Void Realm Hong Meng

The moment the spatial rift tore open, Chu Mo felt his Chaos Sword Body being pierced by billions of fine needles. When he finally found his footing among a cluster of floating rubble, he noticed Yun Che staring at his arm—a star map pattern identical to the one on the Hong Meng Hall's floor tiles had appeared there at some point, and each line was absorbing the golden light particles drifting in the void.

"The spiritual energy here... it's fragments of the Primordial Chaos Source." Yun Che's fingertip brushed against a broken stele carved with ancient characters. As soon as her ice-blue spiritual energy touched it, the stele glowed with the same faint light as her eyes. Ethereal chanting echoed from a distance, and hundreds of bronze lamps emerged from the mist. The wicks weren't flickering flames, but solidified fragments of time.

"Outsiders, you carry the Sword Master's blood." A hoarse voice came from above. Chu Mo looked up and saw an old man suspended upside down in the clouds. His body was composed of rubble and misty light, and a rhombic crystal was embedded in his brow. Sealed within it were fragments of the sword blade that had shattered when the First Generation Sword Master slew the Demon God.

"Senior, you are?" Chu Mo tightened his grip on his sword hilt, only to find the Chaos Sword unusually docile. The star map on its scabbard was resonating with the old man's crystal. The old man raised his hand, and the star map formed by the bronze lamps projected the scene of them in the Mirror Abyss corridor: "I am the High Priest of the Void Spirit Race, guarding the scattered Primordial Chaos Source of the Sword Master for a hundred thousand years. The Chaos Sword in your hand... has it perhaps cut the Godfall Pavilion's fate disk?"

Yun Che suddenly pointed into the depths of the sea of clouds: "Chu Mo, look there!" In the center of countless floating islands, a palace formed from Chaos Sword Qi drifted. The palace walls flowed with runes identical to the tenth style of the Primordial Sword Art, and stuck into the top of the palace was half of a Broken Sword—the very one the First Generation Sword Master used to cleave the Demon God's core.

"That is the true body of the Hong Meng Hall." The old man landing stirred golden ripples. "After the Sword Master sealed the Demon God thirty thousand years ago, he disintegrated his Chaos Sword Body into nine pieces, transforming into the nine islands of the divine region. But the true source power is hidden deep within this Void Realm. However, the people from the Shadow Hall have been searching for this place. They want to..."

Before he could finish, the sea of clouds suddenly surged. Twelve black streams of light tore through space—the black-robed figures they had seen in the Hong Meng Hall. The leader threw back his hood, revealing a dark purple mark on his forehead identical to the Demon God's core: "Chu Mo, hand over the Chaos Sword Body, and I will let you die completely before the Primordial Chaos Source."

The Void Spirit Race's bronze lamps suddenly all turned towards the enemy, their wicks erupting with sun-like brilliance. The old man coughed out misty light: "They have contaminated themselves with the Demon God's remnant soul! Quick! Go to the central palace and activate the Sword Master's... Ah!" His body was shattered by the Broken Sword in the black-robed figure's hand. The crystal fragments flew towards Chu Mo, and the sword blade sealed within them suddenly unfolded a map in his Sea of Consciousness—the core of the Void Realm, where the First Generation Sword Master's complete Dao legacy, the "Endless Hall," was hidden.

"Yun Che, you go left, I'll distract them!" Chu Mo pushed Yun Che towards an island carved with ice-elemental runes, while he himself charged towards the black-robed figures. Nourished by the Primordial Chaos Source, the star map patterns on the Chaos Sword actually materialized into tangible sword qi. Each strand of sword qi carried the power of time reversal, sending the demonic energy unleashed by the black-robed figures back to its state three minutes prior. "A bit interesting." The black-robed leader flicked the Broken Sword, and the Demon God's power wrapped around the blade actually condensed into the phantom image of a purple-scaled woman. "Do you think killing the Godfall Pavilion's pawns can change fate? The Primordial Chaos Source of the Void Realm is precisely the last lock the Sword Master used to trap you!"

The phantom image opened its mouth, and Chu Mo felt something pulling at the Sword Master's remnant soul within him. At this critical moment, Yun Che's soft sword suddenly pierced between him and the phantom image. Purple curse marks of Godfall Island's Wu Yin were actually condensed in her hair: "Chu Mo, use the Fate Defying Style to sever the karma!"

The Chaos Sword responded, slashing out. This time, the blade not only carried the golden light of the Primordial Chaos Source but was also wrapped in the power of the Ice Race Saintess's Life Bead within Yun Che. As the sword qi split the phantom image, Chu Mo saw countless remnant souls of Godfall Pavilion Saintesses sealed inside the Broken Sword—their scale fragments were forming the Chaos Sword Body that the First Generation Sword Master had disintegrated back then.

