The moment the Thought Severance Devouring Emperor stepped out of the unknown world, the sky of the Source of Epochless · Middle Layer — the Void Obliteration Domain— seemed to be held down by an invisible hand. All the laws, causes, and logic that were in operation were momentarily delayed. It was not a tremor, but a "tacitly permitted blankness," as if the entire middle layer of the world instinctively avoided its existence. Its human form stood in the sky above the Void Obliteration Domain, without any light, pressure, or declaration. Only a silence that made people instinctively retreat spread out. The Three Nether Yin Puppets stood behind it, and the void and darkness under their plain clothes briefly overlapped with the emptiness of the Void Obliteration Domain itself. Then, the Thought Severance Devouring Emperor took a step forward, and the boundary closed itself under its feet, even erasing the traces of "it had been here." The Three Nether Yin Puppets disappeared, and the entire Void Obliteration Domain resumed its operation, but with an indescribable unease, as if some higher-level narrative had been quietly written into it.
Meanwhile, Qin Yu had already left the Unrestricted Demon Domain. Together with Azure Ring and Ying Ling's continuous transfer of Yingling, he had accomplished an almost impossible feat of subjugation in a short period of time. More than a thousand Devil Beast beasts and spirits, ranging from the Silent Mystery Realm · Initial Stage Silent Mystery Realm · Supreme, were incorporated into the Annihilation Abyss Epoch. Among them, five had even entered the Chaos Realm · Middle Stage. At the very core was the Abyssal Ancient Dragon, which was at the ultimate stage of the Chaos Realm · Supreme Stainless Realm · Initial Stage at any moment. Its Fate Soul had been completely controlled, yet it still retained its complete Chaos Authority, becoming one of the most intimidating existences in the Annihilation Abyss Epoch.
At this moment, Qin Yu was walking in a canyon on the outer edge of an unknown world. The world here presented an extremely oppressive phenomenon. A huge dark red celestial body hung in the center of the sky, like an ancient heart beating. Its surface was covered with twisted patterns like brain grooves. Crimson lightning burst out from within it from time to time, tearing apart the sea of clouds. The dark mountains revealed sharp, blade-like outlines under the lightning. The canyon was as if it had been plowed open by some primordial force. Dark red energy flowed faintly at the bottom of the valley, like a solidified river of blood, winding and glowing between the distant mountain ridges. The air was filled with an aura of scorching heat and decay. Every breath felt like touching the still-warm remains of the world.
Qin Yu at the edge of the canyon, his robes fluttering wildly in the chaotic energy flow. Azure Ring hung on his shoulder, its pale Azure Ring patterns slowly rotating, reflecting the image of the suspended celestial body. His gaze was unusually calm, as if listening to the unmanifested whispers deep within the canyon. Qin Yu could clearly sense that this was not merely a dangerous place, but a node brewing even greater changes. The deep structure of the world intersected and stacked here, as if reserving a stage for some being yet to appear.
Standing amidst the surging crimson winds of the canyon, Qin Yu's gaze remained fixed on the celestial body suspended in the sky, pulsating like an ancient heart. The power of the Void Emanation Realm · Supreme within him was still slowly stabilizing. He suddenly turned his head and asked in a low voice, "By the way, Azure Ring, the Limitless Void Evolution Pearl is the only treasure for advancing to the Void Emanation Realm · Supreme. And that Chaos Shadow Core... is it the only item corresponding to the Chaos Realm · Supreme?"
Azure Ring sat on his shoulder, her small figure motionless in the gale. Her long, dark blue hair swayed slowly like translucent soul flames. She chuckled and shook the thin chain on her ankle, causing the cracked bell to echo softly. Yet her tone was unwavering. "Yes, exactly the same location. The Chaos Shadow Core is the fastest 'completed state medium' for Chaos Realm · Supreme. Without it, even if you devour the Chaos Origin to its Limit, you will only remain in 'undefined chaos.' To touch the threshold of the Supreme, you must possess these three treasures:"
1. The Formless Origin-Returning Crystal is a legendary crystal born before the beginning of the universe, at the boundary between "nothingness" and "existence." It is colorless and formless, yet it can refract all possibilities yet to be born. It is the vessel used by cultivators in the Silent Mystery Realm to "encompass Unborn possibilities." Its function: During a breakthrough, the cultivator must immerse their soul in the crystal, allowing themselves to retain a trace of the "undifferentiated" primordial state amidst Annihilation, preventing complete annihilation. Without this crystal, the stillness of the Silent Profundity will completely erase the cultivator, leaving no chance of revival.
