nezha paused, then added another sentence.
"Who is Wu Zhi, whom Chang'e mentioned?"
Su Fan put the stone embryo into his bosom and placed it together with the Guanghan Crystal. He then picked up the Pangu Axe and walked towards the entrance of the Guanghan Palace, talking as he went.
"Wu Gang's nephew. Wu Gang was punished with hard labor for chopping down the laurel tree, a task that would continue for ten thousand years. But his axe was made of ordinary iron, and he could not cut down the laurel tree, which was transformed from Pangu's eyelashes. Every time he chopped it, the wound would heal automatically. Later, Wu Gang stopped chopping and left, leaving only Chang'e and the Jade Rabbit in the Moon Palace."
"The old axe marks from felling the cassia tree are still on the ridge of the Guanghan Palace, and the axe was placed under the tree roots. Wu Zhi transformed into a jade rabbit in Chang'e's Guanghan Palace to guard the cassia tree for his uncle."
After hearing this, Nezha carried his gun and followed behind him. When he stepped onto the surface of the Moon Sea, the thin flames of the Wind and Fire Wheels under his feet reignited and circled twice.
"You swung your axe seven times. The residual heat of the sun from those seven blows made Wu Zhi willing to pick up that split axe again. It was a worthwhile deal."
The two leaped onto the ascending passage of the Ruins of Return.
The golden light of Mars shone down from the top of the crack. Su Fan held the Guanghan Crystal and the twelfth stone embryo in his arms, and the golden patterns on the Pangu Axe shone brightly again in the golden light.
The moon slowly sank into the outermost silvery-white sea of stars behind them, and the seven newly healed axe marks on the laurel tree crown shimmered with a faint golden light in the silvery glow.
Wu Zhi stood under the laurel tree, carrying the split axe that had been rekindled by the Pure Yang Talisman. He looked up at the newly carved Big Dipper axe marks on the trunk and spoke a sentence at an extremely low frequency that only the aerial roots of the laurel tree could hear. His tone was not like that of someone speaking to the tree, but rather like that of someone speaking to a monkey far away in the Purple Cloud Palace.
"Great Sage, your Pure Yang Talisman is stuck on the handle of my axe."
Deep within the roots of the laurel tree, the mother crystal of Guanghan Crystal trembled slightly, transmitting these words along the patterns of the Taiyin Cold Qi Law into the void layer above Guixu.
Deep within the Purple Cloud Palace, Sun Wukong, who was squatting among the fragments of the Jade Tablet of Creation searching for a note left by Hongjun, sneezed, rubbed his nose, muttered "Who's talking about me, Old Sun?", and then continued to bury himself in searching through the fragments.
When the two returned to the ruins of the South Heavenly Gate through the ascending passage of the Guixu Crack, the golden light of Mars was shining on the newly grown pale gold patterns on the city wall.
The Primordial Celestial Venerable sat cross-legged with his back straight, his whisk lying across his knees. Ninety percent of the one hundred and eight runes had been restored, and the last few charred whisk strands were still slowly regenerating.
He looked down at the cloth bag that Su Fan had taken out of his pocket; the nine Guanghan crystal bars gleamed with an extremely cold silver-white luster under the pale golden light.
Beside the cloth bag, the grayish-white stone embryo lay quietly in Su Fan's palm, its surface displaying chaotic law patterns that pulsed in sync with the heartbeat of the distant Ruins of Return.
"Nine Guanghan Crystals, enough to seal Rahu for three thousand years. The twelfth Chaos Stone Embryo, the last protective will left by Pangu at the root of the laurel tree."
The Primordial Celestial Venerable took the whisk from his lap, and the whisk strands drew an arc in the air, within which appeared a real-time image of the laws governing the remains of Mount Buzhou at the bottom of the Ruins of Return.
The water level of the Water Essence had dropped by half an inch since Su Fan left, and Gonggong's Water Essence body was being consumed at an accelerated rate.
He put away his whisk and looked at Su Fan.
