Legend of the Embroiderer

Chapter 396 The Land of Return to Zero

Eternal silence spread like thick ink, while the yin-yang fish pattern on Lingyue's chest beat powerfully like a heart, amplifying the light of the jade pendant layer by layer, outlining a hopeful silhouette in the darkness.

The red light in Li Zhao's eyes resonated with it, forming a huge tai chi diagram above the crack, with black and white fish intertwined, absorbing all the falling power.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lingyue saw the entirety of the Zero Land: the foundation of the floating island was a massive, suffocating gear set, each gear engraved with cyclical patterns of the birth and destruction of the universe. In those intricate lines, one could even see the birth and collapse of stars, the rise and fall of civilizations.

The glowing cocoons hang between the gears like eggs of destiny waiting to hatch. Within each cocoon lies a "perfect container" with a face similar to Lingyue. Their brows shimmer with triple yin-yang patterns, as if they are dreaming the same dream of freedom.

"This is the pivot of the dream weaver's cycle."

Li Zhao's voice echoed from the void. His body transformed into countless points of light, merging into the Tai Chi diagram like stars. Each point of light carried a warm, tactile quality. "Each cocoon is an 'initial container' of a universe, and we..."

His points of light coalesced into chains, like gentle hands, wrapping around Lingyue's waist, "the variable that breaks the cycle."

Suddenly, Li Zhao, dressed in black robes, waved the silver chess piece in his hand. Lingyue's profile on the chess piece glowed with an eerie red light. At the same time, the cocoons on the island burst open, and countless "perfect containers" turned into data streams, flowing into the gear train like a reversed Milky Way. Amid the roar of the gears turning, Lingyue saw that each container had a relieved smile on its face, as if it had finally unloaded a thousand-year burden.

"Variables? No, they are viruses that must be eliminated."

As Li Zhao, clad in black robes, raised his hand, twelve runic shackles appeared along the edge of the Tai Chi diagram. Each rune corresponded to a specific point in time and space that Ling Yue had experienced—the Awakening of the Mirror Palace, the Abyss of Mirror Images, the Labyrinth of Memory...

Those memories that once tore her apart now appeared as cold symbols on the shackles. "When the observer's loom begins to turn, all resistance is merely a footnote to the cycle. You think the perfect container is helping you? She's just trying to break free from the program's slavery, while you—"

His chess piece suddenly pierced the center of the Tai Chi diagram, and Lingyue felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if an invisible hand was squeezing her heart. "It was the sharpest knife she had ever found."

Lingyue was startled to realize that the jade pendant's light had turned a bewitching scarlet color at some point, and the cracks no longer emitted pure light, but rather a thick, chaotic power, carrying a nauseating aura.

Those fragments of memory that she once regarded as hope now revealed their true form in the red light:

Wenli's sacrifice was not voluntary, but rather a plot predetermined by the dream weaver; Li Zhao's companionship was not accidental, but a variable calculated by the observer.

Even her "awakening" was a trap meticulously designed by the perfect vessel to break through the limitations of the program. She thought she was rebelling against fate, but little did she know that she had already fallen into a deeper cage.

"Look behind you." Li Zhao's voice, laced with mockery, was like a sharp blade piercing Ling Yue's heart.

She turned her head and saw countless "selves" emerging from the cracks in the mirror palace. They were dressed in clothing from different times and spaces. Some wore black robes, while others held scepters of light, but all of them held blood-stained jade pendants and had empty, mechanical eyes.

These "spiritual moons" lined up in neat rows, climbing up the steps of the gear set. With each step, they carved new runes on the surface of the gears. The direction in which the gears turned was the Yin-Yang fish altar under the feet of Li Zhao in black robes, which exuded a suffocating dark energy, as if it were the source of all evil.

“Every universe’s ‘spiritual moon’ will reach this point.”

Li Zhao, clad in black robes, spread his arms to welcome the influx of data. His body swelled in the red light, and the outline of the observer's giant eye gradually became clear. "You think you are rebelling against fate, but in reality, you are injecting new energy into the loom."

When all dimensions of 'you' have completed their sacrifice, the observer will be able to break through the Dream Weaver's blockade and truly become an omniscient and omnipotent being.

