Within the ancient tree's inner realm, where a dreamlike glow shone and starlight cascaded down, everything seemed frozen in a golden radiance. Just as Qin Yu was about to further investigate the anomaly deep within the tree's core, the void behind him suddenly rippled, as if a rift of despair had torn open in the sky.
A figure silently emerged from the space.
The man wore a dark purple robe, its edges embroidered with strange patterns by eerie green silk threads, resembling the curse marks of a remnant spirit. He was extremely thin, his skin as withered as a gray corpse, his eyes deep-set yet gleaming with a ghostly blue light, as if they could see into the deepest secrets of the soul. A sinister smile perpetually played on his lips, like a hook, etched with treachery, ruthlessness, and undisguised greed.
This person's cultivation level was astounding—High-level of the Severed Observation Realm.
That is a terrifying existence capable of discerning reality from illusion and distorting the definition of space.
He walked out slowly, his tone low and sinister. "Thank you, fellow Daoist, for leading me here."
The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a blade slicing through thin silk, leaving behind rings of cold echoes amidst the surrounding golden starlight.
"I never expected... that the 'Realm of Primordial Echoes' would be hidden in the core of this divine tree."
His gaze sharpened as he stared intently at Qin Yu: "Fellow Daoist, how exactly did you sense such an opportunity?"
Qin Yu's divine sense surged, and he suddenly became alert. This person actually knew about the "Realm of Primordial Echoes"!
His gaze was cold as he calmly replied, "I don't know what you mean by the fragmented map... I just happened to be passing by and saw this tree's extraordinary appearance, so I came in to take a look."
"Heh." The man chuckled softly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, like a venomous snake licking its fangs.
"Since you are unwilling to cooperate, fellow Daoist..." His voice suddenly turned cold, and his tone shifted, "Then we'll have to use my method—soul searching."
As soon as the words were spoken, the void suddenly froze!
He raised his palm, and a dark halo, like the River Styx, bloomed from his fingertips, instantly enveloping the surrounding space. It was an extremely dangerous soul-searching Soul Arts, specifically designed to forcibly tear apart the barrier of consciousness and read deep memories!
But Qin Yu had already locked onto him with his divine sense the instant he raised his hand.
A burst of light erupted beneath his feet, Annihilation Origin of light condensed into the essence of a boundary ring. A cold whisper slowly echoed deep within his sea of consciousness:
"The course of fate cannot be fathomed, and the True Soul must not be violated."
The [Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword] silently emerged, its tip lowered, pointing towards the void!
Amidst the intertwining of sword blades and eerie light, an earth-shattering duel is about to erupt.
Within the ancient tree and secluded ravine, deathly silence reigned, with only the branches and trunks like veins, embedded with stars and leading to the depths. Qin Yu's robes fluttered slightly as he stood with his gaze fixed on the center of the hollow core of the tree, backlit. The Purple-Gold Eternal Pole Crystal Core floated slightly, and Limitless Evolving True Flow flowed around him, as if condensing into starlight mist.
The mysterious figure emerged step by step from the depths of the shadows.
He wore a dark gray robe, its fabric resembling a shroud of decay, gleaming with a cold metallic sheen. Grotesque veins rippled from the cuffs, writhing like living creatures. His face was gaunt, his features sharp as if cleaved by a knife, his eyes sunken like empty cavities, yet burning with an eerie, dark green flame—the mark of a soul-refining remnant from some inhuman consciousness. When he spoke, his voice seemed to be dragged from the depths of hell, echoing with a lingering resonance:
"I'm taking the tattered map you have."
The next moment--
Boom!!
A silent explosion erupted as the mysterious man's soul, like a vortex black hole, tore through the space of the tree's core. Large swaths of runes poured out of his body like a black waterfall. It was his proud secret technique—[Narrative Deception Causal Tide], which could weaken the effects of enemy skills to less than 50%, distort causal judgments, and cause the opponent's "logical conditions" to collapse.
The entire space of ancient trees suddenly changed color; the green light lost its luster, leaving only a thick black mist!
Qin Yu's eyes darkened, and he stomped his foot. The cracks in the void shattered like an avalanche, and a Nine-Ring True Evolution Dharma Wheel suddenly appeared outside his sea of consciousness, radiant with rainbow colors and All Thoughts Fall Silent!
"Destiny Inheritance - Knowledge Sealing Stage!"
With a low shout, the Fate Cause Master Seal floated in the palm, like a pen of the ruling law, writing a "Seal of Consciousness" seal, attempting to forcibly lock down the opponent's soul consciousness fluctuations.
