Chapter 10: Surging Waves in the Sea of Consciousness
A slanted concrete pillar lay across the center of the ruins, its broken cross-section exposing rusted, intertwined steel bars like the skeletal remains of a giant beast. On the ground behind the pillar, a palm-sized signal collector was quietly flashing a faint blue light. This was the first coordinate marker point of the assessment.
The putrid stench in the air had faded slightly, and the intensity of the psychic turbulence lingering here had also leveled off. The scaled beast that had been lurking at the corner earlier was now far behind them.
Su Qin let out a half-sigh of relief, her tense shoulders relaxing slightly. She took out the candidate-exclusive collection chip from her emergency kit and quickly walked to the collector, bending over to align the chip with the instrument's sensing area.
"Beep." A soft sound rang out, and the blue light flashed briefly. The first coordinate marker had been collected.
"Alright, got the first point," Su Qin said in a low voice. She put the chip away and looked up at the crisscrossing broken walls and collapsed buildings around them. "The next coordinate is in the inner layer of the ruins, to the northeast. That area is the entrance to the old underground garage. Records from past candidates show that the psychic turbulence there is extremely unstable and can surge suddenly. Moreover, scaled beasts like to hide in the shadows of the garage pillars and drainage pipes."
Lin Yan nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the uneven, broken walls around them. Daylight leaked down from the collapsed gaps in the buildings above, casting slanted beams of light into the ruins, with floating dust visible in the beams. The area looked open, but in reality, it was full of countless covers; any shadow could hide a deadly threat.
"Stay vigilant, don't let your guard down," Lin Yan reminded in a low voice.
Su Qin nodded, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the Sea of Consciousness stabilizer pendant hanging around her neck. The cold touch of the metal pendant could weakly buffer the erosion of the Sea of Consciousness by external psychic fluctuations; it was one of the few life-saving items she had saved up during her escape.
The two continued to advance deeper into the inner layer of the ruins. The further northeast they went, the thicker the rubble underfoot became, and the denser the broken walls grew. The originally scattered rubble gradually turned into small hills piled up by collapsed floor slabs. Cracked fissures appeared from time to time on the ground, from which cold, damp winds surged from the depths, carrying an increasingly rich stench. The invisible psychic pressure was also gradually increasing.
The surrounding silence became oppressive. Aside from the faint sound of their footsteps on the rubble, there was only the intermittent, low roars of scaled beasts coming from deep within the ruins, sometimes far, sometimes near, making it impossible to determine their exact location.
After walking for about twenty minutes, the view ahead suddenly changed.
Large slanted concrete floor slabs formed a massive concave space, which was exactly the entrance and exit of the old underground garage. The garage entrance sank inward, and the darkness seeped in like ink. Only a few collapsed gaps at the top cast sporadic spots of light. Standing outside the entrance, one could feel a thick psychic turbulence surging from underground, continuously washing over their Seas of Consciousness like a dark undercurrent.
"This is the place," Su Qin whispered, her brows furrowing slightly. "The concentration of turbulence is even higher than I expected."
Before she could finish her words, the invisible psychic fluctuations in the air suddenly spiked without any warning.
Without any forewarning, a violent wave of consciousness swept out from the darkness deep inside the garage like a surging giant wave, slamming fiercely into the two of them.
Caught off guard, Su Qin's Sea of Consciousness was instantly hit by a fierce impact. Her whole body trembled violently, and her head felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer. A severe dizziness swept through her entire body. Her vision instantly went black, a continuous buzzing sounded in her ears, and the thoughts in her mind began to scatter and tumble, no longer able to maintain the stability of her Sea of Consciousness.
"Mm..." She let out a muffled groan, stumbling back half a step. One hand pressed hard against her temple, and her face instantly turned as pale as paper. The Sea of Consciousness stabilizer pendant around her neck trembled violently, its faint light flickering, as if it was about to give out.
"Steady! Guard the core of your Sea of Consciousness, don't follow the chaotic thoughts!" Lin Yan immediately reminded her, his voice steady, piercing through the tinnitus caused by the psychic wave.
He himself was also bearing the impact of this violent turbulence. But the true heart, honed by years of life-and-death battles in the Jianghu, was as solid as a mountain. The surging psychic impacts fell upon his Sea of Consciousness like great waves striking a boulder, only raising shallow ripples, completely unable to shake the foundation of his consciousness.
Lin Yan's gaze quickly swept toward the shadows at the entrance of the garage. The surge in turbulence was not a natural phenomenon; it was the psychic pressure actively released by a scaled beast.
