He completely abandoned all proactive attempts and all methods of forcibly breaking the deadlock, sat cross-legged, and quietly observed all things. He let the furnace turn, the myriad paths wash over, the myriad selves contend, and cause and effect flow, without suppressing, avoiding, deleting, selecting, or fighting.
He does only one thing—observe, quietly observing each stage of his own life, carefully understanding the origins of each aspect of his character, and slowly examining the essence of each conflict.
Time loses its meaning in the furnace, cycles of reincarnation and endless conflicts continue. Over time, Qin Yu finally glimpses the truth that he had overlooked throughout the entire process.
The innocence of youth is vastly different from the composure of today. Yet every step taken, every conviction upheld, and every choice made by the youth has settled and become the foundation of who he is today.
The anger of the past has long since dissipated, but the perseverance and choices born from that anger are still imprinted in my heart. The obsession of the past has been let go, but it is precisely the process of "having had and then letting go" that has forged my current clarity and determination.
Good and killing are never mutually exclusive opposites. Compassion is the righteous path; decisiveness in killing is the foundation of going against the grain. Different circumstances lead to different choices, but both are true to our true selves.
The past has never disappeared, but has settled into a foundation; the future does not need to seize the present, but is simply a series of possibilities ahead. The confusion in Qin Yu's eyes completely faded, and his heart became clear and lucid.
He finally realized all his own fallacies. Before, he had been desperately searching for the "common ground" among the myriad selves, trying to unify differences with commonalities. But the true meaning of Return to One Restriction is never about abandoning differences and retaining commonalities.
Its real test is to embrace all differences and then achieve a harmonious unity.
The true, unique self is never a singular, one-sided, flawless, stereotypical form, but rather a complete self that can encompass all the past, all of one's nature, all of one's good and evil, all of one's obsessions, and all of one's possibilities.
Having figured this out, Qin Yu slowly stood up. Tens of thousands of his own selves gazed at him. He did not recall any of them, nor did he erase any differences. He simply opened his arms and opened his mind completely.
"None of you are at fault." The entire Myriad Phenomena Furnace trembled slightly. A figure radiating chilling killing intent spoke coldly, "With such conflicting natures, who will ultimately be the master?"
Qin Yu's gaze was calm as he replied in a deep voice, "There's no need to vie for supremacy." "The ruthless me is me." "The gentle me is also me." His gaze swept over the countless figures, settling on each one and accepting them all.
"The past is all a trace of my journey." "The future, with its myriad possibilities, is also the direction in which my path extends." "Good intentions, murderous thoughts, obsessions, detachment, cause and effect, regrets, choices... all these are the true self."
Deep within the furnace, the ancient, forbidden voice resounded once more, relentlessly questioning.
"All things stand together—" "What is one?" Qin Yu did not answer immediately. The First Restriction enlightenment, "I am who I am," resurfaced in his mind, but he knew that this thought alone was not enough to break this heavy restriction.
The First Restriction is not to define oneself by the end point; the Second Restriction is to answer the question: what can bear the myriad differences of myself and achieve eternal uniqueness? He pondered quietly, his Daoist heart becoming clear layer by layer, until at a certain moment, a glint of light flashed in his eyes, and he thoroughly understood the Ultimate answer.
"So that's how it is!" "'One' is never singular or unique, but rather all things share the same origin and all hearts return to the same source." Buzz--! The Nine-Wheel True Evolution Dharma Wheel suddenly stopped spinning, silently hovering deep within the Fate Soul, neither initiating any killing nor imposing any suppression.
Qin Yu fully opened the "Silent Beginning: Ring Master Soul Diagram," completely emptying the core of the main soul, encompassing all things, and quietly awaiting the return of all beings to their origin.
"Since they are all mine—" "then they all return." There was no devouring, no suppression, no obliteration, no elimination. The first figure to step back was the young and pure Qin Yu. His past sincerity and naivety remained, transforming into the most fundamental essence of his Dao heart.
The second and third paths followed in quick succession. The chilling force of battle, the gentle warmth of affection, the unwavering determination of perseverance, and the profound understanding of letting go—all returned to their proper places, merging seamlessly. All the dusty past, all the emotions experienced, and all the steadfast convictions held onto returned to their origin, becoming a part of the true self.
Then, those future selves that evolved from them slowly drew closer.
Qin Yu never treated the future as a given fact, but rather embraced all possibilities with equanimity. Eternity is the road ahead, fall is the Return Path, the peak is the scenery, and the valley is the tempering. All possibilities no longer contend for the present, but only revolve around the true self, arranged as countless directions of the great path.
Thousands of figures continuously returned to the source, their numbers decreasing layer by layer. From ten thousand to a thousand, from a thousand to a hundred, from a hundred to ten, until finally, only two figures remained standing facing each other in the furnace. The one on the left was full of murderous aura, his eyes cold and ruthless; the one on the right had a gentle and peaceful nature, his eyes clear and calm.
The ancient, forbidden voice pressed again. "Good and evil are contradictory, how can Return to One?" Qin Yu met the two selves in gaze, his words clear and distinct. "My doing good is my true nature. My killing is my choice."
"Good and evil may influence my path, but they cannot replace my heart and soul." "My choices are my own, my master is my own, and my heart is one." The two figures remained silent for a long time, with no further confrontation or conflict.
