An invisible layer of questioning has enveloped his physical form: Why are you here? Where does your power come from? How is your unnamability established? What gives you the right to stand before names? And what gives you the right to refuse definitions imposed upon you by the outside world?
Boundless Abyss Huang did not provide an answer; he simply pressed all the questions upon Nameless, leaving the other party to answer them himself. Any external implication, any inconsistent cause, any part that required the approval of some rule to be valid, would become the entry point for Narrative Denial that tore apart the very foundation of existence.
Boundless Abyss Huang's gaze grew even sharper. "Let me see..." "Why are you here?" The question finally reached its deepest point, but the next moment—nothing happened. Nameless was still standing there, no memories were unearthed, no reason for his existence was placed on the so-called ground of scrutiny, and no externally granted authority was stripped away.
Even the question posed by the Narrative Denial— "Why are you here?"—pauses strangely upon truly arriving at the Nameless. Boundless Abyss Huang's eyes suddenly narrowed. Questions need objects, investigations need objects. For the question "Why do you exist?" to be valid, it must first be confirmed that there exists a "who" who can be questioned.
But Nameless did not provide this premise.
In the first round, Nameless used "unnameable" to prevent Boundless Abyss Huang's nothingness from finding an object to veto; now Boundless Abyss Huang has actively abandoned the name of nothingness and even pushed itself into the Formless, but his Narrative Denial still retains one last action that cannot be abandoned - it is questioning.
The mere act of asking questions presupposes the "questioned party," and the mere existence of a reason for the investigation acknowledges that a certain individual has entered the investigation process. Yet, Nameless did not accept this relationship. He did not even employ a supernatural power that could be recognized by the crowd. Nameless finally raised his eyelids, his eyes calmly looking at Boundless Abyss Huang.
With just a glance, without any radiant light, handprints, or declarations, he simply raised his right hand and lightly traced a line between himself and Boundless Abyss Huang with his index finger. No one could understand what this line meant, but Mystic Deconstruction's pupils suddenly constricted, and the few silver-white strings behind Wanyan that had just recovered simultaneously stopped swaying.
The next moment, all the "whys" that permeated countless layers of logic, cause and effect, and the reasons for existence simultaneously lost their direction, Boundless Abyss Huang's expression changed for the first time. He could feel that the Narrative Denial still existed, the supernatural power had not been destroyed, the Source Dao had not been crushed, and even that question could still cover any object in the world with a clear foundation of existence.
The only exception is the Nameless. Even the conclusion that "the Nameless does not accept inquiries" cannot be truly established, because once described in this way, it adds another identifiable property to him.
Nameless gently withdrew his hand. Only then did he speak for the first time. "You relinquished the name of nothingness." His voice was faint, Boundless Abyss Huang stared intently at him. There was no mockery in Nameless's eyes, only a calm that was even more unbearable. "Yet you still ask me who I am." Boundless Abyss Huang's pupils suddenly contracted.
With that one sentence, the Narrative Denial, and all the questions directed at the Nameless vanished simultaneously. There was no earth-shattering explosion, no collapse of the great road. They simply stopped on their own after losing their object, and the scene outside became completely silent.
Many people only now truly understand the seemingly simple suppression relationship of the first round— Nameless → Boundless Abyss.
Boundless Abyss Huang has made an astonishing change in response to his first defeat. He has abandoned "nothingness", "return to the source", and "Annihilation", and has even temporarily entered an unidentifiable Formless state.
But Nameless went further than him. Boundless Abyss Huang actively gave up his name, while Nameless never stood in a place that "requires a name to exist."
The Nameless one still needs to reach their destination through "sacrifice," and the act of "sacrifice" itself has already left its mark.
Mystic Deconstruction sat on the main seat of the Shangguan Lineage, his colorless eyes flashing rapidly. After a long while, he uttered a low voice, "I see..." Wanyan glanced at him. Mystic Deconstruction did not continue to explain.
Because the more you explain, the more you add definitions to the Nameless.
In the Chi Lineage area, Qin Yu also didn't attempt to analyze it. He simply stared at the spot where Nameless just pointed, a sense of unprecedented vigilance slowly rising in his heart. Boundless Abyss Huang's move was terrifying enough, capable of examining all the origins of an existence from its birth to the present day.
