After everyone had left, the world finally fell into a deathly silence.
The entire Annihilation Ash Plateau seemed to have lost its life in an instant. The wind stopped and the clouds disappeared. Even time itself seemed to have been taken away, leaving only the two things that had never moved: the Liang Jichen and the golden seed.
He slowly lowered his head, his gray flame cloak hanging upside down like ink droplets.
The hand that had written the final chapter of the twelve realms slowly emerged from the void, its fingertips tracing an almost invisible path—not a gesture, but the "writing path of the pages."
At this moment, faint lines of runes appeared deep within the pupils of Mystic Emanation Nether Venerable Liang Jichen; these were the logical instructions for "pre-setting the stroke".
He was in no hurry, he was never in a hurry. He had been silent for countless years at the end of all eras, writing down the existence of countless races and spirits, and he didn't care about waiting for another breath, ten breaths, or even a thousand years.
But—just as his fingertips were about to touch the surface of the seed.
Boom.
It's not vibration.
Rather, it's a "logical pause". Space is frozen. Time is off track. Cause and effect are broken.
The entire world, centered around that golden seed, seemed to be frozen in place by an unknown "superior logic"!
Liang Jichen's hand froze in mid-air. But this wasn't a deliberate pause; he was "unable to move."
It wasn't physical stiffness, nor was it numbness of the soul; rather, it was that he himself had been detached from the "chain of action logic."
A drop of invisible cold sweat appeared in his perpetually sweatless, gray silhouette.
He looked down at the golden seed, and for the first time, his eyes showed confusion.
This thing possesses its own logical defense mechanism.
It is not a treasure, not a creation, and certainly not something that can be written into the "list of possessions".
Rather, it is—"The source of conception lies within itself, which is the law of undetermined destiny."
Just as he was trying to invoke a higher-level "page deletion permission", the golden seed suddenly rotated slightly, and golden rings that looked like words appeared on the seed shell, as if it was executing some kind of logical rule comparison.
The golden light vanished in an instant!
The frozen space around them suddenly exploded with hundreds of golden data cracks, like a chain of instantaneous ruptures from a "logical reverse reconstruction"!
Liang Jichen's palm was instantly shattered, and he took three steps back, a very faint [Repulsion Mark] mark appearing on his gray robe.
He was rejected by logic. The seed remained silent, yet heaven and earth seemed to be the judge.
Liang Jichen slowly raised his head, his eyes no longer showing any sense of overlooking or control, but only a deep contemplation.
"So... it hasn't been named by any era yet."
"A law without a master, yet it proclaims itself a seed before the boundary..."
He turned, his footsteps fading like ink stains, yet a sentence lingered slowly in his heart:
This item should not be attributed to us at this time.
"However, I will surely pick up my pen again and... inscribe your name."
The golden seed remains still and silent, like the true core of the universe, awaiting the arrival of its true author.
Meanwhile...
When that strange storm, which froze space and Logic Severance, quietly closed in the Land of Gold—
On the other side of the dimensional fold, three figures slowly appeared.
The power of the Azure Ring continued to dissipate, and the spatial ripples, like a sky that had been stitched back together, slowly returned to calm.
Qin Yu, Yan Yue, Yunyi arrived at the true heart of the Desolate Abyss Trial Realm: Annihilation Ash Plateau.
This place is no longer a landscape of gray mountains and scattered rocks, but a transcendent plateau that seems to "form its own heaven."
The earth was pierced by veins of deep golden rock, and countless ash stone pillars stood on the plains, like broken swords, remnants of an ancient, annihilated war of gods;
The sky hung low, and wind and snow, carrying eerie crystalline dust, drifted down from beyond the heavens. Each wisp of dust carried particles of rules, reflecting the source seen in the cultivator's sea of consciousness.
And in the far reaches of this plateau, a shattered phantom of an ancient temple faintly appears. Though it is merely a blurred remnant, it seems to connect to a more ancient world.
Yan Yue's eyes narrowed slightly, and she said softly:
"... The rules here are even more chaotic; the frequency of soul resonance has begun to deviate from the Source of Epochless."
Qin Yu looked around, and the moment his toes touched the ground, a gray light rose from the earth, as if he had shattered a slumbering illusion.
