[In truth, before seeking out Wang Hao, you had gone over everything countless times.]
[—if that Higher-Dimensional Existence who looked down upon everything from the [future] had truly laid a death trap for you, where exactly would he strike?]
[Yet layers of fog obscured everything, making the source impossible to find.]
[Your first suspect had been the [Fragment of the Jade Disc of Creation].]
[The moment you first grew suspicious of Wang Hao, you had handed it over to "Old Self" for safekeeping, cutting off every possible variable.]
[But on second thought, if it really were the culprit, the scheme would have been far too obvious—not the handiwork of a sly old bastard.]
[In the end, you had found nothing and could only choose to confront Wang Hao directly.]
[The perspective returned to the present—]
[You finally caught the source of that strange disturbance.]
[It was a "connection."]
[A "connection" that transcended the logic of cause and effect and stood above every rule, as though etched into the very origin of existence.]
[And the source of that "connection"... was actually the [Chaos Bell].]
[No, more precisely, it was the [Battered Demon Realm] deep within the [Chaos Bell].]
["Are you fucking kidding me?!"]
[Shock surged through your heart like towering waves.]
[You had accounted for everything, only to overlook this one point.]
[Your bond with the [Battered Demon Realm] had clearly been established through [purple talent: I Am the Mastermind]. How could anything possibly have gone wrong?]
["Wait!"]
[You suddenly realized—]
[—you seemed to have gone far too long without checking on the [Chaos Bell] and Donghuang Taiyi!]
[Had the Mighty Power of a Higher-Dimensional Existence influenced you without your knowledge?]
[Impossible. Your major divine ability, [True Self], had shown no unusual reaction.]
[Then... you had not been influenced.]
[The disturbance