Deep within the boundless Sound Wall, the colossal outline, drawn by billions of solidified sound patterns, lingered for a long time. "If you yearn for an echo—you will become the echo."
The final words of the Hearing-Derivation Beast had already been spoken, yet within Qin Yu's heart, he still "heard" that Daoist sound in endless cycles. The first time it originated from the Hearing-Derivation Beast's essence, the second time it echoed within the Eternal Sound Wall, and the third time it was born from the recitation of those words in his heart.
The fourth time, it returned from the level of "self-awareness and memorization". In a short moment, a single Daoist phrase generated countless endless echoing lines in the Ear Faculty Emanation Domain.
Hearing-Derivation Beast remained silent, disappearing completely into the depths of the boundless Sound Wall, leaving only the omnipresent "listening" of this world, covering the entire area and leaving no place to hide. "Hearing Attachment" had already been activated.
Without external enemy invasion, without supernatural bombardment, and without a concrete target to destroy, the trial of the Hearing-Derivation Beast has no fixed form; it is itself the fundamental principle of "hearing."
Qin Yu took a step forward, and his foot landed Ji Ran. Yet the ancient, ever-standing Sound Wall suddenly stirred.
The ancient bell tolling, the eternal chanting, the weeping of all living beings, the savage roars, the breaths of creatures, and the whispers of antiquity, which were originally firmly solidified within the barrier, loosened layer by layer and slowly unsealed. Those primordial sounds that had taken shape, carried weight, and been colored were all freed from the shackles of the Sound Wall. Without spreading or vibrating in the void, they directly awakened and vividly appeared in Qin Yu's "hearing" source.
The first voice was extremely soft and gentle. "Qin Yu..." Qin Yu continued walking calmly without stopping. The second call quietly appeared from the void on the left. "Qin Yu." The third one followed closely behind, with an urgent tone. "Qin Yu!" Each voice was different, completely different.
Some voices were aged and deep, others were young and clear; some were steady male voices, others were Wenwan female voices. Some voices carried a deep familiarity for Qin Yu, while many others were completely unfamiliar and never heard before. The deeper one went into the Sound Wall, the more intense the myriad calls became. Countless voices, from different years, different branches of fate, and different obliterated memories, surged forth layer by layer, arriving in a rush.
"Qin Yu..." A tender, intimate voice called out. "Come back." From the other side, a hurried, anxious voice suddenly boomed. "Qin Yu! Quickly!" Further away, a low, questioning voice echoed. "Why aren't you answering?" Another voice, filled with barely suppressed pleading and sorrow, asked. "Qin Yu... can you hear me?"
Qin Yu's gaze darkened slightly. He deliberately avoided analyzing the source of the sound, distinguishing between familiar and unfamiliar voices, and discerning whether it was real or fake. From the moment the first familiar tone appeared, he saw through the Ultimate trap set by Hearing-Derivation Beast, the most dangerous thing in this Emanation Domain, which was not the authenticity of the sound.
The distinction between truth and falsehood is merely the second layer of constraint. The true, fundamental obsession has always been only one thing—whether you will respond in your heart. The Sound Wall continues to vibrate and unblock, and more complex soundscapes surge forth.
There were the earnest calls of his closest relatives and friends, the Ultimate words of his deceased loved ones, and countless unfamiliar sounds that Qin Yu had never encountered or existed in his past. These sounds never even landed in the real world, but were born from a certain annihilated branch of fate, yet they could still call out the name "Qin Yu" with the Ultimate sincerity.
Some called out softly with smiles, some cried out in grief, some questioned angrily, some were filled with fear, and some, on the verge of death, persistently called out his name again and again. Qin Yu continued walking, silently venturing deeper into the distance.
There was no answer, no response, no clinging, no confusion, until an Ultimate familiar voice quietly echoed from behind him, without coercion, temptation, trickery, or falsehood. It was simply, calmly, calling out, "Qin Yu."
Qin Yu's steps faltered slightly, almost imperceptibly. For a fleeting moment, there was no further movement, but the omnipresent Ear Faculty Emanation Domain instantly detected this subtle fluctuation of thought. Buzz—that calm call suddenly split and multiplied.
"Qin Yu." "Qin Yu." Two sounds, four sounds, eight sounds, sixteen sounds... multiplying and endlessly multiplying. The sound was not loud or deafening, but it appeared simultaneously from all directions of the void, layer upon layer. Qin Yu's eyes suddenly fixed and his mind tightened.
