Chapter 379: On the Eve of the Expedition

On the Nine-layer Star Stair of Lingxiao Pavilion floated seventy‑two Lanterns of the Departed, their flames turning a collective blue the instant the Oath‑raising Assembly began. Ao Li's Dragon Claw brushed the edge of the Covenant Golden Cauldron, and the disturbance of chaotic spirit marrow caused the Blood Wine inside to ripple with Quantum Ripples—she saw that each reflection showed herself bearing the face of a twin child.

"Fellow practitioners…" the Xuanfeng Pavilion Master's voice suddenly distorted, fungal filaments appearing on his Adam's apple. Lín Jìn's Star Sand in his right hand suddenly surged, the Vermilion Bird Ribbon coiled around the Master's throat, pulling out half of a speech written in the Dark Abyss Society's holy script: "Cognitive pollution has already seeped into the core!"

The cheers of the three thousand cultivators below abruptly shifted, turning into a shrill wail like a newborn's cry. Within the Dragon Clan formation, seven Dragon Knights suddenly spewed Temporal Whale Brain Fluid, and their mounts mutated in Quantum Foam into massive tumor beasts. The Mo School war‑chariot formation emitted a metallic tearing sound, and the Divine Execution Crossbow's muzzle extended a fungal filament tongue, pulling its operator into its mouth.

"Hold the formation!" Ao Li's Boundary‑cutting Blade shattered the Golden Cauldron, the Blood Wine within turning into a fire phoenix that surged skyward. Purple Sky Immortal pointed his sword at the heavens, while Taiyi Pure Light bent midway, nailing three Lingxiao Pavilion elders to the Covenant Stele—its inscription oozing the palm imprint of a black‑haired infant.

The Witch Clan's blood‑sacrifice war drums suddenly ignited, and three hundred Bronze Coffins crawled from the drumheads. Ban Shu's mechanical prosthetic eye spewed oil: "The Creation Furnace... has been turned into a portal!" The moment the Coffin Lid opened, the Dark Abyss Society's puppet soldiers poured out in droves—each soldier's body covered in holy bone scales, with twin‑child phantoms flickering in their eye sockets.

Ao Li leapt onto the boiling remnants of the Golden Cauldron, her Dragon Horn piercing the Quantum Barrier: "This is the Dark Abyss Society's cognitive war!" Her voice echoed through twelve layers of dimension, yet half of the cultivators suddenly fell to their knees and vomited—spitting out flesh chunks filled with strategic secrets.

Lín Jìn's Vermilion Bird Ribbon ignited Nirvana Fire, melting the polluted Covenant Stele into a glassy state. The surface of the Stele displayed a live image of the Mother Nest: a silver‑haired infant feeding a black‑haired infant with chaotic spirit marrow, while the black‑haired infant excreted exactly the flesh chunks of information that the cultivators had vomited.

"The wine contains Gui Xu spores!" Elder Wu Xian tore open his own stomach, pulling out a blood‑soaked Cognitive Filter Net. The Buddhist Sect's relic tower suddenly collapsed, and Huiming Chan Master's golden body became overrun with fungal filaments: "Amitabha... is in your hearts..."

Ao Li's Boundary‑cutting Blade suddenly reversed, its edge thrust into her own chest, chaotic spirit marrow gushing out as a Star Chart: "Everyone, behold the true battlefield!" The Star Chart revealed a horrifying truth—the Oath‑raising Plaza had long been dragged into the Mother Nest cavity, and the "ground" beneath everyone's feet was actually the tongue coating of the Dark Abyss Society's leader.

Lingxiao Pavilion's guiding star lamps exploded at that moment, and Purple Sky Immortal burned his primal spirit to reshape the Taiyi Sword Soul: "Lingxiao disciples, obey, cut the cognitive shackles!" Where the sword light passed, the fungal masks on the cultivators' faces peeled away, exposing the rotting truth beneath—half of the attendees had already become the Dark Abyss Society's flesh puppets.

The Mo School giant Ban Shu's mechanical arm suddenly rebelled, firing a counterfeit Gui Xu Ruler that pierced his chest: "Cognition... was already..." His Last Testament was drowned by the volley of the Divine Execution Crossbow, and those bolts burst into bloom before reaching Ao Li, unfurling three hundred sixty screaming infant heads.

Ao Li's Dragon Scales stood upright like a blade formation, slashing the sky‑filled wailing infant heads. Lín Jìn's Star Sand spread to his throat, his voice tinged with Quantum noise: "The Mother Nest is birthing a new god through the Oath‑raising Assembly..."

The Dark Abyss Society leader's phantom rose from the blood pool, his abdomen splitting open to reveal twin‑child embryos fusing: "This Covenant Blood Wine..." He raised a fragment of the Golden Cauldron, which reflected the future of all participants being controlled by fungal filaments, "—the amniotic fluid of a new era."

Ao Li's Boundary‑cutting Blade suddenly burst with primordial light, cleaving the Mother Nest projection in two. One half fell into the Bronze Sea, becoming a burning Temporal Whale, while the other merged into chaotic spirit marrow: "Then let this amniotic fluid drown the heavens' gods and demons!"

The Oath‑raising Plaza disintegrated amid dimensional tremors, and everyone fell into a Quantum torrent. Just before the last ray of light vanished, the cultivators saw the Dark Abyss Society's puppet soldiers mutating—their spines cracked open, revealing umbilical cords toyed with by a silver‑haired infant, the cords' ends linked to everyone's heartbeat Pinqü.