The Eight Ancestors of Myriad Annihilation

Just as Shangguan Lingxiao and Shangguan Xuanchen disappeared into the shadows of the ruins beneath the gray-white sky, dense spatial fluctuations once again rippled across the sky above the Thoughtless Burial Domain. Hundreds of figures swept in from all directions like meteors. Some were clad in battle armor, while others wore sect robes. Their auras overlapped between the Severed Thought Realm and the Realm Breaking Realm, and the void was compressed into fine cracks by their power.

These newcomers paused briefly in the air, their gazes sweeping over the magnificent ruins of the ancient temple. Almost without hesitation, as if drawn by some invisible summons, they swooped down in unison. Streaks of light rained down in the grey twilight, instantly swallowed by the crumbling walls and shadows surrounding the temple. The world returned to a brief silence, a silence that did not last long.

After about several dozen breaths, a figure with an extremely restrained yet sharp aura slowly emerged from the edge of the void. His long black hair fell quietly under the gray-white sky. He did not have any ostentatious power, but he subtly suppressed the flow of the surrounding space. His gaze was fixed on the ruins below, his eyes cold and clear. It was Qin Yu.

He stood high in the sky, his gaze sweeping from the broken dome to the collapsed palace walls, then landing on the silhouette of the main hall that stood as tall as a mountain. A strange feeling rose in his heart. "This ancient hall looks just like the main hall. If I hadn't seen the real main hall in the side hall at the bottom of the lake, I probably would have thought this was the main hall. But what's strange is that the scale of this ruined ancient hall seems to be even larger than the side hall described in the records. It's more like a remnant left after being forcibly expanded and then destroyed."

His thoughts lingered for only a moment before his figure transformed into a streak of light, heading straight downwards. He suppressed his Void Emanation Realm · Middle Stage aura to an extremely low level, yet he still left an almost invisible trail of nothingness as he fell, as if the heavens and earth were making way for him.

When Qin Yu landed outside the ancient palace, the scene before him was completely different from what he had seen from the air. Thousands of cultivators had already gathered outside the ruined palace gates, their auras crisscrossing, with layers of cultivators at the Realm Breaking Realm, Mystic Void Realm, and Severed Thought Realm. They maintained a wary distance from each other, but none of them dared to easily step into the dilapidated yet enormous palace gates.

Before the palace gate stood eight statues, each a hundred feet tall, cast entirely from an unknown black-gold divine stone. Their surfaces bore ancient patterns of dark red and silver, as if they had survived a cataclysmic battle yet still stood firm.

The first statue is clad in armor, its face as cold and stern as iron. It holds aloft a broken giant sword, which, though incomplete, still exudes a sharpness capable of tearing through space. The sword is covered with dense ancient inscriptions, as if each mark had once severed a causal link.

The second statue has closed eyes and holds a giant circular shield. In the center of the shield is a black core that rotates like an abyss, seemingly capable of swallowing all attacks. The outward-expanding blades of the shield gleam with a dark and cold light in the twilight.

The third statue holds aloft a long spear, its tip pointing straight to the sky. The spear shaft is wrapped with divine patterns like chains, which seem to connect to some invisible order between heaven and earth.

The fourth statue held an ancient bell, its surface covered with cracks yet still exuding a heavy, oppressive aura, as if a mere tremor could bring the entire Thoughtless Burial Domain to a standstill.

The fifth statue holds an open ancient book in its hands. The pages are blank, yet they turn continuously in the gray-white light, as if recording the birth and death of all things in the world.

The sixth statue held a halberd burning with dark blue flames in its palm. The flames were not intense, but they carried a chilling aura that could devour souls.

The seventh statue holds a crescent-shaped battle blade, its blade resembling a solidified galaxy, with extremely fine spatial cracks shimmering along its edge, as if it could slice through reality at any moment.

