The plaza before the eight statues remained shrouded in an oppressive atmosphere. The three successive Annihilation had already shaken the hearts of many cultivators. The silence lasted for a long time until finally, an barely suppressed voice rang out from one side of the crowd. A cultivator at the Realm Breaking Realm looked at the mountain-like statues with a complex expression.
His tone was tinged with bitterness and resignation. "What's the point of treasure hunting? Dozens of people have already tried to break the formation but failed and were instantly Annihilation. I think we should just forgo this opportunity and save our lives to search for other supreme treasures." With that, he turned and soared into the air without hesitation, his figure disappearing swiftly into the grey twilight.
The departing figure seemed to open a crack in the oppressive atmosphere of the crowd. The previously hesitant group reacted instantly, with more than ten figures taking to the air in quick succession. Some sighed softly, others showed resentment, but ultimately dared not risk their lives again for the judgment of the eight statues.
In a short while, dozens more people left, and the originally dense crowd gradually thinned out. The empty square revealed more broken stone bricks and the huge shadows cast by the statues. Only those who were truly unwilling to give up or had other plans remained.
Behind the distant ruins, Shangguan Lingxiao and Shangguan Xuanchen had already noticed the location of the Ju Lineage. Although they were far from Qin Yu, under the perception of powerful individuals, their hostility and vigilance had already transcended distance to lock onto each other. Shangguan Xuanchen looked coldly at Qin Yu beside Ju Wanning and sneered in a low voice, "Senior brother, look at that kid, he really is after the Ju Lineage."
Shangguan Lingxiao's expression remained unchanged. He simply turned around slowly and said calmly to the five cultivators at the Realm Breaking Realm behind him, "Look carefully. That young man at the Severed Thought Realm · Supreme beside Ju Wanning is your target."
One of the five frowned slightly, his tone tinged with incomprehension and disdain. "A mere brat at the Severed Thought Realm · Supreme, do you expect all five of us to attack him together?"
Shangguan Xuanchen's face darkened, and he shouted sternly, "What do you know? He managed to escape right under my and my senior brother's noses. Do you think the five of you want to go with him?"
Shangguan Lingxiao's gaze suddenly turned cold and sharp as he glared at Shangguan Xuanchen, signaling him to control his emotions. Then, his voice was low but filled with oppressive force. "The five of you, I don't care what method I use, you must kill him, or you will all die."
The five men exchanged glances, their faces showing embarrassment and gloom, but they dared not refute. They could only nod slightly, their gazes once again turning to Qin Yu in the distance, secretly assessing the situation.
On the other side, Ju Anran also noticed the gazes and movements of Shangguan and the other person. He glanced sideways and whispered, "Senior Sister, look, those two Shangguan people are plotting something."
Ju Wanning sneered, her gaze calm as still water. "Hmph, it's nothing more than some despicable acts against us."
She turned to Qin Yu, her tone steady yet carrying an undeniable confidence. "Young Master Qin, you don't need to worry. As long as you stay with us, those two won't dare to make any rash moves. As for the five Realm Breaking Realm cultivators behind them, they shouldn't be disciples of the Shangguan Lineage."
Qin Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, his divine sense subtly sweeping over the five people. He asked in confusion, "Aren't those five disciples of the Shangguan Lineage? I thought they were summoned by those two."
Ju Anran gently shook her head and explained in a low voice, "It shouldn't be. The Fate Soul aura on their bodies clearly doesn't belong to the Shangguan Lineage's divine power inheritance. The Shangguan Lineage's Fate Soul power leans towards extreme cold and the intent of severing boundaries, while the auras of those five people are chaotic, even showing signs of suppression and restraint. They are probably controlled outsiders."
Upon hearing this, Qin Yu's gaze darkened slightly. He had already made a judgment in his heart: the situation was far more complicated than it appeared on the surface. The eight statues remained standing still, as if waiting for the real opportunity to arrive. The air in front of the ruined ancient temple tightened again. The storm had not yet erupted, but it was already slowly brewing beneath the surface.
One of the five Realm Breaking Realm cultivators behind Shangguan Lingxiao finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked in a low voice, "What should we do? Should we go over there now and kill that kid?" His tone was anxious and urgent, clearly indicating that under the backlash of the pill and the threat of death, they would rather take the initiative to exchange for a chance to survive.
Shangguan Xuanchen glanced at them coldly, his tone unhurried yet chilling. "What's the panic? There are so many cultivators here. If you rush over and kill that brat in one strike, that's fine. But if the Ju Lineage wipes you Annihilation in public, it won't just be you who lose face, but the entire Shangguan Lineage. Wait for my senior brother's instructions." The five men froze upon hearing this, lowering their heads and daring not to say another word.
Shangguan Lingxiao's gaze never left the eight divine statues and the ancient palace gate. He spoke slowly, his voice low yet carrying a strong sense of control. "Don't rush. There must be a great opportunity within this ancient palace. Those who remain will not leave empty-handed. Now, let's wait and see who can truly break the formation and unseal the eight divine statues." His tone was calm, as if he were waiting for prey to scout the way for him.
