Chapter Summaries

As the Eye of Annihilation probed the barrier, its mark resonated with Tang Wulin and pulled his consciousness into the Void. There, he confronted its will by showing that memories, choices, and relationships had become part of existence, and he declared that the Eye could not erase what had once happened.

• The Goddess of Life reinforced the barrier, but the God of Destruction realized the Eye of Annihilation was assimilating it from within.
• Tang Wulin's mark resonated with the substance seeping through the barrier, and the tendrils attacked as his consciousness began to sink into the Void.
• Qian Renxue refused to release Tang Wulin, holding him as his consciousness vanished into nothingness.
• Tang Wulin sensed Qian Renxue and drew on memories of his family, companions, and Isis to form points of light in the Void.
• Tang Wulin challenged the Eye of Annihilation's belief that everything must return to nothing, arguing that past events could not be erased.
• Tang Wulin showed the Eye memories of his wedding and his son Tang Xuanyu's birth, then declared that existence itself had defeated it.

Tang Wulin drove back the Eye of Annihilation by trapping it in a paradox about existence, and the Abyss Gate became calm. Reunited with Qian Renxue and his family, he returned to Quiet Garden to recover over Xiao Wu’s congee.

• Tang Wulin argued that the Eye of Annihilation had to exist in order to deny existence, causing it to withdraw from The Void.
• The black tendrils retreated into The Rift, the barrier healed, and the Tree of Life purified the remaining Aura of Annihilation.
• Tang Wulin woke beside Qian Renxue and explained to the gathered gods that he had persuaded the Eye of Annihilation to retreat through logic.
• The God of Destruction praised Tang Wulin, while the Goddess of Life embraced him and Tang San and Xiao Wu expressed their pride.
• Tang Wulin and Qian Renxue discussed their fears and the meaning of existence as they walked home together.
• At Quiet Garden, Xiao Wu served congee while Tang Xuanyu asked the God of Destruction about inheriting a Divine Position.

After a tender family moment, Tang Wulin reflected on what remained of him after the Eye of Annihilation stripped away his power and began considering a new path beyond cultivation and control. The rift in the Tree of Life remained sealed but unhealed as Tang Wulin and Qian Renxue discussed a path that could not be taken from him.

• Tang Nianxue and Tang Yilin asked Tang Wulin whether the threat would return, and he promised to face it while reminding them of the things worth protecting.
• Qian Renxue asked Tang Wulin to promise they would stay together, and he vowed to find her through any changes or reincarnations of the universe.
• Seven days after the confrontation, the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life kept seven Seals around the rift, while Tang San and Xiao Wu helped repair the Tree of Life's barrier.
• The God of Destruction concluded that the Eye of Annihilation was learning their laws through the rift, and the Goddess of Life said Tang Wulin had begun an unknown spiritual path.
• Tang Wulin told Qian Renxue that memories, emotions, choices, and bonds remained when his power was stripped away, and she asked whether he sought a path that could not be taken from him.

Tang Wulin explained to Qian Renxue his plan to build a cultivation path around deepening and expanding his existence through memories, emotions, and understanding. He began questioning Tang San about inheriting the Sea God Seat, and Tang San described it as the ocean recognizing him and asking him to become one with it.

• Tang Wulin told Qian Renxue that he wanted to make his existence indelible by anchoring it in the choices, feelings, and moments that had shaped his life.
• Tang Wulin revealed faint lights formed from memories, including meeting Qian Renxue and learning the Disorder Splitting Hammer from his mother, and said he would use them to build a network of existence that resonated with the world's laws.
• Qian Renxue promised to accompany Tang Wulin on his difficult new path, and he said her companionship would become part of his existence.
• Tang San and Xiao Wu arrived with lunch, and Tang Wulin asked Tang San what essential change he had felt when he inherited the Sea God Seat.
• Tang San said he had felt the ocean recognize him and ask whether he was willing to become it.

Tang Wulin resolved to abandon the established cultivation system and seek a direct resonance with the laws of existence, with Tang San supporting his dangerous path. In a Quiet Room, he began retracing his memories to uncover the foundations of his existence.

