Dark...
Darkness...
Endless darkness...
Everything around him had fallen into darkness, and Dugu Chen felt as though his body were weightless, floating without support.
He could not open his eyes, yet his senses could still clearly perceive his surroundings.
Where was this?
The moment Dugu Chen's heartfelt question arose, his inner voice echoed all around him.
Something strange gradually spread through the space.
What puzzled him even more was that the fluctuations of his soul power seemed to be growing weaker and weaker.
"Awaken."
A hoarse, ethereal voice came through the Dark Boundary Wall, carrying endless darkness and an abyss.
The next moment, Dugu Chen's vision suddenly lit up. To his horror, his eyes had not opened; instead, the image was transmitted directly into his mind.
This place stretched as far as the eye could see. There were no clouds, sun, or stars in the sky—only a boundless abyss and darkness.
The frozen purple abyss and limitless darkness were not mere emptiness, but something tangible that seemed to have swallowed all light.
Hazy shadows, like surging chaotic stardust, silently spread through this inverted void.
Cold glimmers flickered through gaps in the mist, like countless undead eyes that could open at any moment—unfathomable, yet quietly awaiting annihilation.
At the center of that ancient silence stood an enormous statue, black as obsidian and proud as a king, spanning the void.
Its body was incomparably massive, blotting out the sky and sun like a descending demon.
Heavy armor covered its shell-like body, its sharp-edged pauldrons seeming to hold up the entire collapsing firmament.
Ghostly purple flames erupted from the cracks in its helmet, warping the surrounding space into twisted outlines of submission.
Even without moving, the crushing pressure, as tangible as something that could shatter his chest, came crashing down like a mountain.