The last wisp of starlight in Qin Yu's palm slowly sank into his sea of consciousness. The Water Realm had completely returned to tranquility. He turned to look at Su Qingyuan, his expression regaining its usual composure and calmness. His tone was gentle yet carried a natural sense of progression. "Let's go, Miss Su, it's time for us to move on to the fourth page."
Su Qingyuan gripped the Sheathless Blade within her Fate Soul. The lingering resonance with "Deficiency" still flowed slowly through her body. She nodded, her eyes flashing with a sharpness and anticipation. "Hmm." The two stepped forward almost simultaneously, the water beneath their feet parting automatically. A barrier leading to a deeper realm unfolded in the void, emanating fiery light, like an ancient scroll not yet fully turned igniting from within. The two figures flashed and disappeared in the firelight.
The next instant, darkness descended. When their vision returned, they found themselves in another space.
Not far ahead, a figure stood silently—it was the cunning Ancient God Clan cultivator, but at this moment, he was the only one left in the arena.
Su Qingyuan's gaze locked onto her surroundings almost instantly. Her Fate Soul subtly tensed, and the aura of Sheathless Blade vibrated slightly within her body. Her voice, filled with undisguised vigilance and coldness, spoke directly, "Why are you alone? Where is the other one? Are you perhaps hiding in the shadows, preparing for another sneak attack?"
The Ancient God Clan cultivator smiled slightly upon hearing this, his smile still gentle, yet carrying a subtle, unfathomable shadow. He shrugged, his tone relaxed. "Not at all, fellow Daoist, you're overthinking it. My brother is impatient; he already took the seal and left. After all, time is limited, preserving one seal is the safest course of action."
As he spoke, his gaze swept lightly between Qin Yu and Su Qingyuan, as if weighing something, before he gave a slight bow and his smile deepened. "Now that you two are here, let's continue on our way."
Qin Yu merely glanced at him, a faint smile playing on his lips. He neither confronted him nor pressed for answers, simply nodding slightly as if accepting his explanation.
However, the next moment, a very subtle voice transmission entered Su Qingyuan's sea of consciousness, the tone calm and clear. "Miss Su, please be careful. He cannot give up the ambush. That person has most likely infiltrated into a higher hidden dimension, or is clinging to the edge of the rules."
Su Qingyuan's pupils contracted slightly, a cold glint flashing in her eyes. She didn't turn around, but responded with a telepathic message, her voice low and cold. "Yes, if he dares to show himself again, I will use him to sharpen my blade." Deep within her Fate Soul, the Sheathless Blade trembled slightly, and an almost imperceptible ethereal fluctuation slowly spread out, as if sensing the presence lurking in the shadows in advance.
In that instant, the entire space suddenly went dark—not because the light disappeared, but because the rules were momentarily removed.
The three figures seemed to be pulled into a deeper crevice by some invisible force. Their vision was completely lost for a moment, and when their senses returned, they were standing in a completely different realm.
It was a realm of embers that burned eternally in the cracks between nothingness and rules.
Beneath their feet was no longer the solid earth, but layers upon layers of ash, which presented two completely opposite states. One part had cooled, like the solidified remains of ancient rules, heavy and lifeless to the touch, while the other part was still burning, with crimson flames emanating from within, making the entire ash appear to flicker, as if every grain of ash was undergoing birth and death.
Countless tiny sparks floated in the air.
Those sparks had no fixed form; some resembled broken runes, some resembled unformed fragments of laws, and some were simply points of light. They floated slowly in the void, each carrying a faint yet extremely pure "forging intent," as if they were not burning, but rewriting some kind of structure.
Here, flames no longer represent destruction, but rather outline the boundaries of nothingness, burning out its contours, and forging rules into reality.
In the distance, crimson fire veins could be faintly seen flowing beneath the earth. These fire veins, like giant blood vessels, flowed slowly deep within the ashes. With each pulse, the boundaries of the entire space would slightly tighten or expand, as if "existence" itself was being redefined.
There was no wind, no sound, only fire and rules that were not yet fully formed. On page four, the Realm of Fire truly unfolded before the three of them.
Deep within the Domain of Emberfire, the ash-covered earth breathed slowly, crimson fire veins flowed faintly beneath their feet, and the boundary of nothingness was gradually outlined. Just as the three stood still, the previously scattered, flickering embers suddenly ignited simultaneously.
One point, two points, millions of points—the entire Ash Domain was instantly ignited into a sea of sparks. The sparks were no longer scattered but quickly connected along some unseen trajectory, forming thin, golden fire lines. These fire lines intertwined, spread, and overlapped, like a network of rules made of flames rapidly unfolding in the void.
Fire is no longer simply burning, but writing.
At the point where the fire lines intersected, space trembled slightly, and a non -Does Not Exist yet undeniable outline slowly emerged. It was not a living being, but a perceived "mode of existence." At that moment, the fire veins beneath the earth vibrated simultaneously, like blood surging through the veins, and the surface of the ash cracked continuously.
