Within the Autumn Domain, the seasonal light mists churned like waves, and the golden winds and desolation intertwined to create an eerie and solemn world. Qin Yu, along with three Mystic Void Realm Initial Stage cultivators and two Mystic Void Realm High Stage individuals, were swept into this place.
As soon as they regained their footing, the world was reshaped. The void slowly tore open before them, and two completely different gates silently appeared, as if they had been there since time immemorial, waiting for the newcomers to step into their destined end.
The left-hand Day Gate, the Golden Wind and Falling Petals Realm, hangs in the void, its shimmering golden light flowing gently like water. The gate is composed of countless golden wind blades and fallen, withered leaves. The fluttering shadows of the leaves reveal no trace of killing intent, but rather exude an almost gentle solemnity, as if it were the tranquility after countless tribulations.
Inside the gate, the world was vast and open, the autumn sun was warm and gentle, and fallen leaves, like butterflies, spread out in layers to form a long golden path. The wind whispered softly, like a knife but not harmful. Instead, it subtly drew in the Dao power within one's body, giving one the illusion of "going with the flow and using the power of autumn to temper oneself." It was as if this gate was the only way to break through the current situation.
The right-hand Night Gate —the Desolate Bone Court—is like a forsaken pawn of heaven and earth, gray and silent. The gate is devoid of light and shadow, seemingly formed from countless withered bones, yet without a trace of decay, only a profound Space Silence that penetrates to the Fate Soul. Within the gate, the night is boundless, without stars or moon, without wind or sound. Withered bones lie everywhere, and the shadows of branches reach out like ghostly claws. Even the flow of time seems frozen between heaven and earth.
Everything fell into an indescribable stillness, a stillness not of murderous intent, but of the finality of "the path is broken, the road is cut off," which made people instinctively repel it, and even their souls subtly shrink, unwilling to take a single step closer.
The two doors stood side by side, one bright and one dark, one seemingly offering a path to safety, the other a place of utter annihilation. Yet, the invisible pressure made it clear to everyone—this was not a choice between life and death, but a choice of "how to die."
For a moment, everyone froze in place, no one daring to move, the air thick with tension, their Fate Soul trembling slightly.
The Mystic Void Realm High Stage expert in the grey-white robe had a cold gaze as he slowly swept over the crowd. An undisguised calculating look appeared on his lips, and his voice was low and oppressive, "Who among you will go to the barrier gate on the left?"
Before the words were finished, the Mystic Void Realm High Stage in crimson and black battle robes spoke coldly, his tone filled with impatience and pressure, "Are you deaf? Who's going to scout ahead?"
The three cultivators at the Mystic Void Realm Initial Stage exchanged glances, their expressions changing slightly, but none of them responded.
Qin Yu in the crowd, his aura restrained, his face already changed. At this moment, he looked like a "weakling" with the lowest cultivation level. His gaze was calm, as if he had nothing to do with this life-or-death decision.
However, the cultivator in the grey robe had already locked his gaze on him, a sudden chill rising in his eyes, and his tone turning icy, "Boy."
He stepped forward, his imposing aura pressing down like a tidal wave. "Here, your cultivation is the lowest." "In that case—shouldn't you be the one to scout ahead for us?"
The tone wasn't one of inquiry, but rather one of judgment.
The man in the crimson-black battle robe sneered, standing to the side and behind, blocking their retreat. "Don't waste your time; we don't have the patience to waste here with you."
Three cultivators at the Mystic Void Realm Initial Stage were also unconsciously closing in on the two, their auras subtly forming an encirclement. Their gazes were complex but ultimately turned cold; in the face of life and death, no one was willing to be the one sacrificed.
Qin Yu remained silent; he simply raised his eyes slowly, his gaze sweeping between the two boundary gates.
Then, a wisp of divine sense silently spread out, quietly probing towards the two portals. However, as soon as the divine sense touched the void in front of the portals, it sank into the abyss like a stone.
