Chaos Origin Point (Part 1)

The boundless chaos roared, while the epic of the primordial world surged onward.

Cheng Xi's consciousness was like a lone boat upon a raging sea, floating and tearing apart within the Great Dao torrent stirred by Lord Tongtian. The howls of countless Chaos Demon Gods, the thunderous roar of world-creating, the mournful cries of calamities destroying all, and the merciless whispers of the Heavenly Dao turned into billions of bolts of questioning lightning, mercilessly striking his fragile Soul Core.

"What is the Dao?"

"Following Heaven? Defying Heaven?"

"To seize a sliver of hope—is it theft or courage?"

"The decline of the Jie Sect—was it Heavenly Dao's Injustice, or was my Dao flawed?"

"Is your chaos the foundation of transcendence, or the source of destruction?"

"Can the heart... remain steadfast? Remain sincere? Remain... without regret?"

Every question weighed heavier than the stars, bearing the ancient weight of the primordial world and the supreme majesty of the Heavenly Dao. They sought to utterly crush and assimilate his beliefs, his will, and the foundation upon which he existed! That newly born Break Delusion Rebellious Intent Sword Intent was like a candle flame in a gale before such a vast torrent, flickering on the verge of extinguishment, barely protecting the last bit of light within his consciousness. The vitality of the Jianmu Tree and the heaviness of Breath Soil appeared so pale and powerless before this interrogation by the pure Great Dao Origin.

"Urgh—!" A soundless scream echoed through the depths of his soul. Cheng Xi felt his "self" rapidly dissipating, fragments of consciousness caught in that magnificent yet cruel river of primordial epic, about to become an insignificant speck of dust within it. Fear, confusion, and despair surged over him like icy tides, threatening to drown him completely. The path to Tongtian was indeed strewn with thorns, with no life among nine deaths! A Sage's questions directly pointing at the heart were this cruel!

Just as his consciousness was about to collapse completely and be assimilated by that endless "Dao" and "momentum"—

Deep within his soul, that Chaos Origin Point originating from his rebirth into another world, containing the essence of a "variable," suddenly erupted under the ultimate pressure of the Great Dao and the desperate situation of imminent extinction!

It was not an earth-shattering energy impact, but a silent declaration of "existence" at the level of essence!

Bzzzt!

A faint misty gray radiance, almost imperceptible yet extremely tough, abruptly lit up!

This radiance was so weak that amid the surging, roaring Chaos Torrent and river of epic history, it could almost be ignored. Yet the instant it appeared, it was as though a drop of ice water had fallen into a boiling vat of oil, producing a strange ripple at the law level!

Centered on that point of misty gray light, the surrounding roiling Chaos Qi froze for an instant! The sweeping images of the primordial epic underwent an exceedingly subtle, almost undetectable distortion when they touched the edge of that gray light! It was as though the gray light itself was an Anomalous Being incompatible with established rules and the course of history, a point of dislocation forcibly inserted into a grand narrative!

At the Same Time, the System Core, which had been forcibly suppressed by the Sage's pressure and fallen silent, had its deepest core logic completely activated upon encountering this Great Dao Origin impact beyond logic—especially when it sensed the eruption of the Chaos Origin Point deep within the host's soul! A cold, mechanical data stream suffused with Absolute Rationality drove itself like a final anchor chain into Cheng Xi's Consciousness Core, which was on the verge of collapse:

[Core logic... uphold... define... chaos... neither following... nor defying... but... variable... source of... breaking the deadlock...]

[Existence is Reasonable... reason is not predetermined... predetermined... can be broken...]

[Anchor... host... Chaos Origin Point... reconstruct... cognitive barrier...]

"Variable! The source of breaking the deadlock!"

"Existence is Reasonable! Reason is not predetermined! The predetermined... can be broken!"

"I... am not a chess piece! My existence... is the chance to break the deadlock!"

The System's cold logical prompts resonated with the gray light erupting from the Chaos Origin Point. Like thunder exploding in the darkness, like a drowning man clutching at a lifeline, they abruptly gathered a trace of Cheng Xi's "self," which had been on the verge of vanishing completely!

This trace of consciousness was no longer a collection of fear and confusion. It condensed all his unwillingness, rage, instinct to survive, and comprehension of the essence of a "variable"! It was weak, yet carried unprecedented clarity and resolve!

"Even if the Heavenly Dao is vast! Even if the great tide surges like a flood!"

"I, Cheng Xi, will become an unyielding rock within that torrent! I will become a 'variable' within the predetermined course!"

"What of Following Heaven? What of defying Heaven? My Dao is neither following nor defying! With my chaos, I will break this deadlock and open a new heaven!"

"Even if my body is shattered to pieces, even if my soul scatters... this resolve... I shall not regret it!"

A weak yet incomparably clear declaration of intent, carrying unyielding rebellious intent, comprehension of the "variable," and persistence in "breaking the deadlock," stubbornly lit up within the Chaos Torrent and river of epic history like a candle in the wind! It no longer attempted to resist that boundless torrent. Instead, like a reef, it anchored its own existence with all its might! The misty gray radiance emitted by that Chaos Origin Point was the foundation of this reef!

Boom!

The scouring of the Great Dao torrent did not cease. Instead, because this "anomaly" had anchored itself, it became even more violent! Yet beneath this ultimate pain and crushing pressure, Cheng Xi's consciousness underwent some inconceivable transformation! That strand of Break Delusion Rebellious Intent Sword Intent was like refined iron tempered a thousand times. Under the torrent's scouring and the tempering of the Chaos Origin Point's gray light, it not only did not Shatter, but became even more condensed and pure! A trace of the Chaos Origin Point's traits of "disorder" and "variable" began to merge into the Sword Intent, making it more elusive and even more... capable of destroying established rules!

Upon the Lotus Platform, Lord Tongtian's figure, united with the Dao, remained utterly motionless. Yet deep within those eyes reflecting the Chaos Torrent, that faint trace of anticipation suddenly brightened somewhat! There even flashed a trace of exceedingly rare, nearly imperceptible... astonishment?

"Chaos Origin Point... the essence of a variable... it can actually anchor itself within the torrent of the Dao?" A ripple stirred within Lord Tongtian's Dao Heart, which had remained silent for ages. "This child... truly is an anomaly!"

At the same time, Pangu Hall (Projection Space)

Cold! Deathly silent! Primeval!

Yan Lingji felt as though she had been cast into a frozen Dark Void. There was no up, down, or direction, no passage of time—only boundless, suffocating pressure! This pressure carried no malice. It was a supreme majesty and vast desolation originating from the source of her bloodline, as though it were the unconscious breath of a slumbering ancient giant god.

She floated at the center of the void, tightly clutching that silent Qingping Sword Sheath in her arms, like a speck of dust upon a raging sea. The power of Lord Tongtian's distant finger enveloped her, shielding her from the vast majority of the direct pressure. Yet merely being here, the tremor originating from deep within her bloodline and the instinctive reverence of her soul made it nearly impossible for her to breathe.

Bzzzt!

Twelve points of light lit up deep within the void without any warning!

They were not ordinary sources of light, but radiance condensed from twelve completely different yet equally ancient and primeval Law Origins! There was blazing crimson that could burn the heavens (Zhurong), earthen yellow that bore all things with immense weight (Houtu), silver-white that was swift and shadowless (Dijiang), deep icy black (Gonggong)... The twelve-colored lights represented the supreme authority of the Twelve Ancestral Witches!