Legend of the Embroiderer

Chapter 376 Echoes of Destiny

The sinister laughter, like countless tiny silver needles, pierced Lingyue's eardrums, echoing endlessly in the eerie realm, as if it burst forth directly from the depths of her mind.

The purplish-red scepter in Li Zhao's hand suddenly burst forth with a dazzling light, like an eerie lightning bolt that suddenly exploded in the darkness. Under the shimmering light, the suspended shards of mirror instantly transformed into thousands of sharp blades of light.

The light blades tore through the air, emitting a sharp whistling sound, carrying the aura of death, and flew towards Lingyue like a flock of crazed birds.

At the critical moment, Lingyue instinctively raised the fragment to block. The ancient and mysterious runes on the surface of the fragment seemed to be awakened, bursting out with dazzling golden light and forming a solid barrier.

The light blade struck the barrier, sparking intense sparks. The ear-piercing sound of metal colliding echoed throughout the space. The sparks that fell to the ground ignited into eerie blue flames, which emitted a strange light and scorched the ground, leaving charred marks.

"Don't you understand yet?" Li Zhao slowly approached, each step feeling like he was stepping on Lingyue's heart.

The mist beneath the black robe writhed and surged around him like a living monster, coalescing into a gigantic phantom behind him.

The silhouette was blurry, yet it exuded a suffocating sense of oppression: "From the moment you stepped into this space-time, you have already become a pawn in the game."

As his cold words fell, the ground suddenly cracked open like a spiderweb, and countless chains burst forth from the earth.

These chains gleamed with a dark luster, their surfaces covered with protruding spikes. The black mist swirling around the chains was of the same origin as his aura, and like a swarm of hungry snakes, it quickly coiled around Lingyue's ankles.

The chill emanating from the chains spread wildly through Lingyue's veins, freezing everything in its path.

Lingyue endured the excruciating pain caused by the collapse of her memories. Her head felt as if it were being torn apart, and various chaotic images kept flashing through her mind.

She bit her tongue, the taste of blood filling her mouth, trying to use the stinging sensation to awaken her fading consciousness.

In the haze of consciousness, she suddenly noticed the faint yin-yang fish pattern on Li Zhao's chest—at this moment, the yin fish was frantically flowing with dark purple light, the light like an evil flame, constantly flickering, while the yang fish was as weak as a candle flame about to go out, as if it could be extinguished at any moment.

"You've been corrupted by darkness!" She struggled against the chains, her body lacerated by sharp spikes, blood seeping out and staining the chains crimson. The fragments and the power of the source of light resonated within her, and golden light shone around her. "In Wenli's memories, the true vessel shouldn't be like this!"

These words struck Li Zhao like a hammer blow, causing him to abruptly halt in his tracks. The illusory figure behind him twisted momentarily, as if its most vulnerable spot had been touched.

In that split second, Lingyue mobilized all her strength to insert the fragment into the ground. Golden energy, like a giant python awakening, rapidly spread along the crack.

Wherever the energy reached, the rocks on the ground melted, and the chains sizzled and broke under the scorching golden light.

The eerie blue flames extinguished the moment the golden light touched them, revealing the ancient array on the ground that had been concealed—the core totem used to seal the dark will in Wenli's memory.

The runes on the array shimmered with a mysterious light, as if telling ancient secrets.

"It turned out to be here..."

Lingyue's pupils shrank sharply, her eyes filled with shock and excitement.

The groove in the center of the array perfectly matched the fragment in her hand. The moment the fragment was embedded, the entire space began to rotate in reverse.

The surrounding light became distorted, and time seemed to stand still at that moment.

The images in the floating shattered mirrors suddenly reversed: "She," holding a dark scepter, removed her black robe, revealing the scars beneath her silver armor, each scar telling a story of past battles.

Li Zhao, who had fallen to the ground, opened his eyes, and a mark of light appeared on his palm, dispelling the surrounding darkness.

