That silver osmanthus blossom bloomed upon branches that had been withered and silent for eternity.
It had no fragrance, no radiance.
It was merely an existence.
A "something" born from absolute "nothingness."
Watcher Chang'e's body trembled violently.
That falling tear was the only thing that had flowed during the billions of frozen years she had endured.
She looked at the flower, then at the weak bonfire that still burned.
Finally, she looked at True Lord Yuding, the Chan Sect Golden Immortal who had made such a mess of himself just to kindle that fire.
In her eyes, that dead, silent ice field began to melt.
"Hope..."
She spoke those two words.
They were no longer cold laws, but carried a trace of human warmth belonging to "Chang'e."
"You have passed the test."
Her words were relayed back to the flagship through True Lord Yuding's divine sense.
The entire United Fleet erupted in long-suppressed cheers.
They had succeeded!
They had truly used an ordinary fire to create a miracle even Saints could not accomplish!
Nuwa and Xihe both sighed in relief.
"Please grant us the key."
Nuwa spoke with respect in her voice for this watcher.
Chang'e shook her head.
"The key is not an object."
That answer left everyone stunned.
"Eastern Emperor Taiyi deduced long ago that opening the Solar Cage required not power that could oppose it, but a 'frequency' that could resonate with it."
"The Solar Cage is the ultimate 'movement,' the frenzy of chaos."
"And the key is the ultimate 'stillness,' the deathly silence of Taiyin."
Chang'e raised her hand and pointed at the blooming osmanthus flower.
"This flower is not the key."
"It is merely proof."
"It proves to the source laws of the Taiyin Star that one qualified to bear this 'deathly silence' is not coldness devoid of emotions, but an unyielding will that gives birth to hope amid despair."
Chang'e's body began to turn transparent.
The Guanghan Palace beneath her feet, along with the entire iceberg, slowly dissipated and transformed into the purest Taiyin origin.
An immense torrent of information, impossible to describe in words and representing "ending" and "stillness," poured forth from her body.
"The key is an understanding, an authority."
"It will tell you how to find the most vulnerable node among Pangu's three thousand six hundred law chains of seals."
"It will tell you how to use the faintest force to pluck that string and trigger the chain collapse of the entire seal."
"Now, I give it to you."
That immense torrent of information did not fly toward Yuding, nor did it fly toward Xihe.
It surged straight toward Nuwa!
"Only a Saint's Dao Heart can bear this absolute 'stillness' without being assimilated by it."
Those were Chang'e's final words.
Nuwa's expression instantly turned solemn.
She did not resist, allowing the torrent of information to flood into her Saint soul.
Boom!
Nuwa's body jolted violently.
Around her, time itself seemed to stop flowing.
Everything fell into absolute stillness.
Xihe and True Lord Yuding could not move in the slightest. Even their thoughts had been forcibly paused.
Only Nuwa's consciousness struggled to decipher the authority known as the "key" within that absolute "nothingness."
And at that very moment.
Far away, at the other end of the Primordial World.
The Solar Star.
That enormous star, blazing with endless true fire, suddenly dimmed.
Deep within the Solar Star's core.
Within that eternal prison Pangu had opened with his own supreme power.
An indescribably enormous shadow, its body pierced by three thousand six hundred chaos-colored chains, moved.
It had slept through countless epochs.
Its consciousness had long been worn away by Pangu's seal.
But just now.
It had sensed it.
The "lock" binding it had undergone a disturbance.
An instinctive fury, born from the very origin of a Chaos Demon God, awakened.
"Roar—!!!"
A soundless roar erupted from the deepest part of the prison.
This roar had no sound, no energy.
It was a purely spiritual impact!
It instantly pierced through Pangu's seal, through the Solar Star, through the boundless chaos!
Aboard the flagship.
Everyone who had just been cheering over obtaining the key felt as if a heavy hammer had smashed viciously into their minds.
Pfft!
Countless Immortals and Gods with weaker cultivation spat blood on the spot, their souls shaken.
