In that silent moment, the "Eternal Slumber Spirit Pill" formed from the Dream Annihilation Flower slowly approached the transcendent cultivator, as light as a falling snowflake.
A wisp of pale silver mist, like a tide of souls rising from the abyss of a dream, rose from the core of the body. Wherever the mist passed, the rules of the void rippled slightly, and the line of time seemed to be gently distorted. The morphed being's brow twitched, and just as he was about to turn around, it was as if his senses were being withdrawn, and his gaze froze.
"Buzz--"
An invisible wave of dream energy quietly unfolded in his mind.
He remained seated cross-legged, his eyes and brows calm and still, his lips slightly upturned, as if lost in some irresistible contemplation, yet that "contemplation" had long since severed all interaction with the logic of reality.
Within the hidden barrier of the Azure Ring, Qin Yu watched as the powerful expert of the Only Book Realm slowly "slept," his expression cold and his eyes filled with extreme vigilance.
He murmured, "At most twenty breaths."
--
At the same time, hundreds of meters away in the cage, Yan Yue, clad in the Radiant Starfrost Robe, streaked across the spatial structure like a beam of aurora, instantly appearing in front of the cage.
She lightly touched the void with her fingertips, and a seal of Annihilation slashed down. The sealing prison constructed by the incantation rapidly disintegrated and collapsed under the permeation of her soul breath, shattering into streams of light that scattered.
Elder Feng Wujin suddenly opened his eyes, his expression shocked. "Yan Yue... is that you? Where is Qin Yu?!"
Yan Yue immediately covered her lips with her finger. "Shh—Elder, please don't make a sound."
Her gaze was as stern as frost, and her figure moved like a starlight curtain, gathering Feng Wujin and more than ten disciples of the Eternal Evolution Realm Hall into the Soul Seal Domain in the next second.
"Take my escape formation." She shouted, throwing an annihilation seal life formation with her right hand. With a soft hum, the barrier teleported in an instant, and the group appeared in the Ancient Silent Severed Realm Valley, a hundred miles away, completely out of the perceptual range of the shapeshifter.
--
At this moment, Qin Yu quietly withdrew the remaining pill energy and was preparing to turn around and disappear into the void.
However--
"Whoosh!!!"
The shapeshifter suddenly opened his eyes, as if the two seas of consciousness had been suddenly pierced by dawn!
An overwhelming pressure from the Only Book Realm seemed to cause the heavens and earth to collapse, bursting forth like ten thousand books of annihilation instantly opening, each page inscribed with the "irresistible" logic of existence.
"Who... dares to cast a dream spell on me?"
He whispered, but his voice carried the trembling of annihilating laws, as if the entire realm was questioning him.
Qin Yu suddenly turned around, his eyes as cold as frost, Azure Ring appeared behind him, its blue light flowing.
"The dream within your consciousness shattered quite quickly... then... don't wake up."
With a single step, space collapsed, and a radiant light interwoven with black gold and cyan instantly appeared behind him. The Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword faintly revealed its sharpness, and Qin Yu's fighting spirit exploded at that moment.
Just as the one who had transcended the magical techniques suddenly opened his eyes, and the laws of heaven and earth began to tremble—
Qin Yu moved.
The Azure Ring slowly rose behind him, like the eye of the heavens opening in the starry sea of Fate-Cause, and a "spiritual blade cleaving breath" power suddenly surged out from the core of the Azure Ring!
"Azure Ring ·One Style- Spirit Edge Piercing the Realm!"
--boom!!!
He raised his sword and slashed through the air, Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword instantly transformed into an annihilation blade that was completely integrated into the "soul cognition fracture"!
When that sword fell, it was as if the "wall of the Soul Realm" of the entire world cracked open in an instant!
The scene resembled an entire star field being cleaved open, with countless cracks and sparks suspended in the void, each crack connecting to the origin of one's consciousness.
A deep blue abyss-like soul mark appeared on the Consciousness Realm of the shapeshifter, as if the core of his sea of consciousness had been instantly shattered, causing a break in his thought structure, a collapse of his divine consciousness control chain, and the loss of all control over his very existence!
Before he could utter a sound, just as he was about to activate the structure of his consciousness to construct combat techniques, he discovered that all the logic of his Soul Arts had become blank!
And this is just the beginning.
--
Qin Yu drew his finger downwards, reversed his grip on the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword, and the Azure Ring spun nine times, with the black and azure light converging at the tip of the sword.
"The Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword - Sever the Spirit Source Abyss--."
The whole world suddenly changed!
