Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

Inside the temple, Lin Yi sat on the cold stone floor.

He didn't know how long he had been sitting there; time had become blurry in his mind. Although the negative emotions that had surged from the abyss had been suppressed by his willpower, their residual effects remained, like a hangover headache—not intense, but persistent, making it impossible to concentrate.

He put the brooch into the deepest part of his storage space. He would need to preserve it in another way when he got back, and at the moment, Lin Yi didn't have anything suitable to store it.

Fortunately, this thing won't cause any trouble in Lin Yi's hands, otherwise Lin Yi's most important thing right now would be to seal it away.

The original sin object is like a time bomb if you carry it around. Although the negative effects are ineffective against it, no one knows whether it will mutate under certain conditions.

The legends about the original sin creatures in the Void are all bloody lessons. The Abyss Jar of the Demon race is a living example of how a great Void race was dragged down.

Lin Yi took a deep breath, clearing those chaotic thoughts from his mind, and then tried to stand up from the ground.

His knees had barely left the ground by two centimeters when his body swayed and he fell back onto the floor.

Although he hadn't been fighting with that brooch in reality for long, the high concentration of abyssal power had taken a tremendous toll on his stamina.

Lin Yi's arm was trembling slightly, his fingers were spasming, and cold sweat from his palms left a wet patch on the stone slab.

Lin Yi now felt as if his body had been hollowed out, like a sponge that had been wrung out, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't squeeze out any extra strength.

Seeing that Lin Yi seemed very tired, Xue, who was standing to the side, had a hint of worry in her ice-blue eyes.

She floated behind Lin Yi, bent down, stretched out her arms, and her translucent fingers passed under Lin Yi's armpits, encircling his chest, and then gently pulled him back.

Lin Yi leaned back, his back resting against Xue's body. The touch was cool and soft, like leaning against a ball of cotton wrapped in ice and snow.

Xue sat down on the stone floor, stretched out her legs, and placed Lin Yi's head on her lap.

Her movements were very gentle, as if she were afraid of hurting something fragile.

Lin Yi's hair brushed against her skirt, and the semi-transparent fabric swayed slightly under his touch, like ripples on the surface of water.

Xue looked down at Lin Yi, a maternal tenderness appearing on her translucent face.

She raised her hand, brushed aside the stray hairs on Lin Yi's forehead to reveal his forehead, and then gently placed her palm on his forehead. Her palm was very cold, but that coolness became a comfort to Lin Yi's burning skin.

The snow began to hum softly.

The singing was very soft, so soft that it was almost inaudible unless you were leaning against her lap.

The melody is simple, without complex trills or undulations, like a lullaby or an old folk song.

Lin Yi couldn't hear the lyrics clearly; it wasn't any language he recognized, and the connections between syllables sounded like ice cracking.

However, that melody has an indescribable magic; it's like a warm river that slowly washes away fatigue and discomfort wherever it flows.

When Snow was tired before, Frost always treated Snow this way, so Snow felt that she should do the same.

In her memory, Frost was the best leader in the world and the gentlest family member.

Whenever she was tired and didn't want to move, Shuang would hold her in her arms, let her lean against her lap, and then gently hum this unknown lullaby.

She was young then and didn't understand anything. She only knew that Shuang's embrace was warm, Shuang's singing voice was beautiful, and Shuang's voice could make her feel at ease.

Now that Shuang is gone, she has become the one who sings.

Xue's fingers gently combed through Lin Yi's hair, her lips parted slightly, and an unknown song floated from her lips, echoing in the empty temple.

The tomb keeper stood beside the throne, watching this scene, a complex expression appearing on his ashen face.

His figure began to fade gradually, starting from the edges, like a painting being soaked in water, the colors slowly fading and the outlines becoming blurred.

He survives in this world only because of his obsession; an ordinary person would have died countless years ago.

His only obsession was to protect this seal and wait for someone who could completely solve the Abyss Hole problem.

This obsession sustained him through the long years, so long that he could no longer remember when he arrived here, what he used to be like, or what the outside world was like.

All he remembered was that he had to wait, wait for someone, someone who could close the hole in the abyss.

Now that person has arrived, the abyss has closed, and his obsession has dissipated.

A soul without unwavering conviction is like a rootless duckweed.

His feet disappeared first, starting with his toes, spreading upwards little by little, as if being swallowed up from the bottom by something.

He didn't look down, nor did he need to. He knew he was dissipating, and he wasn't afraid.

During the long wait, he had long been prepared, or rather, he had been waiting for this day.

The tomb keeper turned around and walked towards Lin Yi.

He squatted down in front of Lin Yi and took something out of his pocket.

It was the core of an ice sprite, but unlike the cores embedded in the wall, this one was golden in color.

Inside the core, a brighter golden light was slowly pulsating, like a heart beating. With each pulsation, a pale golden halo would spread out from the core's surface, forming ripples in the air.

Xue recognized it at a glance; it was the core of Shuang.

The tomb keeper handed the core to Lin Yi.

“This is the core of Frost.” His voice was soft, carrying an indescribable weariness. “Before she dissipated, she asked me to give this to the person who could solve the Abyss Hole.”

"Thankfully, I waited for it."

“With this, you can command the Frost Guardians around you.” The gravedigger’s voice grew softer and more ethereal. “They only obey the frost. When the frost is gone, they only obey the one who holds the Frost Core. There are more than just the five you see here; there are many more, slumbering underground, slumbering within the mountains, slumbering in every corner of this frigid land. If you take the core with you, they will awaken and obey your commands.”

After saying this, his body had faded to almost invisible, leaving only a blurry outline, like a wisp of human-shaped mist slowly dissipating in the air.