The trapped Wenli gave her a meaningful smile, and the cracks in the fragment in her arms began to heal, emitting a soft light.

"impossible!"

Li Zhao roared and swung his scepter, sending a black beam of light hurtling towards the array diagram.

Wherever the black beam of light passed, space shattered like broken glass. But when the beam touched the edge of the array, it was broken down into countless black and white dots, merging into the totem patterns.

Even more strangely, the yin-yang fish pattern on his chest began to tremble violently. The dark purple light of the yin fish receded like the tide, while the yang fish brightened at a visible speed. The two forces collided fiercely within his body.

Just as Li Zhao's power was out of balance, Wen Li, who was separated by the barrier, suddenly made a move.

The fragment in her arms and the fragment in Lingyue's hand resonated simultaneously, the two beams of light intertwining like two ribbons to form a bridge and shatter the transparent barrier.

"Lingyue, look at his shadow!"

Wenli's voice was weak but urgent; her body was trembling, and her eyes were full of worry.

Lingyue then realized that the phantom behind Li Zhao was overlapping with the huge figure slowly emerging from the darkness in the distance—a black shadow with twelve pairs of bone wings and dark patterned badges embedded in its palms. The black shadow exuded an evil aura that inspired despair, and each flap of its bone wings caused a fluctuation in spacetime.

"So you've been hiding in his shadow all along!"

Lingyue roared, her voice filled with anger and resentment.

She integrated the source of light into the array, and the entire space burst forth with dazzling light, containing powerful energy that illuminated every corner.

In the light, Li Zhao's body began to become transparent, and a semi-transparent figure separated from his body—it was the "other Li Zhao" who had appeared in Xingyuan before, surrounded by a pure aura of light.

The radiant figure had a resolute gaze and exuded a sacred aura.

"Brother, it's time to end this farce."

As the luminous figure raised his hand, the shattered source of light at the top of the scepter reformed, transforming into a sharp sword radiating holy light, which pierced towards the shadowy figure.

The shadowy figure let out a deafening roar, its voice filled with rage and resentment. Its twelve pairs of bone wings stirred up a spacetime storm, which was mixed with shattered fragments of spacetime. Wherever it went, space was torn apart and time was distorted.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lingyue pulled Wenli back, only to see chains suddenly burst forth from the ground array. These chains shimmered with golden light, wrapping around the black shadow's ankles, attempting to stop its movements.

"This is... the power of the Key to Destiny?"

Wenli stared at the array diagram in shock, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Just when the situation seemed to be turning around, Li Zhao suddenly let out a painful roar. His body twisted and deformed in the tearing between light and darkness, and his face was full of pain.

The shadowy figure seized the opportunity, and a dark purple beam pierced through Li Zhao's chest, shooting straight towards the fragment in Ling Yue's hand. The beam moved with incredible speed, like a bolt of lightning, instantly traversing space.

The fragment exploded the instant the beam struck, and the powerful impact sent Lingyue flying.

Lingyue tumbled through the air and crashed heavily to the ground, feeling as if her internal organs were about to be shattered.

When she struggled to her feet, she found that the space around her was beginning to collapse, with cracks spreading like a spider web, and the whole world seemed to be heading towards destruction.

Wenli lunged forward desperately to grab her, but was separated by a sudden crack.

"Take Li Zhao's source of light and go to find the true birthplace of the vessel!"

Wenli's shouts were drowned out by the roar, her eyes filled with anxiety and reluctance.

Lingyue struggled to her feet and saw the radiant figure pouring his power into Li Zhao's body before turning into specks of light and dissipating into the air.

Li Zhao's breathing became weak but steady. Before losing consciousness, his finger pointed into the depths of darkness—there, an altar floating with countless fragments was slowly rising. In the center of the altar, a figure exactly like Ling Yue held a complete dark disc, revealing a cold smile, a smile that seemed to foreshadow an even greater crisis to come…