The cunning Ancient God Clan cultivator slowly reached out his hand above the water's surface, gently clenching his fist. The Mystic Void Non-Stillness Seal in the void, instantly transformed into a pale golden stream of light and was stored in his internal storage crystal core. His movement appeared casual, yet it carried an extremely cautious restraint.
As if guarding against any unforeseen changes, he slightly raised his head the moment the mark completely disappeared, a meaningful smile appearing on his face. That smile was no longer concealed, and a shadow slowly spread from the depths of his eyes. "Thank you both, fellow Daoists."
His voice was gentle, but his tone carried an undisguised sharpness, like a short blade hidden in a sleeve finally revealing a glint of cold light. Before he finished speaking, the entire space suddenly trembled again.
On the once crystal-clear water, a crack slowly tore open, and fiery light emanated from its depths, surging outwards with an aura that scorched all rules. That light was not merely flame, but a kind of "ember fire" mixed with reincarnation and nothingness.
It is not burning matter, but the rules themselves. A barrier leading to a deeper level can be vaguely seen in the cracks. The flames surge, like an ancient scroll that has not yet been unfolded, burning from the inside.
The fourth layer of the Realm of Fire barrier has been opened.
The Ancient God Clan cultivator took a step back, his smile softening and becoming insincere once more. He cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, his tone deliberately relaxed, "In that case, we'll take our leave first. Farewell, fellow Daoists."
The other person glanced coldly at Qin Yu and Su Qingyuan, a flash of killing intent in his eyes, but said nothing more. The two of them moved at the same time, stepping directly into the fiery barrier. With a swirling light, their figures disappeared completely, leaving only the crack slowly closing in the void.
The Water Realm's tranquility returned.
Su Qingyuan finally let out a slow breath, her chest rising and falling slightly. She turned her gaze to Qin Yu, the coldness in her eyes still lingering. "Young Master Qin, these two are definitely not benevolent people. Those two fellow Daoists were clearly killed by them in secret."
Qin Yu nodded slightly, his gaze calm and composed. "Yes, I've seen through it. They planted a causal trap in the Ink River, using the power of rules to conceal their murderous intent." His tone was flat, devoid of anger, yet a deep chill lurked beneath. "Ignore them for now, Senior Su, please retrieve the jade box first."
Su Qingyuan nodded without saying anything more. She took a light step, causing very faint ripples on the water. She reached out and held the jade box on the left in her palm.
The moment the jade box was in hand, the entire space suddenly darkened for a moment.
The next moment, a strange light slowly seeped out from the box. The light was not dazzling, but it had a profound depth that was impossible to look directly at, as if the light itself had been compressed to the Ultimate, existing and constantly disappearing. The lid of the box slowly opened in her palm. In an instant, all sounds were swallowed up, and even her heartbeat seemed to be pulled into a bottomless abyss.
An Ultimate blackness emerged from the box; it wasn't a color, but a space that had been carved out.
A three-foot-seven-inch-long object slowly rose, its entire body as black as a solidified abyss. The blade was long and slightly curved, yet no sharpness was visible, as if the space it occupied Does Not Exist distinguish between sharpness and bluntness. Light touched its surface...
It was swallowed up completely, unable to even form a shadow. The moment the divine sense probed in, the thought slid down as if it had stepped into thin air, as if it had fallen into a bottomless well.
The hilt is made of ancient jade, so cold it has no warmth. The pommel is inlaid with a "Lightless Pearl," which neither reflects nor emits light, like an empty void that never responds to the outside world. Anyone who gazes at it will have the illusion of being sucked into it.
On the blade, eight ancient seal characters quietly emerged. "Unborn, it was already silent; upon return, it left Wuhen." The characters were not read, but were directly poured into the sea of consciousness.
Meaning unfolds in the heart, requiring no thought or understanding; it is the conclusion itself. At this moment, Su Qingyuan's Fate Soul suddenly trembled.
It wasn't a slight resonance, but an almost tearing echo. Within her sea of consciousness, a long-hidden Void Dao Marks was completely awakened, its aura violently vibrating within her body, and the surrounding space began to collapse at that moment.
