Spirit Pact Hundred Scenes Record

Chapter 37 The Power of the Shadows

The moment the Emerald Leaf Talisman was activated, time seemed to freeze for a single frame.

The swirling leaf phantoms unfolded before Karen, rapidly expanding from the size of a palm to a circular shield two meters in diameter. The shield was composed of countless fine, emerald-green runes, each constantly flowing and recombining, radiating pure and boundless life energy. The light illuminated the surrounding forest, dispelling the chill and oppression brought by the shadows.

The shadowy hand reaching for Karen's throat abruptly stopped when it touched the edge of the shield.

No, it didn't stop voluntarily.

Instead, it was blocked.

The moment the emerald green light came into contact with the dark red, viscous substance, it emitted a piercing hissing sound, like a red-hot iron being plunged into cold water. Smoke began to rise from the surface of the shadowy figure's palm, and the dark red substance was rapidly purified and evaporated, revealing a deeper, black structure beneath.

The shadowy figure let out a painful howl—if that twisted, metallic scraping sound could be called a howl. It jerked its hand back, took two steps back, and the black heart in its chest pounded violently, its frequency doubling.

"The power of the ancient tree..." The shadowy figure's voice was filled with hatred. "Those old geezers... they're almost dead and still won't settle down..."

It raised its hands, palms facing each other, and a dark red energy sphere condensed in front of its chest. Black lightning crackled within the energy sphere, and the surrounding air distorted due to the intense heat. The shadowy figure pushed the energy sphere towards the emerald shield.

boom--!!!

The deafening roar of the energy sphere colliding with the shield shook the entire riverbank. The shockwave spread in a ring, uprooting sand, gravel, and fallen leaves, and sending water columns several meters high erupting from the stream. The emerald shield trembled violently, its surface runes flashing wildly, yet it stubbornly remained unbroken.

However, the cost is enormous.

The emerald leaf amulet on Karen's hand was rapidly losing its color. The leaf's ethereal form was becoming increasingly transparent, and fine cracks were beginning to appear along its edges. With each surge of energy, the amulet's brightness diminished further.

"It won't last long." Shadow's voice echoed in Karen's mind. The black cat struggled to its feet, but its limbs were still trembling weakly. "The power reserved by the ancient tree is only for emergencies, not for directly confronting attacks of this level."

Karen gritted her teeth, looking at the dark figure behind the emerald shield. The opponent was condensing a second energy ball, this time larger, darker in color, and with denser black lightning inside.

We must take the initiative.

Passive defense only leads to certain death.

"Leah! Grom!" Karen shouted, "Prepare to cooperate with me!"

Lydia had already stood up again, though her leg injury made her unsteady, her hands had begun to form hand seals. Grom also got up from the rock, the dwarf wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, gripping his warhammer tightly, the runes on the hammerhead forcibly lighting up—even though the light was as faint as a candle flickering in the wind.

Karen took a deep breath and immersed her consciousness into the contract connection.

While Xiguang was still in deep hibernation, the cub's consciousness was completely sealed, making it unable to directly participate in the battle. However, after the contract was established, their spiritual veins had become deeply intertwined, and even if Xiguang did not actively provide power, Karen could still draw upon a portion of the light spiritual energy stored in the contract link.

Not much, but it should be enough.

He channeled that portion of the psychic energy to his right wrist, where the interwoven gold and silver runes shone brilliantly. The illusory wings of light behind him reappeared—not materialized, but merely phantom shadows, yet still amplifying his power.

The emerald shield finally reached its limit under the bombardment of the second energy ball.

Click—!

A clear cracking sound.

The shield's surface was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and the emerald green light quickly dimmed. The last leaf's phantom image vanished as a speck of light, and the emerald leaf rune on Karen's hand completely lost its color, turning into an ordinary pale green mark.

The moment the shield shattered, Karen moved.

It's not retreating, it's charging forward.

The illusory wings flapped backward, providing a short burst of acceleration. Karen shot out like a cannonball, her right fist clenched, enveloped in a golden and silver light, and blasted towards the beating black heart in the shadowy figure's chest!

The enemy must defend when attacked.

If the core of the shadow is indeed that heart, it will definitely defend itself.

As expected, the shadowy figure abandoned the attempt to condense a third energy ball, instead crossing its arms in front of its chest. A thick, dark red shield formed in front of it, its surface flowing with twisted runes.

Karen's fist slammed into the shield.

boom--! ! !

