High in the sky, the wind is no longer the wind.
That was a Soul Master at the Severed Thought Realm · Middle Stage. It was not standing on air, but was supported by a slowly rotating "thought vacuum"—purple-black air currents swirled around it, like a vortex emptied of meaning.
A skull-like head was exposed, its pale bones riddled with fine cracks, each crack emanating a dark purple glow, as if it were not bone, but the remnants of a world repeatedly burned and eroded. The eyes were sunken, yet the pupils burned with a cold, orange-purple flame, devoid of emotion, only scrutiny.
Its wings spread wide and asymmetrical. The wing membranes are not flesh and blood, but layers of black and purple light curtains engraved with ancient symbols. The runes flow along the wing veins, like countless compressed curses being chanted in a low voice. With each slight vibration, a brief "blank fold" appears in space, which is then forcibly smoothed out.
Its hands were clasped together in front of its chest, its knuckles interlaced, and its palms held a continuously collapsing purple light core. The light core was not bright, but it devoured the surrounding light, like a small black hole, silently gnawing at the layers of clouds in the sky. The main Soul Master's body was a mixture of dark purple and deep black, draped in a "soul curtain" that was neither a robe nor a robe. The hem of the soul curtain transformed into several flowing shadow ribbons, which left intermittent afterimages when they swayed in the wind, as if its existence was occurring in multiple locations simultaneously.
In contrast to it is Jin Hanyan.
She was dressed in white, barefoot, her robes unmoved by the wind. Her long, ink-black hair cascaded down silently, her face indifferent yet clear, as if the collapse of the heavens had nothing to do with her. She stood there, neither manifesting a divine form nor emanating any oppressive aura, yet the surrounding space unconsciously remained "serene."
The flames lost their reason to burn the moment they approached her; the hissing energy was smoothed into silent streams. Her gaze met that of the main Soul Master, calm to the point of indifference, as if she were looking at an old object destined to be archived.
The two, separated by hundreds of feet in the sky, appeared to be facing off against each other on an absolute standoff. The runes beneath the wings of the main Soul Master grew brighter, and the dark purple light core expanded slightly, releasing layers of "thoughtless ripples." With each ripple sweeping across, the clouds were stripped of their form.
It turned into transparent fragments and fell; but the void beneath Jin Hanyan's feet remained as stable as a mirror. When the ripples reached her, they seemed to hit an insurmountable boundary and quietly dissipated.
The heavens murmured softly.
On one side, there is the Adjudicator, known as "Absolute Thoughtlessness," who is preparing to drag all orderly existence into the abyss of thoughtlessness; on the other side, there is a woman in white standing at the end of the Dao Source, quietly waiting to send everything back to the primordial state Heaven and Earth Undetermined. The standoff has not yet begun, but it has already made the entire sky hold its breath.
High in the sky, the skeletal face of the main Soul Master slowly rose, and a purplish-black wing curtain gently unfolded behind it. Runes lit up along the veins of the wings, as if some ancient and cruel judgment ritual was awakening. Its voice was not loud, but the moment it opened its mouth, it lowered the entire sky, as if all the echoes of "thought" were forced to give way to it.
"Good."
It chuckled softly, its laughter devoid of emotion, containing only an Ultimate, cold possessiveness. "I never imagined that such pure, primal logic could exist among humanity. Free from distractions, unpolluted, like a primordial crystal untouched by history... perfect for fusing with my soul."
Jin Hanyan stood still, her white robes as pure as snow, her gaze unwavering. She spoke calmly, her voice clear and cold, yet sharp enough to cut through the oppressive atmosphere of the sky. "Speaking arrogantly. A mere demon beast dares to speak of origins?"
The main Soul Master was not angered. Instead, it raised its head, its skull jaw opening and closing, emitting a low, long laugh. The purple light core pulsed gently between its clasped hands, and the surrounding space was shaken, collapsing and reforming layer by layer. "Hahaha... Ridiculous, truly ridiculous." Its voice gradually grew louder, "Insignificant human, you mere Stainless Realm · Supreme cultivator, do you really think you are qualified to stand here?"
Its wings flapped suddenly, and the runic light screen turned like pages of a book of judgment, unleashing a powerful pressure from the Primordial level. "I was conceived from the Primordial, born from the Primordial, bearing the Final Judgment will of the Chaos's First Birth." It spoke each word slowly and deliberately, as if proclaiming its own name, "My Dharma name is— Primordial Chaos, Final Judgment."
The moment those four words fell, heaven and earth let out an almost imperceptible lament. The clouds were crushed into powder, and the distant sea of fire and the sounds of battle seemed to be forcibly suppressed.
"You, a mere human," the Soul Master looked down at Jin Hanyan, his orange-purple pupils slightly contracting, "What do you have to fight me with?"
Jin Hanyan finally raised her eyes. That glance contained no anger, no contempt, only an almost indifferent calm. She did not manifest any Dharma form, nor did she take out any weapon. She simply took a light half step forward, her bare feet landing on the void, yet the space itself supported her steadily.
