In an instant, every place that could be perceived—whether time, space, or nothingness—turned into a vast expanse of blinding white. Yet what followed was not absolute destruction, not the annihilation of all things into nothing. Rather, amid this savage clash, everything veered toward a strange and grotesque state.
Being and nonbeing had originally encompassed all of Myriad Phenomena. Something arose from nothing, and what existed returned to nothing, the cycle repeating without end. But now, amid this violent collision, an intense Third State emerged.
Even eighth-order lifeforms, mighty as they were, had their forms forcibly distorted. They lost all mass and energy, becoming clumps of multicolored threads dancing wildly through the hollow whiteness.
They erupted with power. By all reason, the combined strength of these eighth-order beings should have far surpassed that of the Dao Lord's emissary and the King of Light. Yet after that incomparably tyrannical collision, their power lost all meaning within this bizarre state.
This change had utterly surpassed their comprehension. They could see the strange spectacle before them, yet they could not clearly understand it. Instead, they were muddled and dazed, as if trapped in an absurd dream.
By rights, such a thing should not have happened to them.
They had indeed taken the wrong path, but precisely because it was the wrong path, their willpower—tempered through their long struggle against the power of the apocalypse—surpassed that of ordinary eighth-order Celestial Venerables.
Yet now, even wills so tyrannical they could twist everything apart were unable to remain lucid.
And yet, even such a collision still could not reach the place where Zhao Cheng stood.
Whether it was the First State, "being," the Second State, "nonbeing," or this briefly existing unknown Third State, none could reach his height.
Without question, this was not something an ordinary True