Chapter 132: Code Clash in the Golden Hall

Shen Yan stared at the small line of text that had quietly appeared at the edge of his phone screen, his finger hovering over the confirm button, not daring to press it. It wasn’t that he was afraid—it was mainly because this System was too unreliable. Last time, it popped up with “New Protocol Loading,” which directly caused him to convulse on the spot for three minutes, nearly vomiting out his dinner from the night before in the form of Code.

But now, there was no choice.

Xie Wujiu was pinned to the coiling dragon pillar, yet a smile still hung at the corner of his mouth. Suddenly, the sleeve of his right arm exploded—a purplish-black demonic pattern crawled up his muscles like a living snake, instantly wrapping around his neck. The ground cracked with a sharp sound, and a circle of eerie Runes spread out from beneath the dragon throne, covering the entire hall in the blink of an eye.

【Warning: Nightmare Soul-Corroding Array Activated】

【Permission Hijacking Progress: 37%】

【Targets Locked: Ye Zhao, Pei Yue, Luo Li, Yu Xiaotang】

As soon as these lines popped up on the Terminal, Shen Yan heard an unusual noise behind him. Turning around, he saw that the imperial guards originally stationed at the periphery now had reddened eyes. They raised their swords in unison, their footsteps as synchronized as if pulled by the same string, charging straight toward them.

What was worse, from the corner of his eye, Shen Yan noticed Ye Zhao’s sword tip trembling, the bells in Pei Yue’s Medicine Pouch ringing on their own, the silver bells on Luo Li’s tail jingling in a chaotic rhythm, and the edges of the last Talisman Paper in Yu Xiaotang’s hand turning black and curling.

They were all having their Energy drained!

“Damn, are you trying to rip out all four of my external tools right here?” Shen Yan gritted his teeth. “Do you think I’m a cloud Server that you can just call on at will?”

He quickly inserted the jade Key into the side slot of his phone. The Interface flashed, switching to deep scan mode. A light screen expanded, instantly visualizing the flow of Spiritual Energy throughout the entire Golden Hall—a thick Data chain extended from beneath the dragon throne straight into the ground, while faint Light Strands drifting from the four women were being forcibly connected to this main channel.

“Just as I thought, using Dragon Qi as bandwidth—the entire palace is just a running platform.” Shen Yan sneered. “Old man, your architecture design is pretty wild.”

But despite his mockery, he knew he couldn’t delay any longer. Single-point defense had long since failed; he had to Refactor the entire defense system.

Closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, a door that had never been opened before slowly surfaced in his mind—the most dangerous segment of Comment left by his father flickered with red light: “Cross-Cultivation Technique API Interface—Unlocked. Recommended to never enable.”

“Recommendation is just a recommendation. I’m going to try it anyway.” He bit the Tip of the Tongue, the taste of blood stimulating his nerves as he forcibly broke through the mental barrier. “Invoke Permission: Sword Sect·Frost Soul Resonate, Medicine Valley·Mystic Jade Reflux, Demon Clan·Nine Tails Heart Seal, Talisman Master·Spiritual Patterns Resonance—Execute Protocol: Four Symbols Evil-Cleansing·Antivirus Mode!”

As the words fell, his head felt as if it had been struck by a hammer.

Blood instantly gushed from his nostrils, the Code Flow in his vision wildly misaligned, and even the Terminal Notices turned into garbled text. He staggered, nearly falling to his knees.

Even more terrifying, all four women groaned simultaneously.

Ye Zhao’s Frost Soul Sword in her hand buzzed and trembled, the Sword Qi rebounding and cutting her own wrist; Pei Yue’s Silver Needles shot out uncontrollably, piercing her own palm; Luo Li’s Demon Tail bristled, Purple Flame spiraling out of control and scorching a section of fur; Yu Xiaotang’s last Talisman Paper burst into flames with a snap, turning to black ash along with half a string of Candied Hawthorn.

Everything collapsed!

“No good… the synchronization precision is too high; the System can’t handle it.” Shen Yan wiped the blood from his face, his head hurting as if an eight-core CPU were Overclocking. “Need to change the approach.”

He suddenly opened his eyes, staring at the remaining marks on his arm—the bell patterns left by Pei Yue during the energy transfer, the fragments of sword intent embedded when Ye Zhao blocked an attack for him, the residual warmth of demonic fire from when Luo Li carried him to escape, and the lingering talisman power traces from when Yu Xiaotang’s talisman blast singed his hair.

“Not aiming for perfect synchronization, only seeking instantaneous resonance!” he roared, rewriting the access logic. “Cache data bridging, all routed through me as the relay!”

