Qin Yu concealed his aura, his figure shifting slightly within the Flow of Void Emanation, already blending into a mixed group of people near the valley entrance. He still appeared as "Mo Linxuan," dressed simply, his sharp features deliberately concealed, giving the impression of a solitary cultivator of considerable skill yet unassuming. Moreover, his aura had stabilized at the Void Emanation Realm · Middle Stage, a level of "neither existence nor non-existence, a fusion of reality and illusion," completely different from the Severed Observation Realm · Supreme Qin Yu " recorded on the Nine Alliances Gang's wanted list. Neither the watchful eyes of the Asura Immortal Hall nor the almost pathological scrutiny of the Nine Alliances Gang remnants lingered on him for even a moment.
He stood at the end of the line, his gaze fixed on the depths of the Shadow Demon Valley. That already somber valley floor was now undergoing a slow, unusual shift—not a violent, earth-shattering explosion, but a more unsettling change. Layers of mist collapsed within the valley, only to recombine at the points of collapse, as if an invisible giant hand were repeatedly kneading space itself; the once-fixed outlines of the rock walls began to shift slightly, cliffs that were clearly visible a moment ago appearing to have been partially erased, revealing deeper darkness. The air currents were completely disrupted, and Spiritual Sense probing into them was broken into fragmented echoes, as if the valley floor was "refusing to be fully perceived."
Qin Yu's heart stirred slightly.
This is not an ordinary anomaly, but a harbinger of the triggering of the forbidden zone's origin.
Just then, a low commotion suddenly erupted outside the valley entrance.
"Is there really a treasure?"
Some people couldn't help but gasp softly, their voices filled with barely concealed excitement.
"Of course! I heard about strange phenomena in Shadow Demon Valley when we were in the South City."
The other person quickly echoed, his eyes burning as he stared intently at the churning sea of fog at the bottom of the valley.
"Looks like I've come to the right place today."
Someone chuckled softly, a hint of greed already lurking in their voice.
"Hahaha, it seems our strength is about to increase again."
One of the cultivators from the Nine Alliances Gang burst into laughter, seemingly already imagining what it would be like to acquire the extraordinary treasure.
"Although the Shadow Demon Valley is a forbidden area, with so many people coming now, even if the Calamity Beast is truly hiding inside, there's no need to worry."
Upon hearing this, many people nodded subconsciously, their initial wariness gradually fading as the sheer number of people in the crowd lessened.
However, just as the discussions were about to subside, the disturbance suddenly intensified.
A deep, rumbling sound suddenly echoed from the depths of the valley. The sound was neither thunder nor a beast's roar, but rather a muffled thud emanating from the very heart of the earth. An invisible force forcibly tore open the sea of mist from its center, and a dark "sunken zone" slowly took shape, as if the valley floor was collapsing inward. Immediately afterward, several streaks of light, interwoven with scarlet and dark purple, appeared on the rock walls, moving and spreading like living things, blurring the edges of space wherever they passed.
"Hmm, look, there's another unusual movement!"
Someone gasped in surprise.
In that instant, everyone's breathing became rapid involuntarily.
Greed, excitement, a sense of luck, and a vague unease swelled simultaneously on the outskirts of this Shadow Demon Valley, while the real danger was quietly awakening deep within the valley as the anomaly continued to grow.
Qin Yu stood in the crowd, his gaze calm and serene. He was not distracted by the commotion; instead, amidst the surging activity, he caught a faint yet strangely familiar fluctuation—a fluctuation that resonated subtly with the newly transformed Void Evolution Jiwu within him.
The disturbance at the bottom of the valley crossed the line of "imbalance" in an instant. What was originally just a surging and Shadow Demon Valley sea of mist was suddenly torn apart by an irreversible force. It was as if a layer of skin had been forcibly peeled off from reality, forcing the hidden forbidden zone deep within, which had never been touched by any record, to be revealed. The world lost its color, light and shadow collapsed inward at the same time, and all sounds were compressed into a single line at that moment, and then—completely severed.
At the very center of the valley, the entrance to a Chaos Ancient Ruins slowly took shape. It was neither a door nor an array, but a "Realm Splitting core" embedded in the world. It presented an inverted elliptical outline, its edges composed of countless fragments of fractured spacetime, each fragment reflecting a different celestial phenomenon: some were the primordial light of chaos before the creation of the world, some were the remnants of shattered ancient realms, and some were even the ashes of civilizations that vanished in an instant. The interior of the entrance was not dark, but a chilling "overexposed white," as if all colors had been compressed to their Limit and then burned out simultaneously. Silver-gray light fragments dripped continuously from the edge of the Realm Splitting, evaporating on their own before hitting the ground, as if even the process of "falling" was negated.
The moment the entrance opened, the entire Shadow Demon Valley trembled violently. The ancient patterns on the rock walls were forcibly illuminated, then disintegrated into dust in the light. The causal lines in the air were roughly straightened, and all cultivators simultaneously felt their sea of consciousness empty, as if an invisible hand had erased their judgments of "safety" and "danger."
Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted, "Look at you!... The legendary lost Chaos Ancient Ruins?!"
Some people's voices trembled, almost unable to believe what they were seeing.
