The Nine-Winged Divine Phoenix stared intently at Qin Yu, its gaze no longer that of a superior judge, but a cold scrutiny driven to the Threshold, as if for the first time it truly placed this human in the position of an "equal opponent."
He slowly raised his right hand, the movement extremely slow, yet it caused the entire Eternal Silence Return to the Ruins to tense up, as if the void was being pressed down by invisible knuckles, emitting a low and continuous lament.
The next instant, he flipped his palm outward. The void wasn't torn apart, but rather "stripped" away. Layers of the existing structure were like thin shells being silently peeled away, revealing a weapon that had never been fully observed before—a weapon whose form was somewhere between a spear and a scepter.
Its entire body is a deep, almost obsidian-like dark color, with cold, luminous patterns flowing across its surface, resembling Annihilation Starflame. The gun body is not metal, but rather appears to be forged from fragments of rules compressed to their Limit. Wherever it is seen, space automatically repositions itself, leaving behind straight and clean trails of nothingness.
The spearhead had no physical edge, but rather a constantly collapsing "negation tip," as if everything it pointed at would be deemed "non-existent" before even making contact. The Nine-Winged Divine Phoenix's voice was deep and slow, layering upon layer in the Return to the Ruins: "Principle-Exterminating Authority Weapon," "Final Negation Judgment Meridian." It doesn't kill enemies, it doesn't break through defenses, it only does one thing—negate all possible paths of your existence. Those struck by it will not die, but will never have been allowed to live.
The moment he finished speaking, he raised the Judgment Meridian with one hand, and the star-flame patterns on the blade lit up simultaneously. The entire Eternal Silence Return to the Ruins stirred once more, and the previously disordered Devouring Will was forcibly pulled back.
Like countless giant beasts pulled by their spines, they all pressed down on Qin Yu, the concept of rejection surging along every vein of the forbidden zone.
He attempted to re-establish the Divine Phoenix's dominance. However, just as this power was about to close completely, Qin Yu made his move.
He didn't confront it head-on, nor did he attempt to sever the Judgment Meridian itself again. Instead, he took a third step on the verge of losing control of the Return to the Ruins. As this step landed, the Silent Origin Stainless Sword didn't swing; instead, it lowered slightly, its sword intent so restrained that it was almost imperceptible.
At this moment, Qin Yu's Fate Soul fluctuations underwent an extremely subtle change—not an enhancement, but a "transfer." Using himself as an anchor, he reversed and dismantled the devouring command that originally belonged to the Divine Phoenix.
He completely separated the remaining "instinctive devouring" and "judgment devouring" within the Return to the Ruins, guiding the former towards the empty space and forcibly removing the object that bore it. The entire process was silent, only evoking a disorienting feeling as if the world had been rebalanced.
The large patches of dark red veins suddenly dimmed, and the originally violent branches stopped in mid-air, losing their reason to continue carrying out orders. For the first time in this battle, Eternal Silence Return to the Ruins revealed a strange state of balance. It no longer obeyed the Divine Phoenix, nor did it actively devour Qin Yu. It was like a neutral place that had been forcibly placed in the "observation" position.
The Nine-Winged Divine Phoenix's pupils suddenly contracted, and the Final Negation Judgment Meridian in his hand trembled violently. The star flame patterns on the spear showed a chaotic reverse flow. The power of denial lost its support and could no longer spread through the forbidden zone, so it was forced to flow back into its own origin.
He growled in a low voice, his voice cracking for the first time. "Hmph, not bad. You can even break my Principle-Extermination Reversal Divine Ability?!"
Qin Yu finally raised his sword, its blade pointing at the ground, not at the Divine Phoenix. His tone was calm yet resolute. "This is no longer your second battle body." As his words fell, the last trace of the manipulated devouring will completely dissipated, and the tremors of Eternal Silence Return to the Ruins gradually subsided.
With the blank space stabilized, the adjudication and veto lost their stage for expansion, leaving only two wills truly standing in confrontation in the same space.
The Nine-Winged Divine Phoenix gave Qin Yu no further time to think. The Final Negation Judgment Meridian in his hand was suddenly thrust forward. The spear did not create any wind pressure, but instead caused the entire space to "lose its reason" in an instant.
That wasn't speed, nor power, but a Judgment Meridian that preceded action, where all the "imminent" trajectories were erased in advance, as if the future itself had been nailed to the ground by a gun.
Grayish-black veto patterns spread from the tip of the spear, instantly covering the area in front of Qin Yu like an invisible net. The ground, air, and light simultaneously collapsed into a straight, blank passage.
