CHAPTER 111 – Into the Vortex
Xiao Xi flew straight into the heart of the First Root's hungry vortex,
not resisting the immense, crushing pull,
not dodging the swirling malice,
but embracing the final, devastating path.
The First Root shrieked, its voice splitting the air with disbelief and fury:
"YOU FOOL,YOU CANNOT CONTAIN ME!
I AM INFINITE ENTROPY!"
Xiao Xi's chaos wings, now woven with bright, stabilizing gold, spread wide, pushing back against the overwhelming blackness.
"I don't need to contain you," she shouted, her voice crackling like lightning, her conviction stronger than the void.
"I need to bind you."
She plunged her bare hands deep into the swirling, malevolent darkness at the core of the entity.
It was agony.
It burned like frozen fire.
It tore savagely at her Core, attempting to siphon and erase her existence entirely.
But she didn't let go.
She anchored her will, using Gu's fused energy as a shield.
The First Root writhed, its shape warping violently, trying to shake her off like a painful splinter.
"YOU ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO THE ORIGINAL!
I AM THE CORE'S FIRST BORN!"
Xiao Xi snarled back, the violet fire in her eyes burning with pure defiance:
"Then why are you afraid of me?! Why do you fight so hard?!"
The vortex buckled around her.
The binding was working.
The First Root shrieked, an unbearable, tearing sound.
Shen shouted from the shattered ground, his voice hoarse with adrenaline:
"XIAO XI—IT'S WORKING!!
THE VORTEX IS SHRINKING!"
Ling's eyes filled with tears of exhausted relief and terror.
"She's overpowering him,she's really doing the impossible."
But Gu Yanzhou,
weak, fading, barely held together by his newly golden soul-thread,felt something else entirely.
A horrifying, irresistible pull on his core essence.
The bond they'd formed—Core to Core—was too strong.
It dragged him forward.
Toward her.
Toward the vortex.
Toward the seal.
His fractured voice ripped through the howling air, laced with pure panic:
"XIAO XI,STOP!!
THE BOND,IT'S PULLING ME WITH YOU!
IT'S PULLING ME IN!!"