The moment the Crabapple Shadow Star Palace stabilized at the Chaos Initial Stage, it did not return to its former tranquility.
On the contrary.
It was a deeper kind of "silence," as if the entire star palace had been temporarily erased from the world's narrative, leaving only its primordial existence.
The stars ceased to revolve, the star patterns stopped breathing, and even the dragon-based protective barrier laid down by Tangyi automatically contracted to a minimum, as if actively avoiding some kind of "higher order" that was about to awaken.
Qin Yu slowly stood up.
His steps appeared steady, yet they created an illusion—as if he wasn't walking in the palace, but rather the Crabapple Shadow Star Palace was rearranging its positions around him. His aura no longer belonged to any Knowing Realm; Chaos Initial Stage, and while he didn't radiate any pressure outwards, he caused an extremely subtle stagnation in space itself.
At that very moment, a faint, dark fluctuation trembled deep within his brow.
The Annihilation Devil Pupil - Final Spirit Core Storage Crystal is passively activated at this moment.
That was not Qin Yu's will, but a natural result of some kind of "resonance of the same origin". Inside the storage crystal core, the Chaos Shadow Core, which should have been still, suddenly lit up with an extremely faint gray-black luster.
The light did not radiate outwards, but rather collapsed inwards, like a heart awakening, beginning to beat slowly with a rhythm that cannot be measured by time.
With each pulse, the newly formed Chaos Origin within Qin Yu's body responded.
It's not confrontation, not attraction, but affirmation.
It was as if two beings, originally belonging to the same whole but separated for countless years, had recognized each other again at this moment.
Azure Ring's figure suddenly appeared. Her relaxed expression completely vanished in an instant. The blue ring patterns silently unfolded behind her, but they did not form any formation. Instead, they presented a posture of "being ready to retreat at any time".
She stared at the resonating Shadow Core, her tone for the first time carrying a genuine mix of sharpness and excitement. "Little Qinzi, continue, continue."
She smiled slightly, as if announcing some irreversible turning point in her destiny.
"Strike while the iron is hot. Completely refine the Chaos Shadow Core, and in one go... break through to the Chaos Realm · Supreme."
Tangyi did not speak.
She simply stood there quietly, her dragon eyes reflecting Qin Yu's figure. Her gaze was not one of worry, but rather one of almost solemn witness.
She knew very well that this was no longer a level that a "protector" could intervene in, and that from now on, even she could only observe from the sidelines.
Qin Yu did not hesitate. He raised his hand and pressed it to his brow. The Annihilation Devil Pupil opened fully.
In an instant, the space inside the storage crystal core was forcibly "exposed," and the Chaos Shadow Core no longer existed as a "stored item," but directly manifested in the center of the Star Palace. In that instant, the entire Crabapple Shadow Star Palace seemed to be thrown into a deep sea without light or shadow, all light sources lost their direction, and all shadows lost their support.
Chaos Shadow Sprout, drawing energy into the core.
The initially revealed Shadow Core still retained its initial form—a hazy, misty phantom with dark wisps floating within it, like a life form yet to learn to breathe. It hovered in front of Qin Yu, invisible to the touch, yet causing the surrounding space to constantly shift slightly.
Qin Yu sat cross-legged, completely opening his mind and spirit.
He did not attempt to "control" the misty shadow, but instead allowed his own Chaos Origin to flow out slowly, as if injecting the primordial energy of heaven and earth, which had not yet solidified, into this unformed core. At that moment, the void below the Star Palace seemed to be torn open by an invisible rift, and the remnants of chaos seeped out from the deeper Source Realm crevices, which were instinctively absorbed by the Shadow Core.
The fog began to recede.
For the first time, the dark wisps stopped drifting and condensed into an extremely fine yet stable "Shadow Chaos Thread". The moment this thread took shape, Qin Yu's aura suddenly vanished, as if erased from the world's perception, leaving only an unidentifiable outline.
Intermediate level – Primordial Shadow Vortex, Yin and Yang are not yet separated, the misty shadow suddenly collapses.
