Deep within the Annihilation Ash Plateau, on a vast, cracked plain of Soul Hills, gray mist swirls and shattered rocks lie scattered.
Just as Qin Yu, Yan Yue, and Yunyi stepped onto the edge of a broken bone-patterned array, not far ahead, eight auras slowly emerged from behind the jumbled rocks. As their robes fluttered, their spiritual energy intertwined, like eight horizontal lines, trembling slightly in the air.
The two sides faced off from a distance.
The first to speak was a woman in a purple dress, with a beautiful face and a slender figure, but with a hint of sharp coldness in her eyes.
Her gaze swept between the three of them, she nodded slightly, and her voice was clear and bright:
"This place, the Ash Rift, is often frequented by strange beasts. Those of you who have traveled from the outermost layers to reach this place must be no ordinary beings."
She wasn't hostile, but her tone was distant, and she didn't reveal her identity, clearly testing the waters.
Qin Yu slightly flicked his robes, his expression unchanged, and simply spoke:
"Eternal Evolution Realm Hall, Qin Yu."
Yan Yue didn't say much, only softly saying, "Yan Yue."
Yunyi gave a soft snort, standing between the two, her eyes flashing with a cold light:
"Soul Beast: Youlong Yunyi."
"The Eternal Evolution Realm Hall." The woman in the purple dress's eyes flickered slightly, clearly not expecting that the three people before her were the protagonists of the "Three Battles of Shiyu" that had been making headlines in the Epoch Realm recently.
A woman in plain clothes standing beside her chuckled and chimed in:
"What a coincidence. We are from the Sequence Wheel Eternal Hall, and our name is Yao Zhiyan."
She pointed to the left and right, and said with a hint of pride:
"She is Ling Yingying, and she is Yin Zishuang; both cultivate the Time Chain Sword Art. As for the two behind us— Nangong Quan and Li Xiayue —the five of us were all sent to the plateau for training, and it was fate that we encountered these three."
Behind her, three other people walked slowly, their clothes flowing with strange fluctuations, like interwoven grammar.
One of the graceful women gave a light bow:
"Language-Cause Conjoined Hall, Ling Wan'er."
Another woman beside her nodded in agreement.
"Han Yirui."
The last young man in white spoke in a deep, powerful voice:
"Chao Yunzhou."
Although the three of them did not display their talents as openly as the disciples of the Order Wheel, there was a glint in their eyes, indicating that they had clearly heard of these three "newly renowned" disciples of the Eternal Epoch Realm.
A gust of dust swept by, and the two stood atop Soul Hill, sizing each other up.
This was the first clash between the Source Temples in the middle section of the Annihilation Ash Plateau, the Source of Epochless.
Even without combat, their character had already been tested.
Ash floated in the air, and bone dust scattered. Nine cultivators stood silently on the ash mound.
Ling Wan'er smiled gently in the Language-Cause Conjoined Hall, her tone Wenwan yet clear:
"One look at these three reveals their extraordinary nature; their auras are as calm as an abyss, and even without drawing their swords, it seems the rules of the universe have already been bypassed... It seems the most talked-about 'Three Battles of Shiyu' in the Epoch Realm recently is indeed not an exaggeration."
Her gaze was not defiant, but rather revealed a hint of sincerity.
"Although we don't often look back at the rankings of the Source Hall, the Eternal Evolution Realm Hall, as the First Divine Hall, is in charge of reshaping destiny paths and deconstructing destiny sequences. The disciples chosen by it are often beyond the comprehension of ordinary people."
Her gaze shifted slightly, and she turned her head to look at Qin Yu and Yan Yue:
"Although this place is only the edge of the Desolate Abyss Trial Realm, the Annihilation Ash Plateau hides many existences that are not Realm Master recorded by the Chronicle Realm. There was even Dao Ancestor from another realm who reversed the cause and effect of nine lifetimes here, just to find a breakthrough item that could help him cross the 'Silent Origin Supreme' realm."
Han Yirui added softly from the side:
"And those 'Immortal Emperor' and 'True Ancestors' who crossed over from other realms, if it weren't for their incomplete dimensional structures, they would probably have already penetrated deep into the main domain. Their lingering here is also extremely dangerous."
Chao Yunzhou's gaze was calm as he said in a low voice:
"The deeper we go, the more chaotic the dimensional flow and logical frequency become. Our Language-Cause Conjoined Hall once lost contact with a senior, and in the end, we only found half of his consciousness in the 'Wheel-Shattering Hill'."
The atmosphere became slightly tense after these words were spoken.
