Forbidden Restriction Backlash

Chapter 24: Restriction Backlash

The axe imprint descended upon him.

The coldness of death almost froze Taiyi's blood. This wasn't some refined technique, nor did it involve the flow of fancy Daoist rhymes. It was the purest, most primal chop – the residual will of the Heaven-Opener, intending to erase this "anomaly" that dared to profane a sacred land from its very root.

He couldn't block it.

This was the only thought left in Taiyi's mind. The disparity in cultivation was too vast; it was a crushing of status, like a mortal gazing at a falling star, with no recourse but to await death.

But – await death?

"Damn it!"

A roar, squeezed from his chest and mixed with blood foam. Taiyi's pupils, which had become somewhat unfocused due to exhaustion and bleeding, suddenly constricted the instant the axe blade touched the skin on his back!

If he couldn't take it head-on, then... borrow its strength!

This near-insane thought flashed through his mind like lightning. Almost simultaneously, all his remaining consciousness poured into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness, fiercely colliding with the dim, lusterless Chaos Bell hanging in mid-air, seemingly on the verge of extinguishing!

"Old friend – ring!!"

Not for defense, not for counterattack, but the most primal... activation!

"Clang--!!!"

A desolate, ancient bell chime, as if traversing infinite chaotic eons, exploded from within Taiyi!

This wasn't the controlled tremor from before when breaking the restrictions, but a desperate, dying, hysterical full-force roar! The phantom of the Chaos Bell was completely ignited at this moment. The ancient patterns representing "Time" and "Space" on its surface burned with unprecedented brilliance. The entire phantom instantly expanded, completely enveloping Taiyi's back!

And in that very instant—

The phantom axe imprint, condensed from Pangu's will, struck the phantom of the Chaos Bell with full force!

"Boom!!!!!"

An indescribable roar.

It wasn't the propagation of sound, but a terrifying resonance directly impacting the soul, generated by the violent collision of two supreme laws! Within Pangu Hall, the ink-thick darkness was torn apart, the gray mist churned into a vortex by the rampant power, and the totems on the twelve Ancestral Witch pillars flickered erratically, emitting mournful cries!

"Pfft—!"

Taiyi was struck as if by lightning, his entire body flung forward like a tattered sack! Mid-air, blood sprayed from his mouth, nose, and ears as if it were free, even mixed with fragments of internal organs! The clothes on his back instantly turned to ash, and countless fine cracks appeared on the surface of his skin, deep enough to see bone. Even his golden bones were covered in a spiderweb of cracks!

The phantom of the Chaos Bell let out a mournful cry, its light completely extinguished, becoming dimmer than a stone. It retreated to the deepest part of his Sea of Consciousness and fell silent. The vast majority of the axe's power had been borne by it, but the remaining residual force, transmitted through the bell, had still almost shattered Taiyi!

Agony.

Everywhere, inside and out, soul and body, every corner screamed in pain. His consciousness teetered on the brink of collapse, his vision was blood-red, and he couldn't see anything clearly.

But – he wasn't dead!

Using the terrifying, overwhelming impact force generated by the axe imprint striking the Chaos Bell, Taiyi's body, which had been pushing the door forward, accelerated at a completely uncontrolled, cannonball-like speed!

"Bang!!!"

His body slammed violently into the stone door, which he had just pushed open a crack! The incredibly heavy stone door, inscribed with his "masterpiece," was forcefully shoved outward by this impact force, which carried the wrath of Pangu's will!

The gap widened instantly!

Blinding light poured in from outside the door – it was the dim radiance emitted by the stone pillars and restrictions in the plaza outside Pangu Hall, mixed with the turbid energy of the earth's veins. But for Taiyi, who had been in absolute darkness for a long time, this light was blindingly bright.

He fell out of the crack in the door like a lump of rotten meat, crashing heavily onto the cold black stone floor of the plaza. He rolled more than ten times, leaving a trail of shockingly bloody marks, before finally managing to stop.

"Cough... Ugh..."

He lay on his side on the ground, curled up. Every cough expelled large amounts of blood, speckled with golden dots – fragments of his True Sun Fire Origin. The wounds on his back were deep enough to see bone, and he could even see his slightly twitching, but cracked, internal organs. Most of his meridians were severed, his Dantian was empty, and the Three Flowers in his Sea of Consciousness swayed precariously, their light so dim it seemed they could extinguish at any moment.

Severely injured.

Mortally wounded.

But, he was still alive. And, he was out.

The moment he fell out of Pangu Hall—

"Clang--------!!!"

Another bell chime sounded.

This time, it didn't come from within him, but... from the Great Wilderness itself!

The "Time-Space" Dao rhyme contained within the Chaos Bell's chime, activated during its dying struggle, and the "Law of Force" of Pangu's will, violently collided. The resulting fluctuation actually penetrated the layers of restrictions in Pangu Hall, penetrated the incredibly thick mountain body of Buzhou Mountain, and spread towards the entire Great Wilderness!

