The instant the Space Rift tore open, Chu Mo felt his Chaos Sword Body pierced through by billions of fine needles. When he steadied himself amid a cluster of floating rubble, he found Yun Che staring at his arm—at some point, a star-map pattern identical to the floor tiles of Hong Meng Hall had appeared there, every line absorbing golden motes drifting through the void.
"The spiritual energy here... is fragments of Primordial Chaos Source." Yun Che's fingertips brushed over a broken stele inscribed with ancient characters. The instant her ice-blue spiritual energy touched it, the stele lit up with a faint glow matching her eyes. An ethereal chant drifted from afar, and hundreds of bronze lamps emerged from the clouds. What flickered in their wicks was not flame, but solidified Time Shards.
"Outsiders, you bear the Sword Master's blood." A hoarse voice came from overhead. Chu Mo looked up and saw an old man hanging upside down within the clouds, his body formed of broken stone and luminous mist. A Rhombic Crystal was embedded in his brow, within it sealed a fragment of the blade that had shattered when the First Generation Sword Master slew the Demon God.
"May I ask who you are, Senior?" Chu Mo gripped his sword hilt, only to find the Chaos Sword unusually docile. The star map on its sheath resonated with the old man's crystal. Raising a hand, the old man projected scenes of their time in the Mirror Abyss Corridor through a star map formed by the bronze lamps. "I am the High Priest of the Void Spirit Race. For a hundred thousand years, I have guarded the Primordial Chaos Source scattered by the Sword Master. The Chaos Sword in your hand... has it cut through the destiny board of Godfall Pavilion?"
Yun Che suddenly pointed deep into the sea of clouds. "Chu Mo, look over there!" Amid countless floating islands hovered a palace formed from Chaos Sword Qi. Runes identical to the tenth style of the "Primordial Sword Art" flowed across its outer walls, while half a broken sword was embedded at its peak—the very sword the First Generation Sword Master had used to divide the Demon God's core.
"That is the true body of Hong Meng Hall." Golden ripples spread as the old man landed. "Thirty thousand years ago, after the Sword Master sealed the Demon God, he shattered his own Chaos Sword Body into nine pieces, turning them into the Nine Islands of the divine realm. The true origin power was hidden deep within this Void Realm. But Shadow Hall has been searching for this place all along. They want to..."
Before he could finish, the sea of clouds churned violently. Twelve streams of black light tore through space—the Black-robed Figures they had seen in Hong Meng Hall. The leader pulled 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 whole before the Primordial Chaos Source."
All the Void Spirit Race's bronze lamps abruptly turned toward the enemies, their wicks erupting with sunlight-bright radiance. The old man coughed out luminous mist. "They have polluted themselves with the Demon God's remnant soul. Quickly! Go to the central palace and activate the Sword Master's... Aah!" His body was shattered by the broken sword in a Black-robed Figure's hand. Crystal fragments flew toward Chu Mo, and the sealed blade within suddenly unfolded a map in his Sea of Consciousness—at the heart of the Void Realm lay Endless Hall, which contained the complete legacy of the First Generation Sword Master.
"Yun Che, take the left path. I'll draw them away!" Chu Mo shoved Yun Che toward an island carved with ice-element runes and charged straight at the Black-robed Figures. Nourished by the Primordial Chaos Source, the star-map patterns on the Chaos Sword's blade transformed into tangible Sword Qi. Every strand carried the power to turn back time, restoring the demonic qi slashed out by the Black-robed Figures to how it had been three minutes earlier. "Interesting." The black-robed leader flung out his broken sword. The Demon God's power entwined around it condensed into the phantom of a purple-scaled woman. "You think killing Godfall Pavilion's pawns can change fate? The Primordial Chaos Source of the Void Realm was the Sword Master's final lock to imprison you!"
The phantom opened her mouth, and Chu Mo felt something tugging at the Sword Master Remnant Soul within him. At the critical moment, Yun Che's flexible sword suddenly pierced between him and the phantom. A purple curse mark, like the mist-hidden seals of Godfall Island, had somehow condensed in her hair. "Chu Mo, use the Fate Defying Style to sever causality!"
The Chaos Sword answered with a slash. This time, its blade bore not only the golden light of Primordial Chaos Source, but also the power of the fate pearl within Yun Che, the Saintess of the Ice Clan. As the Sword Qi split the phantom apart, Chu Mo saw countless remnant souls of Godfall Pavilion Saintesses sealed within the broken sword—the fragments of their scales were forming the Chaos Sword Body that the First Generation Sword Master had shattered long ago.
