Chapter 133: The Rainy Night Chase with Undercurrents Surging

Shen Yan’s fingers still pressed against the broken jade, the cold of the well’s stone wall seeping into his fingertips. He didn’t move—not because he didn’t want to, but because he truly couldn’t stand up. The stream of energy Pei Yue had forced into his meridians felt like a thin thread holding him up; the slightest exertion tugged at his organs, sending sharp pain through his entire body.

“Don’t push yourself,” Ye Zhao said, her voice cold as frost-bitten iron as she pressed a hand to his shoulder. “Take one more step forward, and you’ll burn yourself to ashes.”

“I still have to go,” he replied, baring his teeth, blood still flecking the gaps between them. “The imperial edict is hidden in the heart of the well—this location wasn’t even marked on the structural diagram I scanned yesterday.”

Luo Li’s ears twitched, her tail pressed tightly against her back. “Something’s breathing down there. It’s not a living person, nor a formation… it feels like a Data Stream cycling in a Loop.”

Yu Xiaotang crept out from behind a pillar, half a Candied Hawthorn in one hand, her phone held up in the other. “The signal’s cut off, but it flickered just now. It seemed like someone sent a packet using ancient Runes—the source address points to the restricted archives of Medicine Valley.”

Shen Yan narrowed his eyes. “Pei Yue’s sect?”

No one answered.

He tried to push himself up from the ground, but his arm gave way, nearly sending him tumbling into the fissure. Ye Zhao reached out to steady him, but the moment her palm touched his wrist, a powerful reverse suction suddenly pulled from deep within the hidden passage.

“Fall back!” Shen Yan growled.

The three of them retreated simultaneously, but Shen Yan lunged forward instead, shoving the broken jade into his pocket and pulling out his phone with his other hand to bring up the palace’s three-dimensional model. A light screen flashed, revealing a hidden passage leading from beneath the dragon throne directly to the abandoned well in the Cold Palace. Over a dozen inactive Nodes were marked along the path.

“Xie Wujiu hasn’t gone far,” Shen Yan gritted his teeth. “This passage is designed for one-way flow—the exit can only be a trap he set. But a trap needs someone to Trigger it before it activates.”

Yu Xiaotang muttered softly, “So going there is just delivering the Trigger yourself?”

“But this Trigger comes with cheats,” he said, shaking his phone. “And the real question now is—who made the first move?”

With that, he ducked into the entrance of the hidden passage.

Behind him came the sound of Ye Zhao drawing her sword, the pressure of the wind sharp and threatening. Without looking back, his fingers flew across the screen, typing out a line of Commands:

【Initiate: Low-Power Tracking Protocol】

【Target: Biological Residual Heat Source】

【Filter Conditions: Exclude signals from four females and self】

The phone vibrated twice, and the map refreshed. A red trajectory extended from the collapsed area, ending precisely at the mouth of the Cold Palace well. Strangely, the trajectory had been interrupted once, as if deliberately erased, but the Terminal had still reconstructed a faint trace from the movement of dust particles.

“Interesting,” Shen Yan sneered. “This isn’t Xie Wujiu’s blood.”

He felt along the edge of the collapse and found a metal fragment stained with dark red liquid. Picking it up, he saw it was a Mystic Gate Command Token, engraved with the characters “Heavenly Patrol” on the front and a deep crack from a sharp weapon on the back.

He held it against his phone for scanning, and a Popup Window appeared on the Terminal:

【Biological Residue Detected…】

【Match Result: High-Level Shadow Erosion Member · Number Thirteen】

【Status: Deceased for over twelve hours】

“Dead?” Yu Xiaotang leaned in to look. “Who killed him?”

“Don’t know,” Shen Yan said, tucking the token into his robe. “But whoever could kill him in this secret passage means Xie Wujiu doesn’t have full control of the situation either.”

The rain outside grew heavier, pattering noisily against the glazed tiles of the palace roof. They hurried through the side halls of the rear palace in the downpour. The Cold Palace had long been abandoned, overgrown with weeds taller than a person. The well opening was half-covered by a broken stone slab, tightly wrapped in vines.

Shen Yan crouched down and lifted the slab. The edge of the well was slippery, and his fingertips brushed against an engraving—an inverted triangular symbol, identical to the mark on the back of the Celestial Clan Outcast files in his memory.

