Within the ruined palace, the aftershocks of the collapsed formation still lingered in the air. The silvery glow of time, the threads of fate, and the ashes of nothingness intertwined in the air, like embers that had not yet dissipated. As Qin Yu, Ju Wanning, Ju Anran, and the Shangguan faction faced off...
However, more than ten array pillars of light around them had not yet been extinguished. The figures of those cultivators who had not yet escaped were trapped in their respective origin arrays. Some were fighting against raging flames and lightning in the Five Elements Formation, some were fighting against rune chains in the Rule Array, and others were struggling under invisible pressure in the Narrative and Subject Formation.
At the same time, more than ten people had already forcibly broken out of their respective formations. Their breathing was disordered and their faces were pale, but they still gritted their teeth and kept their figures steady, their eyes fixed on the hourglass in the center.
The flow rate of the hourglass sand has noticeably increased at this moment.
The silver light that was originally falling slowly, one grain at a time, has now transformed into a thin line cascading down. The space inside the hourglass is showing extremely fine cracks as it flows, as if it is not simply carrying time, but some kind of higher-dimensional judgment and order.
"Almost there..." someone murmured. Just then, the eighth group of cultivators burst out from the spatial and location array.
Their robes were tattered, and their Fate Soul was almost exhausted, yet the moment they stepped out of the array's boundary, they revealed a wild joy at surviving a calamity.
However, the instant their feet touched the ground, the hourglass suddenly stopped. The next instant—boom!
The hourglass vibrated simultaneously at both ends, and the entire hourglass suddenly flipped over!
The light sand that had originally flowed to the lower end was reversed during the tumbling process, flowing upwards and transforming into a dazzling silver-white pillar of light that shot into the sky.
The entire space of the ruined palace was instantly frozen; time ceased to flow, the air stood still, and sound was cut off.
At this moment, the pupils of all the cultivators who had not yet escaped the formation suddenly dilated, and they didn't even have time to let out a complete scream.
The luminous sand inside the hourglass, at the instant the reverse flow was completed, transformed into countless tiny judgment seals, which fell from mid-air.
Those runes weren't attacks, but rather "judgments."
Judgment -- Failed.
Inside the Five Elements Formation, a cultivator was using lightning to break through the fire, but the moment the talisman touched his forehead, his entire body was erased as if by an eraser, quickly becoming transparent from head to toe, leaving not even ashes behind.
Within the array of rules, the rune chains had not yet broken, but the cultivator's Fate Soul fire suddenly extinguished when the rune fell, and his physical body turned into specks of light and vanished into the void.
Within the narrative array, a person was still screaming and struggling to break free from their fabricated identity, but when the "failed" seal fell, even the trace of their existence was completely erased.
In the blink of an eye, all those still trapped in the formation Annihilation; there was no explosion, no bloodshed.
There was only an extreme and cold disappearance, as if they had never set foot here, leaving the palace ruins empty and quiet.
That silence was more chilling than screams; after the hourglass completed its judgment, the silver light slowly receded.
After a slight tremor, the originally flipped top and bottom ends of the hourglass began to turn transparent.
The sand gradually blurred, its edges began to dissipate, and finally the hourglass disappeared completely.
It was as if it had never existed; however, at the spot where the hourglass disappeared, space slowly cracked open.
A boundary gate slowly emerged from the void.
That portal was not an ordinary teleportation array, but a semi-transparent light gate that was tens of feet high.
The door frame is made of a deep silver-black material, engraved with primordial symbols such as time, fate, nothingness, and rules, the runes flowing as if writing themselves.
The passageway was not a simple passage, but a vast, endless sea of stars, with stars slowly rotating within it, and the outline of an even more magnificent palace faintly visible in the depths.
The edge of the boundary gate radiated a soft yet oppressive light.
Like the entrance to some higher palace
A cultivator who had just escaped suddenly became intensely focused.
"Is that the boundary gate leading to the secondary hall?"
The other person immediately replied, "Absolutely! We passed the test!"
"Yes, it's the real secondary gate!"
"The treasure is inside—charge, everyone!"
Before the words were finished
More than a dozen cultivators unleashed their movement techniques almost simultaneously, transforming into streaks of afterimages as they rushed towards the boundary gate.
They had no time to ponder the cruelty of the hourglass's judgment; they only saw the hope of reaching the deeper side halls.
One by one, figures disappeared into the boundary gate.
The light gate trembled slightly, but it did not cause any obstruction.
Soon only -- remained in the arena
Qin Yu is related to the Ju Lineage.
And the lineage of Shangguan Lingxiao and Shangguan Xuanchen
The gate is still there
A dangerous stillness permeated the air as the stars swirled.
Shangguan Lingxiao's gaze darkened slightly; he did not rush into the boundary gate immediately.
He was waiting for this moment; most cultivators had already entered the path.
With the scene dispersed and interference minimized, he slowly raised his eyes and looked at the distance between the boundary gate and Qin Yu.
