The moment Bai Cheng's voice fell, Zi Yuan and Green Bird shot out like arrows from a bowstring.

The purple electric blade arcs tore through the air, transforming into a sprinting trail of lightning that sent the pouncing Star Reef Guardians staggering back along the way.

Green Bird released her Thunder Spear, which exploded in mid-air into nine phantoms of thunder dragons. They circled and danced wildly, forcefully tearing a gap in the dense formation of guardians.

“Go!” Zi Yuan barked. Her blade light swept back, shielding Bai Cheng's flank.

Bai Cheng's figure flickered like silver light as she followed closely behind the two, charging straight toward the center of the violently trembling compass.

Trickles of faith surged around her, forming a thin but tough shield of shimmering light that resisted the erosion of the escaping silver-gray air currents.

“The anchor core is located three meters directly beneath the compass, encased in multiple layers of protective runes!” Leng Ningxue spoke extremely fast, ice-blue data streams flashing rapidly through her eyes.

“Current protective rune integrity is at 67%. The core itself is slightly damaged, but the external energy conduits are 79% severed... Repair requires three points to be completed simultaneously:

First, stabilize the core's output frequency;

Second, reconnect the severed conduits;

Third, recalibrate the star rail pointer—but the pointer is broken and needs a temporary replacement with a material of equivalent law characteristics!”

“A pointer replacement...” Bai Cheng's silver eyes scanned the surroundings, finally landing on the outstretched arm of the crystallized middle-aged Enforcement Officer, whose fingertip was pointing right at the ancient script on the compass.

Her thoughts spun rapidly: “The law characteristics of the star rail anchor are related to time-space, order, and positioning... My Doorway Bloodline origin, combined with the guiding lamp's pathfinding conviction remaining in the stardust crystal, might be able to simulate it!”

“Theoretically feasible, but the load is immense!” Lu Duo's voice came through the life link, carrying worry.

“Miss, your soul injury hasn't healed. Forcibly stripping your origin to simulate the pointer might cause your cultivation realm to drop!”

“I can't worry about that much.” Bai Cheng had reached the center of the compass, pressing both palms onto the rune-etched metal surface. “Ningxue, conduit reconnection plan!”

“Use your Power of Space as the thread and the trickles of faith as the glue to perform microscopic suturing along the breaks.

Lu Duo and I will guide the laws of ice and life to stabilize the operating environment for you, but you will encounter violent repulsion during the energy flow process—you must hold on!”

“Green Bird, Zi ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) Yuan, guard the ten meters around me. Do not let any guardian interfere!” Bai Cheng closed her eyes, her silver hair moving without wind. The spatial origin and trickles of faith within her body began to be forcibly extracted and fused.

Intense pain, like ten thousand needles piercing her soul, struck.

Yet her expression remained unchanged; only fine beads of sweat seeped from her forehead.

The first wisp of fused energy seeped from her palm like a silver-white silk thread, probing into the compass cracks and precisely wrapping around the first severed conduit.

“Sizzle—”

The residual chaotic laws within the conduit fought back like a wounded beast. The silver-white thread was instantly stained with gray spots, which flowed upstream, attempting to erode Bai Cheng's palm.

“Purify.” The life force of Lu Duo and Yu Nian surged in just in time. Emerald brilliance spread along the thread, gently but firmly dispelling the gray spots.

“Solidify.” Leng Ningxue's ice-blue law followed closely behind, briefly freezing the repaired area to stabilize the structure.

Bai Cheng gritted her teeth, controlling the thread to complete the suturing of the first node.

Success.

However, the compass's vibration did not weaken; instead, it became even more violent due to the intervention of external energy.

In the sky, the vortex of the law tide had expanded to cover the entire star reef. Pale lightning slithered like giant snakes, and the aura of destruction drew closer and closer.

“Hurry up!” Chi Yan roared over the train channel. “The outer barrier won't last more than twenty breaths!”

Bloodshot veins faintly appeared in Bai Cheng's silver eyes. The second and third wisps of fused energy were extracted in succession as she reconnected three conduits simultaneously.

Her soul felt as if it were being roasted over a fire. With every bit of origin separated, her sense of weakness deepened.

But the movements of her palms remained as steady as a rock.

The pressure on Green Bird and Zi Yuan was also increasing drastically.

The guardians seemed endless, and variants began to appear.

The cores in the chests of some guardians turned crimson, entering an overloaded state. Their speed and strength surged, and they could even briefly predict the trajectory of the lightning.

“These iron lumps can evolve?!” Green Bird's Thunder Spear parried the energy blade of an overloaded guardian. Sparks flew everywhere, and she was shaken back half a step.

Zi Yuan didn't say a word, but her blade style suddenly changed.

The newly realized Flowing Blade Intent unfolded. The purple electricity was no longer purely aggressive; instead, it rose and fell like a tide, at times solidifying like a wall to block dense cannon fire;

At other times, it scattered into gossamer threads, drilling into the joints of the guardians to destroy their mobility.

But there were simply too many guardians.

A pale beam of light grazed Green Bird's shoulder armor, leaving a scorch mark; Zi Yuan's left arm was sliced open by an energy blade, and she used swirling purple electricity to stop the bleeding.

Neither of them retreated even half a step.

The twelfth conduit reconnection was completed.

By now, Bai Cheng's face was as pale as paper, and her aura had withered to its lowest point.

The stardust crystal in her palm grew frantically hot, sending out a clear warning sign. Her origin consumption was near the critical point.

“There are still three main conduits left, and... the pointer replacement.” Leng Ningxue's voice was tense. “Bai Cheng, you can't continue stripping your origin!”

Bai Cheng lifted her eyes and looked toward the increasingly hideous law vortex in the sky.

She suddenly withdrew her hands from the compass and, under everyone's astonished gazes, lightly pressed the grain-sized stardust crystal from her palm onto her forehead.

“Body as the guide, soul as the fuel,” she chanted softly. In the depths of her silver eyes, stars seemed to be born and then extinguished. “Doorway open, pathfinder appears.”

At her forehead, the stardust crystal melted, turning into a warm stream of light that flowed into the depths of her soul.

In the next second, Bai Cheng's entire aura changed.

The sense of weakness remained, but it was joined by an indescribable sense of anchoring. It was as if by standing there, she was a coordinate, a doorway, a path.

She pressed both hands onto the compass once more.

This time, what surged out was no longer silver-white threads, but a pillar of light as clear as dawn, a mixture of starlight and doorway phantoms.

The pillar of light poured directly into the depths of the compass core!

“She turned herself into a temporary pointer?!” Lu Duo cried out in shock.

The moment the pillar of light touched the anchor core—

Time seemed to stand still for an instant.

The movements of all Star Reef Guardians froze simultaneously, the blue light in their pupils extinguishing.

The law vortex in the sky stopped expanding.

The compass's vibration subsided.

Only that dawn-like pillar of light slowly circulated in the depths of the anchor core, like a newborn, slender yet resilient star rail.

The silver-gray air currents gushing from the breaks began to flow back and straighten out, and the cracks in the pale crystal ground mended at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“Conduit reconnection... completed automatically?!” Leng Ningxue stared at the light screen, unable to believe it.

“It wasn't automatic,” Bai Cheng said weakly, yet with a hint of a smile. “The anchor core recognized the same pathfinding conviction... it is repairing itself.”

The pillar of light lasted for ten breaths.

After ten breaths, the pillar of light dissipated.

Bai Cheng's body swayed, and she slumped forward, only to be caught by Zi Yuan, who had flickered to her side.