The last trace of Qin Yu's external aura completely dissipated.
The Realm Without Qi remained completely still. Qin Yu stood quietly in the center of this vast and boundless world, the earth beneath his feet retaining its ancient and rustic outline, and the distant void layer upon layer stretching out into the endless depths.
He could clearly see the robes undulating gently with subtle movements, and he could also hear the soft rustling of the fabric rubbing together. However, all the "qi" corresponding to the third root had been completely drained away by heaven and earth and vanished without a trace.
There is no distinction between purity and turbidity, no breath of life and death, no aged charm accumulated over time, and even the Space Silence that the void should naturally possess has been completely annihilated. Every inch of land he had just stepped on left no trace of its existence. Even if he looked back and focused on it closely, the void was exactly the same as before he had set foot there.
Qin Yu lowered his eyes to look at his palm. The shape and texture were clear and vivid. When his five fingers closed, the subtle friction sound was clearly audible. However, Emptiness feel anything at the root of his nose.
His physical body was devoid of energy, his Fate Soul devoid of energy, and his Dao foundation devoid of energy. Even the primordial energy that "Qin Yu," as an independent being, should have naturally diffused into the heavens and earth, had completely vanished without a trace. If judged solely by the principles of the Great Dao corresponding to the root of his nose, Qin Yu at this moment was no different from this ancient, desolate Space Silence, where no living being had ever set foot or any being had ever lingered.
At that very moment—in the distant void, a subtle movement occurred. Qin Yu's gaze narrowed slightly, and he became alert. There was no figure, no sound, and no fluctuation of aura. Only in the far distance of the Realm Without Qi, a piece of void that had been flat and ancient suddenly sank slightly, disappearing in an instant, the movement so subtle as to be almost imperceptible.
A few breaths later, the same anomaly was replicated in the closer void, again and again, with each sinking interval, distance, and rhythm almost perfectly synchronized. It was as if an invisible entity was steadily advancing, approaching step by step.
Qin Yu remained standing still, observing the changes. The ethereal anomaly continued to slowly approach his location, whether it was a thousand miles away, a hundred miles away, or within tens of miles... the distance was rapidly decreasing, but the trajectory never deviated by the slightest.
The solemnity in Qin Yu's eyes deepened. He was now certain that this invisible anomaly was not wandering aimlessly, but rather tracking with unparalleled precision. However, a paradox had emerged: it had no aura, Wuhen behind it, no track of its origin, and even the place where it stood could not prove that it had ever stayed there.
What exactly is this invisible entity tracking? Qin Yu moved slightly, shifting a hundred feet to the right without deliberately concealing himself or leaving any trace of his existence. The sinking void in the distance suddenly paused for a moment.
The next instant, another change occurred. The direction of travel had been reversed, still firmly locking onto Qin Yu's current location. Qin Yu once again took several hundred feet to the left, and the invisible tracking trajectory was precisely corrected once more, without hesitation, probing, or searching.
It knew Qin Yu's location clearly from beginning to end. Thus, the core contradiction of the third trial was fully revealed for the first time. Heaven and earth were devoid of energy, Qin Yu was devoid of energy, and the pursuers were devoid of energy. So—who was sniffing? Who was being sniffed?
Qin Yu stopped moving and stood still, no longer probing.
Having undergone two trials of the Great Dao through the senses of sight and hearing, he had long since come to understand that the dangers of the Six Sense Roots Emanation Domain were never in appearance. The "seeing" of the senses of sight transcends the limitations of the eyes; the "hearing" of the senses of hearing surpasses the perception of the ears; similarly, the "smelling" of the senses of smell is certainly not something that can be encompassed by worldly breath or superficial odors.
The invisible footsteps in the distance drew ever closer. In the instant the void sank and reappeared, Qin Yu caught a more subtle and primal movement of the Great Dao. Something had sensed him. No external breath landed on him, no aura entangled or touched him. Qin Yu couldn't even pinpoint the source of this perception, but the feeling of being precisely perceived and touched by the origin was incredibly clear and undeniable.
His existence was firmly locked onto by a "smell" that transcended the mundane world. In the next instant, the entire Realm Without Qi suddenly came to a complete standstill. The invisible footsteps that were approaching step by step vanished without a trace, replaced by an Ultimate profound silence.
This is not the normal state of still airflow. This world is inherently devoid of air and flow, and there is no such thing as movement or stillness. Nor is this Emptiness where smell has dissipated. The Realm Without Qi has been without fragrance, odor, taste, or breath since its inception. Qin Yu stood silently, quietly comprehending this anomaly. After a few breaths, a deep, somber look flashed across his eyes.
"Without breath" is entirely different from "without taste" and "without gas." "Without taste" simply means the absence of smell; "without gas" simply means the dissipation of breath. Both still implicitly acknowledge the existence of the principles of "gas" and "taste," only that they are not currently manifested.