The eighth statue is the most bizarre. Its hands are folded in front of its chest, with a blank ring floating in its palm. The ring is without light or shadow, yet it makes people lose their balance at first glance, as if it is not a divine artifact, but a manifestation of some kind of rule itself.

Eight divine statues stood encircling the temple entrance. Though their auras were subdued, they formed an invisible barrier that oppressed the heavens and earth, preventing any of the thousands of cultivators from making any rash moves. They either whispered among themselves or secretly formed formations, all their gazes shifting back and forth between the statues and the temple entrance.

Qin Yu stood quietly at the edge of the crowd, his gaze slowly sweeping over the eight statues and the dilapidated temple gate, his expression unchanged.

Over a thousand cultivators stood before the ruined ancient temple. The heavy gray twilight pressed down upon the eight divine statues. The first statue, holding a broken sword, stood silently as a mountain, its blade pointing diagonally to the sky, as if it had stood guard there for countless eons. While the crowd was still speculating and observing each other...

A cultivator at the Mystic Void Realm finally stepped out of the crowd under the watchful eyes of everyone. His aura was calm, and the power of the Profound Void Mystic Void was slightly unfolded around him. The sense of nothingness spread out in a faint domain beneath his feet. He did not rush in recklessly, but instead approached the sword-wielding statue step by step until the distance was only a few feet. Suddenly, the air became heavy.

The next instant, the statue's eyes slowly lit up beneath the stone, a deep, luminous light, like the end of a galaxy, emerging from the depths of its pupils. Simultaneously, the inscriptions on the broken sword gleamed with a cold, silvery light. The entire world seemed to freeze in that moment, and a vast, ancient voice echoed from within the statue, reverberating between the ruins of the ancient temple, like the tolling of a grand bell of an era.

"Era rises and falls, only emptiness remains. All students, heed my command: The Mystic Void is not the end of nothingness, but the beginning of the Dao. If you wish to ascend to this realm, you must first Shatter Cause, merge the spirits of the Five Elements, and discern the extremes of Yin and Yang. Where Path of Speech Severed, a single thought gives rise to myriad phenomena; where thought cannot reach its limits, all phenomena Return to One thought. Now, let this calamity be a furnace to forge your Dao heart; let cause and effect be a lock to test your clarity; let the Five Elements be your bones to build your divine foundation; let Yin and Yang be your wings to carry you to the void. Enter the calamity! Prove the Dao! Return to the Mysterious!"

The moment the voice faded, before the Mystic Void Realm cultivator could react, intricate divine patterns suddenly cracked open beneath his feet. Rings of array light rose around him, not dazzlingly bright, but displaying a deep, interwoven hue of black and white, as if nothingness and existence were breathing in tandem. Then, four enormous ancient characters slowly appeared in the void— Mystic Void Myriad Transformations Tribulation).

Those four characters were not simply written, but rather formed little by little in mid-air by using space itself as a brush and the passage of time as ink. As the characters appeared, the colors of the surrounding world instantly faded, as if all things were stripped into black and white outlines, and then absorbed by the four characters. The light and shadow flowed, and the ancient characters seemed to hang in the center of the infinite void, emitting a Daoist charm that made people's hearts tremble.

While everyone was still in shock and doubt, the formation had already completely closed, sealing the cultivator inside. The space folded layer upon layer into a sealed cage, and the first Heavenly Gate had been opened.

The Karma Dust Net Formation unfolded beneath his feet, instantly distorting space and time. The landscape rippled like water, and within the array surfaced the deepest regrets and obsessions of his cultivation journey: the fellow disciples he had failed to save reappeared before him; the missed opportunities transformed into tangible radiance; betrayal and glory intertwined to form a truly real battlefield. These scenes were not illusions; they possessed the same emotions and power as before.

It even became more solidified due to his emotional fluctuations, as if each wavering infused them with new life. The chain of cause and effect manifested in the formation, like countless silver chains winding in from all directions. Engraved on the chains were his past choices and future obsessions. The more he resisted, the tighter the chains became; the more persistent he was, the deeper the bondage.