In the darkness, a massive shadow slowly moved.
This scaled beast was several times larger than the one at the corner earlier, nearly three meters long. Thick, grey-black scales covered its body in layers, and its four limbs were thick and powerful, each step on the rubble bringing a slight vibration. The translucent glands on both sides of its head were glowing faintly, continuously releasing psychic turbulence outward. It did not immediately rush out to bite; instead, it prioritized using its mental power to shatter the prey's Sea of Consciousness first.
Once Su Qin's Sea of Consciousness completely collapsed, she would directly lose her ability to move and could only lie瘫软 on the ground, at the mercy of the scaled beast's hunt.
"I can't hold on..." Su Qin's teeth chattered, her consciousness becoming increasingly scattered, her legs going soft, almost unable to stand. "The turbulence is too strong, my Sea of Consciousness is shaking..."
Lin Yan made a rapid judgment. They could not continue to endure it in place. If they stayed in the core area of the turbulence, Su Qin's Sea of Consciousness would soon be damaged.
"Retreat! Fall back behind the broken wall to the west!" Lin Yan reached out, grabbed Su Qin's arm, and half-supported, half-dragged her to quickly retreat backward. At the same time, his gaze was firmly locked on the scaled beast at the garage exit, observing its movements.
Sensing that its prey was trying to escape, the scaled beast let out a low roar. The light of its glands flared again, and a new wave of psychic impact swept over.
Su Qin cried out in pain, her head suffering unbearable agony, her consciousness almost breaking. The emergency kit in her hand nearly slipped from her grasp, and her fingers instinctively reached for the silver signal alarm inside. If she pressed it, rescue would arrive immediately, but the assessment would be declared a failure.
"Don't press the signaler!" Lin Yan reminded in a deep voice, supporting Su Qin as they quickly retreated behind a thick, crumbling wall. This wall was thick enough to block some of the psychic turbulence. With the wall standing between them and the scaled beast, the violent psychic waves were greatly weakened, and the weight pressing on their Seas of Consciousness finally eased slightly.
Su Qin leaned against the cold concrete wall, panting heavily, her forehead covered in cold sweat, her whole body trembling uncontrollably. She closed her eyes, trying her best to gather her scattered consciousness, slowly stabilizing her turbulent Sea of Consciousness.
The scaled beast slowly walked out from the shadows of the garage, its massive body appearing in the open ground, its eyes staring fixedly at the two behind the broken wall. It did not rashly rush over; it continued to release psychic pressure, slowly approaching the broken wall. Its thick scales rubbed against the rubble, making a harsh, scratching sound.
Lin Yan quickly scanned the surrounding environment. This broken wall could only temporarily block the psychic impact; it was not entirely intact. As long as the scaled beast circled to the side, it could launch an attack from the gap. A direct fight was not the optimal choice; this scaled beast was larger, stronger, and had harder scales. It would be very difficult to inflict a fatal wound with bare hands.
His gaze glanced sideways, and he saw a broken thick steel bar leaning diagonally above the wall. One end was embedded in the gap of the wall, and the other end was suspended, over two meters long, with the broken tip as sharp as a blade.
"You stay here and continue to stabilize your Sea of Consciousness. Don't leave the shelter of the wall. I'll go draw it away," Lin Yan instructed Su Qin in a low voice. Without waiting for her response, he lowered his body and moved quietly along the edge of the wall.
Using the broken wall as cover, he circled to the back of a pile of rubble on the side. He reached up and picked up several fist-sized stones. With a slight flick of his wrist, a stone flew through the air and accurately hit a pile of rubble beside the scaled beast, the collision making a crisp sound.
The scaled beast's attention was instantly attracted by the noise. Its massive body suddenly turned and pounced in the direction of the sound, and the psychic impact from its glands also shifted toward Lin Yan's location.
Lin Yan held his breath. Taking advantage of the gap when the scaled beast's attention was diverted, he quickly climbed up the pile of rubble, reached up, grabbed the thick steel bar, and exerted force to pry and pull it out from the gap in the wall. The heavy steel bar felt cold and hard in his hand.
Only then did the scaled beast realize it had been tricked. It猛地 turned its head, locked onto Lin Yan again, opened its mouth, and let out a sharp roar. A new wave of psychic impact rushed straight at Lin Yan.
Lin Yan's mind remained unmoved. Stepping on the rubble, he quickly changed his position, completely using the footwork from his days of dodging blades in Boulder Valley. He constantly dodged left and right, avoiding the scaled beast's frontal assault while looking for its weakness. The scales on the beast's body were hard, but the scales at the connection between its abdomen and neck were relatively weak; that was its flaw.
