Chapter 138: The Truth Revealed in a Confrontation Before the Emperor

Shen Yan knelt at the edge of the cracks on the floor of the Golden Luan Hall, his right hand still pressed firmly against the ground. The Code Flow on the screen of his left hand flickered like dying fireflies, bright one moment and dim the next. Every meridian in his body felt as if it had been pierced by red-hot iron wires, and every inch of his muscles convulsed. Yet he knew—he could not fall now.

The God-Slaying Patch had been initiated, and the nine Dragon Qi nodes deep underground were violently shaking. Blood-red Runes spread in circles, as if the entire imperial palace had become the heart of an Altar.

Just then, a cold laugh echoed from above.

“Do you really think that pathetic program you wrote can stop fate?”

Xie Wujiu emerged from the blood mist, the demonic patterns on his right arm now spreading to his neck. The bluish-black blood vessels twisted and writhed like Vines, making him look like a judge who had crawled out of hell. He crushed a jade tile underfoot, and in his hand, an ancient scroll glowing with purple light materialized.

“With royal blood as the guide, the Dragon Qi of the nine veins as the foundation, and Yu Xiaotang’s heart as the Key—today, I will personally open the door to the Demon Lord’s true form!”

Before his words faded, he ripped open his robe, revealing an inverted pentagram brand on his chest that perfectly resonated with the Formation beneath the ground. In an instant, the imperial guards’ eyes rolled back, their bodies uncontrollably Floating into the air before exploding with a “bang” into pillars of blood, all pouring into the void.

A hazy yet overwhelmingly oppressive shadow slowly coalesced, Floating above the Golden Luan Hall—it was a Projection of the Demon Lord!

Gritting his teeth, Shen Yan forced himself up, blood from his nose dripping onto the screen of his phone and splattering into dark red blossoms. He tried to summon the Countermeasure Program but found his Source Code Spiritual Root responding sluggishly, his Mental Power nearly exhausted.

“No… If this continues, the emperor will be drained, and the entire imperial city will become a sacrifice…”

Just as his consciousness was about to shatter, his phone suddenly automatically opened an encrypted folder he had never seen before.

【Father’s Legacy·Heavenly Dao Guardian.exe】

As soon as the Interface opened, a line of text flashed across:

“When the four veins Resonate, the source code is the key.”

Shen Yan’s pupils contracted sharply. “Four veins resonating? What does that mean… Wait—”

He suddenly looked up, his gaze sweeping across the four corners of the hall.

Ye Zhao was pinned in a corner by the backlash of Sword Qi, fragments of the Frost Soul Sword embedded beside her. Her face was deathly pale, yet she still stared intently in his direction. Pei Yue was slumped beside the emperor, the last Silver Needle still pinched between her fingertips, clearly having exhausted her Spiritual Power. Luo Li knelt on the other side, her Demon Power suppressed by the blood Formation so thoroughly she couldn’t even lift her tail. As for Yu Xiaotang…

From deep underground, a faint pulse of Bloodline energy came, as if someone was gently tapping on a wall in the darkness.

“So that’s it!” Shen Yan grinned, his mouth full of blood. “You’re all waiting for my signal?”

He bit the Tip of his Tongue hard, spitting out a mouthful of vital blood that traced a brief Rune path in the air—not an attack, nor a defense, but a source code frequency band Resonance Signal only they could understand.

“If you can hear this, respond to me—in your own way!”

In the next instant, a sudden change occurred.

Ye Zhao’s eyes snapped open. The fragments of the Frost Soul Sword in her palm buzzed and trembled, reassembling themselves into a half-formed sword of light. The Sword Qi condensed into a binary barrier, forcefully tearing through the blood threads that bound her!

Pei Yue trembled as she raised her hand, inserting the final silver needle into her brow. The Dark Jade Cold Pulse instantly revived, a clear and chilling energy surging straight into her Consciousness Sea. She chanted a low incantation—using her own body as a medium, she forcibly awakened Medicine Valley’s secret technique, the “Return to Origin Retrospection Art”!

Luo Li roared, her Nine Tails Demon Power shattering the Seal. Purple Flames ignited, the silver bells on her ankle chains ringing wildly. She slammed a fist into the ground, cracking three fiery fissures, burning away the blood threads that had entangled her!

From the deepest underground altar, a faint yet clear flash of a rune pierced through the darkness, shooting straight forward—Yu Xiaotang, mustering the last shred of her consciousness, had unleashed a reverse transmission of the “Oath-Keeping Rune”!

Four streams of energy, simultaneous and unhesitating, poured into Shen Yan’s phone Terminal.

