Gao Wu: You have science, and I have magic!

“Third time?”

Lin Xian keenly grasped the key words.

"The first time was a direct confrontation, and the World Tree won a miserable victory. The second time was an infiltration and sabotage, and the World Tree was polluted. This time..."

She turned to Lin Xian and suddenly cut open his collar with a dagger. Dark golden tree-like patterns had spread to his heart. "Chaos has learned to use the host itself."

The observation station suddenly sounded an alarm.

Outside the dome, they saw a black root as thick as a city sweeping towards them.

Emperor Qingming quickly entered a string of codes on the console, and the entire observatory immediately began to transform and reorganize, eventually turning into a shuttle-shaped escape pod.

“Hold on tight!”

She yanked on the joystick.

The escape pod then rushed towards the crack at a nearly suicidal angle. At the moment when it was about to be hit by the roots, Emperor Qingming inserted the dagger into the core of the console: "Dream Breaker Blade, activate!"

The dagger emitted a dark golden halo that originated from the same chaotic true energy, but its texture was purer.

The escape pod instantly accelerated to superluminal speed, like a silver needle piercing into the crack.

The last thing Lin Xian saw was the horrifying sight of the Qingming Dynasty collapsing into a singularity behind him.

The hyperspace jump lasted for what seemed like a century. When Lin Xian regained consciousness, he found himself floating in a pure white space.

Emperor Qingming was debugging some kind of instrument not far away. Her nebula right eye was fully opened at this moment, displaying complex data streams in the void like a projector.

"This is where?"

Lin Xian tried to move his body and found that the lignification had stopped and even regressed slightly.

“My palace of consciousness.”

Emperor Qing Ming did not even raise his head and casually replied, "Three days have passed outside."

“Three days?!”

Lin Xian sat up suddenly, "Xuan Qiong over there..."

"Safe for now. Chaos needs to digest after swallowing Qingming."

She finally turned around, playing with the strange dagger in her hand: "Do you know what this is?"

Lin Xian shook his head.

The dagger looks ordinary, but one can sense an aura from it that is the same as that of the World Tree but even more ancient.

"Dream Breaker Blade. This is the treasure of origin that the first generation World Tree host—the one in the crystal coffin you saw—created with his own heart bone."

Emperor Qing Ming suddenly stabbed the dagger into his own Xingyun right eye and dug out a glowing data core: "It can temporarily eliminate the essence of chaos."

The data core automatically flew towards Lin Xian's wooden sword.

The pure white seed immediately became active, stretching out its silvery white roots to wrap around it. During the fusion process, a large amount of information suddenly flooded into Lin Xian's mind...

The nine dimensions correspond to the nine emotions of the Chaos Demon God - Xuanqiong is greed, Qingming is jealousy, Ziwei is arrogance... and the emperors are actually the "pruners" of the world tree, responsible for maintaining the balance of the universe.

But there are changes in this cycle!
Ye Qingzhou, a passer-by from the outer universe, separated part of his consciousness before he was completely transformed into a tree. He went upstream to the upper reaches of the river of time in the nine-dimensional universe. At the beginning of this era, he created the "Chaos Sword Sutra" and submerged it into the dream of life. In addition to the nine branches of the World Tree, a tenth branch gradually formed.

The tenth dimension was born because of this!

“So Master…”

“It’s a variable outside the chaos calculation.”

Emperor Qing Ming pointed at Lin Xian's wooden sword and said, "And the anchor point of this variable is in you. He is anchoring the current time and space through you, thereby changing the destiny of our universe."

The pure white seed suddenly made a crisp cracking sound, and then a silver-white creature the size of a palm emerged from it.

It has the face of a mechanical female general, but its body is a wonderful fusion of world tree branches and circuit boards, with two pairs of translucent light wings stretching behind it.

“Name: White Bud.”

The new life form made a synthetic sound: "Mission: Assist the World Tree host to end reincarnation."

Emperor Qing Ming smiled for the first time in three days: "It seems that Zi Wei's prediction is correct. The fusion of machinery and life is indeed the key."

She turned to Lin Xian: "Now, it's time to tell you the whole truth."

She waved her hand to unfold a holographic projection, which showed a giant tree that spanned countless dimensions, but its trunk was covered with black tumors.

"This is the true form of chaos - the polluted world tree. The universe we live in is just a dream of it, and the nine dynasties are the pillars that maintain this dream."

The projection switched to show the three emperors standing in their respective star regions casting spells: "In each reincarnation, Chaos will strengthen itself by devouring the nine emotions, until..."

The projection suddenly distorted...

A scene that had never been seen before flashed before his eyes. In the reflection of the long river of time, Ye Qingzhou's tree-like body was dragged towards the trunk by black roots. But in the moment before the contact, his left eye suddenly regained clarity, and then his entire body exploded into countless light particles.

