Chapter 376: The River of Broken Cycles

Xu Yuan saw a deep, distant golden water river, drifting at the end of another world.

The golden water in the river was dense and murky, devoid of any radiance, any sense of nobility or splendor.

The golden water flowed and churned, evoking only a feeling of “weight, filth.”

By the lake of Qidou Village, the air boiled with chaos.

From the water surged forth pavilions, terraces, towers, cloud-bridges, and palaces, upon which stood figures of gods—all entirely golden, yet radiating only intense dissatisfaction, revulsion, hatred, and other dark emotions.

Yet from their general shapes, one could still discern that these were certain celestial deities from ancient Huangming legends!

“Why has it become like this?”

Xu Yuan was astonished.

Their entire beings—from divine bodies to robes and treasures—had been dyed the same color, soaked into the same state by the golden water.

It was as if… the malevolent forces of the mortal world had infected the living!

From the eaves, pillars, doors, and windows of those palaces, golden thorned branches continuously sprouted.

Some resembled antlers, some coral, some tentacles…

Ostensibly noble, yet grotesque.

Ostensibly revered, yet brimming with world-weariness.

This golden water river existed neither in the mortal world, nor the yin world, nor the turbid realm.

Xu Yuan did not know what world it was.

The palaces and gods seemed to have once slumbered within the golden water river, yet were suddenly awakened.

For some reason, they could hear the sounds emanating from the void above Qidou Village.

Among those gods, one high above emitted a piercing, disgusted cry.

Then he opened a birdcage beside him.

Inside the cage had once been kept, perhaps a parrot or a canary—but what emerged now was a horror beyond description!

Its entire body teemed with elements that inspired terror, heart-pounding revulsion, nausea.

As it flew out and reached toward the space of Qidou Village, Xu Yuan could not even discern whether what extended forth were claws, tentacles, sensory tendrils, chelae, wings, growths, or fissures…

Rongrong, Li Shu, and the others were all snatched across the void into the golden river.

Then they sank beneath the water, and not a sound remained.

All fell silent once more.

But the golden water river continued to surge—until it struck an invisible barrier somewhere.

The entire golden water river was repelled back.

Massive waves rose, drowning the palaces and gods alike.

Then the entire golden water river reversed course, returning to its original position.

This strange world seemed to have completed a cycle.

It returned to utter stillness.

In Xu Yuan’s right eye, it gradually blurred and faded, as if the entire world were drifting away, vanishing into the boundless sea of void.

Xu Yuan suddenly realized: those palaces and gods within the golden river, once “awakened,” must endure once more the agony of the river’s reversal.

Thus, after being awakened, they harbored boundless revulsion and hatred toward anything that caused such disturbance.

They slaughtered them without hesitation.

This golden river seemed to be… the river of time.

Those gods and palaces were trapped within this segment of time.

Their divine radiance had vanished entirely; only intense malice and hatred remained.

Repeatedly reversing, they ultimately collapsed, twisted, and mutated!

Those familiar figures… might truly be the true deities of ancient Huangming legends.

The murky, viscous golden water had drowned countless ancient, dark secrets.

Now, with eerie phenomena rampant across the land, although "Door Gods" could still protect believers at night,

one could not help but wonder: had the divine path already collapsed?

But if these truly were the “true gods,” how could they be so easily trapped within a segment of the river of time?

Many true gods should possess the ability to freely navigate the river of time.

Xu Yuan suddenly thought of another possibility: they had been betrayed.

Betrayed along with this segment of the river of time.

Not only were they trapped—this segment of the river of time had been cut and imprisoned as well.

For a moment, Xu Yuan dared not recall Pi Long.

He was even confused: shouldn’t Pi Long have been taken too?

Pi Long was also one of the culprits who disturbed these gods.

Pi Long slowly sank into the lakebed.

Xu Yuan could not understand why.

If the things within the golden river reacted only to living beings—why had the entire Qidou Village been snatched away in one claw?

The village contained many inanimate objects.

But since they did not take Pi Long, Xu Yuan was, of course, grateful.

Not understanding the reason didn’t matter.

Pi Long was precious; though Xu Yuan had prepared from the start to lose this treasure, preserving it was naturally better.

That patch of space had drifted far and vanished; Xu Yuan could no longer see it with the Yin-Yang Guillotine alone.

After the golden river reversed, the palaces and gods sank, and calm returned.

Yet suddenly, several bubbles rose gurgling from the water.

It seemed something beneath the surface was conversing, deliberating.

…

Gao Guanzi fled in disgrace to the agreed location.

He dashed into the forest and ran without pause.

Using the trees for cover, he sprinted miles without stopping.

Behind him lay large pools of blood.

The mysterious entity in the lake seemed uninterested in him.

It had merely seized Rongrong and the others and dragged them away.

Even after the lake calmed, Gao Guanzi dared not pause a moment—he ran as if his life depended on it.

When he reached the place where he had agreed to meet Master Xu, he was utterly exhausted.

His wounds had not been bandaged; he had lost so much blood he was half-unconscious.

As he collapsed, he slowly exhaled, thinking he might be dying…

In a daze, he suddenly saw Master Xu’s figure appear before him.

Master Xu fed him a pill.

He felt somewhat better, but the wound on his neck continued to spurt blood.

Tian Jing looked, then said: “Bear with it.”

Then thin roots pierced his neck, stitching and wrapping the wound shut.

Gao Guanzi fainted from the pain.

Tian Jing did not think his method too brutal; instead, he said: “Fainting is better.”

Tian Jing’s method was certainly effective.

The bleeding had stopped.

The wound on Gao Guanzi’s forehead was not serious—it had already clotted on its own.

While stitching Gao Guanzi’s wound, Tian Jing had quietly “examined” his bodily structure.

Inside his skull was no brain, only auxiliary organs for the ears and a mass of blood vessels.

The brain was likely hidden somewhere in his chest.

Tian Jing’s thoughts shifted: this bodily structure bore a resemblance to some malevolent entity in the mountains…

Tian Jing understood the principle of “seeing through but saying nothing,” and kept the matter to himself.

(End of Chapter)