Those outside the formation could only see the surging scenes within the light screen, but could not hear any sound. The Xuan Kong Mystic Void Realm cultivator within the formation gradually showed signs of struggle. He unleashed his supernatural powers frequently, but could Sever Karma and effect. The formation seemed to use him as its source, constantly generating new scenes. If he indulged in emotions, the scenes would turn into sharp blades and devour him. Only by truly observing with the "Mysterious Nothingness Thought," knowing that cause is not cause and effect is not effect, could the chains be broken on their own.

Before the first Heavenly Trial had even ended, the aura of the second Heavenly Trial was already brewing deep within the formation. The Five Elements Five Elements Return to Void Domain unfolded upon the severed cause and effect, transforming the space within the formation into a chaotic Five Elements Sea. The five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—rose from the sea like ancient deities. These five ancient elemental gods were enormous, their combat power depending on the cultivator's level, and they controlled the absolute law of mutual generation and restraint.

Golden light crushes wood, water waves swallow fire, earth collapses and water is overcome; the elements intertwine to form a destructive torrent. The Karma Clarity Seal appears on the chest of the trial participant, drawing upon the power of the Five Elements to force him to bear it head-on. If he were to forcibly refine it with supernatural powers, he would only be overwhelmed and burst by the backlash of the sea of elements. Only by using the thought of Xuan Kong to return the Five Elements to Mystic Void, to make sharp metal without edge, to make raging fire without flame, and to make the "existence" of all things return to "non-existence," can the ancient gods of the Five Elements merge into one, transforming into the Five Elements Mystic Light, and reshaping his physical body into the Five Elements Mystic Void Body.

The third Yin Yang Annihilation Platform, faintly appears at the deepest part of the formation. The Yin and Yang poles are positioned on the left and right, respectively. The Lunar Abyss of Annihilation freezes thought, while the Solar Heaven-Burning Peak incinerates speech. The trial participant stands in the center. The Karma Clarity Seal transforms into the obsession of Yin, and the Five Elements Mystic Light transforms into the obsession of Yang. Two "selves" stand at the Yin and Yang poles.

They attack the original body with the power of cause and effect and the power of the five elements respectively. Only when one is unable to think or speak, can one transcend the obsession of "transcendence", so that the three become one, so that yin is yang and yang is yin, obsession is the original body and the original body is nothingness, so that yin and yang can annihilate each other, transform into the Mystic Void Stillness Light, and consciousness sinks into the realm of nothingness and nothingness, and finally ascend to the Gate of Mystic Void.

The gazes of those outside the Mystic Void Realm cultivator had been forced to undergo the sealing test of the first divine statue in full view of everyone. Only the radiance of the formation and the ancient characters Mystic Void Myriad Transformations Tribulation floated in the sky. At this moment, everyone realized that the gate of this secondary hall could not be broken by brute force. What it guarded was a true path to the Mystic Void.

Within the array's light barrier, the figure of the Profound Mystic Void Realm cultivator was already teetering on the Karma Dust Net Formation collapse. His Dao heart, originally as firm as iron, was now crumbling as layers of images surfaced within the array: his dear friend, whom he had failed to save, reaching out from a pool of blood. The unattainable peak was so close yet so unreachable.

Betrayal and glory tore at his consciousness simultaneously. The obsession that had been suppressed finally cracked at a very subtle moment. The chain of cause and effect tightened suddenly from the void, and silver chains emerged like ten thousand snakes, piercing through his Mystic Void Realm and binding him firmly in mid-air. He attempted to observe it with his Mystic Void mind.

He forcibly attributed cause and effect to illusion, but that slight error had already formed. The formation then showed an irreversible deviation. Space twisted beneath his feet into a vortex-like abyss. Images of the past and the future began to overlap. Finally, he let out a low shout and forcibly tightened his own domain. The next instant, the formation's light screen suddenly collapsed.