"The Water Essence can only last for two and a half months at most. The Guanghan Crystal must be implanted into the root of the wedge of the Creation Wedge before Gonggong's remnant consciousness completely dissipates. However, implanting the Guanghan Crystal requires mobilizing the Taiyin Cold Qi and the will of all living beings at the same time. The two laws will produce a very brief clash of cold and heat inside the wedge."
"The impact of the opposing forces will temporarily weaken the seal strength of the Creation Wedge."
"How much has it been weakened?" Su Fan wrapped the stone core again and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Weakening by 30%. Lasting approximately 100 breaths. Within 100 breaths, Rahu's head will reopen its eyes. However, once the Guanghan Crystal is implanted, the cold law of the wedge handle will completely replace the water spirit's body, and the seal's strength will rebound to more than three times its original value after 100 breaths. That 100-breath period is the only window of opportunity."
Yuanshi Tianzun looked down at Su Fan.
"The Water Essence contains remnants of Gonggong's consciousness, which can help you stabilize for the first fifty breaths. For the next fifty breaths, you need to ring the fragment of the Eastern Emperor Bell from the Ruins once. The frequency of the bell's sound resonates with the fragment of the Jade Tablet of Creation inside the Wedge of Creation, which can accelerate the fusion of the Guanghan Crystal and the wedge handle."
"The bell fragments from the ruins are still embedded in its core. The last time it was rung was in the secret chamber of the Eastern Emperor Ruins; after three strikes, a thin crack appeared in the bell fragments. It can be rung one more time."
Su Fan shouldered the Pangu Axe and turned to walk towards the South Heavenly Gate.
Nezha followed behind him, took a few steps, and then turned back to shout towards the ridge.
"Laojun, is there any news from the Great Sage?"
Yuanshi Tianzun did not answer.
He pointed his whisk towards the void layer above Guixu, and a faint golden light shone from the tip of the whisk's strands, indicating the fluctuation of laws from the direction of Zixiao Palace.
The fluctuations were still there, but the frequency was more than twice as slow as when Sun Wukong first entered.
The flow of time in Zixiao Palace is different from that in the prehistoric world. A few days in the prehistoric world may have passed in Zixiao Palace for several months.
Laozi put away his whisk and said only one sentence.
"Time moves much faster inside the Purple Cloud Palace than outside. The fact that the Great Sage hasn't come out yet means that Hongjun left him quite a lot."
Nezha didn't ask any more questions, and chased after Su Fan with his gun on his shoulder.
The two descended back down to the White Rock Plain through the crack in the Ruins of Guixu, crossed the solidified foundation of the Ruins of Guixu, and hurried toward the entrance of the Buzhou Mountain ruins to the due north.
The patterns of law on the White Rock Plain are deeper than before. The foundation of the Ruins is continuously reinforced by the combined effects of the Ruins' heart network and the flint root system. Extremely fine pale golden moss has begun to grow on the rock surface.
That was the law-based vegetation that naturally condensed from the will of all living beings at the bottom of the Ruins of Return. The pattern of each moss corresponded one-to-one with the weapon fragment of one of the ten thousand people.
The water-ripple crystal crack at the entrance to the Buzhou Mountain ruins is still there.
Xu stood outside the crevice, his right hand pressed against the edge of the broken edge. The scorch mark on his finger had completely healed, leaving only a very faint dark gold line.
It saw Su Fan and Nezha walking from the end of the White Rock Plain, released its right hand, and the rift automatically contracted to both sides, making way for them.
Su Fan walked up to it and took out the packet of Guanghan Crystal from his pocket.
The moment the cloth bag was opened, the Yin cold energy emanating from the nine crystal bars condensed into a dense ring of silvery-white ice mist under the extremely high density of laws in the Buzhou Mountain stone corridor. When the edge of the ice mist came into contact with the pale gold thread on Xu's chest, it exploded into a small ball of law steam.
"Nine stalactites. Gonggong's water essence body can last for another two and a half months. Have those stalactite fragments on the dome been cleaned up yet?"