Before the ruined palace gates, the atmosphere remained tense. At that moment, a figure slowly emerged from the depths of the crowd. This person possessed neither dazzling divine light nor overwhelming aura; only an extremely pure and profound aura of "annihilation" quietly flowed around him.
It was as if he stood between heaven and earth, the very end of existence, the true annihilation, the absence of reality. All truth and falsehood around him appeared blurred and indistinguishable. He was the True Annihilation Realm · Peak. His aura was not fiery, but a kind of tranquility that swallowed everything into a silent abyss.
He slowly approached the first statue, but stopped a few feet away. He did not take another step forward, nor did he activate his supernatural powers or unfold his domain. He simply stood quietly, like a stubborn rock that originated from the same source as heaven and earth.
The first statue did not awaken. The broken sword still pointed diagonally at the sky, its eyes unlit, as if it completely ignored this True Annihilation Realm · Peak expert.
The surrounding cultivators held their breath, wondering what this powerful figure intended to do. Several breaths passed, then ten, then twenty.
The cultivator at the True Annihilation Realm · Peak remained standing still, his aura gradually receding to the point of being almost imperceptible. He seemed to be actively concentrating his "True Annihilation" intent into a single point, allowing everything to be "annihilated" into an indistinguishable state. He neither resisted the divine statue nor attempted to trigger the trial, but rather achieved a tacit balance with the essence of his own realm and the rules of this place.
Just as the thirtieth breath fell, a sudden change occurred.
Almost simultaneously, the eight statues emitted a deep, resonant sound. This sound was not a noise, but a tremor in space, as if the foundation of the entire ancient temple was being gently shaken. Then, the eight statues slowly turned around.
Yes -- turn around.
They didn't brandish swords, raise shields, or unleash formations; they simply shifted their bodies, which were originally facing the crowd and the temple gate, toward the sides of the ancient temple, as if making way for a passage.
The movement was extremely slow, yet carried an irresistible solemnity. As the stone joints turned, circles of light patterns interwoven with pale gold and dark black appeared in the void, as if the eight primordial authorities had achieved some kind of harmony in an instant.
Just as the statues turned around, the cultivator at the peak of the True Annihilation Realm · Peak suddenly moved. Without unleashing any earth-shattering power or creating any spatial ripples, he simply swept across the gap between the eight statues like a shadow sinking into the water, flying deep into the ruins of the ancient palace.
As his figure disappeared into the shadows of the temple gate, the eight statues slowly returned to their original positions at the same instant, the broken sword pointed to the sky again, the giant shield faced forward once more, and the ancient bell fell silent, as if the scene had never happened.
After a few breaths of deathly silence, the entire arena erupted in a frenzy. "How did he do that?" "He... he cracked it?"
"Does reaching the True Annihilation Realm · Peak one can ignore the trial?" "Damn it, I should have flown in with them!"
Exclamations, frustration, speculation, and resentment mingled in the air, and many people wore expressions of regret, as if they had missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Qin Yu's gaze narrowed slightly. He had realized that the True Annihilation Realm · Peak expert was not breaking the formation with brute force, but rather actively achieving a balance of "non-triggering" with the authority represented by the divine statue through his own realm essence of "neither true nor false, indistinguishable."
He neither attempted to pass the test nor tried to conquer it, but instead made himself an "exception outside the rules," making the statue unable to meet the trial conditions and thus passively giving way.
In the distance, a strange light flashed in Shangguan Lingxiao's eyes, clearly realizing this as well, while Ju Wanning and Ju Anran's expressions darkened slightly.
The commotion in the square hadn't subsided when Qin Yu was completely absorbed in his deductions. He didn't look at the regretful and agitated faces, but instead compressed all his divine sense into an extremely thin thread of Fate Soul, quietly touching the power fluctuations emanating from the eight divine statues. It wasn't a single formation, but a kind of "matching mechanism," with each statue filtering the intruder's "logical attributes" and "realm essence."
The eight Ultimate authorities—Five Elements, Yin and Yang, Destiny, Reincarnation, Nothingness, Rules, Logic, and Narrative—are not independent but are secretly woven into a sieve. As long as an intruder reveals any single obsession or single Dao foundation tendency, they will be locked onto and tested by the corresponding divine statue. The reason that cultivator at the peak of the True Annihilation Realm · Peak succeeded was because he actively compressed his "True Annihilation" Realm into an indistinguishable Gray Domain, making it impossible for the eight divine statues to determine which authority he belonged to, thus losing their target.
However, Qin Yu quickly realized that the method was not suitable for him, because the structure of his Fate Soul was far more complex than that of the other party. His Dao was not a simple annihilation, but contained multiple levels including narrative, logic, causality, nothingness, and even the reconstruction of the origin. If he forcibly suppressed it, it would only trigger a higher-level filtering backlash.