The mere thought of "Whose voice is this?" constituted an Ultimate faint mental response, falling into the shackles of Hearing Attachment. The next instant... Boom!!!
That familiar voice exploded completely, spreading across the entire area. Thousands, tens of thousands, millions, billions... endless calls murmured his name, filling the entire Sea of Sound. And an even more deadly anomaly followed closely behind.
Within the vast Sea of Sound, Qin Yu's own voice began to emerge. "I heard it." The first thought arose out of nowhere. "Who's calling me?" The second followed immediately. "I'm here." The third layered upon the first. "Who are you?" The fourth pressed down.
These responses were never spoken aloud by Qin Yu, nor were they ever conceived in his mind. They were all Ear Faculty Emanation Domain.
However, as soon as any one of the "self-responses" takes shape, it immediately becomes a brand new source of sound, falling into a closed loop. "I am here." The Sound Wall receives this thought and immediately responds. "Qin Yu." A brand new call is born. "I heard it." A brand new response takes shape again.
The response gave rise to the call, and the call compelled the response; one call gave rise to two, two to four, four to eight. In an instant, billions of illusory "voices of Qin Yu" simultaneously answered billions of calls from the depths of the Sea of Sound. "I am here." "I hear you." "Who are you?" "I hear you." "Answer me." "Qin Yu!" "Qin Yu--!"
Endless calls and endless responses chase each other, cycling endlessly. Each "hearing" is accompanied by the obsession with waiting for a response; each "response" confirms the destiny of having been heard. The two intertwine and form an endless, unclosable cycle.
Qin Yu stood quietly at the center of the cycle of reincarnation, watching countless illusory images of self recede into the distance, only to return again and again, endlessly repeating. At this moment, he completely understood the Ultimate truth of Hearing-Derivation Beast's words, "Become an echo."
Being trapped in this cycle will not cause the physical body to collapse or the Fate Soul to Annihilation, but the very essence of "Qin Yu" will eventually be worn away by layers of constraints, leaving only an endless, illusory echo that responds to heaven and earth without ceasing. Where there is a call, there is a response; when the response is heard, a new call arises.
The cycle of reincarnation continues endlessly, until finally, even the initial quest, the initial obsession, and the initial reason for responding will all be annihilated. Between heaven and earth, only eternal echoes remain. The turmoil in Qin Yu's eyes subsided, and his mind became completely calm and clear. He did not shatter the myriad sounds and images in the sky, nor did he activate his supernatural powers to break free from the shackles.
All the illusions in this Sea of Sound are rooted in one's own obsession with responding. To sever a sound is to admit to hearing a sound, to cling to a sound, to resist a sound, which in turn confirms the connection between hearing and being heard, thus trapping one in a cycle of reincarnation.
He continued forward, his steps calm and unhurried. Those self-answers born of illusory possibilities and persistent obsessions still echoed endlessly in the Sea of Sound, but Qin Yu no longer associated these illusory sounds with him.
Recognizing this as the true self at this moment, one neither clings to it, nor acknowledges it, nor argues about it, nor responds to it. Gradually, the first batch of illusory responses loses its foundation and slowly dissipates; the second and third batches fade away and all return to silence. The clamorous and magnificent Sea of Sound slowly yields, making way for a deep path forward.
Qin Yu continued deeper into the Sound Wall. He tried to suppress his senses and block out external hearing, but all auditory perceptions around him fell silent, all to no avail. The sound images persisted, and the echoes lingered. He once again deeply suppressed his consciousness, forcibly imprisoning his mind's ability to recognize and perceive the sound images.
It was still useless. The very instant the thought of "shutting off his hearing" arose in his mind, the Ear Faculty Emanation Domain instantly transformed that thought into a real sound. "I won't listen." The Sound Wall received this thought and immediately echoed. "I won't listen..." The distant void returned and overlapped again. "I won't listen..." Layer upon layer, through countless cycles, the endless "I won't listen" piled up in the Sea of Sound, forming a magnificent and vast echo of obsession.
Qin Yu completely abandoned such futile attempts. He had thoroughly comprehended the true meaning of the Great Dao. The ears were never the fundamental source of hearing in the Ear Faculty Emanation Domain. Consciousness was not the core origin of hearing either. Existence itself inherently possesses hearing. No one can escape this principle of the Great Dao by sealing organs or imprisoning thoughts. The one who truly hears all things and bears all sounds is existence itself.