But when faced with Nameless, he didn't even qualify to begin the actual "examination." Millions of viewers gradually recovered from the deathly silence. "This... it's broken?" "Boundless Abyss Huang even abandoned the name of nothingness!" "He didn't even directly shatter it with his divine power..." "Because there was no need to shatter it at all!"
An elderly man at the Void Emanation Realm gripped his chair tightly, his expression more solemn than ever before. "Narrative Denial requires first acknowledging a subject of questioning. If Nameless doesn't meet this premise, all subsequent investigations are meaningless..."
The man beside him swallowed hard. "Then how can we attack him?" The old man remained silent, realizing he couldn't answer. On the Dao Pivot Platform, Boundless Abyss Huang still hadn't retreated.
His face had completely darkened, his eyes fixed on Nameless. The fact that the first move had been so easily neutralized was far beyond his expectations, but the fighting spirit in his eyes did not extinguish; instead, it grew even deeper.
He already knew where the first problem lay: abandoning the name wasn't enough, because as long as he still thought about "challenging the Nameless," he had already implicitly acknowledged that the other party was an object that could be challenged. This time, he had to find a way to kill that didn't even require the existence of an "object."
Boundless Abyss Huang's expression finally changed. When the Narrative Denial dissipated, he was still able to suppress the turmoil in his heart, but when Nameless said, "You have given up the name of nothingness, yet you still ask me who I am," a genuine look of surprise flashed across the depths of his eyes for the first time.
The look of surprise initially lingered only in the deepest part of his pupils, then gradually spread along the slightly contracted corners of his eyes. He didn't act immediately; his right hand remained at his side, his five fingers slowly closing, while his mind replayed those brief few breaths.
Asking about the object of need, rejecting the object of need, examining the object of need, even if one abandons the name of "nothingness," abandons the old boundaries of "returning to the source" and "Annihilation," and even pushes oneself into Formless state that even the Dao Pivot Platform cannot accurately discern, when one casts the question "Why are you here?" at the Nameless, one personally re-establishes the most basic relationship—I am asking you.
There is "I". There is "you". There is a questioner and a questioner. As long as this sense of friend and foe remains, he has not truly reached the place where the Nameless is. Boundless Abyss Huang's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.
At this moment, he truly understood what the full pressure of the three paths in the first round really meant. The most terrifying thing about Nameless was never just that he was "unnameable". His Source Dao was much deeper, so deep that any supernatural power that tried to target him would have already left a flaw the moment it first touched the paper, as long as it first needed to confirm "who I am targeting".
Boundless Abyss Huang slowly raised his head and looked at the opposite side again, where Nameless was still standing.
His robes hung loosely, his hands rested naturally behind his back, and there was no joy in his eyes as the outcome was decided, nor any approval for Boundless Abyss Huang's recent transformation. That quietness made Boundless Abyss Huang feel a heavy sense of powerlessness rise in his chest for the first time.
"So..." Boundless Abyss Huang's voice was very low. "This is your path." Nameless did not answer. Boundless Abyss Huang's eyes twitched slightly, and then he slowly closed his eyes. In the next moment, he began to peel away his last bit of understanding of "friend and foe".
Nameless was no longer the enemy, nor was he the caster of the spell; there was no "I attack you," no "I deny you," and not even "I want to defeat you."
This step is far more dangerous than abandoning "nothingness" itself, because Boundless Abyss Huang is personally giving up the most basic direction of his supernatural powers. A killing without a target may very well lose its meaning altogether.
But he did not back down. Having reached this point, he had no more hesitation. Boundless Abyss Huang slowly opened his hands, and the Formless region around his transformed human body, which had previously lost its name of "nothingness," suddenly began to shrink inward.
It didn't lock onto Nameless, nor did it spread in any direction; it was simply withdrawing, withdrawing everything it could reach. An extremely low primal vibration spread along the ninety-nine-zhang celestial disc. Buzz!!! Boundless Abyss Huang opened his eyes.
No longer could be seen in his pupils, the scene on the Dao Pivot Platform changed abruptly as the four words "Return to Source Annihilation" were uttered.