bioinnovel Chapter 380 Laws of the Mountain Root
Chapter 380 Laws of the Mountain Root
Su Fan stared at the massive, turning outline on the mirror, then flipped half of the Kunlun Mirror over and placed it on the city brick.
The contour moves slowly, but for every inch it turns, another crack appears on the edge of the mirror.
Cracks extended outwards from the broken part of the mirror, climbing up the tip of his finger that was pressing the lens, leaving extremely fine burn marks of law on his fingernails.
"Where will Yamane go after he wakes up?"
Su Fan raised his finger, and the burn mark on his fingertip slowly faded in the golden light of the will of all living beings.
Yang Jian did not answer immediately.
He took the other half of the Kunlun Mirror from his waist, and when the two broken pieces were put together, the remaining traces of the laws at the break points automatically aligned, piecing together a complete mirror image in the air.
Beneath the ruins of Mount Buzhou in the mirror image, at the deepest part of the chaotic law sedimentation layer, the enormous outline of the law has already turned and is rising from the bottom of the sedimentation layer.
The ascent was extremely slow, but for every ten feet it rose, the eleven stone fragments sealed inside the sedimentary layer would vibrate simultaneously.
The vibration was transmitted to the water essence above, and the nine layers of transparent runes of the Creation Wedge in the center of Rahu's head at the bottom of the pool flashed.
"The mountain root is rising towards the foundation of the Ruins. At the current speed, it will crash into the bottom of the Water Essence within three days. The Water Essence contains the head of Rahu."
"Although the Wedge of Creation has completely fused with the Guanghan Crystal, and the sealing strength is three times that of the original, the law impact generated by the collision of the mountain root will directly hit the sealing node at the root of the wedge handle."
Yang Jian separated the two shattered mirror pieces, and the reflections vanished.
"The structure of the sealing node consists of nine layers of runes superimposed with the cold laws of the Guanghan Crystal. The impact of these laws will shatter at least three layers of runes. Once the runes are shattered, the seal strength will drop to less than three times its original value."
"The three layers of runes have been shattered. Can the seal still hold for three thousand years?"
Gongsun Bao picked up the axe from the ground, and the crease left by the remnant soul of Di Jun on the axe blade shone slightly as he spoke.
"We can't hold on. With one less rune, the sealing period shrinks from three thousand years to one thousand years. With three less runes, it shrinks to three hundred years."
Yang Jian turned his head, his eye sockets, devoid of pupils, aimed at the core of the stone embryo in Su Fan's arms.
"The root of the mountain didn't awaken on its own. When you went down into the sedimentary layer to retrieve the stone shell, the primordial law imprint on the stone shell activated an extremely ancient law resonance within the root of the mountain."
"Shan Gen believed that Pangu was still there. It sensed the remaining protective will of Pangu on the stone shell, so it woke up. It floated upwards not to smash the foundation of Guixu, but to find Pangu."
"Pangu is long gone. His spine transformed into Mount Buzhou, his heart into the primordial origin of the Heavenly Dao, his axe shattered into nine pieces scattered in the chaos, and his remaining consciousness completely dissipated after he drove in the Rahu wedge."
"If you search for Pangu at the foot of the mountain, you can only find the broken upper half of Buzhou Mountain. That half lies in the northwest corner of the Great Wilderness. After being broken by Gonggong, it has been sealed in a time rift and has not been claimed by any deity to this day."
Su Fan took the Pangu Axe off his shoulder and touched the ground with the axe blade.
After hearing Yang Jian's words, the 'human' character scar on his left palm began to bleed spontaneously, and blood droplets flowed down the axe handle, dripping onto the city bricks to form a tiny golden spot.
It wasn't that the wound had reopened; rather, the will of all living beings sensed the extremely ancient protective will within the root of the mountain, a will that shared the same origin as the power of creation that Pangu left on the axe blade.
"The mountain root recognizes Pangu. Pangu is gone, but it recognizes Pangu's axe. Although the power to create the world on the axe blade has been exhausted, the handle still contains the last imprint of Pangu's will before his remnants dissipated. That imprint was activated once when the wedge of creation was driven in, and it can be activated a second time now."
"Use the Pangu Axe to block the base of the mountain and make it stop. You don't need to hit it. As long as it touches the axe handle, it will sense the residual will left by Pangu's remnant consciousness, and it will think that it has found Pangu."
Su Fan held the axe horizontally in front of him, with the handle pointing towards the Guixu Crack.