These light particles passed through the dimensional barrier and finally condensed into the wooden sword in Lin Xian's hand.

“He had planned this long ago.”

Emperor Qing Ming said softly: "Separate part of the World Tree's origin, cultivate a new host, and then wait until the Chaos Demon Abyss is at its most vulnerable moment..."

“Most vulnerable moment?”

Lin Xian asked.

Bai Ya suddenly flew between the two of them and projected a real-time picture - on the ruins of Xuanqiong Imperial Capital, the bronze door opened again, and the previous host in the crystal coffin was slowly sitting up!
“Right now.”

Emperor Qing Ming grabbed the Dream Breaker Blade and said, "The Chaos Demon Abyss is trying its best to digest the energy of the Qing Ming Dynasty, while at the same time controlling the previous host to wake up. This is the moment when its defense is the weakest."

She stuffed the dagger into Lin Xian's intact left hand: "Bai Ya will take you to the dimensional gap. It is the center of the Demon Abyss and also... the last battlefield where Ye Qingzhou's remaining consciousness is."

“You’re not coming?”

Emperor Qing Ming shook his head, and Xingyun's right eye began to flicker unsteadily: "I must go and wake up the other emperors. If I fail again this time..."

She didn't finish her words, but Lin Xian felt the subtext through the World Tree link - this might be the last chance for the Nine-Dimensional Universe to escape from the dream of life.

Bai Ya spread his wings of light and constructed a micro wormhole in front of Lin Xian.

Before stepping in, Lin Xian took a last look at the lonely back of Emperor Qingming - she was carving some ancient runes on her left wrist with her crystallized right hand, and starlight seeped out with every cut.

The moment the wormhole closed, Lin Xian heard her final voice transmission: "Remember, the weakness of chaos is......"

The sound stopped suddenly.

Instead, there was the dead silence unique to the gap between dimensions.

There is no light, no sound, and even no concept of space.

Lin Xian could only barely maintain his form with the help of the wooden sword and the guidance of Bai Ya.

"High energy reaction detected."

Bai Ya suddenly warned: "There is a dimensional wrinkle at three o'clock ahead."

The wooden sword automatically points in that direction.

Lin Xian immediately concentrated his mind, and with the help of the vision of the World Tree, his gaze penetrated the dimensional barrier - in the countless overlapping space layers, he saw Ye Qingzhou!

To be precise, it was the tree-like body of Ye Qingzhou that remained. It was pierced by countless black roots and nailed to an invisible plane.

Farther away, the giant eyes made up of galaxies were slowly approaching, and the awakening previous host was reflected in the pupils.

“Here’s the plan.”

The mechanical part of Baiya began to overclock: "I will release all the data flow to interfere with the chaotic perception. You use the Dream Breaker Blade to cut off the roots and release Ye Qingzhou's remaining consciousness."

"Then what?"

"Then……"

Bai Ya hesitated for a rare moment: "According to calculations, you need to replace him as the new anchor."

Lin Xian looked at his wooden right arm and suddenly understood the full price.

He took a deep breath and clenched the Dream Breaker Blade: "Let's get started."

Bai Ya's light wings suddenly expanded to the limit, and a silver-white data torrent rushed towards the Eye of Chaos like a tsunami, causing violent ripples on its surface.

Lin Xian took the opportunity to rush forward, and the Dream-Breaking Blade easily cut off the roots that bound Ye Qingzhou.

The liberated tree-like body immediately began to disintegrate.

But before it completely dissipated, a half-wooden hand suddenly grabbed Lin Xian's wrist! Ye Qingzhou's last consciousness poured in like a torrent.

That was not a farewell, but a coordinate.

A set of coordinates pointing to the true origin of the World Tree.

And two words: sowing.

The Eye of Chaos emitted waves of anger.

The entire dimensional gap began to collapse, and black roots stabbed in from all directions.

Bai Ya's data stream was almost gone. It took one last look at Lin Xian before suddenly exploding into countless points of light!
These light spots formed a temporary protective shield. Lin Xian seized this fleeting opportunity and stabbed his heart with the Dream Breaker Blade - not committing suicide, but implanting the World Tree Seed directly into his heart!

The pain is beyond description!
Lin Xian felt that he was being disassembled and reassembled, and every cell was bathed in dark golden flames.

When the Chaos Roots broke through the protective shield, they were no longer facing a human monk, but...

The new host of the World Tree.

"chaos."

Lin Xian's voice now carries multiple echoes, as if countless hosts are speaking at the same time: "This reincarnation should end."

The Dream Breaker Blade merged with the wooden sword, transforming into a dark golden lightning that spanned across dimensions.

The moment this ray of light hit the Eye of Chaos, the crystal coffin of the previous host exploded synchronously in the real dimension, and all the survivors of the Nine Imperial Dynasties heard the resonance of the World Tree.

