Just before Yang Chen's Divine Soul was crushed, just as his consciousness was about to sink into an eternal, icy abyss of darkness.
Ding.
A clear chime suddenly rang out without warning from the deepest core of his True Spirit.
The sound was not loud, yet it contained an indescribable, absolute penetrating force that transcended all things.
It was not the manifestation of any law, nor did it belong to any Dao sound within this Primordial World.
It was crisp and ethereal, yet carried a brazen force capable of severing all karma and tearing apart every restraint.
Before that clear chime, the terrifying pressure from the entire Primordial World, powerful enough to crush even a Sage's will, came to an absolute standstill for an instant.
The wails of countless Dragon-Phoenix Souls, the venomous curses of billions upon billions of living beings, the spiritual tearing like bone-scraping steel blades...
Everything was forcibly put on pause at that moment.
An insignificant instant of absolute silence opened a fragile yet incomparably precious shelter around Yang Chen's True Spirit, which was on the verge of collapse.
It was precisely this ten-thousandth of an instant to catch his breath.
A pale blue screen, like the first ray of light at the dawn of creation, tore through the endless blood-red darkness before him and unfolded out of thin air.
The screen was neither metal nor jade. Its lines were simplicity itself, yet they flowed with an ancient, transcendent Dao aura that stood above the Heavenly Dao.
Several lines of text formed from Great Dao Runes slowly emerged on the screen. Every character was clearly branded into his nearly frozen thoughts.
[Detected that the host bears boundless karma and stands at the brink of despair, meeting the binding conditions for "One Escaped."] [Great Dao Fifty, Heaven evolves Forty-Nine; One Escaped, a single thread of life.] [[Great Dao Fifty, One Escaped] System officially bound!]
Yang Chen's pupils froze in that instant.
His thoughts were like rusty gears, letting out strained creaks beneath immense external force as they began to turn with difficulty.
Then, even more information flooded into his mind like divine enlightenment.
[This system is the Karma Exemption System.] [Core function: Refuse to repay karma and confront creditors head-on to receive heaven-defying rewards.] [Rewards include, but are not limited to: Innate Spiritual Treasures, boundless merit, Great Dao Law Fragments, Immortality Cultivation, Chaos Demon God Bloodline...] [The tougher the host's attitude, the more arrogant his bearing, and the more resolute his stance, the richer and more heaven-defying the rewards received!]
Line after line of text exploded in his mind like divine lightning that split heaven and earth.
His Divine Soul trembled, not from fear, but from an unbelievable, electric numbness.
Beneath the screen was another line of smaller runes, seemingly a complimentary note, written in an indisputable tone.
[Kind reminder: The host's karma from the Immeasurable Tribulation has become deeply bound to the origin of the Primordial World. Should the host suffer Death of Body and Dao, the ownerless karma will instantly detonate.] [Its power is sufficient to return the entire Primordial World to chaos and extinguish all things.] [Even Heavenly Dao Sages cannot be exempt.]
Dead silence.
Absolute dead silence.
When the final line branded itself into the depths of Yang Chen's True Spirit, his mind completely crashed.
Stunned.
He blankly "looked" at the pale blue screen, as if he wished to burn through every line with his gaze and carve it into his marrow.
Time lost all meaning at that moment.
He did not know whether an instant had passed or ten thousand years.
"Hah..."
An extremely suppressed, hoarse breath, like a drowning man's first gasp after breaking the surface, squeezed out from deep in his throat.
Then.
A torrent of emotion—no, a volcano suppressed to its utmost limit—erupted violently from the deepest part of his True Spirit with world-destroying force!
It was not relief at surviving a disaster.
Nor was it the excitement of clutching at a lifeline.
It was something born after his entire worldview had been overturned, all logic crushed to pieces, and despair and hope twisted together in the most absurd manner possible...
Utmost ecstasy!
A nearly insane, hysterical ecstasy!
"Ha..."
"Ha ha ha ha..."
He wanted to laugh out loud, but the Heavenly Might suppressed him so thoroughly that he could not make a sound. Yet within his Divine Soul, within the ocean of his consciousness, that laughter stirred towering waves!
He understood.
At that instant, he understood everything!
All his previous despair, fear, and unwillingness became the most laughable, ridiculous fuel, driving his current ecstasy to an unprecedented peak!
Karma!
The karma of the Immeasurable Tribulation, enough to reduce a Sage to ashes in an instant!
This was not life-ending poison!
This was not a debt dragging him into the abyss!
This was his weapon!
His strongest weapon for establishing himself in this Primordial World—and even standing above all living beings!
It was the ultimate nuclear bomb tied to him, and at the same time tied around the necks of the entire Primordial World, the Heavenly Dao, and the Six Saints!
And he, Yang Chen, was the only one holding the detonator!
What Heavenly Dao reckoning?
What suppression by the Six Sages?
A reckoning?
Suppression?
Did they dare?!
Whoever dared touch even a hair on his head, just try it!
If he died, everyone would return to chaos together. No one would live!
At that moment, Yang Chen's blood, nearly frozen by endless karmic force and Heavenly Might, began to surge again.
No, it was not surging.
It was boiling!
Burning!
Every cell and every inch of his meridians screamed and trembled madly amid that ultimate, twisted ecstasy!
The wails and curses of billions upon billions of Dragon-Phoenix Qilin souls in his mind seemed to change their tune at that moment.
They were no longer ghosts crying out for his life.
They were clearly the grandest, most tragic symphony orchestra, composed of every loser in the Primordial World, playing for his coronation!
The illusion of mountains of corpses and seas of blood before him was no longer a terrifying hellscape.
It was clearly a blood-red throne, paved with boundless karma, leading him straight to the pinnacle of power!
His greatest debt was actually his strongest trump card!
His only path to survival was to become the toughest, most arrogant, most lawless ultimate deadbeat in the entire Primordial World since the creation of heaven and earth!
Why should karma inherited through his own ability be repaid?
Wanted him to pay his debts?
Fine!
Kneel first and beg him!
At that moment, all the confusion, fear, and despair in Yang Chen's heart were swept away.
In their place came an unprecedentedly clear realization.
An unparalleled sense of control over his own fate—and even the fate of the entire Primordial World!
It was not that he had no choice.
His only choice was to flip the table!
Before you continue