Centered on Qin Yu, all spiritual energy particles in the world suddenly fell into a state of darkness and freeze, and all sounds—wind, dust, and energy lines—came to a complete standstill!
Then, a streak of black sword light pierced the sky and descended.
This sword strike is not about cutting objects or severing souls, but about severing the "root of spiritual origin" itself.
In Hollywood -level cinematic language, this moment is presented as:
The world backdrop is like a shattered mirror, as if peeling away layers of reality;
The incantations and spiritual arrays surrounding the shapeshifter's body completely collapsed, directly revealing their "spiritual source connection node";
A sudden "chain-breaking sound wave" rang out, as if some fundamental circuit of the universe had been severed on the spot!
Behind the shapeshifter, glowing chains of spiritual energy appeared in the Void Realm, one end connected to the laws of heaven and earth, the other end piercing into his soul core.
Qin Yu's strike at this moment was like an annihilation line that traversed multiple dimensions, severing all the spirit chains with a "rip"!
The shapeshifter's pupils constricted sharply, his consciousness began to tremble violently, his aura collapsed, and his cultivation, combat skills, and power in his sea of consciousness instantly ceased to flow!
"How... how could this be..."
Before he could finish speaking, the Azure Ring suddenly trembled violently, and the aftershocks spread out, completely erasing the entire soul of the shapeshifter from the source logic.
Silent and still, yet the most complete death.
Everything returns to nothingness.
Qin Yu slowly sheathed his sword, the Azure Ring returned to his back, and its light quietly faded.
He gazed indifferently at the now completely Space Silence ground, uttering only one sentence:
"Those who dare to imprison me... will they ever have a chance to wake up?"
Silence returned to the heavens and earth, with only Elder Feng Wujin and the others, who had been rescued, still in shock in the distance.
Yan Yue stood atop the precipice, her gaze fixed on Qin Yu, her eyes gleaming.
The aura of annihilation gradually dissipated, and the sky returned to silence. Qin Yu instantly stepped into the air, and the light of the Azure Ring flowed like shattered stars, Yan Yue a hundred miles away. The two stood on the edge of the cliff, the shattered rocks beneath their feet still gleaming with the afterglow of the battle.
The next moment, Qin Yu's gaze fell on Elder Feng Wujin, who had been rescued, and the dozen or so disciples of the Eternal Evolution Realm Hall. He stepped forward, his robes fluttering, his divine sense stirring slightly, and asked softly, "Elder Feng, are you alright? Are all my senior brothers Anran?"
Feng Wujin, though aged, possessed a resolute face. Looking at Qin Yu, his voice was somewhat weak. "I'm alright, thanks to your rescue."
However, the next sentence caused the room to fall silent instantly.
Qin Yu lowered his gaze slightly, his tone as sharp as a towering snow-capped peak. "... Elder Si Yehan is dead."
"Wang Long, Lin Yun... also perished."
Upon hearing this, the air, which had been slightly more relaxed, instantly plummeted into an icy abyss.
A look of shock and pain flashed in Feng Wujin's eyes. He sighed deeply, slowly sat down, and said in a low voice, "Alas... it was their fate..."
"The Heavenly Emanation Treasure Realm has always been a place where Fate Soul and opportunity coexist... They risked their Fate Soul just so that you could survive..."
The expressions of the dozen or so disciples around him all changed; some pounded the ground and wept, while others had red eyes and remained silent.
A young disciple sobbed softly, "Senior Brother Lin Yun... he's the senior brother of our class... he never criticized us even once... how could he..."
The other person lowered their head and bit their lip. "Senior Brother Wang Long once took a blow for me during the Battle of the Ice Domain. He said, 'Don't be afraid...'"
Yan Yue's eyes trembled slightly. She walked to Qin Yu's side and gently tugged at his sleeve. "... They died for us..."
"I know." Qin Yu's voice was low as the wind, yet Steady as a Mountain. He didn't continue speaking, but simply looked up at the distant sky, where the chaotic starlight flowing in the inner layer of the Heavenly Emanation Treasure Realm seemed to be silent at this moment.
After calming down for a moment, Feng Wujin looked at Qin Yu and Yan Yue and asked, "How did you get to this inner layer?"
Qin Yu's gaze darkened slightly as he spoke concisely and slowly, "Too much has happened in the middle ranks. That Liang Jichen used the Fate Soul Lock Seal to control tens of thousands of shapeshifters, setting a trap to destroy us. Yan Yue and I fought back, killing many of them and severely injuring Liang Jichen. Ashen Radiance One Yan Yue Annihilation Contemplation, and Elder Si Yehan fought valiantly but was no match for him, ultimately sacrificing his life to give us a chance to survive."
