Jinhsi had a very long dream.
In the past, Tacet Discords rose everywhere, and Jinzhou was in grave peril like an egg on the edge. A rural woman, to escape the chaos of the Tacet Discords, held her newborn child and hid in the wilderness.
However, the Tacet Discords arrived in an instant. The woman desperately shielded her child with her body, hoping to trade her own death for her flesh and blood's chance to live. The child lost its mother and cried incessantly in grief. The wail of sorrow actually traveled hundreds of miles, harmonizing with the Sentinel's frequency.
The Sentinel followed the sound and arrived, slaughtering all the evil impurities with divine might. But it was too late. She carried the dead infant back, enduring seven days and seven nights, finally reviving the dead infant.
This dead infant became the later Resonator of the Sentinel, the Magistrate of Jinzhou.
"The world is dim; lighting a candle is no easy task."
Jinhsi heard the Sentinel's heavy sigh. She struggled to open her eyes, but her eyelids were incredibly heavy.
Her consciousness was sinking in icy, dark seawater—helpless, suffocating, seeing no hope at all.
So black, so very black. The breath of death slowly approached.
Every breath of her fragmented body brought oppression and heaviness.
At this moment, Jinhsi thought of her mother whom she had never met. Had her mother also felt this helpless, struggled like this, exhausted everything to pave a path to life for her swaddled self?
Her thoughts became extremely chaotic, beyond control. Scenes from the past emerged one after another in her consciousness.
"Governing with virtue—Jinhsi, do you keep this in your heart?"
A stern teacher's figure instructed the young child. The young child replied loudly:
"Jinhsi understands. Whether governing, doing business, or studying, virtue is the foundation, with the intent to serve the people."
A white light emanated from the young child's body. The dark space of consciousness finally gained a trace of brightness—warm, healing.
Jinhsi futilely reached out, wanting to grasp that point of white light. But the white light suddenly scattered like points of light and dissipated. The suffocating darkness returned once more.
The scene reappeared: above the ruined Jinzhou City, a group of people surrounded a figure in moon-white robes. Their expressions varied.
Like expectation, like sorrow, or perhaps full of exhaustion.
"Magistrate, you mean these polluted or severely injured people can return to normal?"
"Yes." The moon-white figure nodded. The white cracks produced from Overclocking on her body faintly expanded. She spared no cost:
"Gather all the victims of this invasion incident. I... will definitely restore Jinzhou and everyone to how they were!"
A white light burst from this determination, but after a brief time, it disappeared again.
Such scenes repeated several times.
Jinhsi felt the warmth brought by the white light's appearance time and again, and endured the even more unbearable darkness after the white light vanished time and again—endless.
"Jinhsi, do you know the weight of this choice?"
The scene switched to the Mianloong Chamber. She saw the Sentinel's dragon body, majestic without anger. Those dragon eyes like stars showed no discernible joy or anger.
"In this battle, the chance of you emerging unscathed is minuscule. Do you truly have this determination—to challenge a deity with your frail body?"
"I..."
Jinhsi opened her mouth to answer, lowered her head, and saw on her own body countless white cracks spreading uncontrollably.
She was like a ceramic broken and pieced back together bit by bit—as long as the wind blew gently, she would shatter into fragments on the ground.
With such an overburdened body, before the Sentinel's might, it probably couldn't hold for even a millisecond, right?
Life and death decided in a single thought at this moment—but so what? Even if reduced to dust, even if doomed eternally...
Jinhsi slightly pursed her lips, raised her head, and looked at the Sentinel's gaze without dodging anymore:
"My conviction will not waver!"
Ages of Harvest was gripped in her shattered hands, then swung fiercely, unstoppable—
Jué's figure shattered like a mirror. A white light finally truly burst from Jinhsi's body, like a lit candle flame dispelling the darkness.
The mottled, broken shell healed bit by bit. The light on Jinhsi's body grew brighter and brighter. A pair of dragon horns emerged from her head.
