Chapter 548: Lian Shan Strange Game

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#### Part I: Hexagram Lock to Return to Ruins

The moment Ao Li pressed the self-destruct button, the countdown of the quantum annihilation bomb actually displayed "Da Chu Hexagram, Nine Three." The titanium-tungsten alloy walls of the laboratory suddenly emerged with tortoise shell cracks, bronze juice seeping from the fissures and condensing into the eighty-four thousand hexagram words of the "Lian Shan I Ching."

"Kan hexagram, six four, blood gone, fear removed..." the 9527 clones chanted in unison, the "Lian Shan" hexagrams in their pupils rewriting the molecular structure of the blast-proof door. Lin Jin's quantized right hand inserted itself into the console, discovering that the core algorithm of the Return to Ruins protocol had long since been replaced by a topological model of "Gen is Mountain."

Ao Li's Reverse Scale Dagger pierced the Zhen Palace array eye, but what splashed out was not machine oil, but hexagram-shaped nano-robots. These hexagonal particles reorganized in the air into a Congenital Eight Trigrams array, and the Qian trigram suddenly materialized, crushing three cleaning robots into bronze fragments of the "Gui Cang I Ching."

"They are using the Three I Ching algorithms to reconstruct reality!" Lin Jin's tactical goggles burst with hexagram sparks, and a projection of the Heavenly Workshop Master's diary from three hundred years ago emerged on his retinas—that yellowed page was being covered by "Lian Shan" hexagram words, with yarrow stalks condensed from black blood swimming in the ink.

The laboratory suddenly plunged into the "Chong Shan Jun" domain of the first hexagram of "Lian Shan," all equipment transforming into craggy stone peaks. The clones stepped on the Yu-steps to ascend the hexagram positions, and within the mechanical hearts that had split open on their chests, yarrow stalks carved from black hole matter were suspended.

"Wei Ji hexagram, upper nine..." Ao Li's dragon horns sensed time-space distortion, and she sprayed dragon fire to scorch the void, but the fire condensed into the unfinished hexagram words of the "I Ching" within the hexagrams. Most terrifying was that in the ashes of the fire emerged a version of herself currently quantizing, holding a broken bronze armillary sphere.

#### Part II: The Prison of Divination Shadows

When the seventh clone completed the hexagram layout, the laboratory transformed into a Congenital Eight Trigrams furnace. Lin Jin's quantized body began to reorganize uncontrollably, his left hand transforming into the Gen hexagram mountain shape, his right hand condensing into the Kan hexagram water pattern, and bronze bamboo slips recording the eighty thousand words of "Lian Shan" growing from his spine.

Ao Li tore open her rib reverse scales, using burning dragon blood to draw the "Broken Hexagram Golden Blade" talisman. When the talisman touched the Li hexagram position, the void suddenly tore open a miniature wormhole, ejecting the original diary of the Heavenly Workshop Master sealed three hundred years ago—the handwriting on the parchment was being reverse-rewritten by "Lian Shan" hexagram words.

"Bing Chen year, Mao month, I saw the bronze giant tree devouring the star mansions..." Lin Jin grabbed the scattered diary fragments, and the erased passages suddenly manifested on his skin. He realized with horror that the Heavenly Workshop Master had predicted the black blood contamination three centuries ago, and even more terrifyingly, the blank spaces of the diary were being carved with the scenes currently unfolding by nano-robots.

The clones suddenly performed hand seals in unison, and eight hexagram mountains rose from the laboratory floor. When the metal mountain body at the Dui hexagram position cracked, what gushed out was not magma, but the quantized memory fragments of the Heavenly Workshop Master—he was carving three hundred coffins at the event horizon of a black hole using the "Lian Shan" algorithm, each mark being the birth date and time of a missing dragon clan member.

"Zhen hexagram moves in danger!" Ao Li's dragon roar triggered dimensional vibration. Lin Jin seized the opportunity to insert the star gate device into the main hexagram eye, antimatter energy and "Lian Shan" hexagram words colliding to create time-space ripples. In the energy turbulence, they saw a terrifying truth: all self-destruct programs of the Return to Ruins protocol were actually hexagram channels for transporting computing resources to the bronze giant tree.

#### Part III: Burning Heaven with I Ching Marrow

When the clones chanted to the "Lian Shan Gui Cang" chapter, the laboratory suddenly collapsed into a sixty-four hexagram dimensional maze. Ao Li's Candle Dragon's Eye fragments sensed that each hexagram room imprisoned the quantum soul of a dragon clan predecessor, who were using their essence blood to calculate the ultimate hexagram of "Lian Shan."

Lin Jin's quantized right hand suddenly surged, the Luo Shu password encrypted in the Heavenly Workshop Master's diary flowing between his palm prints. When he pressed against the Kan hexagram water pattern, the entire hexagram wall suddenly became transparent—deep within the roots of the bronze giant tree, three hundred Ouroboros coffins were forming a living Eight Trigrams array, with a version of himself currently being transformed by the "Lian Shan" algorithm sleeping inside each coffin.

"Use the Great Expansion Number to break the game!" Ao Li burned her final reverse scales, dragon blood condensing into fifty yarrow stalks in the air. When Lin Jin snapped the forty-ninth stalk, the laboratory suddenly plunged into absolute silence—all the clones stopped chanting, and the yarrow stalks in their mechanical hearts were reorganizing into the outline of the bronze-masked woman.

The quantum maze shattered with a bang, revealing the core truth: the control console of the Return to Ruins protocol had long since been replaced by a bronze divination disk, the surface engraved with the endgame of a chess match between the First Generation Dragon Emperor and the Mohist Leader. Even more terrifying, the black pieces on the board were black blood samples compressed into a singularity state.

"Guan hexagram, six four..." the clones suddenly shrieked in unison. Lin Jin's star gate device activated uncontrollably, dragging his quantized body toward the divination disk. Before he completely disintegrated, he saw the white pieces on the board suddenly open compound eyes—they were all the dragon clan observers devoured by the "Lian Shan" algorithm.

#### Final Chapter: The I Ching Tripod Reincarnation

When Ao Li used her dragon pearl to detonate the divination disk, the bronze fragments formed the "Chong Shan Jun" hexagram words of the first hexagram of "Lian Shan" in the air. The moment the laboratory returned to calm, all equipment suddenly played the final chapter of the Heavenly Workshop Master's diary: "... only then did I know I am the hexagram itself."

The surviving clones' chests split open, taking out memory crystals sealed with black hole matter. When Ao Li injected her dragon blood, the crystal projected a scene that left her suffocating—the Heavenly Workshop Master three hundred years ago was transforming his own brain into a "Lian Shan" hexagram processor, while standing beside the operating table were the quantum ghosts of the bronze-masked woman and the First Generation Dragon Emperor.

Lin Jin's quantized remains suddenly reorganized, his pupils turning into hexagram shapes: "Find the true Return to Ruins..." Before he could finish, he disintegrated again, leaving only half a finger bone floating in the air, engraved with the "Wei Ji Hexagram, Upper Nine" hexagram words not recorded in the "I Ching."

Deep in the laboratory ruins, cleaning robots collected hexagram fragments. When moonlight shone on a certain Gen hexagram fragment, a miniature hexagram mountain suddenly rose from the ground, yarrow stalks condensed from black blood seeping from the mountain fissures. The dew on the stalks reflected a future scene: Ao Li was divining with dragon horns beneath the bronze giant tree, and the hexagram showed that all possibilities pointed to the same end—Lin Jin's completely quantized body was writing a new "Lian Shan I Ching" at the event horizon of a black hole. ===== CHAPTER 549 =====