[Current Status: Dimensional Barrier Damaged]
[Observer: Monitoring Units 1-10 (Sun-Eye)]
[Warning: Privacy Lost.]
...Having escaped the closed loop of the poetic "lone smoke rising from the desert," the horrific reality struck Shen Qingqiu like a hammer blow to the heart.
There was no such thing as surviving a catastrophe.
When Shen Qingqiu and Seventeen stepped back onto the primordial land, they found that the once familiar sky had completely changed.
There was no heat wave in the wind.
Logically, with ten suns overhead, the earth should be scorched earth.
But at this moment, the air was as cold as a giant morgue.
Shen Qingqiu raised his head, his golden pupils slightly contracting, reflecting a chilling scene.
Hanging in the sky were ten circular objects.
They were glowing, but it wasn't the light of the sun.
It was a layer of pale, cold LED light. At the center of the halo, instead of a burning core, were enormous eyeballs, bloodshot and covered in circuit boards…
Ten giant mechanical eyes.
They didn't blink, they didn't rotate.
They simply hovered silently in the sky, their pupils dilating and contracting as if adjusting their focus. Each eye emitted a red fan-shaped laser beam, sweeping back and forth across the land.
[Scanning…]
[Target: Human Tribe.]
[Judgment: Low-level data redundancy.]
[Execution: Delete.]
In the distance, a red light swept across a dense forest.
No fire, no explosion.
The forest, along with its birds and beasts, vanished the instant the red light touched it, like a pencil drawing erased by an eraser, leaving only a neat, smooth, grayish-white **"blank patch"**.
This wasn't the mythical Golden Crow's rampage.
This was a comprehensive… real-time monitoring and cleanup operation from a higher-dimensional civilization.
"They're watching us." Seventeen stood beside Shen Qingqiu, his newly repaired, shimmering black robe fluttering in the cold wind.
He raised his right hand, covered in crimson lotus demonic patterns, to block the red light shooting towards them.
*Zzzzz—* The red light shone on his arm, producing a crackling sound of electrical current.
"They're not watching." Shen Qingqiu's voice was soft, yet chillingly cold.
"They're… scrutinizing." Like a human scrutinizing bacteria on a slide with a microscope.
That arrogant, merciless, even maliceless arrogance.
"Let's go." Shen Qingqiu grabbed Seventeen's hand and turned to run towards Yaoshan, the highest peak of the Buzhou Mountains.
"There's a very strong mournful cry there. It's… Hou Yi."
…At the summit of Yaoshan.
Here, they were closest to the heavens, and also closest to those terrifying eyes.
The wind howled, whipping up loose rocks.
A man as muscular as an iron tower knelt on the edge of a cliff.
His bare upper body was covered in wounds, the marks of spatial rifts. In his hand he gripped a massive Sunset Bow, crafted from dragon sinew and divine wood.
The quiver beside him was empty.
He was Hou Yi.
The strongest high priest of the Wu tribe, his archery skills divine.
But now, this divine archer roared at the heavens like a helpless child.
"Why!!!" Hou Yi's roar shattered the flowing clouds.
"Why can't I hit my target! Why!!!" His fingers were festering, bleeding profusely.
Just now, he had fired ninety-nine arrows.
Each arrow contained all his energy and spirit, enough to pierce stars.
But.
When those arrows reached within a thousand meters of that "eyeball," they struck an invisible, transparent wall (a dimensional barrier).
Then, the arrows stopped, twisted, turned into a jumble of code, and dissipated in the wind.
This was a dimensional reduction attack.
An arrow from a low dimension, no matter how strong the laws of physics, cannot harm a high-dimensional observer.
"Because your arrow is too 'old'." A clear, cold voice pierced the wind, reaching Hou Yi's ears.
Hou Yi turned sharply.
He saw two figures, one in red and one in black, seemingly walking through the void.
"You are..." Hou Yi recognized them. It was the "red-clad demoness" and the "black-clad demon god" who had wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Court.
"Great Shaman Hou Yi." Shen Qingqiu walked up to him, looking at the man whose face was covered in blood and tears.
She showed no mockery, only pity.
"Your bow is for shooting stars."
"But those things in the sky..." Shen Qingqiu pointed to the ten enormous mechanical eyeballs above.
"They are not matter. They are data, they are rules."
"Is there no hope then?!" Hou Yi suddenly stood up, his eyes bloodshot, pointing at the human tribes below the mountain being slowly wiped out by the red light.
"Those are my people! That's the land I promised Kuafu I would protect! Are we just going to watch it all be wiped away?!"
"Of course not." Shen Qingqiu smiled.
Her smile was exquisite, like a spider lily blooming in this bleak world.
"Physical attacks are ineffective."
"Then let's try… a logical attack."
She turned to look at Seventeen, who had remained silent.
Their eyes met, needing no words, a tacit understanding that transcended countless planes.
Seventeen nodded.
He stepped forward, extending his right arm, covered in crimson lotus demonic patterns.
"Lend me your bow."
Seventeen said.
Hou Yi hesitated for a moment, then instinctively handed over the incredibly heavy Sunset Bow.
Seventeen took it with one hand.
Buzz— The bow trembled, seemingly resisting the touch of an outsider.
But Seventeen merely gripped it lightly, and the terrifying aura of a chaotic demon god instantly subdued the bow spirit.
"No more arrows," Hou Yi said bitterly.
"No need for arrows." Seventeen glanced at Shen Qingqiu.
"I am the arrow." Before the words were finished,
Seventeen's body suddenly became ethereal.