The bell chime was desolate, mournful, yet carried a hint of unyielding defiance, instantly spreading to the four poles and eight directions of the Great Wilderness!

On the Sun Star, within the Sun Palace.

Di Jun, who had been reviewing official documents with a slight frown, suddenly looked up. The jade slip in his hand "crackled" as it fell onto the desk. His expression changed drastically, and he stood up abruptly, his eyes erupting with terrifying golden light: "Taiyi?!"

He could sense the unique Origin aura of the Chaos Bell within the chime, and even more so, he could feel the sense of... near-shattering weakness and pain emanating from the depths of the chime!

Kunlun Mountain, Jade Purity Palace.

The Three Pure Ones, who had been meditating with their eyes closed, simultaneously opened them. A hint of surprise flashed across Laozi's face, which was as calm as an ancient well. Primordial Lord of Heaven frowned tightly, while Lord of the Heavens' eyes gleamed, and he whispered, "Chaos Bell? Such a commotion... what did he encounter?"

West, at the foot of Spirit Mountain.

Jieyin Daoist's face, already filled with suffering, grew even more sorrowful. Zhunti Daoist's gaze flickered as he counted on his fingers, but he found that the heavenly secrets were in complete chaos, and he couldn't deduce anything.

Deep within the Sea of Blood, Old Ancestor Styx opened his eyes from atop a blood lotus. A flicker of surprise crossed his scarlet gaze. "Towards Pangu Hall? That lunatic... actually went there?"

Longevity Mountain, Wuzhuang Temple.

Zhen Yuanzi put down the Ginseng Fruit he was holding and looked towards Buzhou Mountain, his expression grave. "Calamity energy is surging. These are troubled times..."

Countless powerful beings, in seclusion, were alarmed by the bell's chime that echoed throughout the Great Wilderness at this moment, each with their own thoughts.

And deep beneath Buzhou Mountain, in the plaza of Pangu Hall.

"Buzz--!!!"

Almost simultaneously with the bell's chime resounding, the remaining eight layers of restrictions outside Pangu Hall, like enraged beasts, erupted with blinding light! The turbid energy from the earth veins surged like angry waves, the thirty-six Fiend Spirit guards simultaneously opened their greyish-white stone eyes, letting out silent roars. The light of the Time-Space Stasis barrier enveloped the entire plaza, the ripples of bloodline verification swept wildly, the power of the inner demon illusion escaped, the imprints of causal tracing shone like daylight, and Pangu's pressure increased by more than a hundredfold!

The entire perimeter of Pangu Hall instantly became a death trap!

And Taiyi lay in the center of this death trap, like a rag doll.

"Run... must run..."

His remaining consciousness screamed. He tried to move a finger, but the piercing pain made his vision go dark again. His magic power was depleted, his physical body was on the verge of collapse, and his soul was injured... Now, if any Fiend Spirit came over and stepped on him, he would die.

But as he lay on the ground, on his blood-soaked face, his eyes, somewhat unfocused due to blood loss and intense pain, were fixed on the edge of the plaza—the entrance to the narrow earth vein passage he had come from.

There was still a chance.

As long as... as long as he could crawl over there.

He gritted his teeth until blood seeped out. Using his left arm, which he could still barely move, he gripped the seams of the black stone slabs on the ground, and bit by bit, dragging his lower body, which refused to obey and was in excruciating pain, he began to move forward.

Like a dying worm, leaving a viscous trail of blood on the cold, rough ground.

Behind him, the great doors of Pangu Hall, after shaking violently, boomed shut once more. But the Pangu Will within, thoroughly enraged, still permeated through the stone doors, transforming into an invisible tidal wave, washing over his soul wave after wave, keeping his consciousness on the verge of dissipation.

Ahead, the nearest few Fiend Spirit guards had already turned their greyish-white stone heads, "looking" at him, the intruder. They slowly raised their stone axes, and malevolent energy began to gather.

The shadow of death had not receded; instead, it had drawn closer.

Taiyi ignored everything and just crawled. His fingernails, digging into the stone slabs with all his might, were torn and cracked, bleeding profusely, but he seemed to feel no pain, his eyes fixed solely on the passage entrance.

Ten zhang... eight zhang... five zhang...

A Fiend Spirit's stone axe was raised high, greyish-black malevolent light flickering on the blade, locking onto Taiyi crawling slowly on the ground.

Just as the stone axe was about to fall—

"Buzz!"

Deep within Taiyi's sea of consciousness, the [Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint Insight (Fragment)], which he had just stored in his system space and temporarily forgotten, vibrated softly on its own!

An extremely faint, almost imperceptible "resonance" flowed from the fragment of insight. It wasn't a specific power or knowledge, but a... intuition.

An intuition about how "power" is used, how it is transmitted, how it erupts in desperate situations, and how to borrow and redirect force... a combat instinct!

It was a fragment of the most primal combat consciousness, imprinted deep within the axe's imprint from Pangu's battle against the three thousand demon gods and his struggle against chaos!

Taiyi's consciousness, on the verge of dissipation, was sharply pricked by this faint yet incredibly clear "intuition"!