At the end of the passage, only a tiny, ever-approaching tip of nothingness remained, any possibility of evasion eliminated before it could even arise. The Divine Phoenix growled softly, its spear thrust forward another half inch, and the Net of Denial tightened abruptly, attempting to pierce Qin Yu's entire path.
Qin Yu's pupils contracted slightly, but he did not retreat. At that moment, the Silent Origin Stainless Sword in his hand trembled slightly, and the Stainless luster on the surface of the sword suddenly turned into an extremely deep dark color, as if all describable attributes had been concealed.
He stepped forward, his sword sweeping horizontally, but not at that ethereal spear tip; rather, he slashed at the "unrejected gap" between himself and the Divine Phoenix. This sword strike was the Historyless Void Severance Sword, not targeting the current offensive, nor opposing the rejection itself, but directly severing the qualification for this attack to be "recorded as having occurred."
The sword light flashed past, without an explosion or impact, only a silent sense of rupture spreading through the space. The net of denial suddenly broke, and the originally straight blank passage was like a page of history book erased, unable to connect. The momentum of the sword Judgment Meridian was abruptly cut off halfway.
The Divine Phoenix paused slightly, clearly not expecting Qin Yu to not directly resist the denial, but instead to render the attack "unprecedented." He snorted coldly, and the spear suddenly spun back, the denial patterns reversing and transforming into several intersecting, ethereal cracks that once again slashed towards Qin Yu.
He attempted to cover up the void created by that single sword strike with a series of valid rulings. However, Qin Yu had already taken advantage of that fleeting gap in history to close the distance by half a step. The Silent Origin Stainless Sword pressed down with a backhand strike, its sword intent suddenly shifting, and the Causeless Disillusionment Sword unfolded accordingly. Wherever the sword's edge passed, it no longer responded to any causal entanglement.
The "Principle-Extinguishing Origin" that the Divine Phoenix infused into the Judgment Meridian was instantly severed from the chain of these cracks. Before the cracks could even touch Qin Yu, they collapsed into a cloud of dark dust that had lost its support.
The two forces collided head-on in the center of the Eternal Silence Return to the Ruins, but there was no roar. Only the aftershocks of spatial dislocation and rule collapse spread outward.
The Divine Phoenix was forced to retreat half a step, its spear tail slamming heavily into the void, causing radial cracks to appear in the void.
Qin Yu also steadied himself, the tip of his sword touching the ground, the Stainless aura around him slowly flowing back, but his eyes became increasingly calm.
In the brief exchange, denial and historical severance, annihilation of reason and lack of cause tore each other apart, and neither side was able to truly overpower the other.
The moment the Nine-Winged Divine Phoenix stepped into its "Close Combat Judgment" form, Eternal Silence Return to the Ruins was as if forcibly pressed against its core by an invisible hand, the space compressed to a distance where only their breaths could be heard. The Final Negation Judgment Meridian in its hand no longer created distance, but instead moved close to its body, each imperceptible deflection of the spearhead...
Each movement created a ring of preemptive, blank lines around Qin Yu, as if any closer, even half an inch, would render Qin Yu's existence "untenable." The Divine Phoenix's steps were calm and deadly, her spear delivering a series of short, rapid thrusts.
Each strike was not intended to hit the physical body, but rather to seal off all possible paths of movement for Qin Yu, forcing him to collide head-on with the denial in an Ultimate confined space.
Just as the spearhead was inches away, Divine Phoenix slowly raised his other hand, a swirling Return to the Ruins of energy appearing at his fingertips. His voice was deep and cold, "Myriad Laws Return to the Ruins."
That single finger strike, without any fanfare, caused the world itself to malfunction. Wherever the fingertip pointed, space seemed to have its legal framework hollowed out, silently collapsing into a continuously sinking dark vortex.
Light was swallowed, colors were stripped away, and even the regular patterns that maintained the air crumbled layer by layer like shattered glass. The Stainless aura that Qin Yu had gathered around him fluctuated violently in that instant, and all the power that "relies on the laws of nature" was being forcibly drawn away.
It was as if, in the next moment, his physical body, consciousness, and sword intent would all lose their basis for existence, turning into the most primordial void energy, and be completely swallowed up by the Return to the Ruins.
Qin Yu did not retreat. His eyes suddenly turned icy, and the Silent Origin Stainless Sword was held horizontally in front of him. The light deep within the sword was completely extinguished, revealing instead an unnameable Space Silence. He swung the Undefined Destruction Sword first, this sword strike not aimed at the Divine Phoenix, nor to intercept the Finger of Return to the Ruins.
Instead, it directly severed the "definition relationship" between the Final Negation Judgment Meridian and the Divine Phoenix. As the sword blade swept across, the stable definition of the "Divine Spear" around the Judgment Meridian Spear was forcibly torn apart, the negation patterns became briefly disordered, the rhythm of the Divine Phoenix's close judgment was abruptly interrupted, and the spear's momentum faltered.