The scaled beast pushed off the ground with its four limbs, and its massive body pounced forward fiercely, a腥风 (fishy wind) rushing to his face.
Lin Yan nimbly dodged the pounce by turning his body, rubble splashing under his feet. Taking advantage of the moment when the scaled beast landed from its pounce and its center of gravity was unstable, he gripped the steel bar with both hands, exerted force from his waist, and fiercely thrust it into the gap in the scales on the scaled beast's neck!
The sharp tip of the steel bar pierced deeply into the scaled beast's soft tissue.
A mournful roar suddenly exploded. The scaled beast struggled violently, its massive body twisting crazily, the immense force causing the steel bar to shake continuously. A strong, foul stench instantly filled the air. The light from the glands on both sides of its head dimmed rapidly, and the continuously released psychic turbulence instantly collapsed by more than half.
Leaning behind the broken wall, Su Qin felt the heavy pressure on her Sea of Consciousness suddenly disappear. She let out a long breath, seizing the last moment to gather her mind, and the turbulence in her Sea of Consciousness slowly subsided.
After struggling violently for a moment, the scaled beast's massive body crashed to the ground. Its limbs twitched a few times, and then it stopped moving.
Lin Yan let go of the steel bar in his hand, breathed slightly, and turned to look in the direction of the broken wall. Su Qin had already扶 (supported herself against) the wall and slowly stood up. Her face was still pale, but her eyes had regained their clarity.
"Thank you," Su Qin said, her voice still weak. She looked at the corpse of the scaled beast on the ground with lingering fear. "If it weren't for you just now, I would either have suffered severe Sea of Consciousness damage or had to press the signaler and give up the assessment."
"Rest for a moment first, check the state of your Sea of Consciousness," Lin Yan said.
Su Qin closed her eyes and sat in meditation for a few minutes, carefully feeling the inside of her Sea of Consciousness. Fortunately, it was just a violent shock, with no tearing damage. It would recover after resting for a while. She opened her eyes and looked at Lin Yan: "I'm fine, no permanent damage. Let's continue; the second coordinate point is not far from here."
After resting briefly, the two bypassed the scaled beast's corpse and continued toward the second marker point. After the battle just now, the dead silence in the ruins seemed to have become even heavier. No one could predict how many more dangers were hidden in these broken walls and ruins.
End of Chapter
The putrid stench in the air had faded slightly, and the intensity of the psychic turbulence lingering here had also leveled off. The scaled beast that had been lurking at the corner earlier was now far behind them.
Su Qin let out a half-sigh of relief, her tense shoulders relaxing slightly. She took out the candidate-exclusive collection chip from her emergency kit and quickly walked to the collector, bending over to align the chip with the instrument's sensing area.
"Beep." A soft sound rang out, and the blue light flashed briefly. The first coordinate marker had been collected.
"Alright, got the first point," Su Qin said in a low voice. She put the chip away and looked up at the crisscrossing broken walls and collapsed buildings around them. "The next coordinate is in the inner layer of the ruins, to the northeast. That area is the entrance to the old underground garage. Records from past candidates show that the psychic turbulence there is extremely unstable and can surge suddenly. Moreover, scaled beasts like to hide in the shadows of the garage pillars and drainage pipes."
Lin Yan nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the uneven, broken walls around them. Daylight leaked down from the collapsed gaps in the buildings above, casting slanted beams of light into the ruins, with floating dust visible in the beams. The area looked open, but in reality, it was full of countless covers; any shadow could hide a deadly threat.
"Stay vigilant, don't let your guard down," Lin Yan reminded in a low voice.
Su Qin nodded, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the Sea of Consciousness stabilizer pendant hanging around her neck. The cold touch of the metal pendant could weakly buffer the erosion of the Sea of Consciousness by external psychic fluctuations; it was one of the few life-saving items she had saved up during her escape.
The two continued to advance deeper into the inner layer of the ruins. The further northeast they went, the thicker the rubble underfoot became, and the denser the broken walls grew. The originally scattered rubble gradually turned into small hills piled up by collapsed floor slabs. Cracked fissures appeared from time to time on the ground, from which cold, damp winds surged from the depths, carrying an increasingly rich stench. The invisible psychic pressure was also gradually increasing.
The surrounding silence became oppressive. Aside from the faint sound of their footsteps on the rubble, there was only the intermittent, low roars of scaled beasts coming from deep within the ruins, sometimes far, sometimes near, making it impossible to determine their exact location.
