Qin Yu continued deeper into the Corruption Soul-Suppressing Forest. The ground beneath his feet collapsed and healed itself the moment he stepped on it, as if hesitating whether to allow his existence to be recorded. He no longer searched for Jin Hanyan with his naked eyes, but slowly closed his eyes, sinking his mind into the deepest layer of his destiny structure. He precisely extracted that nearly severed causal connection from the countless overlapping lines of destiny, as thin as a spider's thread, yet undeniably real. It was not "guidance," nor "summoning," but an extremely dangerous amplification— Qin Yu used himself as a medium to unfold that causal connection within his body. The Three Forms of Fate Construction Cause and Effect Deconstruction appeared around him like countless transparent scales, forcibly flattening and erasing fragments of causal relationships that did not belong here, leaving only the single logical trajectory related to Jin Hanyan.
The next instant, Void Evolution Jiwu activated, and his existence briefly lost focus in the forest, as if the definition of "now" had been removed. In that instant, the cause and effect was magnified infinitely—not extending outward, but collapsing inward, collapsing into a dark corridor of light that pierced through the sea of consciousness. At the end of the corridor, a faint yet clear response came—it was Jin Hanyan's "unnamed existence state," cold, still, and waveless, yet utterly real.
The scene flashed in Qin Yu's mind: a corrupt misty sea, a fragmented layer of rules, and a forcibly isolated cavity—she was still alive, but being continuously consumed. Qin Yu opened his eyes, a faint chill flashing in them; the direction was now clear.
The moment he took his next step, the woods ahead suddenly rustled. The sound wasn't from the wind blowing through the branches, but from the friction of some immense being dragging away corrupt logic, like countless rotten causes and effects being forcibly crushed. Qin Yu paused, and the next instant, a pungent, almost tangible stench assaulted his senses. It wasn't just a smell, but a sign of "excessive corruption"—dark red particles appeared in the air, and wherever they passed, the ground rapidly withered, dissolved, and then solidified into charred scabs. Qin Yu instantly retreated, his Void Evolution Jiwu unfurling once more, leaving only a fleeting afterimage in his wake.
With a roar that tore through the forest, a monstrous beast emerged from the decaying mist. Its body was as massive as a fragment of a mountain, its torso pieced together from half-melted black-gold bone armor and charred flesh, as if it had been repeatedly burned and forcibly reassembled by some high-temperature rule. Its head resembled a deer but was not; its enormous antlers were twisted, their keratin no longer smooth but corroded by the cause and effect of decay into countless forked, withered branches. Each fork dripped dark red liquid, not flames, but the remnants of an existence "burned out but not allowed to perish." Its eyes were scarlet, but the depths of its pupils were empty, as if it had long lost itself, leaving only the judgmental will bestowed upon it by the Soul-Suppressing Forest.
The demonic beast took a step forward, causing the earth to suddenly sink. Corruption spread like a tidal wave, weakening the "persistence" of space wherever it touched, accelerating everything towards collapse. It roared, spewing not flames, but clumps of twisted fragments of cause and effect. These fragments turned into burning black flames upon landing, within which countless names of those being devoured vaguely appeared, only to be completely erased in the next instant. The pressure of Chaos Realm · Middle Stage expert was released without reservation. This was not a simple crushing of power, but rather the Corruption Soul-Suppressing Forest using its body to proactively cleanse all "abnormal survivors."
Qin Yu steadied himself, his gaze calmly settling on the demonic beast. He could clearly sense that it was not an independent entity, but a corrupted causal aggregate that had been given form—each breath it took accelerated the decay process of this forest by a fraction. The air thickened at that moment, as if the whole world was forcing him to make a choice: detour or make a decision.
Qin Yu did not retreat. Instead, the moment the corrupting monster fully manifested, he took a step forward. The scorched earth beneath his feet briefly returned to its original state, only to be immediately covered by new decay. His gaze did not linger on the monster's massive body, but pierced directly through the outer shell burning with the cause and effect of decay, landing deep within its core. There, a vortex of cause and effect was constantly gnawing at itself, like a rotting heart forcibly stuffed into reality, each beat scattering contaminated "results."
