Primal Celestial Venerable's cry of "Dad," enough to cloud a Sage's Dao Heart, still echoed.
Sovereign of Heaven's domineering sword intent, enough to pierce the Heavenly Dao for "Dad," still surged through Yang Chen's Sea of Consciousness.
Above Golden Ao Island, the black thread of Returning Ruin precisely projected there by Yang Chen's will still hung silently in the air, wordlessly declaring the fragility of a Sage's sacred ground.
The entire Primordial World had fallen into an eerie, high-pressure silence.
Just then.
A completely different will descended quietly.
It was unlike Primal Celestial Venerable's will—cold, orderly, and filled with the lofty sense of judgment.
Nor was it like Sovereign of Heaven's will—sharp, domineering, and carrying the murderous aura of cleaving apart everything.
This will was warm.
Gentle.
It silently brushed over Yang Chen's Divine Soul, entangled in boundless karmic sin, carrying no aggression as it attempted to soothe the boiling desire for destruction.
This will contained the joy of creation, the vitality of all things sprouting forth, and a compassion born from life's very origin.
Beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens, Wa Huang Palace.
Saint Nuwa.
"Little friend Yang Chen, do not seek your own death."
Her sacred thought transformed into the gentlest Dao voice, ringing directly within the depths of Yang Chen's True Spirit.
That voice was neither as urgent as Primordial's nor as wild as Tongtian's. It carried a maternal warmth and sanctity enough to melt even a heart of stone.
It was as if she were not speaking to a madman threatening the entire Primordial World, but soothing a child who had suffered a grievance and was throwing a tantrum.
"Life is precious, and cultivation is not easy. Why must you go this far?"
The voice consoled him softly. Every syllable contained the rhythm of the laws of "life," forming the starkest contrast with the Returning Ruin aura of "death" and "annihilation" around Yang Chen.
Yang Chen maintained that listless posture, as though ready to end himself at any moment. The strange smile of utter liberation and freedom on his face did not change in the slightest.
Yet deep within his Divine Soul, the frozen sea built from absolute rationality stirred soundless waves because of this newly appeared will.
Nuwa.
She had created humanity and attained sainthood—the mother of the Primordial World.
Among the Six Sages, she was the only woman and the one most deeply bound by karma to the human race.
Her approach was completely different from the Three Pure Ones'.
Primordial had tried to buy him over with status and treasures.
Tongtian had tried to win him over with boldness and force.
But she was trying to move him with emotion and gentleness.
The cold flame called "reason" within Yang Chen's heart dissected Nuwa's intentions with perfect clarity.
She knew he was a human who had transmigrated here.
She was gambling that deep within his heart, there still remained a trace of belonging to "humanity," a trace of a child's yearning for a "mother."
She was using the weapon she excelled at most to break down his strongest defense.
Sure enough.
Saint Nuwa's voice rang out again, growing gentler and more filled with an irresistible sense of intimacy.
"I know you bear karmic sin and suffer in your heart."
"This is not your fault. Fate has merely toyed with you."
Her words precisely struck the sentence every "victim" most longed to hear—you did nothing wrong.
It was an exceptionally brilliant psychological offensive.
First came empathy, then comfort, and finally, she presented her bargaining chip.
A bargaining chip no male living being could refuse.
"How about this? I just used the last bit of Nine Heavens Breath Soil left over from creating humanity to mold several peerlessly beautiful human saint maidens for you."
Her voice carried just the right amount of tender affection.
"Each is blessed by the spiritual beauty of heaven and earth, nurtured by the essence of the universe. Their Divine Souls are pure, and they are exceptionally understanding."
"I will send them to your cave abode at once to serve you tea and water, ease your worries, and relieve your boredom. What do you think?"
Nine Heavens Breath Soil!
The supreme divine substance used to create humanity!
Living beings molded from it possessed foundations comparable to the most powerful innate divine beings!
And they were peerlessly beautiful saint maidens.
Their Divine Souls were pure, and they were understanding.
This was no longer merely "bringing warmth."
She was directly gifting him future Dao companions, perfect furnaces for dual cultivation, and absolutely loyal servants.
This gift was more thoughtful than Primordial's position of deputy sect leader and more tempting than Tongtian's authority to command ten thousand immortals.
It struck directly at the most primal desires of living beings.
