Mist‑Hidden City's shadows were thicker now than three months past. Even through his face‑plate, Chen Yuan smelled the tang of rust in the air—the unmistakable odor of the Shadow Circle refining Abyssal Blood Crystals. Selene's Star‑Shard Mask had reforged itself; her star‑freckles had receded behind her ears. She now pointed toward the northeast wall:
"Lilith's presence is three levels down—in the Blood‑Pool laboratory."
[Alert: Shadow‑energy concentration critical]
Chen Yuan watched his mechanical arm—storm‑runes flickered at its joints.
"System, now that I know you're just the pendant's guise, could you skip the theatrics?" he muttered. "This is hardly my first raid behind enemy lines."
Only the pendant trembled in reply, as if shrugging helplessly.
They entered the drain tunnel; its moss‑lined stones pulsed as though breathing. Every step oozed black ichor from the seams—tendrils left behind by the Shadow Circle's surveillance. Chen Yuan cast his improved Silence Talisman to cloak his aura in the chill signature of shadow‑energy. But rounding the third curve, a Blood‑Crystal lamp flared to life overhead, revealing his silhouette.
"Welcome, little rat from the rotwood." Albert's voice hissed from above. The Blood‑Hand Priest's black‑hood hung inverted from a grate, its cuff dripping shadow‑blood that congealed into tendrils. "Your blood is prized in the Pool— even the Abyssal Maw longs to taste true magic‑path qi."
Chen Yuan's Astral‑Trail Perception sparked—he hauled Selene behind a black‑steel conduit as tendrils shredded his face‑plate, etching corrosive scars. Old Jin was gone, but he deployed spare bone‑mechanical arms from his pack; their gears ratcheted in combat readiness.
"Your lab could use fresh air, Albert." He flung astral‑rune darts carved from Shattered Star fragments; they hummed against the crimson mist. "Breeding chaos‑spawn with human blood—no wonder Lilith's pact backfired."
Suddenly the Priest split into seven shadow avatars, each clutching a different bone‑arcane tool.
"So clever," the main body rappelled down toward them, clutching a vial of Lilith's severed eye. "You think saving Iron Fortress and the Shattered Plains halts the Abyss? Look at these eyes—they strike terror even in the Shadow Lord himself."
Selene grabbed Chen Yuan's wrist, her mask projecting a hologram of the lab's layout: in the central Pit, Lilith hung inverted above the Pool, her left arm wholly converted to shadow‑energy, her essence being siphoned into the chaos‑core below.
"Rescue her first—talk later." Chen Yuan activated Bone‑Vein Resonance. Bones within the tunnel walls animated into steps, lifting him upward. "System, channel Astral Core power to Lilith—consider it repaying your hospital favor."
[Warning: Overriding will disable your own shield]
"Save the chatter—my bare arms rearranged a Bone‑Whistle legion once; I can do it again." He seized a Blood‑Crystal fixture, storm‑runes and astral‑energy fusing into an improvised mace. "Selene, use your mask to scramble the Pool's shadow‑tracking! I'll carve us a path."
They burst into the vaulted Blood‑Pool chamber. Seven cultists circled Lilith in ritual, chanting. Chen Yuan's bone‑arms transformed into chainsaws of storm‑runes, felling the first Priest as he poured astral energy down the gleaming chain—Lilith's eyes snapped open, her shadow‑arm discharging the Pool's putrid chaos back into its waters.
"Chen Yuan?" Lilith's voice quavered in disbelief as her corrupted limb reformed. "You dared infiltrate the Shadow Circle's forbidden depths…"
"No time!" he snapped, yanking her free. "Albert's using your eye in experiments—he plans to fuse shadow‑energy with magic‑path blood."
From the Pool's depths, the Blood‑Hand Priest's core rose, encased in glass—his chest wholly transparent, revealing a fusion of Chen Yuan's blood sample and a writhing chaos‑core.
"Behold—my perfect vessel! Able to bear the Old Ruler's will, yet masked in human flesh…"
Chen Yuan's Astral‑Trail Perception flickered out. The cultists had distilled his blood into a "Chaos Key," capable of jamming astral prophecy. At that moment, Lilith's silver eye blazed, her shadow blade slicing the Priest's glass throat.
"It's all… true?" she whispered, staring at the floating fusion core. "My pact… your betrayal… all part of the Abyssal Temple's scheme?"
"No time to explain!" he dragged her deeper into the lab, past twelve inverted glass sarcophagi. Each held a skeleton bearing half a jade token—failures of Albert's cloning program.
