Chapter 400: The Oasis Mystery

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At the instant the violet vines pierced the sand, foul black water gushed from the crack. Ao Li's World‑cutting Blade sliced the vines coiling toward his throat, and the spray at the cut was not sap but pus‑mixed blood tinged with Star Sand—flowing in the vines' vascular bundles was the Cerebrospinal Fluid of the allied soldiers, now polluted.

"Don't touch the sap!" Zixiao Real Person's sword light flashed like electricity, but the vines cut by Taiyi Pure Light quantum‑reassembled in midair. Two vines suddenly coiled around his ankle, and the moment the roots pierced his skin, the Dao realm of a sword cultivator after a hundred years of arduous cultivation manifested as a doodle of a silver‑haired infant.

####【Humic Abyss】

Gongxu Yue's mechanical arm launched a molecular saw; when the saw teeth touched the vines they suddenly reversed their spin. As she forced the vines apart, the entire oasis collapsed into a Klein Bottle Structure— the humus beneath everyone's feet turned transparent, revealing a horrifying sight three hundred meters below: the desert's lower layer was riddled with black stone veins resembling Neural Synapse, melting sand‑scorpion carapace and Residual Body of soldiers into a new Abyss Return Ruler embryo.

"Cognitive synchronization rate increased to 99%!" Qinglin's mechanical prosthetic eye leaked black mechanical fluid, and the modified God‑slaying crossbow abruptly reversed direction toward its companion. In his polluted visual sensor, every teammate transformed into a sand‑scorpion form with extra Compound Eyes on the forehead.

####【Nurturing Punishment】

The lake at the oasis's center suddenly boiled, and the black water coagulated into nursing tentacles. Two Qingfeng Valley disciples were swept by the tentacles toward the lake's heart; their flesh and blood crystallized the instant they touched the surface, turning into floating pages of the "Shadow Demon Classic". Lin Jin inserted his Star Sand‑right hand into the lakebed, but Nirvana Fire ignited the cognitive spores mixed in the water, and the burst of flame illuminated the lake's truth—three hundred crystallized camel skeletons were assembling the palm print of a black‑haired infant.

"Sever the neural core!" Ao Li's Inverse Scale exploded in full, and Golden Blood painted a fragmented projection of the Abyss Return Ruler in the air. When the World‑cutting Blade pierced the roots of the purple giant tree, the trunk split open a massive mouth, exposing a beating chaotic spiritual marrow—its surface crawled with game rules etched by twin children, each scar sucking the combat memories of the team members.

####【Old God Revival】

The roar from underground suddenly materialized, and from the cracked sand rose a colossal beast assembled from black stone and placenta. This monster bore the giant pincers of a sand scorpion, vine tentacles, and embedded in its forehead was the Celestial Globe of the Polaris Tower. When it swiped its claws, the void revealed seventy‑two crystallizing oases, each reflecting the gruesome death scenes of allied soldiers.

"Cognitive concretization…" Gongxu Yue's mechanical box erupted like a powder keg, self‑detonating, while the vaccine forged from time‑whale teeth burned like a blazing torch, scorching shocking marks across the monster's chest. "It is actually using our inner fears to reshape this brutal reality!"

Zixiao Real Person shone like a burning star, turning his primordial spirit into raging flames that drove the world‑shaking sword formation. Yet Taiyi Pure Light, at the moment of contact with the monster, was devoured like a black hole, instantly absorbed by Abyss Return Ruler's markings, vanishing without a trace. When the first blade of light attempted to pierce the black stone beast's scale armor, everyone gasped to find—the Celestial Globe on the monster's forehead, like a brilliant star, synchronized with crystallization sanctuaries across the continent, flashing at 100% scale, as if proclaiming its invincibility to the world.