Chapter 378: Pre‑War Preparations

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Gui Xu's starlight seeped into the cracks of the bronze bricks of the Dragon Clan Sacred Hall, sprouting crystal formations shaped like neural synapses on the wall. Ao Li's finger brushed the tactical star map, and the glow of chaotic spirit marrow refracted between the synapses into three hundred and sixty grim outcomes. Behind her, a bronze column suddenly exuded pale golden brain fluid, the battle memories being transmitted by the Dragon Clan ancestors through resonating holy relics.

"The seventh‑generation Dragon Knights must switch to Inverse Scale jetters," Ao Li's Dragon Claw pierced the star map, projecting a segment of ancestral memory into the air—on the screen, Dragon Knights riding time whales were being broken down into basic particles by the Dark Abyss Society's concept weapon, "Survival rate of dark‑matter wing membranes in cognitively polluted environments rises by 37%."

The bronze seawater of the training ground boiled like lava, and the surviving Dragon Knights were undergoing a brutal nirvana. The aged Elder Candleshade sliced open his chest and implanted burning holy relic fragments into a young knight's spine: "Feel the ancestors' wrath!"

The newly promoted knight Qing Lin's pupils instantaneously turned jade‑like, and his mount Thunder Dragon let out a horrid scream and rolled—decaying spores dispatched by the Dark Abyss Society were corroding the dragon wings. Watching the battle, a Mo School craftsman immediately activated the Exterminating God Crossbow, but the bolt sprouted fungal mouths that bit back, clamping onto the operator's wrist.

"Cognitive backlash!" Ban Shu's mechanical arm launched a molecular saw, only to see a smiling silver‑haired infant's face appear on the blade. Qing Lin's Inverse Scale jetter suddenly overloaded, spewing not dragon flame but the time whale's brain quantum foam, pulling the ten‑mile‑radius training ground into a Gui Xu mirror image.

"Maintain consciousness anchoring!" Ao Li's Boundary‑cutting blade cleaved the foam, but the blade surface adhered to a black‑haired infant's doodle: "Does Little Dragon Girl's new wings look nice?"

The floor of the Grand Void Hall had turned into a transparent lattice, sealing beneath it a sample of a restriction peeled from the Mother Nest. Purple Sky True Immortal used his sword soul as a brush, drawing the Taiyi Two‑Form Talisman in the void; when the sigil touched the restriction, it morphed into a writhing topological pattern.

"The 7,600th experiment," the chief disciple of Spiritual Void, Qing Xu, sweated cold through his Dao robe, and the celestial sphere in his hand displayed terrifying data, "Mutation rate of the concept trap exceeds the extrapolation limit..."

The Dark Abyss Society's restriction suddenly sprouted fungal tendrils, dragging three disciples into the lattice. Their flesh reassembled within the Dimensional Crevice, turning into reverse‑meme beings covered in runes. Purple Sky True Immortal swung his sword to slay the mutants, but the blade carried the twins' giggle: "Dao Master's demon‑clearing sword technique is truly beautiful~"

In the late night, the Scripture Repository suddenly malfunctioned. The disciples found the pages of the Taiyi True Explanation sprouting fangs, and the pupils of ancestral portraits displayed the Mother Nest's Star Chart. Qing Xu cut open his palm to draw a sigil with blood, only to see his blood transmuting into Quantum Code: "Cognitive pollution has seeped into the Dao Foundation..."

In the earth‑fire Ronglu, the alchemical golden liquid churned with human‑faced bubbles, and Ban Shu's mechanical prosthetic eye calibrated the core of the Exterminating God Crossbow. When the fifth‑generation God‑slaying arrowhead took shape, the bolt suddenly opened fungal pupils: "Daddy, I'm hungry..."

"Initiate nirvana purification protocol!" Ban Shu's Lu Ban ruler cleaved the mutated arrowhead, but the fragments seeped into the earth veins. The entire workshop shuddered, and from the Ronglu a umbilical cord of dark matter extended, pulling three craftsmen into the boiling golden liquid.

