Bone-Burning Remnant Flames · The First Return of Cause Destruction
Deep within Obsidian Soul City, fire and soul have long since fallen silent.
Only the corpse hanging upside down from the dome and the figure of a woman formed from fragments of memory stood silently in the deep corridor.
She walked step by step, her silver-white hair fluttering slightly, her eyes reflecting countless annihilated stardust, like a period turned from an eternal page.
Qin Yu stood still, his senses suddenly heightened.
In that instant, he didn't sense any killing intent, but he did perceive an indescribable "pressure"—
Like a proposition that has been written but not yet reviewed, it is gradually approaching his spiritual logic, word by word.
His hand had slowly landed on the hilt of the sword.
The next moment, the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword was drawn, its blade pointing diagonally into the void. Ink-black causal light patterns surged from the blade, calmly sealing off the five layers of the Soul Domain.
Even when faced with an unknown person like her, and even if she meant no harm, Qin Yu still instinctively drew boundaries for himself.
She did not retreat when the Sword Qi was unleashed.
She stopped, her face expressionless, and spoke softly in a voice that was Kong Ling and otherworldly, as if it did not belong to the present world:
"You... don't need to be nervous."
The sound was like the resounding of an ancient bell, calm yet penetrating directly into the sea of consciousness, causing one's heart to instinctively quiet down for a moment.
She lowered her gaze to Qin Yu, her silver hair swaying like ribbons in the still light, and continued:
"This place is called Obsidian Soul City."
"It shouldn't exist in this Epoch Realm."
She slowly raised her head, her gaze sweeping over the broken statues and burnt-out inscribed tablets around her:
"This place was once an extremely ancient dwelling place of Fate-Cause 'before the world was constructed.' Later, it was abandoned, obliterated, and deleted from the 'Realm Master Record' by everyone."
But it didn't really die.
"Because... some causes and effects, once established, cannot be truly repeated."
She turned her gaze and looked at Qin Yu again.
That single glance, like piercing through the fog of fate, landed deep within Qin Yu's soul.
It's not about investigating, it's about confirming.
She said slowly:
"Your arrival here is no coincidence."
"Those who can enter Obsidian Soul City... all have an undeniable connection to the 'logic root of this world'."
"Perhaps it's because you've been forgotten, or because your name was never born, or perhaps... you always belonged here."
The moment the words fell, deep within Qin Yu's sea of consciousness, the corner of the Ring Master Soul Diagram, which had been sealed for a long time, trembled slightly for a moment.
As in the response.
His brow furrowed slightly, but he remained silent.
The woman chuckled softly.
"You haven't remembered yet... that's okay."
"This city will awaken your true reason for coming here."
She slowly reached out and pointed to the deepest part of Obsidian Soul City —the Abyss Steps leading to the core palace domain:
"That is the final resting place of 'He'."
"If you wish, I will take you there."
The fire hasn't started, and the wind isn't moving.
But Qin Yu knew--
This woman was neither a "guide" nor a "leader".
She is the only remaining shadow in this Obsidian Soul City that is still "permitted" to exist.
And he himself was being pulled forward inch by inch by the very essence of this Fate-Cause.
Before the abyss-like staircase, an oppressive silence reigned.
Qin Yu in the shattered corridor of light patterns, his gaze slightly lowered, his fingertips still on the hilt of his sword.
The woman did not urge him, but simply looked at him quietly, as if she had been waiting there for countless eons—just to utter the next sentence.
She spoke softly, "Getting to the deepest part... isn't that simple."
His tone remained calm, as if stating a rule that had already been written down.
She turned around, her back to him, her silver hair falling like stars in the night, gently brushing against the faint marks and creases on her shoulders.
"Although Obsidian Soul City is silent, its 'core logic' has not been completely extinguished."
"And to reach the place where 'He' slumbers, three lost things must be awakened."
She slowly raised her hand, pointing in three different directions within this Black Abyss Realm:
"The first item is the [Realm Name Bone Scroll]. It records a fragment of the Initial Fate rights and was sealed away in the Soul-Melting Well."
"The second item is the [Recognition Annihilation Seal Eye]. It is the left eye of a remnant soul of an ancient god in this place, inserted into the Tomb Stair Deep Well to monitor the flow of fate throughout the city."
"The third item is [Reconstruction Remnant Voice]. It is said to be the last thought of the person who wrote 'Obsidian's Initial Structure,' sealed on the top floor of the Assertion Bell Tower, where even space itself rejects its existence."