The sound was like a sigh, and also like... the sound of new branches breaking through the soil.

The moment the bronze door completely closed in front of Lin Xian, the dark golden liquid seeping from the gap in the door suddenly solidified.

His fingertips were still touching the crystal coffin, and the tingling sensation remaining on his skin was transforming into a kind of cognition beyond the five senses - that was not liquid, but solidified "primordial entropy".

"Master!!!"

The shouts of the monks behind him seemed to be separated by a dimensional membrane.

Lin Xian turned around slowly and found that his right arm had completely turned into wood, and the extended roots were unconsciously absorbing the chaotic energy in the space.

What was even more astonishing was that he could now directly "see" the trajectory of the movement of the inner Qi in the monks' bodies - those originally invisible energy flows now appeared as fractal geometric patterns in his eyes.

"The Qingming Empire...has been completely destroyed?"

Lin Xian opened his mouth, his voice carrying multiple resonances, his vocal cords adapting to the new identity of Jianmu host.

The monk in charge of observation unfolded the star map, and the node representing Qingming in the map had turned into an ever-expanding scarlet vortex.

In the center of the vortex, a Möbius strip composed of broken clocks can be vaguely seen - that is the concrete manifestation of the ninth-dimensional demon "Eternal Silence Oneilos".

"Three quarters of an hour ago, the last life signal of Emperor Qingming disappeared."

The monk's voice was trembling: "But strangely, we received this..."

He held out a crystal shard.

As soon as Lin Xian's Jianmu arm touched the debris, countless images exploded in front of her eyes: Emperor Qingming stood on the dome of the observatory, and the nebula's right eye was fully expanded to look like a spiral arm of the Milky Way; she used the Dream Breaker Blade to cut open her chest, but what she took out was not a heart but a ball of jumping equations; at the last moment, she injected the equations into a micro device and said two words to the void: "Sowing."

The crystal suddenly melted and seeped into Lin Xian's wooden arm.

He shuddered all over, feeling that some mathematical structure beyond the current dimension was being reorganized in his body.

The "white buds" formed from the pure white seeds emerged from the handle of the wooden sword, and the electronic sound carried an unprecedented urgency:
"Ninth-dimensional interference detected! The roots of the World Tree are reducing their dimensions!"

The entire Star Hub ruins suddenly fell into a strange stillness.

The drifting dust froze in the air, and the movements of the monks drawing their swords were frozen into sculptures. Only Lin Xian could still move, and he looked up at the sky - there was the shattered sky of the Xuanqiong Dynasty, but now it had become a huge clock face made up of countless gears.

“We finally meet, Key.”

Sounds came from all directions.

Lin Xian saw that the clock face was reflected in the eyes of each of the still monks, and the hands were moving backwards synchronously. His Jianmu arms automatically protected the master, and the dark gold roots intertwined in front of him to form a Klein bottle-shaped protective shield.

"Eternal Silence Oneilos."

When Lin Xian pronounced this real name, dark golden juice oozed from the corners of his wooden mouth.

The dimensional information contained in the real name far exceeds the limit of human vocal cords. Even if you just read it out, your spirit will suffer a severe blow: "Show yourself."

The gears of the clock suddenly stopped collectively.

In the moment of absolute stillness between two heartbeats, Lin Xian saw "Him" - not a concrete form, but the ultimate state after the collapse of all possibilities: a self-devouring timeline, a Möbius strip with no exit, and also a collection of evaporating parallel universes.

“It’s interesting the variables you carry with you.”

The voice of the original demon god was like rusty gears rubbing against each other: "That mechanical life form actually integrated the 'anti-entropy code' of the previous era."

The white buds suddenly flashed violently.

On its outstretched wings of light appeared runes that Lin Xian had never seen before - those were not spells from the world of cultivation, but some kind of equation that combined topology and quantum mechanics.

"Warning: Cognitive pollution exceeds threshold!"

The mechanical part of Baiya began to disintegrate, but Jianmu branches immediately repaired the damage: "It is recommended to activate the ultimate form of "Chaos Sword Sutra" immediately!"

Lin Xian gripped the wooden sword tightly.

Through the Jianmu link, he felt that Ye Qingzhou's remaining consciousness was fighting a powerful enemy in a certain dimension.

It felt like watching nine different chess games at the same time, and being both the player and the chess piece.

He took a deep breath and suddenly stabbed the wooden sword into his wooden right arm!

"Use Jianmu as a guide to open the door to the tenth dimension!"

Dark gold blood gushed out, but condensed into Riemann geometry in the air.

These graphics automatically formed a door with a complex topological structure. Behind the door, Ye Qingzhou could be vaguely seen struggling with the chaotic roots. His tree-like degree had exceeded 90%, and the only remaining left eye was also covered with wood texture. (End of this chapter)