The light of the Star Abyss dimmed and flowed, the void like a dream. Yao Zhiyan gently stroked the burnt-out stone pillar beside her, her fingertips leaving only charred ash marks. She slowly spoke, "This entire village... seems not to have been burned down."
"But rather—it was completely negated by whose belief."
A faint blue light appeared in Qin Yu's eyes. Through the residual power of the Azure Ring floating in his sea of consciousness, he stepped onto the scorched earth. With each step, starlight and causal patterns appeared under his feet, which were then swallowed up by the death energy.
All around, a gray-black wind flowed silently.
The burned roof ridges and pillars, the collapsed faith stone platform, and the foundation of the trial hall engraved with ancient incantations have all turned into the ashes of the logic of the dead.
However--
Just as the two reached the middle of the village, Yao Zhiyan suddenly trembled and turned her head abruptly.
Emptiness behind him, but in his ears, he heard—a low, repetitive, and Kong Ling murmur, like that of a departed soul:
"... If you wish to belong... then follow me... and step into the Star Abyss..."
The sounds echoed, layer upon layer, as if coming from the cracks of time millions of years ago, or like whispers from a dream of the next era. Strangely, they weren't just coming from one place, but rather—
The sound rang out simultaneously from all directions throughout the entire village.
Yao Zhiyan's face was pale as she took a step closer to Qin Yu: "Senior Brother Mo... did you hear that?"
Qin Yu nodded slowly, and deep within his eyes, the web of causality slowly cracked as he examined it with his soul consciousness—
In the village, on the charred, empty houses, the gray rock temples, and the cracked stone altars, blurry and distorted images of wronged spirits began to appear.
Some were priests in long robes holding scrolls, some were village elders leaning on canes, and some were commoners kneeling with infants in their arms.
But they were all repeating that sentence in whispers:
"If you wish to belong... then follow me... into the Star Abyss..."
Those wronged souls had no core of spirit, no sea of consciousness, only "the lingering echoes of cause and effect after being burned."
Their features began to disintegrate in the starlight, their bodies like unfinished strokes of black mist, twisting and dissipating in the wind, yet constantly being reconstructed, like an old story that was repeatedly altered and rewritten.
Qin Yu's eyes narrowed slightly, and suddenly he reached out and pointed at the air.
A faint Azure Ring light appeared in his sea of consciousness, and he used his Limit Spiritual Sense to condense a [Severed Cause Consciousness Lock], sealing off a space within a radius of three hundred feet.
At that moment, the ground beneath their feet suddenly trembled slightly.
The murmurs of those wronged souls suddenly transformed into a unified chorus of --
Bugui —I will burn you to ashes.
"Then I will burn you to ashes."
"Then I will burn you to ashes..."
The next instant--
The wronged souls throughout the Annihilation-Burned Village suddenly looked up.
In their eyes, bursts of Annihilation Abyss fire erupted!
The shadows of hundreds of wronged souls, like a torrent of souls formed by the reverse fire of the Star Abyss, rushed towards Qin Yu and Yao Zhiyan from all directions at the same time.
Yao Zhiyan was startled and was about to draw her sword when Qin Yu blocked her behind him. A blue light gathered in his left hand, and a [Fate Seal - World Enforcement Core] instantly unfolded in the void, constructing a causal shield that burned with the logic of fate!
Bang!!
The first fiery soul struck the shield wall, like a star soul exploding, the flames surging nearly three hundred feet, igniting the remaining ancient stele's soul intent in mid-air!
"Back off! Don't move!" Qin Yu hissed.
He instantly swung his right hand, and the [Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword] appeared with starlight, its eighth form emerging from its blade—
This Sever the Main Narrative!
Boom boom!!
The moment the sword was drawn, the "main thread of the wronged souls' memories" in the center of the entire village was forcibly severed!
Countless fiery shadows instantly turned to ash in mid-air, as if the entire "chapter of existence" was being torn apart page by page from the memories of the dead!
The world suddenly fell silent.
Only the silent starlight remains, scattered across the shattered, ruined village, illuminating a whispered sentence in the ashes that will never be extinguished:
If you wish to belong... then come with me...
"Stepping into the Star Abyss..."
Just after the last wisp of wronged soul was annihilated by the "Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword - Sever the Main Narrative", the entire village suddenly fell into an Ultimate oppressive silence.
There was no wind, and no sound.
Only the Annihilation Abyss Flame flickered in mid-air, spitting out wisps of gray-black spiritual flames, like the lingering echo of the heartbeat of the dead.
