As Qin Yu stepped out of the spatial rift, the surrounding scenery had completely changed. The remaining annihilation power slowly closed behind him, like a crack that had been erased, leaving no trace. The place where he landed was an extremely strange yet quiet area.
It was a "Still Realm Court Domain" sealed deep within an ancient castle. The entire space seemed forgotten by time; the sky had no dome, yet it shimmered with a faint bluish-white glow; the ground was like a single, solid piece of jade, transparent yet impenetrable, with extremely fine Dao patterns flowing within it, like a sleeping world slowly breathing. In the distance stood broken stone pillars and leaning palace walls.
The crumbling walls stand in disarray, their dilapidated textures revealing no signs of decay or decay. Every crack and crevice exudes a faint, ethereal aura. This land, stripped of its desolate, ruined state, preserves a completely still, stagnant, and unfinished past.
The surrounding air was Ultimate still, a vast and tranquil stillness enveloping all directions. The causal threads that crisscrossed the world slowly stagnated, their flow restricted by layers of constraints. This place was uniquely blessed, extremely suitable for quiet recuperation and healing injuries. However, the deathly still and enclosed environment also harbored hidden dangers. Once any target was firmly locked onto by the laws, it would be completely cut off from any room for maneuver, leaving no way to advance or retreat.
Qin Yu didn't pay much attention to his surroundings. The moment he landed, he gently put Chi Ninghua down. Her aura was so weak that it was almost imperceptible. Her Fate Soul was covered with cracks, like a mirror about to shatter completely. Faint remnants of cause and effect were emanating from each crack. These remnants did not dissipate but were slowly detaching from her body. If it was delayed any longer, she would begin to disintegrate from the "level of existence".
At that very moment, a faint light gently gathered at his shoulder, and Xiao Yue's figure slowly appeared.
She glanced at Chi Ninghua, a hint of seriousness flashing in her eyes, but her voice remained gentle, "Little Qinzi, her Fate Soul can't hold on any longer."
Qin Yu's gaze fell on Chi Ninghua. Without the slightest hesitation, he slowly raised his hand and took out the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill.
The moment the pill appeared, the surrounding space seemed to ripple slightly.
It still cannot be truly "seen." It's as if Qin Yu is holding an "undefined existence" in his hand, and even his Fate Soul experiences a slight sense of dislocation the moment it comes into contact with it.
Without hesitation, his gaze fell on Xiao Yue. "Xiao Yue, we have no choice but to take a gamble."
His voice was calm, yet carried a resolute calmness that suggested he had already made his decision. "I'm here to stabilize her Fate Soul and guide her to swallow and refine the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill."
Xiao Yue nodded gently, her eyes becoming extremely serious in that instant. "Okay." She turned around.
Starlight gently spread beneath my feet. "I'll go stop those two."
Before she finished speaking, her figure had already drifted away, her whole being gliding into the depths of space like a shadow of stars and the moon, her aura quickly fading away.
Qin Yu withdrew his gaze, no longer focusing on the person before him. He slowly raised his hands, and the deep, enduring power of his Fate Soul gradually descended, merging into the warm, jade-like ground beneath his feet. In an instant, all the ancient Dao patterns dormant in the entire enclosed area awakened, and the complex and vast array of foundational veins unfurled from the earth.
An incredibly profound magical array slowly unfolded beneath his feet. The world was utterly silent, devoid of any booming or reverberating sounds, nor any soaring light. Only incredibly fine strands of Fate Soul patterns rose layer by layer from the depths of the rock, like thousands of silver threads gently meandering, gradually outlining the magnificent and complete array diagram. The array patterns were never fixed or static, constantly cycling, recombining, and transforming.
Every line perfectly matched the turbulent and fragmented state of Chi Ninghua's Fate Soul, subtly adjusting to suit her needs. Qin Yu's fingertips lightly traced the vast void, and ancient, profound runes materialized out of thin air. Without employing any carving or depiction techniques, he used his primordial authority to complete the layered forging, directly integrating the rune veins into the texture of space. He disassembled his own Fate Soul's structure, extracting its core Dao essence...
