Kindling the Flame in the Return to the Ruins

The Ancient God Clan cultivator slowly rose from the edge of the ashes, his aura still trembling. Cracks in his Fate Soul faintly appeared deep within his body. His breathing was heavy, yet he tried his best to suppress it. The series of impacts just now had pushed him to his Limit. Anger surged in his eyes several times, only to be forcibly suppressed each time.

In the end, only a cold, almost emotionless expression remained. He didn't look at Qin Yu and Su Qingyuan again, but instead lowered his head and took out several Supreme Transformation Source Crystal from his storage crystal core. With a pinch of his fingertips, the source crystals transformed into a soft stream of light that flowed into his body, forcibly stabilizing his Fate Soul which was on the verge of collapse. And it was during this recovery process...

With his other hand, he subtly twirled it, and an ancient artifact was quietly taken out. It was a priceless treasure, resembling a bell but not quite, its entire body dark and its surface covered with incomplete causal engravings. There were faint cracks along the edge of the bell, yet within these cracks flowed an extremely unstable, regular fluctuation.

The object made no sound, yet it seemed to be constantly absorbing the surrounding fragments of unformed rules. He slowly pressed it into his sleeve, straightened up again, and his gaze returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

At that very moment, the entire Domain of Emberfire suddenly came to a standstill; the flames ceased to flow, and the ashes stopped churning, as if the whole world had been brought to a halt.

The next instant, an aura far surpassing any previous fluctuation erupted from the depths of the earth, the Ultimate manifestation of the Emberfire Dao Foundation and the Rule Kindling Flame.

The earth cracked open with a deafening roar, exposing the fire veins completely. Intense magma surged forth like a sea, and the entire space was enveloped by an overwhelming, blinding white light. A colossal figure composed solely of ash fire slowly rose from the inferno.

Its body swelled to a staggering height, its lower body merging with the fire veins, as if the entire secret realm had become its body. Countless phantoms of reincarnation rolled within the magma, each phantom undergoing a cycle of burning out and reigniting, pain and rebirth overlapping into an endless echo.

It was wrapped in thousands of golden chains, with liquid flames flowing on them. Each chain extended into the void, gradually "burning" the invisible realm beyond its boundaries. Its right hand held a giant hammer high, its body covered in shining runes, as if it could forge all laws. Its left hand held an anvil that never cooled, on which firelight constantly condensed into new rule structures.

At this moment, it was no longer a gatekeeper but a being that defined the world. In the instant before the giant hammer fell, its Ultimate power, Return to the Ruins Rekindling, caused its form to suddenly disintegrate. It was not shattered but actively merged into the void. In this instant, the entire secret realm was completely reduced to zero. The flames extinguished, the rules collapsed, the light disappeared, and the sound vanished, leaving only endless darkness and cold ashes.

Qin Yu felt his Dao foundation being completely stripped away at this moment, all the outlines and rules he had just forged vanished, and his Fate Soul fell into a blank void with no support.

The moment the Return to the Ruins descended, the Ancient God Clan cultivator suddenly moved.

Without the slightest hesitation, the Mystic Void Origin ignited completely within his body, transforming his entire being into a stable core node, forcibly maintaining his existence amidst this return to zero.

At the same time, Qin Yu's voice transmission entered Su Qingyuan's sea of consciousness; the speech was extremely fast, yet incredibly clear.

"Rooted in the flame, never refusing to burn out, and in the moment of rekindling, merging oneself into the source of fire." "Hold fast to your will, and do not let reincarnation steal your true self."

"Become fire, not be consumed by it." Su Qingyuan instantly understood. She closed her eyes, and the wisp of fire within her Fate Soul suddenly contracted, condensing into a single point.

In the darkness, the first spark began to slowly ignite. But at that very moment, a sudden change occurred. The Ancient God Clan cultivator abruptly raised his hand and threw out the ancient bell from his sleeve.

Without a sound, yet carrying an extremely distorted sense of causal suppression, Zhong Ying suddenly magnified in the darkness, directly attacking Su Qingyuan.

She was at the critical moment of "reignition," her Fate Soul was not yet fully stabilized, and she had no time to fully defend herself before the bell shadow fell.

Boom! A dull blast exploded directly at the level of her Fate Soul, sending Su Qingyuan flying and causing her fire seed to momentarily become unstable.