“Here it comes!” he shouted, slamming both hands onto the ground and channeling all his Mental Power into the System.

The Terminal Interface expanded with a roar, transforming into a massive, flowing light screen. Data Streams wildly intertwined: Ye Zhao’s Sword Qi constructed the blade’s framework, Pei Yue’s medical toxins condensed into a purification module, Luo Li’s Demon Power formed the core engine, and Yu Xiaotang’s Talisman Art wove the control logic—until finally, a light sword composed of Fluid Code slowly took shape within the Data Torrent.

The blade was transparent, countless characters scrolling within, like a log of the entire Heavenly Dao’s operation.

“This thing… is even cooler than the first HelloWorld I ever wrote.” Shen Yan grinned, reaching out to grasp the hilt.

In that instant, power flowed back.

The pain remained, but he stood up.

With his first step, the cracks beneath his feet split wider; with his second, spiderweb-like fissures appeared across the dome above; with his third, he leaped, raising the light sword high, aiming straight at the black Contract link between Xie Wujiu and the Demon Lord’s phantom.

“You say fate cannot be changed?” he sneered, the sword’s edge slicing through the air. “Then today, I’ll write you a new Version!”

Xie Wujiu’s face changed abruptly. He waved his hand, summoning a giant claw of poisonous mist to intercept, but the moment it touched the light sword, it evaporated like snow meeting boiling water.

“Impossible! How could you mobilize the power of all four lineages?!”

“Simple.” Shen Yan’s gaze sharpened like a blade. “You rely on sacrifice and control, while I—rely on their willingness to trust me.”

The instant the sword’s edge touched the black thread, a System Notice sounded:

Detected illegal Contract binding, forcibly dissolved…

“No—!” Xie Wujiu howled, trying to reinforce the link, but the black thread shattered inch by inch, emitting a crisp sound like shattering glass.

The Demon Lord’s phantom twisted violently, letting out a piercing shriek as its form began to Collapse. The entire Golden Luan Hall shook intensely, the Dragon Qi shifting from dark purple to ashen gray, the energy feedback from the nine Nodes severing one after another.

“It’s over.” Shen Yan landed, kneeling on one knee, propping himself up with the light sword planted on the ground. The blade still hummed.

Xie Wujiu’s right arm exploded, blood spraying as he was sent flying backward, crashing heavily against a dragon pillar. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, yet he still laughed.

“You think… cutting one thread is enough?” He coughed up blood, raising his remaining left hand to point deep underground. “The ritual was merely advanced… Her heartbeat hasn’t stopped… As long as the third ingredient still beats, the Demon Lord will eventually return.”

Shen Yan’s breath caught.

The third ingredient… was Yu Xiaotang’s heart?

He looked down at his phone. The Terminal’s final line of Notice quietly appeared:

“Bond synchronization completed.

Backup Memory activated.

Read ‘Xiaotang’s Last Words’?”

His finger hovered over the confirm button, hesitating to press down.

Ye Zhao leaned against a broken pillar, panting, yet her gaze never left him. Before losing consciousness, Pei Yue’s final act had been to insert a silver needle into the emperor’s Dan Zhong Point, sealing the last trace of Dragon Qi from dissipating. Luo Li’s ears lay flat against her head, her tail drooping weakly to the ground, yet she still struggled to maintain her Half-Demon form, warily eyeing Xie Wujiu’s direction.

And deep underground, that faint thread of Bloodline Resonance, so weak it was almost imperceptible, remained unbroken.

Shen Yan slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, only resolve remained in his gaze.

He pressed the confirm button.

The phone screen lit up, and the first line of text slowly appeared:

“Brother Shen, if you’re seeing this, it means I can’t tell you in person anymore.”

His fingers trembled slightly.

The second line appeared:

“Actually, I never dared to say it, but every time I helped you modify the Code, I secretly encoded my own heartbeat frequency into the shield Algorithm.”

The hall fell silent, with only the lingering glow of light swords swirling in the air.

The third line surfaced:

“So don’t think about Formatting the entire System… because my life has long been bound to your Program.”

Shen Yan’s throat tightened, and just as he was about to continue reading, the narrow crack in the dome above suddenly erupted with a violent purple light.

An invisible wave swept down, instantly freezing the phone’s Interface.

He looked up and saw, faintly visible within the crack, the Outline of a massive scroll, as though countless Memory Fragments were swirling and sinking within it.

And beneath his feet, the blood seeping from the cracks in the floor tiles slowly formed two words—

Abyss.

(End of Chapter)