From Fanwu to Xinghai

child time.

The Demon Suppression Tower stands in the northeast corner of the Qingyun Sect. It is a nine-story stone tower that is entirely black.

The tower has no windows, only a small ventilation opening on each floor; looking inside from the outside, there is only endless darkness. Legend has it that the tower was built three thousand years ago, constructed from waste slag from the mining of the forbidden land's veins. Every stone is engraved with sealing runes, emanating a heavy, oppressive aura that even the soul finds repressive.

Lin Chen crouched in the shadows outside the tower, feeling the oppressive atmosphere.

This is not ordinary spiritual pressure.

This is... dimensional suppression.

He closed his eyes, activated the mark between his eyebrows, and briefly entered a state of time perception.

Then he saw it clearly.

Every stone and every rune in the Demon-Suppressing Tower emanates a faint, high-dimensional power. That power isn't meant to trap people, but rather... to suppress something.

The thing that suppresses the bottom of the tower.

"The entrance is on the east side," Qin Mo's voice came from the side, low and hushed. "There are two guards there; their shift changes at 1:45 AM."

How did you know?

"Observe." Qin Mo's answer was as concise as ever.

Lin Chen did not ask any further questions.

Qin Mo's movement technique is the Shadow Movement Technique, which excels at concealment and infiltration. It's not surprising that he could figure out the guards' shift change pattern.

"I'll distract the guards," Qin Mo said. "You all go in."

"It's too dangerous for you to be alone!"

"It's not just one person." Qin Mo suddenly raised his hand and pointed to an ancient pine tree not far away.

Lin Chen followed his finger and saw a person standing in the shadow of the ancient pine tree.

The man wore a gray robe with no insignia at his waist; his face was aged but his spirit was high.

Chen Xuanfeng.

"Old man?" Xiao Yan's voice carried a hint of surprise.

"Who are you calling an old man?" Chen Xuanfeng emerged from the shadows, giving him a disdainful look. "You have no manners."

He walked up to Lin Chen, took out a token from his pocket, and handed it to him:

"Here you go. This is a temporary pass for the Demon Suppression Tower, allowing you free passage within the tower, except for the ninth floor."

Lin Chen took the token; it felt slightly cool to the touch, and it was engraved with a black bird with outstretched wings.

"Uncle Chen, you!"

"Don't ask so many questions," Chen Xuanfeng interrupted him. "Time is running out; you only have half an hour. After 11:45 AM, the number of guards changing shifts will increase, and the patrol density will also rise. If you're discovered then, even this old man can't protect you."

His gaze fell on Xiao Yan, and his voice suddenly became low:

"And... after you see her, ask her one question for me."

"What did you say?"

"Ask her!" Chen Xuanfeng paused, his expression complex and unreadable. "Ask her if she remembers why she didn't look back when she left."

After saying that, he turned and walked towards the guards, his footsteps silent, disappearing into the night like a ghost.

Lin Chen gripped the token tightly and looked at Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan's face remained expressionless, but he noticed that the other person's fingers tightened slightly.

"Let's go," Xiao Yan said.

Under the cover of Qin Mo and Chen Xuanfeng, the two silently sneaked into the east entrance of the Demon Suppression Tower.

The atmosphere in Tane was more oppressive than I had imagined.

It is not darkness.

It's that suffocating dimensional oppression that comes from all directions.

With each step Lin Chen took, he could feel the mark between his eyebrows pulsating gently, as if it were resonating with something.

"Are you alright?" Xiao Yan's voice came from the side.

"It's alright." Lin Chen took a deep breath. "It's just that the pressure here is too strong. An ordinary person would probably not even be able to stand up."

"What... is locked up in this tower?" Xiao Yan's voice was somewhat hesitant.

"I don't know," Lin Chen said, "but one thing is certain: it's related to the dimensional rift."

He remembered what the servant disciple had said.

That scream.

The statement that "it sounds like Elder Shen's voice, but it doesn't sound like Elder Shen's voice" is wrong.

There's also the traces of Shen Qingluan secretly entering the forbidden area and making contact with that "sealed being" over the years.

Everything points to one possibility!

Shen Qingluan is trying to do something very dangerous.

Her imprisonment in the Demon Suppression Tower may be related to this incident.

The two walked down the narrow stairs.

The first floor is empty.

Only the sealing runes covering the walls emitted a cold, eerie light.

On the second floor, several emaciated prisoners were locked up. When they saw someone coming, they stretched out their withered hands and made hoarse pleas.

The third to sixth levels are also filled with various prisoners and sealed artifacts.

Upon reaching the seventh floor, the scene suddenly changed.

There are no prisoners.

There is no seal.

There was only one empty stone chamber.

