The entire Nose Root Emanation Domain was completely transformed into a boundless and vast Sea of Qi, without waves, water, or tides. However, due to the surging and rolling energy of billions of beings, it obscured the enormous true form of the Smell-Derivation Beast that spanned the heavens and earth, its power overwhelming.
The first wave of energy originated from the past. The traces left by every stage of Qin Yu's life and every transformation surged forth together. The second wave of energy originated from the present. Everything that could define Qin Yu's aura and Dao traces at this moment gathered towards the center and locked in layers.
The most vast and powerful third wave of energy originated from the endless future. Countless possibilities that have not yet occurred and have not yet materialized have already generated their own unique aura, filling every corner of Qin Yu's perception.
The myriad waves of energy did not attack the physical body or shatter the Fate Soul; from beginning to end, they did only one thing—search for me, lock me, and fix me. Qin Yu stepped forward, and the countless trajectories in his Sea of Qi all turned and followed him.
He stopped, his surging Sea of Qi simultaneously freezing. He raised his hand slightly, and countless new qi belonging to the action of "Qin Yu raising his hand" instantly took shape. Qin Yu's brows furrowed, and he completely understood the key to the constraint.
As long as he retains even a sliver of self-affirmation and a sliver of self-definition, this Sea of Qi will instantly lock onto the source, relentlessly pursuing it, leaving no escape.
"I am here." With a single thought, the Sea of Qi draws near. "This body is mine." With a single thought, the Qi of the physical body surges to the heavens. "This soul is mine." With a single thought, the Qi of the Fate Soul sweeps in. "The past Non-Self, empty fame Non-Self." Even if the heart denies it, it is still of no use.
Because all choices, all definitions, and all denials are based on "I" as the absolute core, the Sea of Qi, following this unwavering conviction, can always accurately pinpoint his location.
The six qi tendrils converged layer by layer, pressing closer and closer, covering millions of miles, hundreds of thousands of miles, tens of thousands of miles... The boundless Sea of Qi shrank into a perfect spherical cage, trapping Qin Yu firmly in its core.
There is no way out, but the real predicament is never in the cage of heaven and earth. As long as he still needs to verify and define himself, all kinds of energy will always have traces to follow and roots to lock in.
Qin Yu did not rashly attempt to break the deadlock. In an instant, he deduced all the great Dao divine abilities and Source Power he could use.
"Return to Origin and Sever Retracing" can forcibly erase countless traces of energy and deprive them of their right to exist, but it is the most inappropriate. These traces of energy all originate from oneself and are rooted in one's own heart. Forcibly erasing them is merely avoiding questioning and escaping one's own heart, and it will not be able to unravel the true essence of the Great Dao of "Smell the Self".
"The Void Source · Dream Stillness" can return the entire Sea of Qi to the zero point of nothingness, but it is still a inferior method. It uses erasure as a substitute for transcendence, thus using external force to avoid the shackles of one's true nature, without truly breaking free from attachment.
The "No-Thought Absolute Silence Sword" can sever the source of the obsession with "self-verification," but once it is used, "no attachment" becomes a false result forged by external forces, rather than the true liberation realized by one's own mind.
"The Fate Cause Sealing Mirror and the Logic Abyss Core" is even more inaccessible. This predicament has no external cause or effect, no Outer Dao prying eyes; all the tracking and all the constraints originate from within oneself and from one's own heart.
In the end, he didn't even unfold the "Silent Beginning: Ring Master Soul Diagram." The Ultimate answer to the Nose Faculty Trial could only be understood, broken, and proven by himself; it could not be done by supernatural powers or external forces. His Sea of Qi had already been compressed to within a thousand miles, its power overwhelming and closing in step by step.
Qin Yu slowly closed his eyes, not to avoid the world or to isolate his senses, but simply because he no longer needed to observe the myriad phenomena or discern countless traces. He eliminated all external distractions and faced the five Ultimate questions posed by "Smell the Self".