His movements, which were originally just instinctive and clumsy crawling, suddenly underwent a subtle adjustment—the angle at which his left arm exerted force to grip the ground, the timing of his right leg's involuntary twitching in pain, even the rhythm of his breathing... all underwent subtle changes under the guidance of that "intuition."

"Chii!"

The stone axe descended with a sharp whistling sound!

But Taiyi's seemingly slow and clumsy crawl, at this critical moment, at an almost impossible angle, "slid" half a foot to the side and forward!

The stone axe grazed the skin of his nape and struck the ground, splashing sparks and gravel, leaving a blood groove on his neck that exposed bone, but... it hadn't hit him squarely!

And the Fiend Spirit, having swung its axe with full force and missed, froze for an instant.

In that instant!

Taiyi's left hand, dripping with blood, pushed off the ground! Not with his palm, but with his fingers digging firmly into the stone seams, using that minuscule reaction force, combined with the faint airflow from the missed axe strike, his body, like a slippery loach, "shot" forward another zhang!

Less than three zhang from the passage entrance!

But more Fiend Spirits surrounded him. Four, five... they took heavy steps, their greyish-white stone eyes cold and emotionless, their stone axes raised again.

The light of the Time-Space Stasis barrier also enveloped him, and Taiyi felt the surrounding air become as viscous as glue, his crawling speed visibly slowing down.

Is it over?

The thought flashed through Taiyi's mind, but his body didn't stop. The "combat intuition" from the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint Insight seemed to have partially awakened within his dying body, controlling his broken form, making all sorts of seemingly clumsy movements that somehow managed to narrowly evade fatal attacks.

He dodged another axe strike, adding another wound to his back.

He dodged a stomp, and the bones in his left arm let out a bone-chilling groan.

Each dodge consumed his remaining life force, bringing him one step closer to death, but also... one step closer to that dark passage entrance.

Two zhang... one and a half zhang...

Finally, after enduring the side sweep of a Fiend Spirit's stone axe and spitting blood as he rolled away, his fingertips touched the cold, rough rock wall at the entrance of the passage!

He had made it!

A final fierce glint erupted in his eyes. With a burst of strength he didn't know he had, he rammed his head against the rock wall, and his entire body, like a dead fish, rolled into that narrow, dark earth vein passage filled with turbid energy!

Almost the instant he rolled in—

"BOOM!!!"

Several stone axes simultaneously chopped down, pulverizing the spot where he had just been, sending碎石 flying and cracking deep fissures into the ground.

But, they had missed.

Inside the passage, Taiyi tumbled down the steep slope he had come from, his body colliding with the uneven rock walls. The continuous, searing pain overwhelmed his consciousness, and he began to sink into darkness.

Just before he completely lost consciousness, he vaguely thought:

"The bell rang... This has gotten out of hand... The Witch Race... They'll be here..."

"I have to... hide..."

With the last vestiges of his awareness, he activated the System.

[Redeem... Witch Blood Powder... 8 points...]

[Redeem... Breath Concealment Art (Fragment)... 15 points...]

The items had barely appeared in the System space before the boundless darkness and agony completely engulfed him, before he could even take them out to use.

Outside Buzhou Mountain, in the northern land of extreme cold.

Within an ancient palace constructed entirely of profound ice.

Xuan Ming, the Ancestral Witch, who had been meditating on a ten-thousand-year profound ice jade bed, suddenly opened her eyes.

She wore a simple, deep blue hemp robe, her long hair cascading down like an ice waterfall. Her face was stern, her eyes sharp as the northern wind. Just moments ago, as she was guiding the cultivation of the ultimate yin and extreme cold Law of Rain between heaven and earth, her heart had skipped a beat without warning!

It wasn't her heartbeat.

It was the pulse of her bloodline's origin... Pangu Hall!

Immediately after, that mournful bell chime, which had reverberated throughout the Great Wilderness and carried the aura of the Chaos Bell, pierced through infinite space and reached her ears with perfect clarity.

The direction... the depths of Buzhou Mountain!

A frosty expression, capable of freezing the soul, instantly spread across Xuan Ming's icy face.

"Pangu Hall..."

She slowly uttered three words, each one laced with bone-chilling killing intent.

Without a hint of hesitation, Xuan Ming's figure vanished from the profound ice jade bed. The next moment, she appeared beneath the frigid sky outside the palace.

"Rain, come."

She raised her right hand and made a grasping motion towards Buzhou Mountain.

"Rumble—"

The clear sky spanning ten thousand miles instantly became overcast with dark clouds! These were not natural clouds, but a manifestation of the Law of Rain, thick as ink, churning restlessly, and exuding an bone-chilling coldness! The clouds covered a thousand miles, and within them, muffled thunder could be heard – the roar of the Law.

Xuan Ming's figure merged into the clouds, transforming into a deep blue streak of light, barely discernible to the eye. At astonishing speed, she tore through the sky, heading straight for Buzhou Mountain!

The Ancestral Witch of Rain was the first to arrive.

The hunt had begun.