CHAPTER 114 – The Attempted Seal
Xiao Xi's chaos wings flared so brightly they lit the ruined world like dawn, pushing back the shadows of the First Root's vortex.
She had to choose between saving the world and saving the man she loved.
She chose both, in a final, defiant act of will.
Her eyes filled with frustrated tears—but her heart hardened with purpose.
"I'm not losing anyone.
Not Gu.
Not Shen.
Not Ling.
Not a single person in this world.
And I will not take your freedom, Yanzhou."
The First Root hissed, sensing her resolve, but also her weakness.
"THEN YOU WILL FAIL THE SEAL!
YOUR CONFLICT MAKES YOUR POWER UNSTABLE!"
Xiao Xi pointed at him, her voice ringing with final authority.
"No. I'm going to imprison you now."
She threw both hands forward—
and chaos, now a thick, crystalline blend of violet and gold, wrapped around the First Root like a living, intelligent net.
The vortex shrank rapidly.
The darkness recoiled, compressing itself inward.
The world trembled, as the timeline was saved, thread by thread.
Shen shouted in triumph from the ground:
"She's doing it!! She's got him locked down!"
Ling cried with exhausted joy:
"She's sealing him—the world is saved!"
Gu, still held by the Root Protagonist, barely conscious, whispered:
"Xiao… Xi… you won…"
Xiao Xi pulled harder—her Core screaming from the immense strain—
her chaos threads tightening—locking—closing—
The First Root screeched in blinding agony, a sound of ultimate betrayal.
"NOOOOO—
THIS IS NOT THE END—
I AM ETERNAL!"
The seal tightened around him—a near-perfect sphere of chaos and light—
A prison forged by a true Root's final, terrible will.
The world held its breath—
and then—
CRACK.
A thin line appeared across the surface of the chaos sphere.
Xiao Xi's pupils shrank in horror.
"No… No—NO—NO—it's not enough—!"
The First Root burst free, shrieking, its form swelling with renewed, devastating power.
"YOU CANNOT SEAL ME ALONE!
YOU NEED THE ORIGINAL ORDER!"
The world shattered again, the raw, violent power throwing Xiao Xi backward.
She collapsed to her knees, shaking violently, her strength depleted.
Her system whispered, the warning utterly dire:
[HOST CORE IS FRACTURING]
[YOU NEED A SECOND, EQUAL CORE FOR STABILIZATION]
[OTHERWISE YOU WILL DIE]
Gu shouted, his golden soul flickering, pulling against the Root Protagonist's hold:
"XIAO XI—
TAKE MY POWER—
USE ME! I'M YOUR STABILITY!"
She screamed, tears of defeat and love streaming down her face:
"I WON'T SACRIFICE YOU!!
NOT EVER! I CHOOSE YOU!!"
But the First Root lunged, seeing its chance—
and sliced straight into her Core with a final, devastating shadow-claw