There was no echo, no feedback, as if nothing perceptible Does Not Exist inside that door.
The next instant, the cultivator in the grey robe sneered, as if he had already seen through everything, "Don't waste your energy."
"These two boundary gates are completely impenetrable by divine sense." "If we could detect them—would we still be trapped here?"
With a hint of mockery in his tone, the man in the crimson-black battle robe took a step forward, his oppressive aura suddenly lowering as he approached Qin Yu, "What are you still dawdling for?"
"Choose." "Left or right?" "Don't force us—we'll help you choose ourselves." The air suddenly tensed.
Three cultivators at the Mystic Void Realm Initial Stage had also approached, their gazes icy, and five faint auras formed, completely locking Qin Yu in the center.
At this moment, there was no turning back and no time to lose; only a choice remained. Qin Yu, however, remained motionless, his eyes hidden deep within something unseen by anyone.
A sense of loneliness slowly emerged, as if what he saw was different from what they had seen from the very beginning.
In the Autumn Domain, the wind howls fiercely, golden leaves fall like rain, and the Day Gate —the Golden Wind and Falling Petals Return Path— still hangs suspended in the void, its golden light swirling and shifting. Amidst the fluttering leaves, the path to the Great Dao seems to lie hidden, as if after all the desolation, a return to warmth and tranquility will ultimately follow.
Qin Yu stood silently before it, his gaze slowly and deeply sweeping over the golden world. He was not deceived by the illusion of "borrowing power to survive." Instead, amidst the warmth and tranquility, he sensed a deeper sense of unease.
That is not vitality, but a carefully constructed "definition of vitality," a trap that leads the cultivator's foundation onto a predetermined track and then completely severs it.
His gaze darkened slightly, his Fate Soul trembled gently, and within his sea of consciousness, the branches and leaves of the Void Divine Tree swayed softly. He slowly probed into it with his will, softly calling out, "Xiao Yue... Xiao Yue."
Perched atop a branch, the tiny Blue Ring Xiao Yue, barely sixteen centimeters tall, nestled between the starlight and the sacred tree, breathed evenly, seemingly lost in a profound, silent dream. After being called twice, her clear, star-like eyes slowly opened, still carrying a trace of lingering languor and confusion. She rubbed her eyes, sat up slightly, her small figure appearing both agile and ethereal in the light and shadow of the sacred tree. "What is it, Little Qinzi?"
Without wasting words, Qin Yu channeled his divine sense, projecting all the external scenes, the structure of the formation, the Four Seasons Killing Formation, and the pressure exerted on her by the crowd into her sea of consciousness. The images surged like a tidal wave.
Xiao Yue blinked, and was fully awake in the next moment. She stretched, her slender body relaxing, the thin chain on her ankle swaying gently with a soft "clang--". She tilted her head, the star patterns in her eyes slowly rotating. "Oh... so you've stumbled into the Four Seasons Profound Mystic Void Realm Breaking God Sealing Array."
She spoke so casually, as if it were a trivial matter, "It's a small problem, let me take a look."
Meanwhile, outside, the Mystic Void Realm High Stage cultivator in the crimson-black battle robe had grown impatient. His gaze was like a knife as he coldly rebuked, "Boy, have you made your choice?"
The oppressive atmosphere in the air suddenly tightened, and even the autumn wind seemed to be distorted by the pressure.
Qin Yu lowered his head, deliberately keeping his expression humble, his tone tinged with a hint of meekness and hesitation, "My lord... even if you want me to die... you should at least let me prepare..."
The man in the grey robe narrowed his eyes, his gaze carrying a hint of amusement and control, clearly regarding Qin Yu as a doomed figure. He sneered, "Fine."
"I'll give you a little more time." "Twenty breaths." "When the time is up—if you don't choose, we'll choose for you."
As soon as he finished speaking, the pressure of cause and effect subtly locked onto Qin Yu, and the five people shifted their positions slightly, completely sealing off all escape routes.
