Annihilation Was Deprived, Time Was Crushed
On the desolate battlefield of the 489th floor, the remains of ancient gods lay like mountains, and dried-up starlight ash still flowed slowly from the cracked armor. The sky was a vast expanse of dark purple void, as if someone had blackened the entire era with fire, leaving only embers falling silently.
Qin Yu and Extinguished Light stood between two broken divine bodies. The gigantic hand that had once dominated nine eras was now silent, but from the crack in its palm, a strangely incongruous cyan light suddenly shone. It was a solitary cyan lamp, quietly standing in the deepest part of the ancient god's palm. The lamp was plain and unadorned, the oil was solidified black river, and the wick was dry, as if it had never been lit. The light did not come from a flame, but from invisible ripples flowing upwards around the lamp—with each ripple, a shadow of a "method of death" swept backwards through the void: devoured by a World Beast, collapsed by a great world, emptied by the Light of Stainlessness, drained by cause and effect, erased by narrative... all "possible ways of dying" played out like scenes in reverse.
Layer upon layer, it rolled back from the future to the past, finally converging into that blue lamp. Extinguished Light slightly turned her head, and stardust fell from her long, black hair. "Reverse River Lamp - Extinction." Her voice was so low it was almost inaudible. "It's trying to bring out all your possible deaths at once." Qin Yu stepped into the palm of the ancient god. With each step, the bones beneath his feet turned into ripples, which were swallowed by the blue lamp.
He stopped ten feet away from the green lamp, the Silent Beginning Soul Diagram slowly emerging between his brows, its rings rotating silently. The next instant, the lamp wick hissed, and though there was no fire, it seemed as if an invisible tongue of flame shot out from within. The first form of death pressed down. The entire battlefield suddenly collapsed into countless layers of "His Death Images," each layer depicting the moment Qin Yu was slain by a different being—sometimes wiped clean by the Immaculate Realm master's hand, and so on.
Some were sealed away by a single word from Source Extremity, some were burned to ashes by Jiwu's primordial fire, and some were even accidentally killed by his own "mistake" in the future. Ten thousand kinds of death scenes crashed into his sea of consciousness in an instant. If it were anyone else, their soul would have been shattered on the spot.
Qin Yu simply took a deep breath, raised his hand, and the first move of the Heavenly Cause Judgment Sequence of the Six Severances Seal — Fate Cause Sealing Mirror: Logic Abyss Core— unfolded. Deep within his sea of consciousness, an ancient Mirror Abyss slowly rose. All the "images of his death," the instant they approached the mirror's surface, were forcibly reflected, transforming into streams of light that flowed back to the source of their respective propositions. The entire scroll of death froze with a "whoosh," the starting point of logic sealed, and the first wave of impact was frozen outside the Mirror Abyss.
Unable to truly step into his destiny's orbit. The Reverse River Lamp trembled slightly, and the azure light around it surged like water. The second method of death descended—this time, it was "Death by Cause and Effect." He saw himself locked in countless futures by a common ending: all those he had saved would, at some point, turn against him.
All the enemies he had slain rose again in a higher level of reincarnation, joining forces to kill him; all the "laws of fate" he had once written were erased by a higher-level pen, turning him into an error condemned by the entire universe's cause and effect. The chains of cause and effect transformed into countless blood-red chains, hanging from the void, trying to drag him into the depths of the River of Reversal. A cold smile flashed in Qin Yu's eyes, and the Book of Fate Law - The Realm Severing Origin Brush appeared between his fingers, the pages turning on their own without wind, ""Fate Principle Reflection Severance" - Second Form - Attribution Total Erasure".
The myriad chains of cause and effect unfolded before his eyes. He did not argue with them, but simply made a light stroke. As that stroke fell, the colors of the entire dead realm were instantly drained away. The chains of cause and effect shattered one by one like severed strings, scattering countless fragments of destiny light. However, the fragments of light did not scatter, but were swallowed by the Silent Beginning Soul Ring surrounding him, transforming into new blank spaces in his destiny.
Qin Yu looked up and uttered calmly, "A conclusion without premises is invalid." The second layer of inverted death collapsed. The third, the fourth... more and more ways to die began to pile up: abandoned by time, denied by space, deleted by history, betrayed by narrative. Each kind of death started from the premise that "he would definitely die this way." Above the lamp, it was as if long, dark rivers were hanging upside down, each river a "branch of death," all flowing backward at this moment, trying to crush all the endings onto him at once.
Qin Yu closed his eyes, then opened them again after three breaths, his gaze completely calm. "So that's how it is... It's about exhausting all 'possible deaths' in advance, making me completely lose the state of 'death'." He murmured to himself, the Three Forms of Fate Construction lighting up one by one at his fingertips. Cause and Effect Deconstruction —he first aimed at the thickest river of death, lightly tapping the void. The river immediately began to disintegrate from one end of "cause," all the preconditions that constituted this method of death shattered in an instant, the river had no water to flow, and naturally collapsed.