She paused, her gaze fixed on the unfathomable, gray-glowing staircase ahead:
"Only by returning these three relics to their rightful place can I awaken the stairway leading to the deepest palace."
She turned around, her eyes conveying not threat, but a silent, absolute certainty:
"If you want to see 'He,' you must first accomplish all of this."
Qin Yu did not respond.
He simply stood there quietly, his expression indifferent, but his heart was filled with turbulent emotions.
The woman seemed to see through his silence and whispered again:
"If you don't go to see Him..." "You will never get out."
This statement is no longer a statement, but a judgment.
The moment she finished speaking, a certain light pattern on the Ring Master Soul Diagram deep within Qin Yu's sea of consciousness suddenly collapsed.
--As if reminding him: the way back to this world has been closed.
He was allowed to enter Obsidian Soul City, but was not permitted to visit it.
Instead, it was selected to "complete a page of causal existence that was never finished writing".
Qin Yu withdrew his finger, the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword disappearing behind his sleeve. His expression remained unchanged, and he calmly uttered a single sentence:
"Okay. Let's go then."
I agreed.
The moment the voice fell, the woman's brows did not move, but a very faint light seemed to appear in her eyes. It was neither joy nor relief, as if some cause and effect had finally been reconnected.
She raised her right hand, gently closed her fingers, and then--
A finger pointing into the void.
"Whoosh--"
The space in the center of Obsidian Soul City suddenly froze, as if touched lightly by the tip of an unknown pen.
The next moment, three faint rays of light slowly rose from the void rift and hovered in front of Qin Yu.
First item: Realm Name Bone Scroll.
A piece of grayish-white bone fragment, no more than a foot long, was covered with ancient naming characters that were difficult to decipher, like poems inscribed in the bone, which shimmered slightly in the light.
The end of the bone scroll still bears "broken pen marks," as if it were a "logic bone pen" left behind by some being when naming the world.
The second item: Recognition Annihilation Seal Eye.
A semi-closed eyeball, constructed entirely of dark silver and annihilated rock crystals, with three soul locks appearing at the pupil.
Its form is neither life nor vessel; what flows in its pupils is not vision, but rather the echoes of a torn "sea of consciousness."
It is said that this eye once glimpsed the true core of Obsidian City, but was later forcibly pulled out and imprisoned in the well at the bottom of the tomb steps, where it was transformed into a monitoring device.
The third item: Reconstruction Remnant Voice.
This is a completely transparent "crystal earpiece" with embedded tiny cracks.
A faint, intermittent stream of sound emanates from it; if one listens closely, it is as if one can hear someone repeatedly whispering before their death:
"This is not the end... The world is not yet finished..."
The woman gazed at the three projections, then with a gentle wave of her sleeve, the three objects transformed into illusory imprints, embedding themselves into Qin Yu's soul consciousness and forming three guiding light imprints.
Her voice, like the first rays of dawn, echoed in the empty temple:
"These are the three relics you are looking for. Your soul already knows their locations."
I will not follow you.
"I will wait here."
She turned around, her figure disappearing once more into the desolate light. The broken divine halo floated above her head, no longer trembling.
Her figure seemed to sink into silence along with the Obsidian Soul City itself.
Only one sentence remained, echoing one last time at the end of the corridor:
"I wish you a speedy completion—because every moment you are approaching the Threshold 'His' awakening."
Qin Yu did not answer.
He glanced at the slowly fading light and shadow, turned around, and took his first step.
Three trajectories of Fate-Cause shone faintly within his soul.
From this moment on, he is about to enter the three deepest layers of the Obsidian Soul City.
--Go and find those three remnants that have long since vanished from the Book of the World.
The depths of Obsidian Soul City are inaccessible by terrain or space.
The first guiding light in his soul, like a thin thread in an abyss, projected a distorted and blurry afterimage into Qin Yu's mind.
It was a deep abyss that was constantly burning, collapsing, and being rebuilt.
He stepped into the end of the stone corridor, where a heavy door covered with gray-red cracks opened automatically, and a scorching wind rushed in from behind the door, carrying a burning sensation that did not belong to the flesh.
It was a kind of blazing flame on a layer of existence.
His eyes narrowed, and he stepped inside.
The first thing you see is a crimson fire well that runs through the earth's veins.
This place is not in the upper level of Obsidian Soul City, but in the lower Earth Core Logic Disc layer—a core molten domain known as the Soul-Melting Well.
