It was a sword, yet it lacked the fixed form of a sword.
The sword has no edge, no blade, no patterns, no decorations, and no fixed shape. In one breath, it is an ancient sword, simple and profound, from time immemorial; in another, it is Stillness Scroll ancient book filled with Daoist texts; in yet another, it is a black Daoist talisman that rotates endlessly.
Ever-changing and shapeless, this is the Xuanji Fate-Unraveling Sword, a divine weapon of Fate Soul essence buried by the Shangguan Lineage for countless ages and never revealed lightly.
It does not aim to kill and defeat enemies, nor does it seek victory through power. Its sole purpose is to cut through the "incomprehensible things" in the world, to explore the "Does Not Exist answers" within the principles of law, and to break through the Ultimate barrier of understanding the Great Dao.
Only when confronted with the origin that is without basis, Beginningless Endless, and transcends all logic, will this divine weapon truly awaken.
Shangguan Anyu firmly grasped the swaying sword hilt, and in an instant, the entire arena and the entire void trembled violently, with thousands of Dao patterns pulsating wildly.
Behind him, countless tattered black scrolls unfurled in mid-air, each page bearing an Ultimate question that transcends eternity.
"Why do all things continue to exist?" "Why is the law established?" "Why can existence be understood?" Countless questions intertwined and entangled, transforming into a sky full of dark Daoist rhymes, which ultimately Return to One into a pure and supremely clear divine light that pierced through heaven and earth.
Shangguan Anyu raised his eyes, his gaze piercing through the Beginningless chaos, directly meeting Ju Gongchen's origin. "Ju Gongchen, you transformed yourself into the Beginningless, returning all phenomena to their undefined state." "But you must know— the Beginningless Void itself is also a form." "The undefined origin itself is also a definition."
"Everything that has a definition can be traced." "Everything that has a form can be analyzed." As soon as he finished speaking, he swung his sword down.
Seeking Truth in the Insoluble! Boom!!! The pitch-black, Ultimate analytical sword light collided violently with the vast, dark blue, Beginningless vortex at the center of the arena.
Heaven and earth fell silent, all sounds Annihilation. There was no outward leakage of violent power, no burst of dazzling divine light, only the primal cores of the two supreme paths colliding, eroding, and battling each other in Ultimate.
This battle has long since transcended the constraints of magic and supernatural powers. On one side, they are going against the current, rushing to the Beginningless source before the birth of all things; on the other side, they are going with the current, exhausting the Ultimate truth behind the existence of all things.
Millions of cultivators stared blankly, their minds blank, utterly speechless. Their ordinary cultivation levels were simply insufficient to perceive the essence of this great Dao contest; they could only vaguely sense that an ancient battle concerning the "origin of existence" was taking place in that void.
Within the Chi Lineage camp, Qin Yu stood motionless, his expression calm and undisturbed, only his eyes clear and bright as he quietly surveyed the Ultimate confrontation in the center of the arena.
Deep within his Fate Soul, the Silent Beginning Ring Master Soul Diagram slowly rotated, and the Nine-Wheel True Evolution Dharma Ring unfolded layer by layer, disassembling and clearly reflecting the veins, origins, logic, and trajectories of the two supreme paths on the arena into layers within his sea of consciousness.
He finally saw through the Ultimate core of the two Lineage's inheritance: the Ju Lineage's Primordial Annihilation Structure, on the surface, is about reconstructing all things and annihilating old rules, but in essence, it is about tracing back to the source.
The Ju Lineage cultivators firmly believe that all things have a root and all phenomena have a primordial form. As long as they trace back to the Primordial beginning, they can grasp the source of all existence and redefine all laws in the world.
While the analysis of Shangguan Lineage Stillness Scroll Analysis superficially involves dissecting all methods and seeking flaws, its essence lies in questioning.