Within her sea of consciousness, Xiao Yue had witnessed everything. Her expression subtly shifted at that moment; her previous ease vanished, replaced by a rare seriousness. She softly uttered a sound of surprise, her eyes sparkling, and her voice lowered, "Something's not right..."
Qin Yu's heart tightened. "What?" Xiao Yue spoke slowly, her voice soft yet like a scathing Order Adjudication pointing straight to the source, "Both of these doors are dead ends."
With those words, the last glimmer of hope that Qin Yu had been testing the waters was completely wiped away.
"What should we do then?" His divine sense remained calm, but he completed a deduction in an instant. "A direct confrontation with these five... offers no chance of victory."
Xiao Yue suddenly blinked, a slight smile curving her lips, that lazy yet slightly dangerous smile reappearing. As if she had thought of something interesting, her small figure leaped lightly from a branch of the sacred tree. "I've got an idea!"
She raised her hand and pointed to the other side, which was dark and silent. "Little Qinzi —go to the right."
"Night Gate - Desolate Bone Court Realm." Her tone was light, yet carried an undeniable certainty. "Once inside—listen to me."
Qin Yu didn't ask any more questions, didn't hesitate, and didn't think twice. Before even twenty breaths had passed, he had already moved.
With a stomp of his foot, his figure suddenly transformed into a blur, directly darting out from between the five people's auras, and heading straight for the Night Gate, which "everyone instinctively avoided," amidst the slightly astonished gaze of the cultivator in the crimson-black battle robe.
In that instant, the autumn wind stopped abruptly, and the golden leaves froze in the air.
The man in the grey robe narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly surprised that Qin Yu would be so decisive, and even more surprised that he would choose the path that was "clearly a gate of certain death"—the "Gate of Death."
He coldly uttered two words. The next moment, Qin Yu had already stepped into the Night Gate, his figure swallowed up by the desolation.
Outside the door, five streams of the Mystic Void Realm aura stood silently, their gazes indifferent, as if awaiting an outcome that was destined never to happen again.
The moment Qin Yu stepped into the Night Gate, the world seemed to have been stripped of all "definition"—there was no sound, no light, and even "direction" itself became blurred. The next moment, a very soft yet chilling cracking sound came from beneath his feet, and his vision abruptly returned—
Before me lay a world of Ultimate stillness. Autumn Night, Withered Bones Mystic Void Formation: There was no wind, yet it felt as if countless winds had once existed.
The world was shrouded in gray, desolate like a shell emptied out by time. The ground was covered with endless skeletons, layer upon layer, intertwined, like a dead sea piled up from the fall of countless cultivators. There was no trace of life in the bones, but the residual power of the Realm Breaking Realm and Mystic Void Realm still lingered, pressing heavily in this space.
The moment Qin Yu landed, a bone beneath his feet gently collapsed with a "crack," and in the next instant, an invisible crack suddenly opened up from the ground!
There was no light or sound; it was a "Realm Breaking rift" that directly tore apart the "boundary of existence." Qin Yu's pupils shrank slightly, and he instantly shifted to the side, narrowly avoiding the rift, which still grazed the hem of his clothes.
"Swoosh—" The hem of the garment vanished not by being cut off, but by being "erased."
At the same time, an imperceptible force of desolation eroded from all directions, quietly draining the life force from the body, as if the world itself was slowly "devouring life." Even more terrifying, the power of Mystic Void and emptiness followed the vibration of the Fate Soul and began to erode the foundation of cultivation. If it lingered for too long, even if one did not die, one would be "shaving off one's cultivation level" and become a cripple.
A white figure slowly emerged from the distance; it was no ordinary creature, but a White Tiger.
Its entire body was pure white, yet it lacked any warmth or gentleness. Instead, it seemed to be formed from the "intent of severing boundaries." With each step it took, the withered bones trembled, and the space cracked slightly. Its tiger eyes held no emotion, only a pure sense of "judgment."
