As the light faded, above the Questioning Derivation Eternal Palace, the Soul-Declaring Golden Bell tolled seven times, and a [Sect Decree of Fate Track] that resounded throughout the entire Fate Cause Realm Threshold suddenly descended.
"Any disciple of this palace at the initial stage who is tasked with eliminating the remnants of evil spirits may form a team to enter the battle. The one who obtains the commanding Fate-Cause will be honored as a candidate for the chief seat!"
Before the divine voice faded, at the top of the Qian Jie ring tower of Questioning Abyss Floating Island, the gate of the command hall suddenly opened. Hundreds of figures rode the wind from various levels within the palace and gathered at the ring tower plaza; all of them were current-stage initial disciples of the Questioning Derivation Eternal Palace.
"Is it the battle to exterminate the evil spirits...? Is the legendary Fate-Cause Fate about to reopen?"
"It is said that this place was the front line before the Annihilation Epoch was shattered, and a large number of evil spirits and consciousnesses remain here, making it difficult even for fate masters to analyze its structure."
The square was filled with noise, but it stopped abruptly at the sight of a white-clad figure slowly approaching.
It's Qin Yu.
He stood with his hands behind his back, the Azure Ring silent, his expression indifferent, yet like the first writing of the Heavenly Dao, causing the entire square to fall silent instantly.
Five figures also converged beside him as if by shadow:
Cang Li, silent as the night, his soul pressed down upon it;
Xi He, a cold-faced scholar, his eyes reflecting hundreds of propositions;
Yuchi Liuyan, his fiery spirit surging, his fists burning fiercely;
Ning Yao, a being whose destiny resonates with her own, has three layers of soul stars appearing beside her;
Yan Guici, the Fate Soul thread begins to stir, its aura like a blade Sever Proposition.
Without a word, this group already stood above all the disciples.
"If it truly Fate-Cause Fate... then it is worth investigating." Qin Ning's voice was light, but his gaze was fixed on the distant Void Abyss.
Inside the Hall of Proclamation, the Chief Master nodded slightly and declared in a calm voice, "This mission will begin at the gate of the 'Fate-Severing Labyrinth Mirror.' All novice disciples are welcome to enter and eliminate the culprits. The Fate Track Monitoring Array has been set up; you can fight with peace of mind."
With a flick of his sleeve, a shattered mirror world appeared in the void, its name:
[Ruins: The Fate-Severing Labyrinth Mirror]
A remnant of a life realm, shattered in the war that led to the collapse of the Annihilation Epoch Realm, has been forcibly restarted and transformed into a testing ground.
As the Mirror Realm appeared, the surrounding void trembled simultaneously. The novice disciples who had already gathered around the Tower Plaza stepped into the gate of the Mirror Realm after the sect's command officer gave the order.
This mission involves more than just Qin Yu and his six companions.
A total of 132 novice disciples, divided into more than 20 teams, gathered together.
Among them were those who banded together for self-preservation, and those who aspired to seize control of the Fate-Cause.
Among these teams, some excelled at soul-based control, some were adept at using challenge scenarios, and some relied solely on their talent to overwhelm opponents with brute force. They did not entirely believe in the prestige of Qin Yu's team, nor were they willing to relinquish the sect's highest initial-level reward to others.
At this moment, on the main platform, the deputy deacon spoke calmly, his voice like thunder:
"The Mirror Realm has opened. All who enter must prove their identity with their souls. Those who obtain the 'Fate-Cause Commander' will be the first team to complete the mission."
As soon as he finished speaking, the portal to the Mirror Realm opened.
Within the array gate, soul light surged like a tide, and life threads stretched like silk. It was a remnant of the life Annihilation Epoch Realm left behind by the Annihilation Era, chaotic and dangerous, and impossible to deduce using common sense.
There was much discussion among the disciples:
"I heard this is the largest selection ever for the entire initial tier... even Ji Jiyan's Soul Return Group is here!"
"And then there's He Yanxiao of the 'Void-Rending Front.' Once Epoch-Rending Trace String is unleashed, who can stop him?"
"But... Qin Yu and his group of six actually came too. Are they really going to crush everyone?"
At this moment, at the edge of the Mirror Realm, a faint light flickered, and Qin Ning's group of six had quietly approached the entrance.
No further words were spoken.
Yan Guici glanced at the crowd and said calmly, "A hundred people are fighting for one life."
Xi He chuckled, "Then I'll write a hundred questions and diagnose a hundred causes."
