Legend of the Embroiderer

Chapter 363 Spatial Collapse

The space seemed like a mirror that had been violently struck, shattering instantly into countless fragments, each one trembling violently.

These fragments seemed to have been torn apart by a powerful force, spreading in all directions at an astonishing speed, cutting the ground where everyone stood into countless pieces floating in the air.

Lingyue's energy shield appeared exceptionally fragile in this chaotic flow of spacetime. It emitted a piercing buzzing sound, and the surface of its originally almost transparent blue light was now covered with dense, fine cracks, like a piece of glass about to shatter, seemingly on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

"We must find a way to stabilize the space!"

Li Zhao gripped the Source of Light tightly in his hand, but he was astonished to find that the originally dazzling light had become so weak in this chaotic space, as if it would be swallowed up at any moment.

At this moment, the surrounding pebbles that were originally floating suddenly began to rotate in reverse. As if controlled by an invisible force, they carried sharp energy streams and rained down on Li Zhao.

Li Zhao tried to dodge, but the stones were moving too fast for him to react. He felt a sharp pain in his arm and a charred wound appeared on his skin.

Wenli staggered and grabbed onto a floating rock, cold sweat beading on her pale face: "The spatial nodes here are collapsing. Unless we find a spacetime fragment that can fight against the dark forces, we will all be torn to pieces by the spacetime turbulence!"

Before she could finish speaking, Li Zhao from the future suddenly shouted and swung his energy blade, splitting a rapidly approaching giant meteorite in two. The exploding fragments scattered like bullets.

Lingyue suddenly pointed into the distance and shouted, "Look! There's something glowing over there!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a rhombus-shaped crystal slowly emerging from a spatial rift a hundred meters away.

Its entire body is translucent silver-gray, with mysterious golden patterns flowing on its surface, each pattern seemingly interpreting the mysteries of time and space.

However, the crystal is surrounded by a jet-black vortex that constantly devours the approaching rubble, forming a strange energy forbidden zone.

"That should be a fragment of spacetime, but it's enveloped by a dark gravitational field."

Wenli's voice trembled slightly, as if the dark gravitational field were a ferocious beast that sent chills down one's spine.

Her words echoed in the air, tinged with fear and awe.

Li Zhao stared at the crystal, which emitted a faint light in the darkness, like a lone star in the night sky.

This lone star is enveloped by a thick, dark gravitational field, making it difficult to touch.

Wenli's warning echoed in Li Zhao's ears: "If you force your way close, you will be sucked directly into the rift and lost forever in the spacetime interlayer."

These words struck him like a thunderbolt.

He couldn't help but recall the terrifying stories he had heard about time-space interstices, where those who got lost could never return to their original world.

A scene suddenly flashed through Li Zhao's mind—a memory passed down to him by the Source of Light.

In that image, the same crystal appeared in the murals of ancient ruins, confronting the Heart of Darkness.

"There must be some connection between the two..."

Li Zhao muttered to himself. His gaze was fixed on the crystal, and a strong impulse surged within him.

"I'll go get it!" he said resolutely.

Li Zhao integrated the Holy Crystal and the Yin-Yang Orb fragments into his palm, and the three powers intertwined in his hand to form a dazzling light chain.

The light shone like a nimble silver snake, gleaming brightly in the darkness.

He concentrated all his strength into the light rope, and then hurled it at the crystal.

The beam of light shot straight toward the crystal like an arrow released from a bow. It pierced through the dark vortex with lightning speed.

Just as it was about to touch the crystal, an invisible force suddenly emerged, like a giant hand, and violently bounced the light cable back.

Li Zhao was thrown back by the force of the shockwave, his body flying backwards through the air like a kite with a broken string.

He slammed heavily against the rock wall behind him, making a dull thud.

A mouthful of blood spilled from his mouth, staining his shirt red.

"That absolutely won't do!"

The future Li Zhao solemnly helped the fallen Li Zhao to his feet. His gaze quickly swept over the surrounding crowd before he said in a deep voice:

"Listen to me, everyone. The power of the dark gravitational field is extremely strong; it repels all external energy. Therefore, we cannot directly confront it with brute force, as that would only make the situation worse."

Everyone nodded to express their understanding.

Li Zhao continued, "We need to find a way to create an energy vacuum zone so that the fragments of spacetime lose the support of the dark gravitational field, and they will actively break free from the gravitational field's binding force."

Lingyue was quick-witted and immediately understood Li Zhao's meaning.

Without hesitation, she formed hand seals, chanted incantations, and unleashed her ultimate technique—"Void Imprisonment."

A pale blue light shot out from her hand, quickly forming a huge spherical energy barrier at the edge of the gravitational field.

This barrier, like a transparent cage, temporarily blocked the flow of some dark energy.

Seeing this, Wenli immediately took action as well.

She mobilized the purifying power within her body and then released it continuously.

These purifying forces converged within the energy barrier to form a bright passage, like a bridge leading to light.

Seeing that the time was right, Li Zhao dared not hesitate for a moment.

