Bang!
The explosion of the Book of Life and Death made no thunderous noise. Instead, it rang out with the crisp chime of shattering metal.
Black and white specks scattered, each carrying the Death Intent of the ancient underworld and the vitality with which the Azure Emperor had attained the Dao. They stirred the surrounding abstract concepts into resonance. Coldness, ice, gloom, silence, and despair surged alongside warmth, fervor, light, vigor, and hope, rising like tides and rushing toward the deepest part of the Origin of Life and Death.
Amid the violent tremors, True Martial Emperor—who had already begun to tremble under the churning of the Heavens Samsara Wheel—suddenly opened his eyes. His state of neither living nor dying lost its balance.
His deep, hollow-seeming eyes were veiled in a bright purple, charged with utmost yang and righteousness. He raised his right hand and grasped at empty air. A plain, dignified purple jade ruler appeared in his grip, its surface engraved with clear Dao Patterns and wreathed in an innate aura that repelled all external evils.
In the blink of an eye, True Martial Emperor wielded the ruler as a sword. Following the pull of the Aura, he slashed at Emperor Fengdu!
In that instant, purple swordlight illuminated the unreal. The abstract concepts of gloom and silence, light and vigor, vanished. All descriptions of life and death disappeared. The entire Origin vanished. Emperor Fengdu's towering figure, clad in black armor, disappeared. The Inner Scenery Universe that had drawn close to the Real Realm disappeared. Even his True Spirit vanished. Only his True Self's spiritual light seemed to be dragged down from immeasurable heights, left bare to face this sword.
Slay Dao, See Self!
What was the self? The True Self's spiritual light was the self!
This sword struck heart against