At a certain moment, the Myriad Origins Compass slowly rotated, and the entire array suddenly underwent an extremely subtle yet undeniable change. The change had no light, no roar, and no energy fluctuations, but it was like an invisible hand that touched the "narrative" itself from its very source.
Qin Yu stood in the center of the formation, and the layers of world fragments beneath his feet suddenly began to rotate at an accelerated pace. The scenes within each fragment were advancing simultaneously—someone drew their sword, some fell, some rose, and some fell silent. All things were happening in parallel, but in the next instant, they all lost their connection.
The first layer: Narrative Stripping, fully unfolding.
An invisible force emanated from the center of the Myriad Origins Compass, spreading outwards like an unseen ripple, sweeping across Qin Yu's body, his Fate Soul, and every aspect of his existence. At that moment, all his actions were no longer "received."
He took a step forward, and his foot did land, but it didn't continue. That step was like a cut-off scene, frozen in an isolated moment. His Fate Soul circulated and his energy flowed, but there was no follow-up. That power seemed to be directly cut off by some rule, neither exploding nor dissipating, but just staying there, becoming a meaningless fragment.
Immediately afterwards, the entire array began to be "re-cut".
Countless lights and shadows flashed rapidly in the void, each one like a complete experience: battle, breakthrough, near death, reversal, reaching the peak... These fragments spun rapidly around Qin Yu, each trying to connect with his existence, but were cut off the moment they touched him, as if being dissected frame by frame by an invisible blade.
The developments that should have belonged to the "main storyline" all fell apart, without cause, effect, climax, or ending, leaving only fragments of scenes that could not be pieced together.
The air began to create a strange, disorienting sensation.
Qin Yu's figure appeared in different fragments, then disappeared at the same moment. He saw himself swinging his sword, but failing to strike any target; he saw himself taking attacks, but the injuries did not continue; he saw all his past experiences unfold before his eyes, but none of them could continue to develop.
All actions were happening, yet no "meaning" could be established; at this moment, he was completely detached from being "narrated."
No one was recording, no one was watching, and there was no perspective to acknowledge his presence. Qin Yu stood still, not making a move immediately.
His breathing slowed slightly, and his gaze sank into the deepest part of his mind.
He calmly accepted this process of peeling away, neither resisting nor struggling, nor forcibly reshaping his own order. His mind slowly flowed backward, transcending his past in the mortal world and his spiritual journey, directly exploring the source, tracing back to the fundamental reason upon which all his actions and pursuits depended.
The thought had barely formed when it was cut off by the formation. He didn't continue thinking; in that instant, he stopped his instinct to "explain."
The Core of the Fate Soul slowly spun within his body. He gathered all the flowing Dao energy around him to its Ultimate, not extending it outwards even a fraction, nor seeking any evolutionary outcome. He severed all forward momentum, stripped away layers of progressive constraints, allowing every movement and every action of his to return to its independent state, existing freely in the present moment.
He took another step, a step that didn't "reach" anywhere, but simply "stepped".
When his foot landed, the formation did not react, so he raised his hand again.
There was no condensation of energy or formation of supernatural power in the palm; it was just a most basic movement—lifting up and then lowering down.
The action was completed without any result, yet it wasn't severed either. Qin Yu's gaze tightened slightly; he had already sensed the problem.
Narrative Stripping does not destroy the action itself, but rather the structure that "actions must produce results."
As long as the behavior still attempts to be "part of some process," it will be severed, and it will no longer build any continuity.
No longer trying to form a "next step," no longer allowing himself to become a path, the operation of his Fate Soul began to change.
All the originally coherent principles of the Dao were deliberately broken down, with each segment existing independently, not depending on each other, and not forming a chain. The fragments stripped away by the formation no longer attempted to be reassembled, but instead sank directly to the bottom layer, becoming separate entities.
Within the array, the rapidly spinning fragments began to pause, and some fragments were no longer severed when they approached Qin Yu.
All the laws around him severed their connection with him. He broke free from the constraints of the established order and became an independent origin point detached from the world.
The slow rotation of the Myriad Origins Compass paused slightly. The first layer of narrative shackles peeled away, revealing Space Silence rift on his body that even the rules could not penetrate. Qin Yu stood still, his expression calm and undisturbed, his eyes showing no ripples.
He did not forcefully break the formation. He merely transformed his own mind, causing the rules and authority of this world to no longer be able to restrain him.
The rotation of the Myriad Origins Compass accelerated to its Ultimate in an instant, and all nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Origin Fragments vibrated simultaneously. The light and shadow of all dimensions were stretched, flattened, and spread out again, as if countless worlds were forcibly superimposed on the same level.
