[Bloodline Curse, a desperate plight, simulation ended]

[You returned once more to that familiar point in spacetime at [age 24]. The Secret Realm remained unchanged, but your heart could not settle, still shrouded in the terror and despair of that Buddhist palm descending upon your head.]

[You instinctively looked around, hoping to see that figure appear. Yet there was only emptiness and silence.]

[A faint sense of loss welled up in your heart. You understood that Chen Qingyan's sacrifice involved a contest at the level of [Nascent Soul True Lords].]

[The power of the river of time had erased all traces of his existence beyond this anchor point. He could not return with you through Rewind.]

[Since [Rewind] could not affect [Nascent Soul True Lords], this new life]

[could no longer proceed step by step like the Simulator, making use of known information.]

[Your greatest trump card had been exhausted.]

[For now, your only path to survival seemed to be breaking through to [Foundation Establishment] as quickly as possible and unlocking the third ability of the [Supreme Limitless Dharma Seal].]

[But breaking through to [Foundation Establishment] required drawing upon the external [Heaven and Earth Laws]. It could not be done within the Secret Realm.]

[Yet once you stepped out of the Secret Realm, beneath those beings' gazes, you would be throwing yourself straight into their net, with ten chances of death and not one of survival!]

[Clinging to your last thread of hope, you activated the [Eye of Illusion] to examine the [Damaged Spacetime Token].]

[Charging progress: 40%]

[Hope grew ever fainter.]

[Insufficient energy, exhausted trump cards, powerful enemies watching on every side—you could neither advance nor retreat.]

[But fate's cruelty far exceeded your imagination.]

[Just as you racked your brains for a countermeasure, a vast power abruptly descended from the unseen, impossible to resist and impossible to trace to any specific source!]

[This power did not attack you directly. Instead, it acted in a more fundamental, more vicious way—]

[The immense [rank] within you, tempered through Nine Limit-Breakings with the tenth also nearing completion, enough to look down upon Foundation Establishment cultivators,]

[suddenly began to collapse and dissipate like a towering structure whose foundation had been pulled away!]

[**"Pfft—!"**]

[Completely unable to control yourself, you violently spat out a great mouthful of heart's blood containing your vital essence!]

[Within your dantian, the ten streams of [Primordial Qi] that had been circulating in orderly fashion, forming your supreme foundation, instantly lost their balance.]

[They began clashing violently, descending into chaos, as though they might burst apart entirely at any moment!]

[You endured the agonizing collapse of your Dao Foundation and the weakness permeating your soul. Relying on the slight improvement in energy control granted by your [Twice the Results with Half the Effort] talent, you barely managed to keep the situation somewhat stable.]

[*"It's a [Bloodline Curse]!"* Understanding struck you instantly, and your face turned as pale as paper.]

[This attack struck directly at the source of your bloodline, at the Fortune and bloodline foundation of the entire [Chen Family] Lineage!]

[This [Rewind] could not affect beings at the [Nascent Soul] level, so your use of the [Supreme Limitless Dharma Seal] to return to the [past] was certain to be detected.]

[But judging by this response, the [Spacetime Token]'s activation to protect you had sent [Him] straight into a panic, so He had continued attacking regardless of the cost!]

[The [Nascent Soul True Lord] who had acted intended to cripple you at the root, stripping you of even the right to struggle!]

[*"Damn it! [They] must have deduced or sensed that the third ability of the [Supreme Limitless Dharma Seal] truly had the potential to threaten [Their] plans!]

[So They refused to give you any more time, choosing this enormously costly but more thorough method to snuff you out at the root!"*]

[An icy chill filled your heart.]

[Moreover, to bypass the protection of the [Heavenly Secret Creation Jade Butterfly] and directly affect the Chen Family connected to you by blood,]

[the attacker's rank and the price They had paid had probably both reached unimaginable heights.]

[This also explained why the other party had not used such a method during the relatively peaceful century before [Rewind].]

[**"Pfft—!"**]

[Another mouthful of heart's blood spewed out. The collapse of your Cultivation and rank was accelerating.]

[You felt your vitality and Dao Attainment draining away at a terrifying pace.]

[There was little time left!]

[In this desperate plight, only one final choice remained, a choice that was no choice at all—break through to Foundation Establishment immediately!]

[Gamble on the unlocked third ability turning this certain death around!]

[Without the slightest hesitation, you mustered the last of your strength and charged out of the Secret Realm!]

[Yet the sight before you made your pupils abruptly constrict.]

[—You had not appeared at some random spot in the wilderness. Instead, you stood directly beside that familiar Old Locust Tree at the [Chen Family]!]

[The Secret Realm's exit... actually connected directly to this place?!]

[This eerie coincidence rang through your heart like a final death knell.]

[Could you truly not escape the prophecy of Mo Wuyou, that boy from the future? Was your appearance here the very beginning of that ending, "dying beneath the Old Locust Tree"?]

[You had no time left to ponder. The shadow of death coiled around you as though it had taken physical form.]

[You suppressed every stray thought. Ignoring the violent upheaval of your Dao Foundation and your rapidly dissipating Cultivation, you forcibly began drawing upon the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth, attempting to break into the realm of [Foundation Establishment]!]

[With your original rank surpassing ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators and the vast reserves accumulated through Nine Limit-Breakings, success should have come as naturally as water flowing into a channel.]

[But now, under the continued corrosion of the Bloodline Curse and the backlash from your collapsing Dao Foundation, the entire breakthrough became immeasurably difficult and perilous.]

[The breakthrough failed the moment it began!]

[The raging spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth lost its guidance and rampaged through your body;]

[The ten already chaotic streams of [Primordial Qi] burst apart completely; the half-formed Dao Foundation crumbled in an instant like a sandcastle...]

[**"Boom—!"**]

[An indescribable surge of destructive energy erupted from within your body.]

[Your Dao Foundation collapsed completely, and your Cultivation dispersed in an instant.]

[Your final awareness was of your vision rapidly turning black, and the cold of your life draining away entirely.]

[You died. Simulation ended.]