Unlike the First Restriction Realm, which featured countless rivers stretching across the void, Qin Yu opened his eyes again. In his field of vision, there was only a giant furnace, a boundless and limitless furnace encompassing all things in the heavens.
The furnace walls were neither gold nor stone, neither jade nor iron; they were entwined with the myriad principles of the world. Cause and effect transformed into a long river of crimson gold, pouring down from the heavens; time condensed into a silver torrent, surging from the void; space, nothingness, life and death, destiny, reincarnation, and all the principles that Qin Yu had encountered, comprehended, and obtained throughout his life, all converged madly towards this giant furnace from all directions of the universe.
Rumble—all paths converge in the furnace, all phenomena flow together. The various Daoist principles did not cancel each other out or annihilate one another. Instead, they were frantically squeezed, permeated, entangled, and blended within the furnace. Qin Yu stood in the very center of the furnace, facing the baptism and cleansing of countless Daoist streams.
The next instant, a tearing pain suddenly shot through his brow, and the Nine-Wheel True Evolution Dharma Wheel vibrated in unison. The first figure stepped out from his body. Its appearance, figure, and aura were exactly the same as his.
Immediately afterwards, the second, the third, the tenth, the hundredth... countless figures appeared one after another, one after another. In the blink of an eye, the entire Boundless Myriad Phenomena Furnace was filled with countless "Qin Yu".
There is the me of a pure-hearted youth just beginning my cultivation journey; there is the me of someone who has progressed step by step, experiencing various realms; there is the me of someone who has fought bloody battles, with sharp eyes; there is the me of someone who is gentle and humble when facing old friends; there is the me of a strong person who holds the Great Dao, calm and confident; and there is the me of countless future endings manifested in the First Restriction.
Each figure carries a unique memory, a personal sentiment, and a deep-seated conviction. Each figure firmly believes that it is its own singular essence, its true self.
"I am the true form." The first voice resounded throughout the furnace. "You are merely the past that has already ended." Another figure coldly retorted. "Without the accumulation of the past, how can one ascend to this position today?" A figure in the distance slowly raised his eyes, his voice steady.
"The future is the continuation of the Great Dao; to be confined to the present is inherently incomplete." As soon as these words fell, the entire furnace instantly erupted in a cacophony of noise. Countless thoughts intertwined and collided, pouring layer upon layer into the depths of Qin Yu 'Fate Soul.
"Killing is me." "Protecting is also me." "Obsession is rooted in my heart." "Cause and effect bind my path." "The past belongs to me." "The future belongs to me." "Only I am my true self!"
Boom!!! Countless torrents of energy crashed down simultaneously, crushing Qin Yu's body. His Fate Soul trembled violently, and his sea of consciousness teetered on the brink of collapse. Immediately afterward, an ancient and desolate forbidden voice resounded from the depths of the furnace, each word striking the heart and each questioning the truth.
"All paths lead to the same source." "All things Return to One." "Can you become one?" Qin Yu did not answer immediately.
Because at this moment, he clearly sensed that his own memories were beginning to become disordered, fragmented, and misplaced. A long-forgotten past experience was forcibly seized by another self; a profound understanding of a supernatural power was dismantled and intercepted by another figure; a wisp of causal bond and a trace of emotional obsession were all torn apart by countless selves fighting over them.
Even the original identity carried by the name "Qin Yu" is being simultaneously divided and contested by countless selves. In the critical moment, Qin Yu immediately activated the Nine-Wheel True Evolution Dharma Wheel.
Buzz! The nine wheels spun in unison, and the vast and powerful power of the main soul filled the entire sea of consciousness, forcibly gathering the scattered and separated Fate Soul cognition back to the core origin.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands... countless selves that had emerged were drawn back to their original positions one by one. But just as the first batch of split selves were being gathered back into their original form, a muffled rumble suddenly came from the depths of the furnace.
Boom!!! The Fate Soul essence that had just merged Return to One suddenly cracked open again. This time, the split figures were more numerous and complex than before, and Qin Yu's expression became completely solemn for the first time.
Forcibly gathering them together is ultimately futile. His current method is merely to suppress the differences and conflicts with the power of the main soul. However, the opposition between good and evil, the contradiction between the past and the future, the conflict between obsession and transcendence, and the differences in mentality at different stages still exist in essence and have not been dissolved in the slightest.
The more intense the suppression, the stronger the backlash. In just a few breaths, tens of thousands of "Qin Yu" beings, each with different forms, temperaments, and obsessions, once again stood in the furnace. This time, these various selves were no longer merely arguing; they had begun to attack each other, devour each other, and vie for their origin.
Someone raised their hand to cast a spell, only to be instantly intercepted and interrupted by another figure; dozens of figures huddled together, vying for the same core memory and the same understanding of the Great Dao. The entire Myriad Phenomena Furnace was plunged into utter chaos and disorder.