Layer upon layer, the array's foundation was embedded. The core of the array steadily condensed and took shape, and a magnificent ring structure slowly rose and appeared. The center of the ring Silent Void anything, yet an invisible Formless solid bearing capacity was continuously gathering and settling. Using its own Fate Soul as a guide and the earth's Dao patterns as a foundation, a unique array domain was thus forged— the Return to the Abyss · Soul-Stabilizing Array Domain.
The moment the formation was activated, the dissipating remnants of Fate Soul within Chi Ninghua's body suddenly stopped.
It wasn't that it was suppressed, but rather that it was "redefined" as temporarily irreversible. Qin Yu didn't stop; he flipped one hand over.
Qin Yu slowly descended into the center of the formation, causing the formation to tremble instantly. At that moment, even space itself seemed to recede slightly.
Qin Yu's gaze became completely calm. He raised his hand and placed it on Chi Ninghua's brow, slowly channeling his Fate Soul force into her.
He began to guide her, leading her to touch that "existence that has not yet existed," the outside world, the edge of the Still Realm Court Domain.
A ray of starlight slowly appeared, Xiao Yue hung in mid-air. She did not turn around, but gently opened her hands, and one circular light trail after another unfolded around her.
She gazed silently at the gradually tearing space in the distance, where an extremely terrifying aura was approaching, and the stars in her pupils began to spin faster.
Qin Yu sat cross-legged in the Still Realm Court Domain realm completely sealed off by the Fate Soul Array Domain. All fluctuations around him were suppressed to the Limit, even the flow of cause and effect became sluggish and heavy. He held the undefinable Returning Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill in his palm, his gaze as calm as an abyss.
The next instant, without the slightest hesitation, he gently touched the pill with his fingertip, and the pill slowly disappeared into Chi Ninghua's brow like a "flow that did not yet exist"—without light, without a trace, without a process of entering, as if "already inside" had been reconfirmed.
The moment the elixir touched her Fate Soul, the entire array trembled violently.
Chi Ninghua's body instantly split into two completely conflicting states of being. Every inch of the muscles on her left side was Ultimate clear, even the slightest trace of blood flow was visible, so real that it was as if the universe had been remodeled within her body.
The right side, however, was completely undefined, its outline constantly changing, extending, and collapsing, like a phantom that could be rewritten at any moment. Reality and illusion collided wildly in the center of her body, forming an extremely thin "line of annihilation." That line flickered at an unpredictable frequency, like a self-devouring blade, pushing her inch by inch toward the edge of collapse.
Qin Yu clenched his hands together abruptly, pressing his Fate Soul power directly into the core of the array. The Soul Soul-Stabilizing Array Domain tightened instantly, and all the array patterns lit up simultaneously. He embedded his own existence structure into the outer edge of Chi Ninghua's Fate Soul, forcibly "limiting" the annihilation line to a bearable state.
However, it was not a simple suppression of power. He had to simultaneously revise the definition of "annihilation is happening" every instant, otherwise the line would spread on its own, tearing her completely into an irreversible void.
The next moment, the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill truly began to operate.
Chi Ninghua's sea of consciousness suddenly surged and churned, with countless fragments of memories, causal threads, and fateful choices simultaneously unfolding in the depths of her consciousness. It was not a superficial recollection of thoughts, but a complete reenactment of all past trajectories, traced back from the very source of existence.
The myriad branches that evolved through countless reincarnations unfolded and blossomed deep within her mind. She clearly looked down upon every choice she had made in the past, witnessing the endless destinies that splintered from a single thought.
Countless derivative endings counterbalance and balance each other, mutually crushing and devouring one another, intertwining and repeating layer upon layer. All the chaotic thoughts eventually Return to One and converge on the same Ultimate question that runs through the origin: Can the essence of annihilation be permanently established within the principles of the Great Dao?
At that moment, her consciousness began to crumble.
Qin Yu's forehead was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat. He clearly sensed that her Fate Soul was caught in a "recursive process of truth and falsehood." If she had any thought of "this is real" or "this is fake," the entire process would instantly backfire. Without hesitation, he directly embedded a strand of his Fate Soul's will into the depths of her sea of consciousness.
Forcibly cut off all her "judgment" pathways—not by suppressing her thinking, but by temporarily depriving the "judgment" itself of the conditions for being valid.
The Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill continues to be explored in greater depths.