One stepped to the left and one to the right simultaneously, merging into Qin Yu's body. Boom! The entire Myriad Phenomena Furnace trembled violently, and Ultimate torrent of Daoist principles swept in all directions. All the myriad Daoist principles flowing into the furnace instantly stopped surging and clashing.
All self and all other self dissolve, yet all things remain; nothing is deleted, no thought is erased, no past is discarded, and no possibility is denied. The past is the foundation, the present is the core, the future is the momentum, good and evil are the means, cause and effect are the traces, and obsession is the bone.
All things, though different, Return to One. Ancient, forbidden sounds resound in the furnace, ultimately abandoning questioning and leaving only confirmation.
"All paths converge." "All things Return to One." "You can become one." Qin Yu raised his eyes and uttered a single, decisive word. "Yes." As soon as he finished speaking, the Fate Soul Nucleus suddenly burst forth with pure and flawless primordial light. It had no specific color, no exclusive Daoist rhyme, yet it encompassed countless principles and accommodated all kinds of minds.
The silent Nine-Wheel True Evolution Dharma Wheel slowly began to turn once more. This time, the nine wheels no longer strayed from each other and went their own way; they all revolved smoothly around the same core. That core essence, which carries the past, embodies the present, accommodates the future, contains good and evil, harbors cause and effect, and conceals attachments, encompasses all of Qin Yu's lifelong Tao and Dharma, mind and thoughts.
A glimmer of light slowly condensed, took shape, and solidified, forming a flawless, all-encompassing Dao Seal that floated in the center of the Fate Soul. The One Origin Dao Seal was completely formed. It was neither a supernatural power, nor a spell, nor a trump card, but merely the second Return to One Restriction, the supreme proof of Qin Yu's "True Self Perfection, All Self Return to One".
Crack!!! In the center of the Myriad Phenomena Furnace, the first crack suddenly exploded. The crack spread rapidly, intersecting and penetrating the entire furnace body. Boom!!! The boundless Myriad Phenomena Furnace shattered with a deafening roar!
The myriad torrents that filled the sky did not scatter and explode, but instead collapsed in the opposite direction and converged towards the center. Cause and effect, time, space, life and death, nothingness, reincarnation, and all kinds of laws intertwined and merged, condensing into a chaotic vortex thousands of feet long.
The vortex rapidly contracted, shrinking from a thousand feet to a hundred feet, from a hundred feet to ten feet, finally shrinking to the size of a palm, warm and refined. Qin Yu raised his hand, gently supporting the vortex. A flash of chaotic light, and all the One Origin Dao Seal that sank into his Fate Soul, clang—!!!
The Dao of Heaven and Earth resounded throughout the void, and the second Return to One Restriction was completely broken. Qin Yu's consciousness instantly withdrew from the Furnace Illusion and steadily returned to the underground airspace. The moment he opened his eyes, the "End Return to the Ruins Ancient Box" floating in front of him suddenly roared and underwent dramatic changes.
Boom! This transformation was far more magnificent and profound than when the First Restriction was broken. The middle layer of the box lid completely transformed into a slowly swirling chaotic vortex, and the originally dense and intricate ancient patterns were all drawn into it, melted Return to One, with no boundaries remaining.
The word "Gui" slowly rose from the core of the vortex and hung three inches above the lid of the box. It circled quietly. Bang! With a slight shock, the word "Gui" disintegrated into tiny light spots all over the sky. Thousands of light spots did not dissipate and spread to both sides along the slender seam of the box that had been opened before.
With a snap, the crack in the ancient box widened, transforming from a hair-thin gap into a transparent fissure a finger wide. A wisp of primordial energy, far more vast, ancient, and profound than ever before, surged forth from the deepest part of the ancient box, causing Qin Yu's robes to flutter lightly.
The box lid has nine broken arcs, undergoing another transformation. The outermost three arcs had already closed into a circle after the First Restriction was broken, remaining stable. Now, the three broken arcs in the middle are connected end to end, closing layer by layer, and taking shape in sequence.
One ring, two rings, three rings—all completed, humming! The second complete ring was fully formed, stable, and Return to One. Of the three ancient characters engraved on the surface of the ancient box, only the last one remained: "Void".
It completely stopped its reversal and rotation, silently hovering at the deepest part of the box lid, suspended in the innermost layer of the nine broken arcs, confronting the bottomless black origin in the center. The entire End Return to the Ruins Ancient Box fell into complete silence. Qin Yu stared intently at the box lid, his mind clear and lucid.
The first ring, "End," has proven the end of all paths. The second ring, "Return," has merged all self into Return to One. Only the innermost three broken arcs remain, dark and silent, never to be perfected. The "Void" character floating above it is the last major shackle of the Dao. Qin Yu did not rush to activate his Fate Soul origin and approach rashly.
The moment the Second Restriction was completely broken, he clearly sensed the deepest realm of the ancient box: no oppression, no killing intent, Wudao charm, no sharp edge of restrictions. That world Emptiness, almost nothingness. The First Restriction allowed him to experience the end of all paths and see through the fruits of all laws. The Second Restriction allowed him to fuse all selves and all phenomena and prove the one true self.
At this moment, in the deepest part of the ancient box, nothing is displayed, no method is revealed, and no appearance is revealed. There is only a word "empty" floating quietly, waiting for people to inquire about the origin and trace back to the beginning. The last trial - the ban on the origin of nothingness, will finally be opened.