The Void Restriction Returns to Nothingness

After the word "gui" completely collapsed, the underground airspace returned to deathly silence.

Qin Yu sat cross-legged in place, the "End Return to the Ruins Ancient Box" floating in front of him had completely shed its initial rustic and ignorant appearance, and transformed into a profound Daoist charm accumulated over countless ages. The outermost three broken arcs closed to form the first ring, confirming the true meaning of "the end"; the middle three broken arcs condensed to form the second ring, carrying the Great Dao of "return".

At this moment, only the innermost three arcs are left on the box lid, quietly disconnected, surrounding the bottomless black origin point in the center, standing suspended in the air. A word "virtual" hangs above the black point, without any glow, no ripples, no rhyme, and no power leaked out.

Even when the second ban was broken, the ancient original aura that surged out from the cracks in the box would quietly disappear and disappear once it came close to the word "virtual". Qin Yu did not touch it rashly.

Having endured the trials of the first two layers of restrictions, he had already grasped the terrifying progressive nature of the three restrictions of the Return to the Ruins. With each deeper level, the dimensions of the test completely changed, and the level of danger was vastly different.

The First Restriction is to traverse all the ultimate ends, where all outcomes can be observed by the Fate Soul and perceived by the mind; the Second Restriction is to fuse all selves and all phenomena, where the pain of self-torn separation and mental struggle is real and tangible. Although both are perilous, they ultimately possess tangible principles and truths that can be recognized, experienced, and resisted.

Only in this third taboo, even the danger itself is invisible. Qin Yu's eyes were fixed on the silent word "Xu", his mind completely sank into the origin of his life soul, and he examined all his reliance one by one.

This time, he deliberately avoided all the usual methods he had used to break the rules before.

He did not activate the "Silent Beginning: Ring Master Soul Diagram" that had just stabilized his self and allowed him to comprehend the true meaning of Return to One oneness, nor did he use the "Return to Origin and Sever Retracing" that could directly annihilate existence and erase its origin.

The core dead end of the third layer of the Void Restriction lies in its definition.

Once a mental construct is formed, one falls into constraints. To forcibly sever something using "Return to Origin and Sever Retracing" presupposes that "there is something that can be severed"; to read the principles of law using "The Book of Fate Law - The Realm Severing Origin Brush,"

The concept of nothingness was first defined; the "Heavenly Cause Judgment Sequence - Six Severances Seal" was established based on cause and effect, destiny, and origin, but this nothingness was the original state before all causal trajectories and legal order were born, with no place to grasp it.

Qin Yu mentally reviewed each of his supernatural abilities and trump cards, finally settling his mind on the foremost of the three fundamental supernatural abilities, the "Supreme Eternal Stillness Seal." Its first form, the Source Dao rhyme, is "The Stillness of the Return to the Ruins, the Return to Nothingness."

This divine power touched upon the "beginning" realm before the creation of heaven and earth and Unborn all things. It was the only Dao Path among all his techniques that came close to the Void Origin. Yet Qin Yu still held back.

Supernatural powers are ultimately acquired "laws," techniques born after the Great Dao has taken shape and all things are in order. The Third Restriction, however, stands before the birth of all laws, all existence, and all order. Forcibly bombarding with supernatural powers or breaking through with techniques will only result in the power being completely negated and erased by this primordial nothingness the moment it is revealed.

A brute-force attack is useless; only by entering the game can one truly understand its secrets. The first thing he needs to do is not to break the barrier, but to enter the game itself and truly glimpse the Ultimate meaning of this final barrier.

Qin Yu slowly raised his hand, but his fingertips did not touch the ancient box in the slightest. From the depths of his eyebrows and soul, a ray of pure perception as thin as a gossamer was detected, quietly hovering half an inch in front of the word "Xu".

He peeled away layer by layer, clearing everything away.

First, remove all supernatural powers and auras attached to this perception, then erase all causal markers, then gather all the pressure of one's own realm and cultivation aura, and finally strip away all acquired cognition and attachments.

Having cleared his mind to its Ultimate, this wisp of perception was no longer attached to any external force, leaving only the most primal and purest trace of his own innate awareness. Confirming that there was no danger, Qin Yu then activated this wisp of primal perception, slowly moving forward half an inch. There was no vibration, no surging waves, no spatial distortion, no changing illusions, and no tangible feeling of stepping into a restriction. In the next instant, Qin Yu, who was sitting cross-legged in the underground space, vanished without a trace.

Within the forbidden realm, there is neither light nor darkness, for the concepts of "light and darkness" have not yet been born; there is neither up nor down, neither near nor far, neither four directions nor dimensions, for the order of "space" has not yet taken shape; there is neither past nor future, neither moment nor eternity.