"As for what I told you before about helping you find things, I'm sorry, I probably can't do that anymore." The gravedigger's voice carried a hint of apology. "I haven't left this temple for a very, very long time, and I have no idea what the outside world has become. I need a reason for you to stay. I have nothing to give you, the Frost Core is one, the Frost Guardian is one, but I can't offer anything else."

"sorry."

The gravedigger's voice dissipated into the air, like a wisp of smoke blown away by the wind, leaving no trace.

The temple fell silent, with only the faint glow emanating from the ice sprite cores and the soft songs hummed by the snow echoing in the air.

Lin Yi stared at the direction the tomb guardian had vanished, remaining silent for a few seconds. Rings of golden light spread out from the core's surface, surging in all directions.

Fine cracks appeared on the stone floor, spreading outwards from the center of the temple like a giant spider web.

A grayish-white hand emerged from the crack.

The hand was huge, a whole size larger than the hands of the five Frost Guardians before it, with thick fingers, prominent knuckles, and nails as sharp as small knives.

He pressed his palm against the ground and pressed down hard, causing the surrounding stone slabs to shatter and scatter gravel everywhere.

Then came the second hand, the third hand, and the fourth hand.

One by one, the Frost Guardians crawled out from underground.

After they crawled out of the ground, they stood in a row, facing Lin Yi, raised their right arms, pointed their blades to the sky, and gave a uniform military salute.

After Lin Yi pierced his mental energy into the core, he could sense that dozens of Frost Guardians were sleeping near the temple.

Besides the temple, these creatures also slumber in other parts of the Frost Forest. If Lin Yi wanted, these Frost Guardians could clear the entire forest in an instant.

However, Lin Yi was too tired. After summoning the Frost Guardian, Lin Yi leaned back against Xue's legs, put the golden core into his arms, and closed his eyes.

"Snow."

"Ok?"

"Keep singing."

Xue paused for a moment, and a faint smile appeared on her translucent face.

She had initially thought Lin Yi wouldn't like doing this, but Xue raised her hand and placed it back on Lin Yi's forehead, then continued to softly hum that unknown lullaby.

Lin Yi's consciousness gradually blurred in the song, his physical fatigue and discomfort slowly subsided, and the negative emotions he brought back from the Abyss were gradually peeled away in the song, like snow slowly melting in the sun.

This time, Lin Yi slept very soundly.

His consciousness sank into darkness, where there was no light, no sound, no temperature, only endless nothingness spreading around him.

That emptiness was not the oppressive and corrosive force brought by the power of the abyss, but a purer blankness, like a piece of paper that has never been written on, like a wasteland that has never been cultivated.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep in the darkness, and then he saw the light.

It has no direction, no origin; it simply exists there, like a lighthouse forgotten in a corner, shining alone through the long years.

Lin Yi walked towards the light.

As Lin Yi approached the source of the light, he found himself in an unfamiliar space.

The air was filled with an indescribable smell, like the scent of the earth at its birth, or the salty smell left on the beach after the tide has receded.

The throne came into Lin Yi's view.

It was a huge throne, with a very high back, so high that the top could not be seen.

The handrails on both sides were carved with intricate patterns and symbols that Lin Yi could not recognize. The patterns were slowly wriggling, like living things.

A person sat on the throne.

Just one glance was enough to make Lin Yi feel as if his soul was about to undergo a transformation.

It's not an exaggeration, not fear, but an instinctive warning, like an ant standing in front of a dragon. The dragon doesn't even need to notice the ant's existence; the airflow it creates with its breath is enough to blow the ant away.

The man's very existence was a form of oppression, an oppression that transcended rank and level. It wasn't directed at Lin Yi personally, but at all creatures that entered this space. No matter who you were or how strong you were, you would feel insignificant in his presence.

Lin Yi forced himself to look away and stop looking at the man's face.

His gaze moved downwards, away from the throne, and landed on the ground.

Lin Yi could see his reflection on the ground. The reflection was blurry and its outline was slowly distorting, like a painting soaked in water.

Just as Lin Yi lowered his head, he noticed that there seemed to be a large sword stuck in the ground at his feet.

The sword was very large, with a thick blade and an estimated length of at least two meters. The blade was dark black with dark red veins flowing across its surface, like blood vessels.

The sword was embedded about a third of the way into the ground, and fine cracks spread outwards from the surrounding stone slabs, like a giant spider web.

The edges of those cracks shimmered with a dark red light, like magma surging beneath the surface, ready to erupt at any moment.

Due to its size, the hilt of this sword is now level with Lin Yi.

Lin Yi reached out and gripped the hilt of the greatsword.

It felt icy cold to the touch, like holding a piece of ancient ice. The chill surged from my palm, spread up my arm, through my shoulder, through my chest, and spread throughout my body.

He felt his blood freeze in that instant, and the whole world went silent.

Just as Lin Yi felt his consciousness fading, a voice suddenly appeared in his ear.

"It's not the right time yet."

Lin Yi's consciousness was thrown back by a tremendous force, and he flew backward from that space at a speed like a bullet being fired.

He saw the throne recede into the distance, the sleeping man recede into the distance, the greatsword stuck in the ground recede into the distance, and the dark gray chaos recede into the distance.

For some reason, Lin Yi seemed to sense that the sleeping man raised his head slightly, but because the distance was too far, Lin Yi was not sure.

After everything disappeared, Lin Yi suddenly opened his eyes.

He lay on Xue's lap, his back soaked in cold sweat, his chest heaving violently, like someone who had just been pulled from the water, gasping for breath.

Xue looked down at him, her icy blue eyes filled with worry.

"Doctor, you're having a nightmare. You keep talking in your sleep, saying things like 'it's not the right time' and 'it's not the right time yet.' I can't wake you up no matter how I call you."

Xue's voice sounded very anxious; it seemed she had tried quite a few times. (End of Chapter)