In the center of the stone chamber, there was a stone bed.

A person was lying on the stone bed.

"Shen Qingluan!"

Xiao Yan's body rushed out even faster than his consciousness.

Lin Chen followed closely behind, and when he saw the person on the stone bed clearly, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Shen Qingluan lay there, her eyes closed, her face as pale as paper.

But her body is intact.

There were no injuries.

There was no blood.

However... there was a thin crack between her eyebrows, as if something had stretched it open from the inside.

A faint purple light shone through the crack.

It's the exact same color as the mark between Lin Chen's eyebrows.

"Shen Qingluan! Shen Qingluan!"

Xiao Yan knelt beside the stone bed, held her hand, and said in a hoarse voice:

"Wake up, I'm here, I'm back!"

Shen Qingluan did not react.

But the purple crack trembled slightly, as if in response to something.

Lin Chen walked to the stone bed, activated the mark between his eyebrows, and extended his senses outwards.

Then he felt it.

Shen Qingluan's consciousness was not in her body.

A part of her soul was extracted and trapped somewhere.

That place...

Lin Chen's pupils suddenly contracted.

That place is a dimensional crevice.

"She's still inside," Lin Chen said in a low voice. "Her consciousness is trapped in a dimensional rift, unable to escape."

"What do you mean?" Xiao Yan's voice trembled slightly. "What do you mean by being trapped inside?"

"The literal meaning." Lin Chen looked at the purple crack between Shen Qingluan's brows. "She actively sent her consciousness into the dimensional rift, or rather, she was pulled in by something."

He paused, his voice becoming even lower:

"That crack... is the entrance to a dimensional rift. And she!"

He didn't continue.

But Xiao Yan already understood.

Shen Qingluan was trying to make contact with that "being" in the dimensional rift.

It might even be an attempt to merge.

"Why did this happen?" Xiao Yan's voice was terribly hoarse. "Why would she do this?"

"Perhaps... it's to save someone," Lin Chen said.

He remembered the manuscript he had seen on the third floor of the library.

To my future children.

That was his father's handwriting.

How did Shen Qingluan know about the existence of the manuscript?

Why did she lead him to find that manuscript?

She entered the forbidden area and came into contact with the being in the dimensional rift. Was all of this related to that manuscript and his background?

Too many questions, no answers.

But one thing is certain.

If Shen Qingluan's consciousness cannot return to her body in time, she will be trapped in the dimensional rift forever.

And her body will slowly wither away after losing the nourishment of consciousness.

"What can I do?" Xiao Yan suddenly asked.

Lin Chen looked at him, somewhat surprised.

Xiao Yan's face was filled with anxiety, but there was something in his eyes that Lin Chen had never seen before.

That is the determination of one person to give everything for another.

"You want to save her?" Lin Chen asked.

"nonsense."

"She became like this probably because of the power within the dimensional rift," Lin Chen's voice was calm. "And within you, the same power lies dormant. If you go to save her!"

"Then I'll go." Xiao Yan interrupted him, his voice resolute.

"You might get trapped inside too."

"Then we'll stay trapped together," Xiao Yan said. "Anyway, she was locked up here because of me, I can't just watch her die here."

Lin Chen looked at him and remained silent for a moment.

Then he nodded.

"good."

He activated the mark between his eyebrows, extending his consciousness toward the crack between Shen Qingluan's eyebrows.

In an instant, his senses were pulled into a chaotic space.

There was no up, down, left, or right, no flow of time, only endless purple light surging, like some living creature breathing.

In the center of that light, he saw two figures.

One is Shen Qingluan.

She sat cross-legged in the void, her hands forming a mudra, her face pale, and beads of sweat dripping from her forehead—if there were any sweat there at all.

There was another person standing opposite her.

A person whose pupils constricted in shock.

That's a woman.

A woman whose face bore a striking resemblance to Lin Chen's mother in his memory.

She wore a plain white dress, her long hair cascaded down her back, and her eyes were as calm as an ancient well.

There was a mark on her forehead that was exactly the same as Lin Chen's.

The mark was emitting a faint purple light.

Beneath her feet, purple threads extended out, connecting to Shen Qingluan's body.

That's a constraint.

That's extraction.

That is?

"You've finally arrived."

The woman suddenly spoke, her voice soft yet possessing a power that pierced the soul:

"My child."

Lin Chen's breath hitched for a moment.

"Who are you……"

"I am your mother's original form." The woman—Su Wan's original form—nodded slightly. "Or rather, I am the last fragment of her consciousness left in the dimensional rift."

She glanced at the bound Shen Qingluan, a complex expression flashing in her eyes:

"And she came to me of her own accord."

"Is she trying to save you?"

