Yan Yue in Radiant Starfrost Robe, Yan Yue slowly returned from the end of the Milky Way.
A vortex of stars split open beneath her feet, and she gracefully fell into it, enveloped in starlight, her skirt billowing like a flowing river of countless worlds. The next instant, the entire cosmic star field slowly closed, and the illusion of the Annihilation Abyss Original Map receded like the tide.
She slowly opened her eyes and returned to the Star Church in the Annihilation Heaven Overarching Realm —no, no longer the central universe of the surging galaxy, but the main hall.
The main hall was still bathed in its original dim light, all was silent, and countless remnants of star patterns floated in the space, with only her standing quietly in the center.
"... Qin Yu?" "Yunyi?"
Yan Yue's divine sense swept out, vast as the ocean, yet she found no familiar presence. Zi Xue was also gone; the hall Silent Void, empty as a still night with Xingyun.
Only the Radiant Starfrost Robe still swayed gently, the Milky Way flowing and starlight tinkling at the hem, as if answering her question of being all alone.
Above the main hall, the starry river floating walls remained silent, just like the gate of destiny she had stepped into before, yet it seemed to be awaiting another unsealing—
She was teleported back.
But the others... did not return together.
Yan Yue frowned slightly, the Milky Way shimmering softly on her Starfrost Robe. All around was deathly silent, but the unease in her heart grew ever stronger.
Suddenly—"Beep."
A faint sound came from the depths of the main hall, like a trace of life seeping out from a rift in time. Yan Yue suddenly raised her head and looked at the dark blue phantom pattern that appeared behind the hall.
A row of mysterious symbols slowly appeared before her eyes; the characters were obscure, yet she instantly deciphered their meaning.
Time Records · Hidden Trigger: Annihilation Contract Master · Yan Yue
Activation condition: The Radiant Starfrost Robe can only be observed after it has been recognized by its owner.
Content is restricted due to its confidentiality (accessible only to the viewer).
Yan Yue stepped forward lightly, the starlight from her Radiant Starfrost Robe cascading down the steps like flowing water.
When she reached out her slender hand to touch that illusory figure, the entire hall suddenly trembled.
Space collapsed, logic reversed, and the once-closed temple transformed into a massive star-tracked dome. The dome opened, and lines of time surged forth from all directions, weaving into the "Annihilation Light Time Mirror" before her.
A picture slowly appeared in the mirror. She saw Qin Yu—
They were currently in another dark abyss, seemingly stepping into an even more terrifying ancient palace within the Annihilation Heaven Overarching Realm;
She saw Yunyi—
Release the three dragon phantoms, and engage in fierce combat with an unknown consciousness within a certain Realm Splitting;
She also saw Zi Xue—
Standing amidst a vortex of hundreds of millions of star flames, wielding the wings of a star phoenix, he gazes intently at a divine object resembling a star core...
All of this is not the present scene, but an image secretly "woven" in advance by time, a convergence of branches of their respective Fate-Cause in the Annihilation Abyss Original Map!
Yan Yue's gaze sharpened, and she immediately understood—she hadn't been abandoned, but rather deliberately diverted!
The Radiant Starfrost Robe opened this "secret path" for her, a preview of the future that only the contractual master is qualified to watch.
What she saw was that her fate, along with Qin Yu's, and the other two's fates were temporarily severed within the Annihilation Abyss Original Map, each embarking on different paths of trial, fusion, and awakening.
Just then, the final text appeared on the Mirror of Time:
"The master has already obtained the radiance, Annihilation Fate Star Map has been determined. The Third Fate Soul's final judgment is now made."
"Please await the day when the three star maps merge, opening the 'Annihilation Extreme Main Path'."
Yan Yue softly, her eyes shining even brighter.
She wasn't confused; instead, her resolve grew stronger.
Qin Yu, Yunyi, Zi Xue are all still here, and they are all making their most important preparations for the final path of fusion.
She cannot fall behind.
Yan Yue stood quietly within the record of time, the galactic starlight of her Radiant Starfrost Robe flowing slowly around her, as if the entire universe resonated with her thoughts.
However, what happened next gave her a sudden shock.
Her perspective suddenly rose, like a wisp of consciousness floating high in the sky, looking down at the familiar yet unfamiliar main hall.
