The chains began to sway. When Xu Zhi unreservedly poured every last bit of rule power she had gained through comprehension into the Remnant Land, even these incomparably sturdy seals, which had existed for who knew how many millennia, began to tremble.
Perhaps their long standoff against the fragment had already inflicted irreparable wear upon them.
The rule power of Midnight now flooding in was like a massive boulder smashing into a wall already made fragile by prolonged tension.
Cracks spread across the chains. Everything was silent; rules had no physical form, and breaking made no sound. Yet Xu Zhi seemed to "hear" their wail as they reached a dead end.
She even added a trace of Sloth's power to accelerate the breaking process.
Once her Spirit Vessel had returned to her body, and Cup had no choice but to withdraw from Midnight, she had already purged the Archbishop's influence from within herself, retaining only pure power and abilities. She had shamelessly gotten a huge free gain.
Sloth at the Archbishop level could not originally have affected these chains at all, like tossing a pebble into the sea—unable to stir even the slightest wave.
But now, with only the slightest external force applied, the ropes already teetering on the verge of breaking immediately gave a strained groan. Then, under the relentless impacts, they snapped completely.
Xu Zhi had seen this scene before.
At the end of the Federation world, she had witnessed rules shattering.
Golden fragments filled the sky, scattering like stardust. Dreamlike and beautiful, just like this moment.
Countless solid golden chains of rules crumbled apart, turning into fine fragments that scattered like golden quicksand.
The fragment imprisoned within them escaped at that moment. The next second, it seemed ready to rise into the air and head—or return—to somewhere.