Yao Zhiyan whispered, "... It seems to have quieted down."
Qin Yu frowned, his pupils reflecting a convoluted causal structure in the sky that shouldn't exist, and the Azure Ring deep within his sea of consciousness trembled slightly, as if sensing something.
Boom--! Boom--! Boom--!
A sudden tremor erupted from beneath our feet!
In the central area of the entire Annihilation Village, the "Assessment Platform," which had been burned to a crisp, suddenly collapsed, and a towering blood pillar rose up like a crack in the earth's crust. The Ash Abyss and the netherworld energy intertwined, forming a distorted spatial vortex!
Immediately afterwards--
A hand slowly emerged from the depths of that Ming Yuan.
Those were not the hands of an ordinary person.
It was a giant claw that seemed to be formed from the entanglement of the "roots of the dead soul tree" and the "obsession of the wasteland of the world," covered with torn fragments of runes and whispers of lingering consciousness that had not yet returned to their fate, as if billions of the dead were groaning softly within its shell.
The next instant, the "giant" stepped out of the crack.
He was like a death spirit from beyond time, woven from endless black and gray vines, annihilating fire soul threads, and the mist of death consciousness. He was a hundred feet tall, with tree-like tendrils extending into the void behind him, as if trying to nail himself into the very structure of the entire Starlight Illusory Realm!
That face...
Rather, it's more like a vortex "flowing with the eyes of the dead".
Within that vortex, two crimson lights suddenly opened—like the judgment of calamity, like the abyss of Fate Soul!
He has no mouth, yet he speaks.
"Consciousness has vanished... there is no return after burning..."
"You... should also be burned to ashes."
The voice was like a desolate, world-destroying sound, causing the crumbling walls of the entire village to collapse.
Yao Zhiyan was utterly shocked. "This is... a monster with Spiritual Sense? No... it's not even alive!"
Qin Yu's eyes narrowed, a blue light appearing like a ring, and he slowly uttered a sentence:
"It... is the collective consciousness of the entire Annihilation Village."
"It is the accumulated resentment of all the wronged souls who have not returned after the failure of this 'belonging ritual' that has created this vengeful spirit of death."
That monster was--
Recognition Annihilation Sin Lord - Soul-Burning Suppressor
A remnant from the Star Abyss Forecourt, "unrecognized by fate," driven by the will to die, with the sole logical purpose of "burning out the rebels!"
The next instant!
[Recognition Annihilation Sin Lord] suddenly raised his claw, and a chain of black flames formed by millions of dead souls was flung out!
Boom--!
The Azure Ring Shield deformed instantly under the pressure, Qin Yu's body shuddered violently, he staggered back three steps, spat out a mouthful of blood, and his right arm bones snapped instantly.
"Senior Brother Mo!" Yao Zhiyan exclaimed, about to step forward, but Qin Yu stopped her with a gesture.
He slowly raised the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword, his voice low and solemn as a vow:
"It is neither a vengeful spirit nor a monster."
"It is—the entire 'world of death' negation of our existence."
"If I do not slay it... my fate will never be recorded or acknowledged."
He stepped forward.
The battle begins.
The colossal shadow stood like the source of calamity within the ruined city of Broken Fire. Behind it, the hundreds-of-feet-tall Tree of Spiritual Sense resembled the burning skeleton of destiny beneath the Star Abyss. The curses of countless lost souls swirled around it, flowing with a low murmur:
"If you wish to belong—then follow me into the Star Abyss..."
The sound echoed endlessly between heaven and earth, as if even the rules themselves were about to be swallowed up.
Yao Zhiyan retreated into the green light, her face pale but without a trace of fear, for she knew that the white-haired figure would always stand before her, like a mountain.
Qin Yu's figure trembled slightly, but he remained expressionless.
He uttered two words:
"Too noisy."
First Form:
[Fate Cause Master Seal - Fate Trajectory Profiling]
-- Qin Yu raised his right palm, Book of Fate Law appeared between his fingers, Realm Severing Origin Brush solidified in the air.
Boom--!
The entire world froze instantly.
The Annihilation Abyss froze in mid-air, the chains of black flames that tore through the void shattered instantly, and the giant spirit's body was stripped of one-third in an instant by the "logic of destiny's trajectory"!
The origin of his existence has been rewritten!