He gritted his teeth and gathered all the remaining power in his body, forming an energy arrow that shone with dazzling light.

He aimed at the boundary between the barrier and the gravitational field, where the dark energy was weakest.

"Whoosh!" Li Zhao used all his strength to shoot the energy arrow out fiercely.

The arrow flew like lightning and hit its target accurately.

A sharp screech could be heard, as if a wounded beast was roaring in pain.

The dark vortex trembled violently under the impact, and the originally tight dark energy began to loosen.

The moment the gravitational field cracked, the spacetime fragment seemed to be driven by a powerful force, suddenly bursting out with a dazzling and intense light.

The light, like lightning, ripped through the dark void and hurtled straight toward Li Zhao.

Just as the fragment was about to reach Li Zhao, something unexpected happened.

The space around the fragment seemed to be kneaded by an invisible hand, suddenly twisting and deforming. Then, a figure draped in black robes, like a ghost, slowly stepped out from the distorted spatial rift.

The face of the man in black robes was shrouded in a mysterious shadow, making it impossible to see his true appearance.

However, judging from the dark aura surrounding him that originated from the same source as the demon god, he was definitely not a benevolent person.

He held a scepter engraved with runes in his hand. The scepter was pitch black and exuded a chilling, evil aura.

The man in black robes let out a cold laugh, his voice seemingly coming from an endless abyss, icy and chilling:

"Foolish ants, do you think you can so easily take away the fragments of time and space?"

His words revealed a sense of contempt and disdain for Li Zhao and others.

As he finished speaking, the black gem at the top of the scepter suddenly emitted a dark, all-consuming light.

This dark light, like a black flame, burned fiercely, carrying the power to destroy everything, and swept straight towards Li Zhao.

Faced with this sudden attack, Li Zhao's body reacted instinctively.

He quickly raised the Source of Light in his hand, attempting to use this powerful force of light to block the dark light emanating from the man in black robes.

In an instant, two completely opposite forces, light and darkness, collided violently in the void.

The two forces intertwined and clashed, producing a deafening roar.

The entire space shook violently due to the collision of these two powerful forces, as if it might collapse at any moment.

More spacetime rifts spread rapidly throughout this space, like a spider web.

These cracks, like hungry mouths, devour everything around them, sending chills down one's spine.

Lingyue's energy barrier shattered under the impact. She coughed up blood and weakly cried out, "He... he's accelerating the collapse of space!"

In the future, Li Zhao roared, and the energy blade transformed into a stream of light, slashing towards the man in black robes, but was swallowed by darkness the moment it touched the man's body.

The man in black robes let out a chilling laugh, slamming his scepter heavily into the ground. A black beam of light shot into the sky, engulfing the fragments of time and space within it.

Ignoring the excruciating pain, Li Zhao activated the Yin-Yang Sphere fragments to form a protective shield and forcefully charged into the pillar of light.

Enveloped in darkness, he saw the black-robed man's arm suddenly transform into a gigantic tentacle, wrapping around fragments of time and space and sinking into a deeper rift.

At the critical moment, Li Zhao threw out a light rope to entangle the fragment, but felt a suction force strong enough to tear the soul from the depths of the crack.

"Let go, you can't escape."

The black-robed man's voice echoed in Li Zhao's mind, "The chessboard of the dark will has already been laid out, and you are nothing more than pawns that can be discarded at any time."

Li Zhao gritted his teeth and suddenly pressed the source of light onto the fragment.

The moment the two forces collided, a blinding white light burst forth from the crack, and the figure in black robes let out a scream, releasing the tentacles that were binding him.

Li Zhao struggled to pull out the fragment, only to find that the golden patterns on its surface were fading.

Wenli cried out in alarm, "Oh no! The fragment has been in contact with the dark forces for too long and is losing its balance!"

Before the words were finished, the fragment suddenly exploded into countless pieces, each emitting unstable spacetime fluctuations.

Even more terrifying, these fragments seemed to come alive, flying towards cracks in all directions of space.

"We can't let the fragments fall into the crack!" Li Zhao shouted as he rushed toward the nearest fragment.

Ignoring their exhaustion, the crowd scattered to grab the remaining fragments.

The man in black robes vanished at that moment, leaving only a chilling voice echoing in the void: "You think you can stop the darkness by obtaining the fragments? The real game has only just begun..."

The speed of spatial collapse accelerated, and Li Zhao, clutching the three remaining fragments, watched as his companions were scattered by the spatial turbulence.

Lingyue called out anxiously from afar. The future Li Zhao was fighting against the black vortex that was trying to devour the fragments, while Wenli's figure suddenly became transparent, as if it would disappear at any moment.

"We must find a way to fuse the fragments!" Li Zhao's voice was swallowed up by the howling winds of time and space.

The fragment in his hand suddenly vibrated in a resonant manner, piecing together a fragmented star map in his palm.

At the center of the star chart flickered an unfamiliar spacetime coordinate, and at its edge, the chilling outline of a dark will faintly emerged...