The light suddenly dimmed.
The ground beneath Qin Yu's feet transformed into cold, hard stone steps of another world in the next instant. The tremors had not yet completely dissipated, and the logic Fate-Cause his destiny was still trembling slightly, as if it had been violently torn apart by the "disorderly teleportation tide" Deep Root Lower Layers. Extinguished Light landed to his side, his long black hair slowly gathering in the purple chaotic wind, and his Eye of Final Radiance lightly swept away the chaotic ripples of spacetime around him.
The fifty-seventh floor of heaven and earth slowly lit up—not with light, but with a "purple flame mist waterfall" falling from the depths of the sky. It was neither mist nor fire, but a "disordered radiance" formed by the reverse folding of the extremely ancient remnants of the myriad worlds, like relighting the ashes of burnt-out stars and stuffing them back into the eternal night, emitting a faint yet sharp cold light.
Qin Yu looked up. The entire fifty-seventh floor resembled the inner world of an endless giant tower.
The sky is a collection of inverted fragments of a city, layer upon layer, as if someone had stacked millions of ancient cities vertically and then hollowed them out, forming a deep abyss cavity that runs through the heavens and the earth. Purple lightning leaps between the city walls, and occasionally, uncontrolled fragments of time light spray out from the cracks, like a starry river falling before it is extinguished.
In the deeper darkness, countless lantern-like orbs of light floated and rose, not as lamps, but as the lingering resentment of death "captured" by the Deep Root Lower Layers, flickering in the semi-solidified spiritual energy. Within each orb of light was a distorted face, an unfinished cry, and an unwritten destiny.
The fifty-seventh floor is the place where all thoughts remain unfulfilled.
Qin Yu and Extinguished Light stood on the enormous bridge, which was thousands of feet wide and was entirely made of "annihilated stone bones". The patterns on each stone bone were flowing, like some kind of dead god slumbering and turning.
At the end of the bridge stands a colossal structure that covers the entire world.
It is like a Nameless tower rising from the eternal night, spiraling upwards layer by layer, its walls covered with hundreds of faces "written by unfinished stories," filled with pain, hatred, confusion, and silence. They are not carved, but rather Deep Root Lower Layers, projecting fragments of a long-lost world onto the tower walls, forming "a narrative relic that never ends."
Deep within the tower's summit, a purple waterfall of lightning cascades down, intertwining with the misty waterfall below to form a colossal curtain of light. Each strike of lightning illuminates this world with a dazzling, fiery glow, both magnificent and desolate.
Qin Yu narrowed his eyes. -- This layer, more than any of the previous ones, resembled a "graveyard of the complete world."
At the center of all the strange phenomena on the fifty-seventh floor, the giant door stood quietly.
Its height supports half the sky, and its surface is not covered with patterns, but with constantly flowing Narrative Fragment —ancient scripts, broken words of destiny, obliterated prophecies, and erased divine names—all superimposed to form a scroll that can never be deciphered. Crimson light seeps out from the cracks in the door, like the beating of the heart of the universe.
As soon as Qin Yu landed, Extinguished Light turned his head and whispered:
"Be careful... The 'Soul Burial Pressure' concentration on this floor is at least ten times higher than on the thirtieth floor. This space doesn't resemble a normal space; it's more like a shell buried by time and stories."
She gently raised her hand, and the light of ultimate radiance trembled lightly at her fingertips. The eerie light that fell from the sky turned to ashes and vanished completely after she touched it lightly.
Qin Yu said in a deep voice, "There seem to be no other living beings here."
Extinguished Light shook his head slightly. "It's not that there weren't any, but rather—we couldn't leave any behind."
A very faint cracking sound suddenly came from the wind. Qin Yu looked down from the bridge.
It was an endless abyss, but the bottom of the abyss was not darkness, but layers of "spacetime that was constantly shattering." It was like a glass curtain wall being smashed countless times, with each shattering producing a faint white light in the air.