"It's all been cleaned up. After the fragments of Rahu were shattered into powder, they were frozen into crystals by the original water essence and sank to the bottom of the pool. They won't float up again. During this time, the water essence itself consumed half of its law power, and the consciousness of Gonggong's remnant consciousness began to blur, but he has been waiting for you to return."
Xu turned and walked deeper into the stone corridor, with Su Fan and Nezha following behind him.
When the three of them stood on the edge of the water essence again, the lava stalactites on the hollow dome had been completely cleared away, revealing the most primitive deep black law patterns of the Buzhou Mountain rock body.
The water level of the water essence had dropped by a full inch, and the dark blue light in the center of the pool had resurfaced, but its brightness was at least 40% dimmer than before.
The ends of the water filaments extending from the surface of the light cluster trembled slightly, a physiological tremor before the remnant consciousness dissipated. Gonggong's remnant consciousness had reached its limit.
"The Moon Crystal has been brought."
Su Fan took the nine crystal strips out of the cloth bag, held them in his right palm, and untied the cloth strips with his left hand to reveal the three crooked V-shaped scars on his palm.
Under the stimulation of the Yin cold air, the scar cracks began to ooze out very faint golden blood again. The blood flowed through the gaps between the fingers to the surface of the crystal bar, forming a very thin law conduction membrane between the crystal bar and the palm.
The light cluster of Gonggong's remnant consciousness trembled slightly, and the end of the water thread stopped above Su Fan's right palm, splitting into nine thinner water threads, each of which wrapped around a Guanghan crystal strip.
The moment the water line and the crystal strip come into contact, the entire pool of water essence slurry simultaneously ripples outwards with extremely low frequency law ripples. The ripples spread from the center of the pool to the pool wall, and then bounce back from the pool wall, forming a highly regular concentric interference pattern directly above the wedge handle of the creation wedge.
"The crystal strips must be implanted simultaneously into the nine sealing nodes at the base of the wedge. With each one implanted, the fragments of the Creation Jade Tablet inside the wedge will rotate one revolution faster."
"After all nine roots are implanted, Rahu will open his eyes within a hundred breaths. At that time, I will use the last of the water essence's power to freeze him for the first fifty breaths. For the next fifty breaths, Xu will suppress him with the sound of a bell."
The voice of Gonggong's remaining consciousness came from the ripples on the water's surface; it was extremely faint, with long intervals between each word.
Xu placed his right hand on the pale gold line on his chest, his fingertips reaching inside to touch the fragment of the Eastern Emperor Bell embedded in the core.
The fragment struck the outside of the Tai Sui crack once, creating an extremely fine fissure.
It took the fragment out of the core surface and held it in its palm. The dark gold light flowing on the surface of the fragment was half as dim as before, but it could still ring one last time.
It looked up at Su Fan and nodded.
Su Fan held the nine Guanghan Crystal Strips in his right palm, grasped the Pangu Axe in his left hand, and used the back of the axe to press against the side of his right palm as a transmission medium.
The will of all beings flowed from the human-shaped scar on the left palm into the back of the axe, then from the back of the axe into the right palm, and finally wrapped the nine crystal bars through golden blood.
He took a deep breath, flipped his right palm downwards, and simultaneously slapped the nine crystal bars into the water essence.
The crystal bar sank immediately upon entering the water, and automatically dispersed when it reached the base of the wedge handle, embedding itself into the sealing nodes corresponding to the nine layers of runes on the wedge handle of Creation.
The moment it was inserted, the nine layers of runes on the wedge simultaneously turned from pure white to silver-white, and a silver-white beam of light shot from the bottom of the pool to the dome, illuminating the entire underground cavity.
The first crystal strip was implanted.
The fragments of the Jade Tablet of Creation began to spin faster, the wedge handle emitted extremely high-frequency law tremors, and the eyelids of Rahu's tightly closed eyes twitched slightly, the dark purple law patterns on the edges of his eye sockets began to flow again.
The second one. The third one. The fourth one.
Su Fan implanted the crystal strips faster and faster, and a very thin layer of silvery-white frost formed on his right palm from the Taiyin cold energy. Golden blood was still slowly seeping into the surface of the frost.