A deafening clang, like metal clashing. Golden and silver light clashed violently with dark red energy, the resulting shockwave sending Karen sliding several meters backward, his feet carving two deep furrows in the ground. A sharp pain shot through his right fist; his knuckles might be fractured, but he gritted his teeth and refused to retreat.

Cracks appeared on the surface of the shield.

Although it was very faint, it did appear.

"Worked!" Grom roared, and the dwarf seized the opportunity, charging at the shadowy figure from the side. The warhammer, imbued with the dwarven psionic energy, slammed into the shadowy figure's right knee joint—the crucial point supporting its body.

At the same time, Lydia's wind blades arrived.

Not one, but seven. Seven wind blades, compressed to their limit, shot in a fan shape toward the head and upper body of the black shadow, each aiming at a different vital point: the eyes (if that dark red substance could be called an eye), the throat, the shoulders, the sides of the chest, and above the black heart.

The shadowy figure was attacked from both sides.

But it demonstrated combat intelligence far beyond what was imagined.

Faced with an attack from three sides, the shadowy figure did not choose to fight head-on, but instead did something that surprised everyone—

Its body suddenly liquefied.

This wasn't a metaphor; it was actual liquefaction. The body, composed of a dark red, viscous substance, instantly lost its fixed shape, spreading out on the ground like a pool of melting asphalt. Grom's warhammer missed its target, slamming into the ground and creating a large crater. Lydia's wind blades also missed entirely, slicing through the air and leaving deep cuts in the trees behind.

The liquefied shadows quickly flowed and reformed on the ground.

It is not about returning to human form.

Instead, it's... a split.

It was divided into three.

Three smaller black shadows rose from the ground, each the height of a normal person. Their bodies were still made of dark red, viscous substance, but they did not have black hearts on their chests—the hearts remained in place, suspended in mid-air, connected to the three split bodies by a thin, dark red energy line.

The three split entities acted simultaneously.

One lunged at Grom, its body stretching and deforming in mid-air, transforming into several thorny tentacles that coiled around the dwarf from all angles.

He lunged at Leah, his hands extending into sharp blades, moving so fast that he left afterimages in the air.

The last, and most powerful, reformed into human form before Karen. This split entity was more solidified than the other two, its dark red surface almost solidified into an armor-like texture. It raised its right hand, a crack appearing in its palm, from which emerged a longsword composed of pure dark energy, its blade constantly pulsating.

"Now..." the split entity spoke, its voice as dry and hoarse as the original, "one-on-one."

The longsword slashed down.

Karen dodged to the side, the blade grazing his shoulder and leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound. A sharp pain shot through him, but he had no time to heal—the second sword was already upon him, aimed straight for his heart.

Karen blocked with her left hand, the gold and silver runes on her wrist bursting with dazzling light, forming a small light shield on her arm. The dark longsword pierced the light shield, emitting a sharp scraping sound, the tip of the sword slowly penetrating the shield, getting closer and closer to Karen's chest.

"Your power... is too weak..." the split entity mocked. "Guardian bloodline? Ridiculous... you haven't even awakened one percent of your own bloodline..."

Karen gritted her teeth and activated the contract runes with all her might. The illusory wings behind her flapped again, this time not to provide thrust, but to inject all the remaining light energy into the light shield.

The light shield suddenly brightened, temporarily blocking the advance of the dark sword.

But the price was the rapid depletion of her psionic energy. Karen felt her internal energy channels begin to twitch, like an overstretched rubber band that could snap at any moment.

Meanwhile, Grom and Lydia were also locked in a fierce battle.

Grom's legs and right arm were bound by tentacles. The dwarf roared and struggled, swinging his warhammer left and right, but there were too many tentacles, and they could regenerate quickly after being severed. One tentacle seized the opportunity to wrap around his neck and began to contract, and Grom's face quickly turned red.

Leah was in slightly better condition. Her wind-attribute psionic energy gave her an advantage in speed, and although the blades of her split form were sharp, she dodged each attack with her agile movements. However, Leah's leg injury severely hampered her mobility; her face grew increasingly pale, her breathing became rapid, and she clearly couldn't hold on for much longer.

Worse still, the black heart suspended in mid-air was beating rhythmically.

dong... dong... dong...

With each pulse, new energy was channeled into the three split entities. Karen could clearly see the dark red energy flowing into the split entities along the thin energy line, repairing their damage and enhancing their power.

Without cutting off the energy supply, this battle will never be won.

But how do you cut it?

The heart was protected by a dark red energy shield, at least five meters above the ground. Karen was currently entangled by the split entity and couldn't break free. Grom and Leah were also preoccupied with their own survival.

Am I really going to die here?

