Lin Feng, holding the massive chunk of Astral Jade in one hand and Siku in the other, felt a horrifying dissociation. His perception stuttered. The immediate sensation was not pain, but overwhelming nausea—the feeling of his personal timeline being stretched, compressed, and folded.
He looked at his companions, and for a terrifying, extended second, he saw multiple versions of them: a younger, less scarred Xia Qingwu flickering over the present one, and an ancient, ethereal version of Wanying superimposed over her current form.
"The time distortion is absolute!" Lin Feng gritted out, the effort of maintaining the Void Sovereign Nexus on Siku immense. He knew his Anti-Temporal Agent was not powerful enough to shield them from a burst of this magnitude.
Yin Xiu's quick activation of Shadow Veil Displacement managed to shift their entire location by a few inches, preventing the direct epicenter of the temporal wave from striking them, but the secondary fallout was unavoidable. The temporal energy washed over them, focusing on the weakest link: the Mortal Qi that fueled their bodies. Xia Qingwu cried out as her hand visibly withered for a microsecond before her Phoenix Fire Qi immediately fought back, burning away the aged cells.
Wanying, however, reacted with a profound, instinctive defense rooted in her higher-realm lineage. "Ice Empress: Temporal Rejection!" She channeled her Primordial Ice Law not to freeze time, but to reject chronological change. Ice, in its pure, crystalline form, represented stasis and perfect order. Her immense, cold Qi flared out, creating a small, intensely purified bubble where the chaotic temporal flux was denied entry.
"The Ice Empress Clan has experience with temporal disruptions!" Wanying gasped, the strain pushing her beyond her current cultivation limit. "The absolute order of the Primordial Ice repels chronological chaos! Get inside the bubble!"
Lin Feng, Xia Qingwu, and Yin Xiu immediately pressed themselves close to Wanying. The relief was immediate. Within the Ice bubble, the nauseating temporal flicker ceased, though the distortion still raged violently just outside their fragile shield. "Remarkable, Wanying," Lin Feng praised, his voice thick with respect and relief. "Your Law is the perfect counter."
The greatest danger remained the creature in Lin Feng's arm. Siku was struggling violently, his tiny body vibrating at an impossible frequency. The temporal chaos of his own making was destroying him from the inside out. "Siku is feeding the burst!" Lin Feng realized. "His intrinsic Space-Time nature is resonating with the surrounding chaos! He will explode!"
Lin Feng could not release the creature. To save Siku, and thus the entire cavern, he had to perform a selfless, painful act of true Void mastery. He tightened his grip on the Infant Chronos Dragon and unleashed his newly refined healing technique. "Void Sovereign: Genesis Loop!" He directed the full restorative power of his Void-Wood/Water Loop directly into Siku's spiritual core. The Wood Law provided the life-sustaining stability, and the Water Law smoothed the turbulent flow of the creature's own energy.
But this was not enough. To truly calm the Temporal Law, Lin Feng had to risk his own Essence of Transcendent Insight. He temporarily diverted the Essence—his key to mastering the six laws—and allowed the temporal chaos flooding Siku's core to briefly wash over his own mind. The resulting shock was catastrophic. Lin Feng felt hundreds of false memories, futures, and pasts flash through his consciousness: a glimpse of his younger self sweeping the courtyard, a vision of the Nine Heavens Realm he had never seen, and a jarring image of a future battle where he lost an arm. His brain was overloaded with conflicting chronological data. Control! Lin Feng ruthlessly forced the chaotic data through his Void Domain. The Void didn't accept the temporal data; it neutralized it, scrubbing the destructive energy from Siku's core.
The creature instantly calmed. The violent temporal vibrations ceased, and Siku settled down, exhausted but safe, its power now internalized.
The Chronos Burst faded, leaving the air humming with residual, dangerous energy. Lin Feng, though spiritually devastated by the temporal overload, still stood firm, clutching the Jade and the tamed beast. "We cannot stay," Lin Feng declared, shaking off the residual temporal nausea. "The Temporal Mitigation Array is failing, and I have nothing left for a sustained Void Sovereign Aegis."
They had the Jade, and they had Siku. Now they needed an escape plan that prioritized speed and stealth over brute force.
"Yin Xiu," Lin Feng commanded, his voice hoarse. "Can the Shadow Veil Displacement bypass the entire Crevice?"
Yin Xiu, recognizing the gravity of the situation, did not hesitate. "The distance is too great for a full Displacement, but I can chain multiple displacements, creating a Shadow Stream. It will tax my core to the absolute limit, but it will be faster than anything the Dynasty can track."
Xia Qingwu nodded firmly. "I will deploy a constant chain of Phoenix Smoke Runes behind us—low-grade illusions that will obscure our temporal residue and throw off any tracking spells Luo Han is using."
Wanying, her strength already returning under Lin Feng's gentle Void stabilization, lifted her chin. "I will maintain the Ice Empress: Temporal Rejection bubble around Siku and the Astral Jade. I am the shield against future chaos."
Lin Feng felt a renewed, profound respect for his allies. They were not subordinates; they were tactical masters, each fulfilling an independent, critical role.
"We move now," Lin Feng concluded, tucking the exhausted Siku carefully into his robes and hoisting the massive chunk of Astral Jade onto his shoulder. "Yin Xiu, lead the Shadow Stream. We leave the Silent Star Crevice permanently destabilized as a warning to anyone who seeks our trail."