His voice was filled with madness, "And I will become the new master of the loom, controlling the life and death of all the universes!"

Li Zhao's points of light suddenly solidified, and the source of light seeped from the cracks in his armor, like shattered stars, resonating with the chains around Ling Yue's waist and illuminating the surrounding darkness.

“Do you still remember the inscription of the first guardian? ‘Only by breaking all pre-set scripts’—” He took out the broken compass hidden in his chest. The yin-yang pattern on the compass fragments echoed the jade pendant of the spirit moon. “True reality is never in the observer’s dimension.”

The compass fragment pierced the Tai Chi diagram, causing the entire Zero Land to tremble violently. The gear set groaned under the strain, and the "Spirit Moons" who were climbing stopped, their eyes flashing with confusion, as if souls that had been dormant for thousands of years were finally beginning to awaken.

Lingyue seized the opportunity and plunged the blood-stained jade pendant into her heart.

Intense pain surged through her like a tidal wave, yet she felt a clarity she had never felt before.

At that moment, she heard the screams of countless "selves," and saw memories from all times and spaces recede like a tide, revealing the deepest truth:

She was originally a "loophole" created by the Dream Weaver, injected into the container of every universe, in order to trigger paradoxes at crucial moments and destroy the foundation of the observer.

The perfect container and Li Zhao in black robes are both "guide programs" designed by the Dream Weaver to ensure that she awakens at the right time and becomes the key to breaking the cycle.

"It turns out we are all just tools."

Lingyue looked at Li Zhao with a wry smile, but found that there was no despair in his eyes, only relief.

“But tools can also choose how they use themselves.” He squeezed her hand, and light and chaos exploded in their palms, forming a dazzling light. “Do you remember the riddle in the Star Abyss? The answer is always outside the question.”

Li Zhao, clad in black, roared furiously, and the observer's giant eye projected a beam of destructive light, sweeping in like a black waterfall.

Lingyue and Li Zhao embraced in the beam of light, their bodies transforming into countless points of light, each carrying the consciousness of "Lingyue" from a different universe, drifting like dandelions towards the gaps in the gear set.

Wherever these points of light touched, the runes on the gears crumbled, revealing their original pure metallic luster.

As the last point of light disappeared, the gears of the Zero Land stopped turning, and all the "perfect containers" in the cocoons opened their eyes at the same time. The triple yin-yang fish pattern between their brows merged into a single pure white pattern, symbolizing rebirth and freedom. Meanwhile, the figure of Li Zhao in black robes had already been completely swallowed by the light, leaving only that silver chess piece, slowly rotating in the air.

In a far more distant dimension, those giant eyes finally revealed a look of panic.

Its massive body trembled violently as it tried to activate the backup program, only to find that all the gears of the looms had stopped, and countless cosmic threads had broken, forming a free sea of ​​stars.

The giant eye contracted angrily, but at that moment, Lingyue's consciousness suddenly rose from the depths of the starry sea. In her hand she held a new scepter woven from light and chaos. The top of the scepter was no longer inlaid with the observer's giant eye, but with a beating heart of her own, full of the power of life.

“True truth can be written by oneself.” Lingyue’s voice echoed throughout all dimensions, like a thunderclap piercing through the eternal darkness.

She waved her scepter, and the starry sea split into countless microcosms. In each microcosm, a brand new "Spirit Moon" was born. Their eyes were no longer bound by the shackles of programming, but only by curiosity about the unknown and a yearning for freedom.

In the mirror palace of a certain microcosm, the real Lingyue and Li Zhao stood side by side. They looked at the jade pendant in their hands and found that the crack had long since disappeared, replaced by a new light, gentle yet firm, as if telling the story of the miracle of life.

When Lingyue turned around, she saw a new line of runes that had appeared on the mirror wall at some point. It was the Dream Weaver's handwriting, carrying a hint of mystery and warning:

"The cycle never ends, it just changes its form."

Her pupils contracted sharply, realizing that this so-called "victory" might just be the beginning of another story. And in a corner she couldn't see, a silver chess piece was falling from the void. The markings on the piece were no longer her profile, but a mysterious question mark, as if foreshadowing the start of the next game, new challenges and unknown fates awaiting them...