But the silence that enveloped him at this moment was more primordial and more thorough. It began to erase the binary distinction between "whether or not one can smell it" and "whether or not there is something to smell." It was more empty than tasteless, more silent than airless, and more Nameless than breathless.
This is a boundless primordial void, not Emptiness anything, but resting in the most primitive state of the Great Dao—the principle of "smell," which has not yet been born, nor has it ever Annihilation. There is no one who can smell, nothing to smell, and even "breath," the intermediate carrier that connects perception with all things, has not yet evolved into its current form.
Qin Yu finally touched the deepest Dao essence of the Nose Root Emanation Domain. Immediately afterwards, boundless and silent energy surrounded him from all directions. There was no devouring power, no squeezing force. Qin Yu's body did not move, and the world did not shake, but this primordial energy instantly filled his entire existence.
Between flesh and blood, there was no gap; within the Fate Soul and spirit, there was no omission; within thoughts and ideas, there was no wandering. It had never "invaded" Qin Yu, because invasion requires the distinction between inside and outside, between host and guest. The moment Qin Yu became aware of this silent presence, it had already permeated all dimensions of existence belonging to "Qin Yu".
The world before him underwent a dramatic change. The originally vast and Realm Without Qi receded and faded away layer by layer. A boundless and endless ancient barrier slowly materialized from the absolute Emptiness. Qin Yu raised his eyes and gazed at the barrier. It had no physical form or hard texture. The barrier was constructed from billions of ancient and solidified primordial energies.
For the first time, Qin Yu truly "saw" the supreme power that condensed into form and carried traces of the Dao, a wisp of ancient floral fragrance that condensed into a long, thin ribbon thousands of feet long, sealing within it an ancient world that had long since vanished, where the complete blooming season and the splendor of time were eternally preserved;
A tragic surge of blood energy transformed into a dark, surging torrent, frozen in its final moment of eruption. Deep within the blood energy, the lingering life force and unwilling obsession of the original owner remained from the instant of their fall. Further away, the aura of an ancient powerhouse was as heavy as a mountain, exuding immense power. The surrounding billions of subtle energies were all affected by its pressure, bending, yielding, and submitting.
All kinds of auras are visible: the innocent aura of primordial chaos, the decaying aura of the end times, the light and joyful aura of all beings, the deep and lingering sorrow of all spirits, the ancient aura of a city steeped in the passage of time, and the primordial aura of the beginning of heaven and earth, before it was even named.
There are also countless beings that have passed through the world, leaving behind traces that have not yet dissipated even after countless ages; and many possible destinies that have never taken shape, just as they seep out from the depths of the Qi wall, are absorbed back into silence by the primordial barrier.
The breath solidifies, Return to Emanation, and Annihilation; new breath arises, seeps out, spreads, and returns to its source, endlessly cycling and repeating. In an instant, the complete landscape of the Nose Root Emanation Domain is fully revealed.
There are no mountains here, but the profound energy accumulated over millions of years has formed towering peaks; there are no rivers here, but the residual energy left by countless living beings as they traverse the heavens and earth has converged into long, winding rivers.
The vast and boundless forest in the distance is constructed from the overlapping Spiritual Qi from different eras and worlds. Every branch is a genuine trace of a life that once existed.
Deeper into the Emanation Domain, vast stretches of landform are blurred and chaotic, unrecognizable. All the aura there has long since detached from its original host, leaving only the most primordial traces of "once existed here," existing silently and eternally. On the surface of the aura wall, new auras continue to seep out, one wisp, a thousand wisps, ten thousand wisps... birth, diffusion, leaving traces, Return to Emanation.
The cycle of birth and death, endless and repetitive, constructs the complete Great Dao principles of the third Emanation Domain. Just as Qin Yu was concentrating on comprehending this ancient Sea of Qi, the void in the very center of the qi wall suddenly emptied, without shattering, collapsing, or turbulent. Only all the qi in that area retreated to both sides and dispersed completely.
The invisible footsteps that had been tracking them all along finally reached their destination. Qin Yu's gaze was calm as he looked towards the Space Silence space ahead. A pure and utterly silent breath emerged slowly from the depths of the air barrier. It had no body, no limbs, no head, Wheel-less, and no substance. It was simply a breath—a breath—without a sound in his ears or a breath in his chest.
At this moment, the entire Nose Root Emanation Domain underwent an Ultimate slow, expansive expansion, and then, countless streams of primordial energy from the suspended Emanation Domain converged and returned to stillness deep within the air wall.
With one exhale, all things arise and a myriad of forms are born; with one inhale, all things return to stillness and all traces vanish. This breath has no source, Endless, Beginningless, and no end. There is no way to find the one who exhales, nor to trace the one who inhales.