A violent tremor ran through Qin Yu's eyes, and a sudden burst of killing intent erupted. "You're courting death!" His voice exploded in the darkness, but before he could even make a move—

Another voice rang out first, "Now!" The Ancient God Clan cultivator shouted into the void.

The next instant, another person hidden in a higher dimension suddenly appeared, and an extremely dark divine power pierced through directly.

That supernatural power has no form, only the will to "erasure." Wherever it passes, existence is directly cut off.

The target is Qin Yu. This attack is a fatal blow. Qin Yu has no time to be distracted. On one hand, Su Qingyuan severely injured, and on the other hand, the deadly divine power has arrived.

His mind trembled, and he uttered a low shout, "Xiao Yue— " At that very moment, deep within his mind, in a tranquil void...

A towering ancient tree swayed gently among its branches and leaves, and a blue-haired girl sat leisurely, swinging her legs as she watched everything.

A smile played on his lips. "Hahaha, Little Qinzi, I really have been hiding in the shadows, ambushing you all along."

She stretched. Then—without revealing herself, she simply extended her hand gently into Qin Yu's sea of consciousness.

Grasping his right hand, a divine power erupted from Qin Yu's body in the next instant: Blue Ring - First Form: Sever Thought and Extinguish Consciousness.

Without light or sound, the obliterating divine power that had pierced through Qin Yu stopped abruptly the moment it made contact.

It's as if the "preconditions for its existence" have been removed, and then the entire attack Does Not Exist completely, even erasing the trace of "the attack ever existing."

The hidden Ancient God Clan cultivator's expression changed drastically. Before he could react, the second divine power had already been activated: Blue Ring, Second Form: Logic Chain Severance.

Qin Yu raised his hand, his fingertip lightly touching an invisible line in the void, severing it. The existence of that Ancient God Clan cultivator lost its "continuity" at that moment.

His supernatural powers, his Fate Soul, his karma—all were severed. His figure blurred for a moment, then vanished completely in the next instant, leaving no explosion and no residue.

It was as if he had never existed; only the first Ancient God Clan cultivator remained, standing in the darkness, his face deathly pale, and for the first time, genuine fear appearing in his eyes.

Qin Yu slowly withdrew his hand. In his sea of consciousness, Xiao Yue chuckled and swung her leg, "How was that, Little Qinzi? Wasn't that cool?"

Before Su Qingyuan could fully regain her footing, the flame within her Fate Soul suddenly turned cold. Her gaze shifted from suppression and response to an Ultimate silence—a silence not of emotional restraint, but of pure emptiness after all "fluctuations" had been drained away.

She stood in the void, her long hair slightly floating. Her Sheathless Blade was not revealed, but a sense of "nothingness" deeper than the intent of a sword spread around her. Her eyelids lowered gently, and a very soft sigh escaped from her lips.

That sound, though silent, resonated directly within the "consciousness" of all things in heaven and earth—the "Return to the Ruins Sigh."

In an instant, the embers and flames of the entire Realm of Fire were as if pressed down by an invisible hand. The fire veins stopped flowing, the magma stagnated, and the causal sparks in the air lost their luster, turning into gray-white dead spots. Even the still-flowing chains of rules slowed down at this moment, as if the meaning that carried them had been taken away.

The ancient bell, a supreme treasure tossed from the sleeve of the Ancient God Clan cultivator, was still secretly vibrating with causality, but now it was completely overshadowed by that sigh. The patterns on the bell's surface rapidly dimmed, and the previously flowing fluctuations of rules vanished like ink being wiped away.

The entire bell remained still in mid-air for a moment, then began to disintegrate from the edges. The broken pieces didn't even fall; they simply disappeared in mid-air, leaving no trace of the "shattering" process.

The entire area fell silent.

The cultivator's face turned completely pale at this moment. His Fate Soul was already severely injured, and now he had nothing to rely on. His eyes no longer held any calculation or ruthlessness, but only an emptiness after he had completely lost his support.

Su Qingyuan's gaze suddenly sharpened, her eyes icy cold. "Die!"

She took a step forward, and the void beneath her feet silently collapsed. The aura of Sheathless Blade flashed and disappeared deep within her Fate Soul. She did not draw her sword, yet she had already moved it.

She lightly raised her fingertips, and an extremely delicate "sound" unfolded between heaven and earth, "Dao Dissolution Heavenly Burial," without melody.