As if swallowed inch by inch by that Sheathless Blade, the water beneath their feet rapidly darkened, and ripples spread outwards, each ripple carrying an ethereal fluctuation that suppressed the surrounding rules layer by layer.
Her breathing became rapid in an instant, and a memory she had never touched before was forcibly pulled open within her Fate Soul.
In the Primordial, before the chaos was clearly defined, a "gap" emerged from beyond the myriad paths.
She seemed to stand outside that period of history, witnessing the birth of that sword, seeing Ancestor Xuanji forge "Flaw" into a weapon with his own will, and seeing everything return to Wuhen after three swings. It wasn't a scene, but a fact directly written into her Fate Soul.
The name "Sheathless Blade" naturally came to mind, and at the same time, the blade trembled slightly.
Even without being drawn, it felt as if the entire world had been cleaved open.
Su Qingyuan's hand trembled slightly, but she did not loosen her grip. Instead, she slowly tightened her grip on the hilt of the knife. At that moment, her aura suddenly changed. The power of nothingness perfectly matched her Fate Soul. A layer of extremely fine black fluctuations slowly spread around her, like an expanding blank space, erasing all superfluous existences inch by inch.
Her gaze changed, becoming deeper and calmer, the kind of look only a cultivator who has touched upon "nothingness" would possess.
Qin Yu stood aside, quietly watching everything without interrupting or interfering. His gaze fell on the knife, and a very faint ripple appeared deep within his mind. It was not surprise, but confirmation.
This artifact was not possessed but chosen. Su Qingyuan was merely allowed to hold it. The light of the Water Realm slowly receded at this moment, and a new cause and effect had already been written.
Qin Yu gazed at the Sheathless Blade still lingering with an ethereal aura in Su Qingyuan's hand, a genuine smile appearing in his eyes. The smile wasn't ostentatious, but rather carried heartfelt satisfaction and approval, as if he had witnessed a divine weapon, dormant for millennia, finally find someone truly capable of wielding it. He gently cupped his hands, his voice steady and gentle. "Congratulations, Senior Su, on acquiring this divine weapon. With it, you will surely dominate all realms and shake the very foundations of the world."
Su Qingyuan, still immersed in the intense resonance, smiled uncontrollably upon hearing this. She slowly sheathed the Sheathless Blade deep within her Fate Soul, and the moment the blade's light dissipated, even her entire demeanor seemed to gain a sharper, more Space Silence quality. She turned to look at Qin Yu.
Smiling broadly, her eyes still gleaming with the light of joy she had just received the divine weapon, she said, "Oh dear, Young Master Qin, we're probably not that far apart in age. Calling me 'Senior Su' all the time makes me feel old; just call me by my name."
Qin Yu smiled slightly upon hearing this, his tone carrying a natural sense of propriety. "Then I'll call you Miss Su." Su Qingyuan nodded in satisfaction, clearly in a very good mood. Her gaze then turned to the jade box still suspended in mid-air on the right, and she couldn't help but urge, "Quick, Young Master Qin, go and see what treasure is inside that jade box on the right."
Qin Yu nodded, raised his hand, and gently guided the jade box, which immediately transformed into a warm, flowing light and landed steadily in his palm. Su Qingyuan stood to the side, her eyes gleaming with barely suppressed curiosity, like a girl finally having some free time to watch a spectacle. She couldn't help but lean closer. "Quickly open it and see what kind of treasure it is!"
Qin Yu lowered his gaze to the jade box in his hand. Before his fingertips even touched the lid, his Fate Soul had already sensed a very subtle sealing force. The restriction wasn't malevolent, but it suppressed the aura inside the jade box completely, clearly indicating that it couldn't be easily opened by ordinary means. Su Qingyuan also noticed the fluctuation, her eyes flickered slightly, and she was about to speak...
Qin Yu calmly raised his hand, and a wisp of extremely fine Fate Soul light pattern quietly appeared in his palm. Then, he gently turned it at his fingertips, and the Master Book Seal Severance of the Heavenly Cause Judgment Sequence - Six Severances Seal, Absolute Naming Reconstruction, silently operated. An invisible Order Adjudication rapidly spread along the sealed path inside the box, like an invisible pen gently rewriting Dao Source definition at the most core connection point. The restriction didn't even have time to vibrate before it dispersed on its own in an instant, as if it had never existed. Only then did Qin Yu slowly open the jade box.