With the light, her vision reached farther and farther, finally seeing clearly this originally dark space of consciousness.
It was a city-state bathed in fine spring weather. It was a city-state abundant in resources and prosperous in people—the city-state she was willing to become a candle for, even sacrificing herself to illuminate.
It was Jinzhou!
She had truly endured darkness for so very long before welcoming her own light.
Jinhsi waved two fingers. Spring thunder suddenly moved, parting clouds to reveal the sun.
Seasons flowed through thousands of peaks and valleys; streets and alleys gained a new atmosphere.
"Jinhsi... did you succeed?"
She vaguely heard her teacher Changli's call, weeping for joy.
Finally.
Jinhsi opened her eyes, escaping from the nightmarish sleep. What entered her vision, besides the white light emanating from her own body, was a catastrophic scene.
In the distance, the giant dragon circled and soared. Her dragon body was like a mountain range. The lower half's dragon tail lit up with piercing white light, carrying the enormous inertia from spinning in the air, smashing down heavily.
Noah raised his hand, actually catching this powerful strike head-on. He heard the sound of bones breaking, but couldn't tell if it was his own arm or Jué's tail spine.
The sharp scales on the dragon tail pierced his palm until blood flowed. The high-temperature scorching energy evaporated his spilling blood into white mist.
Pain—like a thousand needles piercing the palm!
He gritted his teeth stubbornly, refusing to let go.
A pair of dragon horns emerged from Noah's head. Veins bulged on his right arm, like a bowstring compressed to the limit suddenly releasing.
"Get down!"
The hand grabbing the dragon tail flung fiercely. The Sentinel's enormous mountain-like dragon body was like a long whip suddenly straightened, smashing heavily into the snow of Mt. Firmament.
"Hand over the power of time sequence!"
Noah roared lowly, thick bloodshot veins seeping from his eyes.
Ignoring the intense pain from his hand, his will drove him to swing his arm again, grabbing the dragon tail to hurl the enormous dragon body onto the other side of Mt. Firmament once more.
Jué's body drew a semicircle in the air with Noah as the center. The dragon head heavily collided with the head of the red dragon-shaped mountain range, snapping that mountain range's dragon head clean off.
The sound of rolling stones crumbling echoed incessantly, but one furious roar was far clearer than the falling rocks.
"Hand over the power of time sequence!!"
Indescribable pain left Jué unable to speak.
She saw heaven and earth spinning, heard the cracking chaos of bones throughout Her body, and in Her ears came the man's increasingly resounding roars:
"Hand over the power of time sequence!!!"
Buzz—
Time slowed down.
The Sentinel and Noah both started, slowly turning their heads in the slowed time, seeing a graceful, ethereal figure in moon-white approaching through the air.
One step—the cracks covering her body healed, vanishing without trace.
One step—the dragon scales spreading over her body retracted, revealing smooth, snow-white skin with a healthy faint red glow.
One step—the chaotic time flow plaguing Mt. Firmament for years was soothed. Frozen white gulls spread their wings and flew; stagnant wild deer called softly.
The perpetual ice and snow of Mt. Firmament melted. Clouds parted to reveal the sun. Long-absent spring light visited this cold forbidden land once more.
Countless rolling fragments rose back along their original paths. The broken dragon head restored to its original state.
"I have never felt so refreshed and clear-headed."
The crane-haired young woman smiled gracefully, stopping before Noah and the Sentinel. She waved two fingers—all injuries on both vanished, retreating without trace.
"All of this is thanks to you."
Jinhsi slowly extended her hands, gently pulling Noah's hand from the Sentinel's dragon tail. Her gaze was sincere and joyful.
[Main Quest: Thaw of Eons Completed.]
[Currently possess Radiant Tide *20, Lustrous Tide *15, Astrite *2600, Shell Credits *1.07 million.]