The end of the axe handle is engraved with the minimalist Pangu axe mark, and deep within the mark are embedded the extremely fine powder of the Creation Jade Tablet left over from when the Creation Wedge was driven in.
"It will take three days for the mountain root to rise from the bottom of the sedimentary layer to the bottom of the water essence slurry. That's enough time. But during the process of the mountain root rising, it will continuously shock the sedimentary layer, and the shock waves will travel along the Guixu foundation to the South Heavenly Gate, which will interrupt the repair of the city wall."
Gongsun Bao looked up at the new bricks that were slowly growing on the city wall.
The new brick has grown to half a person's height in the aftershocks of the laws governing the return of the gods, but the pale gold patterns inside the brick have not yet fully meshed with the gold patterns of the old brick.
"The city wall repairs will be interrupted for three days, leaving a gap in the South Heavenly Gate's defenses. The gap won't be large, but it'll be enough for the chaotic gray mist to seep in. Rahu still has eleven physical bodies sealed in various parts of the chaos; his left arm, torso, and head have already awakened."
"Although the remaining few are dormant, the fragments of laws floating in the chaotic gray mist are all alive, and they will crawl in through the gap."
The human warrior slammed the Demon Emperor Spear against the city bricks, the butt of the spear wedging three inches into the bricks.
"The breach can be plugged. After Beiju Luzhou returned to its rightful place, the residual effects of the law seal on the bones of the myriad demons still remain outside the Bone Mountain. Yang Jian can use the Kunlun Mirror to mobilize that residual effect of the seal and use the bones of the myriad demons to build another temporary outer wall outside the breach at the South Heavenly Gate. It should hold for three days without any problem."
A gentle breeze rose from the pile of broken bricks.
His broken sword had completely healed under the residual warmth of the Law of Flint, and the newly grown blade was covered with extremely faint dark red Law patterns, which were of the same origin as the embers of Flint in the pale gold line on Xu's chest.
He pointed his sword toward the breach in the city wall.
Yang Jian nodded.
He pieced the two shattered mirrors back together, and the real-time image of the laws surrounding the Bone Mountain of Beiju Luzhou appeared on the mirror surface.
The new seal formed after the remains of the myriad demons returned to their places is slowly circulating around the bone mountain. Faint gray-white law patterns flow across the surface of the seal, and the remnant souls of the myriad demons after they have been exorcised are sealed within the patterns.
Although the remnant souls no longer possess any offensive capabilities, their skeletal structures remain intact, and after the soil is sealed and solidified, their hardness is comparable to that of the bricks of the South Heavenly Gate.
"The seal of the myriad demon skeletons in Beiju Luzhou was formed by Di Jun himself when he was nailed back to the Bone Mountain. The structure of the seal's laws and the ancient law patterns in the remains of Buzhou Mountain are of the same origin, both being the original seals formed by the first batch of chaotic law fragments after Pangu created the world."
"Using the Kunlun Mirror to manipulate this seal can build a temporary outer wall outside the gap in the Southern Heavenly Gate, which can last for three days. However, after three days, the seal will automatically dissipate back to the Northern Continent, and Emperor Jun's main body still needs this seal to suppress the bottom of the Bone Mountain."
"After three days, the outer wall will disappear, but the gap in the South Heavenly Gate will remain. At that time, the impact of the laws from the base of the mountain hitting the bottom of the Water Essence will also reach the South Heavenly Gate."
"Three days is enough. The chaotic sedimentary layer is directly below the bottom of Guixu. The trajectory of the mountain's rise will pass through three layers: the remains of Buzhou Mountain, the original water essence, and the foundation of Guixu."
"The heart network of the Ruins can sense the real-time position of the mountain's rising base. I used the Pangu Axe to block its rising trajectory directly in front of it. I prevented it from hitting the bottom of the water essence slurry and stopped it in the interlayer between the sedimentary layer and the Ruins foundation."
Su Fan slung the Pangu Axe over his shoulder and turned to look at the Ruins.
"How far can the resonance between your heart's vascular network and the fragments of laws in the chaotic sedimentary layer maintain real-time communication?"
"From the sedimentary layer to the South Heavenly Gate, there are two layers in between: the remains of Buzhou Mountain and the foundation of Guixu. The roots of the flint tree have already penetrated to the deepest part of the Guixu foundation, and the signal of the law will be delayed by a maximum of three breaths when passing through these two layers."
"A three-breath delay is enough for you to judge the real-time position of the bridge of your nose. But if the bridge of your nose suddenly accelerates before it gets close to the Pangu Axe, for example, if it loses control after sensing the aura of the Pangu Axe, the three-breath delay may not be enough."
