The Thoughtless Burial Domain had returned to silence. In the distance, the broken stone walls still bore the scorch marks left by the epochal storm, but the air was filled only with a faint dust and the decaying scent of time. Qin Yu was not in a hurry to leave. He found a relatively stable ruin and sat cross-legged, his aura gradually calming down.
After a moment, he slowly took out the purple gourd. The gourd landed in his palm, warm and heavy, as if he were holding a compressed piece of time.
He stared at it for a moment, then gently lifted the gourd lid with his fingertips. The extremely soft "click" sound was exceptionally clear in the silence.
The next moment, a wisp of fragrance slowly wafted from the gourd's mouth; it was no ordinary fragrance.
At first whiff, it's like the first wisp of mist in a mountain forest after rain, crisp and Kong Ling; taking a deeper breath, it's like the vapor rising from an ancient galaxy.
It carries a faint coolness and a sense of remoteness; upon closer inspection, one can discern a very subtle sweet fragrance, a sweetness that is not cloying, but rather like the blankness of a moment when the thread of cause and effect is severed—clean, pure, and without any burden.
The fragrance wasn't strong, but it was extremely profound; it seemed to affect more than just the sense of smell. Qin Yu felt a slight tremor in his soul.
The previously chaotic thoughts in my mind suddenly became clear, and the lines of cause and effect appeared faintly in the depths of my consciousness, as if they were being gently touched.
The aroma was neither like medicine nor like a spiritual elixir; it was more like the scent of some kind of "logic itself" being evaporated.
He was so engrossed in the moment that a small blue figure suddenly appeared on his right shoulder.
Blue Ring Xiao Yue. She was about sixteen centimeters tall, with long, star-blue hair that cascaded down her back. A crescent-shaped silver ornament on her forehead gleamed slightly, and her eyes sparkled like stars.
"Little Qinzi, what is that? It smells so good—"
Her nose twitched slightly, and her gaze immediately locked onto the purple gourd.
Qin Yu held the gourd in his palm. "Look, the aroma is coming from inside this gourd."
Xiao Yue spotted the gourd at a glance, and her eyes lit up instantly.
"Wow--this... this... this could it be--' The Cause-Trapping and Effect-Locking Gourd '?!"
Qin Yu frowned slightly. "The Cause-Trapping and Effect-Locking Gourd? What's that? Do you know about this gourd?"
Xiao Yue almost flew away. "Little Qinzi, you've struck gold!"
She held her head in her hands, looking incredulous.
"The Cause-Trapping and Effect-Locking Gourd —'Confinement' means trapping the 'cause.' Everything exists for a reason, and this gourd can imprison the 'cause' within, depriving external events of their basis for occurrence."
"Locking the fruit means locking in the 'result'. The manifestation of the result requires a logical chain of transmission, and this gourd can lock the 'fruit' within, causing any attempt to deduce a conclusion to come to an abrupt halt."
"The full name is 'The Cause-Trapping and Effect-Locking Gourd.' A paradoxical device that can confine cause and effect itself within its confines."
Qin Yu's gaze narrowed slightly. "A paradoxical artifact?"
Xiao Yue nodded vigorously. "Its origin is not simple."
She said softly, "This gourd was forged by an ancient being, the 'Old Man Duanyin Cause and Effect,' who has long transcended cause and effect."
Qin Yu's expression gradually became serious, and Xiao Yue continued her story.
"Old Man Duanyin lived in a chaotic era when the rules of the universe were not yet stable. He witnessed the birth and death of countless logical frameworks and finally realized that everything that exists is essentially a fragile chain."
"He once found a 'logical fossil' in a 'logical fault line'—a remnant of a super-dimensional civilization destroyed by Logic Chain Severance, existing yet Does Not Exist, existing in a paradoxical state."
"He used the primordial void as fire and causality as a hammer to repeatedly forge that fossil. With each forging, a segment of causality was peeled away, transforming into a symbol on the surface of the gourd."
