The final boundary of the fourth Emanation Domain slowly closed behind Qin Yu, without him turning around.
The moment the foot lightly crossed that invisible boundary, the origin of the "Taste" Dao, belonging to the fourth root, deep within the tongue, suddenly trembled slightly. All the flavors remaining after the calamity of the Evolution-Devouring Beast and the Wanyan Return-to-Stillness Devouring" were completely gathered and returned to silence at this moment.
The once boundless Sea of Taste, the eternally solidified Wall of Taste, the lingering taste of Daoist essence that lingered long after devouring all living beings, and the bittersweet traces left by countless existences and the sedimentation of countless years—layer upon layer, slowly receding from my perception.
Finally, only a faint, ancient aftertaste lingered on the back of his tongue for a moment, then Return to Emanation —all flavors dissipated. Qin Yu took a step forward, experiencing neither sweetness, bitterness, sourness, spiciness, nor saltiness.
There was no flavor beyond the five flavors of the mundane world, a mysterious taste that only the highest level of the Great Dao could discern; the world had fallen into an absolute state of "tastelessness."
His tongue root was intact; the root of "taste" had not been severed or damaged. Yet all things in the world, upon passing through this root of discernment, lost all distinctions in taste and the differences in the essence of the Dao.
Air enters the throat, leaving only the air's authentic existence; dried blood at the corner of the mouth is touched by the tongue, leaving only the primal reality of "blood here"; the ancient, lingering echoes of emptiness brush past the senses, devoid of any trace of intensity, sweetness, bitterness, newness, oldness, prosperity, or decline.
All things continue to exist, all flavors are stripped away, and all living beings in heaven and earth shed all lingering charm, sweetness, and bitterness, leaving only the driest, most authentic, and most straightforward "existence." There is no more distinction, no more aftertaste, and no more evolution.
All the constraints of the fourth domain of Emanation Domain were removed. The Wall of Taste melted away, the swallowing momentum Annihilation, and the endless swallowing of the Evolution-Devouring Beast finally stopped. The sweetness of the peak of Wanyan, the bitterness of destruction, and the last trace of almost Formless flavor before the Great Ancestor entered the Silent Form Realm all sank into the already concluded Tongue Faculty Emanation Domain.
Qin Yu took another step, leaving only a wisp of Nameless and odorless Dao trace behind him. When he landed his third step, the trace completely vanished without a trace, and the fifth root— the No-Body Faculty —truly and completely incorporated him into the domain.
The next instant, Qin Yu's body suddenly stiffened. A sensation of touch descended upon him, not the touch of his feet on the ground, not the touch of Qingfeng on his face, nor the sensation of any external object striking his body. Countless sensations of touch exploded from within his very being, sweeping through his soul and flesh.
Cold! Every inch of flesh and every strand of skin was simultaneously permeated with a chilling cold. The cold Beginningless Endless, and its source could not be traced. Before he could even discern the origin of the cold—heat! Extreme cold and intense heat coexisted and coexisted, neither canceling the other out.
Following closely behind, soft, hard, painful, itchy, rough, slippery, light, heavy, rough, fine, sharp, dull, dry, wet, tight, loose, sour, numb... Boom--!!!
Dozens of the most primal Ultimate tactile sensations permeated Qin Yu's entire being in the same instant. His brows furrowed suddenly, and his mind trembled. At this moment, he had no way of discerning where the sensations originated or where they ended.
Skin touches, flesh touches, bones touch, every drop of flowing blood merges and touches with the surrounding Dao rhythm, Fate Soul touches, Dao foundation touches, even the first thought that has just sprouted is quietly touching.
The moment a thought arises, it touches upon old thoughts; the intertwining of the old and the new gives rise to entirely new sensations; new sensations give rise to new appearances, layer upon layer, endlessly repeating. In this world, all existence is in contact, and all existence is being contacted.
Qin Yu's gaze suddenly sharpened. Amidst the endless chaotic sensations, he determined to lock onto the clearest physical feeling—pain. Once his mind was made up, an unexpected change occurred. The previously Return to One pain suddenly amplified and split.
Divide into two, resulting in stabbing pain and dull pain; divide into four, resulting in sharp pain that pierces the blood, deep pain that penetrates the bone, tearing pain, and swelling pain; divide into eight, divide into sixteen, divide into thirty-two, and then instantly multiply into sixty-four!
Boom!!! Endless pain stratifies and infinitely proliferates within the very source of his existence. Each type of pain merges and collides with various tactile sensations such as hot and cold, sour and astringent, numb and sharp, giving rise to new tactile sensations one after another, endlessly.
Cold pain pierces to the bone, burning pain burns to the skin, soreness stagnates the pulse, numbness invades the mind, sharp pain tears the body apart, dull pain sinks to the bones... One begets two, two begets four, four begets eight, eight begets endless.
Endless and Beginningless or Endless, it was all a matter of a single thought. The entire Body-Facultyless Emanation Domain followed this thought, branching the path of "pain" into nearly infinite tactile sensations. In the blink of an eye, Qin Yu could no longer find that original, primal pain.
All sensations intertwined, defined, and evolved from one another; there was no isolation, no individuality, and no absolute boundary. His entire being was completely submerged by the boundless torrent of sensations.