The 'human' character scar on the left palm split open completely, and when the blood flowed into the axe's back conduction channel, it was frozen into extremely fine golden ice needles by the Taiyin cold energy. The ice needles pierced the skin of the right palm, canceling out the cold laws of the Guanghan Crystal Strip.
The fifth one. The sixth one. The seventh one.
The twitching of Luo Hou's eyelids turned into violent tremors, and the law patterns on the edge of his eye sockets changed from dark purple to dark red. The law fluid gushing out from the depths of the patterns began to erode the Guanghan crystal strip that had just been implanted on the outer layer of the wedge handle.
When the seventh crystal strip was implanted, Gonggong's remnant consciousness actively wrapped around it. A deep blue light ball emerged from the water, compressed into the size of a fist, and sank along the wedge handle to the front of Rahu's brow. With the final water essence law, it condensed into an extremely thin ice wall between Rahu's eyelids and the wedge handle.
The eighth one. The ninth one.
All nine Guanghan Crystals were implanted.
The nine layers of runes on the wedge of creation simultaneously changed from silver-white to extremely cold ice blue. The ice blue light penetrated the water essence and struck the dome of the Buzhou Mountain ruins, turning all the ancient magma crystals on the dome into a deep blue.
The 100-breath countdown has begun.
For the first fifty breaths, the ice wall formed by Gonggong's remaining consciousness tightly sealed Rahu's eyelids.
Luo Hou opened his eyes behind the ice wall, his pure black eye sockets staring at Su Fan through the ice wall, the lingering aura of the Creation Jade Tablet in his eye sockets completely dissipating.
From this moment on, only the pure core of the Demon Ancestor's Law remains deep within Rahu's spiritual platform; Hongjun's Dao principles have already merged with the wedge tip when the ninth layer of runes was activated.
Luo Hou looked at Su Fan through the ice wall. He neither roared nor struggled. Instead, a very low-frequency bone vibration emanated from the depths of his spiritual platform. The vibration penetrated the ice wall and the water essence, and exploded directly in the scar on Su Fan's left palm.
"Mortal. Hongjun's Dao principles have left my body. The wedge of creation was driven six inches into my spiritual platform, and the Guanghan Crystal sealed all the sealing nodes. Three thousand years, I acknowledge that. But the moment the wedge loosened three thousand years later, the first person I sought was not Hongjun, but you."
Su Fan did not answer.
He pressed his right hand against the back of his left hand, using the will of all beings to reinforce the conduction channel of the scar on his palm, transmitting every crack in the Gonggong Ice Wall eroded by the slurry of Rahu's Law to the depths of his spiritual platform in real time.
In the first fifty breaths, the number of cracks in the ice wall increased from one to thirty-seven, and each crack was forcibly filled by Gonggong's remnant consciousness using his water essence law.
When the fiftieth breath ended, the ice wall shattered completely, and the deep blue light cluster of Gonggong's remnant consciousness scattered into countless extremely fine light spots at the bottom of the water essence. The light spots floated to three feet above the water surface and reformed into that blurry human figure outline.
The outline nodded slightly to Su Fan, then transformed into a wisp of extremely faint water vapor and dissipated into the law patterns of the empty dome.
"Gonggong is gone. The last fifty breaths are entrusted to you."
Su Fan released his left hand and turned to look at the ruins.
Xu lifted the fragment of the Eastern Emperor Bell from his palm. The scorch mark on his right index finger, which had healed, cracked open again under the dark golden light of the fragment, and a wisp of extremely faint flint ash emerged from the crack.
It brought the fragment to its mouth, ignited the last complete rune on the fragment's surface with the embers of flint, and then gently tapped the edge of the fragment with its teeth.
The bell tolled from within the fragment, penetrating the vast depths of the water essence, and forming a fine ripple of dark gold law at the very center of the wedge of creation.
The ripples spread to the surface of the nine Guanghan crystal bars, and the Taiyin coldness inside the crystal bars and the dark gold law of the bell sound resonated briefly, instantly accelerating the fusion speed.