2. Primordial Chaos Breath: A wisp of primordial chaos energy remaining from before the Heaven and Earth Undetermined, sealed within some ancient restriction. It often appears in mist or liquid form, its color constantly changing, yet it never has a fixed shape. Function: This energy is the "seed" of the Chaos Realm. Upon breakthrough, the cultivator must absorb this breath, causing the Silent Profundity within their body to be disturbed again by this wisp of "undifferentiated yin and yang" energy, forcibly giving birth to the turbulence of Chaos's First Birth within absolute Annihilation. Without this breath, no matter how much Silent Profundity encompass all things, it cannot generate the life force of that instant of "the beginning of chaos."
3. The Return-to-Nothingness Dao Seed: A formless and intangible "seed" that can be perceived by the Great Dao. It is said to have been formed by an ancient being who had attained the Chaos Realm, just before completely fading into Nameless, through the reversal and condensation of their own Dao Fruit. Only those at the peak of the Silent Mystery Realm can vaguely sense its existence. Its function: It carries the complete path and opportunity for "returning from Annihilation to chaos." During a breakthrough, the cultivator must use the Formless Origin-Returning Crystal as a furnace and the Primordial Chaos Breath as fire to completely fuse their own Dao Fruit with the Return-to-Nothingness Dao Seed, perfectly connecting the "no cause and effect, no before and after" of the Silent Profundity Profound Realm with the "undifferentiated yin and yang, no fixed order" of the Chaos Realm. Without this seed, even if a cultivator possesses the former two, they can only linger in the Silent Profundity and cannot truly step into Chaos.
Qin Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, but did not interrupt, simply listening quietly.
Azure Ring continued, her tone unusually serious. "However, Little Qinzi, you've only just reached the Void Emanation Realm · Supreme; you're still a long way from the Chaos Realm. The transition from the Void Emanation Realm to the Silent Mystery Realm is a true 'existential gap,' not something you can bridge by simply accumulating energy or relying on supreme treasures. If you want to step from the Void Emanation Realm into the Silent Mystery Realm, you must first find one thing—"
She raised her small finger and gently traced a line in front of Qin Yu's mind, and a blurry yet profound outline silently appeared in the void.
"--The Key of Silent Profundity."
She paused, then added, her voice carrying an echo of ancient memories, "It also has other names, the Causeless Profound Key, or... the Annihilation Profound Crystal."
As her words fell, the outline gradually became clearer, yet it could never fully solidify. It was a half-illusory, half-real "key," resembling a crystal but not a true entity. Its overall color was a dark, almost light-swallowing black, with no clear patterns on its surface, yet an invisible, intangible light slowly flowed within it, as if some unwritten possibility was breathing within it. Sometimes it was clearly visible, sometimes its edges crumbled, as if it would vanish into the void itself in the next instant. It was cold and intangible to the touch, yet it could suddenly still one's mind, as if all thoughts had been pressed into the blank space before they were born. Occasionally, it would even completely disappear from form, leaving only a faint, yet unsettling, mysterious fluctuation.
"This thing," Azure Ring's voice echoed softly in Qin Yu's mind, "Wasn't created by anyone, nor sealed away by anyone. Its origins can be traced back to the very beginning of chaos."
Her tone slowed, as if she were turning the pages of an extremely ancient era. "The Key of Silent Profundity is a wisp of 'Original Silent Profundity' that spontaneously arose in the Wuji void before time was divided and space was boundless. It was born in a place— the Abyss of Causelessness, the boundary before all things truly appeared and were about to return to silence, a rift where 'Unborn' and 'about to perish' overlap."
The sound of the wind in the canyon seemed to be suppressed at this moment, and even the thunder of the dark red celestial body seemed distant.
"In ancient times, there were indeed powerful beings who, at the peak of the Void Emanation Realm, forcibly entered the void rift at the beginning of Beginningless and accidentally touched it," Azure Ring gently swung her legs, but her tone was not at all relaxed, "But the result... almost no one could truly control it. Most people, at the moment of breakthrough, were devoured by the 'silence' it carried, their souls directly merging into the Unborn possibility, not even qualifying as 'failure,' because they didn't even leave behind the result of failure."
