No one could say for sure how many pages it had, because when Qin Yu looked at the first page, the last page was already there, and when he tried to find the last page, the first page never left.
Page after page is blank, without ink, without spine, without binding, without paper in the true sense, only layers of extremely thin, extremely still, overlapping blank pages float behind Qin Yu, with countless tiny points of light lighting up on each page.
Appearance, silence, reappearance, silence again—those specks of light have not yet become words, have not yet become derivatives, have not yet become knowledge, have not yet become the source.
They were merely the lingering echoes of something primordial, Beginningless, Endless, without pages, without words, without ink, without pen. Qin Yu raised his right hand, which was slowly recovering. The Wordless Heavenly Book moved gently, rustling... it turned a page.
But Qin Yu knew in his heart that what he had just turned was not a "page" at all, but a breath, a breath that went from Unborn to arising, and then from arising back to Unborn.
The old "Primordial Hongmeng - Great Luo Heavenly Chapter" has finally completed its transformation in the sixth root, and the Wordless True Scroll has been revealed.
At this moment, an unprecedented phenomenon appeared throughout the entire Intent Root Emanation Domain since the Great Ancestor: the Endless Abyss of Knowing stopped. Billions of Knowing Layer froze simultaneously. Countless Knowing Realm within each layer were frozen in place, and complete universes were frozen in the instant they were in the act of being acted upon.
Some stars remained frozen before their collapse, some worlds remained frozen before their birth, some lives remained frozen in the instant they looked up, and some Wanyan Ones remained frozen before taking their next step. Then— Myriad Laws Return to the Ruins and began to dissipate.
The remains of those who had reached the sixth root, completed the first five roots, and ultimately died here, one after another, glowed with a faint light—broken Dharma remains, incomplete Evolution Name, Dao traces that had lost their meaning, beings sealed by omniscience, beings trapped by ignorance.
Those who cling to a single principle, those who doubt all laws, and those who return to emptiness—all traces that once existed—simultaneously transform into tiny specks of light at this moment. Whoosh—the first wave of light rises.
Immediately afterwards, the entire Myriad Laws Return to the Ruins) lit up, with billions of points of light rising from the depths, surging through the Knowing Layer, crossing the Knowing Surface, and converging on the Wordless True Scroll behind Qin Yu.
The Knowing Wall began to collapse, crack! The central crack expanded to both sides, and large sections of the Knowing Wall shattered but did not fall; each fragment turned into light in mid-air. That light surged toward Qin Yu from all directions.
Qin Yu stood in the center of the boundless tide of light. Large sections of his body remained transparent, and the cracks in his Fate Soul persisted. Yet, none of the light that reached him penetrated his physical form. It slowly rotated around the Wordless True Scroll, eventually forming a ring of afterglow that could hardly be called a "halo." That was—
The reflection left in the world that has already been written before "writing" has even occurred.
Within the ring, the derivative returns; outside the ring, the derivative also returns. "Within the derivative" loses its distinction. "Not within the derivative" also loses its distinction.
"Becoming Derivative", "Transcending Derivative", "Rewriting Derivative", "Defining Derivative", "Breaking Free from Derivative".
These concepts, which were once enough to form countless paths, countless peaks, and countless Ultimate answers, all returned to their pre-conceptual state in the face of the Wordless True Scroll.
Because before "writing" happened—before these answers even had names—rumbled—the entire Intent Root Emanation Domain began to disappear.
First, Knowing Surface recedes, followed by layer upon layer of Knowing Layer. The Clear Knowing Layer returns to stillness, the Chaotic Knowing Layer returns to stillness, the Clinging Knowing Layer returns to stillness, the Doubting Knowing Layer returns to stillness, Empty Knowing Layer returns to stillness.
Deeper still, the sixth, seventh, eighth... endless Knowing Layer converged simultaneously, and one realm of the Knowing Realm after another vanished.
The universe, the timeline, the Wanyan Ones, the Great Ancestor, the six senses—all that was once fully established in the Knowing Realm— transformed into faint light and returned to the Wordless True Scroll. Finally— the Cloud of Law Emanation also dispersed.
Myriad Laws Return to the Ruins, the Knowing Wall disappeared, and the Knowing Emanation Beast had long since returned to silence. The entire Intent Root Emanation Domain —completely disappeared.
There was no heaven or earth, no up or down, no near or far, no inside or outside; Qin Yu stood alone in a place where even "emptiness" had not yet acquired meaning. Behind him...
The Wordless True Scroll floated silently, page after page without words. On each page, countless glimmers of light, yet to become words, rose and fell. Qin Yu remained motionless for a long time. Only now did he truly understand what had happened during this transformation.
"Primordial Hongmeng - Great Luo Heavenly Chapter" did not obtain the thirteenth authority, nor did it add a more powerful principle on top of the twelve authorities. It returned to its original state.
Before a book became a book, bamboo slips were uncut, ink and brushes were unpolished, characters Unborn, punctuation was not established, legal principles were not formed, rules were not established, logic was not distinguished, and narratives were not unfolded.
The universe has not yet been written down, Wanyan have not yet unfolded, knowledge Unborn, the origin has not yet been established, and there it is—
Time, space, life and death, cause and effect, the five elements, yin and yang, destiny, reincarnation, nothingness, rules, logic, and narrative have not yet become the twelve different powers.
They had no names yet, and the Wordless True Scroll showed Qin Yu no "functions," no supernatural powers emerged on its own, and no new moves were taught to him how to use them. It simply hung there quietly.
At this moment, Qin Yu could no longer even define it by "existence." Because existence was too late, and it was also too late to say that it did Does Not Exist Does Not Exist.