After the last fifty breaths, the bell would vibrate once every ten breaths, and by the fifth vibration, the fusion of the nine Guanghan crystal bars and the wedge handle would be completely completed.
The nine layers of runes on the wedge changed from ice blue to extremely pale transparency, so transparent that they were almost invisible, but the sealing strength rebounded to more than three times the original strength the moment it became transparent.
The Wedge of Creation and the Guanghan Crystal merged completely into one, and the law fluid of Rahu inside the wedge was completely frozen, reaching the deepest part of Rahu's spiritual platform.
Rahu's head closed its eyes again as the bell rang for the fifth time.
After those pure black eye sockets closed, the nine layers of transparent runes on the wedge of the Creation Wedge in the center of the brow rotated on their own, marking the complete activation of the seal, which would last for three thousand years without missing a single day.
Xu removed the fragment of the Eastern Emperor Bell from his mouth. The last rune on the fragment shattered completely after the fifth chime of the bell. The fragment turned into extremely fine dark gold powder that fell from between his fingers, drifted into the surface of the water essence, was absorbed by the water, and sank to the bottom of the pool.
"The bell shattered. The final chime of the Eastern Emperor Bell sealed Rahu's last three thousand years."
Xu looked down at his empty palm. The scorch mark on his finger had automatically healed after the fragment shattered. The new skin at the healed spot was a very pale transparent color, the same color as the transparent runes after the Water Essence was sealed.
Su Fan tucked the Pangu Axe into his waistband, walked to the edge of the Water Essence, and squatted down.
He took out the jade rabbit pendant that Chang'e had given him from his pocket. The pendant was still extremely cold to the touch. He placed the jade rabbit three feet above the water's surface, which was the last place where Gonggong's remaining consciousness dissipated.
The Jade Rabbit hovered in mid-air and slowly rotated. The Taiyin cold air flowing on its surface and the sealing cold law of the Guanghan Crystal at the bottom of the pool resonated very faintly. The resonance frequency was exactly the same as the last trace of law reverberation before Gonggong's remnant consciousness dissipated.
The Jade Rabbit replaced Gonggong and remained above the water essence.
Nezha walked over, stuck his Fire-Tipped Spear into the ground, sat cross-legged at the edge of the Water Essence, and looked at the Jade Rabbit and the completely sealed head of Rahu at the bottom of the pool.
The crooked law mark on his left shoulder shone slightly under the faint silver light emitted by the jade rabbit, pulsating in sync with the pale gold line on Xu's chest.
He glanced down at his left shoulder, then looked up at the ruins and asked.
"Now that this piece of your bell is broken, will you still be able to ring it?"
"It can no longer be rung. There were three fragments of the Eastern Emperor Bell in total. One was shattered outside the crack of the Tai Sui, one fused into the core when the heart was being assembled in the secret chamber, and the last one just shattered as well. From now on, there will be no more sound of the Eastern Emperor Bell in the primordial world."
As Xu removed his right hand from his chest, the pulsation network of the three heart fragments on the surface of the core circulated automatically with each beat of the intact heart in the chest cavity.
It looked at the law mark on Nezha's left shoulder and added a sentence.
"But the bells have stopped ringing, yet their pulse remains. Your left shoulder resonates with my heart, and the bells' pulse has left another mark on you."
Nezha did not answer after hearing this. He pulled the Fire-Tipped Spear from the ground, put it on his shoulder, stood up, and turned to walk towards the stone corridor.
When he reached the entrance of the stone corridor, he turned back to Su Fan and asked him a question.
"Yang Jian and the others in Beiju Luzhou should have returned to the South Heavenly Gate. The Great Sage is still in Zixiao Palace and hasn't come out yet. Where should we go now? Should we go back to the South Heavenly Gate to wait for the Great Sage, or go directly to Zixiao Palace to find him?"
Su Fan stood up from the edge of the water essence, took the Pangu Axe from his waist and carried it on his shoulder. He glanced down at the jade rabbit and the sealed head at the bottom of the pool, then turned and walked towards the stone corridor.