There was no vast pillar of light, no earth-shattering phenomenon, and no booming sound typical of the appearance of a divine weapon. Inside the box lay a key, a cracked, star-silver key. It was only about three inches long, its size rather ordinary, yet its surface exuded an inexplicable strangeness and heaviness. A dim star core was embedded in the handle.
The faint light deep within the star's core flickered, like a dying flame, or the last breath of a dying person's heart. The key was covered in a spiderweb of cracks, each one deep and fine, crisscrossing and spreading, as if it had endured countless unimaginable impacts and backlashes, or like some ancient artifact cracked layer by layer by time.
Beneath the silvery surface, a deeper chill lurks. The material is neither gold nor jade; when your fingertips touch it, you feel a cool sensation spreading upwards along your veins. The fine lines on the handle resemble star trails or artifact patterns. When you gaze at them quietly, the lines seem to slowly flow, as if they are calculating some unfinished logic of composition.
Su Qingyuan had been full of anticipation, but upon seeing what was inside the box, her expression immediately fell. Her brow furrowed slightly, and she blurted out, "This... oh dear, that's all?" She glanced at the key again, growing increasingly resentful, her voice filled with pity for Qin Yu, "Damn it, how could it be just a broken key? Those two Ancient God Clan really got off easy."
Qin Yu didn't respond to her complaint. His gaze remained fixed on the key, his eyes deepening as if he were trying to discern something ancient and hidden. Just then, a sudden jolt ran through the depths of his consciousness, and a familiar light burst forth from the source of his Fate Soul. Su Qingyuan felt a flash of starlight before her eyes, and a dazzling, magnificent key appeared spontaneously before Qin Yu.
That was the Star Wancai Key. The moment it burst forth from Qin Yu's sea of consciousness, the surrounding air trembled slightly. Su Qingyuan was startled by this sudden change, her shoulders trembling, and she subconsciously took half a step back, her eyes filled with surprise and astonishment. "My God, what is this thing?"
Before she finished speaking, the Star Wancai Key was already hovering before the strange key riddled with cracks. The two keys, one bright and one dim, one new and one old, one seemed to have been forged from the brilliance of the Milky Way, radiant and dazzling, almost unreal in its beauty; the other was like a broken artifact crawling out of a dead abyss, covered in cracks, silent and hard, carrying a desolation that had been polished by countless destructions.
But at the very moment they faced each other, an extremely strong resonance arose between them, and an invisible shock suddenly rippled out from between the two keys, causing the entire Water Realm to sink slightly in that instant.
Immediately afterwards, the Crack Key was the first to move. The spiderweb-like cracks on its surface began to light up one by one, and a star-silver light seeped out from the deepest cracks. It was no longer the dim light of decay, but rather like countless "memories of broken artifacts" sealed within it beginning to awaken at once.
As each crack lit up, a fleeting phantom appeared in the surrounding air—broken bells and cauldrons, collapsed ancient towers, shattered divine swords, and shattered armor. Countless magical treasures froze in mid-air the moment they were destroyed. Those moments of shattering were silent, yet they carried a sense of destructive power that shook the Fate Soul, as if each crack remembered the last scene of a magical treasure Return to the Ruins.
Su Qingyuan subconsciously held her breath. The clear light of the Water Realm was cut into a mix of light and shadow by countless fragmented artifacts. Meanwhile, the Star Wancai Key within Qin Yu's body began to shine rapidly. The originally intricate and gorgeous key patterns unfolded layer by layer in the light, like a vast star map suddenly spreading out. The light grew brighter and brighter until the entire space was dyed with a layer of flowing star-silver luster.