Yao Zhiyan chuckled and replied with a touch of composure:
"Isn't that precisely why it's more suitable for trials? Outside the Annihilation Ash Plateau, those disciples sitting in the temples don't even dare to breathe in the scent of the Desolate Abyss, yet they presumptuously claim to break through and transcend."
Ling Yingying smiled gently, her words tinged with teasing:
"Now that even the three from the Eternal Path have personally come here, it seems the upcoming Annihilation Realm Trial is about to get really interesting."
Yunyi looked at them, a cold glint in her eyes, and said indifferently:
Are you praising them, or are you weighing their merits?
This sentence caused the air to freeze. Yin Zishuang looked up at her, but did not reply immediately.
Yan Yue reached out and gently pressed her hand on Yunyi's shoulder, her gaze calm:
"They're right, this place is indeed far from safe. If there really are 'Emperors' and 'Daoists' hiding in the Ash Abyss, we must be vigilant."
Qin Yu didn't speak, but only glanced up at the depths of the Ash Abyss in the distance, and said calmly:
"The more chaotic a place is, the easier it is to hide the true 'things overlooked by the world'."
In just a few words, the nine people from the three halls engaged in conversation. Though there was no direct confrontation, they all already understood each other perfectly:
From this point on, they were no longer lone travelers.
They entered the hunting grounds of Source of Epochless.
The gray winds still howled across the plateau, and the distant Spirit Bone Hills remained silent, like the slumbering remains of the original logic of the Epoch Origin.
Ling Wan'er's gaze shifted to Qin Yu and Yan Yue, her expression becoming more serious. She ceased her playful teasing and probing, simply offering a slight bow and speaking in a clear voice:
"Qin Yu, Yan Yue, Yunyi Yi."
She paused for a moment, her gaze open and honest:
"We didn't intentionally approach, but this region is indeed fraught with danger. Just yesterday, we encountered a Source Beast 'Hanging Abyss-Hanging Severed Qilin' in 'Abyss-Boiling Severed Valley'. If the three of us hadn't worked together to retrieve the fire, our soul skills would probably have been destroyed."
"Although the Language-Cause Conjoined Hall is not known for its combat prowess, it excels at analyzing, deducing, and deconstructing the causes of danger... If the three of you are willing to accept this invitation, I would like to extend my sincere invitation on behalf of the three of us to form a trial team. In this Annihilation Ash Plateau, we can support each other and better cope with any unforeseen events that may arise."
As she spoke, Han Yirui and Chao Yunzhou nodded simultaneously, without the slightest hint of hypocrisy.
Qin Yu remained silent for a moment, a barely perceptible glint of sharpness appearing in his eyes.
He was not a talkative man, but he was always astute and reasonable. This place was no ordinary place. Since Yu Yuance knew they were coming, he would not let them travel Anran. His killing scheme must be hidden in the shadows.
Rather than charging headlong into danger alone, the three of them should travel together for now and establish another layer of defense.
He nodded:
"Okay, fellow traveler."
Yan Yue did not object, but said softly, "If the disciples of each hall can take this step side by side, it will also be a step up in the Forging Realm."
Yunyi crossed her arms, seemingly annoyed by the trouble, but ultimately just pouted:
"I'll leave it to you two."
At this moment, the group from the Sequence Wheel Eternal Hall remained unmoved. Yao Zhiyan merely chuckled, her steps already slowing as she walked away, her voice coming from behind:
"You may cooperate, but we will still find our own way."
Before turning around, Ling Yingying glanced back at Qin Yu, her eyes shining, but she didn't say anything.
Yin Zishuang, Nangong Quan, Li Xiayue, and others followed closely behind, without uttering a word.
The five figures gradually faded into the distance, disappearing into a fragmented mountain gorge, as if they had never truly intended to team up with anyone—they were simply the time executors of the Order of Time, bound by their own destiny.
Qin Yu glanced at Ling Wan'er and said:
"Then let's set off. Let's not let danger find us first."
Ling Wan'er smiled and nodded, flicking her sleeves as she softly replied:
"Alright, let's go deeper. We'll follow the 'Abyssal Tide Boundary' to avoid the broken vortex points; that's the path least likely to alert the Source Beast."
The area where the Abyssal Tide Boundary is beyond the reach of ordinary mortals.
The sky here was overturned, like fragments left behind after being torn apart from ancient pages. The air currents in the Soul Sea formed spirals and reversed on the ground, as if an unseen force was slowly absorbing the very composition of the space itself. As the six people landed, their Spiritual Sense felt some indescribable strange fluctuations.
"Something's not right here." Qin Yu frowned slightly, his gaze falling on the gray expanse ahead that seemed to freeze time.
