The moment I fell into the crevice, a sharp pain like jade pierced the back of my neck.
Arms reaching out from the Azure Bronze Gate grasped my ankles, their palms oozing a green liquid that crawled up my calves, forming Oracle Bone Script.
"Hold your breath!"
Chen Xing's bloodied hand covered my mouth and nose.
The golden hue in his left eye was devouring the last remnants of his pupil, while the right side of his face, transformed by jade, cracked open with fine lines, revealing the bronze-colored bone beneath.
As the ice layer above us closed with a snap, I heard the clanging of armor echoing around us.
Through the three-foot-thick ice, hundreds of Jade Transformation soldiers marched in perfect unison, surrounding Taihe Hall. The congealed green blood in their eye sockets dripped with each movement, etching divination symbols onto the Han White Jade tiles below.
The burning half-body of the Veteran Coroner suddenly exploded, and the ashes of the phoenix wrapped around the Third Prince's Jade Transformation form as it fell toward the altar.
The National Master’s Dao Robe billowed like a night owl, its withered claws piercing through the ice layer toward the young prince's neck—where dragon scales were beginning to sprout.
"Be careful!"
I threw my Yuchang Sword backward.
The sword's edge collided with the National Master's fingertips, sparking a shower of flames. The Oracle Bone Script that had invaded the Third Prince's seven orifices suddenly froze, transforming into black mist that surged toward my wrist.
Chen Xing suddenly pressed down on my left hand that was touching the ice.
The jade patterns flowed from his palm to mine, and a sudden searing pain shot through my wrist birthmark. Fragments of images flashed before my eyes: on the altar of a previous dynasty, the Black Armor Female General was being vivisected, her spine gruesomely extracted while the National Master stuffed bloodied jade shards into her pale bones.
"Soul Control Jade..."
The icy touch of jade shards lingered on my fingertips when Chen Xing's Ceremonial Sword emitted a buzzing sound.
The jade shards clinging to the sword automatically assembled into a Star Map, with the position of Beidou Seventh Star directly aligned with the Third Prince's heart.
The night sky suddenly tore open.
Burning meteors trailing sulfurous tails smashed through the eaves of the side hall, and Glazed Tiles vaporized into Zi Yan in the heatwave.
I caught a familiar whiff of Formalin—the scent from a past life’s dissection room.
"Liang Tian Chi!"
The Chief Minister's exclamation mingled with the sound of explosions.
At the bottom of the meteor crater, a bronze ruler emerged, its surface embossed with binary code, while its handle bore an inscription in seal script: "203."
Her crimson nails barely touched the scale when the ruler suddenly cracked open, revealing a Spiderweb Pattern. Gold Thread burst forth from the fissure, weaving the Tui Bei Tu that enveloped the imperial city. The Fifty-Third Image's Chant twisted before my eyes, depicting a craftsman wielding a hammer while wearing a gas mask. At his feet, the Golden Dragon Corpse had its tailbone inscribed with an English serial number. The National Master's maniacal laughter sent dust cascading from the beams above.
He sliced open his wrist, splattering blood onto the Star Map, causing the trajectory of the Beidou Seven Stars to abruptly reverse. The Seventh Prince emitted an inhuman howl as Dragon Scale pierced through his Myrmidon Robe, with coral-like horns sprouting from his head, dripping a tar-like liquid.
"The sacrifice is complete!" The Chief Minister frantically reached for Liang Tian Chi. Her delicate wrist carbonized into charred bone upon contact with the Gold Thread. The Tui Bei Tu's latitude and longitude lines suddenly constricted, tightening around her neck and splattering Blood Pearls into the air, forming a QR code.
Half of the Veteran Coroner's face emerged from the ashes: "Cut open the meteorite!" His voice crackled with electromagnetic noise, reminiscent of an old radio broadcast. My hand, gripping the knife, moved uncontrollably toward the meteorite's core, its titanium alloy shell cracking like tofu beneath the Yuchang Sword.
Cold mist surged from the sealed chamber. The embryo floating in the culture solution suddenly opened its eyes; Chiwen and my wrist's Birthmark burned simultaneously. On the conduit connected to its umbilical cord, a barcode morphed into Oracle Bone Script—my employee ID.
"Ye Qing!" Chen Xing's right hand seized my collar. The Black Armor scales on his neck were peeling away, revealing mechanical gears beneath. In the reversed light of Beidou's formation, I saw that what throbbed within his chest was not a heart but half a bloodied CPU.
The Third Prince's dragon claw suddenly pierced through the National Master's chest. Veins of emerald surged on the boy's face as jade armor grew from his fingertips, penetrating the Tui Bei Tu while Gold Thread flowed back into his Pupil. The Chief Minister's carbonized body collapsed with a thunderous crash, shattering into countless transistors.
The cry of the embryo suddenly echoed throughout the imperial city.
The sound resembled a blend of an infant's cry and mechanical echoes, the glass of the sealed chamber reflecting dual silhouettes—myself in a white lab coat, dozing over the research table, while a figure clad in a Dragon Robe raised a Bronze Pestle, striking down upon the Blood Jade Pillow's CT Image.
"The temporal anchor points are about to converge!"
Chen Xing's voice was laced with metallic friction. His completely Jade Transformation Right Arm shattered into fragments, while the Big Dipper Formation absorbed the splintering Bronze debris. In the center of the formation, the Third Prince was melting into a shimmering green Data Stream.
Suddenly, the Chiwen on my wrist floated into the air. The barcode on the embryonic umbilical cord transformed into chains that wrapped around my waist. The infant in the cultivation fluid opened its mouth towards me—embedded in its tongue was the Electronic Access Card I had lost in my past life.
At that moment, Liang Tian Chi completely collapsed.
The flying Bronze shards sliced across my cheek, and as a drop of Blood Pearl landed on the forehead of the embryo, the entire imperial city began to pixelate. The Imperial Path's tiles revealed fiber optic networks, and the Coiling Dragon Pillar of Qianqing Palace exposed its steel structure.
Chen Xing's remaining left eye suddenly oozed oil. His gear-toothed left hand gripped my shoulder tightly, and a stuttering electronic voice emerged from his throat: "Remember... Li Mountain... core..."
A sudden Electromagnetic Pulse overturned my consciousness.
Before I plunged into complete darkness, I glimpsed the National Master’s Dao Robe extending mechanical tendrils, while the Chief Minister’s Carbonized Head was connected to a Server Array, and the burning ashes of the Veteran Coroner formed a Firewall Code.
The embryo in the Cultivation Pod smiled with its mouth wide open. Its lotus-like arms pierced through time and space, grasping my coffee cup left on the research table in my past life—the lip imprint at the bottom of the cup perfectly aligned with the crack in the jade pendant at the Third Prince's waist.
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