In that instant, Qin Yu made his judgment—this demonic beast did not fight by strength, but relied on its three core divine abilities to maintain its "corrupted existence state." As long as the core remained intact, it could continue to live indefinitely in the Soul-Suppressing Forest.
The first layer of divine power was activated the instant it raised its forelegs: Corruption and Cause - Source Collapse Stomp. The beast stomped down, but did not actually touch the ground. Instead, it stepped on the "starting point of cause and effect." The booming sound did not explode in the air, but directly burst open in the historical layer beneath Qin Yu's feet. The ground seemed to be forcibly reverted to an "unstable" stage. The spatial structure instantly collapsed and softened. Foul-smelling black flames gushed out from the cracks, attempting to drag Qin Yu's footing into the origin of corruption.
Qin Yu's gaze turned slightly cold. With a wave of his hand, he unleashed the Three Forms of Fate Construction: Cause and Effect Deconstruction. He did not resist the downward force, but instead directly aimed at the corrupted "origin of causality" beneath his feet and lightly slashed. The slash was silent, yet it was as if a rotten thread had been pulled from a woven net. The power of the Source Collapse Stomp immediately lost its landing point, and the black flames lost their balance and exploded in mid-air, only able to roll around beside him, unable to truly touch his existence.
The demonic beast roared to the sky, and the flames between its antlers suddenly surged, unleashing its second divine power: Soul-Suppressing Corrosive Breath - World-Burning Loop. It wasn't an outward attack, but a swirling, corrupting spread. The flames rolled back along the arc of space, forming a constantly self-closing annihilation ring. Any entity caught within it would have its existence reassessed with each "cycle," until it was completely negated. The trees in the forest collapsed silently at this moment, not burned, but stripped of their very existence, leaving only charred shadows clinging to the void.
Qin Yu didn't dodge. Instead, he stepped forward, entering the edge of the World-Burning Loop. At this moment, the Void Evolution Jiwu was fully unleashed. His figure slightly lost focus before the flames touched him, and his existence was temporarily suppressed to a Limit threshold. The World-Burning Loop, as it swept over him, seemed to grasp an "incomplete reality," causing a brief delay in its judgment logic. Qin Yu seized this brief moment to strike, raising his finger to point at the node of the cycle. He didn't unleash a killing move, but instead forcibly inserted an "erroneous result" with the Power of Fate Construction. The World-Burning Loop suddenly trembled, the trajectory of the flames became disordered, and the corrupting cause and effect began to devour each other.
The demonic beast roared even more violently, the vortex of cause and effect deep within its chest contracting violently. Its third and most dangerous core divine power was forcibly awakened: the Corruption Master Seal – Causal Chewing. It opened its massive maw, which no longer contained flames, but rather swirling circles of dark runes. These runes were not attacks, but rather directly targeted the target's "combat behavior" itself, attempting to preemptively devour all possible causal paths Qin Yu might take, rendering his attack "failed" before it even occurred.
At this moment, Qin Yu finally faced it squarely, his eyes calm yet cold. He didn't rush to attack, but let the chewing force approach. Just as the talisman shadow was about to touch his own destiny, the Void Evolution Jiwu and the Cause and Effect Deconstruction merged simultaneously. He directly dismantled the causal relationship of his impending attack into countless unfinished fragments, letting the demonic beast devour a part of the "empty shell." His true killing intent, however, was suppressed to a deeper level and had not yet been revealed.
The two forces were locked in a stalemate in mid-air. For the first time, the causal core of the corrupt beast showed unstable fluctuations, the flames on its antlers began to flicker, and the mist in the Soul-Suppressing Forest surged incessantly, as if making a new assessment of the confrontation. The first round ended without a true life or death, leaving only the low echoes of the corrupt causality and the calm destiny crushing each other in the air.
The corrupting beast's body did not retreat after the first round of clashes. Instead, it seemed to be "taken over" again by some deeper will. The rotten forest behind it began to tremble simultaneously, and billions of black roots that had been entwined in the ground slowly rose, as if a huge tomb that had slumbered for countless epochs was awakening. The air was no longer just stench, but began to contain the sound of cause and effect decay—not the sound of the wind, but a low murmur of "the result collapsing before the cause," as if the future was being devoured prematurely.