Yan Yue slightly, and light emanated from her fingertips, flowing into several chains of observation patterns beneath her feet. "The logic here... seems to have been artificially reshaped."
"It wasn't done by someone." Yunyi suddenly looked up, her pupils shrinking sharply.
At that very moment, the sky changed color.
It wasn't dimness, but rather—a reversal of time.
The entire sky seemed to be pulled back by some cruel will, and the gray clouds began to spiral and collapse from the outside in. A silent roar, like a "roar that never happened," pierced through everyone's consciousness.
The ground rose and cracked, as if time itself were peeling away from the rock face. In the center of the void thirty feet in front of them, a colossal beastly figure slowly emerged from the earth's veins.
It has the form of a tiger, but no tiger bones; it possesses the power of a snow demon, but does not belong to the yin category.
It was a fierce tiger whose entire body was covered with cracked white bone stripes. Its body was like a structure of time, and between its four hooves, frost Realm Splitting spread from its feet, like cold white pages of history sealing off the entire boundary into a dead end.
Its two eyes are not pupils, but two flowing "time markers".
It remained motionless, yet it caused the space to distort violently. The shadows of the six people began to break, shift, and tremble on the ground, as if they were about to be removed from this world.
"No... this is more than just a beast," Ling Wan'er exclaimed.
Chao Yunzhou murmured a name--
"Never to return... Frost Nightmare Tiger..."
A cold glint appeared in Yan Yue's eyes, her tone unusually solemn. "One of the thirty divine beasts of the Source of Epochless. It can freeze 'motives' and 'future execution,' severing all paths of return for the target."
Yunyi licked her lips and snorted coldly:
"Transcending the divine beasts, Frost Nightmare Tiger of No Return —it seems this plateau is far more interesting than we imagined."
The Frost Nightmare Tiger slowly raised its head, and two time markers intertwined like scepters, falling into the sea of consciousness of the group. In that instant, the six people felt as if a corner of their soul consciousness had been torn open, and even the logic of raising their hands seemed to be blocked by something.
It neither attacked nor roared, yet it descended like Final Judgment.
The next moment, the Frost Nightmare Tiger gently opened its nine tails, and a deep, surging sound swept from the void, as if the entire Abyssal Tide Boundary was about to be drawn into the "irretrievable" white page by its glance.
Qin Yu stepped forward slowly, his gaze icy.
The Yan Yue sun scatters, fingers tightly gripping the boundary of consciousness.
Yunyi smiled and whispered:
"This time... I'll go first."
Before the battle even began, the killing intent was already burning.
The Frost Nightmare Tiger slowly took a step forward, its pupils shimmering with a chilling white light, like a veil of light stripped away all phenomena.
In an instant, the world seemed to be stripped of its outer shell. The four-part structure of all skills—pre-setting, activation, convergence, and release—lost its closed loop connection point in a flash. The void froze. Time froze. Even the idea of "how to execute combat skills" was broken in the process of being conceived.
The Frost Nightmare Tiger opened its mouth, and a cry of "Frost Pressure of No Return", though never actually heard, pierced through everyone's consciousness.
[Frost Pressure of No Return] Freezes all enemy skill "logic exits," preventing any skill from completing a "closed-loop release."
The instant the skill's release animation was completed, the "skill name" within the mind was obliterated as if by frost, and all runes, energy, and soul structures were frozen in the "ready state," as if the world simply did not allow "you to use this move."
Ling Wan'er and the others retreated instantly, their faces pale. All their skill links were severed, and their senses felt as if they had fallen into an icy hell.
Yan Yue struggled to stabilize the Annihilation Dawn Wheel Ring, but the light of dawn was frozen at her fingertips, preventing her from weaving the proposition.
Only Yunyi. In her eyes, Black Abyss swirl, and deep within her sea of consciousness, a wisp of dark blue, like flowing waves, slowly blooms from the depths of her consciousness core.
She smiled slightly, "You want to freeze cause and effect? Then I will—disregard logic."
With a roar, her cloak billowed, and her Netherworld soul surged into the void, unleashing her Second Soul skill—
[Black Abyss Devouring Descent] summons the causeless Black Abyss from the Core of Consciousness, forcibly devouring enemy skill components, making it impossible for them to maintain continuous freezing.
A shadow of a blind black dragon rose from behind Yunyi, opened its mouth and swallowed, ignoring the logic of the structure, directly plundering the enemy's logical nodes, and instantly pulling away and collapsing the "Frost Pressure of No Return" freezing effect!
With a deafening roar, the consciousnesses of all six individuals trembled simultaneously, and their skill logic instantly returned!