The four ancient characters of "Mystic Void Myriad Transformations Tribulation" vanished in mid-air like smoke and dust. The sealing restrictions seemed to have never existed. The cultivator staggered to the ground, stunned for a moment, then revealed an expression of disbelief, thinking that he had already passed the first level of the Heavenly Tribulation.

The eyes of thousands of cultivators around him all fell on him, the air filled with suppressed anticipation and doubt. He turned slightly, as if he was about to leave the formation, but the moment he took that step, the world suddenly fell silent.

The stone body of the first statue emitted a deep hum, and the broken giant sword was slowly raised from the statue's hand. The originally dim inscriptions on the sword suddenly lit up, and silver-white light flowed across the blade like a surging galaxy. Then, the entire space seemed to be forcibly compressed, and the air collapsed into an invisible vacuum. Everyone only saw a flash of light cut through their vision—without any build-up or warning, the moment the broken sword fell, the heavens and earth seemed to be split in two.

Before the Mystic Void Realm cultivator could react, a straight black rift was torn open in the space in front of him. The rift was filled with countless points of causal light, like countless severed lifelines burning. The next instant, the sword light pierced his body, but no blood splattered. His body became transparent in the light.

It was as if his entire being had been ripped out of the world's coordinates. His skin, flesh, and bones were peeled away layer by layer into particles of light under the sword light. The particles of light did not explode outwards, but were absorbed into the black crack, forming a vortex that devoured everything. Then the crack suddenly closed, and the world returned to normal. Not even a speck of dust was left on the ground, as if he had never existed.

A deathly silence fell over the ruined palace. The breaths of the thousand-plus cultivators almost simultaneously stopped. A cultivator at the Mystic Void Realm · Supreme had been wiped out right before their eyes. The shock of this scene far exceeded everyone's expectations, because most of those present couldn't even see how the sword had been unleashed.

Furthermore, it was impossible to determine the true level of the eight statues; their silent yet absolutely deadly power seemed to transcend the comprehension of ordinary cultivation levels.

Before the shock had subsided, three more people stepped forward from the crowd. They came from different forces and had varying levels of cultivation, but none of them were willing to stop there. The first was at the Realm Breaking Realm · Supreme, with a powerful and sharp aura. The second was at the peak of the Mystic Void Realm · Supreme, with a calm and deep gaze. The third was at the True Annihilation Realm · Initial Stage, with an aura of annihilation surging like dark fire around him. The three approached the array of divine statues almost simultaneously, but then another unexpected change occurred.

The second statue, the one holding the giant shield, suddenly shone with a deep light in its closed eyes. A black core on the shield surface spun faster, as if an abyss had opened. Before the cultivator at the Realm Breaking Realm · Supreme could even get close to the first statue, he was forcibly pulled towards the location of the second statue by an invisible force. His steps shifted, and he was "chosen". Array patterns spread out beneath his feet.

At the same time, the familiar intertwined black and white light patterns reappeared around the Mystic Void Realm · Supreme cultivator, and the first divine statue locked onto its target again, its broken sword slightly lowered, as if waiting for a new trial participant to enter the tribulation.

Just as the third True Annihilation Realm · Initial Stage cultivator approached the formation, the fourth statue holding an ancient bell suddenly emitted a deep, resonant sound. Dark light emanated from the cracks on the bell, and an invisible sound wave spread out, freezing the True Annihilation Realm cultivator in mid-air. He was forcibly chosen, and the phantom of the ancient bell slowly took shape above his head.

The three were each locked onto by one of the three statues. The array patterns intertwined to form different shapes of light arrays. The atmosphere in front of the ruined palace gate suddenly became extremely tense. Everyone realized that these eight statues were not chosen at will, but were actively selecting their own trial participants. Each selection meant stepping onto a path of life and death.