Chapter 487: Reversed Tide, Dark Surge

When the seventh layer of light curtains rises over the Dragon Island barrier, patrolling Dragon Guard spot a humanoid on the wave crest. Those things have Ao Li's face but bear fish gills, and each wave that slams the barrier leaves black ice crystals. "It's black tide." The old dragon crushes the ice crystals, and among the fragments a miniature border Soul‑Requiem Tower floats, its body entwined with glowing vines.

1. Dragon Bone Outpost

Dragon Clan artisans are smelting meteoric iron to reinforce the eastern‑coast barrier, yet the tempered dragon breath always bends oddly at a certain direction. Crown Prince Ao Sheng reaches out to catch the wayward flame; the scales on his palm reflect a massive seabed diagram—exactly the mirrored form of the destroyed dark magic array. When he leads his squad into the deep sea, all Dragon Clan members' water‑repelling beads at their waists begin to bleed, and where the blood beads fall, the reflection of the Pavilion Master's council hall appears.

"Something is constructing an array in sync." Ao Sheng's dragon horn slices the surging black tide, and the severed tentacle dissolves into the shape of Shen Mo. As they retreat, seabed sand and stone suddenly assemble a Star Chart of nine stars in a line, each star the eyeball of a Dragon Clan warrior slain in battle.

2. Tears of the Mechanical Puppet

The earth fire of the Mo family workshop never ceases, and the newly forged Xuanwu battle armor's chest cavity leaks silver fluid. When an apprentice uses a magnet to draw the abnormal liquid, the metallic solution suddenly solidifies into five statues of Ao Li, all pointing toward the earth's depths. The mechanical elder activates a probe puppet to explore the mine, and the last image the puppet transmits is Shen Mo's back—he is embedding a serpentine fragment into a three‑dimensional array identical to Lingxiao Pavilion's sand table.

At midnight, all newly forged repeating crossbow magazines automatically inscribe blood‑colored runes. The Mo family patriarch pierces the mechanical core with a sword, and a half‑piece of a still‑shrinking snake shed falls out of the gear, its inner side bearing the time markings from Lín Jìn's pocket watch.

3. Twin‑Moon Outpost

Lingxiao Pavilion's watchtower, set in the Soul‑Fall Abyss, is undergoing spatial folding. Night‑watch disciples see two moons collide; where silver flakes fall, countless inverted black towers sprout, mirroring the newly built border Soul‑Requiem Tower of the northern realm. When they fire warning arrows, the arrows pierce a transparent barrier and bring back the stench of corpses from comrades who fell in battle three years ago.

"The defensive talisman is working in reverse." The stationed elder tears off the deformed talisman paper, and on its back appears the array pattern drawn by Shen Mo. When he tries to use a Transmission Jade Slip to contact the Grand Altar, the jade slip first emits the laughter of a dungeon snake demon: "The seventh tower is about to collapse, hehe…".

4. Border Reflection

While Ao Li is directing soldiers to form formations, his sword tip unintentionally slashes a farmer's shadow. The severed shadow begins to walk on its own, extracting a glowing seed from the wound and planting it into the defensive works. "These people are worshipping a two‑faced statue." Lín Jìn kicks open the farmer's cellar; on the altar, the statue's left face is metamorphosing into Ao Li's likeness.

The sensor array they set up reverses at the hour of 11:45, turning the defensive talisman into a summoning array. During a stormy night, Lín Jìn's pocket watch suddenly levitates halfway, its glass reflecting a scene thousands of li away— the true Master of the Xuanfeng Pavilion is suspended by chains at the center of a nine‑star formation, and five mirrored copies of Ao Li are tearing at his Soul.

Conclusion, Synchronous Crack

When the black tide of Dragon Island breaches the third layer of the barrier, all mechanical beasts of the Mo family workshop collectively turn north and sprint. In the gaps of the newly built frontier wall, the reflections of villagers begin to water the glowing vines. Ao Li's jade pendant suddenly explodes at a corner, and the flying shards pierce Lín Jìn's pocket watch; two Cracks finally join to form a complete serpentine Zhengtong.

A torrential downpour arrives, each raindrop reflecting a miniature Shenyuan Gate. The Xuanjing elder, supervising the construction of the border Soul‑Requiem Tower in the northern realm, suddenly screams; his pupils turn into a rotating Star Chart, and from his throat comes Shen Mo's voice: "The nine stars are about to return to their positions." At the same time, the snake demon at the deepest level of the dungeon breaks free of its last chain; from its shattered demon core floats half a pocket watch, the hour hand pointing to 11:45.