Then, his divine sense silently spread out, transmitting his voice directly into the sea of consciousness of the five cultivators at the Realm Breaking Realm.
"Prepare." A cold glint flashed in the eyes of all five simultaneously, and their auras began to subtly change without them even noticing.
The moment the hourglass dissipated and the boundary gate appeared, the killing intent in the air was already silently overwhelming. Qin Yu did not look at Shangguan Lingxiao, but in the instant the other party's aura slightly rose, he judged that the next step was not to immediately enter the gate, but to take advantage of the moment when everyone was divided to intercept and kill.
That faint, sharp edge trembled like cold iron in its sheath; though not drawn, it had already locked onto its prey. Qin Yu's gaze was calm, and the Silent Beginning Ring Master Soul Diagram slowly unfolded in his sea of consciousness. A very fine ripple of his Fate Soul entered Ju Wanning's sea of consciousness. "Quickly, take the disciples into the boundary gate."
Without further explanation, and without needing to explain, Ju Wanning had already secretly tightened her formation during the standoff. The True Annihilation Realm · Peak was condensed around her without being released. The moment she heard the transmission, she slightly clenched her fingers, and the causal threads, like invisible silver threads, simultaneously bound the ten disciples of the Severed Thought Realm · Supreme.
Locking onto Ju Anran's aura, she whispered, "Go!" The next instant, the space beneath her feet suddenly collapsed, and she transformed into an extremely thin yet sharp stream of light, rushing into the boundary gate first. At the same time, Ju Anran's profound and ultimate Space Silence of the Mystic Void Realm · Supreme unfolded.
Suppressing everyone's presence to a minimum, they all disappeared into the depths of the boundary gate almost simultaneously. Qin Yu at the back, his robes fluttering in the glow of the boundary gate. He and Shangguan Lingxiao locked eyes for a moment, the air seeming to be cleaved by an invisible blade. He gave the other no chance to strike, and with a single step, space folded slightly, and his figure silently disappeared into the boundary gate, becoming the last figure to vanish.
"Hmph, they ran fast." Shangguan Lingxiao sneered, his killing intent not dissipating but instead becoming even sharper amidst the shimmering light of the boundary gate. "Go, chase them in." As soon as he finished speaking, his robes fluttered, Fate Soul Divine Spear in his hand emitted a low hum. The five Realm Breaking Realm cultivators and Shangguan Xuanchen were already poised to attack. The seven figures rushed into the boundary gate almost simultaneously. The light behind them suddenly contracted, and the world abruptly flipped.
When their vision returned to normal, they didn't find themselves in the secondary hall they had imagined, but rather stepped into an Ultimate burial domain so magnificent it was breathtaking. It wasn't an ordinary mausoleum space, but rather an epochal burial ground resembling an entire starry sea hollowed out and sealed underground; the dome was immeasurably high, yet it wasn't the sky.
Instead, inverted rock layers and fractured mountain ranges pressed down overhead, countless cracks spreading like a spider web. Deep within these cracks flowed streams of light interwoven with dark red and eerie blue, like ancient divine blood slowly pulsating within the stone layers. Each pulse caused visible ripples to reverberate throughout the entire space, making the air so heavy it was almost tangible.
The air was thick with the scent of cold metal and decaying time. The black rock beneath my feet stretched to the horizon, smooth as a mirror yet reflecting no one's image, as if even the "reflection of existence" had been stripped away here.
In the center of the tomb, a colossal coffin stood upright, reaching over a hundred feet in height and soaring towards the dome. Its entire body was forged from a mysterious metal interwoven with dark gold and deep black, its surface covered with countless ancient divine runes. These runes were not static carvings, but rather flowed slowly deep within the metal, like billions of galaxies compressed into the lines, churning, colliding, and reforming.
Each shift brought with it the sound of subtle tearing in space. A very thin crack was faintly visible from top to bottom on the front of the coffin, through which a dark golden light flickered, as if the core of a star that had not yet completely died out was sealed inside. A ghostly blue halo floated around the giant coffin, within which shimmered broken epochal marks and fracture symbols, as if a piece of history that had been forcibly severed had been frozen here.
On either side of the giant coffin stood eight statues on each side, a total of sixteen, arranged like a military formation surrounding the coffin. Each statue was over ten feet tall, carved entirely from jet-black divine stone, yet its surface gleamed with a cold, hard luster reminiscent of meteorite metal. The textures of its armor and robes were so fine that one could almost see the layers of stone fibers. Among them were war gods wielding halberds and law lords holding scrolls of judgment.
There were judges with their hands clasped together but their eyes wide open, and conquering gods clad in armor, heads raised as if about to shatter the dome. Their postures were majestic and their aura magnificent. Their originally empty eye sockets slowly lit up with a crimson-gold light. The light was not intense, but as deep as the molten lava inside a star, carrying an indescribable pressure and ancient will.
Compared to the eight statues before entering the secondary hall, the aura of the statues here is completely different. They are no longer just imposing, but rather the aura of a deity who once existed and ruled the world, as if they were not statues, but the remnants of the deity's true form forcibly solidified here by time and space.