The Shangguan Lineage cultivators firmly believe that the existence of all things is governed by logic, and the formation of all phenomena is based on reason. As long as one can understand the core of the self-consistent law, one can dismantle the foundation of all existence.
A glint flashed in Qin Yu's eyes, and he suddenly realized that the two seemingly opposite paths, one established and the other destroyed, Ultimate originated from the same source.
What the two are fighting for is never the difference in cultivation level or the strength of supernatural powers; what they are fighting for is the Ultimate right to interpret existence itself.
The Primordial Annihilation Structure asks: Where did existence originally come from? The Stillness Scroll Analysis ask: By what means does existence stand in this world?
Upon realizing this, Qin Yu's mind stirred slightly, and a deeper understanding arose in his eyes as he compared it to his own Dao Path.
His Silent Beginning Ring Master Soul Diagram is also rooted in the origin, also touches upon existence, and also encompasses the core of all laws, but it is completely different from the other two.
In the Primordial Annihilation Structure, he sought the origin; in the Stillness Scroll Analysis, he sought the answers. His path was to read the entire process, to read the threads of existence, to dismantle the shackles of law, to seal the false rules, and to rewrite the original order.
They don't chase the starting point, nor seek answers, but rather grasp the complete laws governing the entire cycle of existence. Both the Ju and Shangguan Lineage have already touched upon half of the origin of the Great Dao of Existence.
"One traces back to the beginning, the other to the end; each holds its own perspective, each occupies a corner of the Great Dao." Qin Yu quietly concluded in his heart, the Soul Diagram's rotation becoming increasingly stable, his understanding of the Origin Great Dao deepening to a new level.
On the arena, the battle of the Great Dao continues to escalate to its Ultimate, with the Profound Azure Beginningless Origin and the Dark True God constantly devouring, dissolving, balancing, and regenerating.
The gray marks between Ju Gongchen's brows continued to spread, his Fate Soul essence was constantly being overdrawn, and his body trembled slightly, already on the verge of its Limit. The ancient scrolls around Shangguan Anyu's body cracked more severely, his analytical power was greatly depleted, his blood and qi fluctuated violently, and his injuries worsened layer by layer.
Both were suffering from the terrifying backlash originating from the very source of the Great Dao, their Fate Soul teetering on the brink of collapse, having already reached the Ultimate Limit of a duel between prodigies.
Yet the two figures remained proudly upright, unmoved, neither yielding nor collapsing. From Primordial beginning of time to the end of Stillness Scroll, this Ultimate battle for the Great Dao, spanning the millennia-long heritage of two great Lineage, remained unresolved and far from over.
In the center of the arena, the battle of the Great Dao reached its Ultimate. The two prodigies had exhausted their own reserves and fought to their absolute Limit. Their auras had completely declined, and they were no longer at their peak when they first fought. Everywhere they looked, they showed signs of fatigue and backlash from overdrawing their Great Dao.
The dark blue Dao patterns flowing around Ju Gongchen flickered and disappeared intermittently. The Primordial Origin deep within his Fate Soul trembled violently, as if it would break through its shackles and dissipate into the void at any moment. Every inch of his Dao foundation was bearing the Ultimate burden of tracing back to the Beginningless Great Dao.
On the opposite side, Shangguan Anyu's natal divine weapon, the Xuanji Fate-Unraveling Sword, was already showing fine cracks. This Fate Soul treasure, which was formed from the pure analysis of the Great Dao and was indestructible for all eternity, was trembling and swaying for the first time since it appeared in the world. Its shape was disordered, its luster was fading, and it was on the verge of being unable to maintain itself, which was enough to show how extremely dangerous this duel was.
Even though they were severely injured by the Great Dao and their source of power was exhausted, the fighting spirit and determination in their eyes surpassed any moment before.
They both understood perfectly that this final, Ultimate clash would be the Ultimate blow that would determine the fate of the world and decide the victor.
On the high platform, the four Void Emanation Realm experts sat up straight in unison, their expressions solemn, showing no sign of relaxation.