Xu pressed the pale gold line on his chest, and the vein network on the surface of his core accelerated slightly under the pressure of his fingertips.
"The root of the mountain will not go out of control. It has been searching for Pangu for 30,000 years, and it senses that the remnant will of Pangu on the axe handle will only slow down, not speed up."
Su Fan walked to the edge of the Guixu Crack and looked down into its depths.
The golden light of Mars shone down from the top of the crack, illuminating the water-ripple crystalline fissure at the entrance to the ruins of Buzhou Mountain. A very faint gray-black halo was slowly rising from the depths of the fissure.
That was the fluorescence of laws generated when the sedimentary fragments inside the mountain base were squeezed out as the mountain base rose.
Nezha walked over carrying a gun, glanced at Su Fan, and spoke a beat slower than usual.
"You're going to block the mountain root alone? The heart network of the Ruins can only transmit messages. The flint flame can still be used in the water essence, but in the sedimentary layer, its residual heat of the law will be suppressed by the fragments of the chaotic law."
"Even my Wind and Fire Wheels can't get down there. The density of the laws in the sedimentary layer is too high. The Fire Law is just a spark there. You, all alone, with an axe, a stone core, and a fragment of stone shell, are trying to block a mountain of laws that solidified itself at the beginning of chaos. Do you think you're more resilient than Pangu?"
"Shan Gen isn't here to fight. He's here to find Pangu."
Su Fan took out the stone core and the stone shell fragments from his arms and held them in his left palm.
The chaotic law patterns flowing on the stone shell fragments and the law patterns flowing autonomously on the surface of the stone core flashed simultaneously under the golden light of the Guixu crack, their flashing frequency perfectly synchronized with the law fluorescence generated by the rising mountain root deep within Guixu.
He rewrapped the two items and stuffed them into his robes, then said to Nezha.
"The mark on your left shoulder can sense the fluctuations of the laws of the stone fragments, helping me keep an eye on the Great Sage's signals. The silver-white crystal on the core just flashed again, slightly brighter than last time."
"The flow of time in the Great Sage's Purple Cloud Palace may be slowing down, indicating that he is approaching the core area of the Purple Cloud Palace. If his signal suddenly changes from extremely weak to extremely strong, it means he is preparing to come out. If the root of his nose has not stopped by then, send me a message using the Mark of the Path of All Beings."
Nezha did not respond.
He planted the fire-tipped spear in the ground and took out a tiny command flag from his waist with his right hand.
It was an old item he carried when he was the general of Chentang Pass. The flag had faded, but the simple lotus flower mark engraved on the flagpole was still clearly visible.
He shoved the command flag into Su Fan's hand, turned and walked towards the city wall, then stopped after a few steps and turned back to say something.
"This flag was planted on the city wall of Chentang Pass by Laozi before he returned his bones to his father. It's not some kind of magic weapon; it can't withstand the impact of laws or seal the fragments of chaos."
"But this flag has been planted in my hands my whole life, and it has never fallen. You plant it under the sediment layer for me. If the base of the mountain stops, the flag will remain; if the base of the mountain doesn't stop, you come back and give the flag back to me, and I'll take care of it myself."
Su Fan put the command flag into his pocket and placed it with the stone core, then picked up the Pangu Axe and leaped down into the Guixu Crack.
Xu followed behind him, and the two of them descended rapidly along the Five Elements Mountain's rubble steps inside the crack.
The golden light of Mars was refracted into countless extremely fine golden lines by the law membrane in the middle of the crack. The golden lines shone on the part of Nezha's command flag that was exposed, making the lotus flower imprint extremely bright.
The pale golden moss on the White Rock Plain has grown even denser than before, and the foundation of Guixu is continuously reinforced by the combined effects of the heart network of the Ruins and the root system of the flint.
Extremely fine patterns have begun to grow on the surface of the moss, each pattern corresponding to the newly grown gold patterns on the bricks of the South Heavenly Gate.
The two crossed the White Rock Plain and entered the water-ripple crystal fissure at the entrance to the ruins of Buzhou Mountain. A thin layer of ice crystals had newly condensed at the broken edges on the inner wall of the fissure where Gonggong's water essence had been evaporated and burned through. The deep blue halo flowing on the surface of the ice crystals was darker than before.
After Gonggong's remnant consciousness dissipated, the Water Essence was slowly losing its last bit of residual warmth from the laws.
