N-M Chapter 993 Its Laughter
Chapter 993 Its Laughter
This smile was completely different from before—no longer mimicking human expressions, no longer deliberately contorting the curves of muscles, but rather the entire face slowly split open in a way that defied physiological structure, revealing dense clusters of fluorescent blue crystals beneath the skin, like a piece of ore cut in half. The laughter it emitted surged from deep within its throat, low and eerie, as if something was slowly churning in the darkness deep underground.
"You are very clever." Its voice changed, no longer the hoarse human voice, but a multi-layered, eerie voice that seemed to be several different voices overlapping simultaneously. "Cleverer than others. That little array master was clever too, but his cleverness caused him more pain. And your cleverness—makes you more dangerous."
Its gaze slowly shifted from Lin Qiye, sweeping over Mo Yuan, then over Ajiu, and finally landing on the real Mr. Xun. That gaze carried a condescending scrutiny, like a predator eyeing its prey, and also a complex, indescribable meaning.
"But it doesn't matter," it said. "You've already come this far, which means you've entered its range of perception. Whether you believe me or not, no matter what you choose, the outcome will be the same."
"What's the ending?" Mo Yuan asked in a deep voice.
The monster slowly turned its head, its fluorescent blue eyes staring directly at Mo Yuan, and said, word by word, "He's awake."
Three words.
Three extremely simple words.
But the instant those three words were uttered, everyone froze simultaneously. It wasn't because they heard any sound, nor because of any unusual movement around them, but rather a more primal, more instinctive reaction—as if something that had slumbered for countless ages had finally opened its eyes the moment those three words were spoken.
The resonance within Lin Qiye's body suddenly surged at this moment.
The resonance he had previously suppressed deep within his dantian, connected to some being deep within the Bone Tower, exploded violently like a ignited powder keg. His heart clenched and then swelled, as an indescribable wave surged from the depths of the Bone Tower, piercing through layers of rock walls and the void, striking his soul with pinpoint accuracy.
He heard a heartbeat.
Deep, resonant, and slow—extremely slow, with each beat spaced more than ten breaths apart. Yet each heartbeat made the entire world tremble, caused the fluorescent blue harmonics in the air to fluctuate violently, and made the earth beneath their feet emit a deep hum.
That's not a human heartbeat.
It's not even the heartbeat of any known organism.
Something older, grander, and more indescribable was awakening from its slumber.
What startled Lin Qiye the most was that the rhythm of that heartbeat resonated with the Blood Demon power within him. It wasn't a random resonance, but an extremely precise frequency match, like two gears that originally belonged to the same system, finally meshing together again after being separated for countless years.
"Did you hear that?" the monster asked with a laugh, its voice filled with an almost manic pleasure. "He's awake. Your arrival, your activities around the Bone Tower these past few days, the fluctuations of primal energy you've released—finally woke him up."
Mo Yuan's expression changed drastically. He turned sharply to Master Xun and asked sternly, "Can you sense the fluctuations of Origin Qi from the direction of the Bone Tower?"
Mr. Xun snapped back to his senses and almost instinctively raised his short staff, pouring the last bit of his Origin Qi into it. The blue crystal at the tip of the staff burst forth with a dazzling light, and a wave of energy stronger than any previous probe surged into the depths of the mountain range.
Then, the expression on his face froze.
The light from the blue crystal, at its brightest moment, suddenly turned fluorescent blue—the same fluorescent blue as the crystal clusters on the outskirts of the Canggu Mountains that were contaminated by harmonics. Then, a crack appeared on the surface of the crystal, followed by a second, a third—and with a crash, the crystal shattered into countless fragments in his hand.
Mr. Xun coughed up a mouthful of blood and staggered back several steps, only managing to stay upright thanks to A-Jiu's instinctive support. He looked up at Mo Yuan, his eyes filled with an emotion he had never seen before—fear. Pure, undisguised fear that seeped from his very bones.
"The Bone Tower... the Bone Tower is moving." His voice was hoarse and trembling. "No—it's not the Bone Tower that's moving. It's something inside the Bone Tower that's moving upwards. It's rising from the depths of the tower to the surface, very fast, and the intensity of the source energy fluctuations... is incalculable. My detection array was shattered by the backlash the moment it touched its body, like... like trying to measure the heat of a volcano with a candle."
Mo Yuan's pupils contracted sharply.
He had experienced countless missions and seen all kinds of dangers, but he had never encountered a terrifying being that could cause the chief array master of the Overwatch Council to have his array stones shattered by a backlash just from a single probe.
"Retreat." His decision took less than a breath. "Everyone, retreat immediately, return the way you came!"
But before he could finish speaking, an even more violent tremor came from deep within the rock wall beneath his feet.
This tremor was completely different from the one that occurred when the giant bone-armored insects burrowed into the ground—it was deeper, more immense, and more pervasive. It wasn't just a single point on the ground shaking; the entire Azure Bone Mountain Range was trembling. The natural dome overhead, formed from weathered bone layers, emitted a teeth-grinding cracking sound as fragments of bone continuously fell from above, crashing onto the rocky platform and sending up sprays of gravel and dust.
The monster on the rock wall suddenly let out an extremely mournful howl.
That wasn't a prelude to an attack, but rather a kind of fear.
It is also afraid.
Pinned to the rock face, unable to move, its fluorescent blue eyes fixed on the depths of the mountains, the sounds emanating from its mouth growing increasingly shrill and distorted, like a plea or a curse. Its body began to tremble violently, the fluorescent blue crystal clusters embedded beneath its skin flashing wildly, their light flickering as if forced to resonate with some higher being.
"He's coming—he's coming—he's already sensed it—you can't escape—no one can escape—" Its voice was completely distorted, no longer human language, but a chaotic murmur mixed with countless overlapping voices.
Lin Qiye didn't wait for Mo Yuan to repeat himself. Almost the instant Mr. Xun said "the Bone Tower is moving," he began to leap backward, his speed even faster than when he escaped from the direction of the Bone Tower last time. His gaze quickly scanned the path he had come from—the narrow crevice in the rock wall. As long as he passed through there, he could return to the relatively open outer perimeter of the Bone Pass.
But he had only taken a few steps when he suddenly stopped.
Because the narrow crevice they came through has disappeared.
What should have been the entrance to the fissure is now just a smooth, black rock wall, without any cracks or gaps, as if the fissure had never existed.