The next moment, the outer shell of the Cracked Key shattered silently, not by exploding or breaking apart, but by peeling away layer by layer. The detached fragments didn't fall; instead, they all remained suspended in mid-air, each fragment displaying a clear image: three thousand six hundred spiritual artifacts, four hundred and seventy-two magical treasures, seventeen imperial weapons... all the objects it had traced, dismantled, and destroyed, all showed their moment of destruction within these fragments.
Laws shattered, artifact patterns crumbled, cause and effect reversed, and rules collapsed. Those "moments of death" overlapped one another, layer upon layer, filling the entire space, like a silent and vast artifact funeral unfolding between heaven and earth. Su Qingyuan could hardly contain her shock. She could clearly feel that it was not a simple scene, but the sum of all the "paths of artifact destruction" that this key had ever experienced.
Meanwhile, Qin Yu's Star Wancai Key slowly moved forward, the starlight patterns flowing around him seeping inch by inch into the depths of the floating fragments, like an invisible hand beginning to reweave their underlying essence. The next moment, all the fragments began to collapse towards the center simultaneously, the scenes of destruction overlapping each other, the shattered memories of the artifact's path, the dismantled causal trajectories, and the collapsed logic of its composition frantically reorganizing in mid-air.
The silvery starlight intertwined with the compressed "death records," weaving together into a point of light that grew brighter and heavier. That point of light didn't explode; it merely "rewrote," as if an invisible pen in the universe was rewriting "destruction" into "definition," and "destruction" into "zeroing out."
Deep within the light, a figure of utter solitude seemed to silently manifest. The man wore an old robe, his brows were withered and thin, but his eyes shone with an astonishing brightness, as if he had seen through the very essence of what made Wanbao a treasure. His palm gently covered the ball of light, and his lips moved silently, as if he were uttering a phrase long since erased by time. Then, his entire figure turned into stardust and completely merged into it.
In that instant, the entire world fell silent. Then, a layer of definitional ripples, invisible to the naked eye yet capable of striking directly at the Fate Soul, slowly spread out from the center of the light. There was no roar, no flames, no flying fragments, but all the floating debris, phantoms, and remnants of artifacts vanished completely the moment this ripple swept over them, leaving not even a trace.
Su Qingyuan felt a lightness in her mind, as if even the lingering aura of weapons around her had been completely erased. The light mist gathered again at the center, and a new key slowly emerged. It was no longer a simple physical object, but more like a "key" woven from countless starlight-defined patterns. The starlight flickered at the edges, while at the center, a clear yet illusory key shadow appeared and disappeared, as if it existed here and covered a wider expanse of space and time.
Finally, the light and mist completely dissipated, and the newly formed Starlight Key slowly sank into Qin Yu's palm. At this moment, its name was also directly written into the deepest part of Qin Yu's Fate Soul.
The Star Wancai Key - The Edict of Returning to Zero.
It is no longer merely a rare treasure that restrains magical artifacts, but has become the anchor point of the "End of All Artifacts" Order Adjudication, residing within the very essence of Qin Yu's existence. It cannot be taken away, sealed, or copied. Any external object attempting to use its power to resist, assist, or interfere with Qin Yu will be unable to do so.
It will be traced back to its original logic the instant before it is touched, dismantling it from matter, energy, rules, and causality all the way back to the most primordial stardust. Even the so-called "indestructible", "absolutely defensible", and "impervious to all laws" descriptions of artifacts will be regarded as inferior Order Adjudication in front of it and will be reduced to zero first.
It was not violent destruction, but an absolute and quiet judgment; if an instrument were to violate it, it would perish before the thought even had a chance to manifest.
The stellar silver light in Qin Yu's palm slowly sank into his sea of consciousness. The entire process was astonishingly quiet, yet Su Qingyuan remained stunned for a long time. She stared blankly at Qin Yu, and after a long while, she took a soft breath, her eyes still filled with lingering shock and curiosity. "Young Master Qin... this key of yours is probably much stranger than my Sheathless Blade."
Qin Yu simply looked down at his palm, then looked up and smiled at her. His smile was peaceful and composed, as if everything that had just happened was nothing more than a natural return of cause and effect. In the depths of his consciousness, the newly born Star Wancai Key was already quietly suspended, its starlight not bright, but as steady as if it could crush all external objects in the world.