The glowing stone suddenly flared, illuminating the entrance on the third floor. The gear array there was slowly rotating, and the groove in the center perfectly matched Lu Zimo's Bronze Ring. The figure in the green shirt suddenly pointed to the back of Lu Zimo's neck, "Your bloodline has awakened. By using the Bronze Ring to activate the Tian Shu Mirror, you can temporarily interrupt the star map's control, but the price is... you will see all the memories devoured by bronze, including... your father's."
Lu Zimo's heart tightened. The illusion of his father before the Tian Shu Mirror flashed through his mind again. Was the writhing bronze on the mirror's surface the devoured memories? He clenched the Bronze Ring, the patterns on the back of his neck burning as if toBrand into his bones. The star map patterns there had already resonated with the gear array, emitting a low hum.
"Hurry!" the figure in the green shirt suddenly roared, his body beginning to turn transparent, "The Living Bronze is coming up! My residual soul can't hold on for much longer—remember, don't open your eyes after activating it, no matter what sounds you hear!"
Dense "clattering" sounds came from downstairs; the Bronze Puppets had rushed into the clock tower. Lu Zimo hesitated no longer and fitted the Bronze Ring into the groove of the gear array. Instantly, the entire clock tower shook violently. A crack split open in the dome of the third floor, revealing an inverted starry sky—the stars were actually rotating at a visible speed, perfectly synchronized with the trajectory of the gear array.
"Hummm—"
The hum of the Tian Shu Mirror penetrated his eardrums. Lu Zimo kept his eyes tightly shut, but he couldn't block the flood of memories—he saw his father standing before the mirror, holding the Non-Aggression Scroll, and the mirror reflected not his face, but countless struggling souls; he saw the mine ten years ago, where Zhou Tieshan's brother used his body to block a bronze crack, and the Taiji birthmark on his collarbone erupted with golden light; he saw Li Shouyi's brother embed the last piece of armor into the clock tower wall, painting a guardian array with his own blood...
"Zimo, don't believe the reflection in the mirror!" his father's voice suddenly exploded in his mind, "The true meaning of the Non-Aggression Scroll is not to reverse rust, it is..."
The voice was cut off by violent tremors. Lu Zimo felt something grab his wrist. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Su Wanqing being dragged by a Bronze Puppet. The puppet's face was identical to his mother's in his memory, and in the blue crystal of its eye sockets, he saw his own terrified face.
"Activate 'Rust-breaking Powder'!" Lu Zimo roared, tearing open the oilcloth bundle and scattering the powder mixed with Guardians' blood onto the puppet. The moment golden light exploded, he heard the mournful cries of countless souls, like the echo of rust finally finding an outlet. The puppet resembling his mother dissipated in the golden light, revealing the shattered armor beneath, inscribed with the final words: "Non-aggression is to stop conflict; to stop conflict is to return souls."
The light in the Workshop suddenly dimmed. The residual fragment projected the star map again. This time, it was no longer a semi-transparent phantom but seemed cast in molten bronze, each star emitting a cold, hard metallic luster. Zhao Xiaoqi's bracer suddenly crackled, and the Intertwined Branch Pattern on it deformed violently as it was drawn in by the light of the star map. He cried out in pain and flung his arm away, only to see the patterns on his bracer being "eaten" away bit by bit by the star map's light—as if being devoured by invisible mouths, revealing the pale golden veins beneath, the same color as Zhou Tieshan's Taiji birthmark.
"The bloodline of the Seventeen Sons is awakening!" Zhou Tieshan suddenly roared, smashing his bronze hammer onto the ground, causing ripples in the star map. "My brother said only the blood of the seventeenth generation of the Lu family can manifest the Tianshu Stone!" He stared at Zhao Xiaoqi's bleeding wrist, the Intertwined Branch Pattern on his bracer being gnawed by the star map's light, revealing the pale golden veins beneath. "This kid's meridian-locking ring was given by the old master of the Lu family to the experiment subjects. Those children in the mine back then..."
Before he could finish, Zhao Xiaoqi cried out in pain. The red dots on the star map suddenly surged upward, like a lick of flame that climbed his wrist. The pale golden veins crawled up along his blood vessels and condensed into a tiny Taiji symbol on his forehead. Fragmented images suddenly flashed before the young man's eyes: iron cages deep in the mine, people in white coats putting bracers on children's wrists, his father's voice saying, "Xiaoqi must live, guard the Tianshu well..."
"He remembers!" Su Wanqing crouched down, her fingertips hovering half an inch above the star map, feeling a faint magnetic force. "Medical texts say that descendants of Ancient Gods recall memories when they awaken!" Her fingernail tapped on a red dot, and the spot suddenly recessed, revealing a keyhole-sized groove. "The lock pattern on the Tianshu Stone on the Star Gazing Platform looks exactly like this!"