But--
Just as the life seal was about to be unleashed, the space suddenly blurred, and Qin Yu's pupils contracted slightly!
The "necessary logical conditions" for the Fate Inheritance· Knowledge Sealing Stage have been reduced, rendering the judgment invalid!
The mysterious man sneered, and amidst the swirling black mist, he struck Qin Yu with a palm—
"Soul Cut·Fu Xiang Cut!"
The palm print that erupted with a thunderous roar was like a black and gold Divine Mountain collapsing, transforming into a soul blade that tore through the layers of reality and will, drawing a "reflective line" in the air. That was the illusory reflection after the soul consciousness was reversed, meaning that this strike was aimed directly at the root of the sea of consciousness!
Qin Yu's right hand slashed out instantly!
"Sever the Void in a Single Thought!"
The Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword appeared swiftly, tearing through the void like paper. Its black and gold sword light extended from the sea of consciousness into the physical body, like the radiance of divine punishment piercing through the starry sky!
Two Limit forces clashed violently, causing the entire ancient tree space to explode dozens of feet apart. Spacetime was torn open with multiple rifts like a piece of cloth, and fragments and spiritual energy fell like meteors!
However, despite Qin Yu's earth-shattering sword strike, the mysterious man's uncanny technique took effect once again—
[Soul Reaper's Path] has been forcibly deflected!
"Damn it... what's going on?..." Qin Yu's eyes narrowed. Before he could finish his sword technique, his body was blasted back dozens of feet. Wherever his footsteps touched, the void seemed to crack like ice, creating a sonic boom vortex!
Deep within the ancient tree space, the aftershocks of the battlefield had not yet dissipated. The world cleaved by that sword that shattered the void was still slowly closing, like an unhealable wound, still bearing the destructive patterns woven by Qin Yu's Sword Qi.
The mysterious figure emerged slowly from the smoke and dust, showing no sign of disarray. On the contrary, his soul-fire eyes grew even deeper and colder, and a mocking smile appeared on his lips.
"Not bad, you actually managed to withstand my 'Soul Severing Judgment Track,' but unfortunately, all your skill sources... have become—distorted logic—under my ' Order-Cause Reversal Art."
As soon as he finished speaking, the world changed dramatically.
Boom--!!
Before Qin Yu could rise again, a completely unfamiliar "reverse logic force" suddenly surged into his sea of consciousness! It was a force that completely contradicted his own cultivation structure, as if it had swapped the starting point and the ending point of all his skills, causing the release order to be completely unbalanced!
[Silent Origin - Boundless Ashes] had barely formed half of its power when it instantly disintegrated!
[Destiny Inheritance - Knowledge Sealing Stage] The moment the brush seal was activated, a "logical backlash" automatically emerged from the sea of consciousness!
In an instant, Qin Yu seemed to fall into an extremely chaotic state of skill disruption. The rotation of the Nine-Ring True Evolution Dharma Wheel within his body slowed down, and for a moment, its complete form could not even be perceived!
Seizing this opportunity, the mysterious figure flashed like light and suddenly appeared in front of Qin Yu!
"Soul Arts: Rift of Rebirth - Severance!"
That's a finger--
It's even faster than a sword's edge!
Wherever his fingertips touched, the sky shattered, and a "Soul Blade of Recognition Annihilation" extracted and compressed from soul consciousness pierced straight into Qin Yu's brow. The void rippled ten times under this soul blade, and each ripple reflected the skill structure in Qin Yu's sea of consciousness!
This strike could actually pierce into the Fate Soul, destroying the logic carrier of the skill!
The Soul Blade was approaching--
Qin Yu's face turned grim, and the light in his eyes suddenly hardened!
"... You really think I can't make a move?"
Boom!!!
Deep within the sea of consciousness--
The [Ring Master Soul Diagram] suddenly unfolds!
The entire sea of consciousness surged like a tsunami. The Nine-Ring True Evolution Dharma Wheel forcibly stabilized its own structure, and the power of the Silent Origin surged out from the Limitless Evolving True Flow, instantly forming the power of [Silent Ring - Initial Realm Resonance], shattering the chaotic logic within the body!
"Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword - Sever the Cause, Preventing Birth!"
That sword was finally unleashed once more!
The sword light, like the first light of a silent night, pierced through cause and effect, eliminating the source logic of the enemy's technique. In terms of special effects, the colors of heaven and earth reversed, the golden and black realms intertwined, Qin Yu's body exploded like a meteor, freezing and collapsing the space along with the tree in an instant!