In an instant, the four forces no longer connected directly to the system but converged within him. Under the transformation of his source code spiritual root, they were uniformly compiled into a high-energy antivirus code.

White light erupted from his chest.

Like a data storm descending, a spiral pillar of light swirled at the center of the Golden Luan Hall, violently colliding with the sky full of purple-black demonic patterns. The air emitted a piercing tearing sound, guards fell in rows, and the nodes of the demonic pattern array exploded one after another.

Xie Wujiu threw his head back and roared, the demonic patterns on his right arm beginning to crack, blood seeping through the fissures.

“If you can’t touch their energy, then touch mine!” Shen Yan stood at the center of the storm, his phone held high above his head, his voice hoarse yet carrying a laugh. “Welcome to—the full-stack counter-kill scene!”

Boom!

The entire hall shook violently, the floor tiles beneath the dragon throne shattered completely, revealing a deep, dark entrance. A data torrent surged upward, sweeping Xie Wujiu off his feet and slamming him against a hall pillar.

The purple light extinguished, the guards’ eyes cleared, and they collapsed to the ground.

The storm gradually subsided. Shen Yan’s knees gave way, and he knelt in the pile of rubble, his phone screen still flickering, alarm beeps echoing. He gasped for breath, his fingers digging tightly into the ground, afraid that if he loosened his grip, he would completely lose consciousness.

Ye Zhao was the first to rush over, kneeling on one knee to support his shoulder, her fingertips still trembling slightly. “Are you still alive?”

“Of course,” he grinned, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. “I’m the man… who wrote seven thousand lines of defense code.”

Pei Yue quickly crouched down beside him, placing a hand on his wrist, her brow furrowed tightly. “Spiritual root overload. If you hold on for ten more breaths, you’ll turn into a dried husk.” As she spoke, a gentle stream of energy slowly flowed from her palm, helping stabilize his meridians.

Luo Li stood three steps away, her tail singed at the tip, her ears flattened against her scalp, but her eyes never left the corner of the hall. “Xie Wujiu isn’t dead. There’s an undercurrent fluctuation underground.”

Yu Xiaotang peeked out from behind a pillar, clutching a crumpled talisman paper in her hand, her voice small. “Brother Shen… I still have a life-saving talisman. Do you want it?”

“Keep it,” Shen Yan waved his hand weakly, struggling to lift his head and look at the relief behind the dragon throne—within the pillar entwined with a phoenix, the faint outline of a hidden passage could be seen.

Just then, Xie Wujiu leaned against a broken pillar, the demonic patterns on his right arm dim and on the verge of shattering, yet he still managed a cold smile. “Code… will eventually decay.”

Shen Yan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, stared at him, and suddenly laughed. “Then guess—has the backup I just uploaded already been sent to every talisman outlet in the city?”

Xie Wujiu’s pupils contracted.

In the next moment, the ground beneath his feet collapsed, and he was swept into the depths by an undercurrent, disappearing without a trace.

The hall fell silent once more, only residual data streams drifting like fireflies.

Shen Yan tried to stand up, leaning on Ye Zhao’s hand, but his legs gave way and he fell back. Pei Yue pressed down on his shoulder. “Don’t move. You’re about to bleed dry.”

“It’s fine.” He shook his head, but his gaze remained fixed on the relief carving. “He can’t escape. That secret passage only leads to the bottom of the well in the Cold Palace—when I was checking the palace layout yesterday, I casually planted a tracking beacon.”

Luo Li narrowed her vertical pupils. “You mean… he’s walking right into a trap now?”

“Not a trap.” Shen Yan grinned, looking like a weasel that had just stolen a chicken. “It’s a live stream.”

Yu Xiaotang blinked. “Live stream?”

“Right.” He raised his phone, and a line of text flashed across the screen. “Three Realms channel is now live. Viewer count: loading.”

Ye Zhao looked at him and suddenly sighed. “Every time you pull off something like this, you just have to add one more line.”

“What else should I do?” Shen Yan coughed twice, tightening his grip on the phone. “Isn’t a Programmer’s romance all about letting the whole world see—that I, have successfully turned the tables?”

He struggled to get up, his hand just touching the ground when his fingertips brushed against a piece of broken jade—a fragment from the shattered relief carving, with half a line of small characters carved on the back:

“The late Emperor’s edict is hidden at the heart of the well.”

Shen Yan froze.

Everyone held their breath.

Slowly, he raised his head, looking toward the entrance of the secret passage, a sudden gleam lighting up his eyes.

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(End of Chapter)