In the first, second, and third circles, Qin Yu did not retract his Fate Soul essence. As his perception continued to delve deeper, three ancient characters that had never been revealed before gradually emerged from the depths of the box lid.
They are not arranged in the usual way. The three ancient characters occupy three positions on the nine broken arcs, separated from each other, yet they are firmly connected by all the ancient patterns.
The outermost layer—"End." The middle layer—"Return." The deepest layer—"Void." The three characters slowly rotated together in a counter-clockwise direction. A hint of surprise flashed in Qin Yu's eyes. "So that's how it is..."
He initially thought the barrier outside the box was just a profound seal, but when his Fate Soul essence truly penetrated it, he discovered that the box contained three completely different restrictions. More importantly, the Dao essence of the three was entirely different from the same system.
Qin Yu did not touch it rashly, but instead allowed his Fate Soul essence to remain on the outer edge of the triple restriction, slowly exploring along the outermost layer. The first thing he sensed was "End". The moment his Fate Soul essence touched this ancient character, Qin Yu's vision suddenly went dark.
No deadly attacks descended, no force impacted his Fate Soul. In his consciousness, only a boundless, endless road with no beginning appeared.
Countless principles evolve and transform within the path. Some principles, after countless years, naturally perish; some principles undergo countless transformations, reaching their own Limit; and some principles continuously differentiate, extend, and converge, ultimately heading towards the same destination.
The end, everything that has happened will eventually bear its final fruit. All things in the world, no matter how many changes they may have, will ultimately have their own Ultimate destination. Qin Yu 'Fate Soul trembled slightly, and he had already understood the true meaning of the first layer of restriction.
"Ultimate". The end of all laws and paths, it corresponds to "fruit". Only by truly understanding the destination that a path can reach and comprehending its Ultimate goal can one be qualified to pass through the first barrier.
Qin Yu did not delve deeper, but instead shifted his Fate Soul essence to the second ancient character, "Return." The moment he touched it, the scene before him changed once more.
This time, there was no longer a long and arduous journey. Countless different Daoist principles appeared in the world at the same time: birth and death, time, cause and effect, space, reality and illusion... all kinds of great Daos, under the guidance of an invisible great force, continuously converged towards the center. They collided with each other, merged with each other, and their unique traces slowly faded and dissipated. All the myriad differences dissolved into a tiny core.
All laws converge, all paths Return to One. Qin Yu's eyes gleamed with an even stronger light. The second layer of restriction—"Return to One"—tested not the end point, but the "law."
Why do countless paths converge at the same destination? How can vastly different paths be fused into one? To find the one among all laws, to prove the one among all paths—this is the second layer of restrictions' interrogation of intruders.
Qin Yu's Fate Soul essence shifted again, finally stopping in front of the "Void." He stopped just as he approached it. The feeling brought by this level was completely different from the previous two. The "Ultimate" still had an end to be found, and the "Return to One" still had all laws to be observed. But where the "Void" was, there was nothing.
Even "emptiness" Does Not Exist. If the origin of the Fate Soul moves forward by half an inch, all images in the consciousness will quickly dissolve, and the endpoint and all laws seen just now will no longer be able to continue.
There was no result, no process, no path, and even the very foundation that supported it all vanished. Unborn, and no laws were established. Everything that could be called existence had no origin.
A stunning third layer of restriction finally appeared in Qin Yu's eyes—"The Void Origin." It corresponds to "Cause." Qin Yu slowly gathered his Fate Soul essence and stopped probing inward. Only now did he fully understand the reason for the arrangement of these three restrictions.
Ultimate, everything Return to One the void and originates from Void Origin. According to common sense, the law should arise from the cause, and the result should come from the law. But this ancient box reverses the order.
It requires those who wish to begin with the "fruit," first proving the "Ultimate," then entering "Return to One," and only then are they qualified to touch the "Void Origin."
Starting from the endpoint, we trace back through all phenomena; from all phenomena, we trace back to the source. From the already formed "effect," we follow the path to the initial "cause" that enabled everything to come into being.
Qin Yu gazed at the three ancient characters rotating counterclockwise on the box's surface, and he had completely grasped the true method to open the ancient box.
The order must never be reversed; "final" must come first, "return" second, and "emptiness" can only come last.
The three restrictions are nested and interlocked: "Ultimate" is on the outermost layer, bearing the final result of everything in the world; "Return to One" is hidden behind it, absorbing the convergence of all laws; and "Void Origin" guards the deepest part, preserving the source before all things came into being.
If anyone attempts to bypass the "Ultimate" and directly touch the "Return to One," or forcibly enter the "Void Origin" by overcoming the first two restrictions, the three restrictions will instantly disrupt the original order.
Once the three resonate—"finally, return to nothingness"—the three words will close simultaneously, and within Qin Yu 'Fate Soul, four words will appear. "Finally return to nothingness."
