Xiao Yan remained unconscious for a full thirty days.
For the past thirty days, All Heavens and Myriad Realms have fallen into a subtle calm. After the Lord of Return to Stillness retreated, the absolute blank area stopped expanding, but the rift that traversed the starry sky still existed. The purple-gold wound in the Return to Stillness Core was like an eye, indifferently watching this Star Domain that was temporarily protected by "Existence".
The Memory Core became the new protective hub. Qing He led the cultivators to reinforce the core's law barrier day and night, while A Yao stayed by Xiao Yan's bedside, nourishing his body with the last primal power of the Samsara Flower. The Star Patrollers repaired the damaged starships while analyzing the energy dissipating from the cracks in the Return to Stillness Core —that energy contained both the inky black Return to Silence Origin and the purple-gold Power of Existence. The two extreme forces intertwined, forming a peculiar fluctuation similar to "chaos."
That morning, Xiao Yan's fingers twitched slightly.
A Yao, who was guarding the bedside, woke up with a start and exclaimed in surprise, " Brother Xiao Yan! You're awake?"
Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes, his vision somewhat blurry. He felt as if his body had been disassembled and reassembled, every inch of his flesh carrying an unfamiliar "heaviness," yet faintly revealing an unprecedented resilience. The Heart of the Flame Realm beat slowly in his chest, and the light of the three Seed of Creation was deeper than ever before, seemingly enveloping something within them.
"I..." He started to speak, but found his voice had become hoarse and unfamiliar, " Lord of Return to Stillness..."
"They've retreated!" A Yao nodded quickly, her eyes red-rimmed. "It was you who injured the Return to Stillness Core; they don't dare come back for now."
Xiao Yan struggled to sit up, just as Qing He walked in and quickly stepped forward to support him. "Don't move in a hurry, your body is still merging the power of 'Existence' and ' Return to Silence,' it's very unstable."
She handed him a water mirror, and the reflection in it made Xiao Yan pause slightly—his hair was streaked with silver, and the edge of his left pupil was wrapped with a faint black ring, a mark left by the Power of Return to Quiescence, but it did not bring any sense of erosion. Instead, it formed a strange balance with the golden light of order in his right eye.
"This is..."
"It was the power of the Memory Core and the Samsara Flower King that saved you," Qing He said softly. "The memories of countless beings protected your soul, while the Flower King's essence allowed the Power of Return to Quiescence to 'settle' within you, preventing your existence from being completely annihilated."
Xiao Yan raised his hand and pressed it to his chest, feeling the beating of the Heart of the Flame Realm. Sure enough, within the light of the three Seed of Creation, there was a faint gray light—that gray light was neither order nor Return to Silence, but rather the " Chaos Ember " produced by the collision of two forces.
The instant he touched that speck of gray light, countless images flooded his mind: the cracks in the Return to Stillness Core were slowly healing, and the purplish-gold Power of Existence was being gradually devoured by the inky origin; at the edge of the absolute blank area, countless Emissary of Returning to Silence were re-condensing, their numbers even greater than before; even... he "saw" the Lord of Return to Stillness whispering deep within the core, seemingly brewing some more terrifying "correction."
"This is..." Xiao Yan suddenly looked up, his eyes flashing with shock.
"You can sense the movement of the Return to Stillness Core?" Qing He was also taken aback.
Xiao Yan nodded, the gray light at his fingertips flickering slightly. "This is the power of the Chaos Ember. It's connected to both the Power of Existence of the Seed of Creation and the origin of the Return to Stillness Core, allowing me to vaguely sense the situation over there." His expression was grave. "The cracks in the Return to Stillness Core are healing. In three months at most, they will launch another attack, and this time, their goal is to completely detonate the core, causing the entire universe to revert to the singularity."
This news was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, causing the atmosphere, which had just begun to relax, to tense up again.
"Then what should we do?" A Yao's voice was filled with worry. The Samsara Flower King had withered, and the power of the Memory Core had been greatly reduced due to the previous fierce battle.
Xiao Yan remained silent for a moment, his gaze falling on the Chaos Ember of the Heart of the Flame Realm: "Perhaps... we can utilize this resonance."
He looked at Qing He: " The Return to Stillness Core can devour the Power of Existence, and the Power of Existence can also pollute the Return to Silence Origin. This shows that they are not absolutely opposed. Just as chaos can give birth to order and annihilation, existence and Return to Silence may also, under certain conditions... form an eternal balance."
"You mean..." A hint of understanding flashed in Qing He's eyes, "Like the Balance Tower, to create a cycle between the Return to Stillness Core and the Power of Existence?"
"That's right." Xiao Yan nodded, "But the power of the Return to Stillness Core is too immense; ordinary Cycle Formation simply cannot restrain it. We need an 'anchor point,' a ' Seed of Chaos ' that can simultaneously bear existence and Return to Silence."
He looked at his Heart of the Flame Realm: "And this anchor point might be within me."
The three Seed of Creation and the Chaos Ember of the Return to Stillness Core are slowly merging. If this merging can be guided, it may truly give birth to a new " Seed of Chaos "—one that is neither biased towards existence nor towards Return to Silence, but allows the two forces to flow eternally in balance.
"This is too dangerous!" A Yao exclaimed anxiously, "If the fusion fails, you will be completely devoured by the Power of Return to Quiescence!"
"There's no safer way." Xiao Yan's eyes were unusually firm. "Once the cracks in the Return to Stillness Core heal, we won't have a second chance. This is the only way to prevent the universe from reverting to the singularity."
He looked out the window at the absolute emptiness, his eyes showing no fear, only a knowing calm.
Existence and Return to Silence are two sides of the universe. Just like light and shadow, the universe is incomplete without either one. Perhaps the true revelation left by the creator is not that "existence" should completely suppress " Return to Silence," but rather that the two should find a balance of coexistence in the chaos.
"Give me seven days," Xiao Yan said to Qing He and A Yao. "In seven days, I will attempt to fuse with the Chaos Ember. Until then, protect the Heart of the Flame Realm and don't let anyone disturb it."
Qing He and A Yao exchanged a glance and finally nodded heavily. They knew that Xiao Yan never changed his mind easily once he made a decision, and at this moment, what shone in his eyes was not only determination, but also a kind of clarity that saw through the origin of the universe.
For the next seven days, Xiao Yan fell into silence once again. He sat cross-legged beside the Memory Core, letting the Seed of Creation and the Chaos Ember within the Heart of the Flame Realm slowly merge. Two extreme forces collided, annihilated, and were reborn within his body. Each fluctuation caused him excruciating pain, but it also deepened his understanding of "chaos."
On the morning of the seventh day, as the first rays of starlight shone through the starship's porthole onto his face, the three Seed of Creation and the Chaos Ember within the Heart of the Flame Realm finally merged completely, transforming into a gray-gold seed. On the seed's surface, the silvery-white of order, the emerald green of life, the gray-white of balance, and the inky black of Return to Silence intertwined and flowed, forming a perfect spiral pattern.
" The Seed of Chaos... is complete." Xiao Yan opened his eyes, the ink-black of his left eye and the golden light of his right eye shining simultaneously, reflecting in his calm and profound pupils.
He knew it was time to confront the cracked, Return to Stillness Core.
This time, he wasn't after destruction, but... balance.
In order for existence and Return to Silence to find their eternal place in the chaos.