Time Flow Reversal —Faced with another "branch of death" that had already reached its end, he directly reversed its temporal framework, forcibly sending the "result" of that death back to the moment before it even occurred, so that "death" would forever remain at the instant of "almost dying," never to truly fall again. Existence Erasure —For several ways of dying that could not be easily decomposed or reversed in time, he simply raised a finger and defined "the possibility of that kind of death" itself as an erroneous proposition that should not exist, erasing even the option of "possibly dying by this method" from the book of cosmic propositions. Countless rivers of death were dismantled one by one at his fingertips; some were cut off from their source, some were reversed, and some were deleted from the concept.
Extinguished Light stood silently not far away, his pupils like bottomless black holes, watching the river of death break off one by one, and said softly, "You are rewriting your right to die..." The lamp trembled violently, as if provoked, or as if conducting a final test. The final layer—the almost invisible reverse current at the deepest point—slowly appeared. It was not a specific method of death, but a completely gray and Emptiness: within it, he was neither killed nor survived, simply—"never considered by the universe." It was "the death of being forgotten."
Qin Yu stared at the gray expanse, remaining silent for a long time. That state was colder than any gruesome death, quieter than being obliterated by the Final Abyss, because within it, even the thought that "there was once a person named Qin Yu who died" was not allowed to arise. His fingertips trembled slightly, and the Ultimate silence of the Annihilation Dawn Realm slowly unfolded in its depths.
Jiwu's Single Silence. There was no light, no sound, no indescribable "signs of activation." He simply stared at the gray expanse, a "no" rising in his mind that he couldn't even articulate. Then—the gray expanse seemed to have never existed at all.
It wasn't erased, but rather its very qualification to "originally have the potential to become a form of death" was annihilated. The entire system of death methods was incomplete in that instant, yet no one could pinpoint what was missing. The Reverse River Lamp - Annihilation suddenly dimmed, all the inverted rivers collapsed simultaneously, and the green lamp swayed violently, as if desperately suppressing some kind of fire about to ignite. Deep within the lamp, in its deepest depths, a nearly invisible ray of light slowly imprinted itself onto Qin Yu's brow, vanishing in an instant. The Extinguished Light glanced at it, its gaze shifting slightly, "It remembers you." Qin Yu didn't reach out to grab the green lamp, but simply turned and stepped down from the ancient god's palm, "The real opportunity to ignite it is yet to come."
The green lamp sank back into the ancient god's withered bones, as if it had never existed, leaving only an even deeper sense of death on the battlefield.
At the other end, on the twenty-third floor, the light of the Fate Abyss surged like a tide. The boundary between the floors was not wide, yet it was folded into countless overlapping layers of memories, as if billions of people lived, fought, and died here every moment, only to be erased by someone's brush in the next. Jin Hanyan stood barefoot on a snow-white stone step, her long hair falling silently like mercury. Behind her, the afterimages of two "Source Extremity Examiners" had already fallen, leaving no trace of their bodies. Only empty seats and unpainted white scrolls floated in the air.
The third seat remained empty. With a barely audible sigh, a figure slowly emerged from the intersection of countless overlapping memories. It was a figure that resembled an old man, an infant, and herself all at once. His features shifted with every instant, from unfamiliar to familiar, from kind to indifferent, from presence to emptiness, as if every face in the universe, both remembered and forgotten, had flashed across his face in turn. Finally, the face stopped at—"no face."
His head transformed into a perfectly smooth white jade panel, devoid of eyes, mouth, or any other features. Only a nearly invisible, transparent bead was embedded between his brows. The bead was so transparent as to be almost Does Not Exist, yet with each flow of boundary light, it refracted a chilling "Emptiness." "The Third Source Extremity Envoy..." a layer of consciousness, forcibly preserved, murmured softly. The moment the words left its mark, that layer of memory was completely erased, leaving not even an echo. The faceless figure raised his head. Although he had no eyes, Jin Hanyan had the illusion of being watched by her "earlier" self.
His voice didn't come from his mouth, but resonated directly within the memories of everyone still remaining in the realm. "Jin Hanyan the Silent Nothingness Divine Hall, your path is sharpened by 'erasing names.' Do you know that a level deeper than Nameless is—no one remembers 'you were once Nameless '?" Jin Hanyan's expression remained calm, her icy blue eyes devoid of emotion, only uttering two words: "Nonsense." The faceless figure seemed to smile slightly, yet it was as if he didn't, "The Third Order Trial— The Memory Pearl —Absolute."
As soon as he finished speaking, the transparent bead between his brows trembled slightly, and ripples, almost invisible to the naked eye, spread out. The colors of the entire twenty-third level vanished instantly; all the rock walls, light rivers, rubble, and bloodstains turned a uniform gray-white. Then, these gray-white areas began to collapse and hollow out in swathes, as if an invisible hand was scooping them away from reality, handful by handful. First, the "background" was erased, then the "path," then the "enemy," until finally, only a pale platform remained on the entire level, with two people standing on it— Jin Hanyan and the Faceless Messenger.
