Midnight had fallen, and above Returning Light Heavenly City, the vast sky, woven from the afterglow of countless vanished universes, still eternally shone over the Hua Lineage family. As Ziye approached, the dazzling brilliance that had flowed through the crystal dome during the day had mostly subsided, and large swaths of dark red and ghostly gold light slowly drifted along the rooftops of the palaces, casting long, somber shadows on the eaves of the ancient halls.
Deep within the heart of the Hua Lineage's territory lies the palace where Hua Jingyun secluded himself for cultivation, far removed from the core of the clan. Ancient Anomalous Spirit plants surround the palace, naturally shielding it from the prying Fate Soul. Dozens of massive, dark golden stone pillars encircle the palace, their protective array patterns flickering and fading with the night, ever-renewing. Since Hua Jingyun's Fate Soul was severely damaged and his cultivation plummeted to the True Annihilation Realm · Initial Stage, this place has gradually become desolate and quiet, a forbidden corner of the Hua Lineage, rarely visited by anyone. Apart from the disciples who patrol daily on fixed shifts, ordinary clansmen never dare to approach it lightly.
At this moment, two figures stood quietly, pressed against the dark shadows cast by the palace wall in the distance. They were Hua An and Hua Yuan, who had come under Hua Yin's secret orders.
Hua An did not approach rashly. He hid behind a black and gold stone pillar, his eyes slightly closed. A delicate wisp of Fate Soul perception quietly spread out, slowly extending along the outer perimeter of the palace. This perception was neither forceful nor ostentatious, but only advanced inch by inch along the stone steps and the shadows of the palace walls, quickly discerning the movements of the surrounding guards.
At the end of the east corridor, more than ten human disciples were patrolling steadily toward the east gate along a fixed route. The soft whispers of two disciples chatting gradually faded into the distance. Another patrol team had just crossed the ancient tower in the northeast corner and would not be returning anytime soon.
After confirming that there was no danger around, Hua An opened her eyes, a cautious look flashing in them. She turned back and nodded slightly to Hua Yuan.
"We can make our move now. The patrols are all heading towards the east gate; they won't be returning anytime soon."
Hua Yuan did not respond, but only gestured with his eyes, his aura completely disappearing into nothingness. His feet landed silently on the stone steps, and his figure moved lightly several times, using the shadows of the intersecting stone pillars, and in an instant he arrived in front of the main gate of Hua Jingyun's secluded palace.
He did not touch the palace door, nor did he forcibly break the original restrictions outside the palace. He simply knelt down slowly and took out a palm-sized dark gold seal from his bosom.
The seal felt heavy and substantial in the hand. The square base was plain and unadorned, with only a layer of dark gold ancient patterns on the surface, weathered by countless ages. At the top of the seal, a delicate stone lion, about the height of a thumb, was perched, its form strange and extraordinary: the lion's mane seemed like solidified flowing light, each strand frozen in its backward-flowing posture, motionless and unwavering through the ages; the lion's eyes were empty and pupil-less, neither black nor white, only two deep and dark tiny holes, surrounded by an Ultimate faint, almost imperceptible halo of dim gold.
Hua Yuan's expression suddenly became solemn, and his mind became completely reverent.
He held the seal with both hands and gently placed it in the center of the stone steps of the palace gate.
The seal fell onto the stone surface without making a sound, completely silent.
The next instant, the stone lion perched on the seal underwent an Ultimate subtle change.
It did not rise or move; its limbs remained pressed tightly against the seal's surface. Only its head slowly and slightly rose, its spine taut, forming an extremely tense arc. The entire stone lion was frozen in a strange, Threshold without uttering a sound.
Immediately following, the halo of dim golden light slowly spread out.
There was no fundamental tremor, no earth-shattering phenomenon.
A thin layer of golden light, as thin as a cicada's wing, silently spread along the stone steps, seeping into the ground through the fine cracks in the bricks, crossing the threshold of the palace gate, and quietly slipping into the palace through the almost imperceptible gaps beneath the door panels. More dim golden light spread outwards along the palace base in all directions, one zhang, ten zhang, a hundred zhang, covering the walls, pillars, roof ridges, and eaves. The entire palace was gently enveloped by this dark golden light, becoming one with it.
In the distance, Hua An remained vigilant, his gaze fixed on the direction the patrolling disciples had gone, not daring to relax for even a moment.
Nearby, Hua Yuan had already closed her eyes and was lost in thought.
His lips moved slowly, and a low, ancient incantation escaped his lips. The incantation was suppressed to an extremely low level, hidden in the darkness. With each syllable, the dark gold seal in the center of the stone steps trembled slightly, resonating in unison. As the incantation continued, the space around the stone lion above the seal distorted and folded in ways that were clearly visible to the naked eye.