• Tang San explained that becoming the Sea God had changed his cultivation from accumulating Soul Power to understanding laws and resonating with the ocean.
• Tang Wulin declared that he wanted to resonate directly with laws through his own essence rather than through a god seat or inheritance.
• Tang Wulin proposed reexamining Soul Power, Soul Rings, and Martial Souls as fundamental aspects of existence, contracts with the world, and manifestations of essence.
• Tang San warned that Tang Wulin's approach could negate everything he was as a Soul Master or god, but encouraged him to pursue it.
• Tang Wulin entered a Quiet Room in Quiet Garden and relived his life, beginning with his birth, his mother's embrace, and his first attempt to call her.

Tang Wulin traced his memories and present sensations to form a Soul Network that clarified his identity and connected him to reality and its laws. As he began sensing fundamental laws such as gravity, time, and life, the network continued to expand.

• Tang Wulin dissected his memories as existential events, forming a network of lights linked by their causes, bonds, and meanings.
• Tang Wulin recognized himself through his relationships and experiences, and the Soul Network shone with a milky-white halo.
• Qian Renxue sensed Tang Wulin's change, and Tang San told her that he had found himself rather than a way to restore his power.
• Tang Wulin sensed the air, cushion, and processes within his body as proof of his existence, connecting each to the Soul Network.
• Tang Wulin reached toward the laws and connected the existence of gravity, time, and life to his memories and present reality.

Tang Wulin formed the Seed of Existence, which established a new connection between him and the world. He decided to study the foundations of the God Realm and test his Proof of Existence near The Rift, despite Qian Renxue’s concern.

• Tang Wulin unified the points in his Soul Network and formed a Seed of Existence at its center.
• A pillar of light rose from Quiet Garden, and the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life recognized Tang Wulin’s breakthrough.
• Tang Wulin awoke and showed his family and the gods a projection of the seed, which he called the Light of the Self or Proof of Existence.
• Tang Wulin asked to study records on the World Origin, the Essence of Laws, and ontology so he could reconstruct the Cultivation System.
• Tang Wulin said he wanted to temper his Proof of Existence near The Rift, and Qian Renxue warned that it was too dangerous.

Tang Wulin studied the Seed of Existence and realized that cultivation meant deepening his connections with the world, then approached the Abyss Rift with Tang San. At the rift’s edge, the Seed asked whether he truly existed, and Tang Wulin had yet to answer.

• The God of Destruction supported Tang Wulin’s plan to face Annihilation, and Qian Renxue reluctantly agreed to trust him.
• Tang San granted Tang Wulin access to the God Realm’s Hidden Book Pavilion and allowed him to approach the Abyss Rift under strict limits.
• Tang Wulin studied the Seed of Existence and concluded that his body, soul, memories, Martial Soul, and soul power were all expressions of it.
• Tang Wulin connected the Seed of Existence to the Blue Silver Emperor and understood cultivation as deepening his existence network.
• Tang San accompanied Tang Wulin to the Abyss Rift, where Tang Wulin heard the Seed ask whether he truly existed.

Tang Wulin strengthened the Seed of Existence by facing The Void and discovered that existence could spread through connections to others. After three months of training, the God of Destruction warned him that the expanding Abyss Rift could reach the Life Core within ten years.

• Tang Wulin let The Void's aura touch him and used his resolve to affirm his existence, briefly forcing the aura to retreat.
• Tang Wulin found an ancient stone tablet in the Hidden Book Pavilion, and the Seed of Existence revealed a message about the relationship between existence and The Void before the tablet crumbled.
• Tang Wulin realized that connecting his existence to others could make it harder to erase, and the Seed of Existence began spreading its influence outward.
• Tang Wulin trained at the Abyss Rift until he could withstand its aura for half an hour, while his strength of existence grew despite his Soul Power Level remaining rank twenty.
• The God of Destruction told Tang Wulin that the Abyss Rift on Douluo Continent was expanding and could erode into the Life Core within ten years.

After the God of Destruction left, Qian Renxue examined what her existence meant and realized her identity was formed by her relationships, memories, and choices. She began to develop a path based on condensing into an indivisible whole, then entered the God Realm Library to learn more, where something strange happened.

• The God of Destruction left Quiet Garden, and Qian Renxue reflected on Tang Wulin’s declaration of existence.
• Qian Renxue recognized that her relationships and experiences formed her true self rather than obscuring it.
• Qian Renxue felt her essence condense inward and considered a path of becoming a firm, indivisible whole.
• Qian Renxue decided that self-condensation alone would leave her isolated and vulnerable to the Eye of Annihilation.
• Qian Renxue went to the God Realm Library to study existence and The Void, and something strange happened in a remote corner.