Yunyi raised her hand and uttered in a clear voice:
"I'll detonate it. You, prepare to end it."
Six-player siege battle
Yunyi took the lead, her Soul Skill [Rending Domain Dragon Soul] breaking through the front domain and forcing the Frost Nightmare Tiger back three zhang. Yin Zishuang and Ling Yingying cooperated with their twin blades to form the "Causality Return Twin Rings" to block the Frost Nightmare Tiger attack. Nangong Quan and Li Xiayue, wielding spears and clubs, attacked from the side. Their Soul Weapons intertwined like a furnace of time, forcing out the core wound point of the Frost Nightmare Tiger's third limb.
Yan Yue floated in mid-air, the slanting rays of dawn weaving together, pre-setting the "Dawn Breath Twin Formations" in preparation for the final strike to lock it down.
But the Frost Nightmare Tiger is ultimately a beast beyond divine beasts.
It stomped the earth, its entire body shattering into pieces, unleashing its second skill--
[Seize Back and Sever Causality] Forcefully traces back to the source of the enemy's skill, digging out and directly destroying the "pre-cast intention" of the move that was just released.
Space was flipped like paper, and the enemy's "previous skill" was brought back to life in reality, but it was severed in the "intent phase" before it was released, causing the enemy's consciousness to be hollowed out and instantly severely injured.
Li Xiayue coughed up blood and fell to the ground, Yin Zishuang's consciousness thread shattered, the Frost Nightmare Tiger roared furiously, and its killing intent filled the sky!
Qin Yu took a step forward, and the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword appeared behind him!
He slowly raised his sword and whispered, "End this disturbance of the wild beasts— Sever the Spirit Source Abyss."
[Seventh Form of the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword] -- Sever the Spirit Source Abyss!
Sever the enemy's "Origin Abyss existence," seal all components of soul consciousness, time-link mapping, and propositional logic, and annihilate the enemy's source of skill, source of soul consciousness, and source of existence.
In the space, lapis lazuli chains emerged, like world-severing rings covering the heavens and earth.
Before the sword's edge even moved, the abyss had already crumbled.
The power of annihilation slowly descended from the tip of the sword, like a drop of water falling into the sky. The entire world sank and twisted at that point, becoming a dark and silent closed core!
The Frost Nightmare Tiger glanced at Qin Yu, its pupils trembling violently. The next moment, the entire divine beast transformed into shattered time fragments, even its "definition of existence" was stripped away by a single sword strike!
"Hiss--!!!"
Before the tiger even fell, the logic collapsed.
The Frost Nightmare Tiger of No Return, Annihilation into nothingness atop the ashes.
Yunyi stepped forward and whistled, "Brother Yu, that's ruthless."
Yan Yue whispered, "It's too strong, but it's not the strongest yet. Countless transcendent divine beasts... this is just the first battle."
Qin Yu sheathed his sword and gazed into the distance at the serene depths of the plateau, as still as the sea.
That was Source of Epochless's true confidant.
But the fact that it doesn't return is merely the first eye it sends out.
The three people in the Language-Cause Conjoined Hall remained silent for a long time.
Ling Wan'er looked at the Annihilation crater left by the sword strike. The creature that had been rated as the "core ferocious beast of the transcendent hunting forbidden zone" by the entire Source of Epochless had its Origin Abyss severed and its logic annihilated in Qin Yu's hands, and even the traces of its "memory" were completely erased.
Han Yirui murmured to herself, "The Frost Nightmare Tiger of No Return... it was ranked thirty-sixth among the divine beasts on the Epoch Realm Master Ranking. It once tore apart the Epoch Origin Seal three times, and even those at the Annihilation Lord Realm Initial Stage had to give way... and yet it just happened like this..."
Chao Yunzhou clenched his fists, but remained silent. He had always been confident in his analytical skills, but now he couldn't even understand how the sword had been broken.
For the first time, they truly understood what the "Eternal Evolution Realm Hall" meant.
They also realized for the first time that Qin Yu, Yan Yue, Yunyi, who were standing in front of them, were not fellow cultivators of the same level who were "teaming up with them," but rather an annihilation origin that even Source of Epochless might not be able to fully analyze.
Yunyi gently twisted her neck, smiling as she looked at the three of them, "Didn't you say you came here to hone your skills? This is only the first beast, and we've already taken it down. Don't be scared off."
Yan Yue didn't say much, but just glanced back, the light of dawn dimming, like frost at daybreak brushing across her eyes.
Qin Yu then slowly spoke:
"Let's continue. This isn't the end."