Everything was silent.
There was no earth-shattering loud explosion, nor any upheaval of heaven and earth.
It was like a damp wind blowing in from some distant shore, setting the branches of trees swaying; like dust beneath the sunlight rising and falling in soft rustles; like damp stains gradually emerging on clothes soaked by rain.
Everything, as though it were only natural, welcomed change.
Or rather, there was no longer any possibility of change...
The earth, the sky, the ruins, the crimson Spirit Essence Sea, even the shackled remains of the Sage above the heavens—all of it lost its color beneath the reflection of that blazing light.
Stripped of every color, all that remained was a hollow, pale whiteness.
Beneath the sword's slash, the burning wings dissolved into nothingness. Tens of millions of outstretched palms were erased inch by inch, while falling tears and hollow pupils gradually blurred away.
The first to collapse was the terrifying shadow from the distant vortex.
When its countless threads of connection were completely severed in an instant, the vortex's projection could no longer endure, with no time to interfere in anything happening here.
The flames of the Stagnant Decay Furnace Core dispersed and dimmed at a visible pace until, in the end, they were extinguished like a dying candle in the wind.
They were gone forever.
Then, in the silence, the Sage's remains began falling apart.
Like a sandcastle washed away by the tide, countless pale ashes rose, filling the heavens before slowly drifting down like rain that brought all things to an end.
From beginning to end, Ji Jue watched it all.
Yet it all felt so distant. He could not comprehend that lofty realm and those changes beyond even the reach of his imagination, Even if everything had manifested through his own