That wasn't compression, but an inward fall. The hazy, ethereal figure began to spin in an instant, the black and gray intertwining to form a vortex-like core. At the center of the vortex, a faint light appeared, but it wasn't a sign of the separation of yin and yang; rather, it was the result of two opposing attributes coexisting at the same point.
Ripples began to appear on the ground of the Crabapple Shadow Star Palace.
It wasn't a vibration, but rather a "flow." The incredibly sturdy Star Palace structure seemed to be temporarily reduced to a semi-fluid state at this moment, with Qin Yu's figure appearing and disappearing within it, sometimes clear, sometimes ethereal. His physical body and soul began to synchronize with the vortex, freely switching between reality and illusion.
The Chaos Shadow Spike took shape for the first time.
Countless slender spikes, formed from shadowy figures and chaotic energy, flashed by on the outer edge of the vortex, each flash leaving a brief "chaotic crack" in space itself. It wasn't destruction, but rather rendering the predetermined trajectory of power meaningless.
Advanced level – Formless Shadow Crystal, transcending existence and non-existence.
The process of condensation and dissipation repeated nine times, all within the same instant.
The vortex, spinning at its Ultimate, suddenly came to a standstill, then completely disintegrated. All the dark gray light and shadow were stretched into a nearly Does Not Exist line, and then reformed into a translucent dark gray crystal in the next moment. It did not reflect light, nor did it project shadows, as if its existence could not be confirmed from any angle of observation.
Qin Yu's consciousness was completely pulled into the "gap between existence and non-existence" at this moment.
He actively severed his obsession with "his own existence." It wasn't forgetting, but letting go.
His consciousness merged completely with the Shadow Crystal, drifting with the chaotic energy, without direction or goal.
At that very moment, the shadow runes inside the Shadow Crystal disappeared one by one, eventually transforming into a blank, unpatterned chaotic primordial stone.
The Ultimate — the Chaos Shadow Origin —returned to Nameless. The crystal vanished.
It didn't break, it melted.
The chaotic shadow was no longer the "core," but had seeped into Qin Yu's soul, flesh, and spiritual power. His way of being had undergone a fundamental change—with every move he made, the shadow would arise and chaos would follow, yet no power fluctuations would leak out.
In the blink of an eye, birth and death can be reversed.
The boundaries of the Crabapple Shadow Star Palace vanished briefly at that moment, as if covered by an invisible domain. Within that domain, there was no heaven or earth, Timelessness or space, only chaotic shadows flowing about. Any "names and forms" that stepped into it would be automatically stripped away.
Finally, the breakthrough to Supreme was achieved without thunder or announcement, only through a single resonance at the Source Realm level.
Qin Yu used himself as a catalyst to touch the Source Realm Chaos Origin. At that moment, he clearly felt the "Limit of Chaos"—
And in the next instant, it was completely shattered. The Chaos Shadow Origin and the Chaos of the Source Realm completed their connection, and what followed was a summoning that transcended chaos itself.
The Lord of Tranquil Chaos, all origins Return to One. When all the strange phenomena subsided, Qin Yu stood in the center of the Crabapple Shadow Star Palace, as if he had never moved.
But he knew that from this moment on—he was no longer someone who had "stepped into chaos." He himself was chaos.
Deep within the Crabapple Shadow Star Palace, the layer of chaotic shadows that had shrouded it for who knows how long finally receded like the tide.
It is not a scattering, but a return to its place—as if all chaos, origin, shadow, and Formless, after confirming one thing, have returned to the core to which they should belong.
Qin Yu in the center of the hall, his robes still and his hair unfurled, yet he gave the illusion that "heaven and earth had already stood behind him."
The next instant, Azure Ring's figure practically "leaped" out.
She hovered in mid-air, her azure soul light brighter than ever before. Unusually, she didn't maintain her usual calm and restrained demeanor. Instead, she flew around Qin Yu with undisguised joy and lightness, finally stopping in front of him, her smile almost overflowing.