"That's not a lock pattern, it's a killing array," Li Shouyi suddenly interjected. He was using tweezers to pick up a rusty part, and the concentration of rust factors on the detector screen suddenly soared. "The mine fragments say the Tianshu Stone is the Ancient God's switch for clearing experiment subjects—when bloodline purity reaches the standard, it will detonate all the Living Bronze in Dàoxuán Xiàng." He suddenly pulled open his collar, revealing a pale golden birthmark on the back of his neck, though it was mostly covered by green rust. "This is how my father died; he was also a descendant of the Seventeen Sons."
Lu Zimo's Bronze Ring suddenly grew hot. He stared at the intertwined gold and red bloodlines on the star map and suddenly remembered the shattered armor revealed when his mother's puppet dissipated—the inscription 'To stop conflict is to return souls' now coincided with the patterns of the star map. "Uncle Zhou, does your birthmark feel hot?" he suddenly pressed his hand against the old blacksmith's wrist. The burning sensation on the back of his neck was flowing towards the star map along his blood vessels. "The system shows our blood can drive the star map in reverse, as long as..."
"Clang!" The bronze box suddenly cracked open. Li Shouyi splashed the purifying agent, but the rust spots, like living things, avoided it and crawled up the table legs towards the star map. Wherever they passed, the wood turned black and brittle, leaving tiny gear imprints on the ground. Lu Zimo suddenly realized that the crystalline blood threads in the box's seams were meshing with the star map, like a key inserted into a lock. The locking mechanism on the eaves of the Inverted City from last night instantly flashed in his mind—those downward-facing eaves were actually the heat dissipation vents of the Tianshu Stone!
"It's looking for matching bloodlines!" Su Wanqing's silver needle pierced Zhao Xiaoqi's fingertip, and pale golden blood droplets fell onto the star map. The red dot suddenly flared brightly. "Medical texts say Ancient God mechanisms are activated by blood-related keys. Xiaoqi's blood can make the star map..."
Before she could finish, the workshop door was smashed to pieces. Seven or eight Bronze Puppets rushed in, the residual fragments on their chests glowing red, resonating with the crystal's light. Lu Zimo's system terminal frantically blared alarms, and the data stream showed: the puppet residual fragments were transmitting energy to the main residual fragment, and the frequency was exactly the same as Zhao Xiaoqi's bloodline fluctuations—they were forcing the Seventeen Sons to awaken so that the Tianshu Stone's killing array could be activated!
"Stop them!" Zhou Tieshan's bronze hammer swept out, striking the foremost puppet. Sparks flew, and suddenly a cry of pain—green lines shot out from the puppet's residual fragment, entangling his wrist. The blackened area of his Taiji birthmark sputtered and smoked, and the green lines crawled up along his blood vessels. Wherever they passed, his skin bulged with veins, as if countless bronze worms were burrowing beneath his skin.
"Use reverse resonance!" Lu Zimo pulled Zhao Xiaoqi over and pressed their hands onto the residual fragment. "The system says only the opposition of same-source bloodlines can cut off the transmission!" His bronze dagger sliced open his palm, and as his blood dripped onto the residual fragment, Zhao Xiaoqi's blood also seeped in. The two bloods converged into a vortex on the star map, and the crystal suddenly blazed. All the puppets froze simultaneously, and the residual fragments on their chests cracked with a "kaka" sound.
Li Shouyi suddenly pointed at the bronze box; its lid was melting. As the crystal surfaced, a half-torn note embedded within it floated down—"Seventeenth son, the key to non-aggression, and also the source of rust." Lu Zimo's pupils contracted sharply. The electronic voices of his parents before their deaths suddenly echoed in his mind, a mixture of the system's female voice and the crystal's hum. It turned out they had known the fate of the Seventeenth Son long ago.
"I'm not the key!" Zhao Xiaoqi yanked his hand back, but the Taiji symbol on his forehead became brighter and brighter. The star map suddenly shook violently, and the red dots exploded into a sky full of starlight. "My father said I had to protect everyone, not be the detonator!" He grabbed Zhou Tieshan's bronze hammer and smashed it at the star map. The moment the hammerhead fell, the starlight suddenly recoiled and condensed in mid-air into a blood-red key. The teeth of the key were exactly the same as the Intertwined Branch Pattern on his bracer.
"That's the Tianshu Key!" Zhou Tieshan roared and lunged forward, only to be stopped by Su Wanqing. The air around the blood-red key was distorting, and the patterns of the star map began to reverse, revealing deeper etchings beneath: countless small names, precisely the children who disappeared in the mine ten years ago, Zhao Xiaoqi's name listed prominently, with "Experiment Subject Number Seventeen" marked beside it.