The black stone tablet before the Nameless Abyss trembled slightly, and the fifth layer descended. There was no light spreading, nor any sound, but the entire array field underwent a fundamental collapse at this moment—the fulcrum of all "perspectives" was simultaneously removed.
The 9,999 fragments on the Myriad Origins Compass instantly lost their mutual observation relationship. Those world images that should have reflected each other broke off at the same moment. Light and shadow could no longer be seen, sound could no longer be heard, and even the fact of "being perceived" itself lost its conditions for existence. Qin Yu's figure was still in the same place, his robes, aura, and Fate Soul had not dissipated, but all the "viewing paths" leading to him were severed by a single strike.
There is no first-person perspective to experience his presence, no third-person perspective to record his actions, and even a zero-person detached observation is impossible—he is no longer within the narrative's field of vision. The fragments of the Myriad Origins Compass spin wildly but no longer form a picture.
Within a three-zhang radius of the black stone tablet, an absolute blind zone was formed, where even the concept of "darkness" could not be attached. All the illusory figures of passersby stopped in their tracks, their eyes staring into the Emptiness, unable to confirm what was there. Then they slowly turned away, as if that area had never existed.
Qin Yu stood at the core of this stripped-away perspective. He didn't "look" at his surroundings, because the act of "looking" had lost its object; nor did he "confirm his own existence," because "confirmation" requires a reference point. He gathered all external perceptions to the deepest recesses of his being.
The Core of the Fate Soul retained only the most basic self-sufficiency, no longer relying on any observation to prove itself. At that very moment, he took a step forward. That step was neither seen nor recorded by anyone, yet it truly happened. With the second step, his figure had completely sunk to the edge of the Nameless Abyss beneath the black stone tablet.
The sixth and seventh layers descended almost simultaneously. The rule of zeroing out one's luck was like an invisible, stripping blade, slicing through him. All the opportunities, probabilistic biases, and causal repercussions accumulated in the past were forcibly flattened to the most ordinary level at this moment.
All possibilities "beneficial to him" were erased, weighted the same as any mortal being. The subsequent substitution of immortality was even more direct; the latent structures within Qin Yu's body—those that allowed for regression, substitution, and avoidance of termination—failed at the same moment.
Death is redefined as the simplest outcome: once the conditions are met, it ends, without turning back, without buffer. A profound pull comes from the depths of the Nameless Abyss, like an invitation, or a declaration—all existence here ends in the most ordinary way.
Qin Yu did not stop. He continued walking inward, each step bringing him closer to the deepest part of that "no man's land." His aura was suppressed to an extremely low level; all the advantages that had once supported him in crossing borders had been completely stripped away.
Only the purest existence remained. His footsteps landed on layers of invisible boundaries, which collapsed and disappeared behind him. There was no power to protect him, no luck to bless him, and no extra possibility to favor him. He was like a pebble placed in a perfectly balanced deep sea.
In this Ultimate flattening, his consciousness became clearer than ever before.
There is no narrative continuity, no causal bias, no established advantage, no anchored name, no confirmed perspective, no tilt of fate, and no "reason that can be used to explain victory." The formation strips everything away to the very bottom, leaving only one fact—existence itself.
At that moment, Qin Yu suddenly stopped; he no longer moved forward.
He stood at the deepest edge of the Nameless Abyss, his consciousness completing a complete connection in an extremely short instant. The Myriad Origins Compass, fragments of origin, Narrative Stripping, Causal Equalization, Setting Deconstruction, Name Deprivation, perspective dissolution, fate returning to zero, immortality replacement—all mechanisms recombine into a complete chain in his sea of consciousness.
That chain had no intention of attacking, no process of killing; from the very beginning, it did the same thing: reduce the "conditions for its establishment."
He spoke softly, his voice not spreading outwards, but settling within himself.
"You don't destroy anything." "You just keep lowering the threshold for 'becoming something.'" "Until all the thresholds disappear."
At that moment, all the remaining principles within him converged simultaneously. He no longer tried to maintain any structure, no longer tried to prove any state, and no longer attempted to resist the formation. He directly suppressed his own existence back to the same level as the formation—not as an "object to be stripped away," but as "a point that is equally unconditionally true."
The Core of the Fate Soul trembled slightly.
He did not use any more "named supernatural powers," but an extremely pure sense of Order Adjudication was generated within him. That will had no form, did not depend on names, did not depend on cause and effect, did not depend on narrative; it did only one thing—confirmation.
What do you need to confirm? Confirming "existence" requires no additional conditions.
The instant this confirmation landed, the entire Myriad Origins Return to Stillness Grand Formation shifted for the first time. The rotation of the Myriad Origins Compass paused, and all 9,999 fragments simultaneously shifted slightly. An indescribable fluctuation emanated from the Nameless Abyss beneath the black stone tablet. The mechanisms that were originally dependent on the "stripping conditions" lost their object at this moment.
