The Primordial Light Domain of the Unknown World
After the Chaos Realm Primordial Light Domain was completely Annihilation, it did not return to calm as expected. Instead, it seemed as if a core organ had lost its protective shell. The entire light domain slowly collapsed and flipped, with layers of light curtains converging inward, as if countless transparent worlds were overlapping and folding together. Finally, it revealed to Qin Yu a "Primordial Core" floating at the boundary between reality and illusion. It was not a physical entity, but a permissive echo that could not be described by shape.
It was as if the heavens and earth were whispering something in his ear. At that moment, the Flow of Void Emanation resonated with the origin of the Light Domain. Qin Yu clearly felt that the "Primordial Permission" he had previously obtained was being responded to again. It was not a grant of power or authority, but a deeper recognition— the Primordial Light Domain had regarded him as "one who can continue to delve deeper." This judgment was not based on cultivation level, but was directly imprinted on the level of existence. It created a brief but absolute resonance with his Innate Martial Soul and the Void Evolution Jiwu. The laws of the surrounding Light Domain retreated accordingly, as if making way for an unwritten path for him.
However, this change did not last long. Almost at the same time that the Chaos Realm being completely disappeared, the unknown world's perception began to stir. One after another, powerful divine senses, soul frequencies, and propositional fluctuations swept in from different directions. Obviously, other powerful beings who had entered the light domain had noticed the disappearance of that Chaos Realm being and realized that a decisive event had occurred here. They were rapidly converging here. Subtle but dense tremors came from the depths of space, like the friction of rules caused by many high-dimensional beings stepping into the same area at the same time.
Just as Qin Yu was about to continue along the path tacitly approved by the Primordial Core, dozens of figures suddenly forced their way into the light field ahead. The chaotic energy and the stillness of Silent Profundity intertwined to create a pressure-filled area. The Asura Immortal Hall and the Nine Alliances Gang arrived almost simultaneously, totaling more than twenty people, scattered and forming a subtle encirclement. The lowest-ranking among them was at least at the Void Emanation Realm · Middle Stage.
The aura was steady yet sharp, and the chaotic vortex around the powerful figure from the Asura Immortal Hall at the forefront slowly rotated, each rotation weakening the surrounding light domain rules. Clearly, he was a Chaos Realm · Middle Stage expert. His gaze fell on Qin Yu, but he didn't immediately show hostility. Instead, he nodded slightly, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable sense of pressure, "Fellow Daoist, the chaotic fluctuations here were intense just now. Did you encounter Chaos Realm expert?"
Qin Yu remained unmoved, as if he were merely an observer standing there by chance. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "I didn't know. I only sensed the commotion here and arrived a dozen breaths earlier than you." His answer was calm and unhurried, without the slightest hint of panic. He had deliberately concealed his Void Emanation Realm · Middle Stage aura to a perfect degree, neither appearing weak nor sharp.
A cultivator at the peak of the Silent Mystery Realm · Peak from the Nine Alliances Gang scrutinized Qin Yu with eyes sharp as knives, seemingly trying to find any illogical traces in the proposition, cause and effect, and soul frequency. After a moment, he spoke in a low voice, "Fellow Daoist, you and I entered this unknown world at the same time. Are you really only here recently?"
"Absolutely true." Qin Yu's tone remained calm, as if these people's scrutiny was nothing more than a routine inquiry.
The Chaos Realm · Middle Stage expert from the Asura Immortal Hall nodded slightly, but his gaze remained fixed on Qin Yu. "Alright, since this area is showing unusual phenomena, why don't you join us in exploring it further?" His words sounded like an invitation, but several auras around them had already quietly locked onto Qin Yu's movements.
Qin Yu turned slightly to the side, his gaze sweeping over the still slowly evolving Primordial Light Domain in front of him, before speaking calmly, "I've grown accustomed to being alone, so I'll take my leave now."
Before he could finish speaking, the Chaos Realm expert suddenly raised his hand, and the power of chaos spread out like an invisible tide. The boundary between reality and illusion of the light domain was forcibly compressed, and the spatial density suddenly increased, as if the entire area was being gripped tightly by an unseen hand. His face still held a gentle expression, but his words carried an undeniable air of authority, "Hey, don't panic, fellow Daoist. Please lead the way." The power of chaos surged behind him into a low vortex. He didn't directly attack, but he had already laid bare his threat.
Qin Yu sneered inwardly, his gaze lingering for a moment on the Chaos Realm · Middle Stage expert from the Asura Immortal Hall. Flow of Void Emanation quietly welled within his sea of consciousness. "This old thief actually wants me to be the scapegoat. Fine, I'll see how I outwit you all." He remained outwardly calm, simply turning slowly, his tone casual. "Alright, since you've said that, then you'd better follow me." The moment his words fell...
The light domain beneath his feet seemed to have been erased by an invisible hand, and he lost the concept of "displacement" in place. In the next instant, he transformed into a blur that lingered along the boundary between reality and illusion, directly disappearing into the void and speeding towards the deeper part of the Primordial Light Domain at near the speed of light. Along the way, the light domain folded layer by layer, and space collapsed rapidly backward like a scroll with continuously turned pages.
"Quick, chase after him! Don't let that kid get away!" The Chaos Realm expert from the Asura Immortal Hall shouted, and the power of chaos erupted. The twenty-odd people behind him stepped into the void almost simultaneously. The stillness of Silent Profundity, the Flow of Void Emanation, and the aura of Chaos's First Birth intertwined, like a hunting party composed of high-dimensional beings. They forcibly tore through the layers of the light domain and chased after him. For a moment, the light flow within the Primordial Light Domain reversed, and the rules were repeatedly trampled. From a distance, it looked as if a pursuit channel composed of cracks and radiance was forcibly stretched open in the void.