It raised its head. "Roar--!!!" The tiger's roar reverberated, directly surging into its sea of consciousness.
That was not a sound, but a kind of "foundation-shattering power". If one's cultivation is slightly weak, this roar is enough to shatter Fate Soul.
At the same time, among the withered bones, the remains slowly wriggled, their skeletal structures twisting and contorting, and the Withered Remains Bizarre Demons emerged from the sea of bones.
They had no faces, but carried a certain "dragging intent" as they slowly crawled toward Qin Yu. Wherever they passed, the void collapsed, and once touched, they would be directly dragged into the Mystic Void Withered Stillness Domain, with no Return Path.
However, Qin Yu did not move.
Just then, a very soft "clang" sound slowly spread through the desolate, withered bone domain. The sound was as faint as a whisper, yet it seemed to strike the deepest part of the Fate Soul, causing even the desolate power permeating the surrounding area to pause slightly upon hearing it.
A faint, star-blue light quietly condensed on his right shoulder, and the Blue Ring Xiao Yue appeared.
She was petite, only about sixteen centimeters tall, and stood quietly beside Qin Yu's shoulder. Her long hair flowed like a starry river, gradually changing from deep blue to light blue. The hair strands fell smoothly, and the ends shimmered with a faint starlight, like a light mist in the night sky. A silver crescent ornament hung on her forehead, with a thin chain around it, swaying gently with her breath and reflecting a faint and mysterious halo.
Her eyes were clear as jewels, with stars seemingly slowly rotating within them, serene and Kong Ling.
Her deep blue star-studded dress resembled a cosmic star chart unfolding, with rings and star patterns flowing between the hem, subtly resonating with the time and order of heaven and earth. The square star core badge on her chest glowed faintly, like a solidified star.
She stood barefoot on Qin Yu's shoulder, her feet making no sound, yet it seemed as if she were treading on invisible star trails. Her hands hung gently at her sides, and the delicate chain halo around her wrist swayed slightly, creating faint ripples of time.
In this desolate wasteland of withered bones that devours life and tears existence apart, her aura remained unusually calm, as if she did not belong to this world and was not bound by any "definition" of this realm.
She merely tilted her head slightly, glancing at the White Tiger approaching on its skeletal frame and the wandering Withered Remains Bizarre Demons in the distance, her expression indifferent, even carrying a hint of languor.
It was as if all of this was utterly insignificant.
She yawned, glanced at the slowly approaching White Tiger and the Withered Remains Bizarre Demons, and said lazily, "Don't move, Little Qinzi."
Qin Yu focused his mind, and in the next instant, his aura suddenly subsided, not as a defense, but as a return to stillness.
His Fate Soul remained still, his cause and effect were unwavering, and his existence was imperceptible. It was as if his entire being had been quietly detached from the "object of judgment" in this world.
The White Tiger stepped forward and stopped ten feet away. Its eyes swept over Qin Yu, but did not lock onto him. At that moment, it seemed as if it "saw" him, yet "could not confirm" it.
The Withered Remains Bizarre Demons crawled closer, its bony claws outstretched, but suddenly stopped just before touching Qin Yu, as if, in that instant, it had "lost its target."
They wandered and searched, but could no longer connect "Qin Yu" with "the draggable being".
Xiao Yue swung her legs lightly, a smug smile on her face. "This place is impressive, but it still relies on 'definition locking' to lay off people."
"If you're not targeted by it, it can't kill you. The weakness of this formation is that you absolutely must not move, and you must not have any desire to attack or any distracting thoughts." A look of realization flashed in Qin Yu's eyes, and he slowly exhaled.
He sheathed his sword, ceasing his confrontation with the place and choosing instead to remain still.