Is this physical body me? Qin Yu neither answered yes nor no. This body, flesh and blood, belongs to me, nothing more. My body has undergone changes and transformations, but I have not changed; my body is perfect and flawless, and I need no proof.
With a single, clear thought, the first layer of physical form standing before me remained Anran, but it had completely lost the ability to lock onto my true self and restrain my true nature. Is my Fate Soul me?
The origin of his Fate Soul truly belongs to him, and the "Silent Beginning: Ring Master Soul Diagram" is his most core foundation. However, if he needs to rely on his Fate Soul to confirm his self and define his true self, then his Fate Soul becomes a testament to his obsession and a shackle that binds him.
Qin Yu neither clung to, rejected, grasped, nor let go. The second layer of his Fate Soul energy froze instantly, no longer pursuing him. Past experiences—was it me? All the past experiences were real, impossible to discard or erase. But the past could only prove what he had experienced; it could never define who he could become.
Having experienced the third stage of Qi, I stood quietly, completely shedding the power to lock onto enemies. "Is the name of this world me?" The two characters "Qin Yu" are recognized by the whole world and point directly to him.
But a title is ultimately just an empty name; it can bear the weight of existence but cannot replace it. The fourth layer of the title's aura then Anran faded into silence. Finally, in the center of the void, only that one wisp of eternal, primordial light remained.
"I am who I am." In an instant, the surging Sea of Qi suddenly swelled and boiled to its Ultimate. The six qi of the Smell-Derivation Beast were all turned around and locked onto that one point of original light. It finally found the deepest, most hidden and most stubborn root qi in the entire trial.
This is Qin Yu's unchanging self-foundation throughout the ages, his Dao heart that has never wavered throughout his Wanyan. But it is precisely this absolute certainty that has become the final shackle of "Smell the Self," and also the most ruthless killing move.
As long as Qin Yu continues to hold fast to this thought and anchor himself to it, the Smell-Derivation Beast will be able to follow this primal obsession and lock onto his existence forever.
Qin Yu remained silent for a long time, his Dao heart becoming completely clear. He finally comprehended the Ultimate truth of the Nose Faculty Trial. What the Nose Root Trial wanted him to let go of was never "I," but rather—"I need to prove that I am who I am."
The line separating the mundane from the sacred, the clinging to the detached from the mundane, is thin. "I am" is the original existence, free from attachment Delusionless. "I need to prove my existence" is a deep-rooted obsession, a self-imposed constraint.
Qin Yu has never abandoned his original belief that "I am who I am." He has simply stopped silently repeating this belief, stopped clinging to it, stopped using it as an anchor, stopped using it to defend himself, and stopped using it to prove that he is not deluded.
I am who I am, needing no confirmation, no proof, no smell, no definition. At this moment, the eternal, undying glimmer of my true self in the center of the void—silently extinguished.
Boom!!! The billions of Sea of Qi all boiled, surging and crushing towards Qin Yu's location. Past Qi passed through him, unable to find the root of his true self. Present Qi engulfed him, unable to lock in the source of his true self.
The boundless potential of the future pervades the entire region, yet its origin remains undefined. The physical body's aura can only sense its form, the Fate Soul's aura can only sense its soul, the experience's aura can only sense its past, and the name's aura can only sense its empty reputation.
The myriad Dao traces each held their own form, yet they could no longer find that one wisp of true self-root energy that governed all forms and was unique. Qin Yu stood in the center of his Sea of Qi, calm and composed. He neither hid, concealed, covered, nor erased anything.
He allowed all kinds of energy to arise and flow freely, with breath having energy, flesh and blood having energy, Fate Soul having traces, actions having traces, the past having existence, and the future having development. He never hindered the arising and ceasing of energy, but he completely severed the shackles binding energy with himself.
All kinds of energy can no longer corroborate my existence; this is the Ultimate flaw that Qin Yu discovered. "Smell the Self" can transform all self-affirmation into a detectable root scent, but it is utterly powerless against a genuine existence that needs no confirmation or corroboration.