Inside the hollow of the crystal slurry, the jade rabbit pendant above the pool surface was still slowly rotating.
The Taiyin cold energy flowing on the surface of the Jade Rabbit and the sealing cold law of the Guanghan Crystal at the bottom of the pool maintained a stable resonance frequency. The extremely low-frequency law ripples generated by the resonance spread out on the water surface, hitting the pool wall in circles and bouncing back, forming a stable interference pattern directly above the wedge handle of Creation.
Rahu's head had its eyes closed, and the nine layers of transparent runes of the Wedge of Creation in the center of its brow flowed steadily.
Su Fan paused for a moment at the edge of the water essence, adjusting the position of the jade rabbit pendant given to him by Chang'e.
The resonance of the Yin energy between the pendant and the jade rabbit formed a faint law bond above the pool surface. One end of the bond was connected to the jade rabbit, while the other end sank to the bottom of the pool, enveloping the sealing node of the Guanghan Crystal.
"The Jade Rabbit guards here for Gonggong, and the resonance between the Yin cold energy and the Guanghan Crystal will not be broken. Before the root of the mountain hits the bottom of the water essence, this link may be shaken apart, but after it is shaken apart, the Jade Rabbit will automatically reconnect."
Su Fan turned around and walked with Xu to the deepest part of the cave, to the crack that had been burned through by the evaporation of Gonggong's water essence.
The ice crystals on the inner wall of the crevice were thicker than when they came last time. Xu melted a thin layer of ice on the surface with the scorch mark on his fingertip, and the two squeezed into the crevice and stepped onto the first natural stone step of the chaotic law sedimentary layer again.
The density of laws within the sedimentary rock layer was even higher than the last time, so high that even the membrane walls formed by the will of all living beings began to show extremely fine cracks.
Su Fan looked down at the soles of his feet. Three cracks had appeared on the golden membrane, and a very faint golden vapor of law was seeping out from the edges of each crack.
He thickened the membrane layer and continued downwards.
The two descended thousands of steps along the natural stone steps. The gray-black rock layer gradually turned reddish-brown, and the eleven stone fragments embedded inside the reddish-brown rock layer were more active than before.
The dim light flowing across the surface of the fragments no longer moved autonomously, but instead all turned very slowly in the same direction, which was the direction in which the root of the mountain rose.
As the mountain base rises from the bottom of the sedimentary layer, the resulting force of law is pulling all the surrounding fragments of chaotic law toward its rising trajectory.
"The speed of the mountain root is faster than Yang Jian predicted. Based on the current traction force, it will hit the bottom of the water essence slurry not in three days, but in two days."
Xu pressed his right hand against the surface of the crimson rock layer, and the frequency of the law resonance sensed by the scorch marks on his fingertips was more than a beat faster than before.
It opened its eyes and quickly drew a minimalist law-based trajectory diagram on the rock wall with its finger.
The mountain's current location is 3,000 feet above the bottom of the sedimentary layer, and its speed is still accelerating.
"Two days is enough. We don't need to go down to the deepest part of the sedimentary layer; we can wait for it at the midpoint of its ascent trajectory at the foot of the mountain."
Su Fan continued down the stone steps for about a thousand steps and stopped at the interface between reddish-brown rock layers and grayish-black rock layers.
The interface is an extremely wide natural fault, with the rock layers on both sides of the fault being red and black respectively, and sandwiched in between a layer of chaotic law vacuum zone only a few feet thick.
There were no fragments of laws or patterns of laws in the vacuum zone, only an extremely pure primordial chaotic space.
That was a crack in the laws that was torn out by the shockwave of Pangu's axe when it crushed the eleven stone embryos.
The rift itself has no laws or attributes, so when the root of the mountain rises to this point, there will be no resistance from the laws, and the speed will be reduced to the minimum.
"Wait here. The vacuum zone is the only way for the mountain root to rise. When it reaches here, the law's pulling force will temporarily disappear, and the rising speed will be reduced to the minimum. Use the remnant will on the handle of Pangu's axe to guide it over and make it touch the handle."
Su Fan took the Pangu Axe off his waist and inserted it, blade down, into the crack in the rock stratum in the center of the vacuum zone.
The axe handle faces upwards, and the minimalist Pangu axe mark at the end of the handle is directly opposite the direction in which the mountain base rises.
The two sat cross-legged at the edge of the vacuum zone.
Xu pressed his right hand against the surface of the reddish-brown rock layer, using the scorch marks on his fingertips to continuously sense the real-time position of the mountain's base.