Let the power of desolation flow, let the White Tiger patrol, let the strange demons roam, he and Xiao Yue, like two unrecorded shadows, quietly exist in this dead end. In the end, the White Tiger completely disappeared, and the magic circle became an empty space, as if the air had completely disappeared, leaving only Qin Yu and Xiao Yue standing still.
After a moment, Qin Yu slowly spoke, "We'll wait here for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."
Xiao Yue nodded, leaning leisurely on his shoulder. "Those five guys outside probably think you're dead by now."
Qin Yu's gaze darkened slightly. "Xiao Yue, which region are we going to after we leave?"
Her tone suddenly became more serious, "Based on my analysis of this formation, the real way out should be in the Winter Domain."
Qin Yu frowned slightly. "That's not right... that Mystic Void Realm High Stage in the crimson-black battle robe entered the Winter Domain right from the start."
"He still managed to escape severely injured in the end." Xiao Yue tilted her head slightly, pondered for a moment, then smiled softly, "Then that must be it."
"The path he initially chose was a dead end." "Even after narrowly escaping, he didn't dare try a true path to survival." A glint flashed in Qin Yu's eyes.
Outside the Autumn Domain, the five Profound Mystic Void Realm cultivators were still staring intently at the Night Gate.
Time passed without any movement. The man in the crimson-black battle robe snorted coldly, "That kid is probably already Annihilation."
The man in the grey-white robe nodded, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. His gaze slowly shifted to the three cultivators at the Mystic Void Realm Initial Stage.
A chilling aura emanated from one of them, a hint of killing intent lurking beneath. He immediately spoke, his voice cold and hard, "Don't even think about sending us to scout ahead again."
"Let's go in—together." Another person stepped forward. "Now there are three of us."
"Both of you are injured." "If you really want to fight—feel free to try."
The air suddenly tensed, and a cold glint flashed in the eyes of the man in the crimson-black battle robe, but he ultimately did not make a move.
The man in the greyish-white robe suddenly smiled, a gentle smile that even carried a hint of "sincerity." "Fellow Daoists, you've misunderstood."
"Since we are all trapped in this situation, we should advance and retreat together." He pointed to the Day Gate, "Since that brat chose the Death Gate..."
"That—this door—is naturally the path to survival." He spoke with certainty, as if he had already seen through everything.
The three exchanged a glance and finally nodded. "Alright." "Then let's go together." The man in the grey robe stepped slightly to the side. "Please."
However, the three did not move first, but instead stood beside him. "Please come together." At that moment, the five of them restrained each other, with no way to retreat.
The next instant, they simultaneously stepped into the Autumn Day Golden Wind Realm Breaking Formation, and the moment they entered, the heavens and earth suddenly shattered! The golden wind, sharp as a blade, instantly tore through the void!
"Hiss hiss hiss--!!!"
Countless wind blades swept out, each carrying the "power to sever the Dao," not cutting the physical body, but directly slicing towards the cultivation boundary. The Dao foundation cracked in the wind, as if being peeled away bit by bit.
The Mystic Void aura followed closely, and those whose souls were struck by the wind blades immediately began to "return to emptiness."
The next moment, the earth burst open and a White Tiger Supreme emerged, tearing through space!
With a swipe of its claws—"Boom—!!!" A rift that Realm Breaking the heavens and earth appeared!
One of the cultivators at the Mystic Void Realm Initial Stage thrust his sword directly at the White Tiger, but in an instant, his entire being, along with his Fate Soul, was swallowed up by the crack and stripped away from his very existence.
The other person roared and unleashed his divine power, only to be pierced by an invisible blade— Severed Dao Bizarre Shadow, formless yet capable of "slashing."
With one strike, the spiritual veins were severed; with another, the soul was shattered; with the third, utter annihilation was achieved. Before the screams could even fade, the world was already shrouded in a chilling stillness.
The expressions of the two men, one in the grey-white robe and the other in the crimson-black battle robe, finally changed. They realized that this so-called "gate of life" was not a path to survival, but rather a "mouth of judgment."