"So... the source is not power. It is the Sword Master's original heart." Chu Mo muttered. He suddenly drove the Chaos Sword into the island beneath his feet. Fragments of Primordial Chaos Source surged into the blade like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea. At last, the star-map pattern on its sheath became complete, revealing the two words: "Endless."
The Sword Qi palace at the center of the Void Realm collapsed with a thunderous crash, revealing Endless Hall behind it. Its doors opened on their own. Thirty-six thousand fragments of the Sword Master's Dao patterns floated within, each recording an enlightenment the First Generation Sword Master had attained before slaying the Demon God: "Chaos is not the sword, but the heart; Primordial Chaos is not the source, but the thought. I make my body a prison and trap the demon within thought. Should those of later generations come, sever thought and forge it into a sword."
Fear appeared on the black-robed leader's face for the first time. "You dare fuse with the Sword Master's Dao patterns?!" He frantically activated the broken sword, only to discover that the bodies of every Black-robed Figure were being purified by the Primordial Chaos Source, exposing the half-demonic forms beneath that had been eroded by the Demon God.
Yun Che suddenly pointed deep into Endless Hall. "Chu Mo, look!" At the deepest point of the hall floated a transparent cocoon of light. Sleeping within it was, astonishingly, the young Chu Mo before his Chaos Sword Body had awakened—that was the "original body" the Sword Master had preserved with the Law of Time thirty thousand years ago, a pure Dao heart untouched by any destiny.
The Chaos Sword's cry resonated with the cocoon of light, and Chu Mo felt something explode within him. When he opened his eyes again, a transparent film of light covered the surface of his Chaos Sword Body. It was the Endless Body formed from the fusion of Primordial Chaos Source and the Sword Master's Dao patterns, capable of resisting every weapon governed by the Law of Causality.
"Now it is my turn to sever your chains." Chu Mo raised his hand, and the thirty-six thousand Dao patterns transformed into a sword formation, trapping the twelve Black-robed Figures in a torrent of time. With every stroke of sword light, their past memories could be seen: some had once been guardians of the Void Spirit Race, some were disciples who had fled Godfall Pavilion, and their leader had once been the First Generation Sword Master's most favored senior disciple.
"Master... he deceived us!" The black-robed leader broke down amid the reversal of time. "He spoke of sealing the Demon God, but he was really using our souls to repair his shattered Sword Body!"
Chu Mo's sword formation suddenly faltered. The young Chu Mo within the cocoon opened his eyes, reflecting the final image the First Generation Sword Master had left in Endless Hall. "My disciples, should you witness this scene, you must already have been corrupted by the Demon God's remnant soul. I am no saint; I too have selfish desires. Using your souls to mend the Sword Body was truly an act born of desperation. If one of later generations can break this deadlock, I hope they will carry my bones and bury them where Primordial Chaos first dawned."
Yun Che gently took his hand. "Chu Mo, the Sword Master's selfishness was also for the sake of protecting all realms." She pointed at the collapsing Void Realm. Those fragments of Primordial Chaos Source were automatically merging into the Chaos Sword. "Now, we should carry the Dao patterns of Endless Hall and bring this cycle of thirty thousand years to an end."
When the two stepped out of Endless Hall, they found that the Void Realm's sea of clouds had transformed into the phantom of the First Generation Sword Master. The phantom raised a hand and embedded the final fragment of Primordial Chaos Source into the Chaos Sword. The blade was finally restored whole, and engraved upon its hilt was the true name of the sword Chu Mo had seen in the Mirror Abyss Corridor but had never known—"Fate Defying."
Before the Black-robed Figures' bodies faded within the Primordial Chaos Source, their leader threw the broken sword toward Chu Mo. "Go to the deepest reaches of the Ninth Divine Region. The Sword Master's bones sleep there, along with... the true Demon God's Heart."
The instant Yun Che caught the broken sword, the final message of the purple-scaled woman appeared on its blade: "Chu Mo, when the Chaos Sword and Fate Defying Sword become one, remember to see for us what a world without sacrifice looks like."
The Void Realm began to collapse. Chu Mo gripped both swords and rushed with Yun Che toward the Space Rift. From the other side came the dying cry of the future Chu Mo, along with the roar of the Demon God's core fully awakening. In his hand, the Fate Defying Sword now pointed toward the deepest reaches of the Ninth Divine Region. Amid the clouds there, a mountain of Sword Master bones could vaguely be seen, and embedded at its summit was the sword that could end everything—the Sword of Primordial Chaos Source.
The true final battle was about to begin at the Sword Master's burial ground. Chu Mo knew that this time, the sword in his hand would no longer be anyone's vessel. It was the Fate Defying Sword, bearing the hopes of every sacrifice made over thirty thousand years, slashing toward destiny itself.
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