"Evolution" begins here, and "Return" converges here, yet the Wordless True Scroll itself does not fall into either "Evolution" or "Return. "Qin Yu slowly extends his hand, his fingertips not actually touching any page.
The Wordless True Scroll turned gently, rustling... A faint light, yet to become words, flashed on the Emptiness pages, and Qin Yu's pupils brightened in response. He finally knew its current name.
"The Wordless True Scroll." After turning to the last page of the Book of the Universe's Origin, it returns to the state of "writing before it has happened."
Derivation originates from its birth and leads to its return; knowledge originates from its birth and leads to its return; the source originates from its birth and leads to its return. Everything that has fallen into the realm of "derivation" belongs to the state after writing has taken place.
Wordless True Scroll stood—before the first stroke— Qin Yu slowly raised his head.
His body, which had previously been on the verge of complete Return to Emanation, has reappeared. However, the severe injury that almost wiped him out of the Wanyan has not disappeared into thin air. The cracks in his Fate Soul are still clearly visible, and his pale face and the bloodstains at the corners of his mouth remind him that the battle just now was only a hair's breadth away from true annihilation.
He didn't show ecstatic joy at the appearance of the Wordless True Scroll; instead, he remained silent. Only Qin Yu himself knew—if the last page had appeared even a moment later, the phrase "Qin Yu died here" would never have existed.
He wouldn't even leave those words behind. He closed his eyes, Wordless True Scroll behind him floated silently, page after page, slowly overlapping.
There were no words, no ink, no brush, Beginningless, Endless. When the last ray of light belonging to the Intent Root Emanation Domain completely merged into it, the surroundings finally fell into an unprecedented silence.
Qin Yu stood there, with only a Wordless Heavenly Book behind him. He didn't say what he was again, because of that sentence he had just uttered—"I am that book before it became a book... that one." After the Knowing Emanation Beast Return to Emanation, that silence, where even "emptiness" hadn't yet acquired meaning, lasted for a long time.
Qin Yu did not move immediately. The injuries left by "Wanyan Return to Stillness Knowing" were still deeply etched into his Fate Soul. His face was so pale that he was almost bloodless. The bloodstains left at the corners of his lips had already congealed, and cracks deep within his Fate Soul still flickered with his breath.
The "Wordless True Scroll" behind him floated silently, with layers of wordless pages overlapping each other. Countless tiny points of light rose and fell between the pages. Those points of light had not yet had time to become words, nor had they had time to become any legal principles that could be named.
Qin Yu looked around. The Root of Intent Root Emanation Domain had disappeared. The Knowing Surface, the Knowing Layer, the Realm of the Knowing Realm, the Myriad Laws Return to the Ruins Nothingness, and the Knowing Wall had all vanished. The Knowing Emanation Beast had not left any trace that could be traced. But he knew very well that the sixth root was still missing the last step.
The thing left here by the founding emperor had not yet appeared. Just as this thought subsided, the outermost page of the "Wordless True Scroll" trembled slightly. A soft rustling sound...
Qin Yu's eyebrows twitched slightly, and a grayish-white patch suddenly appeared in the area in front of him that could not be called void.
That speck of grayish-white was tiny, initially only the size of a speck of dust, devoid of any aura, pressure, or discernible form. It simply hung there silently, then gradually elongated, six extremely fine notches appearing along its edges.
Five of them vaguely correspond to the five traces Qin Yu left along the way, while the last one has no form, only a very faint, hazy afterglow that even "knowledge" cannot truly dwell on.
Qin Yu's gaze gradually sharpened, and the gray-white fragment finally unfolded—the sixth fragment, the Intent Root Fragment. Unlike ordinary artifacts, it did not actually fall into Qin Yu's palm. Because as soon as Qin Yu reached out, the fragment appeared in his "knowledge," and at the same time, an extremely ancient aftertaste emanated from the deepest part of the fragment.
There was no sound. Yet Qin Yu clearly received that question that spanned countless years and ultimately stopped before the founding emperor entered the Silent Form Realm.
"Knowledge returns to stillness—" Qin Yu's eyes narrowed slightly. The lingering echo paused for a very brief moment. "How can it be repeated?"
Qin Yu remained silent for a long time. After experiencing "Wanyan Return to Stillness Knowing," this phrase had taken on a completely different weight in his ears. If knowledge still existed, seeking further development with knowledge would only yield more knowledge.
If the answer is ignorance, ignorance still stands on the basis of knowledge; if the answer is emptiness, emptiness can still become knowledge; if it is said that everything returns to stillness, "stillness" has already been known. The real question never requires later generations to give an answer that can be written on a stone tablet.
The last question left by the founding emperor was Qin Yu's last question. Qin Yu lowered his eyes, and at that moment, the "Wordless True Scroll" behind him turned a page. No words appeared. Qin Yu stared at that page, and the last trace of tension in his eyes slowly calmed down.
He did not answer, not with "no words," nor with "extension," nor even with silence as the answer. The question was right before him. Qin Yu allowed it to exist. He also allowed it to return to stillness. And so—"If knowledge returns to stillness, how can it be extended again?" This last question left by the founding emperor slowly faded away.
No answer remained, but just after the question completely disappeared, a tiny glimmer of light appeared for the first time at the center of the Intent Root Fragment. It did not form new "knowledge." The light shone for a moment, then faded away, only to reappear the next instant. Qin Yu's eyes trembled slightly; knowledge had faded away. Yet, the process of derivation—had happened once again.
There was no need to command it to happen from an already formed answer, no need to know "how to evolve it further" beforehand; it naturally evolved. The Intent Root Fragment trembled slightly, then transformed into an invisible lingering charm, disappearing into Qin Yu's "intention". Thus, the Six Faculties Trial was completely completed.