Just when Karen was almost in despair, a faint but clear thought came through the contract link.

It is the dawn.

The cub was still in deep hibernation, but its instincts sensed Karen's danger. Dawn did not awaken—nor could it—but it did the only thing it could: it transferred the last bit of primal spiritual energy, hidden deep within its bloodline, to Karen through a contractual link.

That amount of psionic energy was so little that it was almost negligible.

But it's pure enough.

So pure that it can awaken something.

Karen felt the gold and silver spirit patterns on her right wrist suddenly begin to heat up.

It wasn't the burning heat from overuse that I'd experienced before, but a gentle, comforting sensation, like soaking in warm water. The pattern of the spirit runes began to change—the gold and silver lines separated and recombine, forming more complex and ancient patterns.

Fragments of memories flooded Karen's mind.

It is not the memory of the dawn.

Or... his own memories?

No, it wasn't his own.

It is the memory of bloodline.

He saw a vast hall, where countless people in silver robes knelt in prayer. In the center of the hall, a crystal emitting a soft white light floated. Below the crystal stood a person—his face was obscured, but he could see that the person had the same spiritual runes on his wrist as he did now.

He heard a voice, an ancient and solemn voice, chanting in a language he had never heard before yet could inexplicably understand:

"In the name of the Guardians, we hereby establish this covenant: We shall safeguard the balance of the world, maintain the flow of spiritual veins, and seal away calamities from beyond the realm, until our bloodlines are severed and our souls dissipate..."

Then the scene changes.

He saw the sky tear open, and countless dark figures poured out from the enormous crack. These figures devoured everything, leaving devastation and withering spiritual veins in their wake. People in silver robes formed battle formations, the spiritual runes on their wrists lighting up simultaneously, transforming into chains that dragged the dark figures into the depths of the crack. Then, they sealed the crack at the cost of their own lives.

Finally, there was a woman's face.

Beautiful, gentle, yet her eyes held a deep sadness.

She reached out and touched his face—he was still a baby then—and then put a pendant around his neck.

"I'm sorry, Karen..." the woman's voice choked with sobs, "Mom has to go... It's the guardian's responsibility... You must live... until the day your bloodline awakens..."

The image is shattered.

Karen suddenly opened her eyes.

He got it.

The Guardian bloodline is neither a talent nor a power.

It is a responsibility.

A responsibility to fulfill a contract with one's life.

The spirit pattern on his wrist was not an ordinary contract pattern.

It is a seal rune that has been passed down through countless generations and is specifically used to combat "extraterrestrial calamities"—that is, remnants of the spirit world.

"So that's how it is..." Karen murmured to herself.

The split entity opposite him seemed to sense something and paused for a moment.

"Your spirit runes..." For the first time, uncertainty appeared in the split entity's voice, "They're changing..."

"Yes," Karen looked up, her eyes becoming incredibly determined. "Things are changing."

He no longer attempted to invoke light energy.

Instead, he channeled all the pure spiritual energy transmitted by the dawn into the spiritual runes on his wrist.

Then, guide the spirit runes to "resonate".

It is not the light psionic energy that resonates with the dawn.

It is resonance... the very essence of this world.

The spiritual veins of the Emerald Forest.

The spiritual veins of the ancient tree elders.

This forest is the lifeblood of all living beings.

Karen closed his eyes, expanding his consciousness infinitely. He no longer saw himself as an isolated individual, but as a node in the network of spiritual veins in this forest. His spiritual runes became the interface, and his consciousness became the bridge.

He "saw" it.

Deep underground, a complex network of spiritual veins, like a giant neural network, covered the entire forest. He "saw" the ancient tree elder's massive root system, each root an extension of a spiritual vein. He "saw" the faint but tenacious life force flowing within every tree, every blade of grass, and every animal in the forest.

Then, he made a request.

It was not an order, nor was it forced.

It is a request.

In the name of the guardian's bloodline, he begs this forest to lend him its power.

To protect.

In order to fight against the calamity that was trying to devour everything.

Initially, there was no response.

The forest is ancient and cautious; it will not easily respond to the request of a strange human.

But the spirit runes on Karen's wrist, those seal runes passed down through countless generations, became the best proof.

The consciousness of the ancient tree elder was the first to respond.

Though faint and distant, it did indeed respond.

Then, the second tree, the third tree...

The spirit of the stream, the spirit of the soil, the spirit of the wind...

Finally, the entire network of spiritual veins along the western edge of the Emerald Forest responded.

Power began to gather.

It didn't surge into Karen's body—his body couldn't withstand such a massive amount of psionic energy.