After walking for about twenty minutes, the view ahead suddenly changed.
Large slanted concrete floor slabs formed a massive concave space, which was exactly the entrance and exit of the old underground garage. The garage entrance sank inward, and the darkness seeped in like ink. Only a few collapsed gaps at the top cast sporadic spots of light. Standing outside the entrance, one could feel a thick psychic turbulence surging from underground, continuously washing over their Seas of Consciousness like a dark undercurrent.
"This is the place," Su Qin whispered, her brows furrowing slightly. "The concentration of turbulence is even higher than I expected."
Before she could finish her words, the invisible psychic fluctuations in the air suddenly spiked without any warning.
Without any forewarning, a violent wave of consciousness swept out from the darkness deep inside the garage like a surging giant wave, slamming fiercely into the two of them.
Caught off guard, Su Qin's Sea of Consciousness was instantly hit by a fierce impact. Her whole body trembled violently, and her head felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer. A severe dizziness swept through her entire body. Her vision instantly went black, a continuous buzzing sounded in her ears, and the thoughts in her mind began to scatter and tumble, no longer able to maintain the stability of her Sea of Consciousness.
"Mm..." She let out a muffled groan, stumbling back half a step. One hand pressed hard against her temple, and her face instantly turned as pale as paper. The Sea of Consciousness stabilizer pendant around her neck trembled violently, its faint light flickering, as if it was about to give out.
"Steady! Guard the core of your Sea of Consciousness, don't follow the chaotic thoughts!" Lin Yan immediately reminded her, his voice steady, piercing through the tinnitus caused by the psychic wave.
He himself was also bearing the impact of this violent turbulence. But the true heart, honed by years of life-and-death battles in the Jianghu, was as solid as a mountain. The surging psychic impacts fell upon his Sea of Consciousness like great waves striking a boulder, only raising shallow ripples, completely unable to shake the foundation of his consciousness.
Lin Yan's gaze quickly swept toward the shadows at the entrance of the garage. The surge in turbulence was not a natural phenomenon; it was the psychic pressure actively released by a scaled beast.
In the darkness, a massive shadow slowly moved.
This scaled beast was several times larger than the one at the corner earlier, nearly three meters long. Thick, grey-black scales covered its body in layers, and its four limbs were thick and powerful, each step on the rubble bringing a slight vibration. The translucent glands on both sides of its head were glowing faintly, continuously releasing psychic turbulence outward. It did not immediately rush out to bite; instead, it prioritized using its mental power to shatter the prey's Sea of Consciousness first.
Once Su Qin's Sea of Consciousness completely collapsed, she would directly lose her ability to move and could only lie瘫软 on the ground, at the mercy of the scaled beast's hunt.
"I can't hold on..." Su Qin's teeth chattered, her consciousness becoming increasingly scattered, her legs going soft, almost unable to stand. "The turbulence is too strong, my Sea of Consciousness is shaking..."
Lin Yan made a rapid judgment. They could not continue to endure it in place. If they stayed in the core area of the turbulence, Su Qin's Sea of Consciousness would soon be damaged.
"Retreat! Fall back behind the broken wall to the west!" Lin Yan reached out, grabbed Su Qin's arm, and half-supported, half-dragged her to quickly retreat backward. At the same time, his gaze was firmly locked on the scaled beast at the garage exit, observing its movements.
Sensing that its prey was trying to escape, the scaled beast let out a low roar. The light of its glands flared again, and a new wave of psychic impact swept over.
Su Qin cried out in pain, her head suffering unbearable agony, her consciousness almost breaking. The emergency kit in her hand nearly slipped from her grasp, and her fingers instinctively reached for the silver signal alarm inside. If she pressed it, rescue would arrive immediately, but the assessment would be declared a failure.
"Don't press the signaler!" Lin Yan reminded in a deep voice, supporting Su Qin as they quickly retreated behind a thick, crumbling wall. This wall was thick enough to block some of the psychic turbulence. With the wall standing between them and the scaled beast, the violent psychic waves were greatly weakened, and the weight pressing on their Seas of Consciousness finally eased slightly.
Su Qin leaned against the cold concrete wall, panting heavily, her forehead covered in cold sweat, her whole body trembling uncontrollably. She closed her eyes, trying her best to gather her scattered consciousness, slowly stabilizing her turbulent Sea of Consciousness.
The scaled beast slowly walked out from the shadows of the garage, its massive body appearing in the open ground, its eyes staring fixedly at the two behind the broken wall. It did not rashly rush over; it continued to release psychic pressure, slowly approaching the broken wall. Its thick scales rubbed against the rubble, making a harsh, scratching sound.