At that moment, there was no sound, but an extremely clear sense of "structural collapse" spread throughout the array. Immediately afterwards, an invisible rule suddenly descended.
The second layer, Causal Equalization, is now fully activated.
The space around Qin Yu began to distort unpredictably. The foot he had just raised disappeared the moment it landed. That step was neither a failure nor a success; it simply "happened," without any follow-up indication.
His Fate Soul force instinctively began to operate, preparing to prepare for the next step. But just as that force condensed, it lost its direction, neither exploding nor flowing back, but instead remained stuck in a point of no return.
In the void, countless fine, hair-like trails began to appear.
Those trajectories that originally represented "because-therefore" connections were now all straightened, broken, and reassembled, with each path assigned the exact same probability. Every action Qin Yu took was broken down into countless possibilities—success, failure, invalidity, deviation, reversal—all outcomes existed simultaneously, yet none were confirmed as "inevitable."
He raised his hand, and a sword intent naturally formed in his palm.
In the next instant, the sword intent split into thousands of states. Some had already been unleashed, some had not yet formed, some collapsed directly, and some pierced into itself in the opposite direction. Each outcome unfolded at the same moment and then lost all support in the next.
The entire array area transformed into a probability storm at that moment.
Space flickered continuously, the ground collapsed and reconstructed layer by layer, and fragments of the myriad phenomena in the distance poured down like a torrential rain. Each fragment represented a possible ending. They spun rapidly around Qin Yu, colliding and annihilating each other, only to be reborn in new probabilities.
Light and shadow are compressed into countless fragmented frames, all movement becomes discontinuous jumps, and even the flow of time becomes fragmented.
Qin Yu stood in the center of the storm, his breathing still steady.
He did not pursue the "correct result" nor did he try to lock onto a certain path. He began to completely separate his actions from the "causal chain". The Core of the Fate Soul slowly contracted, and each operation no longer pointed to the future, nor carried over to the past, but only remained in the state of "what is happening now".
At that very moment—from the edge of the distant array, several figures suddenly burst in.
Those cultivators had clearly fought their way through the secret passages inside the castle. Their auras were still intact, and the residual power of their supernatural abilities was still flowing. As soon as they stepped into this array area, their eyes still held lingering killing intent and vigilance.
"Where... is this place?--"
The moment one of them spoke, before his voice had even fully escaped, the entire array changed.
The rotation of the Myriad Origins Compass instantly locked onto them, and the presence of those people was directly included in the formation's judgment.
Their movements froze, their breath stagnated, and their cultivation, supernatural powers, and will all lost their "weight" at this moment.
The next instant—their existence was flattened, without screams, without struggles, without explosions.
All their features began to fade rapidly, their aura dissipated, their supernatural abilities collapsed, and even their faces blurred. The oppressive aura that once belonged to the powerful was erased in an instant. They stood there, their movements slow and ordinary, the sharpness in their eyes gone, replaced by a blank and bewildered expression.
They looked down at their hands, which no longer bore any weight. The next moment, they looked at each other.
Yet no one noticed anything unusual about the other; they seemed perfectly normal, as if they were just ordinary people passing through this place from the very beginning.
They stopped asking questions, stopped being wary, and stopped wondering why they had come here. They simply turned around slowly and walked towards a certain direction at the edge of the array. Their steps were steady and without any fluctuation. They quickly blended into the countless "illusory figures of passersby" and could no longer be distinguished.
Qin Yu's gaze darkened slightly as he watched this scene. At this moment, the entire Myriad Origins Return to Stillness Grand Formation revealed its true form.
The Myriad Origins Compass hangs high in the void, with 9,999 Origin Fragments rotating in layers. Each layer carries images of different dimensions of the world, where countless narratives are generated and dissipated. The Nameless Abyss in the center floats silently, the black stone tablet unmoving, yet causing the surrounding space to continuously collapse inward. All "attention-grabbing" entities lose their meaning when they approach.
At the edge of the array, countless illusory figures of passersby stood silently, like an endless gray-white ocean.
There is no sky above, no earth below, only layers of reality constantly unfolding and returning to zero. Light cannot illuminate this place, nor can darkness obscure it; everything is flattened on the same level.
The entire magic array was magnificent to the Ultimate, yet it had no sharp edge; it did not need to destroy anyone.
All it takes is to make everything meaningless, Qin Yu, standing in the center of this magnificent and silent structure.
He remained calm, but his presence had already begun to create a real conflict with this array.