A faint yet glaring crack quietly appeared on Qin Yu's Fate Soul essence. A piercing pain coursed through his entire sea of consciousness. Qin Yu acted decisively, immediately ceasing his forced attempt to gather and suppress the energy. He slowly closed his eyes, calming his mind.
He fully understood that the Second Restriction and the First Restriction were not tests of the same level. The First Restriction could be broken simply by having a self-consistent Dao heart and experiencing all kinds of endings without changing one's true self.
The Second Restriction completely dismantles, shatters, and separates the "self-consistent self," forcing people to confront the most fundamental and thorough self-severance. If one continues to rely on the power of the main soul to suppress it, it will ultimately only create a false whole that is superficially Return to One but internally shattered. Once the power of the Falun weakens even slightly, the myriad selves will inevitably split and collapse again, and all previous efforts will be in vain.
Just as he was concentrating on finding a way to break the deadlock, the melting power of the Second Restriction intensified once again, sweeping over his entire body. This time, what was thrown into the Myriad Phenomena Furnace was no longer just the various selves that had been differentiated.
As cause and effect emerge and time settles, all the people and events entangled with Qin Yu, his past friends and nemesis, the hundreds of battles and choices he has experienced, his personal joys and sorrows, his steadfast responsibilities and promises, and his unresolved regrets and obsessions, all transform into streams of different colors, surging into the furnace to participate in this melting of all things.
Qin Yu suddenly opened his eyes, his consciousness being torn apart layer by layer once again. In that instant, good and evil were completely stripped away and starkly opposed.
One mind is decisive and ruthless, firmly believing that evil must be eradicated; another mind is gentle and kind, upholding loyalty and righteousness, and unwilling to be harsh; another mind is committed to keeping promises, believing that a word is worth a thousand pieces of gold; and yet another mind is free and unrestrained, believing that all constraints can be broken and one can follow one's heart.
Every thought has its reason for existence; every mindset has no absolute right or wrong; every choice is rooted in its fundamental principle. Neither can completely replace the other, nor can one thought completely erase another.
Qin Yu frowned, his heart fully comprehending the most terrifying and difficult core of the Second Restriction. This restriction never reserved a natural "master self" for the one who broke it. The moment one stepped into the furnace, all the myriad selves, all the thoughts, the obsessions of good and evil, the past and the future, were all of equal status, without high or low, without primary or secondary, without true or false.
The past me will not be humbled by the changing seasons; the future me will not be illusory because it has not yet happened; good intentions are not noble, murderous thoughts are not base, obsessions are not biased, and freedom is without fault.
All kinds of personalities have the right to compete for the "true self as the leader." As long as Qin Yu stubbornly chooses one as the core leader, all the other parts will become outcasts that are rejected, abandoned, and suppressed.
When one makes choices, bias arises; with bias, one cannot truly achieve "Return to One." The first attempt failed.
He immediately adjusted his thinking and began the second round of exploration. Instead of forcibly suppressing his various selves, he activated the original interpretation ability of the "Silent Beginning Ring Master Soul Diagram" and, in conjunction with the slow rotation of the Nine-Wheel True Evolution Dharma Wheel, disassembled the Fate Soul structure of countless selves layer by layer, trying to find the common original foundation from the diverse forms.
He examined and deduced each detail, seeking shared memories? No. The past self has no future experiences.
Seeking shared cultivation? Impossible. The realms and foundations of each of us are vastly different. Seeking shared supernatural powers? Impossible. In my youth, I had not yet mastered the supreme Dao techniques of future generations. Seeking shared obsessions? Impossible. Human hearts change with experience, and obsessions shift with the Dao.
Dozens of ideas for breaking the deadlock all failed. With each failed attempt, the melting and Power of Division of the Myriad Phenomena Furnace intensified. Qin Yu's cognition became increasingly chaotic. In the end, he could no longer distinguish whether the wisp of self he was quietly pondering and desperately seeking was the original, forbidden true self or one of the myriad phantoms split off by the furnace.
The moment this thought crossed Qin Yu's mind, his heart sank. He was in grave danger! Once he began to doubt even his own original intention of seeking knowledge, he would fall completely into the Ultimate trap of the Second Restriction realm, forever mired in the struggle between self and others, never to Return to One.
At that very moment, the entire bustling and vibrant Myriad Phenomena Furnace suddenly fell silent. Tens of thousands of "Qin Yu" figures of various shapes stopped at the same time, and tens of thousands of eyes turned to him in the center.
A thousand voices overlapped and merged into Return to One, resounding throughout the furnace. "What makes you so certain that you are the true self?" "You are merely one of us."
Qin Yu remained silent. This statement was true. Within the second Return to One Restriction Rule, he was simply one of the myriad selves, without any special distinction. If he persisted in clinging to the idea of "the present self absorbing all selves," he would have already gone down the wrong path from the very beginning.