Almost simultaneously, Qin Yu's swordplay suddenly changed, and the second sword, the Causeless Disillusionment Sword, followed immediately. This sword did not collide head-on with the Myriad Laws Return to the Ruins Finger, but instead directly severed the cause of that finger's existence.
The Void of Return to the Ruins was still expanding, but the causal chain that supported it to "dismantle the law" was instantly erased. The dark vortex shuddered violently, like an abyss that had lost its foundation and suddenly collapsed, shrinking in the opposite direction into a chaotic dark shadow that exploded into countless silent, annihilated fragments between the two.
The space in front of her completely shattered at that moment. The Divine Phoenix groaned and was forced to retreat. Final Negation Judgment Meridian, using the force to stabilize her body, but she was still hit head-on by the series of sword intents that severed definitions and Mieyin.
His figure was blasted backwards for hundreds of meters, the void along the way seemed to be dragged with long cracks, until he finally came to a stop when he stepped heavily into the distant Return to the Ruins.
Divine Phoenix lowered her head and looked at her slightly trembling right hand. At the junction of her fingertips and palm, a glaring bloodstain was slowly seeping out. It was a real wound caused by the forced tearing of the Principle-Extinguishing Origin.
He raised his head, his gaze no longer cold, but filled with undisguised shock and anger.
Qin Yu in the center of the shattered space, the Silent Origin Stainless Sword hanging by his side, the silent dripping from its tip not of blood.
Rather, they were the lingering shadows of severed legal principles. Their gazes met once more in the Eternal Silence Return to the Ruins, and the true dividing line between their life-or-death battle had only just been drawn.
Azure Ring sat in the void rift to the side, her small figure swinging her legs and clapping her hands excitedly. The crisp sound seemed particularly abrupt in the Return to the Ruins.
She laughed without restraint, her eyes shining like two cold stars. "Good! Little Qinzi! That was a beautiful strike, you almost crippled that little chick's right hand! Keep going, keep going!"
The Nine-Winged Divine Phoenix slowly raised its head, its gaze passing over the Azure Ring and locking onto Qin Yu. The blood on his right hand had not yet dried, but it was instantly evaporated by a forcefully suppressed aura of annihilation, replaced by an increasingly cold and dangerous calm.
He spoke in a low voice, not loud, but enough to make the entire Eternal Silence Return to the Ruins fall silent. "Fine... since divine weapons can't do anything to you, then let you taste the power of the Annihilation Treasure bestowed upon you by the Lord."
As he finished speaking, he slowly raised the divine spear in his hand, its tip pointing at the void, not at Qin Yu, but vertically at a single point.
There was no sound of impact when the dagger fell.
Instead, the entire Eternal Silence Return to the Ruins "acknowledge" the occurrence of this action.
The point of emptiness touched by the spear tip was as if an invisible wedge had been driven into it; in the next instant, the structure of heaven and earth began to fall into disarray.
The distant Return to the Ruins Sky Dome suddenly collapsed, as if the layers of space had been torn apart by an invisible hand, revealing the surging darkness beneath.
Countless previously still void remnants were drawn, rotated, and converged, as if the entire forbidden zone was being forcibly "recalled" by some supreme being.
Boom--
There was no epicenter of the explosion, yet explosions were everywhere. The land of Return to the Ruins split open into countless abysses, from which streams of light, a mixture of blazing white and pitch black, gushed forth, as if the world's first and last energies were being simultaneously extracted.
In the sky, fragments of the rules transformed into shattered halos, falling layer upon layer, only to be reforged by some force in mid-air.
Time seemed to shift at this moment; the destruction of the previous instant had not yet ended, and the aftershocks of the next instant had already arrived ahead of time, creating an almost frenzied overlapping state in the entire space.
The space beneath Qin Yu's feet was forced to sink, and he could clearly feel that something "far beyond the battle itself" was being awakened. It wasn't a supernatural power, nor a domain, but something that truly stood at the "top of the magical artifact hierarchy."
Before it even appeared, its oppressive aura descended. The devouring will within the Return to the Ruins instinctively retreated, as if it had encountered a superior being with whom it could not coexist. A large area instantly fell into an eerie silence.
The Divine Phoenix stood at the center of this cataclysmic event, its nine-winged phantom appearing and disappearing behind it, while the annihilating star flames flowed upstream along the spear.
His expression no longer carried any hint of probing, but only a cold certainty, as if what was about to unfold was not part of a battle, but an inevitable declaration.
The super magical artifact, which has yet to be revealed, is slowly approaching from the deepest part of the void, following the coordinates pointed out by the spear tip.