Qian Renxue discovered that her path to resisting annihilation lay in making her existence solid across time, with every memory and experience adding to its weight. In the Corridor of Time, she began seeking to unify the echoes of her past selves, realizing she could become an anchor in time without controlling it.

• Qian Renxue uncovered an ancient Bronze Mirror that showed scenes from her life and revealed that existence was gold accumulated through time.
• Qian Renxue connected the mirror’s message to resisting the Eye of Annihilation by making her past, present, and future an indivisible whole.
• Qian Renxue recognized that her memories and choices were settling into her soul as a foundation for her existence.
• Qian Renxue entered the Corridor of Time and encountered echoes of herself from different periods of her life.
• Qian Renxue considered merging every version of herself along the timeline and concluded that she could become an anchor within time.

Qian Renxue learned that she could stabilize her existence by anchoring key memories throughout her timeline. After reliving and affirming the defining moments of her life, she completed the process as all the golden sand in the hourglass fell to the bottom.

• Qian Renxue met the remnant consciousness of the God of Time, who explained how to anchor her past and future through memory.
• Qian Renxue relived her first Angel Martial Soul display at age six and affirmed that she and her grandfather’s expectations were real.
• Qian Renxue anchored her memory of entering Heaven Dou Imperial Palace disguised as Xue Qinghe, affirming her pain and perseverance.
• Qian Renxue anchored further memories, including her Angel God Trial, her duel with Tang San, her recovery after her fall, and meeting Tang Wulin.
• Qian Renxue finished anchoring the important moments of her life and found that all the hourglass’s golden sand had flowed to the bottom.

Qian Renxue became an anchor point in time but still needed to choose a future to complete her path. She prepared to return to the Douluo Continent as a mortal traveling scholar, leaving Tang Wulin to continue his own struggle against The Void.

• Qian Renxue left the collapsing Corridor of Time and received time’s recognition, becoming more firmly anchored in existence.
• Tang Wulin explained that erasing Qian Renxue across her timeline would impose a great cost on The Void, and warned that the expanding rift could corrode the Life Core within ten years.
• Qian Renxue decided to return to the Douluo Continent, seal her Divine Position, and experience life as an ordinary person so she could choose and anchor a future.
• Tang Wulin helped Qian Renxue prepare a mortal identity as a traveling scholar and warned her not to undo the seal except in a life-or-death situation.
• At dawn on the third day, Qian Renxue stood ready to enter the passage to the Douluo Continent and asked Tang Wulin how his own path was progressing.

Qian Renxue sealed her divine power and traveled to Douluo Continent under the identity of Xue Yan, a traveling scholar, to investigate the Abyss Rift and anchor time. She reached North Wind Town and passed an identity check at the Abyss observation outpost.

• Tang Wulin explained how Qian Renxue’s time-anchoring path might complement his path of connecting all existence, and they agreed she would leave in three days.
• With Tang Wulin’s help, Qian Renxue sealed her Divine Position into a Divine Core and prepared to travel as Xue Yan.
• Tang Wulin gave Xue Yan documents, supplies, and a cover story before she entered the God Realm passage.
• Xue Yan emerged in a northern forest on Douluo Continent, sensed the world’s instability, and headed toward the nearest town.
• At North Wind Town, Xue Yan presented her credentials and told the guards she had come to study the Abyss Rift’s ecological effects.

Qian Renxue settled into North Wind Town and learned about the danger posed by the Abyss Rift and The Void. That night, she found a girl connected to the rift, and Lin Mo explained that the girl was suffering early symptoms of Void Sickness.

• Qian Renxue entered North Wind Town, rented a room at Scholar's Home, and learned the town's safety rules and curfew.
• Qian Renxue tried to sense the Abyss Rift from her window, but its nonexistence-like nature caused intense dizziness and nausea.
• The innkeeper gave Qian Renxue a Rift Survival Guide warning about rift exposure, phantoms, and unreliable perceptions.
• Qian Renxue woke at night, followed strange lights into the back mountain, and found a barefoot girl whose starlit eyes and wavering presence were linked to the rift.
• Lin Mo, a level-two monitor, identified the girl as a Rift Sensitive and warned that she could voidify, destabilize nearby space, and attract phantoms.