--This is not her own memory, but a fragment of time that was forcibly "sliced out" by some higher-dimensional force.
It was as if she had been torn apart and frozen in the torrent of history, then quietly hidden in the dark layers of time, just so that she could "see it again" at this moment.
In that scene, she saw herself standing in the center of the main hall, the Radiant Starfrost Robe slowly taking shape.
But in the next instant, the storm exploded, and space shattered!
She heard a voice say, "You go first, we... can't let you stay."
The voice was swallowed by the flames, turning into an echo that trembled in the soul. It was Qin Yu's voice.
He had never been so calm—cold to the point of cruelty, so profound as to be almost annihilating—yet so resolute as to leave no room for argument.
Time continues to move forward.
She saw the main hall suddenly collapse into three layers of fragmented domains, with space, time, and logic all severed. At that Yan Yue, Yan Yue was still standing in the same spot, but she was forcibly thrown out of the battlefield by a powerful will amidst the energy explosion—her body shattered like starlight and was sent into another dimension of time.
It's not teleportation. It's not leaving.
Instead, it was "stripped away" from that moment by some absolute force.
Yan Yue suddenly opened her eyes, star feathers scattered, her breathing erratic.
The galactic light on the Starfrost Robe froze for a moment.
She finally understood: she hadn't "returned alone."
Instead, in that unknown and destructive storm, Qin Yu and his team forcibly pushed her toward the "future"—allowing her to escape that one second of being swallowed up.
Her heart pounded violently.
"They... didn't fail to return... but... they were trapped in the one second before I came back."
Yan Yue lowered her eyes, reflecting the quiet and empty main hall.
This place is not deserted.
Instead, Qin Yu, Yunyi, and Zi Xue were all trapped in that moment when "she had not returned."
Time marched on, but they had not yet stepped out of that second.
Now--
Suddenly, an unprecedented soul pattern appeared on the dome of the main hall, shaped like a reversed star track, with a time lock core shimmering with a faint glow in the center.
A line of deep red ancient text slowly unfolded in the void:
Main Hall Time Lock - Threshold Activation
At the same time, the star pattern on the left shoulder of the Radiant Starfrost Robe emitted a soul-piercing prompt:
"The Lord of Radiance has been successfully located."
"Should I, as Radiance Bearer One, open the Reverse-Time Soul Abyss to find those who have lost their lives?"
Yan Yue raised her eyes, and the light in her Dawn Flame Eyes intensified.
The galactic battle dress behind her suddenly exploded with billions of rays of light, star waves surged, and her soul fell to earth like frost and snow.
"Start."
She spoke in a low voice, but her voice seemed to cut through the river of time, instantly shaking the entire main hall.
At this moment—she was no longer merely Radiant Robe's contracted master.
Instead, he truly ascended to the position of the Radiance Bearer, the Reverse-Time Abyss Lord.
To find the three, he reversed the path of the soul in the time of Annihilation!
Yan Yue's voice fell, the entire main hall suddenly erupted in excitement.
Starlight rose from the Radiant Starfrost Robe, sweeping across the entire space as if tearing apart some dimensional barrier.
Reverse-Time Soul Abyss - Open
The next moment--
Suddenly, a deep blue star array appeared beneath Yan Yue's feet. In the center of the array, a vortex woven from fragments of time quietly rotated, as if everything that had been sealed away in that instant had been incorporated into it.
The star array suddenly activated, and everything lost its weight.
Yan Yue's figure was lifted up by the flow of the Milky Way and slowly sank into the bottom of that time.
She opened her eyes and gazed silently at the world stripped of its starlight.
The scene below gradually took shape:
It was a sea of eternal twilight, where every wave carried chains of time's rules, and shattered light clocks, fleeting remnants of time, and out-of-focus soul shadows covered the surface.
--Reverse-Time Soul Abyss, First Domain [Soul-Locking Stagnation Domain].
[Hint]:
"You have entered the first layer of time- Lock Domain: the Soul-Locking Stagnation Domain."
"Time and cause and effect are reversed here. Any will, skill, or consciousness that is not clear enough will be unable to locate itself and will be forever trapped in the abyss of time."
The moment Yan Yue landed, her toes barely touching the "Sea of Time" before she felt an extremely terrifying pull—
It was a tapestry woven with tens of millions of "moments she had experienced"!