Su Fan took out the stone core and the stone shell fragment from his arms and placed them at his feet. The chaotic law patterns flowing on the surface of the stone shell fragment glowed slightly at the edge of the vacuum zone, maintaining a very weak law resonance with the mountain root that was rising in the distance.
He took Nezha's command flag out of his pocket and inserted it into an extremely thin crevice at the edge of the vacuum zone.
The command flag hung down naturally in the vacuum zone where no laws flowed, and the lotus mark on the flagpole shone with a very faint red under the golden light of Pangu's axe.
Xu reported his location with his eyes closed.
"The distance from the base of the mountain to the vacuum zone is still 500 zhang. The speed has dropped to half of that at the beginning of the ascent, and the laws of the vacuum zone have begun to counteract the traction force."
"But behind the base of the mountain are seven trails of laws, remnants of ancient laws sealed deeper in the sedimentary layer that have not yet been activated. The base of the mountain rising up brought them all out. Once these seven trails collide with the foundation of the Ruins along with the base of the mountain, the impact will double."
Su Fan stood up and grasped the handle of the Pangu Axe. The will of all living beings poured into the handle from the human-shaped scar on his left palm, activating the last imprint of will left by the remnant consciousness of Pangu before it dissipated inside the handle.
The moment the mark was activated, the minimalist Pangu axe mark on the axe handle changed from dark gold to a very pale pure white. The pure white light spread upwards along the axe handle, enveloping the entire axe body.
The remnant of Pangu's will condensed on the axe blade into an extremely blurry human figure. The figure only had an upper body and no facial features, but its arms were outstretched in a very clear gesture: an embrace.
That was the posture of Pangu when he first sensed the chaotic laws of the mountains solidifying on their own in the chaos, and he stretched out his arms to embrace the mountains.
Yamane recognized the gesture.
The mountain root suddenly stopped when it was still 300 feet away from the vacuum zone.
It wasn't blocked by the laws of nature, but rather it stopped on its own after sensing the aura of the remnant will of Pangu's consciousness.
It stopped deep within the crimson rock layer, its massive outline of laws reflected through layers of rock walls onto the gray-black rock layer opposite the vacuum zone, the edges of the outline flowing with extremely ancient chaotic law patterns.
The arrangement of the patterns is completely identical to the axe mark on the handle of Pangu's axe.
The root of Buzhou Mountain and the Pangu Axe, one is the first mountain peak of laws to solidify on its own in the chaos, and the other is the first divine axe to cleave the laws in the chaos. The two resonated briefly once when the chaos was first created.
The frequency of that resonance was sealed deep within the root of the nose, serving as its last conscious memory before it fell into slumber.
After the mountain root stopped, the seven trails of law behind it did not stop.
The seven trails continued to rise along the path of the mountain root, and when they entered the edge of the vacuum zone, the sedimentary rock fragments wrapped around them by the law vacuum were peeled off, revealing the ancient law remnant that had been sealed inside for 30,000 years.
The seven remnants were exposed to the pure laws of the vacuum zone, and simultaneously transitioned from a dormant state to a semi-activated state.
The seven remnants simultaneously emitted extremely low-frequency law-like hissing, which pierced through the vacuum zone and struck Su Fan and Xu's eardrums.
"These remains are neither fragments of the stone embryo nor fragments of the laws of chaos. They are the remains of the ancient gods of chaos. After being shattered by Pangu's axe, the fragments were pressed deep into the sedimentary layer by the shockwave. Now they have been dragged out by the mountain root, and the remnants of the laws of the ancient gods of chaos inside the remains are beginning to reactivate."
Xu opened his eyes, and Jiaohen pointed his fingertip at the foremost of the seven remains.
Su Fan saw the shape of the first piece of debris as it crashed into the vacuum zone.
It was an extremely large finger bone, with intact knuckles. The surface of the finger bone was covered with ancient chaotic law markings that were completely of the same origin as the law patterns of Rahu, but the markings were deeper and denser, and were at least one order of magnitude older than the law patterns on Rahu's right arm.
A curved bone claw grows from the front of the finger bone, and a crystal of chaotic law that has not completely melted is embedded at the tip of the claw.
Inside the crystal was sealed a very faint fragment of consciousness, a wisp of instinct left in the bone claw fragments when the ancient god of chaos was shattered by Pangu.
The instinct is simple: to devour everything it touches.
The finger bone sensed the stone core that Su Fan had inserted next to Nezha's command flag at the edge of the vacuum zone.