At that time, it will not be a single restriction suppressing the intruders; the three Dao realms will merge simultaneously, reversing everything that has invaded from "effect" back to "cause," ultimately returning it to the primordial chaos before all things Unborn.
Qin Yu's gaze turned solemn. These were no ordinary three seals. The three restrictions themselves were three trials of the Dao realm. Only those who could open this box could truly complete a journey of tracing back from the end to the source of the Great Dao.
The instant Qin Yu fully grasped the structure of the three restrictions, the three ancient characters on the surface of the ancient box, which had been rotating counterclockwise, suddenly stopped. Buzz
The dark silver ancient seal in the center of the box suddenly lit up. An ancient and boundless message slowly flowed from Qin Yu's Fate Soul essence, which was still on the outer edge. There was no sound, but Qin Yu had already fully understood its true meaning.
This ancient box, brought from the depths of the Nine Nether Cold Pool and the "Dark Ruins Return Hall," finally revealed its true name to him: the "End Return to the Ruins Ancient Box," also known as the "Casket of Three Restrictions."
Qin Yu stared at the ancient box in his palm, which was neither gold nor stone, warm to the touch and silent when knocked. The amazement in his eyes never dissipated for a long time. On the surface of the box, the three ancient characters "End", "Gui" and "Xu" were slowly turning counterclockwise again, and the outermost character "End" was shining with a deep faint light little by little.
Within the underground space, the restrictions covering tens of thousands of miles continued to flow silently. Qin Yu sat cross-legged in meditation, and the "End Return to the Ruins Ancient Box" floated quietly in front of him. The three ancient characters on the box surface continued to rotate counterclockwise at an extremely slow speed, with the character "final" on the outermost layer. Golden patterns gradually spread and lit up along the texture of the ancient box, as if it had been asleep for endless years, finally waiting for someone willing to step into the first trial.
Qin Yu stared intently for a moment, then without the slightest hesitation, the "Silent Beginning - Ring Master Soul Diagram" slowly unfolded from the depths of his Fate Soul, and the Nine-Wheel True Evolution Dharma Wheel rotated simultaneously. A wisp of Fate Soul essence, more condensed than before, overflowed from between his eyebrows, following the dark silver patterns on the box, and surged towards the outermost "End" character.
The moment he touched it, the ancient box trembled violently. This was the first time Qin Yu had heard it make a sound. The sound was extremely soft, yet it sank straight into the deepest part of his Fate Soul.
The next instant, the underground space vanished completely. The surrounding star rocks, the vast restrictions, the deep darkness, and even the ancient box before him all disappeared from his perception.
He stood in a vast and boundless world. There was no solid ground beneath his feet, no sky above his head, only countless rivers crisscrossing and surging. Each river came from a great distance, with different colors and unique Daoist charms.
Some are as fiery as the molten lava of the sun, while others are dark and deep, so deep that even perception cannot penetrate them; some are formed from the condensation of countless sword marks, while others are entangled in chains of cause and effect, and still others are pure white within the long river, revealing no trace of Daoist charm.
Qin Yu's gaze slowly swept over them, and in an instant he understood that these long rivers did not come from the outside world, but all originated from himself—one, ten, a hundred, ten thousand.
Each long river represents a path that may extend into the future. There are old paths he has already traversed, future paths he may embark on, and many directions he himself has never even considered.
The strangest thing was that all the rivers stopped flowing ahead, none of them able to continue further. Qin Yu took a step forward.
The first long river suddenly shone brightly, and a figure belonging to him emerged from it. That figure stood deep within the endless starry sky, his cultivation rising all the way, crossing Eternal Silence, surpassing the Wuji, and standing in a supreme position far superior to his current state. Thousands of great Daos surrounded him, the heavens and worlds floated beneath his feet, and billions of living beings bowed down in submission.
But as the scene unfolded, the figure finally stopped at a place where the path ahead was cut off, with no way to go any further. He sat there quietly, and the years flowed by, hundreds of years, tens of thousands of years, hundreds of millions of years, and the Great Dao surrounding him gradually ceased to change, returning to silent eternity.
The first river suddenly broke apart. The end—eternity—and the second river lit up in response.
This time, he saw himself conquering and shattering countless powerful enemies, annihilating thousands of beings, until one day he encountered an insurmountable opponent. There was no protracted battle, only defeat and death. His body shattered, his Fate Soul disintegrated, all cause and effect severed, and all futures came to an end at this moment.
The second river broke apart. The end point—fallen. The third, the fourth, the fifth... more and more rivers manifested one after another.
Madness. Annihilation. Solitude. Depravity. Obsession backlash. The Great Dao backlash. He was devoured by the power he wielded, and bound again by the karma he had severed in the past. Within a long river, he reached the highest realm, no longer able to distinguish what "I" truly was. Memories, identity, Fate Soul, and Dao heart were all tangled up in a mess, and even his most primal self was completely lost.