Just as everyone was reeling from the shock, a deep, resonant "thud" suddenly echoed from inside the giant coffin. The sound was like an enormous heart slowly beating within the epochal shell, the sound waves sweeping across the entire tomb area, while the dark red light flowing from the cracks in the dome surged simultaneously.
The crimson-gold eyes of the sixteen divine statues trembled simultaneously, the gravity in the air suddenly intensified, and space seemed to be pressed down by an invisible giant hand. All cultivators who stepped into this place felt a tremor deep within their Fate Soul at that instant. The boundary gate closed silently behind them, the starlight completely dissipated, and their retreat was cut off.
The giant coffin and the sixteen statues stood silently in the interplay of dark red and eerie blue light, as if awaiting the moment of true awakening. The scene was so magnificent that it almost made one forget to breathe, as if they had stepped into not a secondary hall, but an Ultimate burial ground prepared for the gods.
The dozen or so cultivators who had first entered the tomb stopped before the giant coffin, their breathing becoming heavy. One of them, his face deathly pale yet unable to conceal his fanaticism, spoke in a particularly jarring voice in the deathly silence, "This... could this be the main coffin of the Vice Hall Master of the Thoughtless Burial Domain?" His voice trembled, yet carried an almost uncontrollable greed. Another man's eyes were fixed on the giant coffin that shot straight to the dome, his Adam's apple bobbing.
He spoke in a low but certain voice, "Yes, this is definitely the legendary coffin of the Vice Hall Master. Inside... inside must be countless treasures, perhaps even the very origin of an era is sealed within!" As soon as he finished speaking, the light throughout the entire tomb suddenly distorted eerily. The dark red and eerie blue light flowing through the cracks in the dome abruptly weakened, as if some higher-level being had suppressed all the radiance.
The space above the giant coffin began to collapse silently, and a thin black crack split open from the void. Inside the crack was not darkness, but a strange spectacle of churning nebulae and a sea of fire.
In the next instant, a huge cube slowly emerged from the crack. It was no ordinary magical artifact, but rather resembled a shard of the universe's core that had been cut out. Its entire body was perfectly cubic in shape, with sharp edges and corners, yet it emitted a radiance that was impossible to look directly at.
Each face of the cube is inlaid with dense golden patterns, which intertwine into countless tiny arrays, as if some kind of rule pattern that transcends eras flows on the surface. The golden light extends along the edges, enveloping the entire cube into a core of intense yet cold existence.
Even more terrifying is that the interior of the cube is not solid, but a turbulent sea of stars. One can clearly see raging, orange-red stellar storms swirling within, blue-purple nebulae churning like ocean tides, and planets, star rings, and meteorite fragments spinning at high speeds, sometimes engulfed by flames, sometimes frozen by streams of cold blue light, as if billions of worlds were simultaneously evolving and collapsing within that space.
With each slow rotation of the cube, the internal galaxy undergoes a violent reorganization. Flames crash against the boundaries like a tsunami, but are firmly sealed off by an invisible golden grid. The surface of the grid is covered with extremely complex runic structures, as if suppressing that chaotic core of the universe.
It hovered directly above the giant coffin, slowly rotating. The surrounding air was scorched and distorted, and fine cracks appeared at the edges of space, as if it could not bear its weight. Light formed a huge vortex around it, orange-red and deep blue intertwining into a swirling galactic tornado, like two burning cosmic rivers winding around it, leaving long trails of light. The trails of light swept across the crack in the dome, colliding with the dark red, blood-like light stream, stirring up dazzling sparks, and the entire tomb area trembled at that moment.
The crimson-gold light in the eyes of the sixteen statues surged simultaneously, as if responding instinctively to the appearance of the cube. Meanwhile, the "thump" sound emanating from inside the giant coffin suddenly accelerated, as if the sleeping beings had sensed a familiar yet dangerous aura.
The dozen or so cultivators were initially stunned, then their eyes burned with even greater fervor. One of them almost cried out, "What is that? Is it the most precious treasure left behind by the Vice Hall Master?" Another, however, felt a violent tremor in his Fate Soul the next moment, his face turning deathly pale. "No... no, this isn't an ordinary magic weapon, this is... this seems to contain the core of a multidimensional universe!"
The cube continued to rotate, and suddenly the galaxy inside erupted with an extremely dazzling orange-gold shockwave. The golden array patterns shone Ultimate, locking that destructive energy firmly within.
The light reflected off the black rock surface of the tomb, creating vast, flowing cosmic illusions, as if the entire tomb was being dragged into a cycle of cosmic birth and destruction.
It hangs above the coffin, like the final key prepared for a sleeping deity, or the core chain sealing the true power of that deputy temple master. Light and fire intertwine within it, and stars and storms are reflected on its facets. The whole scene is so magnificent that it almost makes one forget to breathe.
It was as if it were not a magical artifact, but rather the remnants of an era forcibly compressed into that flawless cube, slowly rotating atop the giant coffin.