When Qin Yu looked at the gourd's surface again, the fine lines indeed resembled countless chains of cause and effect that had been broken and then reformed.
Xiao Yue's voice grew increasingly low.
"After the embryo took shape, he injected a wisp of his original consciousness, the Thought of Trapping Causes and Locking Effects,' into it. That consciousness operated day and night, maintaining the state of 'imprisoned cause and effect' inside the gourd."
Finally, he repeatedly simulated the 'Logic Chain Severance' inside the gourd. Each simulation condensed a wisp of 'paradoxical essence.' Countless epochs later, this essence condensed into a drop of liquid Paradox Source Water.
Qin Yu slowly looked into the gourd. Deep inside, in the center, floated a still blue water droplet.
Around the water droplet, several thin, hair-like silver chains were gently wrapped around it, yet they seemed as if they might break at any moment.
Within the water droplet, there are no ripples, no light, yet it seems to contain a tranquility that transcends logic.
Qin Yu's breathing became slightly heavy, and Xiao Yue continued speaking.
"This gourd is itself a sealing artifact. If one does not know how to open it and forces it open, one will only suffer the backlash of 'trapped cause and effect,' and the one who opens it will be trapped in a logical loop, never able to complete the opening process."
Qin Yu seemed to be deep in thought. "Then how do we activate it?"
Xiao Yue blinked.
"Only by truly understanding the principle that 'cause and effect can both be severed' will the gourd automatically break its seal. At that time, a drop of the Paradox Source Water can be extracted."
Qin Yu's gaze remained calm. "What use is the Paradox Source Water?"
Xiao Yue lowered her voice.
"If one can fathom its mysteries, one can even directly imprison the enemy's cause and effect within the gourd, rendering it a causeless, effectless, and forever undefinable void."
The air suddenly fell silent. Qin Yu stared at the blue droplet of water.
He vaguely sensed that this treasure was far more dangerous than the Rubik's Cube and the illusion.
"And it's even more precious," Xiao Yue said softly at the end.
"It is said that if someone truly understands the true meaning of the four words 'trapped cause locks fruit', they can touch the rudiment of 'logical broken chain'."
In the ruins of the Thoughtless Burial Domain, the dust had not yet completely settled, and the faint light filtering through the cracks in the distant stone walls seemed like the lingering breath of an ancient era. Qin Yu sat cross-legged on the ruined platform, the purple gourd in his hand as still as the night. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he turned his head to look at the small, star-blue figure on his right shoulder, his tone carrying a rare hint of ease. "Xiao Yue, you said that this Paradox Source Water can 'Logic Chain Severance,' wouldn't that be good for you?"
Blue Ring Xiao Yue's eyes flashed, her crescent-shaped silver ornament swaying gently on her forehead, her long, star-blue hair cascading down like starlight. She first feigned nonchalance with a hum, then couldn't help but reveal a playful smile, "Hehe, that's right. If you give me this Paradox Source Water, I can directly comprehend Blue Ring's Second Form: Logic Chain Severance." Qin Yu barely hesitated, as if he had already made his decision. "Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up, here you go." Xiao Yue's eyes curved into crescents, and she gently patted his shoulder. "Alright, Little Qinzi, I've been waiting for you to say that."
She gracefully leaped off Qin Yu's shoulder, landing in mid-air in front of the gourd. She clasped her hands together, and the star-blue energy of the Blue Ring flowed from her fingertips into fine rays of light. The purple gourd hovered slightly in front of her. She did not open it abruptly, but instead closed her eyes first, sensing the rhythm of the "Thought of Trapping Causes and Locking Effects" within the gourd.
The Blue Ring energy flowed like gentle yet precise logical scans along the symbols Causality Severance and effect on the gourd's surface, until it captured the resonant frequency of the drop of "Paradox Source Water" inside.
She said softly, "It's not forced, it's gentle." As soon as she finished speaking, she touched the silver-white sealing rope at the mouth of the gourd with her fingertip. A wisp of extremely thin blue light seeped into the knot. The knot did not resist, but instead loosened easily as if it recognized the logical aura of the same origin. The golden sealing patterns at the mouth of the gourd slowly dimmed, and an extremely soft blue light overflowed from within.