When Qin Yu no longer relies on any aura to define or confirm himself, this all-encompassing divine power completely loses its core—"self." The smell remains, the energy remains, and I remain.
Only the chain of obsession that "proves me with qi and defines me with traces" completely broke and vanished, and the six qi whiskers of the Smell-Derivation Beast that stretched across the heavens and earth completely lost their way for the first time.
The first streak stopped to his left, the second swept across his shoulder, and the third pierced his chest. The remaining three streaks swept across the surrounding airspace repeatedly, searching in vain. They could accurately capture Qin Yu's physical body, Fate Soul, experiences, name, and future possibilities, but they could never find that one strand of true self that governed everything.
The enormous, silent nasal slit of the Smell-Derivation Beast, which stretched across the heavens and earth, suddenly expanded to its Ultimate and inhaled—the entire vast Sea of Qi in the Nose Root Emanation Domain was swallowed into its body in one gulp. Hundreds of millions of qi traces belonging to Qin Yu surged into the twelve-layered qi ring, being filtered layer by layer and traced back to their source step by step.
The first layer filters the breath of the physical body, revealing a form without roots; the second layer filters the essence of the Fate Soul, revealing a spirit without foundation; the third layer filters traces of the past, revealing traces without core; the fourth layer filters the aura of the name, revealing a name without root. Each layer traces inward, ultimately reaching the deepest part of the aura ring.
Emptiness and devoid of any trace of his true self, the ancient, ceaseless breath of the Smell-Derivation Beast ceased completely for the first time. Qin Yu slowly opened his eyes, his gaze clear and his Dao heart serene. He did not seize the opportunity to attack or break the deadlock.
The true Smell the Self is not about shattering the guardian beast or breaking the rules of the Emanation Domain, but about breaking free from the constraints of the rules so that the opponent's laws and principles can no longer define or lock themselves.
Qin Yu took a step forward, and as his foot landed, a natural aura arose and remained. His six qi whiskers clearly sensed the traces, but did not pursue them. With his second step, new Dao traces were generated, and the aura of the entire region could be sensed, yet still, there was no trace to follow.
With his third step, he passed directly through a massive trail of past energy. The man and the trail completely overlapped, Smell-Derivation Beast still couldn't distinguish or define them, unsure whether this trail was his true self.
Finally, Qin Yu slowly walked to the enormous beast's head, stood before the twelve layers of rotating qi rings, his six qi whiskers suspended between heaven and earth, Ji Ran, surrounded by billions of past and future qi, and all five layers of qi phases floating and sinking.
He was open and honest, without any hidden aura or trace of Dao. Yet, the Sniffing Smell-Derivation Beast, which controlled all Qi and could smell the origin of everything, could not smell his roots or determine his essence for the first time.
After a moment of silence, the supreme true body that spanned the entire Emanation Domain slowly withdrew its immense power. Its six qi whiskers retreated one by one and returned to their positions. The countless Sea of Qi in the sky lost their hunting momentum, falling back layer by layer and sinking into the vast qi wall.
The five layers of the original energy that define the self gradually fade and quietly dissipate. The physical form, the Fate Soul, the experience, the name, and the true self all return to Space Silence. Even the place where the faint light of the true self that has been extinguished returns to nothingness and simplicity.
The supernatural power of "Smell the Self" completely dissipated and ceased to exist. Qin Yu stood still, his mind reaching a completely new level unprecedented in the Nose Faculty Trial. With Qi remaining in his body, he did not need the myriad Qi to prove himself.
Empty Space Silence, I do not hide myself without Wuhen. I am here, needing no trace from heaven and earth, no echo of the past, no extension of the future, no self-affirmation from my own heart. I quietly face Qin Yu through the breathless nostrils of the Smell-Derivation Beast.
In that instant, it could sense every nuance, every trace, and every possibility surrounding him, yet it could no longer define Qin Yu in the slightest from any wisp of energy or any trace. The third Emanation Guardian's first divine ability—"Smell the Self"—was broken.