The scene was like a dream—the cause of the Spiritual Sense Sin Lord unfolded layer by layer in the air:
"One of the former failures of the Starlight Trial, a death aggregate, Nameless, Consciousnessless, and ownerless. Due to his failure in the Star Abyss Trial, he transformed into a source of death consciousness, dwelling in the Abyss of the Unreturned, his obsession burning throughout the world."
Qin Yu's gaze was calm as he lightly lowered his brush, carving four characters:
--[The Unorthodox One]
Buzz!!!
Boom!!
Two-thirds of the giant spirit's body collapsed instantly, its logical foundation was negated, and billions of dead souls roared and scattered in the wind.
Second move:
[Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword - Sever Fate, Cut Off Return]
--boom!
In the next instant, the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword was drawn inch by inch from the Abyss of Void, and the monster's initial form—a blurry Fate-Cause its origin—was reflected on its blade.
You are not worthy to return to the wheel.
"You haven't even grasped the definition of existence."
"--Then let's completely cut off all ties."
Qin Yu took a step into the air, his sword pointing diagonally towards the sky!
"Severed Fate, Absolute Demise - Annihilation."
Boom----!!
The entire Annihilation Village seemed to be emptied in that instant, and the sword light, like a lonely star trail, slashed down across the sky!
Before the "Recognition Annihilation Sin Lord" could even struggle, it was reduced to black dust and completely erased in the deafening strike that annihilated all souls and destroyed its own destiny!
Even the rules of the Starlight Illusory Realm resonated with a "crack," as if to say—
[A sworn enemy that was implicitly acknowledged by the Chronicles of Fate has completely Does Not Exist.]
All that remained in the air was the lingering echo of that last whisper, slowly reverberating in Qin Yu's ears:
"If you wish to belong... then follow me... into the Star Abyss..."
Then, everything fell silent.
Qin Yu let out a soft breath, retrieved the sword into his sea of consciousness, and turned to walk back into the azure light.
Yao Zhiyan stared at him without moving, her gaze seemingly frozen on the moment the sword struck and the world was annihilated.
She said in a low voice:
"... Senior Brother Mo, who... exactly are you?"
Qin Yu glanced at her and calmly replied:
"A person who hasn't finished writing their name."
This battle was uneventful, with few rounds of fighting.
With just a stroke of the pen and a single sword strike, the final chapter of the Annihilation Village's calamity was written.
And the next door to the Starlight Illusory Realm has quietly opened.
The wind has stopped.
Ashes slowly fell, the stone slabs scorched and shattered by the flames of the Annihilation Abyss turned into a thin layer of ashes and dust, which silently scattered with each step.
Starlight could not reach this place, and the ghostly light lost its projection. The entire village seemed to have lost its definition of "existence itself," leaving only the charred remains of a place of death, its life trajectory burned away.
Qin Yu's right arm hung limply, his sword sheathed, but his brow remained unwavering. He glanced back at the half of the Judgment Platform that had been torn apart by the Death Consciousness Sin Lord, then looked at the dilapidated altar in the distance, still churning with black flames, a cold, unfathomable light flashing in his eyes.
"This place... is not for the living."
His tone was calm, yet it carried an indescribable sense of oppression.
"Let's go, let's get out of here quickly."
Yao Zhiyan nodded gently, but subconsciously took a step closer to him. Although she was unharmed, her mind still trembled under the oppressive weight of death, and the whispers from the Ming Yuan seemed to still echo in her ears:
"If you wish to belong... then follow me into the Star Abyss..."
Qin Yu gently raised his hand, and a ring of Azure Ring light reappeared beneath his feet, completely enveloping the two of them. The surrounding space trembled slightly with a buzzing sound, as if the void itself was sensing instability and actively giving way.
He muttered to himself:
"The Starlight Illusory Realm... is far deeper than what we see."
With a single step, the light rippled, and the two suddenly transformed into a ring of light, passing through the collapsed "Soul Annihilation Realm Lock" on the outermost edge of the village, their figures disappearing at the end of the desolate, burning Ruin Abyss.
Within a hundred breaths after they left—
Deep within the seemingly cleaned-up village ruins, beneath a dry well completely scorched by flames, in the darkness, a blurry, dust-like "soul bead" quietly cracked open.
A voice, even lower than the ghost fire, rang out:
"He who slays me... will ultimately perish in the Star Abyss..."
"Our lord has awakened."
The entire village was shrouded in darkness, devoid of any sign of life, with only faint, indistinct ghostly figures still murmuring:
"If you wish to belong... then follow me... into the Star Abyss..."