There was the gaze she gave Qin Yu when they first met, and the loneliness she felt while cultivating the Annihilation Abyss Secret Technique alone.
There was her rebirth when she was critically injured and on the verge of death...
And then there was that moment when Qin Yu pushed her away from danger and faced death alone.
All of this transformed into mirrors of time, slowly appearing around her, layering and swirling, as if to engulf her.
Yan Yue a deep breath, her mind focused. "I didn't come here to reminisce."
"I've come... to shatter this moment and find the three most important people in my life."
She whispered, her Radiant Starfrost Robe shining even brighter on her. The silvery galaxy at the hem of her skirt swayed gently, like a knife cutting through locks.
The next moment, she raised her hand.
"Recognition Annihilation Final Realm - Severed Dawn Sealing Wheel." The Third Fate Soul is suddenly activated!
The entire Soul-Locking Stagnation Domain trembled violently, and the time mirrors surrounding her shattered in an instant!
The first challenge—she crushed it with a single step, driven by absolute will!
At this moment, the entire Reverse-Time Soul Abyss issued its first acknowledgment:
[The Radiance Bearer - Yan Yue - Passes the First Soul Lock]
[Activate the Second Layer: Mirror Origin Retracing?]
Yan Yue slowly raised her eyes, her gaze as bright as the sea.
"Open."
--Her steps will not stop until she finds them and shatters that one second!
After the first layer of the [Soul-Locking Stagnation Domain] collapsed, the Sea of Time where Yan Yue stood began to rotate inward, as if the entire Soul Abyss was returning to some primordial state.
The Milky Way shattered, star patterns swirled, and a deep abyss vortex slowly emerged beneath her feet. From the depths of the vortex, countless blurry figures of "herself" emerged, standing in different time layers, making different choices, and speaking different words.
--This is [The Mirror Origin Retracing], the source of all reflections about "who she is".
[Hint]: "The Mirror Origin Retracing: The Second Soul Lock Unlocked"
"Challengers must dismantle all the fabricated 'self-reflection' personalities and retain their true will, or they will be forever trapped in the [Mirror-Self Retracing Realm, never to return."
The next instant, seven images of Yan Yue appeared from all directions.
They each represent different possibilities:
Vanity of the ...
Annihilation Abyss: Mirror Image Two: Abandoning emotions and pursuing the principle of absolute Annihilation.
Dawn's Attachment - Mirror Image Three: Entrusting all meaning to Qin Yu and abandoning one's own opinions.
Reverse Abyss Salvation - Mirror Image Four: Endless self-sacrifice, solely to redeem the suffering of others.
Annihilation Law Sealing Heart · Mirror Five: Denying all emotions and trust, constructing a virtual persona.
Xi Nian Realm Breaking: Mirror Image Six - Attempting to control the logic of all spacetime and disrupt order.
Soul Annihilation and Shattered Consciousness: Mirror Image Seven: The "Self-Destructive Personality" Formed After Ultimate Failure.
They all looked up at the real Yan Yue.
"Do you really think you're the one 'most deserving to live' of Yan Yue?"
"Are you sure you're not one of us?"
Yan Yue looked at them, remaining silent. After a moment, she took a step forward.
The Milky Way flowed backward beneath her feet, Radiant Starfrost Robe rippled violently. The billions of starlight at the hem of her skirt seemed to form a "Soul Mirror Shield," protecting her true source of consciousness.
Her gaze was piercing, her voice deep:
"You are all paths I may have walked."
But all of that... I gave up with my own hands.
"I only acknowledge that one version of myself—the one who will continue to move forward despite countless destructions."
"Shatter your preconceived notions, and reunite in a new era."
The Recognition Annihilation Final Realm stirs once more!
The seven mirror images collapsed simultaneously, transforming into a sky full of radiant light that was absorbed by the Radiant Starfrost Robe and woven into the starry gauze.
The Soul Abyss trembled once more in the next instant.
[Yan Yue - Second Soul Lock Completed: Mirror Origin Retracing]
[Soul Recognition Positioning Accuracy Achieved]
[The Third Soul Lock - Coming Soon]
Fate-Annihilating Return Abyss, the Other Side of Fate
Sparks flew in her eyes, and a slow smile played on her lips.
"It's not over yet... Qin Yu, Zi Xue, Yunyi, I'm already on my way back."