The sky had long since vanished, leaving only a dome-shaped rock formation flowing like magma above, its layers intertwined like crimson nerves, occasionally spewing out ripples of soul fire that scorched all external will.
Beneath their feet were broken bridges made of black iron soul bones, spanning the bubbling soul-burning liquid.
The fire well was unfathomably deep, seemingly without a bottom, with only intermittent whispers emanating from its deepest part:
"Naming... not allowed..."
"The bone scroll... is not something you should touch..."
Qin Yu remained silent, stepping onto the broken bridge one step at a time.
As the soul pressure intensified, a faint Soul Seal appeared on his forehead. This was the automatic protection mechanism of the Ring Master Soul Diagram, which had already designated this place as a "domain of highly unreasonable soul pressure."
Further ahead, a burning "bone platform" appeared in the center of the well.
The bone platform was pieced together from the spines, finger bones, and teeth of hundreds of ancient souls. It was about ten zhang high, spiraling like a tower, with something suspended in the very center.
--Realm Name Bone Scroll.
As shown in the woman's projection, it was a short, grayish-white bone pencil, quietly burning with a "fire of naming."
The flames were not bright; instead, they exuded a chilling aura of suppression, denial, and frozen logic.
As soon as Qin Yu took a step closer, a halo of remnant soul light exploded from the bone scroll!
A blurry soul slowly rose from the bone tower.
It has no eyes, no mouth, its entire body is like mottled, peeling lime, and each word it utters reverberates through the void:
"This item is Fate Source Book Remnant Brush], reserved only for the original Fate Book."
"Those who are not destined for death must not touch it."
Before the soul shadow could respond, it had already transformed into a blazing divine chain, furiously sweeping towards Qin Yu!
Boom--!
The entire Soul-Melting Well collapsed and trembled in an instant!
Qin Yu, however, did not retreat, gripping the sword hilt again with his right hand, his eyes as calm as ever.
"If it needs to be 'named,' your permission is required..."
"Then your existence—should have been reduced to ashes long ago."
The next moment--
The Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword is drawn!
With a single slash of the sword, the blazing flames Cause Annihilation!
Boom--!
Blazing flames roared, and a soul-scorching wind burst forth from the Bone Tower, transforming into a soul shadow nearly three zhang tall, composed entirely of crimson bone fragments and life-fire shattered patterns.
It had no eyes, yet it displayed a single word before Qin Yu— "Forbidden".
That is its purpose— Soul-Burning Guardian Shadow - Forbidden Inscription, formed by the Obsidian Soul City, is the only permitted defensive will during the existence of the Bone Scroll.
It doesn't speak, but it can rewrite the "existence structure" of the enemy's sea of consciousness with soul pressure, making the enemy forget why they are going to strike before they even draw their sword.
But it chose the wrong opponent.
Qin Yu stood at the end of the broken bridge, his robes fluttering slightly, his expression indifferent. He did not exert any spiritual pressure, but simply watched it quietly.
The Annihilation Source Divine Sword was held in his palm.
The moment the ghostly figure lunged forward, the scorching space trembled.
It unleashed chains of pitch-black fire, piercing through three layers of logic in the void, attempting to pin down Qin Yu's "intention to attack."
However, in the next instant—
"Sever the Cause, Preventing Birth."
Qin Yu slightly raised his sword and slashed diagonally, without any fancy moves or energy buildup.
But the instant that sword fell, all the "precursors to the skill's creation" in the space vanished into nothingness.
The Soul Shadow Chains have broken!
The flame of life was extinguished!
"Boom!!"
The entire Soul-Burning Guardian Shadow exploded in mid-air into a sky full of gray light, as if the last thoughts of a disqualified component were forcibly deleted, leaving not even a remnant soul with time to escape.
One strike, and it's over.
Silence returned to the fire well.
The Bone Tower still stands, and the true outline of the Realm Name Bone Scroll in the center has finally been revealed.
Qin Yu sheathed his sword, stepped onto the flames, and reached out with his right hand. The instant his fingers touched the broken bone fragment—
The bone scroll trembled slightly, but did not resist.
It's as if they've come to recognize a master.
Deep within Qin Yu's soul, the bone scroll transformed into a blazing white afterimage, embedding itself into his Fate-Cause logic and becoming a causal component that was "reclaimed."
The flames gradually died down, and the well returned to silence.
Qin Yu didn't linger for a moment before turning and leaving.
He knew this was only the first part.
His next step is to travel to the place where the "Old God Eye" is buried.
Tomb Stair Deep Well.