At the end of the secret passage, in that "suspension point," all flow was compressed into an extremely slow rhythm. The four auras restrained each other, but none of them made the first move, like four swords that had been drawn from their sheaths, silently confronting each other in the air.
The Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill hung there, without light or shadow, yet it held the gaze of everyone present captive.
Hua Yuening lightly lifted her fingertips, and a sliver of cold light appeared on the slender sword in her palm. She didn't look at the pill for long, but instead turned her head to cast her gaze on the figure that had just appeared behind her. Her eyes were as cold as ice blades. "Who are you?" Her voice was low, but it carried an undeniable sharpness. "You've followed me all the way here; it's time for an explanation."
Qin Yu did not respond. He stood there, his aura deeply concealed, as if he had completely merged into this space. His gaze passed over Hua Yuening and landed on the slightly disheveled figure in front of him.
Chi Ninghua was now mostly stained with blood, but the Chi Lineage's insignia could still be seen.
Qin Yu's gaze sharpened slightly.
Seeing his silence, Hua Yuening's lips curled into a cold smile. "Not going to speak?" She slowly turned her gaze back, her sword intent gathering at her fingertips. "It's alright, I'll deal with you later."
On the other side.
Chi Ninghua's breathing was still unstable. She barely suppressed the surging cracks in her Fate Soul. Her gaze lingered on Qin Yu for a moment. After that moment of hesitation, her divine sense sent out an extremely subtle fluctuation.
"Young friend Qin." The voice entered Qin Yu's mind directly. "I remember you; you were brought back to the clan by Senior Sister Xiyue."
Her tone was devoid of extra emotion, yet carried a hint of suppressed urgency.
"I cannot confront her directly right now." She didn't name Hua Yuening, but she made the situation clear. "This divine pill must absolutely not fall into her hands."
She paused for a moment, her breath catching slightly, before continuing:
"That Xuanling Divine Huang is equally troublesome. I will go all out to seize the divine core first."
"I will hand it over to you then." "You leave immediately, return to the Chi Lineage, and report this matter."
This brief transmission of voice carried an undeniable decisiveness, and Qin Yu's gaze remained fixed.
He nodded slightly. "Don't worry, senior." His response was equally brief, yet carried an extremely steady calmness. "I will take you with me."
Chi Ninghua slightly, then remained silent, knowing that there was no more time.
In that instant, the balance in space completely collapsed, and Xuanling Divine Huang moved first.
Without any warning, its massive body suddenly pressed forward, and with the flapping of its wings, the entire space was directly compressed. The "sense of stillness" around the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill was forcibly torn apart, and its claws drew an extremely thin crack in the void, directly probing towards the location of the pill.
At the same time, Hua Yuening also moved.
Her figure swayed slightly in place, and the next moment she appeared on the other side of the path. The sword light did not burst out with dazzling light, but it cut into the spatial structure in an extremely short moment, pointing directly at the location of the pill. The angle she chose was extremely tricky, avoiding the direct suppression of Xuanling Divine Huang, and blocking the path where Chi Ninghua might make a move.
Chi Ninghua stepped out at almost the same moment.
She chose not to defend herself, nor did she care about her own injuries. At this moment, her Fate Soul force was completely ignited, and she transformed into a stream of light carrying a broken aura, rushing directly towards the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill. Her goal was singular and direct—to get it first.
Furthermore, the three trajectories converged at the same instant, causing space to distort violently at that point.
The location of the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill shifted slightly for the first time, as if it had been simultaneously disturbed by three different "intents to touch".
In the instant all this erupted— Qin Yu moved. Instead of moving forward, he took a small step back.
This retreat, devoid of any imposing force, allowed him to break free from the very center of the three-way collision and stand on an extremely delicate boundary.
His gaze remained fixed on the pill; he neither participated nor interfered, yet he had already incorporated all the paths into his plan.
He was waiting, waiting for that moment when the true "ownership" of the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill was "undetermined," when the "point of rest" at the end of the secret passage would be completely torn apart in the next instant.
The three figures pressed forward simultaneously, overwhelming the space. Like a sheet of paper forcibly stretched, the space twisted and broke at its center Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill hung there, neither advancing nor retreating, yet causing all conflicts to erupt around it to their Ultimate.
Xuanling Divine Huang made the first move.