Lin Yan quickly scanned the surrounding environment. This broken wall could only temporarily block the psychic impact; it was not entirely intact. As long as the scaled beast circled to the side, it could launch an attack from the gap. A direct fight was not the optimal choice; this scaled beast was larger, stronger, and had harder scales. It would be very difficult to inflict a fatal wound with bare hands.
His gaze glanced sideways, and he saw a broken thick steel bar leaning diagonally above the wall. One end was embedded in the gap of the wall, and the other end was suspended, over two meters long, with the broken tip as sharp as a blade.
"You stay here and continue to stabilize your Sea of Consciousness. Don't leave the shelter of the wall. I'll go draw it away," Lin Yan instructed Su Qin in a low voice. Without waiting for her response, he lowered his body and moved quietly along the edge of the wall.
Using the broken wall as cover, he circled to the back of a pile of rubble on the side. He reached up and picked up several fist-sized stones. With a slight flick of his wrist, a stone flew through the air and accurately hit a pile of rubble beside the scaled beast, the collision making a crisp sound.
The scaled beast's attention was instantly attracted by the noise. Its massive body suddenly turned and pounced in the direction of the sound, and the psychic impact from its glands also shifted toward Lin Yan's location.
Lin Yan held his breath. Taking advantage of the gap when the scaled beast's attention was diverted, he quickly climbed up the pile of rubble, reached up, grabbed the thick steel bar, and exerted force to pry and pull it out from the gap in the wall. The heavy steel bar felt cold and hard in his hand.
Only then did the scaled beast realize it had been tricked. It猛地 turned its head, locked onto Lin Yan again, opened its mouth, and let out a sharp roar. A new wave of psychic impact rushed straight at Lin Yan.
Lin Yan's mind remained unmoved. Stepping on the rubble, he quickly changed his position, completely using the footwork from his days of dodging blades in Boulder Valley. He constantly dodged left and right, avoiding the scaled beast's frontal assault while looking for its weakness. The scales on the beast's body were hard, but the scales at the connection between its abdomen and neck were relatively weak; that was its flaw.
The scaled beast pushed off the ground with its four limbs, and its massive body pounced forward fiercely, a腥风 (fishy wind) rushing to his face.
Lin Yan nimbly dodged the pounce by turning his body, rubble splashing under his feet. Taking advantage of the moment when the scaled beast landed from its pounce and its center of gravity was unstable, he gripped the steel bar with both hands, exerted force from his waist, and fiercely thrust it into the gap in the scales on the scaled beast's neck!
The sharp tip of the steel bar pierced deeply into the scaled beast's soft tissue.
A mournful roar suddenly exploded. The scaled beast struggled violently, its massive body twisting crazily, the immense force causing the steel bar to shake continuously. A strong, foul stench instantly filled the air. The light from the glands on both sides of its head dimmed rapidly, and the continuously released psychic turbulence instantly collapsed by more than half.
Leaning behind the broken wall, Su Qin felt the heavy pressure on her Sea of Consciousness suddenly disappear. She let out a long breath, seizing the last moment to gather her mind, and the turbulence in her Sea of Consciousness slowly subsided.
After struggling violently for a moment, the scaled beast's massive body crashed to the ground. Its limbs twitched a few times, and then it stopped moving.
Lin Yan let go of the steel bar in his hand, breathed slightly, and turned to look in the direction of the broken wall. Su Qin had already扶 (supported herself against) the wall and slowly stood up. Her face was still pale, but her eyes had regained their clarity.
"Thank you," Su Qin said, her voice still weak. She looked at the corpse of the scaled beast on the ground with lingering fear. "If it weren't for you just now, I would either have suffered severe Sea of Consciousness damage or had to press the signaler and give up the assessment."
"Rest for a moment first, check the state of your Sea of Consciousness," Lin Yan said.
Su Qin closed her eyes and sat in meditation for a few minutes, carefully feeling the inside of her Sea of Consciousness. Fortunately, it was just a violent shock, with no tearing damage. It would recover after resting for a while. She opened her eyes and looked at Lin Yan: "I'm fine, no permanent damage. Let's continue; the second coordinate point is not far from here."
After resting briefly, the two bypassed the scaled beast's corpse and continued toward the second marker point. After the battle just now, the dead silence in the ruins seemed to have become even heavier. No one could predict how many more dangers were hidden in these broken walls and ruins.
End of Chapter