The law patterns that flow autonomously on the surface of the stone core are an extremely bright source of law light in the chaotic law perception of the finger bone. The instinct of the ancient chaotic god will prioritize devouring the things with the highest law density.
The finger bones turned and lunged at the core of the stone, their five knuckles reaching out to grab the crystal core, which was only the size of a thumb.
Xu stood up, and the scorch mark on his right index finger suddenly cracked open, with embers of flint gushing out from the crack and condensing into a tiny cluster of dark red flames at his fingertip.
It launched the flames, which flew at full speed in the vacuum zone, unaffected by the density constraints of the laws, and struck the joint of the finger bone directly.
The flint flame came into contact with the chaotic ancient god's laws on the surface of the finger bone, exploding into a tiny cloud of law vapor.
The finger bone was blasted off course by the flames, and the bone claw grazed the edge of the stone core, tearing four extremely deep claw marks in the vacuum zone rock layer.
What gushed out from the depths of the claw marks was not a liquid of laws, but fragments of chaotic laws that had been sealed inside the sedimentary layer for 30,000 years.
The fragments, upon contact with the vacuum zone, simultaneously deactivated in the vacuum environment, turning into grayish-white powder that fell down in a rustling sound.
"The core of the stone embryo must not be exposed to the remains of the ancient chaotic god. The remains will instinctively devour the things with the highest density of chaotic laws."
"Your stone embryo core is the only one of the twelve chaotic stone embryos that is still alive. Its density of laws far exceeds that of these remnant fragments. Once they lock onto you, all seven remains will pounce on you."
Xu pressed the remaining embers of flint on his fingers back into the scorch marks. The cracks in the scorch marks healed temporarily, but the edges had begun to turn white.
Su Fan picked up the stone core from the ground and stuffed it into his pocket. He pulled the Pangu Axe out from the center of the vacuum belt, held the axe with both hands in front of Nezha's command flag, and aimed the axe blade outward at the finger bone fragment that was readjusting its direction.
After the finger bone fragments were deflected by the flint flame, the chaotic law crystal on the bone claw detached on its own, exposing the extremely dim fragment of consciousness sealed inside the crystal to the vacuum zone.
The fragment has no sight or hearing, but it can sense the density of the laws of the will of all living beings on Su Fan's body.
It mistook Su Fan for a Chaos Ancient God. The density of the laws of the will of all living beings and the structure of the laws of the guardian will deep within Su Fan's spiritual platform were mistakenly identified as the same thing by the fragment of consciousness using the instinctive perception of a Chaos Ancient God.
The finger bone fragments stopped, the bone claws retracted, and the five knuckles curled into an extremely primitive, chaotic ancient god's hand seal.
The chaotic law crystal that had fallen off at the very center of the handprint re-embedded into the palm of the bone claw. The fragment of consciousness inside the crystal uttered its first words in 30,000 years the moment the handprint was formed.
It wasn't a sound, but a vibration of the law. The vibration traveled along the vacuum zone rock strata to the soles of Su Fan's feet, and then flowed into the depths of his mind.
"You are not an ancient god. The aura of law emanating from you is not the aura of chaos. But you are not Pangu either; Pangu's aura is far stronger than yours. What are you?"
Su Fan did not answer.
He held the Pangu Axe horizontally in front of him, the lingering shadow of Pangu's will on the axe blade still visible.
The blurry human figure still had its arms outstretched, as if embracing.
Sensing the presence of Pangu's remnant consciousness on the axe blade, the bone claw handprint automatically shattered, and the knuckles hung down one by one, curling into an extremely quiet pile of bones on the vacuum zone rock strata.
It recognized Pangu, and it also recognized the embracing gesture.
In addition to devouring everything, the instinct of the Chaos Ancient God also contains an even more primal memory.
Before Pangu shattered its original form, it once stretched out its arms in the chaos and embraced the entire mountain of chaotic laws.
That was the last thing it saw before it was shattered.
After the finger bone fragments quieted down, the trails of the other six laws also stopped.
All seven remains landed at the edge of the vacuum zone, curling into seven piles of bones of varying sizes.
The chaotic ancient god law patterns flowing on the surface of the bone pile gradually dimmed in the pure law environment of the vacuum zone, fading from dark purple to grayish-white, and then from grayish-white to extremely faint transparency.
Within the transparent pile of bones, one could see the fragments of laws sealed inside automatically disintegrating, transforming into extremely fine law powder. The powder drifted into the vacuum zone and was diluted into nothingness by the law vacuum.