"Little Qinzi-- "
Her voice was clear and sincere, as if she had finally breathed a sigh of relief, "That's great, the Chaos Realm · Supreme."
She narrowed her eyes slightly, her tone tinged with a hint of teasing, but more so with genuine emotion.
"Now... even I'm starting to fall behind you." That wasn't just modesty.
Azure Ring understood better than anyone what "the Chaos Realm · Supreme" meant—it was no longer a simple leap in realm, but a leap in the level of existence.
From this moment on, Qin Yu was no longer just a cultivator "standing on the chaos," but an existence capable of establishing his own coordinates within the chaos.
Tangyi stood to one side.
Her expression remained calm throughout, but at this moment she finally let go of her inhibitions. The ever-calm light in her dragon eyes softened quietly, as if after a long wait, she had finally seen the outcome.
She stepped forward, bowed respectfully to Qin Yu, her voice low and gentle, yet filled with genuine joy.
"Young Master." "Congratulations on reaching the Chaos Realm · Supreme." That "congratulations" was not just a polite formality.
She had seen too many cultivators fall before reaching the state of chaos, and too many prodigies be swallowed up by their own obsessions at the last moment.
Qin Yu, whom she had personally witnessed, dared to lure her away alone in the Heavenly Emanation Limitless Hall from the very beginning when he was only at the Silent Mystery Realm. Facing her at the Severed Thought Realm, Qin Yu did not back down at all; such courage was truly rare. Moreover, the destiny and fate between her and Qin Yu were extremely precious.
Qin Yu looked at them.
At this moment, the aura emanating from him could no longer be measured by any realm, yet his gaze remained gentle, without the slightest hint of indifference as if looking down upon all living beings.
He let out a soft breath, as if he had finally unloaded an extremely long burden.
"Um."
His voice wasn't loud, but it was extremely steady, "This journey... has indeed been difficult."
Memories are like pages of a book being gently turned— Silent Origin, Annihilation Void, Ancient City of Eternal Stillness, Fivefold City Formation, Stillness of True Nature, Stillness Chaos Return-to-Origin Pearl... Every step treads on the edge of birth and death.
"Twists and turns."
He smiled, without the slightest hint of reluctance. "However, we've finally reached the realm of chaos."
Then, he raised his head, his gaze passing over the dome of the Crabapple Shadow Star Palace, as if looking directly into the deeper reaches of the Void Obliteration Domain, into the still unsettled undercurrents and shadows.
Let's go.
Qin Yu's tone gradually softened, but gained a touch of calm certainty, "We should go out too."
"The turmoil in the Void Obliteration Domain is not yet completely over."
"The plot of the Thought Severance Devouring Emperor... has now likely progressed to a rather dangerous stage."
Upon hearing this, Azure Ring's expression instantly shifted from joy to averted state.
She nodded, her smile still there, but now sharpened again.
"Okay." "Let's go." She didn't say anything more after that.
A cyan soul light swirled gently around her, and her entire body suddenly transformed into a thin, hair-like cyan ring.
Following the chaotic fluctuations between Qin Yu's brows, it silently entered his sea of consciousness.
At that moment, there were no unusual phenomena. It was as if she had never appeared.
Yet it was as if she had become one with Qin Yu's very being. Tangyi stood beside Qin Yu.
The two exchanged no further words, nor did they need to confirm anything further.
As Qin Yu took a step, the void beneath their feet naturally split open, creating a dark passage that was not torn apart, but rather "made way".
That wasn't a teleportation technique; it was more like space itself actively making way for them. Tangyi walked alongside him.
Before the dragon's shadow appeared or its aura was released, the moment they stepped into the void, all the protective formations of the Crabapple Shadow Star Palace simultaneously activated and fell silent, as if bidding them farewell.
The next instant, the void closed. Qin Yu and Tangyi's figures completely disappeared from the Crabapple Shadow Star Palace. Only the lingering echoes of chaos, returning to silence, remained deep within the Star Palace.