From Fanwu to Xinghai

Chapter 52 The Dimensional Bridge is Completed, and War Breaks Out

Lin Chen's fingers were still on the silvery-white light film on the surface of the Dimensional Seed. The vibration from his fingertips traveled along his meridians to his dantian. The process of building the prototype of the Dimensional Bridge had consumed 30% of his spiritual consciousness. The Time River mark on his forehead was burning hot, and the pale golden lines crawled from his brow to his temples. Even his eyelids trembled slightly.

"Take the Rejuvenation Pill first. The Dimensional Bridge is only in its embryonic stage, and its spiritual energy is unstable. The dimensional fluctuations just now have already traveled thirty miles. The Dark Blade Pavilion's psionic mech patrol team may have already made their way here."

Lin Yuan's voice came from the side, carrying a hint of imperceptible fatigue. He tossed over a small celadon bottle, its surface imprinted with the cloud patterns of the Qingyun Sect—a Spirit Recovery Pill specifically for Foundation Establishment cultivators, which Lin Chen had seen several times before. Lin Chen caught the bottle, poured out a pill, and swallowed it. The bitter taste of the medicine spread across his tongue, and the burning sensation in his spiritual sense slowly subsided.

He looked up at Lin Yuan, who also had a mark of the River of Time on his forehead, but the color was much lighter than his, as if the brightness had been worn away by the years, and the edges were covered with a strange gray. That was the mark of a time traveler consuming his lifespan. Lin Yuan had said before that he was a person who came from thirty years later, and had already consumed most of his lifespan in order to rewrite Lin Chen's previous failed fate.

"You just said that the Dark Blade Pavilion colluded with the barbarians. When will their main force arrive?" Lin Chen circulated his spiritual power to digest the effects of the Rejuvenation Pill, and at the same time activated the precognitive ability of the River of Time Mark. A pale golden light flashed in his eyes, and the surrounding scene suddenly slowed down, turning into a hazy precognitive scene.

In the foreshadowing, the north gate of Yanhuang Pass slowly opened. Two disciples dressed in guard uniforms glanced back with cold smiles on their lips. Then, three three-zhang-tall psionic mechs stepped heavily into the pass. The psionic patterns on the surface of the mechs lit up with a dazzling red light, and the cannons were aimed at the guard camp inside the pass.

"After an incense stick's time, the North Gate was breached." Lin Chen suddenly opened his eyes, the mark on his forehead flashing. "Zhang Meng and Li Qing, who were guarding the gate, are spies from the Dark Blade Pavilion. They just sent a signal to the mecha."

Lin Yuan's face darkened, and he grabbed the longsword beside him and walked out: "I'll take some men to block the North Gate. You go to the Scripture Pavilion and get the activation array diagram of the Dimensional Bridge. The prototype you just built can only stop ordinary cultivators, not the firepower of the psionic mechs."

"No need, I'll go with you." Lin Chen followed in his footsteps, his fingertips already forming a psionic interference talisman—this was something Lin Yuan had taught him before, specifically used to interfere with the resonance frequency of psionic mechs, which could disable the mech's spiritual control for three breaths.

When the two arrived at the North Gate, the city gate was slowly opening. Zhang Meng and Li Qing still had their sneers on their faces, but when they saw Lin Chen and Lin Yuan, their faces turned pale instantly. Just as they were about to turn around and run, Lin Chen used time slowing down to freeze them in place. Time around them suddenly slowed down, and the two of them moved as if they were walking in mud, unable to take a single step for a long time.

"Traitors." Lin Chen's voice was as cold as ice. He raised his hand and threw the two men into the hands of the guards beside him. "Hand them over to Uncle Chen."

As soon as he finished speaking, three psionic mechs stepped into the checkpoint, their cannons flashing with blinding white light, ready to fire. Lin Chen's eyes narrowed, and the Time River mark on his forehead suddenly lit up, its time-slowing ability enveloping the three mechs. Their movements instantly slowed tenfold, and the white light from their cannons froze in mid-air.

