Chapter 64 · Crystal Coexistence Realm

  The forest was drenched in soft, opalescent light.

  Crystals rose from the dark brown mire like fragments of solidified moonlight—

  clear, smooth, almost alive.

  Slender spires stretched upward as if slumbering sprites were slowly extending their fingers,

  trailing faint ribbons of radiance with every pulse of growth.

  Above them, ancient trees stood in solemn watch.

  Their trunks shifted in hue—from ink-dark to molten amber—

  as though night itself were being washed into warm honey.

  Every leaf was a pane of translucent jade.

  When their veins brimmed with light, they released droplets—

  Not rain.

  Liquid sunlight.

  Each drop struck the air with a soft, chiming note,

  bursting into golden mist that drifted down in slow spirals

  before sinking into the crystal beds below.

  Tree and crystal lived in perfect symbiosis.

  The crystals drew up the forest’s deep Spirit Energy and released it in gentle currents that fed the roots;

  while the canopy’s light-rain painted halos across the crystalline ground,

  rolling bands of brilliance that swayed as the wind breathed.

  When the breeze stirred—

  the forest exhaled.

  Leaf brushed crystal.

  Crystal brushed leaf.

  And the entire realm rang like a vast choir of windchimes.

  A wandering droplet landed on YiChen’s finger.

  It glowed—briefly, brilliantly—like a newborn star

  before dissolving into his skin and leaving behind a quiet, lingering warmth.

  Light beasts drifted between the crystal thickets—

  young deer-like silhouettes, nearly transparent,

  their only solid feature a luminous core that pulsed like a distant star.

  Some lifted their heads as the squad passed, blinking with gentle curiosity

  before dissolving into the deeper woods like dispersing mist.

  Others lingered, each step sending ripples of light across the crystalline field.

  “Collect high-grade energy crystals,” YiChen said quietly.

  He brushed his fingers along a waist-high cluster.

  At his touch, silver-gold Spirit Force stirred—

  resonating with the crystal’s internal rhythm—

  until pale motes lifted from its surface like drifting pollen.

  They had reached Shadowfang’s domain.

  Even from several li away, its aura surged like a living tide—

  ancient, immense, vibrating with a strange resonance

  that stirred something deep in YiChen’s soul.

  He closed his eyes.

  And felt it.

  The remnants of poisoned faith in his meridians had begun to fade.

  But the sincere ones—

  prayers born of gratitude, hope, quiet belief—

  flowed into him like rivers pouring into a widening, sunlit lake.

  Every night, as Shixi repaired the torn meridians,

  the little fox spirit’s nine tails would puff up like a startled dandelion.

  He would lick each fractured thread of Spirit with painstaking care, murmuring:

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  “YiChen is amazing~ Your God Meridian’s glowing like a whole galaxy…”

  Then he would burrow—uninvited but unstoppable—into YiChen’s arms,

  nose twitching in anxious inspection

  before sneaking in one more soft lick across YiChen’s cheek.

  “You better not hurt like this again… I can’t lick it all better…”

  His voice always trembled—small, sticky with worry.

  YiChen never pushed him away.

  He let the tiny troublemaker cling as tightly as he pleased.

  And the results were undeniable.

  His meridian development had accelerated beyond mortal limits—

  catching up to what had once taken a full year of agony in his past life.

  Even his Spirit Force had changed—

  the once-pure silver now threaded with gold,

  as though sunlight had been woven into a flowing river of stars.

  —The blessing of faith.

  YiChen curled his fingers into a loose fist.

  Power surged through his limbs—steady, grounded, certain.

  At this level, he had a seventy-percent chance of surviving the pact.

  He opened his eyes.

  The crystal forest shimmered before him—

  silent, luminous, waiting.

  It was time.

  Time to face Shadowfang.

  —————

  Night descended—

  yet the Crystal Forest never truly darkened.

  Countless crystalline spires glowed softly in the dusk,

  like fallen fragments of stars scattered across a pale, breathing earth.

  Blue-white radiance draped itself over every branch, every leaf, every soul that dared to step within.

  The light-rain from the canopy had thinned to a sparse drift.

  Each droplet floated through the air like a wandering firefly—

  weightless, slow, impossibly delicate—

  and when it touched the crystal beds,

  it burst into fine, shimmering mist that rose like incense from a sacred altar.

  The squad gathered in a clearing ringed by luminous stone.

  After a quiet meal of field rations, they settled into cultivation.

  Even their simplest breaths drew in Spirit Energy so pure it tasted cold—

  like drinking straight from a mountain spring.

  Meridians cleared twice as fast.

  Thoughts unfurled.

  Weight lifted.

  The whole forest felt like a sanctuary carved from light.

  Inside his tent, YiChen sat cross-legged,

  sweat beading along his brow.

  The last strands of poisoned faith were still being driven out.

  Darkened blood seeped from the Laogong point of his palm,

  spattering into a steel bowl.

  A flick of his fingers summoned Spirit Flame—

  the tainted blood burned instantly into clean, pale smoke.

  The pain was muted compared to before,

  but still crawled beneath his skin like hidden fire.

  He didn’t pause.

  The moment his breathing steadied, he plunged into the next cycle—

  Taiwei Guiyuan Art—

  Spirit Force rushing through his meridians like molten starlight,

  reforging each channel with every breath.

  In the vast sea of his consciousness,

  Shixi curled around his wrist,

  nine tails drifting like soft, anxious clouds in the golden void.

  “YiChen… hug time~”

  the little fox whispered, voice sweet and coaxing.

  YiChen’s thought-brush stroked his downy head—gentle, warm.

  “Not tonight. I need to reinforce my meridians again.”

  Shixi’s ears drooped instantly.

  A small, wounded whimper escaped him—

  heart-melting, but obedient.

  He wrapped himself more tightly around YiChen’s spirit-form,

  blanketing his awareness,

  standing guard with quiet, trembling devotion.

  ?

  3:00 A.M.

  YiChen had only drifted into the thinnest veil of sleep when—

  His heart seized.

  Hard.

  The pink rabbit-eared Light beast beside his pillow jolted upright,

  fur exploding into a trembling puffball of alarm.

  —Shadowfang.

  The presence hit like a silent detonation.

  YiChen was out of the tent in a breath—

  barefoot on cold crystal—

  and stopped dead.

  Darkness surged through the forest like a rising tide.

  Fiends.

  Scores of them poured between glowing spires,

  silhouettes weaving through light and shadow,

  chasing panicked Light beasts scattering in frantic bursts of luminescence.

  Where the Fiends passed,

  the crystal beds dimmed—

  as though something were drinking the radiance straight from their cores.

  And then—

  From deep beneath the roots,

  a low, resonant hum rolled outward,

  rumbling through soil and bone,

  vibrating the very air.

  Something ancient had awakened.

  Shadowfang.

  One by one, the squad burst from their tents—

  weapons raised, faces ashen under the ghost-blue glow.

  “Captain—what the hell is happening—”

  “Stay inside the camp.”

  YiChen’s voice cut through the chaos like cold steel.

  “This battle is mine alone.”

  “Captain—!” Han Yue stepped forward.

  YiChen turned.

  The look in his eyes froze every protest in their throats.

  “If I am not back by dawn—

  return to Aurora City.”

  Silence.

  Breath hitched.

  No one dared speak.

  YiChen stepped across the warded boundary.

  Wind howled.

  Silver-gold Spirit Force ignited across YiChen’s body,

  wrapping him in radiance—

  as if he were cloaked in moonfire and starlight.

  Deep in the pitch-black heart of the crystal wood—

  a pair of colossal eyes—bright as twin moon-discs—slowly opened.