"So... the source isn't power, it's the Sword Master's original intention." Chu Mo murmured to himself. He suddenly plunged the Chaos Sword into the island beneath his feet. The fragments of the Primordial Chaos Source surged into the sword body like a hundred rivers returning to the sea. The star map patterns on the scabbard finally became complete, revealing the characters "Endless."

The sword qi palace in the center of the Void Realm collapsed with a roar, revealing the Endless Hall behind it. The hall doors opened automatically, and floating inside were thirty-six thousand fragments of the Sword Master's Dao Patterns. Each fragment recorded the First Generation Sword Master's enlightenment before slaying the Demon God: "Chaos is not the sword, it is the heart; Primordial is not the source, it is the thought. I use my body as a prison, trapping the demon within thought; if a later generation comes, sever thought and forge the sword."

The black-robed leader's face showed fear for the first time: "You dare to merge with the Sword Master's Dao Patterns?!" He frantically urged the Broken Sword, only to find that the bodies of all the black-robed figures were being purified by the Primordial Chaos Source, revealing the half-demon bodies beneath that had been infested by the Demon God.

Yun Che suddenly pointed into the depths of the Endless Hall: "Chu Mo, look!" In the deepest part of the hall, a transparent light cocoon floated. Sleeping within it was none other than the young Chu Mo, who had not yet awakened his Chaos Sword Body—the "original body" preserved by the Sword Master using the law of time thirty thousand years ago, a pure Dao heart untainted by any destiny.

The ringing of the Chaos Sword resonated with the light cocoon, and Chu Mo felt something explode within him. When he opened his eyes again, he found that the surface of his Chaos Sword Body was covered with a transparent film of light. That was the "Endless Body," formed by the fusion of the Primordial Chaos Source and the Sword Master's Dao Patterns, capable of being immune to all causality weapons.

"Now, it's my turn to sever your chains." Chu Mo raised his hand, and the thirty-six thousand Dao Patterns transformed into a sword array, trapping the twelve black-robed figures in the river of time. With each flash of sword light, their past memories could be seen: some were once guardians of the Void Spirit Race, some were renegade disciples of the Godfall Pavilion, and the leader was actually the most valued disciple under the First Generation Sword Master.

"Master... he lied to us!" The black-robed leader broke down in the time reversal, "Saying he was sealing the Demon God, but he was actually using our souls to repair his broken sword body!"

Chu Mo's sword array suddenly paused. The young Chu Mo in the light cocoon opened his eyes, which reflected the last image left by the First Generation Sword Master in the Endless Hall: "My disciples, if you see this scene, you must have been infested by the Demon God's remnant soul. I am not a saint, and I have my selfish reasons—using your souls to mend my sword body was truly an act of necessity. If someone in a later generation can break this situation, I hope they will take my bones and bury them where Primordial Chaos first began."

Yun Che gently held his hand: "Chu Mo, the Sword Master's selfish reasons were also to protect the myriad realms." She pointed at the collapsing Void Realm; those fragments of the Primordial Chaos Source were automatically integrating into the Chaos Sword. "Now, we should take the Dao Patterns of the Endless Hall and go end this thirty-thousand-year cycle."

When the two stepped out of the Endless Hall, they found that the sea of clouds in the Void Realm had transformed into the phantom image of the First Generation Sword Master. The phantom image raised its hand and embedded the last fragment of the Primordial Chaos Source into the Chaos Sword. The sword body finally restored its completeness, and carved on the hilt was the true sword name that Chu Mo had seen in the Mirror Abyss corridor but had never seen before—"Fate Defying."

Before the black-robed figures dissipated in the Primordial Chaos Source, the leader threw the Broken Sword towards Chu Mo: "Go to the deepest part of the Ninth Divine Region. The Sword Master's bones are sleeping there, and... the true Demon God's heart."

The moment Yun Che caught the Broken Sword, the purple-scaled woman's last message appeared on the blade: "Chu Mo, when the Chaos Sword and the Fate Defying Sword are combined, remember to see for us what a world without sacrifice looks like."

The Void Realm began to collapse. Chu Mo gripped the two swords and rushed towards the spatial rift with Yun Che. On the other side of the rift came the dying shouts of the future Chu Mo, and the roar of the Demon God's core fully reviving. And the Fate Defying Sword in his hand was now pointing towards the deepest part of the Ninth Divine Region. In the clouds there, a mountain made of the Sword Master's bones was vaguely visible, and stuck into the mountaintop was the sword that could end everything—the Primordial Chaos Source Sword.

The true final battle was about to begin at the Sword Master's burial ground. And Chu Mo knew that this time, the sword in his hand would no longer be anyone's vessel, but the Fate Defying Sword, carrying the hopes of all those who had sacrificed over the past thirty thousand years, slashing towards destiny.