Qin Yu raised his hand; there was no sword light, no Dharma form. He simply pushed forward a wisp of the Order Adjudication, and the movement ended.
The entire formation, starting from the Nameless Abyss at its core, began to crumble. The eight characters on the black stone tablet dimmed simultaneously, cracks appeared on the tablet, and the cracks spread along all narrative dimensions. The fragments on the Myriad Origins Compass lost their rotational power one by one, hovering, tilting, and falling.
Those illusory figures, flattened into passersby, froze in the same moment, then vanished in the next, as if they had never been created. All the mechanisms of stripping away lost their foundation in that instant; the narrative could no longer be stripped away, cause and effect could no longer be equalized, the setting could no longer be deconstructed, names no longer needed to be taken away, perspectives could no longer be dissolved, and fate and death lost their meaning.
The entire formation began to crumble.
There were no explosions, no deafening collapses, only the quiet disappearance of layer upon layer of structures. The Myriad Origins Compass shrank to a tiny point and then went out; the black stone tablet turned into a Wuhen gray shadow without a trace; the Nameless Abyss closed, leaving no trace. That magnificent array that once covered all narrative dimensions returned to utter Emptiness in a matter of breaths.
Qin Yu stood still, and the surroundings returned to the true space deep within the ancient castle. His aura was still weak, but his Fate Soul was extremely stable.
Just ahead, a faint light slowly appeared. The light wasn't dazzling, but it seemed exceptionally clear at this moment, like a response left after endless silence.
Qin Yu looked at the light, but did not rush to investigate. He slowly lifted his foot and took a step forward.
That glimmer of light slowly unfolded as Qin Yu's footsteps landed, abandoning its outward expansion and instead converging inward. A primordial core, compressed to its Ultimate, disassembled and peeled away its own structure layer by layer. The boundaries of the entire space quietly dissolved, and the palace's form completely faded away.
In the vast emptiness, only countless tiny threads of light stretched out, intertwined, and circled. Each thread of light was connected to a complete cause-and-effect relationship, starting from the beginning and ending at the end, and then turning back at the end. Thousands of threads intertwined and wove together a vast network that covered the heavens.
At the center of that light, a supreme treasure slowly materialized.
It has no fixed outline, nor does it present any stable form. It is like a condensed core of destiny suspended in the void, or like a long river of cause and effect that has been infinitely compressed and is now still. Subtle traces of light constantly flow across its surface, each trace connecting to a cause and effect path that has not yet manifested.
Qin Yu stood still, neither reaching out nor using any supernatural powers. Relying solely on the perception of his Fate Soul, he could sense that the treasure did not actively suppress any existence. It simply existed there, bearing the most fundamental form of the concept of "cause and effect."
At that moment, an extremely subtle fluctuation suddenly appeared deep within the light domain.
The fluctuation did not spread, but it caused the entire web of cause and effect to tremble slightly at the same time. Countless threads tightened slightly at the same moment, and the connections between them became clearer. The next moment, a phantom slowly condensed from the core where all the chains of cause and effect intersected.
It was not made of flesh and blood, nor did it have any fixed shape.
It appears as a massive structure entwined with countless luminous threads, the threads intertwining and overlapping, layer upon layer, like a giant cocoon suspended in the void. Within each thread flows a different causal trajectory, some connecting to the past, some extending into the future, some breaking at this moment, and then reforming at the other end.
Deep within the cocoon, a dark golden core pulsates slowly, each vibration causing a subtle shift in the entire web of cause and effect.
The phantom did not release any pressure or show any intention to interfere; it simply existed there.
Qin Yu's gaze narrowed slightly. He remained silent, yet he could clearly sense that the illusory figure did not descend on its own initiative, but rather naturally coalesced upon the appearance of the supreme treasure. It was an existence structure of the same origin as the supreme treasure, like a projection of the web of cause and effect on a certain level.
A will silently emerged at this moment, without words, without commands, without guidance.
It simply presented a pure and simple "understanding" directly into Qin Yu's sea of consciousness.
Cause and effect are not sequential; they have been one from the beginning. Qin Yu's Core of the Fate Soul trembled slightly.
At that moment, all the causal traces that had been touched within him automatically surfaced, no longer existing in the form of memories, but presented as a "structure." Every decision, every action, and every turning point in his destiny corresponded to a clear path within the web of cause and effect.
These paths were neither strengthened nor weakened; they were simply made fully manifest.
Deep within the illusory image, the core pulsed slightly once more, and the entire field of light fell silent, without any further changes or new fluctuations.
The treasure still hovered in front, with the illusory figure standing silently behind it; the entire web of cause and effect remained in its most stable state.
All of this is neither oppression nor a test, but simply preparation for a deeper level of causal inheritance.