"Now!" Lin Yuan shouted, forming hand seals. The power of the River of Time imprint flowed from his fingertips and struck the core of the mecha. The spiritual energy patterns on the surface of the mecha instantly extinguished, and the cultivator in the control cabin screamed as his spiritual consciousness was forcibly pulled out of the mecha.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin Chen threw out the psionic interference talisman. The talisman turned into countless golden light spots in the air and entered the gaps in the mechs. The movements of the three mechs came to a complete stop, and they collapsed to the ground with a thud, as if their bones had been removed.

The guards inside the pass were stunned. After a long while, they burst into thunderous cheers. Some shouted Lin Chen's name, and some knelt down in front of Lin Yuan. Previously, Yanhuang Pass had been besieged by the Dark Blade Pavilion for half a month. Everyone thought that it would not be able to hold out. Unexpectedly, these two joined forces and destroyed three psionic mechs in an instant.

Lin Chen, however, didn't feel particularly pleased. He walked to the wreckage of the mecha, looking at the corpses of the cultivators in the control cabin, his brows furrowed deeply. Lin Yuan had previously mentioned that these cultivators who controlled the psionic mechas had had their souls forcibly extracted by the Dark Blade Pavilion and infused into the mechas. Their spiritual consciousness was trapped inside the mechas, unable to live or die. Destroying the mechas was, in effect, a release for them.

"There's no need to pity them." Lin Yuan walked to his side, his tone indifferent. "The Dark Blade Pavilion captured over a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators to use as containers for mechs. These are considered lucky; at least they died quickly."

Lin Chen didn't speak, but silently moved the cultivator's corpse from the wreckage and covered it with his own cloth. He wasn't a saint, but these people could have reunited with their families, but because of the Dark Blade Pavilion's ambition, they were turned into mecha parts. It would be a lie to say he felt nothing.

At this moment, Uncle Chen's voice came from behind, slightly panting: "Lin Chen, search the wreckage of the mecha for any Dark Blade Pavilion tokens. They must have left marks for this operation."

Lin Chen nodded, squatted down and searched the mecha's core compartment. Sure enough, he found a black iron talisman in a hidden compartment with a strange mark engraved on it: an hourglass with blood-red sand inside, which looked seven parts like the mark of the River of Time.

"This is the mark of the Agent." Lin Yuan's face instantly turned ugly. He reached out and took the iron talisman, his fingertips trembling. "The Agent has officially joined forces with the Dark Blade Pavilion. Before, they only supported them secretly, but now they dare to send people to cooperate with the Dark Blade Pavilion directly."

Lin Chen's heart sank. The Proxy was the mortal enemy of the Dimensional Ruler. It was they who destroyed the ancient civilization and prevented the current civilization from ascending to a higher dimension. He had previously thought that the Proxy was just hiding in the shadows, but he did not expect that they had already joined forces with the Dark Blade Pavilion. Then there would only be more trouble ahead.

"There's one more thing." Uncle Chen walked over, leaning on his sword, his face grim. "I just checked my pulse, and I only have three months left to live. The spiritual energy conversion you mentioned before requires the dimensional bridge to be fully activated before it can be used. Right now, the dimensional bridge is only in its embryonic form, so it's unusable."

Lin Chen suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with anxiety: "Then how do we activate the Dimensional Bridge? I saw in the records that activation requires the Time Crystal from the Barbarian Holy Land, right?"

"That's right." Lin Yuan sighed. "The Time Crystal is in the barbarian's sacred mountain, but the mountain has now been occupied by the agents' subordinates. We must go there and retrieve the crystal."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Dimensional Seed in Lin Chen's hand suddenly emitted a faint light. The silvery-white light climbed up his fingers and finally formed a miniature Dimensional Bridge in mid-air in front of him. At the end of the bridge, the shadow of the Barbarian Divine Mountain could be vaguely seen.

"It sensed the location of the Time Crystal." Lin Chen's eyes lit up. He was about to speak when his expression suddenly changed. His precognitive ability was triggered again. He saw that outside the Barbarian God Mountain, there were at least fifty agents' subordinates and ten psionic mechs guarding the entrance.

Holding the Seed of Dimension, Lin Chen looked at the shadow at the end of the miniature dimensional bridge with a determined gaze: "No matter what dangers there are, I must go. Uncle Chen's lifespan cannot wait, and neither can the dimensional bridge."