[Form Reorganization: Liquid Divine Metal · Conceptual Armament.] His body transformed into a flowing, black-gold liquid, spreading along the bowstring of the Sunset Bow.
Then, this liquid condensed and stretched on the bowstring.
It actually transformed into a three-meter-long, jet-black arrow, its tip burning with red lotus flames… a humanoid arrow.
That wasn't an ordinary arrow.
That was Seventeen's true form, fused with nano-divine metal, blood sea evil energy, and the **"Red Lotus Virus"** bestowed upon him by Shen Qingqiu.
"Ah Ling!" Shen Qingqiu called out in her sea of consciousness.
"Coming, Mother! Guidance system online!"
"Target locked: Observation eyeball number one (directly above)!"
"Firewall bypass solution: brute force injection!" Shen Qingqiu stepped forward.
She didn't draw the bow (she couldn't).
She simply extended her slender fingers and gently placed them on the body of Seventeen, who had transformed into an arrow.
It was like caressing a lover's cheek.
[Concept Overwrite.]
[Empowerment: Guaranteed Hit (Causality).]
"Hou Yi."
Shen Qingqiu turned to look at the awakened Great Shaman.
"You draw the bow."
"With all your hatred, all your resentment, all your luck."
"Shoot him...out."
Hou Yi shuddered.
He felt the terrifying power contained within that "black arrow." It was a destructive force he didn't understand, but instinctively feared.
He took a deep breath.
His arm muscles bulged, like coiled dragons.
Creak—creak—
The Sunset Bow, made of ancient divine wood, was gradually drawn to its full extent.
Full as a full moon.
The wind in the world suddenly stopped.
All the light converged towards the summit of Yao Mountain.
The mechanical eye in the sky seemed to sense a threat.
Its pupils contracted violently, the sweeping red light instantly focusing, transforming into a destructive beam of deletion, shooting straight at Yaoshan.
"Too late." Shen Qingqiu's red lips parted slightly.
"Seventeen, go."
"Go and tear a hole in this illusory sky…"
Bang—!!!
The bowstring snapped.
An indescribable shriek exploded.
That wasn't the sound of an arrow piercing the air.
That was the mournful cry of space being forcibly torn apart.
The black arrow transformed into a black lightning bolt shooting upwards against the current.
It didn't fly straight.
But instead, it drew a strange zigzag in the air, perfectly avoiding the beam of deletion.
That was A-Ling's supercomputing trajectory.
Closer!
Closer!
The arrow reached the invisible dimensional barrier.
If it were an ordinary arrow, it would have shattered by now.
But this arrow was Seventeen.
"Roar—!!!" Seventeen's semi-transparent demonic form appeared on the black arrow.
He wielded the **[Slaying Evil]** blade (arrowhead) and thrust it fiercely at the barrier.
[Crimson Lotus Virus - Release!]
[Logic Modification: This path...is open!]
Crack!
The transparent wall that had blocked Hou Yi countless times, like a fragile piece of glass, was shattered by this arrow carrying the "virus."
A shower of shimmering fragments fell from the sky.
The black arrow continued its trajectory, piercing straight into the pupil of the enormous mechanical eyeball.
Pfft— No blood splattered.
Only a large amount of green data streams and electrical sparks gushed out from the eyeball.
[Warning! Core Damaged!]
[Warning! Virus Invasion...System Crash...]
Boom—!!!
The mountain-sized mechanical eyeball trembled violently in the air, followed by a series of explosions. It was no longer the aloof observer.
It had become a pile of burning scrap metal, trailing long plumes of black smoke, falling from the heavens.
Bang!
The massive wreckage crashed to the earth, creating a bottomless crater, the dust billowing up and obscuring the sun.
"It hit...it hit..." Hou Yi knelt on the ground, looking at the falling debris, tears streaming down his face.
He finally understood.
Myths aren't created through prayer.
Myths are forged through "variables."
...In the sky.
The remaining nine eyes turned simultaneously, fixed intently on the direction of Yao Mountain.
The oppressive feeling of being simultaneously locked onto by nine higher-dimensional beings was enough to shatter the primordial spirit of a Great Luo Golden Immortal.
Whoosh!
A flash of black light.
Seventeen returned to the mountaintop.
He reformed into human form, but his face was ashen.
His right star-like arm was covered in cracks, clearly indicating that the attack had taken a tremendous toll on him.
Shen Qingqiu immediately rushed forward to support him.
"Can you still hold on?" Seventeen wiped the golden blood (Divine Metal Coolant) from the corner of his mouth.
He glanced at the remaining nine eyes in the sky.
His eyes held no fear, only an almost frenzied fighting spirit.
"Yes." Seventeen's voice was hoarse, yet as firm as a rock.
He turned to look at Hou Yi.
"Big guy, it's not over yet."
"There are still nine pieces of trash in the sky."
Seventeen stretched out his hand again, transforming it into a black fluid that wrapped around the bowstring.
"Continue."
"Today, we will let these high and mighty 'players' know..."
In Seventeen's purple eyes, the crimson karmic fire burned fiercely.
"This is not a game."
"This is... hell."
Shen Qingqiu stood in the wind, her long hair dancing wildly.
She watched Hou Yi draw the bowstring taut again, watched Seventeen transform into an arrow.
She didn't speak.
She simply bit her fingertip again, flicking a drop of blood into the black arrow shaft. A celestial gaze, a fully drawn bow.
Shattering illusion, a blood sacrifice to the heavens.
On this day.
The primordial earth was no longer silent.
On this day, countless beings raised their heads and witnessed a scene they would never forget—
The invincible ten-day surveillance network.
By a black arrow from the mortal realm.
One arrow after another… it shattered.