But--
The mysterious man still forcibly unleashed the Order-Cause Reversal Art, causing Qin Yu's sword to be "judged as incomplete"!
"Bite--!!"
The metallic clang was like a piercing alarm bell. Qin Yu was thrown back thirty feet by the aftershock, his arms trembled slightly, and a crack appeared on the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword!
He muttered coldly, "... What kind of technique is this? It can even break the logic of skill activation!"
The mysterious man sneered, "You think you can keep Cause Severance boundaries forever? Under my 'Order-Cause Reversal Art,' every sword strike, every move you make, will have to ask me first—'Is it reasonable?'"
Amidst the blazing white mist, the lingering echo of the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword still reverberated in his ears, and Qin Yu's steps gradually steadied. He did not rush to counterattack, but instead closed his eyes and concentrated. The Nine-Ring True Evolution Dharma Wheel in his sea of consciousness continued to rotate slowly, but its rotation speed was significantly more stable than before.
The mysterious man's sneer continued, but his eyes narrowed slightly the next moment.
"... What's going on? The disturbance in the order of your consciousness—is actually recovering?"
Qin Yu opened his eyes, his dark pupils seemingly reflecting a reconstructed universe. A slight smile played on his lips as he finally spoke:
"You think I've really had all my skills locked away by your ' Order-Cause Reversal Art? That just means you've 'covered up' my superficial logic."
Before the words were finished, the nine rings in his sea of consciousness suddenly accelerated, their rotation like the merging and collapse of nine star rings, releasing a distorted yet clear "logic stream" that broke through the interference!
[Fate Cause Master Seal, Star Tracing, Mirror of Return] -- Begin!
With a wave of his hand, Qin Yu conjured a mysterious golden seal. As the seal's brushstrokes swept across the void, a mirror of light suddenly unfolded, swirling like fragments of a star. The mirror clearly reflected the fundamental structure of the mysterious man's cultivation technique!
In that instant, the mysterious man's pupils constricted!
"You... traced back to the origin of the logic behind my skills?!"
Qin Yu snorted coldly:
"Exactly! Your so-called 'Order-Cause Reversal Art' can disrupt the starting and ending logic of my skills, but it's not unsolvable—you're merely temporarily swapping the 'necessary nodes' in the skill release chain and creating a logical deflection field to disrupt the stability of the sea of consciousness."
His voice grew colder and colder.
"And my [Star Tracing - Mirror of Cause and Effect] can precisely trace back to the origin of skills and illuminate the starting point of logic!"
At this moment, a scene flashed in the mirror, like the reversal of laws: it was the Spiritual Sense calculation structure at the instant the mysterious person activated the "Order-Cause Reversal Art".
Qin Yu —captured one of the key points.
"Your skill... while it can disrupt the release process, requires 'reorganizing the visible nodes of the world's logic' every time it is activated."
"In other words—as long as I can pinpoint the location of the nodes in your logic structure beforehand, your 'inverse techniques' cannot interfere with me across the entire domain!"
The mysterious man's expression changed drastically, and he was no longer the confident and assured man he had been.
"You... you actually managed to find the weakness in my Reverse Technique in just a few moves?! You're not a core disciple... who exactly are you...?"
Qin Yu remained silent, and the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword was once again held horizontally. At the tip of the sword, the three energy flows of soul power, Silent Origin power, and Nine-Ring True Evolution power intertwined and surged, forming a logically constructed sealing light!
At this moment, all skills and thoughts were under his control!
I don't need to answer you.
[Fate Cause Master Seal - Seal's Derivation - Mirror Returning Ring]!
Qin Yu formed hand seals, and a "Closed-Loop Mirror" suddenly appeared in the void behind him, forcing the mysterious man's skill logic into a loop.
"Take your logic, which is meant to interfere with me, and apply it to yourself."
Boom!!!
Qin Yu suddenly drew his sword, unleashing the combined power of the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword and [Silent Track: Annihilation of Consciousness Flow]!
A black sword beam sliced through the void, as if erasing an entire era from history; what was annihilated was not merely the physical body and soul, but—
The "skill definition" that has existed.
With this single sword strike, the very fabric of heaven and earth changed color!
The mysterious figure forcibly unleashed a counter-interference technique, but the sword light had already sealed away all the logic behind its construction, causing its figure to pause momentarily in mid-air!
Qin Yu's eyes flashed with icy coldness as he growled:
"Next, I've begun to regain control."