He subconsciously tried to suppress the sensations on his skin, attempting to isolate himself from external touch, but to no avail. The myriad sensations remained undiminished. In an instant, Qin Yu comprehended the true essence of this place: the touch here never depends on the physical body.
Even if the physical body perishes and the skin is destroyed, as long as existence remains, it is eternally in contact. The Fate Soul touches its origin, the mind touches its own mind, existence touches the void, and the past touches the present.
Anything that exists within the Wanyan will inevitably connect and interact with countless Daoist principles and all forms of existence. Therefore, as long as it exists, it will interact and exist for another day. Sealing off the physical body is useless, and isolating oneself from external things is of no benefit.
Only by annihilating existence itself can one sever all connections. Qin Yu abandoned the isolation, calmed his mind, and slowly opened his eyes. In that instant, he saw the sea.
Boundless and vast, covering the entire universe and encompassing all directions, this is an endless ocean purely formed from "touch." At first glance, Qin Yu couldn't even define the essence of this sea. Without waves, water, air, or mist, it was not any fluid or physical substance found in the world.
The entire sea surface is an invisible giant membrane that covers the endless sky and earth, slowly opening and closing, rising and falling. It is colorless, odorless, soundless, and traceless, leaving only countless pure tactile sensations flowing within it.
The moment Qin Yu's foot touched the membrane, more than ten kinds of primal tactile sensations—cold, hot, soft, hard, rough, smooth, coarse, fine, light, and heavy—rushed in from the sole of his foot.
But in the next instant, he overturned his judgment that it "flowed in from the soles of his feet." It was not that he touched the Sea of Touch, but that the Sea of Touch touched him. The one who could touch and the one who was touched coexisted and became the foundation of each other the moment he landed.
The sea surface rippled gently, a soft, intangible sound, yet a vast, boundless sense of softness pressed in from afar. In an instant, the softness hardened, the hardness sharpened, the sharpness condensed into coldness, and the coldness numbed.
The myriad sensations of touch flow endlessly and change infinitely. Each rise and Sea of Touch is an Ultimate touch, Sea of Touch itself, its interior, and its boundaries. The myriad regions of the sea also touch and evolve with each other.
Eternity is touched, and eternity is touched. Qin Yu gazed into the distance, his eyes piercing through the surface of the sea to glimpse the true face of the deep sea. This Sea of Touch was not a single layer, but rather layer upon layer, with each layer condensing a single primal tactile sensation, forming its own domain.
The first layer is cold. This realm is vast and boundless. Even before Qin Yu had ventured deep into it, Ultimate and clear chill permeated his very bones. This was not the ordinary low temperature of the seasons, but an ancient and transparent realm that had survived to this day since the golden age of the Wanyan Ones, clear, pure, and Kong Ling.
The second layer is heat. A scorching domain that stretches across the heavens and earth lies beneath the cold domain, sealing the Ultimate resonance of the time when the Wanyan Ones were destroyed and collapsed. It is scorching, burning, and intense, capable of melting all things and scorching the heavens.
The third layer is pain. Just by probing with his divine sense, Qin Yu instantly felt countless pains all over his body. Stinging pain piercing his muscles, dull pain sinking into his internal organs, soreness stagnation in his meridians, agonizing pain tearing at his heart, burning pain scorching his body, freezing pain penetrating his bones... layer upon layer, all are ancient Wanyan Ones, their bodies torn apart.
The fourth layer is itching, the most bizarre and mysterious of all. This kind of itching does not originate from the skin or muscles, but from the moment when Existence Returns to Stillness and the traces of the Dao dissipate. When an existence sheds Wanyan and returns to nothingness, its own boundaries peel away layer by layer and slowly dissolve, giving rise to this wisp of itch that cannot be grasped, scratched, or stopped.
Further down, layers of soft, hard, rough, smooth, light, and heavy are arranged, each layer formed by an Ultimate tactile sensation, carrying the lingering echoes of countless ages.
But this was still not the Ultimate of Sea of Touch. Qin Yu's divine sense continued to sink, penetrating layer after layer of touch realms, until at a certain moment, all the senses suddenly vanished, leaving only emptiness.
Touch Abyss — Qin Yu's steps halted, stopping before the abyss. Sea of Touch, there was no shore, no cliff, no bottom Endless. Here, there was neither cold nor heat, no pain nor itch, no softness nor hardness, no lightness nor heaviness. All perceptible tactile sensations in the world dissolved away. Yet, Qin Yu's primal perception was incredibly clear—this place was not Emptiness, but rather contained the most primal "touch."
A primordial touch that has not yet occurred, has not yet landed, is without owner Formless form, without initiative or passivity, without any parties involved, and without any result. It is eternally suspended at the primordial boundary between the impending and Unborn moment of the touch.
All the myriad sensations of the heavens originate from this. Through layers of evolution, they transform into cold, heat, pain, itching, softness, hardness, roughness, and smoothness, and countless Nameless Formless mysterious tactile sensations. All these tactile sensations ultimately return to this abyss.
This is the source of touch, and also its end. Qin Yu did not venture too far. His experience in the first three Emanation Domain had already made him deeply understand the true meaning of the Great Dao: the closer one gets to the original nature, the less one should use ordinary perception to forcibly explore, define, or speculate. He slowly withdrew his divine sense and continued to move forward. Not long after, floating islands began to appear on the Sea of Touch.