The platform began to crumble in the next instant. The Faceless Messenger's voice rang out again. "This trial will not test your ability to kill, but only whether you are worthy of being remembered." As the words fell, countless "past figures" of Jin Hanyan emerged from the void: her appearance when she first entered the Silent Nothingness Divine Hall, her appearance when she first closed her eyes and sensed the "Unjudged" state in the chaos, the moment she coldly watched her fellow disciples die without lifting a finger, the scene of her pointing her finger at "Nameless" and Annihilation countless enemies... These scenes appeared one by one, only to be erased as the transparent ripples swept by, leaving not even a trace of "having appeared." Jin Hanyan watched that scene quietly, as if watching someone else's story. More images rushed in, this time not the past, but countless futures of "how she could be remembered": being written into the temple's history, being called the first chaos of the Void Obliteration Domain, being regarded as a role model by future generations, being remembered as a villain by enemies... All the possibilities of "being remembered" blossomed, only to be wiped blank by the transparent ripples.
The Faceless Messenger's voice was calm and icy. "If the universe never remembers you, if the Silent Void doesn't remember you either, if even you yourself don't remember you ever existed—do you still insist on your own path?" At this moment, the trial truly began. It wasn't a simple question and answer, but a fundamental erasure of all proof of her existence: her name, her deeds, her projection in others' memories, her achievements etched in the Silent Nothingness Divine Hall, her words on any boundary marker, any historical record—all were being worn away bit by bit. Outside the twenty-third level, some powerful figures in the hall even experienced a momentary blankness regarding the name "Jin Hanyan"—as if they had almost forgotten this person. Inside the level, Jin Hanyan closed her eyes, then opened them again in the next moment. "You made a mistake," she said softly.
The faceless messenger's smooth panel tilted slightly. "Oh?" Jin Hanyan raised her hand, her index finger gently pressed together like a sword. "I've never cared about being remembered." With that soft voice, a vast expanse of primordial chaos slowly rose behind her. The Dao of Silent Void and Chaos unfolded anew in this emptied realm—no mountains, no rivers, no light, no shadow, only a primordial "unjudged mist" that burst forth, swallowing all the images being erased.
She pointed to the void. "Chaos Undivided, Heaven and Earth Judged." The space on the twenty-third level, originally hollowed out by the "Ripple of Oblivion," was suddenly filled by a torrent of pitch-black chaos. All the images of "her former self" and "her possible self" dissolved in this torrent, neither remembered nor forgotten, but rather—personally sent back to the bottom layer of chaos where "we were never separated." The Faceless Messenger fell silent for the first time. The transparent ripples continued to spread, attempting to erase this newly born chaos, but as soon as the ripples touched that... The "Unresolved Mist" was like smears on a blank sheet of paper—unmarkable and indelible. Jin Hanyan looked up, and at that moment, she deliberately pointed to her brow, uttering softly, "Even the memory of 'me' is erased." As her words fell, her childhood, cultivation, battles, glory, and even the scene of her battle with Chen Jieli on the sixty-third floor all surfaced, only to be slowly carried away into the depths of the Unresolved Mist within the "chaotic and indistinct" realm.
But after all that was gone, she still stood there, her gaze as clear as ever. The Faceless Messenger finally spoke, "You gave up all your memories, all the possibility of being remembered, just to—preserve your Dao?" "Wrong." Jin Hanyan shook her head, "My Dao doesn't need to be verified by any memories. It existed before 'remembering' and 'forgetting'."
She took a step forward, and with each step, the transparent ripples beneath her feet receded an inch, and the chaotic mist expanded an inch, until she reached the Faceless Messenger and pointed a finger at the transparent bead embedded between his brows. "You are merely the embodiment of 'being forgotten,' while I am 'everything before I spoke.'" Her fingertip touched it lightly. The Faceless Messenger's body trembled, and the transparent bead suddenly lit up with an unbearable, blank light. Then, like a deleted sentence, he gradually became transparent and blurred from head to toe, until he vanished completely.
Even the title "Third Source Extremity Envoy" was hollowed out within the layer, leaving only a blank space that could not be filled by any language. The transparent bead did not disappear, but remained quietly suspended in place, slowly rotating. Inside was an entire universe that had been completely emptied—no stars, no history, no people, no gods; even the word "empty" seemed superfluous. It quietly rotated, emitting a faint ray of light that even chaos could hardly detect, and slowly flew towards Jin Hanyan.
Jin Hanyan reached out, but didn't immediately grasp it. She simply let it hover a inch above her palm, silently suspended. For the first time, a faint hint of contemplation appeared in her eyes. The entire twenty-third floor regained its color for a moment, then quickly dimmed again, as if all excess colors had been relinquished for the appearance of this bead, leaving only that one point of extremely clear "nothingness."