The next moment--
Click
At the far end of the bridge, a piece of gravel was crushed into powder from the inside by an "invisible force".
Qin Yu's gaze sharpened. That wasn't natural shattering, it was...
"The traces of death in the Annihilation Dawn Realm," Extinguished Light said calmly. "They were left by a cultivator who was recently teleported here."
Qin Yu did not answer; his footsteps were already taking barely perceptible steps forward.
At that very moment, the entire fifty-seven-story abyss seemed to be gently touched by an invisible giant hand, and a very low rumble came from the depths of the tower—
It's like some kind of "ancient being" buried at the bottom of countless worlds is slowly breathing.
The purple mist was shaken up, and the bridge trembled. Qin Yu subconsciously looked up.
High in the sky, where purple lightning flashed, a pair of eyes... briefly opened for a moment.
It was not a monster, nor an otherworldly being, but some kind of "unnamed consciousness" far beyond the norm, like an unfinished giant trying to determine whether the intruder was worthy of being recorded or swallowed.
Those eyes appeared and then vanished in an instant, as if they had never existed.
Extinguished Light said softly, "The fifty-seventh floor... might be even more dangerous than the sixty-third floor."
Qin Yu simply said, "Perfect." He strode towards the giant gate.
Purple light rained down from the sky, and mist cascaded down, seemingly waiting for him at the Deep Root Lower Layers -seventh level.
Waiting for someone powerful enough to "reboot the story" for this layer.
As Qin Yu and Extinguished Light stepped into the center of the purple mist bridge on the fifty-seventh floor, an indescribable stillness suddenly descended.
It wasn't that the wind stopped, nor that sound froze—it was that time, gently "grabbed" and pulled by something, was then slowly swallowed into darkness.
A deep "click" sound suddenly emanated from the entire fifty-seventh floor.
Qin Yu's eyes narrowed. Extinguished Light instantly raised his hand, and the light of ultimate radiance spread out like a black and gold galaxy, but it did not illuminate the surroundings—the light seemed to have been swallowed into the depths of nothingness by something, leaving only slight ripples.
The next moment—the abyss beneath the giant bridge suddenly closed.
It wasn't a spatial collapse, but rather the "time layer" being crumpled up like a piece of cloth, the entire world beneath the bridge being folded, folded again, and folded again... until finally rolled into a small black dot, suspended in mid-air.
That tiny dot existed for only a moment before it was bitten and swallowed by some invisible mouth.
Qin Yu said in a low voice, "They're here..."
Extinguished Light's expression hardened slightly. "The Abyss of Fate Abyss Time-Devouring Lock —it has finally appeared." Boom--!!
The inverted image of the city above the entire fifty-seventh floor suddenly trembled, and the purple sky seemed to be pulled open like water, tearing out a deep crack.
Inside the crack was a chain jaw—its shape forever obscured.
It has no physical form, only traces of constant "disappearance".
It's as if it's not "existence," but rather "the act of swallowing existence itself."
Countless "shadows of chains" hang down from within the cracks. They are not metal, but are made up of erased timelines, like segments of light torn from the future, the past, and moments that never happened, bound into chains.
Each sway of these chains is accompanied by the sound of a fragment of time being crushed into dust.
Extinguished Light raised his hand, and the black and gold light curtain of Zhong Hui instantly spread out.
However—snap.
A chain-like shadow brushed past the edge of the light screen, and the radiant light split in two as if cut by a knife. One half dissipated directly, while the other half rolled back into the arm of the Extinguished Light, causing her shoulder to tremble slightly.
Qin Yu immediately reached out and pressed down on her shoulder, stabilizing the overflowing radiance.
--The Fate Abyss Time-Devouring Lock is indeed no ordinary mechanism.
Chains, appearing and disappearing in the air, formed a triple time-swallowing ring around the two of them.
The first chain: swallows the stone steps beneath Qin Yu's feet, making the steps "forget they ever existed."
The second ring of chains: swallows the final radiance of Extinguished Light, preventing its brilliance from ever being emitted.