She looked up at Qin Yu, his calm and composed expression reflected in her light Azure Ring- ringed pupils. A smile returned to her face, "So, Little Qinzi, you don't need to worry about the Chaos Shadow Core right now. Only when you can truly grasp the Key of Silent Profundity and not be devoured by it will you truly stand at the threshold of a 'higher level world'."
Deep within the canyon, dark red energy surged ceaselessly, as if responding to this whisper about the future. Qin Yu stood there quietly, his aura as deep as the abyss, but his gaze had unknowingly transcended the world before him, turning towards the path that had not yet appeared, yet was already destined to be trodden upon.
Azure Ring gently swayed her ankle, and the cracked bell emitted an almost inaudible "clang—". She dropped her earlier joking tone, her voice lowering. "Alright, let's not think about the Key of Silent Profundity for now. I just re-calibrated the echoes at the bottom here, and this canyon... something's wrong. Its danger level is no less than the Unrestricted Demon Domain Realm, perhaps even more troublesome. That's the Demon Realm of open warfare, but this place seems more like—a place directly targeting 'existence itself'. Little Qinzi, we need to be extremely careful."
Qin Yu didn't answer, but slowly looked up as she prompted him.
Deep within the canyon, the dark red and pitch-black rock walls advanced layer by layer into view. The previously stable flow of energy suddenly showed a subtle shift, as if some unseen boundary had been touched. The next instant, the entire canyon trembled without warning.
It wasn't a roar, but a gust of wind.
The wind was colorless and formless, yet in the instant it swept past, it instinctively created a "blank" in Qin Yu's senses. The flow of time was abruptly flattened in that moment, rendering before and after meaningless. Space seemed to be crushed by an invisible hand, then reassembled in the next instant, but its original coordinates and logic could no longer be found. Cause and effect were severed in the wind, without beginning or end, only an Ultimate stillness spreading outwards—
Ji Ran and formless, mysterious and boundless. Time disintegrates into nothingness, space vanishes into the boundless.
Without cause and effect, without before and after, there is only Silent Profundity stillness, encompassing all possibilities yet to be born.
On the canyon walls, the ancient, unchanging dark patterns faded rapidly in the wind, as if they were being erased directly from the "record of existence." The distant terrain boundaries even began to blur, as if they could be swept into some undefined dimension at any moment.
Qin Yu's eyes narrowed, without the slightest hesitation.
He sensed something amiss the instant before the wind touched him. He did not retreat or fight back, but simply stood still, his gaze slightly lowered. The structure of his Fate Soul tightened instantly. The next moment, he raised his hand and lowered his finger. No energy erupted from his fingertip, but an invisible layer of logical ripples silently spread out from him.
[Three Forms of Fate Construction Cause and Effect Deconstruction]
This technique was neither protective nor counterattack, but rather directly applied to the "conditions for its establishment." The instant the logic of the Silent Profundity Wind attempted to establish a directional relationship with Qin Yu, all the pre-existing causal relationships regarding "this wind being able to affect Qin Yu" were dismantled one by one—target locking, existence mapping, influence path, and result reversal were forcibly separated, dissolved, and reset at the Fate Soul level. The wind continued to flow in the canyon, even becoming more turbulent. The rock walls, rubble, and the spatial layer itself were still being repeatedly washed by the Silent Profundity Stillness, but around Qin Yu, it was as if a blank area ignored by the world had appeared. He did not block the wind, but rather made the matter of "the wind interacting with him" fundamentally no longer valid.
Silent Profundity wind swept past his shoulder, but it was as if passing through a Does Not Exist shadow—no sensation, no feedback, not even leaving a trace in the chain of cause and effect. A low, slow echo came from the depths of the canyon; it wasn't a sound, but rather the aftershock of a forced correction of the rules. Azure Ring sat on his shoulder, swinging her legs. Azure rings swirled in her pupils, suppressing all the overflowing fluctuations of the Silent Profundity domain back into the fifth-dimensional stable layer, preventing further spatial collapse.
After the wind subsided, the canyon reappeared, but the lingering "Unborn possibilities" in the air, like countless unchosen futures trembling gently in the shadows, remained. Qin Yu slowly exhaled, his gaze already passing through the shadows deeper in front of the canyon. He knew very well that this place was far more than just the Silent Profundity Wind.