Yunyi blinked, looking him over as she murmured:
"It's like... the skeletal remains and remnants of a god after their Annihilation. The whole space seems to be 'waiting for something'."
Qin Yu nodded, his gaze deep as he looked towards the distant, seemingly real yet illusory, ancient palace shadow realm:
"--This is not the end, it's just the beginning."
The three exchanged a glance.
No words were needed; a tacit understanding had already been reached.
They approached step by step the illusory image of the ancient palace.
With each inch they drew closer, the density of spiritual consciousness, the pressure of logic, and the backlash of causality throughout the entire plateau space began to change drastically. It was as if they were no longer approaching the ancient temple, but rather the ancient temple itself was "sensing their presence."
Yan Yue suddenly stopped softly. "Wait—this ancient palace... it's not here."
The earth trembled violently as soon as she finished speaking!
The entire Ash Secret Realm seemed to have been awakened by some kind of "abyssal beast". The ground exploded and thousands of light cracks appeared. The gray-gold rock layers rolled like waves and instantly swallowed the space under the feet of Qin Yu, Yan Yue and Yunyi!
Bang--!!
Space collapsed, gravity broke its course, and the logical structure was completely lost.
Before the three could even fully react, they were pulled into a twisting, spiral-like "core fissure ring"!
They fell—not downwards, but as if sucked into "a page inside the world."
Yan Yue only had time to whisper, "This ancient palace... is at the Earth's core! It was deliberately projected onto the ground!"
Then, light and darkness reversed, and the rules collapsed.
The three landed.
Beneath my feet lies a completely different world.
This place is no longer a continuation of the Annihilation Ash Plateau, but an ancient abyss constructed like the logic of eternal night.
A truly ancient temple stands silently in the center of this inner world, dilapidated yet standing, its entire body entwined with black and gold runes like threads of soul, each stroke like a seam of the world's life force forcibly stripped away, still trembling slowly.
In the square in front of the palace, a large, long-broken stele leans precariously between the rocks, with four characters remaining on it:
"Epoch-Trace Ancient Abyss."
Yunyi was stunned, and after a long while, she murmured:
"We... seem to have stumbled into a corner of the Old World that even Source of Epochless dared not name."
Qin Yu looked up at the silent ancient hall, his eyes showing no fear, and slowly uttered two words:
"Go in."
The three of them stepped onto the stairs in front of the ancient hall, which seemed to be forged from the bones of the Annihilation Origin.
Silence, emptiness, deathly stillness--
But the closer one gets, the clearer the feeling of being watched by the "traces of ancient logic" becomes in one's soul consciousness.
Yan Yue slowly raised her head, her gaze fixed on both sides of the ancient hall.
She saw it first—ten statues of gods.
They are about a hundred feet tall and come in various shapes and sizes. Some lean on their swords like mountains, some are covered in feathers and flapping their wings, some have their eyes closed, and some have their heads already missing.
They are not sculptures.
Rather, it is—"the remnants of gods from before the beginning of time, forged beyond logic, sealed within a divine statue to guard this temple."
Ten statues, a full ten.
Each of them brought a heavier sense of oppression to the three than that of the Immortal Emperor, the Holy Emperor, and the God King.
Yunyi frowned, her expression unusually serious.
"These ten are no longer considered 'enemies'; they are... 'concepts of the past'."
Just as they were about to approach the main gate of the ancient temple—
Click--!!
A cracking sound suddenly erupted from beneath the palace gate.
That was the vibration of the joints of the statue.
Immediately following, as if the logical timeline had reversed, the pupils of the ten statues lit up at the same instant!
The ten beams of light represent ten different primordial rules of the universe: Annihilation, Dawn, Fate, Book of Principles, Void Consciousness, Chaos, Shattered Soul, Sealed Abyss, Severed Structure, and Reverse Writing!
Boom!!! The statue moved!
The aura of the ten divine statues instantly shattered the entire Earth Core Domain, as if the battle of the gods from billions of years ago were reenacted before our eyes!
They are not automatic attacks.
They are... awakened by the ancient temple!
No words are needed, only silent battle!
Yan Yue gently raised her right palm, and the light of the Annihilation Dawn Wheel Ring flickered slightly.
Qin Yu had already slowly drawn the [Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword].
Yunyi's eyes turned cold, and her soul flame flickered.