Instead, they gathered around him.

Centered on him, a massive psionic field, covering the entire riverbank, slowly formed.

Inside the field, all the rules were fine-tuned.

Increased gravity, altered air density, and slowed psionic energy flow—everything was adjusted to counter the Shadow's high-speed, high-attack characteristics.

The movements of the three split entities slowed down significantly.

The tentacles swung in slow motion, the blades slashed with increasing force, and the dark longsword's advance almost came to a halt.

"This...is impossible..." the split entity in front of Karen said with difficulty, "How...could you...mobilize the power of a domain...you are not...the true guardian..."

"Maybe I'm not," Karen said, her voice calm but firm, "but I have things I must protect."

He raised his right hand, and the spirit runes on his wrist had turned pure silver, the golden patterns on the surface temporarily disappearing. The silver light illuminated his face and the gradually forming psionic field around him.

"Now, it's my turn."

Karen took a step forward.

With a single step, he traversed a distance of five meters and appeared before the split entity.

Extend your right hand and gently touch the center of the split's forehead with your index finger.

There was no violent explosion, no dazzling light.

There was only a soft "pop" sound, like a bubble bursting.

The split entity's body rapidly "solidified" from the point of contact. The dark red, viscous substance lost its fluidity and transformed into hard, brittle black crystals. The solidification spread rapidly, covering the entire split entity in the blink of an eye.

Then, Karen withdrew her finger.

The split entity turned into a pile of black crystalline fragments, which scattered on the ground with a clatter and then fell silent.

The other two split entities let out terrified roars upon seeing this. They tried to escape and re-merge back into the main body, but the immense pressure of the psionic field made their movements as slow as snails.

Karen turned around and looked at the black heart floating in mid-air.

The heart seemed to sense a deadly threat, its beating rate increasing wildly, and the blood vessels and nerves on its surface convulsing violently. It tried to reconnect the energy lines linking the split entities, attempting to reunite the scattered power.

But it was too late.

Karen raised her hands, and the silver runes on her wrists lit up at the same time.

Two silver chains shot out from the spiritual runes; they were not physical entities, but rather chains of rules composed entirely of spiritual energy. The chains intertwined and extended in the air, like two serpentine snakes, precisely coiling around the black heart.

The heart emitted an extremely sharp shriek, like countless panes of glass shattering simultaneously.

The chains tighten.

Little by little, the dark red energy on the surface of the heart is peeled away and purified.

Forcibly extract those mad, twisted fragments of the soul, filled with hatred and pain, from the heart, then purify and dissipate them in the silver light.

My heart is beating slower and slower.

It's getting fainter and fainter.

Finally, as the last trace of dark red energy was stripped away, the heart stopped beating.

It fell from its suspended state, landed on the ground, rolled a few times, and came to rest at Karen's feet.

Now, it's just a black, lifeless stone.

Like the other half of the rational core beside it.

The psionic field began to dissipate.

Karen's legs buckled, and he knelt on one knee. He was breathing heavily, his entire body soaked in sweat, and his vision blurred. Forcibly mobilizing the power of his domain, even if it was just borrowed power, had almost drained all his mental and physical strength.

But he is still alive.

Grom and Lydia also escaped the clutches of the split entity. Both were seriously injured, but at least they were still alive.

Shadow slowly walked to Karen's side, his silver eyes fixed on the lifeless black heart on the ground, then glanced at the half of the rational core beside it.

"You did it," Shadow said, his voice filled with complex emotions. "To forcibly invoke the power of a domain in an unawakened state... even if it only lasted a few seconds, you did it. Your bloodline has more potential than I imagined."

Karen did not answer.

He was just looking at his right wrist.

The silver runes there are slowly fading, turning back into a pattern of interwoven gold and silver.

But this time, there's more gold in the design.

It was like the power of dawn, which had seeped even deeper into his blood.

"Did we... win?" Leah asked weakly.

"For now," Shadow replied. "The madness has been purified. But the rationality remains. And..."

It looked into the depths of the forest.

"The cult has already broken through the labyrinth of the ancient tree. They will arrive here in ten minutes at most."

Karen struggled to her feet and picked up two black stones from the ground—one the core of reason, the other the remnants of a purified heart. She carefully placed them into different compartments of her backpack.

"Then let's keep running," Karen said, her voice weary but her eyes resolute. "Until we find a way to completely solve this..."

"Before all the truth is revealed..."

"We will keep running away."

He picked up the still-sleeping Xiguang and looked towards the other end of the forest.

A new escape has begun.