Feng Wujin closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he had regained some of his dignity, but also a sense of heaviness. "... He was dutiful in his duty."
At this moment Yan Yue asked, "Elder Feng, how... how did you get captured by this transformation technique?"
At this moment, a disciple wiped away his tears in grief and said, "We discovered a purple-gold light not long after entering the inner layer, and followed it. Who knew it was just a trap!"
"The light led us to a floating sacred cliff, where an ancient book of magical techniques hung. The pages remained untouched, yet it seemed as if countless bolts of lightning roared within. My fellow disciples and I thought we should seize it and examine it first, but as soon as we stepped within a hundred feet, the world suddenly changed!"
"The laws acted as locks, distorting space and time, freezing our consciousness in an instant—when we regained our senses, we were already imprisoned in that golden cage, our souls draining away day by day!"
Another disciple chimed in, "Elder Feng caught up later. He noticed something amiss with our Fate Soul imprints, so he forcibly tore through the void to pursue us... But unexpectedly, the one who manifested the magic technique possessed a transcendent secret technique that could directly extract the elder's soul core and trap him inside as well..."
Feng Wujin nodded slowly, his voice hoarse. "He imprisoned us to seize our soul essence and cultivation... He used 'The Dao gives birth to all laws, and all souls return to their origin' as his foundation to reverse the 'spiritual source of the technique'... Alas."
Qin Yu's gaze turned cold as he looked once more at the desolate, ashen center of the battlefield. His voice was low and deep. "Such things shouldn't have been kept in the first place."
Yan Yue silent, raising her eyes to look at the chaotic starlight flowing high in the sky, her eyes filled with a profound, star-like, desolate light.
Qin Yu calmly looked at the still weak group of people in front of him. The light of the Annihilation Ring flickered gently in his pupils. Then, he raised his hand and pointed, and a green soul chain appeared, completely stabilizing the outer Fate Soul of Feng Wujin and the others.
"Elder..." Qin Yu spoke slowly, his voice like a mountain wind rustling through the forest, steady yet firm, "This place is not safe to stay any longer. The inner layers of the Heavenly Emanation Treasure Realm... are far more dangerous than you imagine."
Feng Wujin frowned slightly upon hearing this. "But you..."
Yan Yue gently replied, her tone gentle yet sharp. "Our battle with Liang Jichen, though a catastrophe, also unveiled deeper mysteries of the Treasure Realm. Now we must venture to its deepest depths and complete the unfinished business."
Qin Yu nodded slightly, his eyes unfathomable. "Now that we've embarked on this journey, there's no turning back. We must find that 'unwritten thing,' and more importantly, we must avenge the deaths of Wang Long, Lin Yun, Elder Si Yehan... and all the debts owed to them."
Feng Wujin silent for a moment, then took a deep breath, as if he could already see the storm of fate rising behind the boy and girl. He suddenly reached out and patted Qin Yu's shoulder heavily. "Alright. Since you have this thought, I won't stop you."
"But remember..." Feng Wujin's voice was like jagged stone bones, "Within the inner layer, not only are there fragmented spirits of rules, but even the most ancient fragmented master of the treasure realm, the ultimate dark spirit... could appear."
"You will face not only enemies, but also the interrogation of the entire world."
Qin Yu met his gaze and calmly replied, "Then I will... write down my existence with every stroke of the Yan Yue, so that the world cannot deny it."
Yan Yue slowly walked to Qin Yu's side, her clothes reflecting the starlight, her eyes filled with unwavering trust.
Feng Wujin nodded slightly, his gaze lingering on the two of them for a few moments before finally letting out a long sigh, "I... am old, I can't reach the same level of cause and effect as you."
He turned around, and with a wave of his hand, a dark void rift suddenly opened, enveloping him and more than a dozen disciples.
"I will ensure their safe departure. You... take care."
As his words fell, countless stars twinkled, and he and all his disciples vanished like phantom light, disappearing into that void of annihilation.
Suddenly, the world became quiet.
Only Qin Yu and Yan Yue, standing beneath the starlight waterfall, before them the chaotic and unpredictable deep Rending Domain of the Heavenly Emanation Treasure Realm.
Yan Yue slowly reached out and gently grasped Qin Yu's hand, her voice dreamlike. "Yu, from now on, it's just you and me."
Qin Yu turned his head, his eyes reflecting her image, and said, word by word:
"Then let the entire Treasure Realm bear witness to our names."