"The remains of the ancient chaotic gods will automatically decompose in the vacuum zone. Their law structure was originally the first batch of solidified law fragments when chaos first began, and they will dissipate on their own if left in a vacuum environment for a long time."
"When the mountain root dragged them up just now, their instincts were activated. Now, encountering the remnant will on the Pangu Axe, their instincts are being overwritten by Pangu's memories, and the deconstruction speed is actually accelerating."
Xu withdrew his hand from the crimson rock layer, walked to the seven piles of bones, squatted down, and looked at the fragments of law dissipating inside the piles of bones.
After the fragments dissipated, the pile of bones turned into very ordinary grayish-white fossils. Only very shallow marks of the laws remained on the surface of the fossils, which were old wounds left when Pangu's axe split the heavens and earth on their bodies.
Within the crimson rock layer at the edge of the vacuum zone, the massive outline of the laws of the mountain root began to move again after the finger bone remains quieted down, at a speed that was extremely slow, at least 90% slower than when it had risen.
It slowly emerged from the edge of the law's outline along the gray-black rock layer opposite the vacuum zone, moving towards the direction of Pangu's axe.
Su Fan moved the Pangu Axe away from his body, pointed the handle towards the base of the mountain, and walked towards the edge of the vacuum zone.
The outline of the mountain root touched the vacuum surface of the vacuum zone, and the chaotic law patterns on the outline surface flickered briefly in the vacuum before stabilizing.
The vacuum zone has almost no dilution effect on chaotic law peaks like the root of a mountain. Its law density is too high, so high that even the vacuum zone cannot fill the law patterns on its surface.
When the root of the nose passes through the vacuum zone, the entire vacuum zone's law-based vacuum structure is forcibly distorted by its law-based density, forming an extremely thin law-based membrane around its outline.
The inside of the membrane wall is the natural structure of the mountain root itself, while the outside of the membrane wall is the vacuum of the vacuum zone, with an extremely thin transition layer of laws separating the two.
Su Fan stopped in front of the transition layer, pushed the handle of the Pangu Axe forward, and the pure white Pangu axe mark at the end of the handle and the chaotic law patterns on the surface of the mountain root outline touched each other in the transition layer.
The moment they touched, the entire vacuum zone fell into absolute stillness.
It wasn't that the laws of time were stopped; rather, the resonance of the laws within the root of the mountain and the transmission channel of the will of all living beings within Su Fan's body created a very brief resonance at the point of contact. The resonance frequency synchronized the movement of all the law fragments within the vacuum zone to the same frequency.
At the same frequency, no fragment of law can move relative to each other; absolute stillness is not being frozen, but being synchronized.
In absolute stillness, Shan Gen used his deepest, sealed memories of laws for 30,000 years to engage in a very brief dialogue of laws with the remnant will of Pangu on the handle of the Pangu Axe.
The conversation did not require any language translation; Su Fan directly received the law information transmitted from the root of the mountain through his hands holding the axe.
"Where did Pangu go?"
"The spine transformed into Mount Buzhou, the heart into the primordial Heavenly Dao, the axe shattered into nine pieces scattered across the chaos, and the remnants of his consciousness completely dissipated after the creation wedge was driven in. Pangu is gone, but the lingering shadow of his will remains in the axe handle."
After receiving this information, the outline of the law at the root of the nose slightly contracted, then slowly unfolded again.
It retracts the outline edge from the transition layer and sinks below the vacuum zone, which is the position it was in before it rose, at the very bottom of the chaotic law deposition layer.
"Pangu is gone, and the upper half of Buzhou Mountain is broken. I have been guarding the mountain's base for 30,000 years in slumber. What I am guarding is not the mountain itself, but the entrustment left by Pangu when he pressed the mountain's base under his spine."
"The entrustment says that if one day someone in the primordial world can recreate the will to protect, then return the root of your nose to him. The laws within you are not of Pangu's nature, but the path of all living beings that you have created is. The root of your nose is yours."
After the vacuum zone dissipated from absolute stillness, it resumed its normal flow.
The seven piles of bones have been completely decomposed into grayish-white fossils, and the last trace of the law burning on the surface of the fossils also disappeared cleanly the moment the vacuum zone resumed its flow.
Xu stood up from the pile of bones, walked to Su Fan's side, and looked down at the outline of the sinking mountain base.
The outline sank to a point a hundred feet below the vacuum zone and stopped. After it stopped, all the chaotic law patterns on the surface of the outline lit up.
