Chapter 383: Core Battle

The bronze floor tiles of the Nest Core suddenly liquefied, and the allied soldiers' ankles were devoured by viscous Chrono Whale Brain Fluid. The Dark Shenyuan Society leader floated out from the phantom of the birthing jade basin, his spine linked to three hundred sixty Bronze Coffins, each coffin projecting footage of allied soldiers being transformed into Nest organs.

"Cognition is a shackles." The leader's vocal cords vibrated with the Twin's quantum frequency; he raised his hand and hurled an Umbilical Sword forged from chaotic spirit marrow, "And you... were already imprisoned!"

Ao Li's Boundary-Cutting Blade met the sword edge; at the instant their blades clashed, the entire spacetime fell into absolute stillness. She saw the truth surfacing on the Sword Spine—every tactical simulation of the allied forces originated from the Nest's voluntarily released thought spores. Lín Jìn's Star Sand right hand suddenly erupted, and the Vermilion Bird Zhengtong formed a fatal warning in the air: "He is feeding a new god!"

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The Dark Shenyuan Society leader's abdomen split open, revealing a pulsating cosmic embryo within. The silver-haired infant's phantom wove a placenta from the allied soldiers' courage, while the black-haired infant painted an umbilical cord with the fallen's despair. The Pavilion Master's Taiyi Sword Soul thrust toward the embryo, but upon touching the amniotic membrane it transmuted into a nurturing bottle.

"Welcome to the naming ceremony~" the Twin poked its head out of the jade basin; the silver-haired infant's fingertip brushed Ao Li's dragon horn, "Sister, does 'God of Cognition' sound nice?"

The Mo family's God-slaying crossbow array suddenly reversed its muzzle, and Gong Xu Yan's mechanical head snarled from the Nest's dome. As the bolt left the string, the arrowhead opened fungal eyes, regurgitating the allied forces' tactical memories into nutrient fluid. Elder Wu Xian's Rebirth Drum self‑detonated at that moment, its drumskin fragments turning into three hundred gaping blood‑filled mouths that gnawed at the Pavilion Master's cultivator's Golden Pill.

"The breaking point is in the jade basin!" the Hēidòng's chest cavity of the Ruins swallowed three bolts, and spat out Lín Jìn's Star‑sand‑transformed right hand. That hand suddenly swelled, and Nirvana Fire burned Buddhist Sanskrit on the Nest's dome—"All phenomena are impermanent".

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Ao Li's dragon horn pierced the bronze floor tile, and the glow of chaotic spirit marrow seeped into the Nest's vessels. When Golden Blood resonated with the Dark Shenyuan Society leader's Umbilical Sword, the entire core area suddenly collapsed into an Shenyuan Return Ruler mirror image. The allied soldiers saw their own reflections in labor, and from the birth canal emerged Dark Shenyuan Society soldiers covered in fungal mycelium.

"Now!" Lín Jìn's remaining left hand thrust into his own chest cavity, pulling out a burning Vermilion Bird heart fire. The flame touched the Shenyuan Return Ruler mirror image, and all reflections suddenly surged, engaging their originals in a deadly clash. The silver-haired infant excitedly slapped the edge of the jade basin: "The winner of the Cognition War gets naming rights!"

Ao Li's Boundary-Cutting Blade suddenly softened, its blade winding around the black-haired infant's umbilical cord. She seized the cord and yanked the cosmic embryo out of the leader's body. At the moment the embryo hit the ground, all the Nest's Bronze Coffins opened simultaneously, extending billions of holy bone arms toward the allied forces.

"This is the moment!" Zixiao Immortal burned his Yuan Spirit, and the Taiyi Sword Soul transformed into a pillar of light reaching the heavens. The remnants of the Wu Clan detonated a blood‑sacrifice formation, and the Rebirth incantation flowed over the pillar's surface. Dragon Clan warriors collectively sliced their Inverse Scales, and the moral spectrum condensed into a Spear of Judgment.

The Dark Shenyuan Society leader's Umbilical Sword suddenly feathered into a Green Lotus, its heart bearing the Twin's playful phantom. Ao Li's chaotic spirit marrow hyper‑oscillated at this moment, and the markings of the Shenyuan Return Ruler crawled along the dragon pattern up the Spear of Judgment: "Let the ancient dragon souls be the guide!"

When the Spear of Judgment pierced the cosmic embryo, the entire Shenyuan Return Ruler rang with a newborn's wail. The silver-haired infant's phantom suddenly materialized, and creation power surged from the cry; the black-haired infant tore open the withered universe, and apocalyptic entropy swept the battlefield. The allied soldiers, caught between creation and annihilation, turned into Stardust, leaving only the strong who burned the primal source.

"Cognition... eternal..." The Dark Shenyuan Society leader's Last Testament was absorbed by the jade basin. The birthing jade basin suddenly expanded ten thousandfold, swallowing the Twin and the chaotic spirit marrow into its interior. Ao Li's Boundary-Cutting Blade pierced the basin's bottom, only to see three hundred miniature versions of herself floating inside, each replaying a tragic outcome born of different choices.

Lín Jìn's Residual Body quantum‑leapt at this moment, his Star‑sand‑transformed right hand pressing against Ao Li's forehead: "Time to wake..." Vermilion Bird Nirvana Fire poured in through the seven apertures, burning through the Nest's final cognition fog.

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The burning Nest's dome suddenly became transparent, revealing the terrifying external reality—what was called the Shenyuan Return battlefield was merely a toy sandbox floating within the Twin's cradle. The silver-haired infant clutched the black-haired infant's hand, manipulating the allied soldiers like tin figurines. Every "fallen" soldier turned into a light dot in their palms, pressed into the chaotic spirit marrow as if playing marbles.

Ao Li's dragon scales peeled away, revealing beneath a jade‑like holy bone true form. Her spine detached, becoming an Shenyuan Return Ruler that spanned past and present, its edge piercing the cradle's quantum barrier: "Dragon Clan heroic spirits, follow me to slay the god!"

Three hundred sixty ancestral Dragon souls leapt from the ruler's body, but before reaching the Twin they feathered into stardust. The black-haired infant sucked in the stardust, projecting the withered universe onto the Reality Dimension. The silver-haired infant suddenly inverted the jade basin, and the amniotic fluid pouring out flooded the battlefield— it was the conglomerate of all corrupted cognitions.

"Game over~" Amid the Twin's laughter, the surviving allied elites began to crystallize. Their lifelong cultivation condensed into cognition gems set into the cradle's frame. Ao Li's Boundary-Cutting Blade, at the final moment, pierced the jade basin, and within the glow of chaotic spirit marrow, the truth sleeping in the Chrono Whale's third fold was reflected:

The so‑called Dark Shenyuan Society was merely a scene in the Twin's billions‑of‑dolls theater. The true war had become a divine chess game ever since the Dragon Clan ancestors forged the holy bone into the Shenyuan Return Ruler.

When the Nest core was utterly extinguished, Ao Li cradled Lín Jìn's Star Sand remnants and fell into the Shenyuan Return chasm. Below them, a new jade basin was forming, its interior floating the next Reincarnation's cosmic embryo. The silver-haired infant's song rose from the bottom of the abyss:

"Sleep~ sleep~"

"Next round, you'll be the mother~"