Two beings who stood at the pinnacle of existence vanished from the physical realm at the same moment.
They vanished completely. Not even a drop of blood remained.
But death was not the end.
Deep in that deathly still void, within the river of the Heavenly Dao's laws, two glimmers of light drifted, so faint they barely existed.
One was dark gold, carrying the lingering aura of ten thousand years on the demonic path.
The other was pale cyan, with traces of the three laws of water, fire, and space still flickering within it.
Blind Ancient. Chen Hao.
Their cultivation had long since touched the Heavenly Dao itself. Whether through void refinement and Dao integration or by surpassing the Dao Venerable realm, at that level, their very existence had become one with the laws of the Heavenly Dao.
Flesh could perish, a Dao Foundation could shatter, and a Divine Soul could scatter. But as long as the laws of the Heavenly Dao continued to operate, fragments of their consciousness would remain in the torrent of laws.
Waiting to coalesce again. Waiting to return to life.
Within that unseen, intangible will of the Heavenly Dao, Blind Ancient's dark-gold Divine Soul fragments released a pulse.
It was not sound. It was consciousness. Pure communication of consciousness that transcended life and death.
"You have no time left."
Blind Ancient's fragments of consciousness slowly dispersed through the river of the Heavenly Dao's laws, each fragment carrying that message, echoing it over and over.
"Even if you reach Immortal King... even if you reach Immortal Emperor... the final outcome will be the same."
After delivering those words, the dark-gold fragments began to dissolve faster. They were not perishing, but sinking deeper into the Heavenly Dao, entering the long cycle of reconstitution.
The last speck of