"It seems our ancestor was right; there really are hidden Chaos Ancient Ruins in the Shadow Demon Valley!"
The other man's eyes were filled with fanaticism, and his tone was tinged with an uncontrollable greed.
More growls, gasps, and rapid breathing mingled together, and fear was completely swallowed up at this moment, leaving only the instinctive pursuit of "opportunity." No one thought about why the forbidden zone had suddenly opened, nor did anyone doubt whether this was the prelude to a selection or a massacre—the crowd surged towards the Realm Splitting entrance like a ignited torrent.
Figures tore through space, their spiritual light crisscrossing. Armor, magical artifacts, and secret treasures left blinding trails as they flew through the air, as if anyone who was even a moment too slow would forever lose the right to enter. The entrance to the Realm Splitting trembled slightly as the first batch of cultivators rushed in, but it did not close. Instead, it seemed to be "confirming" a certain number, and the overexposed white light inside intensified.
Qin Yu stood at the edge of the core of the anomaly, not moving immediately. Just as the entrance to the Chaos Ancient Ruins was completely stable, a very faint and cold echo suddenly came from the depths of his sea of consciousness. The echo did not belong to the wildness of a demon beast, nor did it carry the greedy resonance unique to any treasure. Instead, it was a sense of presence between "gazing" and "recording," as if something was quietly waiting for the person entering on the other side of the entrance.
That wasn't prey. Nor was it a reward. It was more like a third kind of existence.
Qin Yu lowered his gaze slightly, but a sense of inexplicable certainty arose in his heart. He looked at the entrance to the Realm Splitting, which was almost swallowed up by the crowd, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"Since we're already here, it would be a shame not to go in."
As soon as he finished speaking, he took a step forward, his figure unfolding naturally within the Flow of Void Emanation, without alerting anyone. In the next instant, he joined the crowd and flew towards the entrance of the Chaos Ancient Ruins. The white light of the Realm Splitting opened up before him, completely traversing the boundaries of the world.
The moment the Gate of Light opened completely, it was like the eye of a star being forcibly torn apart. All colors were stretched, crushed, and overlapped simultaneously. Countless cultivators on the periphery had almost no chance to react before being swallowed up by that irresistible pull. Their figures disappeared into the sea of light like dust. The black robes of the Asura Immortal Hall, the battle formation emblems of the Nine Federations, the blue and white robes of the Clear Origin Heavenly Palace, and the almost ethereal outline of the Liu Yuan Practitioners were all flattened into pure afterimages of light and shadow the instant they entered the Light Domain, and then completely disappeared. Qin Yu also stepped into the Light Domain at the same moment. His cultivation at the Void Emanation Realm · Middle Stage allowed him to maintain a sliver of clarity Time Splitting in spacetime. He clearly felt the concepts of "before and after," "near and far," and "after and after" being peeled away layer by layer, like a book with its pages removed, leaving only blank spaces that could not be turned.
The next instant, his feet suddenly found solid ground. Qin Yu stood in a world he had never seen before, yet which gave him a sense of déjà vu. The sky was not a single dome, but a layered galaxy, as if countless universes had been compressed and superimposed on the same horizon. The starlight displayed an eerie iridescent flow, each flash seeming to enact a cycle of "world creation-collapse-regeneration." The distant sea of clouds surged, but it was not water vapor; rather, it was a chaotic mist formed from pure energy. The edges of the clouds burned with interwoven orange-gold, indigo, and emerald flames, like embers left over from the beginning of time. The earth undulated like mountains, yet seemed to be infused with liquid starlight. The outlines of the mountains swayed slightly in his vision, sometimes clear, sometimes blurry, as if they might regress to a state "before being defined as mountains." Rivers meandered through the valleys, their surfaces not reflecting the sky, but rather reflecting lines of time that had not yet taken shape. As they flowed, they emitted a very faint hum, like the universe whispering a question to itself.
Almost simultaneously with Qin Yu's landing, cultivators from the outer perimeter began to appear one after another. Hundreds, even thousands, of figures materialized in different locations within this world. Some staggered and knelt, some struggled to regain their footing, and many more, after a brief moment of disorientation, were utterly stunned by the scene before them. Exclamations, gasps, and barely suppressed elation echoed throughout the space. "Heavens... this is the Chaos Ancient Ruins?" "This aura of heaven and earth is definitely the legendary, unrecorded primordial realm!" "Hahaha, we made the right choice coming in! Even a single remnant here is enough to transform us!" Excitement and greed quickly replaced their initial awe. More and more people couldn't contain themselves and flew towards the area where the distant star rivers converged most intensely. Their figures were quickly swallowed by the light mist, leaving only elongated energy trails.
Soon, the initial area emptied, leaving only Qin Yu and a few other low-profile Liu Yuan Practitioners not far away. They didn't act immediately, but stood there quietly, as if listening to the unspoken rules of this world. Qin Yu also remained still. His Void Emanation Realm perception slowly spread out, clearly sensing that this was not a paradise "full of opportunities," but a massive structure slowly awakening. Heaven and earth, stars, mountains, and rivers were all pulsating subtly and consistently around a core that had not yet been revealed, as if the real test would only arrive in the next moment.