Buzz!!!
A deep, ancient tremor spread silently, Annihilation all sound within the entire palace area.
The rustling of distant exotic plants and leaves vanished without a trace, the distant afterglow of the sky above Returning Light Heavenly City completely subsided, and even Hua Yuan's own breathing was erased, leaving only absolute silence in the world.
A golden halo suddenly rose from the seal.
A colossal, boundless lion-shaped silhouette slowly took shape and unfolded directly in front of Hua Jingyun's secluded palace.
The first thing to manifest was the four-legged creature.
The four colossal feet did not actually tread on the stone steps; instead, countless tiny, chaotic gray-white primordial fibers floated beneath them. These fibers intertwined and crisscrossed, yet they could never fully bind together or take perfect shape. Some would spread out halfway and then suddenly dissipate, while others would approach each other and then drift away, maintaining an overall state of primordial chaos where cause and effect were incomplete and the order of the Dao was not yet woven.
One of the forelegs of the Primordial Stillness Lion moved forward slowly by half an inch.
A golden ripple immediately spread across the surrounding space, and where the ripple swept, the stone steps still stood, but their original clear and solid outlines disappeared. The boundary between the stone surface and the palace gate gradually blurred and dissolved, and the real and the unreal were intertwined, with no clear barrier left.
Then, the enormous dark gold lion's body slowly materialized.
It lacks the heavy, solid texture of flesh and blood; its entire body is formed from the dark, golden light that has been condensed over millennia. Its surface lacks the fur and texture of ordinary beasts; instead, layers of dark luster flow slowly from the inside out, serene and timeless. The majestic lion's back lies prostrate before the hall, its body not yet risen, yet its shoulders and spine already tower above the eaves of the main gate. The enormous lion's head gradually solidifies and takes shape from within the dark golden light and shadow, majestic and imposing.
What truly awes the soul is the endless lion's mane.
Thousands of strands of hair cascaded down from her neck, each strand a perfectly still string of time. No past flowed, no future rushed, eternally frozen in the present moment. At the end of each string of time hung an incomplete Daoist rune: some were only a rudimentary stroke, some their outlines were just beginning to emerge, and some dissipated the moment they took shape. The thousands of runes trembled gently, yet remained silent throughout.
The Primordial Stillness Lion slowly raised its head.
A pair of enormous, hollow beastly eyes were exposed in the night.
There were no pupils in his eyes, only two slowly rotating logical vacuums that replaced his gaze. An invisible gaze swept lightly across the palace walls. The protective array outside the palace had not collapsed or gone out. Those ancient patterns that originally carried the profound meanings of protection, obstruction, and warning remained unchanged. However, the boundaries of the Dao order that maintained the operation of the patterns loosened layer by layer and gradually dissipated, leaving only a vast expanse of ancient traces that no one could understand or identify.
The golden light continued to spread outwards.
The hidden trajectories of destiny deep within the void surrounding the palace gradually blurred and intertwined. The interlocking Great Dao order of the protective restrictions slowly diffused and dissolved. Even the physical barriers of this world were softened and blurred, making it difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion.
Hua Yuan had already stopped chanting the incantation.
He raised his eyes and gazed at the ancient divine beast before him, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly involuntarily, his heart filled with awe.
The Primordial Stillness Lion remained lying motionless before the palace, showing no sign of roaring or killing intent.
Its massive body remained suspended in Threshold position, its forelimbs poised to rise, its hindquarters submerged in silent light, unchanging through the ages. The majestic lion's head lowered slightly, and two silent, logically vacuum-like orbs slowly aimed at the depths of the palace where Hua Jingyun was in seclusion. In that instant, the entire forbidden hall fell into absolute silence. The Primordial Stillness Lion had appeared.
The night deepened, enveloping the heart of the Hua Lineage estate. The palace where Hua Jingyun was in seclusion had fallen into an eerie, deathly silence. The Primordial Stillness Lion lay crouching before the stone steps, its massive, dark golden body half-covering the palace. Countless still strings of time hung and swayed between its mane, and those unformed linguistic runes hung from their tips, eternally frozen in the moment before meaning was about to be born.
Hua An guarded the outer perimeter, his divine sense repeatedly sweeping across the east gate and the surrounding patrol corridors; Hua Yuan stood behind the dark gold seal, his two fingers slowly coming together, following the method secretly taught by Hua Yin, guiding a Fate Soul, slowly falling towards the seal.
The two of them sneaked here tonight, not to disturb Hua Jingyun, nor to force their way into the secluded holy land. What they really wanted to verify was only one thing—whether Hua Jingyun was still inside this palace.