Ning Yao closed her eyes for a moment, then said gently, "The soul field is extremely chaotic. If we enter any later, the path might be twisted by fate."
Cang Li said in a low voice, "Then let's break through one first."
Yuchi Liuyan unleashed a punch, his soul flames sweeping across the battlefield, like an explosive opening move, marking their first step into the scene.
Qin Yu, however, remained standing with his hands behind his back, gazing at the half-broken Gate of Logic in the Fate-Severing Labyrinth Mirror, and murmured:
"The place where the mirror breaks is the perfect place to test one's fate."
He stepped forward, and the mirrored light enveloped him.
Following closely behind, Qin Yu's six-person team was the first to enter the core area of the Mirror Realm.
The moment Qin Yu and his group stepped into the Mirror Realm, the surrounding scenery changed drastically.
It was as if one's entire being had been stripped from the course of reality and plunged into a forgotten wasteland, a realm of destiny Realm Master.
This is the [Fate-Severing Labyrinth Mirror].
First Impression: The Land of the Broken Boundary
This place has no sky, no earth, and no constant up, down, left, or right.
Instead, there is a distorted, collapsed space fragment that is constantly self-destructing and self-repairing.
The air seemed compressed, distorted, and folded by memories; everything seen was broken, reconstructed, and defied logic.
An upside-down stone palace floated above the Soul Sea, with flickering candles burning inside, yet their flames seemed to weep in reverse.
Thirteen randomly arranged "pillars of life marks" jutted into the earth, each bearing the fragmented words of a cultivator's dying wish, and were constantly self-destructing;
From within the cracks in the ground, a soul-like face pieced together from broken bones gazes up at the heavens, its eyes flowing with black scriptures, as if an ancient history is weeping.
The celestial canopy is not the sky, but the bottom of the shattered mirror realm, reflecting the image of the disciples from the outside world before they entered, like a Soul Rend image reflecting the "path of origin" and the "cause of departure".
In the distance, there stands a huge stone statue.
It was headless, Nameless, and soulless, its entire body peeling away in patches from the "Erosion of Fate." Its left hand pointed to the broken mirror in the sky, while its right hand held a shattered Soul Stele, on which were engraved eight characters:
"Fate cannot be expressed in words, therefore it cannot be written down."
After the group moved forward a few steps, Ning Yao exclaimed in a low voice, "... The soul frequency is being disturbed, and the 'past memories' in the sea of consciousness are being stripped away."
Xi He reacted quickly, setting a warning. "This place does not allow for the possession of complete memories—forcibly recalling the past will trigger a logical backlash."
Yan Guici gazed into the distance. "This is a fault line in destiny, not belonging to any currently existing fragment of time."
Every pebble on the ground bears the etched marks of the deceased's life being erased; some stones even whisper softly, as if urging you to "forget."
In the distance, a giant egg, resembling a fallen star, lies silently embedded in the half-collapsed mountain. Its shell is riddled with runes, as if sealing within something that is not dead—but not alive, more like a destiny that was not allowed to be written.
Cang Li slowly stepped forward, probing his consciousness into the earth's veins, but his expression changed slightly:
"This ley line... is not earth, but the shattered remains of a Fate Soul master."
Yuchi Liuyan looked up at the sky, where they saw their own reflections outside the mirror realm—but each one was subtly different:
Xi He's reflection is arguing with hundreds of versions of himself, trying to deduce a proposition that cannot be written.
The reflection of Yan Guici stands atop countless soul threads, wielding a sharp blade to Sever Karma, yet never looking back;
Qin Yu's reflection... but there was no reflection. Only the Azure Ring burned, and his soul shadow slowly "wrote" some kind of incomplete sentence in the air.
This is an extremely bizarre rupture of perception and subversion of logic.
Ning Yao touched her chest and whispered, "Everything here... feels like a dream left behind after the very logic of the world has been killed."
Xi He calmly wrote down a proposition, "[Can the realm within the mirror be defined as prior to the timeline?]"
Before the proposition could be put into practice, it was directly swallowed up by the rules of the Mirror Realm, turning into a "cannot be stored" notification that echoed in the sea of consciousness.
"Alright." Qin Yu finally spoke, gently raising his eyes to look at the Nameless stone statue in the distance, his gaze as cold and resolute as a burning blue flame.
"The more untraceable the place... the more suitable it is for soul-slaying."
After entering the fault line and walking less than a hundred steps, Ning Yao whispered a signal:
"Interference with the soul channel ahead is increasing... Someone's remnant consciousness has not returned."