Enough with the nonsense.
Her voice wasn't loud, but at that moment it drowned out all the crashing and screaming.
"Let's start the war."
She looked at the being that called itself the "Final Judgment," her tone calm yet carrying an undeniable sharpness. "I'd like to see—if I can Annihilation you."
Two completely different wills clashed completely at this moment.
The Final Judgment of the Primordial, and the Nameless one at the end of the Dao Source, are only a thought away from igniting this entire sky.
Before the laughter of the Primordial Chaos Final Judgment had faded, its hands, which had been clasped together in front of its chest, suddenly separated.
In that instant, the heavens were "judged".
There was no explosion, no beam of light, not even any violent release of energy; simply—the sky suddenly "closed up."
Centered on the main Soul Master, the space in all directions folded inwards simultaneously, as if an invisible yet absolute scroll had been suddenly closed.
The sea of clouds was compressed into layers of images as thin as paper. The sea of fire, the cities, and the sounds of cultivators fighting were forcibly cut off at the border, as if they were isolated in another world. Heaven and earth lost the concepts of up, down, left, and right, leaving only a judgmental dome.
"Final Judgment Soul Adjudication Domain."
The main Soul Master announced in a low voice. Its wings fully unfolded, and the runes on the wing screen stopped flowing and instead "froze" one by one, turning into cold and hard judgment marks, embedded in the purplish-black light screen. Countless skull-like phantoms appeared behind the wings, layer upon layer, like the echoes left over from billions of judgments.
Within the Dome, all "unpermitted possibilities" began to crumble on their own, and the space became unusually stable, yet so stable it was suffocating—escape was not allowed, reinforcements were not allowed, and no undecided outcome was allowed to occur.
Jin Hanyan stood in the center of this enclosed high sky, her white robes motionless like a painting in the windless dome. She could clearly feel that all paths of cause and effect were being severed, and time was being compressed into a one-way line, the end of which faced her directly.
The main Soul Master raised his hands, and a purple light core rose from his palms, slowly expanding. "In this domain," its voice seemed to be composed of countless judgments, "All existence will face Final Judgment. Your fate has already been written."
The next instant, the Soul Adjudication Domain tightened abruptly. Countless "judgment chains" composed of purplish-black light patterns emerged from the void, crisscrossing and carrying a crushing force that annihilated will, simultaneously strangling towards Jin Hanyan. Wherever the chains passed, space was cut into regular and cold geometric fragments, and even the thought of "resistance" was forcibly weakened.
Just as the chains were about to touch her— Jin Hanyan moved.
She didn't retreat or dodge; she simply raised her right hand. That slender, clean hand stood out starkly in this realm filled with the oppressive force of Final Judgment. Her index finger pointed out gently, the movement slow yet unwavering.
"Nameless."
These two words have no sound.
They weren't "spoken," but acknowledged by existence itself. In an instant, the space in front of Jin Hanyan's fingertips seemed to be gently wiped by an invisible eraser; all the incoming chains of judgment froze upon touching that area, then—
It lost its qualification to be "defined as an attack". The runes on the chains faded one by one, their shapes quickly became blurred, and finally turned into meaningless light fragments in the air, disappearing without a trace.
For the first time, the main Soul Master suppressed his smile.
Jin Hanyan's finger did not stop. The Nameless power, like an invisible boundary, advanced forward, and wherever it passed, cracks began to appear in the "absolute stability" of the Final Judgment Soul Adjudication Domain. The purplish-black dome barrier emitted a deep tremor.
It was as if some ancient law, forcibly denied, was groaning. The runes on the wing screen shattered one after another, and the skeletal phantoms extinguished one by one, as if they had never been judged.
"You—" The voice of the main Soul Master showed a noticeable fluctuation for the first time.
Jin Hanyan didn't give it a chance to speak again. She took a step forward and pointed with her second finger. The void "receded" directly under her finger, and the core of the Final Judgment Soul Adjudication Domain was forcibly pushed back to a state of "not yet fully unfolded".
At that very moment, a tiny crack suddenly appeared on the chest of the main Soul Master, in the area covered by layers of purplish-black soul curtain.
From within the crack, a sliver of deep purple light leaked out.
That wasn't an outward-projected power, but rather the true soul core that was being carefully concealed.
The main Soul Master retreated abruptly, flapping its wings across the sky in an attempt to stabilize its domain, but it was too late. The Nameless power acted like incredibly precise tailoring, forcing its disguise to peel away layer by layer. The soul barrier shattered, the runes collapsed,
The outer shell of the trial was peeled away layer by layer, revealing the soul core that floated deep within the chest cavity, pulsating continuously.
Jin Hanyan stopped, her gaze finally settling on the soul core for the first time. Her tone remained calm, yet carried an undeniable conclusion. "So that's how it is. The so-called Final Judgment is nothing more than hiding one's fear within the shell of the Primordial."
The Space Silence. The Final Judgment Soul Adjudication Domain had developed an irreparable crack.