The Supernatural Daily Life of a Magazine

Eighteen hours after the Shuanglong Bridge explosion, there were only six hours left until the night of the full moon.

A tense and exhausted atmosphere filled Liu Wei's apartment. Su Qing was placed on the sofa, and Xu Qingqing used a specially made calming rune to keep her asleep. This once powerful opponent now looked incredibly vulnerable; even in her sleep, her brows were furrowed, and her golden left eye would occasionally open uncontrollably, revealing the swirling star map within—proof that the fragments of the Tianquan relic were still influencing her.

Editor-in-Chief Qin's condition hadn't improved, but it hadn't worsened either. The spread of the Seven Star Soul-Chasing Curse seemed to have temporarily halted due to the destruction of the Twin Dragon Bridge node; the black veins stopped at his chest, like an army awaiting further instructions. Jiang Han checked on him every hour, and each time his expression grew even more grave.

"The curse is waiting," he whispered to Li Shancheng. "Waiting for the night of the full moon. If the ritual is initiated then, the curse will absorb the ritual energy and erupt completely. If the ritual is stopped... it may be triggered prematurely due to the energy backlash."

"Isn't there any other way?" Li Shancheng asked.

"Unless we find the caster himself," Jiang Han said, looking at the sleeping Su Qing, "or... find the complete Seven Star Relic and forcibly cover it with even stronger Seven Star power."

Li Shancheng clutched the ring his grandfather had left him. The ring no longer glowed, but when worn on his finger, he could feel a faint but persistent warmth, like a resonance deep within his blood. Li Mingxuan's appearance at the last moment not only saved them but also conveyed an important message: the true purpose of the Seven Star Power was not control, but understanding.

"I understand..." Li Shancheng murmured to himself. He walked to the window and looked at the sky. The afternoon sun was still strong, but the moon was already faintly visible, like a pale shadow hanging in the eastern sky. In a few hours, it would rise, become full, and reach its brightest moment of the year.

Cheng Xu's computer beeped, and he immediately pulled up the data: "Satellite monitoring shows that abnormal energy is gathering simultaneously at six different locations in Kyoto City. In addition to Shuanglong Bridge, there is the library, Chuangzhi Building, the Kanwei Ruins in the northern mountainous area of ​​Beijing, the Leiji Peak in Xishan, and... Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace."

"Six locations..." Li Shancheng thought quickly, "corresponding to six array points? But Wen Shu, Kan, Dui, Li, Zhen, Gen, Kun... should be seven."

"There's still no news about the Kun position." Su Yan walked over; her arm wound had been bandaged, but her face was still pale. "If the Kun position has already fallen, or if it was under their control from the beginning..."

"So, six locations plus the Kun position make seven." Jiang Han's expression changed drastically. "They might have set up ritual nodes at all the key points of the formation! The Twin Dragon Bridge is just one of them!"

This speculation sent a chill down everyone's spine. If Hanshan Technology were to activate the Seven Star Sacrifice Array simultaneously at seven locations, the energy scale, scope of influence, and destructive power would far exceed expectations. Their sabotage of the Twin Dragon Bridge node might only have delayed the overall plan, but it couldn't stop it.

"Of the six locations, how many are we confident we can sabotage?" Xu Qingqing asked.

Li Shancheng looked at the map: "The library has the Wenshu formation's core, which I'm most familiar with. There are Kanwei ruins in the northern Beijing mountains, which Elder Jiang is familiar with. Leiji Peak in the Western Hills might have a Zhenwei formation's core, but we know nothing about that place. The Chuangzhi Building is the headquarters of Hanshan Technology, and its defenses are the most stringent. The Summer Palace is a public area, but the Kunming Lake area is closed at night..."

"Splitting up the forces," Su Yan said decisively. "This is the only option. Each person goes to a different location to disrupt the nodes as much as possible. But time is too tight; there are only six hours left until the full moon, and there's simply not enough time for some locations."

"No, we can't split up." Li Shancheng shook his head. "If we split up, the strength at each location won't be enough to fight against Hanshan Technology's defenses. Besides... I think Lin Han wants us to split up."

Why?

"Because he set up nodes in various locations, but not all of them need to be activated," Li Shancheng analyzed. "The core of the Seven Star Sacrifice Array is the 'Seven Stars Alignment,' which requires all seven nodes to be activated simultaneously. But if one or two nodes are missing, the ritual can still proceed by using other methods to replace them. He may have deliberately exposed six locations to make us disperse our forces to sabotage them, and then concentrated our efforts to protect the real core node."

"Which one is the real core?" Liu Wei asked.

Li Shancheng closed his eyes, letting his consciousness extend along the network of earth veins. After the Shuanglong Bridge node was destroyed, the energy flow of the entire network changed significantly—the energy that was originally evenly distributed in seven directions now mainly flows to two locations: the library and the West Mountain Lightning Strike Peak.

"The library and West Mountain." He opened his eyes. "The energy absorption of these two locations is more than three times that of the others. If I were Lin Han, I would place the real ritual core in one of them, and use the others as cover or as backups."

"The library has the Wen Shu array eye, and Xishan has the Zhen position array eye." Jiang Han pondered. "The Wen Shu array eye is severely damaged, but its energy characteristics are the most comprehensive. The condition of the Zhen position array eye is unknown, but Zhen represents creation and change, so it may be more suitable as the core of the ritual."

"I believe it's the library," Li Shancheng said. "The memories from the Book of Light tell me that the Wen Shu relic, the 'Book of Wisdom,' is the 'catalog' and 'index' of the Seven Stars relic. If you want to control the other relics, you must first control the Wen Shu. Moreover, Lin Han has been trying to control the core of the Wen Shu array, and everything from the library's monitoring equipment to the cultivation of its carriers revolves around the Wen Shu."

"But the energy readings at Xishan Lightning Peak are also very high," Cheng Xu said, pulling up the data. "Moreover, over the past three hours, the energy fluctuations there have been increasing, much faster than at other locations."

"A diversionary tactic," Su Yan suddenly said. "Or... both might be true. Lin Han might be preparing a backup plan; if we sabotage one, he has another."

Time ticked by, and the pressure to make a decision grew. One wrong choice could mean total defeat.

Just then, the sleeping Su Qing suddenly groaned. Her golden left eye opened fully, the star chart spun wildly, and her lips began to speak uncontrollably, the voice not her own, but Lin Han's cold, flat tone:

"Li Shancheng, well done. The destruction of the Shuanglong Bridge node exceeded my calculations; you are indeed more talented than your grandfather. But the game is not over yet. When the full moon rises, I will be waiting for you at the 'Source of Knowledge.' If you can reach there, I will give you a choice: join the creation of the new world, or... become the cornerstone of the new world."

The sound stopped, Su Qing's body convulsed violently, and then she fell back into a deep coma. Xu Qingqing immediately checked her condition: "The fragments of the artifact inside her are forcibly transmitting information! Lin Han is communicating remotely through the fragments!"

"The source of knowledge..." Li Shancheng repeated the phrase, "The ancient books section of the library? Or... the Wenshu Secret Treasury? But the secret treasury has already collapsed."

"It doesn't necessarily have to be a physical location," Jiang Han said. "'The Source of Knowledge' might refer to the conceptual core of the Wen Shu Array, or... the Book of Light itself."

Li Shancheng suddenly understood. What Lin Han wanted wasn't to control a specific location, but to control "knowledge" itself—the laws of knowledge represented by the Wen Shu relics. By controlling knowledge, one could control the understanding and definition of reality; this was the true meaning of "reshaping reality."