The Ferryman grinned maliciously, extracting the last wisp of life essence from the Arbiter before it disintegrated and vanished, transforming it into a ball of silver flame, which he lit in the lantern at the bow of the boat.
"Set sail!"
The bone ship's fuel was replenished, and with a sudden jolt, it pierced through the dimensions of reality, heading towards an unknown star field composed of endless waterfalls of data and streams of logical light. There lay the core of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion —a logical prison codenamed "The Hive."
"Oh no!" In Xiao Han's mind, Mei'er's voice trembled with unprecedented terror, "We... are the key!"
"This ship... it's using our presence information to request access from the 'Hive'! We've essentially opened our souls completely to the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion!"
Almost simultaneously, Lin Qingxia and Su Linglong, who had been pulled onto the boat, also experienced a drastic change in expression. They could clearly feel that their own power, whether it was their life essence or the power of the Extreme Ice Phoenix, was being rapidly "assimilated" and "analyzed" by the Order Domain emanating from that "Yang Heart".
They, along with Xiao Han, have become prisoners and are being taken to a place from which there is no escape.
I don't know how much time passed; it felt like a moment, yet also like eternity.
The bone ship passed through the final, dazzling data waterfall and slowly came to rest inside a magnificent temple that defies description.
The temple is composed of flowing light and data; its walls, dome, and pillars are all composed of the most intricate logical runes.
At the far end of the temple stood an empty throne.
A cold, neutral, emotionless synthesized sound reverberated throughout the space.
"Warning: 'Destiny Protocol' intrusion detected."
The key is back in place.
"'Godhead Reassembly' procedure... initiated."
The moment the words left his mouth.
On the walls surrounding the temple, the countless tightly closed logical runes simultaneously opened their cold, crimson mechanical eyes.
All eyes, transcending time and space, across dimensions, were precisely locked onto the figure struggling in agony on the bone ship— Xiao Han.
Inside the Hive Temple, billions of scarlet mechanical eyes, like a silent judgment, devoured all light and hope. Cold, neutral, emotionless synthesized voices echoed in the space, each byte like a nail, nailing Xiao Han to the cross of fate.
"'Godhead Reassembly' procedure... initiated."
Beneath the Ferryman's skull mask, a suppressed, grating laugh emanated from him. He was like an artist admiring his masterpiece, watching this "living key," which he had personally honed, induced, and forced to this point, about to unlock the new era of gods he had long dreamed of.
"Come, child, embrace your destiny." His voice was seductive. "Become Order, become a god."
Before the words were finished, the Asura "Yang Heart" imprisoned in the Absolute Order Cage suddenly burst forth with boundless light! It was no longer in the form of a heart, but instantly transformed into a pure white stream of light condensed to its extreme, as if it were the first Order at the beginning of the universe, ignoring the obstacles of space, time and even all physical laws, and shot straight toward Xiao Han's brow!
That's not an attack, but a higher-dimensional overwriting and rewriting.
"No--!"
Xiao Han roared, but his voice couldn't even stir a ripple in front of the pure white light.
The moment the light touched his brow, a world-destroying war, powerful enough to annihilate a galaxy, erupted within him!
Yang Heart's "Order" power, like an endless torrent of cold data, surged wildly into his limbs, bones, and soul. It wanted to deconstruct and reconstruct every cell of his body into the most perfect logical symbols, to format his emotions, memories, and will, leaving only an empty shell of absolute obedience. Xiao Han felt his body turning into an ice sculpture, his thoughts about to be frozen by eternal silence.
Get out of my body!
Almost instinctively, the [True Demon Origin Imprint] deep within his bones sensed the invasion of his natural enemy, erupting with chaos and disorder that could incinerate everything! The black demonic flames, like a runaway beast, fiercely confronted the pure white. If Order is absolute stillness, then chaos is absolute movement. The clash of these two forces was not an explosion, but a more terrifying mutual Obliteration. On one half of Xiao Han's body, intricate golden divine runes appeared, while the other half was covered by twisted black demonic marks, as if he would be completely torn apart from the very fabric of existence at any moment!
Within his sea of consciousness, the pitch-black vortex formed by the [Primordial Eternal Night Overlord] Martial Soul spun wildly. It neither aided Order nor chaos, but instead greedily opened its maw, attempting to devour both of these extreme powers and transform them into its own nourishment!
A three-way battle, with each side locked in a deadly struggle!
"Puff!"
Xiao Han suddenly spat out a mouthful of black and gold blood, his consciousness rapidly blurring amidst the tearing pain.
Xiao Han!
The exclamations of surprise from Su Linglong and Lin Qingxia seemed to come from another world.
Just as Xiao Han was about to be completely torn apart, a resolute and tragic beauty flashed in Su Linglong's dark purple phoenix eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, the illusory image of the ice crystal phoenix behind her cried out to the sky and then burst into flames!
"The Phoenix Soul's Lament - Eternal Silence Ceases!"
At the cost of burning the Phoenix Soul, a moment of absolute stillness was achieved!
Buzz--!
Time seemed to freeze. The pure white data stream, the raging black flames, and even the smug grin on the Ferryman's face all solidified in that moment.
Everything was frozen for a fraction of a second!
"Go!"
Lin Qingxia seized this miraculous moment. She transformed all her life essence, that emerald green power containing endless vitality, into the purest and gentlest "medium," like a green ribbon, and forcefully injected it into Xiao Han's body, precisely inserting it into the opposing zone between pure white and pitch black, constructing a fragile yet resilient buffer.
The excruciating pain subsided slightly, and he regained consciousness.
In this precious moment, bought with the lives of his companions, Xiao Han struck by a sudden inspiration.
Confrontation? How to confront each other? These are the two most extreme laws of the universe!
He gave up all resistance, letting the two forces tear at his soul. However, his will was more concentrated than ever before, sinking into the Chaos Green Lotus deep in his dantian.
Creation, Return to the Ruins...
Yin and Yang, light and darkness, Order and chaos... they are not absolute opposites, but two sides of the same coin!
Xiao Han's Twin Martial Souls, [Chaos Genesis Green Lotus] and [Primordial Eternal Night Overlord], resonated at an unprecedented frequency at this moment. He no longer tried to suppress either one, but instead used his own will as the fulcrum and the "creation" and "Return to the Ruins" powers of his Twin Martial Souls as levers, carefully... prying open those two terrifying laws that were enough to destroy him!