The illuminated patterns extend outwards from the mountain's base, spreading along the reddish-brown sedimentary rock layers towards the Guixu foundation.
The spreading patterns automatically merged into the pale gold law pattern network of the foundation when they came into contact with the white rock layer of the Guixu foundation, and completed the law connection with the gold patterns on the Nantianmen city bricks that were repairing themselves.
Su Fan pulled the Pangu Axe out of the vacuum zone.
The pure white mark left by Pangu's axe on the axe handle turned back to dark gold after sinking to the base of the mountain, and the remnant image of Pangu's will completely merged back into the axe handle.
He hoisted the axe onto his shoulder, turned around, walked to the edge of the vacuum zone, and pulled out Nezha's command flag.
During the time the command flag hung in the vacuum zone, the lotus flower imprint on the flag was slightly wrinkled by the resonance of the laws generated when Pangu's axe and the root of the mountain touched it, but it did not fall over.
He tucked the command flag back into his bosom, placing it alongside the stone core and the fragments of the stone shell.
"The root of the mountain has returned to its place. After it is incorporated into the foundation of the Ruins, the stone fragments sealed in the sedimentary layer will be pulled into the foundation network along with its law patterns."
"The primordial law imprints remaining on the fragments will be covered by the patterns of the Dao of All Beings in the foundation, and Rahu's physical body will no longer be able to sense them. The hidden danger of the sedimentary layer will then be eliminated."
Xu pressed the pale gold line on his chest and sensed it for a moment. The pulse network of the three heart fragments on the surface of the core beat synchronously when it reconnected with the foundation of Guixu.
"The density of the laws of the foundation jumped by 10% after the mountain root was incorporated. The pressure-bearing capacity of the bottom of the Ruins of Return is stronger than before, and the difficulty for those Rahu bodies in the depths of chaos to penetrate from the bottom has increased by at least three times."
The two walked up the natural stone steps, passing through layers of red and gray-black rock, squeezed out the crack that had been burned through by the evaporation of Gonggong's water essence, and returned to the void of the water essence primordial fluid.
The jade rabbit pendant above the pool was still spinning, and the nine layers of transparent runes of the Wedge of Creation in the center of Rahu's head at the bottom of the pool were brighter than before.
That was the residual energy of the law generated when the mountain root was merged into the foundation, which was transmitted along the wall of the water essence pool into the wedge handle and directly transformed into extra energy to strengthen the seal by the cold law of Guanghan Crystal.
Su Fan paused by the pool for a moment, looked down at the pair of tightly closed, pure black eye sockets at the bottom of the pool, and then carried the Pangu Axe toward the stone corridor.
The two returned to the South Heavenly Gate via the ascending passage of the Guixu Crack.
Yang Jian had already borrowed the seal of the myriad demon skeletons from Beiju Luzhou and built an extremely long temporary outer wall outside the gap in the South Heavenly Gate.
The outer wall surface is covered with gray-white patterns of the skeletons of countless demons, and the remnants of souls sealed inside the patterns lie quietly in the crevices of the bones.
The repair of the new bricks on the city wall was accelerated considerably with the blessing of Laozi's whisk.
Nezha squatted on the edge of the battlement and saw Su Fan and Xu walk out of the crack. He slung his Fire-Tipped Spear over his shoulder and jumped down.
"The bridge of my nose has returned to its original position. The density of the foundational laws has increased by 10%, and the mark on my left shoulder just jumped in sync, doubling in brightness."
"The original law imprints on the stone fragments were also covered by the patterns of the Dao of All Beings in the foundation, and Rahu's physical body could no longer smell the chaotic scent in the sedimentary layer."
"The matter at the root of the mountain has been settled, and the sediment layer has been cleared away. The Great Sage is still in Zixiao Palace and hasn't come out yet. The directional signal for Zixiao Palace is much brighter than before, and the silver-white crystal on the core in your arms has been flashing just now."
Nezha pointed to the stone core in Su Fan's arms.
Su Fan took the core of the stone embryo out of his pocket.
The silvery-white crystal on the core surface shone steadily under the golden light of Mars in the Ruins of Return, no longer a brief flash, but a continuous, extremely bright silver light.
The Great Sage's law signals in the core area of Zixiao Palace have completely penetrated the frequency misalignment of the flow of time.
The signal was extremely strong, so strong that it could be directly sensed by the mark of the Dao of All Beings on Nezha's left shoulder without needing to be translated by the laws and patterns of the stone core.
The Great Sage is about to appear.