Even more intense flames erupted from the rift. The temperature around the three people did not simply rise, but their very Fate Soul were pulled into a cycle by an invisible force.
The Emberfire Dao Foundation the Rule Kindling Flame, has manifested itself without a face, without words, only fire and only rules.
The next instant, the fire lines suddenly converged, and an extremely heavy "striking" fell silently in the void, as if an invisible giant hammer had struck an invisible anvil. The sound did not reach their ears, but it directly reverberated deep within the Fate Soul of the three people, causing a violent fluctuation in their sea of consciousness.
"The Samsara Shackles." That's not a declaration, but rather the rules themselves fulfilling their own purpose.
The ashes beneath their feet suddenly cracked open, and a blazing ring of fire rose from the ground. The flames were not ordinary flames, but were composed of causal fire. As soon as the ring of fire took shape, it began to spin rapidly, with incandescent white and crimson intertwining. The temperature broke through the Limit in an instant, and the air was burned and distorted in layers. The ring of fire suddenly tightened around the three people's bodies.
The first ring of flames engulfed the body.
Qin Yu felt an irresistible heat surge from his feet to his entire body in an instant. His skin, flesh, and meridians were ignited at the same moment. His body quickly turned to ashes in the fire, and even his Fate Soul was dragged into the burning. It was not an ordinary destruction, but a process "defined by the rules as burning out". Even the traces of his existence were compressed into ashes at this moment.
The ring of fire spun again in the next instant, and he was reborn from the flames.
But that moment of "burning out" did not disappear; instead, it remained intact within the Fate Soul, like an indelible mark.
Su Qingyuan and the Ancient God Clan cultivator were in the same situation. The three of them perished and were reborn within the ring of fire. The ashes scattered and then reformed. Each cycle deepened the burning sensation. Countless phantoms struggling and reigniting in the fire appeared in their sea of consciousness. These phantoms were not illusions, but rather the erosion of their Dao hearts by the Samsara Shackles.
The moment the second lap began, a cold glint flashed in Su Qingyuan's eyes. She took a sudden step forward; her Sheathless Blade had not yet appeared, but an extremely thin line of nothingness had already spread out within her body. Instead of confronting the fire ring, she directly channeled the burning power into the deepest part of her Fate Soul. The power of nothingness formed a void within her body, directly "digging away" some of the burning. When the flames swept across her body, there was a momentary gap. She gritted her teeth and hissed, "Don't fight it head-on! This fire is writing the rules!"
Qin Yu reacted at that moment. He withdrew his thoughts from his sea of consciousness, and the "Void Source Truth Command" technique within his body suddenly began to operate. The flow of cause and effect was forcibly suppressed to a stable point. He no longer tried to block the flames, but instead guided the burning power to his dantian.
The Dao Rhyme Ink Mass suddenly expanded at that moment, black and fire clashing and rapidly merging within his body. His form was burned away again, but he stabilized his core in the instant of re-ignition. He whispered, "Follow its cycle, turn the burning into your own trajectory."
The Ancient God Clan cultivator's face was grim, but he had no choice but to suppress his killing intent. He clasped his hands together abruptly, and a layer of ancient rules within his Fate Soul rapidly unfolded, locking his Dao foundation at a stable point. He roared, "This fire is stripping away my memories! Quickly suppress my sea of consciousness!"
The ring of fire circled for the third time, and the three figures were consumed by flames once more.
This time, Su Qingyuan's actions were even more decisive. The power of nothingness within her body suddenly erupted, and the aura of Sheathless Blade flashed through her Fate Soul. A "gap" directly covered her sea of consciousness, and those illusory figures of reincarnation were swallowed up the moment they made contact. Her figure became noticeably more stable after it was rekindled.
Qin Yu underwent a complete transformation during this cycle. He fully incorporated the power of his burning into the Dao Rhyme Ink Mass. The flames no longer merely eroded, but formed a controllable cycle within his body. Although his aura was slightly disordered, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He had grasped the core of this Samsara Shackles.
The Ancient God Clan cultivator appeared even more disheveled. He forcibly suppressed the burning power with his Mystic Void Origin, and when his body reignited, he was noticeably slow for a moment. His chest qi fluctuated violently, indicating that he had suffered serious internal injuries.
The ring of fire is still spinning.
The three figures were repeatedly burned and reborn in the fire, their ashes constantly scattering and coalescing. At this moment, the entire Domain of Emberfire was like a giant furnace, repeatedly casting the three of them into it and forging them.
For a fleeting moment when the ring of fire paused, all three simultaneously took a half-step back, their auras fluctuating, their robes scorched, and their Fate Soul still reeling from the shock. All Fate Soul had been impacted by the ordeal.
And the embers and sparks that filled the sky and earth lit up once more at that moment.
Before the embers of the Domain of Emberfire had subsided, the fire veins beneath the ashes suddenly surged, as if the entire land was being abruptly tightened by some deeper will. The previously evenly distributed fire lines all converged in an instant.