Without any probing, its chest swelled instantly, the spatial crystals between its scales trembled simultaneously, and a grayish-white "heatless flame" condensed in its mouth. The flame had neither light nor heat, yet it caused the flow of cause and effect throughout the entire area to slow down at the same moment. The next instant, it exhaled sharply—"Mysterious Blade— Causal Incineration."
The grayish-white flames poured out like liquid, not fast, but in the instant they were ejected, they covered the entire area of cause and effect paths. The flames did not touch the flesh, but directly attached themselves to every "about to happen" trajectory.
An extremely bizarre scene unfolded in the space.
Hua Yuening's sword strike, which had been closing in on the elixir, suddenly stopped a few feet away from its target. The sword intent did not dissipate, but it lost the support of "the result will occur after it falls," like a movement that had been cut off in the second half, hanging there.
Chi Ninghua's figure was also impacted. Her forward trajectory remained, but in the next instant, it lost the meaning of "arrival". Her body moved forward, but her will could not fulfill the motivation of "getting". A layer of almost transparent gray-white flames quietly ignited around her.
Her pupils suddenly contracted. She clearly felt that her desire to "obtain" was being burned away, not disappearing, but being ignited little by little, and then turning into a blank space without direction.
As the flames spread, the entire chain of action in the space began to break. Attacks could not be carried out, movement lost its purpose, and even the judgment of "what to do next" gradually lost its foundation in the flames.
Hua Yuening's expression turned completely cold at this moment. She did not try to withstand the fire head-on, but instead cut her own path.
The next instant, the laws within her body suddenly reversed, and an extremely sharp, dark blue light pattern appeared around her. These light patterns were not for protection, but rather to redefine the way her actions were justified.
She took a step forward, her voice barely audible. "Annihilation Moon - Rejuvenation of Boundary Laws." Her sword no longer fell towards the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill.
Instead, he slashed back at the space around him.
The sword strike, without unleashing any visible power, instantly reconstructed the "legal boundaries" of her area. She severed herself from the original causal path and then re-established a logic of action that belonged only to herself through "independent judgment."
The effect was immediate; her sword once again possessed the potential to "hit the target." Her figure forcefully broke free from the gray-white flames, carving a narrow path, and continued to advance towards the location of the elixir.
Chi Ninghua did not stop either.
Her aura was already on the verge of collapse. At the moment the power of Causal Incineration descended, she almost lost the ability to move. But in the next instant, a resolute look flashed in her eyes, and she clenched her palms. An ancient and heavy aura exploded from her body.
"Silent Origin - Return to Fate." She didn't try to fight the flames; she chose to go around them.
She forcibly compressed the remaining causal forces within her own Fate Soul that had not yet been ignited, condensing them into a tiny closed loop, directly merging the "starting point of the action" and the "end point of the result" together, no longer relying on external paths.
She took a step forward, a step that was both the beginning and the end. In an instant, her figure traversed all the "impossible" processes in between, directly approaching the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill.
Grayish-white flames burned behind her, but could no longer completely bind her; the three forces erupted simultaneously.
Xuanling Divine Huang's breath continued to spread, Hua Yuening's Boundary Law Sword Intent kept cutting through the path, and Chi Ninghua forcibly pushed forward with her Fate Soul in a closed loop. Three completely different logics collided violently in this small space, and the space began to peel away layer by layer, like a picture that was repeatedly torn apart, constantly overlapping and breaking.
At the edge of all this, Qin Yu made a move. Instead of moving forward, he took another step back.
The space beneath his feet fell slightly silent around him, and a very faint dark pattern unfolded from beneath his feet, quietly extending outwards. "Void Source - Dream Stillness."
There was no outbreak, no unusual phenomena.
At this moment, an extremely stable "isolation zone" formed around him. All external causal burning, legal judgments, and Fate Soul vibrations were deflected when they entered this zone, as if their priorities were redefined.
The gray flames approached, but could not ignite his path; Hua Yuening's sword intent swept past.
It automatically slid aside beside him, and the aftershocks of Chi Ninghua's momentum were gently dissolved at this boundary.
He stood there, neither participating nor obstructing, yet he had already detached himself from this Limit collision.
His gaze remained fixed on that one point: the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill. Amidst the tearing apart of the three forces, it underwent its first extremely subtle change; its "position" began to shift.