The Returning Light Heavenly City still filtered through the 999 fragments of the crystal wall, but the secluded courtyard had lost its former tranquility. Hua Jingyun stood among the broken stone steps, the gray robe bearing the greyish-white marks of the "Myriad Beginnings Return to Ash" scorching.
The blood at the corner of his mouth had not yet dried, but the Fate Soul essence of the True Annihilation Realm · Supreme, at its peak, slowly circulated within his body, forcibly stabilizing the several life marks that had just been eroded. At the other end of the courtyard...
Hua Yin hesitated to make another move. His brows furrowed slightly, and he had largely abandoned his previous arrogance. His gloomy gaze swept from Hua Jingyun's chest down to his limbs, and then repeatedly probed along the remaining traces of the Great Dao around his body.
That's so strange.
"The Myriad Beginnings Return to Ash" directly targets the foundation of existence. Even if Hua Jingyun, whose cultivation had fallen to the True Annihilation Realm · Supreme, still retained the foundation of the Great Dao, he should not have been able to withstand this attack with just a defensive divine power.
Just as the "Eternal Wall of Truth's Guard" collapsed, Hua Yin clearly felt that his Annihilation Source Fire had broken through the last barrier and truly touched the root of Hua Jingyun's Fate Soul. However, just as he was about to continue to reverse the flow, an extremely subtle power flashed through Hua Jingyun's body for only a moment. Even the gray-white source fire of "Myriad Beginnings Return to Ash" was blocked by that power for a moment.
Hua Yin did not overlook this detail. He slowly took a step forward, and Hua Jingyun's eyes immediately darkened.
The two were only a few dozen feet apart. Hua Yin did not unleash another killing move, but instead gradually pressed his senses toward Hua Jingyun. The power of the Eternal Silence Realm was not fully unleashed, but the subtle and chilling Fate Soul perception spread out in all directions of the courtyard.
Strands of energy clung to Hua Jingyun's body, attempting to penetrate beyond flesh and blood into his Fate Soul, and then follow the Fate Soul to find that fleeting power from before. Hua Jingyun could easily see through their intentions.
His aged face remained unchanged. His right hand was hidden beneath his wide sleeve, but his five fingers quietly clenched, and in his palm, a mysterious jade tablet, only half a finger long, was already in his grasp.
Hua Yin continued forward, a resolute glint flashing in Hua Jingyun's eyes. Crack. The jade tablet shattered silently in his palm. An extremely faint fluctuation immediately detached from his palm, passed through the outer perimeter of the residence, and fled into the depths of Returning Light Heavenly City.
Almost simultaneously— Hua Yin stopped. He abruptly looked up, and their eyes met again. Hua Jingyun offered no explanation. Hua Yin's face, however, darkened completely. "You're sending a message," Hua Jingyun said coldly, still offering no reply.
At this moment, Hua Yin suppressed all his probing thoughts. He didn't know who the jade tablet was contacting, how far the other party was from Returning Light Heavenly City, or what their cultivation level was. Given his cautious nature, the thing he feared most was leaving traces of his identity when he couldn't grasp the overall situation.
He came here in person tonight to eliminate Hua Jingyun before anyone noticed. If someone arrives and traps him in this mansion, all subsequent plans could be affected.
There was no time to delay; this old scoundrel had to be killed immediately. A chilling killing intent flashed across Hua Yin's eyes, and the next moment, he suddenly spread his five fingers wide. Buzz—!!! An ancient object rose from the depths of his palm.
It was a broken monument.
The stele is only a little over three feet tall, and its surface shows no trace of gold or jade. It is a dull, ancient gray, with edges marked by the erosion of time. There are no actual inscriptions on the stele.
As it rose into the air, three thousand chaotic divine runes began to slowly move inside the stele, each rune constantly changing between two completely opposite Daoist rhythms: the beginning of chaos and the Eternal Silence.
On one hand, it bears Creation; on the other, it buries and destroys. The moment Hua Jingyun saw the broken stele, his eyes changed drastically. "The Primordial Dao Supreme Treasure..." Hua Yin gave him no chance to delay any longer, and suddenly lifted the broken stele with his right palm. "Primordial Beginning Ash Stele!" Boom--!!! The broken stele rose into the air.
The last rays of light above the entire mansion dimmed instantly, revealing the first realm – "Return to Truth: Tracing the Origin of Primordial Chaos!" Three thousand chaotic divine runes moved simultaneously, and the originally Emptiness surface of the broken stele suddenly rippled with an ancient ripple.