Selene's alarm rang out as the Pool's surface churned. Tendrils splashed up. Chen Yuan latched onto the nearest sarcophagus; its lid burst off, and its skeleton awakened, its core pulsating the same corrupted prism seen in Albert's experiments.
"System—what now?" he called, desperation in his chest as the token's warmth swelled. "They absorb my blood; the pendant's secret must lie within them!"
[Suggesting: Codex of Reverse‑Entropy, First Rite—Myriad‑Bone Repossession]
"Finally—spare me the suggestions." He pressed the Astral Core against the skeleton's brow. The Codex's runes bloomed in his mind. "Lilith, block all exit runes with shadow‑energy! Selene, embed the Shattered Star fragments into the twelve Pool pillars!"
The first skeleton shattered under the reverse‑entropy rite, and at once all twelve pivoted to him; their shards shrieked. Stove‑pipe red lights flickered as he truly unleashed his forbidden magic—every skeleton in the lab dissolved into ash, save one: his father's remnant soul, flickering in the Astral Core. It revealed a clear path—down a hidden hatch at the Pool's far side.
From the pit a monstrous laugh echoed. Albert's body had fused entirely to chaos‑core, sprouting tentacles:
"You think wrecking my lab saves you? Every brick of Mist‑Hidden City bleeds my Lord's shadow— including your Silver‑Eyed Seer…"
Lilith gripped Chen Yuan's shoulder, pain in her silver gaze:
"He speaks truth—my pact… always bound to the Abyssal Maw." She traced a path on his face‑plate. "Take Selene through the secret passage; I'll hold back the tendrils."
"No tricks." Chen Yuan seized her wrist as black corruption writhed beneath her skin. Channeling the Astral Core's light, he force‑pulled the chaos‑qi from her veins. "Remember in the mortuary? You sensed something… now you know what it was: the true magic‑path primal—pure enough to cleanse all corrupted energies."
With a final roar, he hurled Lilith into the hatch. He then engaged his mechanical arms' overdrive—storm‑runes and astral light coalescing into dual shields. Tendrils struck, draining 15% of his energy per second. He glanced at the system readout:
"Energy points are nothing but the pendant quantifying willpower," he thought grimly.
"Old Patriarch—lend me your strength!" he called directly to Azure Bone's remnant. The token blazed, and his mech‑arms sprouted the Patriarch's mechanist avatar behind them. "Albert—fusing a chaos‑core does not make you invincible! Never forget: Cthulhu's chaos qi is warped magic‑path spirit‑qi!"
With a roar, his mechanist avatar's gear‑blade cleaved open the hatch. Beyond lay the key the parchment described—a dais of thirteen jade‑token fragments, each slot carved to a pivotal world site. In its center hovered the complete Prime Magic‑Path Core, its storm‑runes identical to Chen Yuan's pendant.
Albert's beastform shrieked in indistinct rage:
"You think this is salvation? Your father Chen Yuanshan died on this very altar… his soul still trapped within the Maw's heart!"
From the hatch the echo of Lilith's voice beckoned. Chen Yuan snatched two token fragments; the Astral Core fused them to the dais. His mech‑arm's bone‑scales hardened to 70%, and for an instant he sprouted astral‑wings. Selene's mask, though shattered, still guided him—to the deepest vault beyond:
"Let us go, into the Abyssal Maw."
He steadied Lilith—her silver eyes now clear, alight with magic‑path gold:
"Albert was right—my father's soul remains in the Abyssal heart. But he did not know the true key was never on this altar, but…"
He lifted his hand; storm‑runes spiraled in his palm:
"Within every soul that refuses to bow to chaos."
The hatch door slammed shut behind them. Outside the city's foundations trembled as they emerged into the surface night. There, Old Mo's battered caravan awaited. The wanderer tossed Chen Yuan a rune‑inscribed box containing the final pages of his father's journals.
"You're shaping up to be a true heir of Azure Bone," Old Mo said, studying Chen Yuan's mech‑arm. "But the Maw's heart is no place for mere courage—the time there is twisted. Each step you take could fling you back to the Shattered Plains three days past."
Chen Yuan opened the charred journal pages. Under the token's light, his father's script bled into clarity:
"Yuán, if you read this, the Thirteen Observatories are lit. Remember: the Abyssal Maw's weakness lies in its 'throat'—the very heart of the Patriarch's corrupted core. Only by striking it with pure astral primal and magic‑path qi in unison can you shatter…"
His hand clenched around the final words—words that would guide him into the distorted heart of the Abyssal Maw. Mist‑Hidden City's oppressive clouds began to part as the first true dawn in three months crept across its walls—an unwelcome light for some, but the perfect dawn for a magic‑path cultivator destined to rewrite the world's fate.