The next moment, the Paradox Source Water slowly rose from the depths of the gourd.
It was a drop of crystal-clear liquid, perfectly spherical, with a constant volume, suspended in the air, neither increasing nor decreasing, as if it had never experienced the process of "formation" and "condensation".
It is not static; within it, a miniature nebula-like vortex subtly rotates, slowly and profoundly, like an entire compressed logical universe. Its main body is a deep azure blue, sharing the same energy source as the Blue Ring, yet at its core lies a single, pure, bright white point of light.
Like a singularity lying still at the center, upon close inspection, extremely tiny transparent symbols would occasionally appear inside the droplet—a broken arrow (→), a shattered ring (○), and an incorrectly bent infinity symbol (∞). They flashed by in an instant, each appearance like a brief pause in some logic. Qin Yu only looked at it for a moment longer before feeling a slight stagnation in his consciousness, as if his thoughts had been gently stopped at a certain point.
Xiao Yue's expression turned unusually serious. She stretched out her fingertip and lightly touched the edge of the water droplet. The moment she touched it, time seemed to freeze. A pure blue light instantly covered her entire body from the center of the water droplet, and then collapsed inward at the same instant, disappearing between her eyebrows.
The Paradox Source Water did not enhance her power, but rather directly integrated into her core thought logic, like a living catalyst, simulating a complete "Logic Chain Severance" process deep within her consciousness.
The inner world suddenly unfolds, revealing itself.
The world before her eyes transformed into a transparent structure, with everything connected by countless luminous chains. Chains of cause and effect, chains of rules, and chains of destiny intertwined to form a vast structural network. Her own Blue Ring energy also manifested as several clear main chains, supporting each other and forming the premise of "my existence."
Breakpoint.
The Paradox Source Water transformed into an exquisitely crafted blue blade of light, gently landing on one of her most crucial logical fulcrums. She clearly sensed that if this chain broke, her definition of the "Blue Ring" would no longer hold true.
The illusory realm.
The moment that fulcrum was gently severed, her existence abruptly plummeted into a logical void. There was no "I," no "power," not even the "Blue Ring." She felt her body, consciousness, and energy lose their mutual support, falling into a state of absolute Emptiness yet brimming with infinite possibilities. This instant felt like an eternity.
Then--
Return.
The logical chain was reconstructed, but this time, she was no longer passively dependent on it; instead, she became the "chainbreaker."
In reality, a very thin blue light ring appeared between Xiao Yue's eyebrows. The ring constantly broke and reformed itself, like a symbol in thought. After flashing for a few breaths, the mark disappeared, leaving behind a faint, multiple whispers in the air, as if logic itself was sighing softly.
Xiao Yue opened her eyes, her star-blue pupils deeper than ever before.
She gently raised her hand, and Blue Ring energy suddenly radiated outwards. Countless tiny blue light chains emerged from her body, as if scanning the structure of reality. With a flick of her finger, the causal chains around a boulder beside the ruins were precisely locked onto, and the next moment—
"The chain breaks and collapses on its own." A light blue light slashed.
The boulder did not explode or shatter; instead, it suddenly twisted into an impossible geometric shape, like an infinitely looping Möbius strip, before turning into fragments of blue light and disappearing silently. A series of soft cracking sounds filled the air, as if dominoes were falling one by one.
Blue Ring, Form Two: Logic Chain Severance.
------Dismantle all the supporting elements of the enemy's existence logic, causing its behavior, skills, and state of existence to lose their support, leading it into a paradox and ultimately destroying itself.
She gently landed back on Qin Yu's shoulder, her tone regaining its playfulness, yet tinged with a hint of confidence. "Little Qinzi, how about we find some unlucky guy to try our luck with?"
Qin Yu's lips curled slightly. The gourd had closed again, and the Paradox Source Water.