A life-ordained ring appeared in her hand, drawing out a void domain shimmering with silver light—but it immediately exploded in mid-air!
Boom!
The sound of the explosion was like muffled thunder. In that instant, a huge "Soul Rend Mirror" appeared directly in front of them, like a folded surface hanging down from mid-air.
As the mirror reflected the image, distorted souls slowly rose up. They were faceless, heartless, and soulless, yet they moved slowly in bodies whose "propositions had been erased."
Its name: Fate-Rot Soul Spirit
--These are the "damaged forms of the Fate Book" that survived the war that annihilated the Annihilation Epoch Realm. They once possessed clear Fate Soul, but after the defeat, they were obliterated by the power of Cause Annihilation, leaving only "logic-blind bodies filled with obsession".
In that instant, dozens of Fate-Rot Soul Spirit burst forth from all corners of the Mirror Realm, twisting their bodies as they lunged at Qin Yu and the others.
At this moment, the Mirror Realm seemed to receive the signal that "the battle has begun," and the surrounding scenery suddenly and drastically changed:
The world suddenly darkened, and the pressure on the soul rose;
Countless fragmented propositions transformed into a storm in the air;
The soul frequency strikes the sea of consciousness like a tolling bell, causing one's sense of "who one is" to begin to waver.
"The interference level has risen to level four," Cang Li warned in a deep voice.
"These Fate-Rot Soul Spirit... were not generated randomly, but were driven by a fragment of residual consciousness logic within the ruins," Xi He calmly analyzed.
Yan Guici had already made his move; his Fate Soul manifested as black and gold lines of reversal, hanging upside down from the void and directly cutting into the enemy's soul consciousness.
"Destiny Judgment: Logical Self-Destruction, Counter-Obsession Holds True."
With a cold shout, several decaying corpses instantly twisted and shattered, their souls being "self-severed" by the Reversal of Fate, exploding into remnants of the Abyss Flame.
Xi He simultaneously wrote the proposition: [Awareness Domain Prediction: Does the enemy soul possess an anchoring breach?]
The given topic was written and automatically flew into the air, forming a "recognition explosion and reversal pattern," giving the enemy's soul a three-breath warning of its actions.
Yuchi Liuyan laughed wildly with excitement, his soul flames erupting from his arm as he unleashed the [Annihilation Flame Derivation] technique, crashing to the ground with a deafening roar.
Boom--!
Large Fate-Rot Soul Spirit were reduced to ashes, leaving only trembling afterimages in the air.
"The flames have risen for the third time." Ning Yao nodded, Fate Manifestation Pearl appeared on her right hand, beginning to lock onto the two remaining remnants of consciousness on the outer perimeter that had not been destroyed.
"Leave it to me."
As she whispered, the Fate-Trajectory Star Array slowly rotated from her sea of consciousness, constructing a four-fold Soul Image Locking Array that directly suppressed the enemy's soul into the remnant consciousness of the earth veins.
Qin Yu made a move
Only now did Qin Yu truly make a move.
With a wave of his hand, the Azure Ring tinkled softly.
Soulless, lightless, waveless, yet in an instant, it silenced the entire space.
That silence was not stillness.
Instead, they were deprived of the concept of 'the right to have a voice' and fell silent.
A Fate-Rot Soul Spirit, breaking through Yan Guici's blockade and rushing straight at Qin Ning, was about to touch the hem of his clothes when it was instantly "removed" from his sea of consciousness the moment the Azure Ring touched it.
There was no explosion, no screams, no trace, not even a reason why it had ever been there.
Xi He's gaze flickered slightly, and he whispered, "... Azure Ring directly stripped them of their 'entry logic'?"
Postwar tranquility
As the soul wind dissipated, the fragments of consciousness left on the ground slowly turned into light dust, and a faintly bluish life mark appeared beneath their feet.
"What is this?" Yuchi Liuyan crouched down to examine it.
Ning Yao raised an eyebrow and said, "This might be the first anchor point. Only by collecting all the anchor points can we enter the area where the Fate-Cause Ruler resides."
Cang Li agreed in a low voice, "In other words... this relic has a 'gradual logical threshold,' it's not a linear progression."
Qin Yu raised his head and looked towards the deepest part of the Mirror Realm in the distance.
The faceless soul statue was slowly awakening, and the surrounding soul energy surged, forming a swirling abyss of wind.
His gaze turned slightly cold as he murmured to himself:
"The Cause-Devouring Nether General is over there."