The survivors witnessed a horrific sight—half‑dragon, half‑machine monsters rose from the golden liquid, their spines etched with the twins' graffiti. Ban Shu's mechanical arm launched a replica of the Abyss Return Ruler, its edge sticky with a silver‑haired infant's saliva: "Uncle Mo's toys are the most fun~"

At midnight, the forbidden zone echoed with a sky‑splitting roar. When the guards arrived, thirty‑six Exterminating God Crossbows were self‑destructing, and blood crystals shaped like Ao Li seeped from the cracks in their frames. Ban Shu knelt amid the ruins, his design schematics having been altered by unknown hands into a Mother Nest growth chart.

The altar within the Gui Xu mirror image was constructed from the spines of three hundred Grand Warlocks, and Elder Wu Xian sliced open his own Time Line, dropping causality blood into the afterlife pool. At the moment the pool boiled, the phantom of a black‑haired infant rose to the surface, crushing the blood drops into entropy‑spawning spores.

"Not enough..." Wu Xian tore open his chest, extracting a beating heart. The instant the heart sank into the pool, the entire altar suddenly inverted, and countless holy relic arms sprouted from the pool, dragging the observing Warlock youths into a temporal fissure.

The surviving Warlock priests witnessed a dreadful omen—within the blood pool's reflected future, the Gui Xu mirror image they had summoned was devouring the present. The High Priest's tortoise shell suddenly sprouted fangs, biting his throat and whispering: "Cognition... is the offering..."

The nine Relic Towers floated in the Quantum Buddha Realm, and Master Hui Ming's prayer beads were transmuting into a miniature Mother Nest. When the Sanskrit of the Diamond Sutra touched the tower, the scripture abruptly reassembled into a Dark Abyss Society canon, and the incense mingled with the rot of decaying spores.

"Amitabha..." Hui Ming's golden body showed fissures, and the swastika imprint on his palm oozed dragon blood. The martial monks of the Eighteen Arhats formation suddenly went berserk, their demon‑subduing staff technique turning into Mother Nest defensive maneuvers, hurling their comrades into an endless hell.

In the late night, the Scripture Repository emitted eerie chanting. When the overseer burst in, he found the pages of the Sacred Sound Sutra birthing reverse‑meme creatures, and the Buddha statue's hand mudra had, at some point, turned into the twins' playful pose.

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In the tactical room on the eve of the grand offensive, the bronze sand table sprouted vessels and nerves. Ao Li's Boundary‑cutting blade pierced the table's core, and the chaotic spirit marrow spewed fungal threads like infant hair. Lín Jìn's Star Sand in his right hand suddenly went berserk, carving a blood‑soaked countdown onto the wall.

"Cognitive assimilation rate 91%." Purple Sky True Immortal's Dao Crown was covered with holy relic patterns, and the Taiyi Sword was metamorphosing into a Mother Nest organ, "All our preparations are fostering..."

From outside the hall came the synchronized firing of Exterminating God Crossbows. Everyone rushed out and saw the pre‑dawn sky blooming with blood‑colored fireworks—each bolt transformed mid‑air into Ao Li's likeness, and their sky‑rending screams formed the twins' lullaby.

The bronze sea suddenly boiled, and three hundred and sixty coffins opened simultaneously. A silver‑haired infant sat on a swing made of the coffins, his tiny hand pointing at the altered entry on the war‑prep checklist: "These toys are the most fun~"

Ao Li's Dragon Claw crushed the tactical star map, and the shattered fragments' cheeks oozed jade‑like marrow: "Relay to all factions, the grand offensive is advanced!" Her trailing syllable was swallowed by the wailing coming from the Mother Nest direction, the cry perfectly in sync with the chaotic spirit marrow's vibration.

The Dragon Knights on the training ground suddenly knelt in unison, their Inverse Scale jetters inserted backward into their spines, spewing the time whale's brain quantum fluid. In the mirror formed by these fluids, the battlefield already assimilated by the Mother Nest was reflected—every piece of war materiel bore Ao Li's face, the Spiritual Void's sigils turned into cannibalistic scripture scrolls, and Mo School mechanisms were hatching reverse‑meme creatures...

"Cognition is a cage." Lín Jìn's Star Sand spread into his pupils, the Vermilion Bird Zhengtong flickered at his throat, "And we... have long been inside the cage."

Gui Xu's starlight at this moment twisted into the twins' pupil shape, and the Mother Nest direction lit up with auroras of creation and destruction interwoven. The allied forces of the various factions gathered amid mutated war drums, yet no one noticed their own shadows sprouting fungal tendrils, silently pointing at a companion's rear heart.