The third chain: begins its attempt to devour their "next second".
For the first time, Extinguished Light's voice carried a hint of coldness. "It's devouring the 'future'... If it locks our momentary trajectory, we'll be erased as if we'd never lived."
Qin Yu raised his eyes, his divine sense like a knife—
"Extinguished Light —in three breaths, you protect my left side, and I will break the lock from the front."
Extinguished Light nodded, and the Radiance in his hand surged like a tide. Although it was swallowed up, it still guarded the trajectory of Fate-Cause behind Qin Yu with absolute annihilation light.
Boom! The chains rattled in unison.
The triple Devouring Time Rings swirled towards Qin Yu and Extinguished Light simultaneously, as if trying to sweep their existence away from the world and drag them into some eternally unborn void abyss.
Qin Yu's gaze instantly turned cold.
He raised his hand, and a faint, Nameless light appeared at his fingertips.
The Heavenly Cause Judgment Sequence, Six Severances Seal, Master Book Seal Severance, and Naming Reconstruction.
The trace of light was like a stroke drawn from the deepest part of the Book of Fate, tearing a hole in the "Time-Devouring Logic" of the entire fifty-seventh floor.
Boom--!!
The chain paused for a moment upon contact with the light pen.
In that instant— Extinguished Light took a step forward, and the final radiance, like an annihilating black wheel, bloomed on Qin Yu's left, forcefully deflecting the second ring of chains.
The third ring of chains, as Qin Yu raised his hand, was deliberately disrupted by the "Naming Reconstruction" left by the Book of Fate Law's Realm Severing Origin Brush. They began to devour the wrong time period, swallowing a flash of purple lightning in the distant sky above the fifty-seventh floor.
A deafening cracking sound, echoing through countless realms, exploded out.
Qin Yu shouted in a deep voice, "--Now!"
He raised his arm, his true intention penetrating:
The Silent Origin Stainless Sword, the Causeless Disillusionment Sword!!
Simultaneous Release of Extinguished Light: The Final Radiance Void Law - Fate Image Destruction and Rewriting!!
The black-gold light intertwined with the Stainless blade, forming a reverse radiance powerful enough to cleave through the depths of the Fate Abyss.
When that blow landed, the entire 57th floor seemed as if a page had been temporarily torn from history.
The chains clanged. The triple time-swallowing rings were blasted open, and a huge "time gap" exploded in the center of the bridge.
Purple mist, fragments of time, inverted city shadows... all shattered like glass.
The chains were blasted high into the air and retreated back into the depths of the crack.
"The Fate Abyss Time-Devouring Lock... is broken." Extinguished Light exhaled softly, and his black hair began to flow again.
Qin Yu nodded lightly, but the coldness in his eyes remained.
Because—deep within the shattered crack, an even more profound and ancient "Shadow Lock Eye" was slowly opening.
It's like confirming--
Do humans, who have just broken through its limitations, deserve its "next true descent"?
In an instant, all the faces on the distant tower wept, roared, and tore apart.
The entire fifty-seventh floor seemed to whisper, "The intruder... has passed through?"
Qin Yu's gaze darkened slightly. Extinguished Light stood beside him, and the light of ultimate radiance slowly rose:
"... Should we continue forward?"
Qin Yu gazed at the bottomless crack and said calmly, "Since it has remembered me—I will naturally remember it as well."
The two stepped side by side toward the giant gate. The true mechanism of the fifty-seventh floor... seemed to have only just begun to activate.
The giant gate slowly closed behind Qin Yu and Extinguished Light, as if isolating the entire world from them.
The moment the last glimmer of purple light extinguished through the crack in the door, the space inside the fifty-seventh floor... came alive completely.
There was no wind, yet the sound of wind could be heard; there were no lights, yet billions of tiny lights moved through the air.
There are no buildings, but structures are constantly being rewritten, redefined, and folded in the void in an "invisible way."
This place doesn't resemble a palace; it's more like...