Because the flow of "time" has never been activated, he has no need to open or close his eyes. All six senses are rendered ineffective, and even the outlines of his own physical body, form, and consciousness are blurred and indistinguishable.

The First Restriction river of ten thousand paths and the Second Restriction Myriad Phenomena Furnace, though mysterious and dangerous, ultimately possess concrete structures, perceptible Daoist rhythms, and traceable paths. Only this place is a complete and utterly empty void.

So Ultimate, so utterly void, that Qin Yu couldn't even tell whether he had already entered the game or had never stepped into it. The moment this thought arose, Ultimate bizarre change suddenly occurred. The concept of "entering" vanished completely from his remaining cognition.

Immediately afterwards, the title and definition of "Third Restriction" vanished into thin air. Qin Yu's heart suddenly tightened. He had just tried to define his situation with a single Thought Realm, and he had already lost the battle. This void was unnamed, undefined, and uninterpreted. As soon as he tried to define it, the concept was immediately erased.

There was no attack or killing, no shock or tremor; it was simply that these concepts had never existed before. Qin Yu immediately gathered all his thoughts, no longer daring to speculate or force an interpretation, but it was already half a step too late.

In his consciousness, the first erasure quietly descended. The name, "Qin Yu," vanished completely.

He still retains a clear sense of self, still knows that "I exist," but no matter how much he tries to understand, he can no longer find a name that belongs to him. It's not that he has forgotten or lost anything, but rather that these two words, this title of identity, have never been born in this world from beginning to end.

Deep within his Fate Soul, a chill suddenly arose, pressing straight to his origin. The second layer of erasure followed, and all acquired identities faded away layer by layer, returning to nothingness. Guest of the Chi Lineage, master of the Holy Clan, lord of the Annihilation God Clan... all the labels of identity that made him a part of the world were peeled away one by one, vanishing Wuhen.

The third layer of erasure points directly to the karmic entanglements. Shen Qingchen, Su Qingyuan, Chi Boqian, Chi Xiyue, Ye Ting, Yuan Zhanxiao, Yuan Xuangu... all the people and things that had formed karmic connections, entanglements, and bonds with him, first became blurred in appearance and ethereal in figure, and then even the past fact of "having known each other and having some entanglement" was completely erased from his cognition.

This was not a memory seal, nor a severing of cause and effect; it was a denial of all ties and traces of all experiences from the very root. For the first time in his life, Qin Yu felt the bone-chilling cold of being on the verge of his Fate Soul's annihilation. His mind stirred slightly, and he wanted to activate the origin of his Fate Soul to stabilize himself and anchor his existence.

Deep within the sea of consciousness, the "Silent Beginning - Ring Master Soul Diagram" had just begun to emerge with a trace of its wheel-like shape, before it could even unfold, when it vanished without a trace. Even the thought of "attempting to use supernatural powers and stabilize itself" was completely erased from existence.

Qin Yu's mind sank to the bottom. He had completely understood the rules of the Third Restriction: here, one could not "use something to fight against nothingness." Any power that was actively revealed, any existence that was deliberately defined, and any self that was forcibly anchored would all become targets to be denied and erased.

Just as his Dao heart was trembling, an ancient and boundless forbidden sound descended silently, without source, propagation, or fluctuation. The words were directly imprinted on his remaining consciousness, becoming the only thought in this blank world.

"Before Unborn, who were you?" The voice paused slightly before the question returned. "Since there was no you—" "How can there be an opening box?" As the question landed, a new round of collapse of the foundation suddenly began. The Eternal Silence Realm · Supreme was the first to completely dissipate from cognition, followed by the foundation of the Fate Soul, the physical body, the foundation of the Great Dao, and finally, all the experiences of the past years were erased layer by layer in reverse.

Entering the Sea of the Boundless Realm, overthrowing the Primordial Dao Clan, the Chi Lineage's seclusion, comprehending the Dao in the Azure Wood Divine Forest... one by one, past experiences vanished. With each lost experience, he lost a foundation for anchoring himself and proving his existence. The dangers were not limited to the forbidden realm; the outside world was also changing simultaneously.

Within the underground space, Qin Yu's figure, sitting cross-legged, visibly faded and became increasingly transparent. The protective restrictions within a radius of ten thousand miles continued to operate, but the unique Fate Soul essence and original imprint belonging to Qin Yu were rapidly dissipating. In front of the ancient box, his figure was as faint as a phantom, as if it would completely dissolve into the void at any moment.

Such erasure is most terrifying. Once all traces have vanished, not a single corpse or anomaly will remain in the world, and no one will know that someone once broke the seal here. It will simply become a pristine state where no one has ever sat here, no one has ever set up any restrictions, and no one has ever opened the ancient box.

All causes and effects, all bonds, all the past—all reduced to zero. The Ultimate terror of the Third Restriction Realm is now fully revealed...