Chaos Origin Point (Part 1)

The boundless Chaos roared, the epic of the Primordial Era flowed.

Cheng Xi's consciousness, like a lone boat in a raging sea, bobbed and tore within the great Dao torrent stirred by Lord Tongtian. The roars of countless Chaos Demon Gods, the thunder of creation, the mournful cries of worlds perishing in great tribulations, the indifferent whispers of the Heavenly Dao—all transformed into billions of thunderbolts of interrogation, fiercely striking his fragile Soul Core.

"What is the Dao?"

"Follow Heaven? Defy Heaven?"

"To intercept a sliver, is it theft or courage?"

"The Intercepting Sect's decline, is it the Heavenly Dao's injustice, or a failing in my Dao?"

"Your Chaos, is it the foundation for transcendence, or the source of destruction?"

"Can the heart... be firm? Be sincere? Be... without regret?"

Each question weighed heavier than stars, carrying the profoundness of the Primordial Era's eons and the supreme majesty of the Heavenly Dao. They sought to utterly crush and assimilate his beliefs, his will, the very foundation of his existence! That nascent Sword Intent of breaking delusion and defying the heavens, in the face of such a vast torrent, was like a candle flame in a gale, flickering and about to extinguish, able to protect only the last glimmer of his consciousness. The vitality of the Jianmu and the solidity of the Breathing Soil seemed so pale and powerless before this pure interrogation of the Dao's origin.

"Argh--!" A silent scream echoed in the depths of his soul. Cheng Xi felt his "self" rapidly dissipating, his consciousness fragments swept into the magnificent yet cruel river of the Primordial Era's epic, about to become an insignificant speck of dust within it. Fear, confusion, and despair, like icy tides, threatened to drown him completely. The path to the heavens was indeed fraught with thorns, a path of certain death! The Sage's questions struck directly at the heart, cruel indeed!

At the very last moment, just as his consciousness was about to completely disintegrate and be assimilated by the endless "Dao" and "momentum"—

Deep within his soul, that point, the Chaos Origin Point born from his rebirth in another world, containing the essence of "variable," erupted violently under the extreme pressure of the Great Dao and the brink of oblivion!

It wasn't an earth-shattering energy impact, but a silent, fundamental declaration of "existence"!

Hum!

A barely perceptible, yet incredibly resilient, grayish light suddenly ignited!

This light was so faint, in the roaring Chaos torrent and the epic river, it was almost negligible. But the moment it appeared, it was like dropping a drop of ice water into a sizzling oil pan, triggering a peculiar, law-level "ripple"!

Centered around that point of grayish light, the churning Chaos currents around it momentarily stagnated! The surging scroll of the Primordial Era's epic, upon touching the edge of this gray light, underwent an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible distortion! It was as if this gray light itself was an "outsider" that did not belong to the established rules and historical trajectory, a "misplaced point" forcibly inserted into the grand narrative!

Simultaneously, the System core, suppressed and silenced by the Sage's might, encountered this impact of the Dao's origin that transcended logic, especially sensing the eruption of that Chaos Origin Point deep within the host's soul. Its most fundamental core logic was completely activated! A cold, mechanical, yet absolutely rational stream of information, like a final anchor chain, forcefully embedded itself into Cheng Xi's disintegrating consciousness core:

[Core logic... uphold... define... Chaos... neither compliant nor rebellious... but... Variable... Source of Breaking the Game...]

[Existence is reasonable... Reason is not fixed... Fixed... can be broken...]

[Anchoring... Host... Chaos Origin Point... Reconstructing... Cognitive Barrier...]

"Variable! Source of Breaking the Game!"

"Existence is reasonable! Reason is not fixed! Fixed... can be broken!"

"I... am not a pawn! My existence... is the opportunity to break the game!"

The System's cold logical prompts resonated with the eruption of the Chaos Origin Point, like thunderclaps in the darkness, or a drowning man grasping a life-saving straw. It caused Cheng Xi's rapidly dissipating "self" consciousness to suddenly condense a sliver!

This sliver of consciousness was no longer a collection of fear and confusion, but condensed all his unwillingness, anger, survival instincts, and the enlightenment of the essence of "variable"! It was weak, yet carried an unprecedented clarity and firmness!

"Even if the Heavenly Dao is vast! Even if the momentum is like a torrent!"

"I, Cheng Xi, will be a stubborn stone in that torrent! A point of 'variable' in that fixed trajectory!"

"What of following Heaven? What of defying Heaven? My Dao is neither compliant nor rebellious! It is to use my Chaos to break this game! To open a new heaven!"

"Even if I am shattered to pieces, my soul scattered... this vow... I will not regret!"

A faint yet incredibly clear declaration of intent, carrying unyielding defiance, enlightenment of "variable," and persistence in "breaking the game," like a candle in the wind, stubbornly ignited in the Chaos torrent and the epic river! It no longer attempted to resist the boundless torrent, but like a reef, it firmly anchored its own existence! That grayish light emanating from the Chaos Origin Point was the foundation of this reef!

Boom!

The scouring of the Dao torrent did not cease; instead, it became even more violent due to the anchoring of this "anomaly"! But Cheng Xi's consciousness, under this extreme pain and pressure, underwent an incredible transformation! That wisp of Sword Intent of breaking delusion and defying the heavens, like fine iron tempered by a thousand fires, did not shatter under the torrent's scouring and the Chaos Origin Point's gray light. Instead, it became even more condensed and pure! A trace of the Chaos Origin Point's "chaos" and "variable" characteristics began to integrate into the Sword Intent, making it more elusive, more... capable of destroying established rules!

On the lotus platform, Lord Tongtian's figure, merged with the Dao, remained motionless. However, deep within his eyes, which reflected the Chaos torrent, that extremely faint trace of anticipation suddenly brightened a few points! Even... a fleeting, extremely rare, almost imperceptible... hint of surprise flashed across them?

"Chaos Origin Point... essence of variable... actually anchored itself within the Dao torrent?" A thought rippled through Lord Tongtian's ancient, silent Dao heart, "This child... truly is an anomaly!"

At the same time, Pangu Hall (Projection Space)

Cold! Silent! Savage!

Yan Lingji felt as if she had been thrown into a frozen, dark void. There was no up or down, no passage of time, only boundless, suffocating pressure! This pressure was not malice, but a supreme majesty and vastness originating from the very source of her bloodline, like the unconscious breaths of slumbering ancient giants.

She floated in the center of the void, tightly clutching the silent Qingping Sword Sheath, like a speck of dust in a raging sea. Lord Tongtian's power, a distant finger's touch, enveloped her, shielding her from most of the direct oppression. Yet, merely being in this place, the tremor from the depths of her bloodline and the instinctive awe of her soul made it almost impossible to breathe.

Hum!

Deep within the void, twelve points of light ignited without warning!

These were not ordinary light sources, but the condensed radiance of twelve distinct yet equally ancient and savage law origins! There was the scorching, sky-burning crimson (Zhurong), the heavy, bearing earth yellow (Houtu), the swift, unseen silver-white (Dijiang), the profound, icy black (Gonggong)... the twelve colors of light represented the supreme authority of the twelve Ancestor Witches!