His phone suddenly vibrated.

An anonymous message popped up:

【Want to know the truth about the Celestial Clan Outcast incident twenty years ago? Come to the bottom of the Cold Palace well at midnight.】

Sent: Three minutes ago.

Source: Untraceable.

Encryption method: Contains three segments of ancient Medicine Valley runes.

“Pei Yue’s sect’s traces have appeared again.” Shen Yan stared at the decoded rune string, his brow furrowed tightly. “This isn’t a coincidence.”

“Don’t go down.” Ye Zhao blocked the well opening with her sword. “This is a trap.”

“I’m already in the trap.” He looked up at her. “Ever since I awakened the Source Code Spiritual Root at the amusement park that day, I’ve been falling into this well.”

Luo Li suddenly perked up her ears. “There’s a heartbeat frequency at the bottom of the well, synchronized with your Terminal pulse.”

Yu Xiaotang quickly opened the signal analysis interface. “It’s not a natural rhythm—it’s a program simulating vital signs! It’s waiting for you to input verification!”

Shen Yan didn’t speak, gently placing the Command Token on the well’s edge.

Instantly, an eerie blue light seeped from the stone cracks, crawling along the token and covering the entire well opening. The vines withered and fell away in an instant, revealing densely packed rune engravings on the inner wall—all ancient formation patterns refactored using Code syntax.

“Damn!” He slapped his phone. “Quick, activate the Defense Protocol!”

But before the System could respond, Ye Zhao had already acted.

Sword Qi cascaded toward the light patterns, only to be swallowed by an energy field that suddenly expanded from the well opening. The next moment, that force surged back in reverse, following their previous energy connection, and blasted into Shen Yan’s body!

He shuddered violently, nearly collapsing to his knees.

His previously depleted meridians suddenly filled, the Source Code Spiritual Root automatically Restarted, and the Terminal Interface refreshed frantically:

【Warning: High-dimensional Spatial Folding Detected】

【External Energy injection in progress…】

【Identified as: Frost Soul Sword Intent·Resonance State】

【System loading progress: 17%】

“What are you doing!” he yelled, turning to glare at Ye Zhao.

“Stopping you from throwing your life away.” Her face was pale, clearly injured from forcibly outputting energy.

“But now you’re feeding me the Activation Key!” he stamped his foot in frustration. “This well isn’t a passage—it’s a receiver! It needs the ‘protected’ state to trigger a Chain Reaction!”

Before he finished speaking, blue light erupted from the bottom of the well.

The entire Cold Palace ground began to undergo Data-based Refactoring. Bricks and stones transformed into flowing characters, plants and trees turned into flickering Nodes. The ancient well slowly rose, suspended in mid-air, its interior swirling with a massive Energy Vortex. Within it, distorted spatial folds could faintly be seen.

“Retreat quickly!” Luo Li pulled Yu Xiaotang back.

But Shen Yan couldn’t move.

He felt his consciousness locked by some kind of Program, just like when he first ran the automated Script at the amusement park—his body remained in place, but his soul was dragged into the Code world.

The Terminal finally displayed one last line:

【Unidirectional Isolation Protocol being written…】

【Estimated completion time: 0.3 seconds】

He had half a second left to press confirm.

But just then, a warm hand suddenly grasped his wrist.

Looking up, it was Ye Zhao.

She stood at the edge of the storm, silver hair whipping wildly, her gaze so fierce it seemed capable of splitting the sky.

“I won’t let you go in alone,” she said.

The words struck like a hammer, shattering his last line of defense.

The System Notice abruptly ceased.

【Isolation Failed】

【Core Variable Locked】

【Spacetime Transmission Initiated】

Shen Yan felt his footing give way, his entire body pulled by a tremendous force toward the center of the well. The last Image he saw was Ye Zhao swinging her sword at the Energy chain, only to be thrown back by the recoil, spitting blood as she fell to one knee.

His phone Screen flickered, automatically switching to Recording mode, capturing the first frame emerging from the depths of the well—

In the center of a snowy field stood two children. One of them, wearing a plaid shirt, was murmuring to the air:

“This line of Code should run…”

(End of Chapter)