Even supreme experts like Guang Chengzi and Zhao Gongming turned deathly pale, their heads splitting with pain.
A shrill red alert flashed across the Heavenly Derivation Matrix's display.
[Alert! Detected an ultra-high-intensity spiritual impact originating from the Solar Star!] [Warning! Seventy percent of the alliance fleet's members have suffered soul damage!] [Warning! The Chaos Demon God within the prison has awakened!]
Those words instantly turned the joy that had just risen into bone-deep cold.
Yet that was not the most terrifying part.
More terrifyingly, that roar had not targeted only the alliance fleet.
It swept across the entire Primordial World!
At the bottom of the Netherworld Blood Sea.
Ancestor Minghe, who had been seated cross-legged, abruptly opened his eyes.
Black blood flowed from his seven orifices.
For the first time, cracks appeared in his Dao Heart, which had fused with the Blood Sea.
"Pangu's seal... has loosened?"
There was no fear in his eyes. Instead, a flash of extreme greed and fanaticism passed through them.
The Primordial World's continent.
Beyond the enormous blood-red vortex in the heavens.
The skeletal emperor clad in imperial robes, Emperor Withered Bone, slowly raised his head.
Its hollow eye sockets gazed toward the Solar Star.
That spiritual impact had swept over it as well.
Yet it was completely unharmed.
It merely extended a bony finger, as though catching an invisible signal from the air.
Its lower jaw opened and closed once, as if savoring it.
An emotion called "interest" appeared for the first time within this ruler of the netherworld.
Flagship, Zeroing Laboratory.
Chen Ran gripped the control console, forcefully enduring the agonizing pain in his mind.
"This is trouble."
His expression was grim to the extreme.
"The Demon God's awakening has disrupted every plan."
"That roar was equivalent to announcing to the entire Primordial World that we intend to tamper with the Solar Seal."
Bai Ze added from beside him, his voice trembling.
"Now, both Minghe and Emperor Withered Bone know our trump card."
"Our greatest advantage, the information gap, is gone!"
"They'll wait for us to fight the Demon God to the death, then come out to clean up the aftermath!"
Chen Ran stared fixedly at the Star Chart.
His mind raced madly.
Go to the Blood Sea and threaten Minghe?
Going now would no longer be a threat. It would be walking into a trap.
Minghe would be delighted for them to open the seal.
What could they do?
It seemed every path had been blocked again.
Just then, a majestic yet urgent thought descended upon the bridge.
It was Primordial Heavenly Venerate.
"Chen Ran!"
"Terminate the plan!"
"Bring Junior Sister Nuwa back at once! Seal away the key!"
"Until the Netherworld Realm has been completely dealt with, no one is to mention the Solar Star again!"
Primordial Heavenly Venerate's will allowed no doubt.
This was a Saint's decision.
Faced with the enormous uncertainty of the Demon God's awakening, he chose the safest and most conservative course.
Deal with the enemy before them first.
Yet Chen Ran did not respond.
His gaze passed through the display, as though he could see that lofty Saint.
"Too late."
Chen Ran spoke.
"What is too late?" Anger entered Primordial Heavenly Venerate's will.
"I said, it is already too late."
Chen Ran heavily tapped the display with one finger.
A simulation image just deduced by the Heavenly Net System, one that made every Saint's scalp tingle, appeared before everyone.
In that image.
Emperor Withered Bone was no longer standing quietly behind the blood-red vortex.
It had moved.
It was actually advancing toward the Solar Star!
"It has taken an interest in that Chaos Demon God."
Chen Ran's voice was cold and cruel.
"What it wants to devour is not merely the Primordial World."
"It wants to turn that newly awakened Chaos Demon God into food on its plate as well!"
"Now, we are no longer facing two separate enemies."
Chen Ran spoke the final conclusion that drove everyone into despair, one word at a time.
"We are facing two apocalypses that are about to join forces and feast upon us together!"
Before you continue