"I'll save you, and I'll save myself," Su Wan said calmly. "She's trying to use her soul to fill the missing piece in the dimensional rift."

"The missing piece?"

"The dimensional rift wasn't formed naturally," Su Wan said. "It was torn open. That torn piece was part of my body, a crucial fragment of the dimensional master's spark."

Her gaze fell on Lin Chen:

"And you are the only one who can retrieve that piece."

Lin Chen felt a wave of dizziness.

The overwhelming amount of information was difficult for him to process.

"Wait a minute." He tried to steady himself. "Does Shen Qingluan know about this?"

"She knows some of it," Su Wan said. "She knows the secrets of the dimensional rift, she knows about the existence of the spark fragments, and she knows you are the key to your dimensional ascension. But she doesn't know!"

Her voice suddenly became low:

She didn't know what the price was for filling the dimensional gap.

"What price?"

"Swallowed by the dimensional rift." Su Wan's voice was eerily calm. "Forever trapped here, until the end of time."

Lin Chen's pupils suddenly contracted.

He looked at Shen Qingluan.

She was still sitting cross-legged, her hands forming a mudra, her face growing paler and paler, her body becoming increasingly transparent.

She is using her soul to slowly fill that crack.

She was risking her life for a hope that might not even succeed.

"Why didn't you tell her?" Lin Chen's voice was a little hoarse. "Why keep her in the dark?"

"Because she won't listen." Su Wan's lips curled into a slight smile, tinged with bitterness. "She's as stubborn as your father. He sacrificed his entire lifespan to save me back then. Now, she's willing to give everything to save me."

"What exactly is their relationship?" Lin Chen asked the question that had been weighing on his mind.

"She's my apprentice," Su Wan said, "and also... your father's childhood sweetheart."

Lin Chen was stunned.

"She loved him her whole life," Su Wan said softly, as if telling an ancient story, "but the person he loved was me. So she could only bury that feeling deep in her heart, watching from afar, guarding and protecting him."

"After he left, she began to watch over you. She watched over you, and she also kept his last wish."

"She taught you cultivation, took you to the Qingyun Sect trials, brought you into the inner sect, and led you to the edge of the forbidden area—all so that you could find me, find the manuscript, and find your destiny."

Su Wan's voice suddenly softened:

"Child, don't blame her. Everything she did was for you."

Even if it's a lie.

Even if it's kept from you.

Even if...

Her voice paused for a moment:

Even if it means sacrificing myself.

Lin Chen fell silent.

He recalled the scene when he first met Shen Qingluan.

He remembered the look in her eyes when she looked at him after the trial.

He recalled the moment she lost her composure when she mentioned her father to him.

Those feelings he thought were just between a master and his disciple turned out to have such a deep meaning.

"How can I save her?" he asked.

Su Wan looked at him, a hint of relief flashing in her eyes:

"Are you willing to save her?"

"She's done so much for me, I can't just watch her die here."

"Even if!" Su Wan's voice became solemn, "even if it consumes the last time imprint in your Dao Foundation?"

Lin Chen was stunned for a moment.

"You know I only have one mark left?"

"I know everything," Su Wan said. "I am the ruler of dimensions; I exist outside of time."

She raised her hand and pointed at Shen Qingluan:

"But I need you to understand one thing."

"If you use your last mark to save her, you'll have no way out."

"Your time-related abilities will be temporarily lost and will take three to five years to recover. During these three to five years, you will become an ordinary person with no time-related abilities available."

"And those people outside?" Her gaze sharpened. "Those who want you dead won't give you three to five years to breathe."

Lin Chen fell silent.

Three to five years.

There is no time or ability.

To become an ordinary person.

He remembered Zhao Yuanzhen's cold gaze.

He recalled the scrutinizing gaze of the Bai family elder.

I recalled the gray-white eyes of the descendant of the lineage that guarded the forbidden area.

There was also the fate of the three thousand soldiers and five hundred and twenty-seven men of Yanhuang Pass.

And Lin Yuan's entrustment.

The countdown to the 50-year dimensional ascension has begun.

If he backs down here, then everything will lose its meaning.

But if he doesn't do it, Shen Qingluan will be trapped here forever.

This woman gave everything for him.

He can't do nothing.

"I see."

Lin Chen took a deep breath, raised his hand, and activated the last mark between his eyebrows.

"But I still want to save her."

Su Wan looked at him, a complex light flashing in her eyes.

"You're just like your father," she said. "Knowing there's a cliff ahead, you'll still jump."

"No." Lin Chen shook his head. "I'm not jumping."

A slight smile played on his lips, a smile that conveyed a sense of resolute determination.

"I'm going to take her with me and fly there."