Projection of the Heavens: I prove my immortality through slaughter.

The moment you rush into the green ruins, it's as if you've passed through a layer of cold, viscous water film. The constant, frantic whispers from the outside world and the terrifying pressure emanating from R'lyeh suddenly diminish by more than half.

Lin Xuan's divine sense crystal wall paused slightly, then quickly adapted to the internal environment.

This appears to be the interior of the ruins of a massive temple or palace. The space is far more expansive than it appears from the outside. Green stone pillars, each requiring several people to encircle, support a twisted dome. The pillars are carved with incomprehensible reliefs that seem to record the movement of stars and ancient rituals, though most of these reliefs are now blurred and covered with a slippery, moss-like substance.

The air was thick with the decaying stench of millennia-old dust and deep-sea silt, but compared to the outside world, the rampant pollution that directly affected the soul was considerably weaker, as if the ruins themselves possessed some residual, faint isolating effect. This also explained why the projection's origin senses pointed here; the "stability" of this area was relative to the absolute chaos of the outside world.

He dared not lower his guard, maintaining his composure, his divine sense meticulously probing the ruins like mercury flowing across the ground. The ruins had a complex internal structure, with crisscrossing passages like a maze, many places collapsed and blocked. Scattered on the ground were some broken pottery jars, rusted metal utensils, and some strangely shaped obsidian daggers that appeared to be used in rituals.

The pull of the "transcendence mark" within him became clear and stable here, pointing deeper into the ruins.

He cautiously explored forward along the dilapidated passage. All around was deathly silent, save for the faint energy fluctuations caused by his mental movements. Yet, this silence was all the more unsettling, as if something lurked and watched from the darkness.

Just as he passed through a large gate guarded by massive stone animal head sculptures and stepped into a relatively complete circular hall—

A sudden change has occurred!

In the center of the hall, there was not nothing. There stood a strange statue, nearly ten meters tall, carved from a single piece of dark green jade (similar to the stone used to construct R'lyeh).

The statue bears some resemblance to the slumbering Great Old Ones that cover R'lyeh, but it is more abstract and distorted. It has a humanoid body, but its head is a hybrid of octopus and human, covered in writhing tentacles, its face drooping downwards as if gazing into a dimension incomprehensible to mortals. Behind it grows a pair of broken, bat-like, enormous wings. The entire statue exudes an ancient, blasphemous, and chilling aura.

The clear sense of attraction within Lin Xuan's body originated from... this very statue!

Or rather, it is something inside the statue, a core that is almost integrated with the statue and emits a faint "transcendent" fluctuation!

found it!

Lin Xuan's heart stirred, and he was about to step forward to investigate more closely.

However, the instant his divine sense touched the statue—

"Thump!!!"

A heartbeat, seemingly from the very beginning of the universe, a sound so deep and muffled, resounded once more! But this time, it didn't come from the massive, dormant entity outside, but... directly from the statue before him!

The statue's drooping, beard-covered head seemed to lift slightly! Suddenly, two eerie green lights, like burning stars, shone from the depths of its once-empty, stone-carved eye sockets!

An ancient consciousness, far more concentrated and terrifying than the outside world, carrying a clear will, descended like an awakened primordial beast, instantly locking onto Lin Xuan's divine sense!

Not the original body! It was a fragment of the spirit or dream avatar of that Great Old One—perhaps called Cthulhu—that remained here, guarding something (most likely the fragment of the mark), and was disturbed by Lin Xuan, an intruder carrying the aura of an "other source"!

"Insignificant...ant..." "Intruding...into...holy...R'lyeh..." "Coveting...what does not belong to...you..." "Sink...into...eternal nightmares..."

A fragmented stream of information, seemingly pieced together from countless frantic thoughts, directly impacting the soul, carried an indescribable, terrifying pressure, crashing into Lin Xuan's barrier of reason like an iceberg weighing billions of tons!

This mental shock was completely different from the Deep One's attack! It originated from the Great Old Ones, even if it was just a wisp of their consciousness being corrupted by a dream!

"Snap! Snap!"

Almost instantly upon contact, the barrier of reason emitted a piercing sound, like ice shattering under immense pressure! The purplish-gold Daoist aura flickered at an unprecedented speed, and the surface of the barrier was instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks!

Lin Xuan felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, as if his divine sense was about to be completely overwhelmed and torn apart by this terrifying will! Countless bizarre, blasphemous, and insane illusions forcibly flooded into his consciousness:

He felt as if he were in a sea of ​​stars made up of writhing viscera; he saw countless civilizations born and destroyed in mad babbling; he felt his own form dissolving, about to merge with this green ruin, with that statue... He even seemed to see the enormous entity sleeping deep within R'lyeh, beneath that endless green sea, slightly twitch a finger!

Reason is teetering on the brink of collapse!

"Give me... the town!"

Lin Xuan unleashed a roar originating from the deepest part of his Dao heart! The Nine-Turn Fourth-Turn Golden Core spun wildly at an unprecedented speed, and boundless magical power and willpower erupted like a volcanic eruption! The chaotic void of the primordial universe also seemed to sense the extreme pressure from the outside world, trembling slightly and emitting a faint but unique isolation and stabilizing power of the "inner universe," merging into the barrier of reason!

"Buzz—!"

The shattering barrier of reason was forcibly stabilized, and although the purple-gold light dimmed, it stubbornly refused to be extinguished! Under the dual effect of the Dao of Annihilation and the power of the primordial universe, those invading, crazed illusions were forcibly repelled and obliterated!

He blocked it! He barely managed to block the encroachment of that wisp of dream from his past!

However, the eerie green light in the statue's eye sockets intensified, filled with the rage of being provoked by ants. Clearly, this invasion was only the beginning.

Lin Xuan knew perfectly well that it was unwise to fight this fragment of his past spirit head-on. His goal was the "Transcendence Mark" fragment inside the statue, and he had to finish it quickly!

A resolute glint flashed in his eyes, and he ceased his passive defense.

The divine sense crystal wall suddenly contracted, concentrating most of its power into a refined purple-gold drill! At the tip of the drill, the Great Dao of Power, the Dao of Annihilation, and even a trace of the "singularity" power of the primordial universe were forcibly compressed and fused!

"break!"

He wielded the drill, which contained his strongest power, ignoring the relentless erosion of the dream and the mental pressure. With an unstoppable, all-piercing momentum, he slammed into the chest of the green statue, into the core area where the pull was strongest!

He wanted to forcefully break open the statue and seize the fragments of the inscription inside!

"Blasphemy—!!!"

The statue's will roared in fury, causing the entire rotunda to tremble violently! A ghostly green light, like tangible tentacles, surged from the statue's entire body, coiling around the purplish-gold drill, attempting to block, corrupt, and disintegrate it!

A forceful breakthrough targeting the core of the statue and the all-out obstruction of the ancient distraction erupted in this ancient, silent hall of ruins!

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