He slowly closed his eyes, his Fate Soul circulating within him. In the deepest recesses of his consciousness, he saw a faint, ethereal figure, "Mystic Void Faceless," ruling over everything behind the eight divine statues. It was not a physical entity, but the central hub of the Return to One eight powers. It neither rejected intruders nor actively killed them; it merely screened those "qualified to become part of the Return to One eight powers."
Qin Yu's eyes became incredibly clear at that moment. Since he couldn't be an "exception," he would become a "candidate."
Instead of suppressing his own authority, he proactively constructed an "eight-power equilibrium" with his own Fate Soul structure, using cause and effect as the bone, yin and yang as the blood, the five elements as the veins, rules as the sinews, logic as the knowledge, and narrative as the soul, and then using nothingness as the foundation, compressing all the power into an impartial "empty ring" shape. That ring neither resists the idol nor submits to the trial, but actively sends a response to the "eight powers Return to One" center - not a challenge, but a resonance.
He opened his eyes and whispered to Ju Wanning and Ju Anran beside him, "That person used 'indiscernible' to avoid the selection, but what these eight statues truly want is not avoidance, but balance. They are looking for someone who can bear all eight powers, not a cultivator who only possesses one power."
Ju Wanning's gaze flickered slightly. "Young Master Qin, what do you mean?"
Qin Yu calmly said, "Do not suppress yourself, nor resist. Simply compress all your Fate Soul tendencies into the same ring, without bias towards the Five Elements, Yin and Yang, fate, or reincarnation. Do not allow any one power to manifest alone, but rather allow all eight powers to appear simultaneously while restraining each other, so that the divine statue judges you as a 'candidate' rather than an 'intruder'."
Ju Anran said in a deep voice, "This kind of balancing technique is something ordinary people simply cannot achieve." Qin Yu smiled faintly, "That's why it's called screening. I'll go later, and you guys should be ready to rush in at any time." Ju Wanning, "Okay."
At that moment, dozens of cultivators in the square began to imitate the method of that True Annihilation Realm · Peak expert. They suppressed their auras, restrained their supernatural powers, and even deliberately made their own energy chaotic and blurred in an attempt to prevent the statue from locking onto the target. However, the result was far from what they had imagined.
The first person had barely taken two steps when the giant shield in the second statue suddenly trembled, and space shattered like a folded mirror. Before the person could even react, he was crushed into scattered dust by the power of the rules.
The second person forcibly suppressed his own Fate Soul into a chaotic mass, but this triggered the reincarnation authority of the fourth statue. Countless afterimages of reincarnation appeared in the void, and his figure was torn into hundreds of different time fragments in an instant, which eventually collapsed at the same time.
The third person fared even worse. Before he could even take three zhang (approximately 10 meters), all eight statues trembled slightly, and a halo of Mystic Void light rose from the ground, completely obliterating him without leaving a trace.
Screams mingled with Annihilation as the crowd finally calmed down. At that moment, Qin Yu slowly stepped out.
He did not conceal his cultivation level, nor did he deliberately restrain his power. The aura of the Severed Thought Realm · Supreme flowed naturally, but within his body, the Eight Powers Balance Ring had already taken shape. It was an invisible structure that gave his aura a strange sense of stability. It was neither sharp nor heavy, neither yang nor yin, as if he were standing on an absolute central axis.
As he took his first step, the eyes of the first statue lit up slightly, but did not lock on.
As the second step was taken, the sword on the third statue trembled slightly, but it was not swung.
In the third step, he stood on the center line between the eight statues.
Just when everyone thought they were about to witness another bloody scene, the eight statues trembled simultaneously. The tremor was not an attack, but a deep resonance, as if some gears had finally meshed. Then, the eight statues slowly turned around again, their huge stone bodies parting to the sides, revealing a path leading to the depths of the ancient temple amidst the dust and divine light.
The entire square fell into a deathly silence. Qin Yu's eyes flashed, and he quickly transmitted his voice. "Quick, follow me."
Before he finished speaking, he had already transformed into a streak of light and rushed into the passage. Ju Wanning followed closely behind without hesitation, and Ju Anran led the Ju Lineage disciples close behind.
Just as the passageway began to slowly close and the eight statues turned around again, a cold glint flashed in Shangguan Lingxiao's eyes, and he shouted in a low voice, "Go, hurry up and follow."
He leaped up, and the five cultivators at the Realm Breaking Realm, along with Shangguan Xuanchen, rushed out almost simultaneously, forcefully entering the passage just as it was about to close completely.
At the same time, several cultivators rushed in. The next instant, the eight statues returned to their original positions, the giant sword once again pointed to the sky, and the plaza was restored to its original state.
Only a handful of cultivators from the outside world remained standing there, staring at the now-closed palace gates, their eyes filled with astonishment and resentment.