Hua Jingyun's reflection appeared in it.
However, what appeared on the monument was not the white-haired old man of today. An extremely hazy primordial aura floated within the monument. It was a trace of the origin left behind when Hua Jingyun's own Great Dao was first condensed.
Hua Jingyun's face suddenly turned pale. He clearly felt that all the causal connections between himself and the surrounding world were being forcibly drawn by that broken stele. The years he had lived in this mansion, the traces of his Fate Soul left in the Hua Lineage, all the traces of his past cultivation, battles, and existence were converging on the stele.
The roots were being uprooted, and a chill ran through Hua Yin's eyes as the second realm descended. "Mistaken Forging - Ashes Create Illusion and Truth," the three thousand divine runes suddenly reversed.
The dilapidated courtyard before Hua Jingyun's eyes had vanished.
The main city of the Hua Lineage reappeared in his sight. There were no conspiracies, no internal strife, and no trace of the upheaval that had severely damaged his Fate Soul essence decades ago.
Hua Jingmeng stood before the magnificent clan hall, his cultivation profound and complete, the repression between his brows gone. The younger generation of the Hua Lineage stood on both sides of the long steps, the clan peaceful and prosperous, while he himself still sat in the position of the Grand Elder, his white hair turning black again.
This was his deepest wish, buried in his heart all these years: for the Hua Lineage to be safe and sound, and for Jingmeng to be unharmed. All the sacrifices of that year had ultimately been meaningful. Hua Jingyun's pupils trembled slightly, but the instant he looked at Hua Jingmeng —buzz!!!
The primordial monument trembled violently, and everything before them began to collapse.
The clan hall cracked. The long staircase broke. The once-familiar clansmen turned around, their respect turning into cold indifference. Hua Jingmeng's figure also shattered before his eyes, everything he had once wanted to protect was collapsing in the direction that most went against his true nature.
Hua Jingyun suddenly closed his eyes. "Get out of my Fate Soul!" Boom!!! He forcefully shook his own Fate Soul origin, forcibly breaking free from that false perfection. But this was exactly the moment the "Primordial Beginning Ash Stele" had been waiting for.
The Third Realm – "Annihilation History: The Monument of No Return"! Whoa!!!
All the previously collapsed illusions instantly turned to ashes. Billions of ashes surged back, all flowing into the broken monument. At the center of the monument, a "Beginning Ash Mark" unique to Hua Jingyun began to slowly condense.
At this moment, Hua Jingyun finally truly felt death. He suddenly looked up. "You want to kill this old man—" A sharp, cold light suddenly flashed in his aged eyes. "Not so easy!" Hua Jingyun's hands suddenly formed a seal. This time, he no longer concealed his intentions. Boom!!!
A deep, resonant sound suddenly emanated from within him. Deep within his chest, a point of dark golden light shone. Then, that light rapidly spread along his chest to his shoulders, arms, waist, abdomen, and legs, and pieces of extremely ancient armor plates emerged from the depths of his flesh.
Those armor plates had always been hidden within his Fate Soul essence, completely overlapping with his own aura, and had never leaked out in the slightest. Now that he was fully awakened, the ancient Daoist charm could no longer be concealed.
Click! Click! Click! The armor plates snapped together one by one. Breastplate. Shoulderplate. Armplate. Waistplate. Legplate. Finally, a complete set of dark gold ancient armor covered Hua Jingyun's entire body. A primordial aura surged into the sky!
Hua Yin's pupils suddenly contracted; at that moment, he finally understood. "So that's how it is..." He stared intently at the ancient armor. "Primordial Supreme Treasure."
Just now, when "Myriad Beginnings Return to Ash" truly touched the very foundation of Hua Jingyun's existence, it was this Primordial Supreme Treasure, which had always been hidden deep within his Fate Soul, that bore the most fatal part of the power of Return to Ashes for him.
This is the reason why Hua Jingyun was able to survive; he had fully activated the ancient armor. Dark golden light surged from every seam of the armor, and ancient defensive Dao patterns covered his entire body layer by layer, eventually condensing into nine layers of thick armor shadows around him.
Hua Yin had no time to be surprised. He suddenly pressed down with his palm. "Annihilation!" Boom!!! The "Primordial Beginning Ash Stele" completely destroyed!
