The light from the Progenitor Core Fragment winked out. For a single, suspended heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the sanctum groaned.
It was a sound from deep in the world's bones. The polished stone floor under Lin Tian's feet didn't just crack, it unfolded, sections tilting away into sudden, starless blackness. Above them, the vaulted ceiling shattered like glass, revealing not sky, but a cascading kaleidoscope of broken landscapes tumbling end over end.
The foundation is gone, Lin Tian realized. The Fragment wasn't just a treasure. It was the keystone.
"The Rift is collapsing!" Xueya shouted, her voice cutting through the roar of fracturing reality. She grabbed Su Lan's arm, pulling her back from a fissure that split the ground between them.
Lu Cang stumbled, his boots scrabbling for purchase on the now-slanted floor. "The exit! Where is the portal?"