When the group finally caught up with Qin Yu, the light domain ahead suddenly vanished, and all speed was simultaneously "retracted." Qin Yu's figure stood quietly at the edge of an area that was almost at the end of the world, as if he had been waiting for a long time. This was the deepest part of this area. The outer shell of the Primordial Light Domain had completely faded away, leaving only an ancient field that stretched across the boundary between reality and illusion.
This space seemed not to have been "constructed," but rather to be a remnant that had grown naturally from the primordial chaos. Huge, broken pillars floated in the void, their surfaces covered with unrecognizable primordial patterns. Flowing within these patterns was not light, but a dark glow existing between existence and Does Not Exist. In the distance, a structure resembling an altar floated silently, its core a constantly breathing node of light and darkness. Each "breath" caused a slight shift in the entire area's space, as if the world was being realigned. The ground Does Not Exist; beneath one's feet lay a bottomless abyss of nothingness, yet an invisible force field supported all who stepped in, preventing them from falling and from truly establishing a foothold.
Even more bizarrely, the light in this area did not come from any definite source, but rather seeped out from "the rules themselves." Amidst the interplay of light and shadow, everyone's shadows were elongated and distorted, projected onto Does Not Exist "walls." Some of these shadows had extra limbs than their actual bodies, while others were incomplete, as if suggesting that some unmanifested judgment was operating in the shadows. There was no wind in the air, yet vibrations resembling low-frequency pulses constantly swept through one's consciousness, involuntarily creating the illusion of being watched and evaluated.
Qin Yu stood at the very front of this area, his back to the pursuing crowd. His aura as Void Emanation Realm · Middle Stage cultivator was unusually quiet here, as if it had been deliberately "ignored" by this space. However, the moment the experts from the Asura Immortal Hall and the Nine Alliances Gang stepped into this place, the rhythm of the power flowing within their bodies simultaneously slowed down. The Chaos Realm experts' gazes suddenly sharpened, and they finally realized that this was not an ordinary end point of exploration, but rather more like a place that had been prepared in advance... for scrutiny.
In the deepest part of that unknown world, before everyone could fully regain their footing, a sudden change occurred.
It was neither a tremor nor a burst of light, but a manifestation of something extremely ancient and extremely calm.
Directly in front of everyone, the void seemed to be gently parted by an invisible hand, and an object was "allowed" to appear from Does Not Exist —it was an hourglass.
It is not enormous, yet it naturally occupies the center of the entire field of vision, as if no matter which angle you look at it from, your gaze will be forced back to its presence. The outer shell of the hourglass is not glass, but a material between crystal and light, transparent but not refracting, the internal scene is clearly visible, yet its true thickness cannot be judged, as if it is just a "container" temporarily framed by rules.
The hourglass does not contain sand.
The upper part is filled with countless tiny, almost indistinguishable specks of light, like stardust or fragments of time, each slowly rotating and occasionally flashing a faint afterimage of cause and effect; while the lower part is a dark glow that is almost absolutely still. It is not darkness, but the accumulation of all things that have not yet been allowed to happen, thick, quiet, and unshakable.
This is not an hourglass for measuring time.
This is about measurement—there is an allowed limit.
Just as everyone realized this, the hourglass suddenly flipped over on its own.
Without any external force or discernible rotational trajectory, it simply "completed its flip," with up and down instantly interchanged. Immediately afterward, the upper layer of light debris began to fall.
The descent was extremely slow, yet carried a chilling inevitability. With each speck of light that fell, a tiny ripple spread across the dark radiance below, and the entire Primordial Light Domain seemed to breathe softly, as if some dormant mechanism had been formally awakened.
At that very moment, words appeared in the void in front of the hourglass.
The words were neither inscribed nor projected; rather, they seemed to emerge spontaneously from "fragments of a narrative from before the world took shape." They had no fixed direction of writing, sometimes hanging upside down, sometimes misaligned; the characters were ancient and unfamiliar, yet they evoked an irresistible resonance deep within the soul.
The original path opened up the primordial chaos, and the first light broke through the profound darkness.
The light bathes the three thousand realms, and the domain solidifies into true reality over countless eons.
Each word left a lingering echo in the space, not a sound, but the aftershock of the rules being briefly read aloud. Almost simultaneously, the members of the Asura Immortal Hall and the Nine Alliances Gang felt their power being slightly pulled, as if their cultivation, origins, and destinies had been swept over by these words, yet nothing actually happened.
The text did not stop.
They began to move slowly, disassemble, and recombine, the strokes peeling away from each other and then fitting back together, as if performing an extremely long and solemn assembly ceremony. As the sand in the hourglass continued to fall, the sentence structures gradually lost their original form. Finally, all the redundant meanings were erased, leaving only four characters hovering steadily before the hourglass, as if this was the destination they were destined to reach from the very beginning:
"Primordial Light Domain"
At that moment, no explanation was needed; everyone present understood.
The space beneath their feet was not a ruin, not a secret realm, not even a space in the conventional sense—but an ancient domain that still retained the "Primordial Permission Authority," a place that could determine who was qualified to continue existing in the light.
The pupils of the Chaos Realm expert from the Asura Immortal Hall contracted almost imperceptibly, while the Nine Alliances Gang Silent Mystery Realm · Peak subconsciously held his breath. Qin Yu stood at the forefront, the Flow of Void Emanation quietly circulating within his body. His gaze fell upon the hourglass measuring "existence quota," his expression calm, yet carrying a hint of amusement that others could not perceive. The Primordial Light Domain had begun its countdown.