At this moment, Qin Yu clearly realized that this was no longer a simple Chaos Realm · Middle Stage demon beast, but rather the combat form of the ** Corruption Soul-Suppressing Forest's origin using it as a "proxy body"**. With each breath, it infused the logic of "existence → corruption → soul suppression" into reality. Any normal attack would be dragged into this logical cycle and eventually rot into meaningless dregs.
He did not rashly draw his sword again, but instead stepped into the void, his eyes calm as an abyss. The Nine-Wheel True Evolution Dharma Wheel within his body slowly rotated simultaneously, but he did not unleash their power. Instead, he compressed his perception to the Ultimate —not to look at the demonic beast, but to look at the "causal structure" behind it.
The next instant, Qin Yu raised his hand to form a hand seal.
[Heavenly Cause Judgment Sequence - Six Severances Seal] First Form - Fate Cause Sealing Mirror - Logic Abyss Core.
It wasn't a roar, but a very soft "closing" sound.
The ever-expanding chain of decaying cause and effect within the demonic beast was forcibly "sealed" at this moment. Every mobilization of its power began to show subtle delays, as if all the results were being reflected back by an invisible mirror just before they were about to be realized, causing it to fall into self-consumption. For the first time, the origin of the Corruption Soul-Suppressing Forest showed unstable fluctuations. A large number of rotten trees in the forest withered and died instantly, only to be forcibly "rewritten" in the next instant, at the cost of an even more intense spread of decay.
The demonic beast let out a deafening roar, directly triggering the primal authority of the Soul-Suppressing Forest.
The entire forest suddenly sank, the concept of heaven and earth was eroded by corrupt logic, and tens of thousands of gray-black soul shadows were squeezed out from the tree trunks. They had no faces, but dragged broken chains of cause and effect, and rushed towards Qin Yu. This was not an attack on the physical body, but an attempt to drag Qin Yu into "a failed version of existence that has been suppressed."
Qin Yu's eyes turned slightly cold as he pressed his right hand into the void, his internal energy surging forth.
[The Silent Principle Void Annihilation Scripture] -- The Consciousnessless Soul Severance.
This move wasn't aimed at the demonic beast's body, but rather directly at the "cognitive anchor points" behind those soul shadows. Large numbers of soul shadows lost the possibility of being "understood" the moment they made contact, as if suddenly forgotten by the world, turning to ashes and falling before they could even scream. For the first time, a clear "hollow area" appeared in the essence of the Corruption Soul-Suppressing Forest, as if a piece had been forcibly ripped out.
But the consequences were immediately apparent.
Using the essence of the Soul-Suppressing Forest, the demonic beast forcibly transformed the void into a core of decay and reflux. Rings of black growth appeared in its chest cavity, and its aura suddenly surged, briefly breaking through the boundary of the Chaos Realm · Middle Stage. It raised its rotting giant claw and struck down, the "definition of death" for the entire space being pre-written into the outcome. Before Qin Yu was even hit, subtle peeling of his existence had already appeared on his body.
At this moment, Qin Yu advanced instead of retreating.
He lightly traced a line in the air with his finger, as if turning the pages of a book.
[Heavenly Cause Judgment Sequence - Six Severances Seal] Third Form - Orbital Collapse Lock - Chain Annihilation.
Instead of targeting monsters, it's about making a precise entry point.
We delve into the entire causal loop of the "corruption logic cycle at the source of the Demon Soul-Suppressing Forest".
In an instant, the entire Corruption Soul-Suppressing Forest seemed to have had a main axis forcibly removed. All the rotten woods cracked simultaneously, the roots in the ground receded wildly, and the ring-shaped core inside the monster's body suddenly shattered. The corruption was no longer continuous, but began to "fail" in segments, like a chain that had been cut, collapsing in a chain reaction.
For the first time, the monster truly retreated, its massive body carving a bottomless ravine in the forest. Where the chaotic blood spilled, even decay could not continue to grow.
Qin Yu stood in the void, his aura still steady, yet he had already made a judgment in his mind—
The battle must end in the next round, for the "true will" of the Corruption Soul-Suppressing Forest has begun to awaken.