The three thousand chaotic divine patterns transformed into a gray-white torrent that pierced through heaven and earth. The source of the Dao foundation traced out from the first realm, the primordial embers left after the collapse of the second realm, and the Beginning Ash Mark in the third realm all overlapped at this moment, directly pressing down on Hua Jingyun.
The first layer of armor shattered! The second followed closely! The third! The fourth! Crack!!! Hua Jingyun gritted his teeth, his palms desperately maintaining the ancient armor. The fifth layer of armor vanished. The sixth layer shattered. The seventh layer collapsed! Blood gushed from Hua Jingyun's mouth. "Block it for me!"
The eighth layer of armor trembled violently. It held on for a moment. Then it shattered with a crash! Only the last layer remained.
Hua Jingyun's eyes were bloodshot, and he had pushed the Fate Soul essence of the True Annihilation Realm · Supreme to its Limit. His entire Primordial Might Armor burst forth with an unprecedented dark golden light.
The next instant—crack!!! A crack pierced through the breastplate. Hua Jingyun's pupils shrank sharply, and then, a second, third, and fourth crack appeared simultaneously.
Boom!!! The entire Primordial Chaos Armor shattered completely. Countless dark gold armor pieces flew in all directions, only to be crushed into fragments by the gray-white torrent stirred up by the "Primordial Beginning Ash Stele" before they even hit the ground.
His defenses completely crumbled, and Hua Jingyun's chest caved in. That force pierced directly through the very essence of his Fate Soul! "Pfft—!!!"
Large amounts of blood spurted out. Hua Jingyun flew backward, crashing through the outer wall of the house and slamming heavily into the depths of the courtyard, shattering several stone slabs along the way. His Fate Soul force instantly plummeted, and a shocking gray-white crack appeared in the center of his chest, the crack penetrating deep into his Fate Soul.
At that very moment, Hua Yin's expression changed drastically. Within his perception range, three auras appeared. And he recognized them. Three familiar auras were approaching the residence at an extremely fast speed!
A cold glint suddenly flashed in Hua Yin's eyes. He couldn't let him stay any longer, and his figure vanished instantly. The next moment, he appeared beside Hua Jingyun. The heavily injured Hua Jingyun had just looked up when Hua Yin struck him with a palm. There was no hesitation. No holding back. And no chance for him to say a second word.
Boom!!! The killing power of the Eternal Silence Realm directly pierced through Hua Jingyun's already shattered Fate Soul essence.
Hua Jingyun's body suddenly stiffened. His bloodshot, aged eyes stared intently at Hua Yin, who was so close to him. There was no pleading in his eyes, only decades of pent-up hatred and the last trace of lingering attachment.
His lips moved with difficulty. "Meng'er..." Hua Yin's expression was cold. The light in Hua Jingyun's eyes was rapidly fading. But he still stared intently at Hua Yin, squeezing out a sentence with his last remaining voice. "Meng'er... won't let you go..."
Hua Yin suddenly clenched his five fingers, and sneered.
Hua Jingyun's Fate Soul completely disintegrated. His aged body rapidly turned into gray-white dust starting from his chest, then spread to his arms and legs, finally reaching his face, which was marked by the passage of time. The last thing to disappear was the pair of eyes that had always glared at Hua Yin.
The next instant, Hua Jingyun Annihilation completely, leaving no remains, no lingering soul. Only a large patch of grayish-white embers remained where he stood, Hua Yin didn't even glance at.
The three auras drew closer and closer. He suddenly waved his sleeve, and whoosh!
The Fate Soul essence that belonged to him in the previous battle was immediately covered by a power of Eternal Silence. The Dao traces left in the stone slab, the Fate Soul fluctuations left in the space, the Annihilation Source Fire of "Myriad Beginnings Return to Ash", including the traces of origin he left when he activated the "Primordial Beginning Ash Stele", were all quickly extracted by him.
One place. Two places, scattered throughout the entire courtyard.
Hua Yin was so cautious that he didn't miss a single corner. He even scanned the spot where he had been standing again, making sure that the last wisp of his own Fate Soul had completely dissipated before looking up at the three rapidly approaching auras.
A cold glint flashed in his eyes. Sizzle—a rift was torn open in the void. Hua Yin stepped into it, and the rift quickly closed. Once the space returned to calm, the Fate Soul aura of Hua Yin's presence within the entire residence had been completely eradicated.