Chapter 384: Hard-Fought Duel

The leader of the Dark Abyss Society's scepter is not a physical object, but woven from the dying wails of three hundred and sixty collapsing universes; the chaotic soul marrow fragments set into the staff head emit quantum noise of twin children at play, and each swing tears a cognitive wound in reality, and when Ao Li's World-Cutting Blade contacts the staff shaft, the blade edge begins to forget its own purpose of existence.

"Little Dragon Girl still doesn't understand?" the leader's vocal cords vibrate at the lullaby frequency of the silver‑haired infant, and where the scepter touches the ground blooms a cognitive poppy, "What you wield has never been a weapon, but an illusion we bestowed."

Ao Li's Dragon Scale suddenly grows in reverse, the protruding scales piercing flesh and bleeding jade marrow; she uses the pain as an Anchor Point, and the chaotic soul marrow lights an Abyss Return Ruler scar along her spine: "Dragon Clan Secret Technique·Time Reversal!" The area of ten zhang around her freezes in time, and the dark torrent swung by the scepter solidifies into a viscous Star Nebula.

####【Momentary Rift】

Within the fissure of absolute time stop, Ao Li sees the truth of the scepter's core— it is not a soul marrow fragment at all, but cosmic residue gnawed by the black‑haired infant. When the World-Cutting Blade pierces the residue, spacetime resumes its flow. The leader of the Dark Abyss Society's right shoulder erupts a cognitive wound, and from the wound gushes not blood but countless images of Ao Li's defeat from parallel timelines.

"Interesting..." the leader's voice suddenly switches to the infant's black‑haired child's childish tone, and the images at the wound suddenly become solid. Three hundred quantum copies of a defeated Ao Li crawl out of the wound, each bearing a tainted World-Cutting Blade, "Sister wants to kill herself how many times?"

Ao Li's Inverse Scale emitter overclocks, spewing not dragon flame but ancestral memories. As the torrent of memories washes over the copies, they suddenly kneel and sob— within those collapsed causities lie untainted tiny possibilities.

"Now!" Lín Jìn's Star Sand right hand suddenly disintegrates, and Nirvana Fire transforms into a long cry of the Vermilion Bird. The quantum copies metamorphose into light amid the clear wail, injecting Ao Li's chaotic soul marrow. The crack in the World-Cutting Blade instantly seals, and the blade surface reveals the encrypted Star Chart of the third fold of the Time Whale.

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The leader of the Dark Abyss Society's scepter suddenly elongates explosively, its shaft opening ninety‑six thousand fungal‑eye pupils. Each pupil releases an entropy‑increasing gale, and within the gale spin not sand but causal fragments of allied soldiers erased from history. Ao Li's dragon horns snap cleanly at this moment, and the jade marrow spewing from the break draws the Gui Xu Star Rail in the air.

"Dragon Clan Forbidden Art·Heart‑Excising Torch!" she thrusts the World-Cutting Blade into her chest, pulls out the beating heart and places it at the center of the Star Rail. The burning heart erupts with primordial aurora, turning the entropy‑increasing gale into a moral spectrum. The leader of the Dark Abyss Society's fungal pupils burst in succession, and the scepter's surface shows the silver‑haired infant's angry tear marks.

###

When the World-Cutting Blade pierces the leader's throat, the entire nest core suddenly falls silent. The black‑haired infant's phantom crawls out of the wound, its tiny hand pointing behind Ao Li: "Sister, turn around and look~"

Lín Jìn's Star Sand transformation has spread to his brow, the Vermilion Bird Zhengtong flickers uncertainly on his forehead. His left hand is thrust into his own chest, but what he pulls out is not a heart, but a causal Dice toyed with by the silver‑haired infant: "Time... to cast fate..."

Ao Li's Inverse Scales suddenly explode entirely, the jade marrow condenses in the void into a phantom of the Abyss Return Ruler. She grabs the ruler's phantom and thrusts it toward the Dice, but at the moment of contact she sees the ultimate truth— this duel is merely a shadow‑play staged by the twin children, each wound supplying birth nourishment to a new deity in the jade basin.

The leader of the Dark Abyss Society's Residual Body suddenly transfigures into light, merging into Ao Li's chaotic soul marrow. The silver‑haired infant's laughter echoes through the collapsing nest: "Do you like the Mother of Cognition's crown?"