A "layer of Fate Abyss" that is being written by the universe itself.
Extinguished Light said softly, "This... is not a building, it's the interior of 'The Abyss of Fate Abyss itself'."
Qin Yu nodded, but stopped before taking the next step.
Because—a monument appeared out of nowhere.
A profound silence fell, halting the operation of the entire fifty-seventh floor. The Still Time Reverse-Recording Stele
It has no monument, but is composed of fragments of time.
It's like hundreds of timelines being forcibly twisted together.
Each crack emanates a dim, timeless light that seems to rewrite history.
At the center of the monument is a black line, resembling a...
From the future, we pierce the river of the past in reverse.
Extinguished Light stared at it, the final brilliance in his eyes trembling slightly.
"This is... one of the truly ancient mechanisms of the Fate Abyss."
Qin Yu: "The Still Time Reverse-Recording Stele?"
Extinguished Light nodded. "It's not a record of the past, but rather—"
Record things that should never have happened in the future.
Then record that event back to the present, so that the person who touched it will personally experience the consequences.
Qin Yu's brow twitched slightly. "... So, if I touch it, it will forcibly record back 'the future I shouldn't have'?"
Extinguished Light whispered, "No, it will take back 'the future you've already died'..." "... and make you die again at this moment."
Before Qin Yu could answer, the "black lines" on the monument suddenly opened.
It wasn't eyes, yet it froze all timelines as if they had been captured.
An invisible wave swept over Qin Yu.
The next moment—the monument exploded with light.
Billions of fragments of time formed a vortex, and a "Fate Abyss Time Nightmare" crawled out from behind the monument.
It has no form.
Only the shadow of time reversal remains.
Every action is like "first happening, then being stripped away, and then regressing."
The Extinguished Light and brilliance exploded, shielding Qin Yu: "It's got its eye on you."
Whispers of Time Nightmare:
"You--died--in--the--ninth--narrative."
"The Record of Fate's Reversal... is now... recovered..."
Qin Yu's brow suddenly lit up. "Three Forms of Fate Construction - Time Flow Reversal!"
But this time, time could not be turned back.
Instead, Time Nightmare seized him, "snatched" him from Qin Yu's hands, crushed him, and swallowed him.
Extinguished Light immediately charged forward. "Annihilation Light Judging Lord - Sever and Establish Realm Causes!"
The Dark Domain of Final Radiance descended, but Time Nightmare remained unaffected, as if its attack had been "predicted and skipped."
Extinguished Light bit her lip lightly. "It... foresaw the consequences of my attack beforehand."
Qin Yu said in a deep voice, "It's a recording of the future cause of death..."
That can only be countered by 'denying causality'.
Qin Yu raised his hand, and the Silent Origin Stainless Sword appeared.
"The Causeless Disillusionment Sword!" A flash of sword light—
Time Nightmare's body instantly shattered into pieces.
But its fragments did not fall.
Instead, it "shatters in mid-air, then reassembles, then shatters again, then reassembles again."
It's like being trapped in an endless loop of your own future.
Extinguished Light reached out and pressed down on Qin Yu's shoulder:
"Master, its Sever Future by your baseless actions... Now, you only need to deny its 'memory of existence'."
Qin Yu closed his eyes, a flicker of light between his brows. "Non-Observation Extinction Aspect - Ultimate." -- Silent, without light, Wuhen.
The Time Nightmare was directly deleted from the world. The Still Time Reverse-Recording Stele trembled slightly.
New cracks began to appear on the surface of the monument... as if it were "recording the history of Qin Yu passing through this pass".
Extinguished Light looked up, but his expression suddenly changed slightly.
"Master... the inscription isn't finished yet." Because a second line of text appeared on the inscription:
The reverse record is not yet complete. The true Fate Abyss Main Hall... lies behind the monument.
Qin Yu and Extinguished Light both looked ahead.
The void began to crack, and purple light cascaded down like a waterfall, slowly revealing the outline of a palace domain that was more ancient than any other Deep Root layer.