Qian Renxue used her Time Anchoring ability to stabilize Xiao Yu’s connection to a happy childhood memory, sharply reducing her Void connection. The choice left a mark on Qian Renxue’s own future, and she ended the night wondering what future she truly wanted to choose.

• Qian Renxue saw that Xiao Yu’s possible futures were being eroded by The Void, but one ordinary life remained anchored to a memory of her seventh birthday.
• Qian Renxue strengthened that memory with a trace of her own temporal weight, and Xiao Yu’s starlit eyes returned to normal as her Void connection index fell below the danger threshold.
• Lin Mo thanked Qian Renxue, warned her to keep the incident secret, and took Xiao Yu back to the Observation Station for examination.
• After Lin Mo and Xiao Yu left, Qian Renxue sensed that helping the girl had created a mark of choice on her own future and wondered if it was the beginning of Future Anchoring.
• Unable to sleep at the inn, Qian Renxue questioned whether the futures she had followed were truly her own choices as morning light revealed The Rift.

Qian Renxue began living as Xue Yan while investigating the Abyss Rift and learned that its spread may be a form of existential forgetting. After studying its accelerating growth, she prepared to observe it from a permitted distance.

• Qian Renxue chose to live as Xue Yan, an ordinary traveling scholar, and gathered information about the Abyss Rift from researchers at the inn.
• Lin Mo told Qian Renxue that Xiao Yu had recovered completely and offered her a favor in return for helping the girl.
• Lin Mo shared theories about the rift, including his belief that it made things forgotten, and described how survivors and recordings were affected by it.
• Qian Renxue persuaded Lin Mo to arrange permission for her to observe the rift from Observation Point No. 2, five kilometers away.
• Qian Renxue read that seventeen rifts had appeared in thirty years, with their frequency and expansion accelerating toward a possible crisis within seven or eight years.
• Lin Mo told Qian Renxue that their permit was approved and warned her to report any strange symptoms during the next day's observation.

Qian Renxue reflected on how personal memories and connections might anchor a future beyond The Void, then recorded her chosen purpose in her notebook. The next morning, she and Lin Mo traveled into the rift’s Influence Zone and reached Observation Point No. 2, where Lin Mo pointed out the rift.

• Qian Renxue sensed that the possible futures ended in gray fog about ten years ahead, when The Void would descend.
• Qian Renxue concluded that love, memory, and human connections could help preserve a future, and wrote down her choice to understand and cherish every life.
• Qian Renxue dreamed of her past before waking and preparing to travel with Lin Mo.
• Qian Renxue and Lin Mo left North Wind Town, passed a guarded checkpoint, and entered the silent Influence Zone.
• Qian Renxue and Lin Mo reached Observation Point No. 2, where Lin Mo pointed east toward the rift.

Qian Renxue and Lin Mo investigated an expanding rift whose void energy devoured Soul Power and threatened North Wind Town. As the rift surged and forced them to evacuate, Qian Renxue spotted something moving inside it.

• Qian Renxue examined the rift while Lin Mo explained that its mist was corrosive and its expansion was accelerating.
• Qian Renxue sensed that the rift held a purer, more stable form of the void power she had encountered before.
• Lin Mo said three Soul Douluos had failed to seal the rift and explained that void energy devoured Soul Power, as it had Xiao Yu's father.
• Lin Mo's Energy Detector sounded an alarm as the rift widened and released mist at a much faster rate.
• Lin Mo pulled Qian Renxue into cover and urged her to evacuate, but Qian Renxue spotted something moving inside the rift and stopped him.

Qian Renxue and Lin Mo fled after black Void Monsters poured out of The Rift, with Qian Renxue using her remaining divine power to repel the first creature. Injured and exhausted, she let Lin Mo carry her as the monsters closed in, and they heard the outpost's people ahead.

• Qian Renxue spotted many black shadows moving through The Rift, and Lin Mo hurried with her toward the stairwell.
• A Void Monster attacked them, and Qian Renxue struck it with divine power before Lin Mo helped her descend.
• More monsters rushed out of The Rift, and Lin Mo pulled Qian Renxue toward the outpost.
• Qian Renxue fell and injured her knee, but Lin Mo returned for her and carried her as they ran from the pursuing monsters.
• Lin Mo and Qian Renxue heard shouts and footsteps from the outpost ahead.