But it is the final chapter that is being played.

Within the space, the previously invisible laws and patterns all surfaced at this moment. Chains and lines, like the skeleton of heaven and earth, were directly revealed. Then, those rules began to twist, intertwine, and misalign, and irreconcilable contradictions appeared in the originally stable structure.

Time reverses at one moment, then suddenly accelerates at the next; space is compressed into a thin sheet and then suddenly unfolds; the direction of gravity changes repeatedly in an instant.

At this moment, cracks appeared on the body of the Ancient God Clan cultivator; not in his physical body, but in his "Dao".

Cracks spread from the depths of his Fate Soul, each crack emitting a wisp of dark, ethereal light. His eyes gradually lost focus, as if even the concept of "self" was being stripped away. He did not struggle.

Just before it completely collapsed, it gave a cold laugh. In the next instant, its entire being, along with all the rules it depended upon, shattered simultaneously, the fragments vanishing without a trace.

Between heaven and earth, there was no longer this person. The embers gently fell, and the Realm of Fire returned to a moment of stillness. At this moment, Qin Yu's gaze had already shifted away from that Land of Nothingness.

The Ultimate form of the Emberfire Dao Foundation and the Rule Kindling Flame, which lies deeper within, still exists. It has not been defeated because it never "existed" as an object that could be defeated.

Qin Yu's breathing became extremely calm at this moment. Within his Fate Soul, the cluster of Dao Foundation Kindling Flame slowly ignited, resonating with the fire veins of the entire secret realm. He no longer attempted to attack or suppress, but instead took a step forward.

The fire beneath his feet trembled slightly. He raised his hand, and a wisp of firewood slowly appeared in his palm. The fire was extremely small but extremely steady. He sent this wisp of fire into the earth.

The next instant, the entire Realm of Fire trembled violently, the fire veins stopped raging, and the churning of magma gradually subsided.

The outline of that towering fire shadow shifted slightly at that moment, as if the very core of its existence had been touched.

Qin Yu took another step forward; the Daoist energy flowing within his body and spreading like a torch was not an expansion, but rather a "transmission."

Flames extended from his body, intertwining with the fire veins of the secret realm. He neither replaced nor suppressed them, but instead made himself a "node" within this fire vein.

He became fire but was not consumed by it; the giant hammer of the ten-thousand-foot-tall fire shadow paused in mid-air, and the chains stopped tightening as the phantom of reincarnation gradually faded away.

Qin Yu's voice was extremely soft at this moment, yet it seemed to land on the very essence of the entire secret realm. "This fire should be passed on."

At that moment, all the flames trembled simultaneously.

The original form of the Domain of Emberfire began to loosen, the enormous fire shadow lost its fulcrum, its outline scattered layer by layer, and its ten-thousand-foot-tall body transformed into countless golden sparks, falling from the sky.

The Mars did not fall to the ground; instead, they floated slowly in mid-air, like a silent, burning galaxy, their light gentle yet stable, carrying a profound aura of order. One by one, they drifted towards the two of them, falling into the depths of Qin Yu and Su Qingyuan's Fate Soul.

The moment each spark merges with the Fate Soul, an extremely fine fire pattern appears within it. That fire pattern no longer stirs, but simply exists quietly, like a constant core, continuously radiating a stable flame.

The fiery veins gradually subsided, the magma sea slowly calmed down, the phantom of reincarnation faded away in the lingering warmth, and finally completely dissipated, the boundary of nothingness closed again.

The entire Realm of Fire regained its clarity, and all structures returned to stability.

Qin Yu and Su Qingyuan stood still, their auras no longer chaotic. The ignition within their Fate Soul resonated with the fire veins of the secret realm, trembling slightly as they harmonized.

A faint fire pattern appeared on the ground beneath their feet.

The patterns slowly extended from where the two stood, forming an extremely simple yet extremely stable mark. The fire pattern contained the meaning of flowing rules, burning quietly without fluctuation, yet it would never be extinguished.

Those were the imprints of their legacy; deep within the space, a point of light slowly shone, pale gold, soft yet clear.

The Mystic Void Non-Stillness Seal emerged from nothingness, gently hovering in the air. Extremely fine regular patterns flowed across its surface, like a fully acknowledged mark of the end.

It didn't approach actively; it simply stayed there, quietly waiting for a choice.