Ten statues of gods stood in formation, the ancient temple doors were sealed, and an obsidian light curtain rose, reflecting the wall where cause and effect intertwined across millennia.
Boom--!! Boom--!! Boom--!!
The moment the ten statues fully opened their eyes, the entire Earth Core Realm seemed to be enveloped in the echoes of the Age of Divine War.
The war to Origin Destroyer begins, marking the start of a new era. Qin Yu was the first to act.
His gaze was as deep as an abyss, and the [Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword] in his hand pierced the sky like Silent Lightning. The space beneath his feet collapsed layer by layer, and he slashed to the front of the four divine statues in one step!
"The Origin of Annihilation Origin Begins— Sever the Void in a Single Thought!"
The moment the sword fell, rings of deep blue soul-splitting energy burst forth in the void, as if severing the enemy's "thought logic" from its very root.
One of the four divine statues, a two-winged being with split feathers, suddenly froze, the divine flame in its eyes seemingly extinguished for a moment!
At the same time, Yan Yue's figure rose up, Annihilation Dawn Wheel Ring appeared from the void. The light on the ring flowed like a thousand layers of annihilation radiance. She lightly raised her finger:
"The first soul skill-- The Annihilation Abyss Opens Silence."
In an instant, all forms of energy within the field were completely annihilated, and the axe-wielding statue was interrupted, its runes gradually dimming!
Yunyi followed closely behind the two, her blue hair flying, her claws flashing like lightning, and she hissed softly:
"Nether Realm Shattered Prison!"
She leaped out, her figure transforming into countless soul shadows, like a tidal wave of souls Abyss Explosion the underworld, crashing down upon the center of the three divine statues.
The ghostly fire was like a blade, tearing through the armor and bones. At the sound of the explosion, the three statues each took half a step back!
"Good."
Qin Yu smiled with narrowed eyes, and with a backhand swing of the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword, he unleashed three consecutive sword strikes like a surging tide.
"--Silent Origin · Boundless Ashes!"
With this strike, the entire battlefield instantly lost its color!
The outline of a desolate world appeared behind Qin Yu, as if the entire battlefield had been incorporated into the "logic of world destruction," causing all enemy skill components to freeze.
Yan Yue then unleashed her Second Soul skill. "Endless Dawn Radiance!"
The sky was filled with the light of dawn, like billions of stars shattering. Every ray of light revealed the causal traces hidden in the enemy's soul, completely exposing the causal chain structure of the three statues!
Yunyi leaped lightly into the air, her dragon wings unfurling, spewing forth a raging torrent of Black Abyss.
"The Black Abyss Devouring Descent!"
Using herself as the core, she constructed the Devouring Abyss Domain, directly pulling the divine statue into an inescapable annihilation domain, compressing the soul's reaction!
The ten divine statues were enraged and moved, instantly reversing their core logic and forcibly shattering space with the triple divine techniques of annihilation, sealing, and time reversal!
Qin Yu unleashed four swords simultaneously, releasing in succession: Sever Fate, Cut Off Return! Sever the Soul in Nine Silences! Sever the Realm, Leaving No Name! Sever the Spirit Source Abyss!
The four consecutive strikes were like four chains of judgment that severed the enemy's logical loop. After the Sever the Soul in Nine Silences, the shield-wielding statue completely collapsed!
Yan Yue expressionless. She clasped her hands together and softly murmured:
"The Annihilation Abyss Dawn Canon: Light Covers Ten Abysses"
The light, like World Extinguisher fiery lotus, shattered the ten abyss's destiny trajectory. The three-headed statues were reduced to mere shadows and roots by this technique, and they all retreated!
Yunyi struck with lightning speed, her tail whipping like a blade:
"Rending Domain Dragon Soul!"
The flames pierced through the head of the statue, the Netherworld runes shattered, and the statue collapsed with a crash!
The three fighters coordinated seamlessly, their moves flowing smoothly and the pace of the battle escalating rapidly!
However, in the distance, six more divine statues simultaneously activated the "World-Constructing Cascade Chain," beginning to mobilize the fundamental rules at the bottom of the ancient temple at the Earth's core.
The true power of the Ten Gods statues has only just begun to be revealed.
Qin Yu whispered:
"Get ready for the second wave—they're getting serious!"