Yet not a single ripple arose within the icy sea of Yang Chen's Divine Soul.
There was only deeper, colder mockery.
Sages truly had impressive methods.
Primordial's shackles were power and status.
Tongtian's shackles were loyalty and brotherhood.
Nuwa's shackles were gentleness.
And desire.
Saint maidens made from Nine Heavens Breath Soil?
What fine saint maidens.
Pure Divine Souls?
That meant they were blank sheets of paper, easily imprinted with whatever will Nuwa desired.
Understanding?
That meant they were the finest watchers, able to perceive everything about me when I was at my most relaxed.
Sent here to relieve my boredom?
No.
They were several of the most exquisite, most inescapable cages.
Once I accepted them, once I revealed even the slightest trace of greed or hesitation, I would be personally handing my greatest weakness to her.
From that moment onward, I would no longer be the threat holding the button of destruction.
I would become a pawn with weaknesses, one that could be controlled by beauty and desire.
A Sage's gifts were never free.
The price marked behind them was freedom, the future, and everything!
The twisted smile on Yang Chen's face did not change in the slightest.
But the pure, cold flame of destruction in his eyes burned even more fiercely because of this "gentle" test.
He did not respond.
He did not even reveal the slightest emotional fluctuation.
He used the most absolute, most resolute silence to answer Nuwa's "goodwill."
This soundless rejection caused the compassionate will within Wa Huang Palace to freeze for an instant.
Nuwa discovered that this Yang Chen could not be swayed by softness or force, by praise or punishment.
His Dao Heart had not collapsed.
It had already become a chaotic stubborn stone that froze the entire universe!
No emotion or desire could leave even the faintest mark upon it.
Since that was the case...
Yang Chen moved.
He still stood where he was and made no sound.
But the boundless karmic sin around him, boiling and churning with the Immeasurable Tribulation, underwent an incomparably subtle change—one that made Saint Nuwa's sacred heart violently tremble.
That pure power of Returning Ruin no longer spread indiscriminately throughout the entire Primordial World.
One strand of destruction origin, more condensed and purer than the black thread previously aimed at Golden Ao Island, was precisely stripped free by him.
This strand of destruction origin had no target.
Or rather, its target was every living thing in the entire Primordial World that possessed "vitality"!
It silently fused into the laws of heaven and earth.
The next moment.
Across the Primordial World.
In Eastern Victory Continent, a spiritual deer running through the mountains abruptly halted. The light in its eyes instantly dimmed, its vitality extinguished, and it fell stiffly to the ground.
In Southern Jambu Continent, the verdant leaves of a towering ancient tree yellowed and curled at a visible speed, eventually turning into ash that drifted down in soft flurries.
In Western Ox Continent, fish and shrimp in a surging river flipped belly-up at the same instant and floated to the surface, while thick deathly aura rose from the riverbed.
In Northern Kuru Continent, the cries of a demon child abruptly ceased, and its tiny body instantly turned cold.
The ancestral land of humanity.
A farmer plowing in the fields found the stone plow in his hands silently snap apart.
The smile on a child playing by the river suddenly froze.
A tribal elder worshipping the Holy Mother Nuwa found the final syllable of his prayer stuck in his throat, never to emerge again.
There were no earth-shattering explosions.
No law storms capable of destroying heaven and earth.
Only the law of "life" being silently, efficiently, and extensively erased!
This was Yang Chen's answer to Nuwa.
Weren't you the Sage of Creation?
Didn't you regard all living beings as your children?
Weren't you the most compassionate, the one most unable to bear the suffering of living beings?
Then before your very eyes, I will erase your most treasured "creations" from this world, bit by bit!
I will make you watch with your own eyes as your children walk toward extinction beneath the gaze of you, their Holy Mother!
This was billions of times more vicious than directly threatening Nuwa herself!
It was the most precise ultimate blow, striking directly at the foundation of a Sage's Dao Heart!
"Twang—!"
Beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens, within Wa Huang Palace, a shrill and ominous sound of a string snapping rang throughout the entire palace.
The color instantly drained from Saint Nuwa's sacred, compassionate face, leaving only deathly pallor.
Her slender jade hands, which had created all things, trembled violently.
Her holy smile froze completely.
She realized that this Yang Chen could not be swayed by softness or force, by praise or punishment. He was even more troublesome than a chaotic stubborn stone!
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