Nalan Yanqing's gaze was solemn and his heart was heavy as he stared intently at the center of the arena. "The two of them have already forced out the deepest foundation accumulated by their Lineage over thousands of years. This kind of battle of the Great Dao has long transcended the scope of fighting among peers."
Xuanyuan Canglan nodded slowly, his voice filled with emotion. "This level of clash of laws has already exceeded the bearing Limit of the Eternal Silence Realm Initial Stage. The slightest carelessness will result in the collapse of the Dao Foundation and damage to the Fate Soul."
Murong Yunche's eyes flickered, filled with solemnity. "Once this final blow settles, the first prodigy to step into the final battle will be determined."
Nangong Xingyun sat silently, observing the entire contest without uttering a single word.
He knew better than anyone that these two young prodigies had pushed the younger generation of the Eternal Nonexistence Limitless Domain to an Ultimate new level of understanding of the Great Dao.
A deathly silence filled the arena. Ju Gongchen took a deep breath, and his chaotic aura suddenly calmed down. He slowly raised his palm, and an ancient jade talisman appeared leisurely in his palm.
The jade talisman is about the size of a palm, its entire surface clear and dark blue, without any patterns, decorations, inscriptions, or marks, except for an ancient crack running across its entire surface, concealing the vicissitudes of time.
The moment this object appeared, the void of the entire Myriad Worlds Graveyard suddenly twisted and trembled, and all the Dao patterns of heaven and earth became stagnant. At the same time, a chilling feeling rose in the hearts of hundreds of millions of cultivators, and in the darkness, they seemed to glimpse that the jade talisman contained an eternally silent, unborn and undying Ultimate void.
This was after the second round of competition concluded, when Ju Jinyu, the head of the Ju Lineage, personally handed over the Lineage's protective treasure— the Primordial Silent Abyss Jade.
Legend has it that this jade is a core fragment of the origin left behind by the ancestors of the Ju Lineage when they set foot on the border of Eternal Silence and peered into the origin of Annihilation. It is unique and unparalleled in the world. It is not helpful for a surge in cultivation or an increase in supernatural powers, but it possesses a heaven-defying ability—it can briefly tear apart barriers, open the boundary between the mortal world and the Eternal Silence Realm, and guide a wisp of true Annihilation origin to cover all the heavens.
Ju Gongchen gripped the jade talisman tightly with his five fingers. In an instant, the essence of his Fate Soul was no longer restrained and controlled, but burst into flames and blooms. This was not a self-destructive loss of essence, but the Ultimate release of the Great Dao of Primordial Annihilation Structure, releasing all the essence he had accumulated over the years without reservation.
His eyes slowly lost all color, transforming into two deep, boundless, empty, ancient cold pools, devoid of light, ripples, and life.
The surrounding space is no longer crumbling and shattering, but rather the ancient concept of "space" is being gradually dissolved and erased, losing its meaning of existence.
"Shangguan Anyu." Ju Gongchen's voice was as calm as still water, yet it resounded through the deathly silence of heaven and earth. "With this move over, the outcome of our battle is decided." As soon as he finished speaking, the dark blue jade talisman in his palm slowly cracked.
A slender yet horizontal gray crack suddenly tore open the void of the mortal world, revealing itself. Boom!!! The entire Myriad Worlds Graveyard trembled violently, and the hearts of billions of people simultaneously skipped a beat, their breaths stopped. Beyond that crack, there was no light, no darkness, no chaos, no nothingness, and no objects that any living being could perceive.
It is an absolute "nothingness" that transcends all perceptions, the Ultimate Origin from which all things in the heavens return to silence—the true Eternal Silence Realm, which has descended upon a corner of this world.
The Eternal Silence Abyss has been fully opened! With Ju Gongchen at its core, a vast, gray-white domain of Annihilation rapidly spreads out and devours everything in its path.