The flames converged on the space beneath the three people's feet, overlapping crimson and blazing white. The flames no longer burned outwards, but collapsed inwards, as if trying to press all existence into the original melting point.
The next moment, a new rule was "written". The Emberfire Reforging, a new Order Adjudication rewriting the foundation from the very beginning.
The ashes beneath their feet suddenly crumbled, replaced by a near-liquid fire domain. The flames no longer clung to the surface but ignited directly from within their Fate Soul. Their meridians, bones, and souls were pulled into a completely different state at the same moment, as if their "existential structure" had been forcibly dismantled and rearranged using the ashes as a medium.
Qin Yu felt a jolt in his dantian. In that instant, the Dao Rhyme Ink Mass was pried open by an irresistible force. Ink and fire clashed directly, the flames seeping into every line of the ink ball, tearing its structure apart bit by bit. It wasn't mere destruction, but a rewriting of its composition, as if a definition had been cast deep within his Fate Soul.
"You will be reforged into an instrument of this world."
Su Qingyuan's reaction was even more violent. The power of nothingness within her body had just unfolded when it was forcibly enveloped by flames. The essence of "deficiency" was directly forced into shape by the embers at this moment, and nothingness was burned beyond its boundaries. Her Dao foundation seemed to be forcibly fixed within a framework.
The aura of the Sheathless Blade resonated violently within the Fate Soul, as if even the "emptiness" of the blade was being forged by the flames into something tangible.
The Ancient God Clan cultivator roared, his Mystic Void Origin surging wildly within him in an attempt to suppress this rewriting power. However, in the next instant, he was engulfed by flames, which then invaded his Dao Foundation patterns in the opposite direction.
Pulling out all the traces of his past cultivation one by one, like reshaping the skeleton of an object, his aura twisted violently, and even his form became blurred for a moment.
At this moment, the Realm of Fire was no longer a test but a forge, and the three of them were the materials.
The fire veins surged wildly beneath the earth. With each pulse, the Fate Soul structures of the three were compressed and rearranged. The void was burned into outline, reincarnation was forced into a cycle, and rules were forcibly embedded into the foundation of the Dao. Everything that did not conform to the "definition of this world" was being stripped away little by little.
Su Qingyuan gritted her teeth and formed hand seals simultaneously. The power of nothingness within her body erupted instantly. She no longer tried to maintain the original structure, but instead directly activated the "deficiency" of the Sheathless Blade, separating a part of her existence from the rules. In that instant, her figure showed a brief break, and the flames lost their attachment point at that break. She let out a low shout and used this momentary gap to forcibly break free from some of the restraints.
Qin Yu's gaze became completely calm at this moment. He no longer fought against the flames, but instead activated the Fate-Cause Order Adjudication within his body, locking down the most core causal node in his Dao foundation.
At the same time, using the power of the Void Source Truth Command, he forcibly pushed the rewritten part back to its original position. Flames surged within his body, but could not reach the deepest "self-definition." He whispered, "Don't let it complete the structural closure."
The Ancient God Clan cultivator was nearly insane at this point. He forcefully activated his primordial power, tearing apart a portion of his reforged foundation. Although the cost was enormous, it temporarily freed him from the most fatal rewriting.
The three attacked almost simultaneously. Su Qingyuan used the power of nothingness to forcibly hollow out a section of the surrounding flames.
Qin Yu used the Dao Rhyme Ink Mass as the core, channeling the reforging power of the flames back into the ink, causing it to circulate and conflict within his body;
The Ancient God Clan cultivator forcefully crushed the surrounding flame structure with his Mystic Void Origin, and the three forces erupted at the same moment, causing the fire domain to tremble violently.
The backlash came in the next instant.
The entire space suddenly sank, and the fire veins burst from the ground at the same time. The three people's counterattack was directly swallowed up at this moment. The embers no longer flowed along their original trajectory, but collapsed into a more solid impact of rules, which directly hit the three people.
Boom—there was no sound, but there was a tearing sensation as if one 'Fate Soul had been directly ripped away.
All three were thrown back at the same moment. Su Qingyuan managed to stabilize herself in mid-air, but was still dragged dozens of feet away by the aftershock. Her robes were torn, and her aura was clearly disordered. The Ancient God Clan cultivator was even more disheveled, crashing directly into a pile of ashes. His aura was in complete chaos, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Qin Yu flipped in mid-air, a flash of ink beneath his feet, barely managing to steady himself, but his chest still trembled slightly, and the Dao Rhyme Ink Mass became unstable for a moment.
The three landed again, their auras chaotic. The fire veins were still flowing, and the rules were still being reshaped. This trial could not be overcome by simply brute force.
Qin Yu slowly raised his head, his gaze falling on the invisible source of fire. All the deductions in his sea of consciousness quickly Return to One, and he finally saw it clearly.
The true core of this Emberfire Dao Foundation, and that almost imperceptible, minute deviation.