While Quynh Nhu was waging her one-woman war from the heavens, Lin Ming and Pham Tuan finally reached their destination.
They emerged from the storm drain into a musty sub-basement of the National Library. The air here was vibrating, humming with a dark, malevolent energy that made their skin crawl.
"We're close," Lin Ming said, his voice grim. The [Long Tien Cau] within his dantian was stirring restlessly, its life-affirming Fairy Qi repulsed by the concentrated death energy pervading the area.
They located the hidden spiral staircase and descended once more. The moment they stepped into the Hall of Four Books, the change was immediately apparent.
The chamber, once silent and dormant, was now a vortex of screaming, shadowy energy.
In the center of the room, above the four pedestals, a sphere of pure, black energy was forming, coalescing from the invisible streams of 'resentment essence' being channeled from the war-torn city above.
With every distant explosion, every death, the sphere grew larger and more potent. The air was so thick with spiritual poison that Pham Tuan felt nauseous, his connection to his own earthly abilities weakened.
And guarding this horrific heart of the ritual were the two Madakaros investigators. The Nascent Soul masters.
They had recovered from Lin Ming's desperate attack. One stood by the pedestal of Fire, the other by the pedestal of Water, their hands resting on the ancient codices.
They were actively channeling the books' energy, not to control them, but to help regulate the massive influx of death energy, to keep the ritual from spiraling out of their control. Their faces were strained; this was clearly taking a toll on even their immense power.
They turned as Lin Ming and Pham Tuan entered. There was no surprise in their telepathic voices this time, only cold, simmering hatred.
"The little 'champion' returns," broadcasted the one by the Book of Fire. "You have only delayed the inevitable. Your city is bleeding its life force into our hands. Your friend on the tower has become our most productive generator of resentment. We should thank her."
The second operative sneered. "Your desperate attack last time nearly emptied you. You cannot perform such a feat again. This time, there will be no escape."
They were right. Lin Ming knew he didn't have the power to create another [Long Tien Cau] bomb. He had barely survived the first one. A direct confrontation was suicide.
Minerva (comms): Zenith, their life-signatures are intertwined with the pedestals! They're using the Codices as power regulators! I believe if you can disrupt their connection to just one of the books, the entire energy matrix will become unstable! It might not stop the ritual, but it will create chaos!
Disrupt the connection. That was his opening.
The four books were Earth, Water, Fire, and the empty pedestal for Metal. The two aliens were occupying Fire and Water.
Lin Ming's own strength lay in the Book of Earth. He knew he couldn't overpower them on their own pedestals, but perhaps he could use his home turf advantage.
"Pham Tuan," he whispered, "I need you to do what you do best. Be a juggernaut. Be the biggest, loudest, most unbreakable distraction you can possibly be. Draw their fire. I just need a few seconds."
Pham Tuan looked at the two god-like beings, then at Lin Ming's determined face. He swallowed his fear and gave a grim nod. "For the city," he said.
With a roar that was pure, defiant courage, he charged, not at one of the aliens, but straight into the center of the room, slamming his fists into the floor and raising a shield of solid stone.
He was making himself the most obvious target.
"Foolish primitive!" The operative by the Book of Water scoffed. It raised a hand, and a torrent of pressurized water, sharp as glass, materialized from the air and slammed into Pham Tuan's shield, threatening to peel it apart.
The operative by the Book of Fire turned its attention to Lin Ming. A sinister fireball formed in its palm.
But Lin Ming was already moving. He didn't charge forward. He walked calmly to the Book of Earth and placed his hand on its petrified cover.
He closed his eyes, ignoring the impending attack, and poured his [Spiritual Sense] into the ancient text.
The world vanished. He was one with the concept of Earth again. Stability. Endurance. Gravity.
He felt the entire chamber with his mind, felt the flow of dark energy, felt the connections between the aliens and the pedestals of Fire and Water. And he felt his own pedestal, the foundation of Earth, beneath his feet.
He found the link. The Tu Thu Dien was a single machine. The four pedestals were its terminals. He couldn't attack the others directly, but he could attack the system itself through his own terminal.
He focused his entire will on a single command, not a fancy technique, but a fundamental principle of his new art.
[Activating Advanced Geomancy Skill: Tectonic Shift!]
He wasn't trying to create an earthquake. He was trying to manipulate the very foundation the pedestals stood on. He pushed, with all his might, at the spiritual bedrock of the chamber.
The room groaned. The operative by the Book of Fire, its fireball about to launch, faltered as the ground beneath it suddenly lurched sideways. The physical movement was minimal, a mere inch, but the spiritual connection, the precise alignment needed to channel the codex's power, was snapped.
Its control over the Book of Fire was broken.
A torrent of raw, untamed fire energy erupted from the pedestal, no longer regulated by the alien's power. At the same time, the death-energy ritual, now missing a crucial stabilizing element, began to rage out of control. The black sphere in the center of the room pulsed violently, lashing out with tendrils of pure chaotic despair.
The chamber descended into pandemonium.
"You...! What have you done?!" the Fire operative shrieked, now having to defend itself from its own out-of-control power source.
The Water operative, seeing the ritual collapsing, was forced to abandon its attack on Pham Tuan to try and re-stabilize the black sphere.
The distraction was created. The stalemate was broken. This was Lin Ming's chance.
Minerva (comms): Zenith, it's working! The energy matrix is fluctuating wildly! Their control is failing!
"It's not enough!" Lin Ming thought, gritting his teeth. They had lost control, but the ritual was still ongoing, still accumulating power. He had to stop it at its source. He had to shut down the antenna.
His eyes fell on the fourth, empty pedestal. The pedestal of Metal. The missing key. Thuan Thien.
The Madakaros leader had been right. The sword could be used as a key. But what if it wasn't meant to be drained? What if it was meant to complete the circuit? What if the key wasn't meant to overload the machine, but to master it?
It was an insane gamble, a leap of faith based on a dead alien's words and a monk's ghost.
He looked at Thuan Thien. The sword hummed in his hand, as if in agreement.
"Okay," he whispered to the sword, "let's hope you know what you're doing."
Ignoring the chaos of rogue fireballs and tendrils of dark energy, he walked with resolute calm towards the fourth, empty pedestal. He took a deep breath, and plunged the Sword of Heaven's Will deep into the empty slot.
It slid into place with a perfect, resounding CLICK.