The "truth" and "falsehood" within her body began to be compressed, no longer opposing or alternating, but collapsing towards an unrecognizable singularity. That singularity did not exist in space, yet it dragged her entire Fate Soul toward the center. All contrasts began to crumble, life and death lost their reference, existence and Does Not Exist lost their boundaries, and even the concept of "who she is" began to waver.
At that moment, danger erupted suddenly, and a powerful obsession arose deep within her Fate Soul: "I must survive."
This is not fear, but instinct.
The moment this thought arose, the power of the Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill instantly backfired, causing the entire singularity to tremble violently. All the contrasts that were returning to their origins were torn apart again, the Annihilation Line surged, Chi Ninghua's body twisted violently, and her Fate Soul structure began to collapse on a large scale.
A cold glint flashed in Qin Yu's eyes. He didn't suppress that obsession; he simply erased the concept of "must."
A subtle force of destiny entered her consciousness, rewriting "must survive" as "existence undefined." That obsession instantly lost its support; it no longer held true, nor did it disappear—it simply "no longer possessed meaning."
Annihilation returned to stability.
The Origin-Returning Annihilation Pill has entered its second stage.
Countless broken characters spilled from Chi Ninghua's mouth, twisting and contorting in the air as if attempting to argue something, only to forget their meaning in the next instant, dissipating slowly as gray mist.
The annihilation power within her suddenly turned inward, beginning to "annihilate itself." The entire array instantly fell into absolute silence, the concept of sound was briefly removed, and even Qin Yu could not feel his own breathing.
The void began to crack.
What cracked was not space itself, but "fragments of concepts that once existed." These fragments flashed in the air and then disappeared, like a deleted piece of history struggling to leave its mark.
Qin Yu's hands trembled slightly, but he did not retreat. He continued to press his Fate Soul power into the core of the formation, limiting all abnormal fluctuations to a tolerable range.
The third phase has begun.
Chi Ninghua's body began to "simplify," colors lost their meaning, forms became unstable, and size became undefinable. She existed there, yet could not be described. Even Qin Yu's perception began to malfunction; the Chi Ninghua he saw was different in every instant. These differences were not changes, but rather the "failure of the method of description itself."
Behind her, a huge and indefinable "silent circle" slowly emerged. It was neither light nor darkness, but a kind of existence that had not yet been defined as having any attributes.
Qin Yu's breathing became erratic for the first time. He knew that the most dangerous moment had arrived. If she had any awareness of "I'm still here" at this moment, the whole process would completely collapse.
Qin Yu ceased exerting any external force to interfere, instead slowly relinquishing most of his control. This concession was not reckless abandonment, but rather intended to allow her turbulent and broken Fate Soul to completely enter a state of detachment, devoid of any support or reference.
The scale of time completely dissolves at this moment, and the flow of time loses all meaning. In an instant, all things and phenomena return to silence. The crisscrossing lines of annihilation gather all their glimmer of light, falling into stillness.
The latent and restrained Gui Cang singularity calmed down, no longer turbulent or trembling. Her existence became fixed and constant, no longer producing the slightest fluctuation. The laws of the surrounding world could no longer detect any signs of change belonging to her.
The fourth stage descends into Eternal Silence. There is no light, no darkness, no existence, no Does Not Exist; even the judgment "she is here" no longer holds true.
Qin Yu's pupils contracted slightly. He sensed her "present" and simultaneously, "Absent." These two perceptions were both valid and invalid at the same time.
He didn't interfere further. The array slowly contracted, and the next moment, Chi Ninghua opened her eyes. There was no emotion or fluctuation in her eyes, yet they weren't Emptiness; rather, they held a kind of "stillness" that couldn't be categorized.
She slowly looked at Qin Yu. At that moment, for the first time, Qin Yu felt that her gaze was neither on him nor away from him.
It was a "referenceless gaze." She didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly, a nod that was both like gratitude and not quite.
Qin Yu slowly exhaled, cold sweat sliding down his forehead. For the first time, his aura fluctuated noticeably, but his eyes held a deep sense of solemnity—he knew that after this step, Chi Ninghua before him was no longer a cultivator in the original sense; she had entered the Eternal Silence Realm Initial Stage.