The river path convulsed.
The viscous Star River water, reeking of rot, no longer flowed placidly. Like startled venomous snakes, it crazily burrowed back toward its source without direction. The Black Bone Ship's keel emitted piercing "creak, creak" grinding sounds, as though it would fall apart in the grind and kill of causality the next second.
Chu Qing stood barefoot at the bow. His toes clenched tightly into the cracks of the Gods and Demons Spine, while his fingertips, from excessive force, left clear dents in the blue-black bone.
Suddenly, the originally gray and hazy void ahead seemed to be violently ripped open by an invisible hand.
A streak of golden ink-light seeped from the void.
Then, a colossal character condensed out of thin air. Its strokes were ancient and forceful, every line bearing a weight capable of crushing a star domain, like an Abyss wall stretching across eternity.
[Stop].
As the character settled into place, the space before the Black Bone Ship instantly crystallized. Logic had been locked shut.
Chu Qing's pupils abruptly contracted into two tiny black points. He felt as if the air in his lungs had been sucked dry. Every attempt to breathe sent a scorching, burning pain through the five Blood Holes in his chest.
A pungent taste of rust welled up in his throat. Chu Qing gritted his teeth hard, his jaw muscles bulging, his nails already buried deeply in the shaft of the Overlord Spear.
"Pulling this shit again."
A cold laugh squeezed out of Chu Qing's throat. This feeling was far too familiar. Back in Stone Rock County, Zhao Wuji had suppressed him with "fate"; in the Imperial Capital, the Law Net had bound him with "rules."
Now, that bastard behind this Chaos Sea, the one who called himself a "recorder," wanted