The fifth level of the Extreme Refinement Tower slowly opened amidst silent tremors, and an oppressive force, like an invisible mountain and sea, poured out from the cracks, as if even time and cause and effect were frozen by this power. The space inside the tower was no longer an ordinary tempering ground, but a "Annihilation Wheel Abyss" suspended above the boundless void. Countless huge and slowly rotating black soul wheels floated in mid-air, their surfaces engraved with countless images of shattered worlds. Each rotation was accompanied by the roar of the collapse of all worlds.
The moment Qin Yu stepped in, these black soul wheels suddenly accelerated, releasing a destructive aura that swept across the heavens and earth. They transformed into billions of dark red chains formed from soul consciousness and laws, shooting towards him in an attempt to seal his sea of consciousness and the foundation of his Soul Seal.
The Fate Soul Crystal Core, Azure Evolution Core, between Qin Yu's brows suddenly lit up. He shouted in a deep voice, pointing his sword at the void:
"Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword - Sever the Realm, Leaving No Name!"
In an instant, the radiance emanating from the sword's edge was like a blade of judgment cleaving the entire Abyss of Wheels; its sharpness was silent, yet it created an unhealable rift in the void. The moment the dark red chains were sliced by the sword's edge, it was as if their very existence was stripped away, turning into nothingness and dust.
However, the phantom of the Lord of Soul Wheels emerged from the depths of the void. It was the fifth level of the final executioner condensed by the tower Tower Spirit. Its form was neither human nor non-human, with half of its body being a void vortex and the other half being a divine body flowing with stars. It held a halberd woven from pure "rule fragments". With a sweep, even Qin Yu's sword light was instantly twisted and swallowed up.
Qin Yu's eyes darkened, and the domain beneath his feet rippled. A thought flashed through his mind:
"Three Forms of Fate Construction Cause and Effect Deconstruction!"
In an instant, a verdant ripple of life structure spread from beneath his feet, dissecting the entire spatial structure of the Wheel Abyss and the Lord of Soul Wheels's halberd into countless fine fragments of causal light. These fragments surged, hung upside down, and flowed in the air, piecing together a collapsed mountain and sea sky, forcefully deflecting the halberd's attack.
The Lord of Soul Wheels roared, accelerating the Soul Wheel to its Limit, transforming into hundreds of enormous wheel shadows that pressed down on Qin Yu, each carrying the aura of "existence stripping".
Qin Yu no longer held back; the Azure Ring suddenly materialized between his brows, its azure light like the sea, and he uttered in a cold voice:
"Azure Ring: The Realm-Overturning Primordial Cosmos!"
In an instant, Qinghui transformed into an Unborn World, where nothingness and light intertwined, dragging all the Soul Wheels into the primordial state of "before the birth of all paths." In that Beginningless realm, cause and effect, destiny, and memories were all severed, and the Lord of Soul Wheels's offensive turned into silent dust in an instant.
The phantom of the Tower Spirit was completely suppressed, and the void shattered into countless fragments, transforming into dazzling streams of light that entered Qin Yu's body. His Soul Seal and logical consciousness surged at this moment, and a new boundary structure imprint was slowly imprinted in the deepest part of his sea of consciousness, symbolizing the complete passage of the fifth level of the Extreme Refinement Tower.
Qin Yu slowly walked out of the Extreme Refinement Tower. The tower door closed slowly behind him, and the heavy metal and runes intertwined to create a soul-shaking roar. At this moment, the entire world outside the tower seemed to tremble slightly.
The tower-guarding elder was sitting with his eyes closed, sensing the changes in the life crystals within the tower. But when his divine sense touched the Extreme Refinement Fate Crystal floating in front of the tower, he suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils contracted, and he revealed an expression of disbelief.
On the Life Crystal, all five spiritual lights representing the difficulty level were lit up, and in the center of the fifth spiritual light, a dazzling golden radiance unique to "Grand Slam Success" shone.
The tower-guarding elder murmured, "... Five levels... He actually passed the fifth level." His voice trembled uncontrollably.
He raised his head and stared intently at Qin Yu as he walked out of the tower gate, his expression a mixture of shock and undisguised awe. He knew all too well that in the countless years since the temple was established, only a handful of people had ever passed through the fifth level of the Extreme Refinement Tower.
The first is the founder of the Eternal Extreme Sacred Hall —the Hao Yuanzun, an unparalleled being who stands at the pinnacle Supreme the Stainless Realm and rules over the entire world.
The second is Hao Yuanzun's close friend, the same person who stands at Ultimate pinnacle of the Stainless Realm, Ancestor Hao Wuli.
The third is the legendary mysterious figure who founded the Extreme Refinement Tower —his real name was not even fully recorded in the Temple's historical archives; all that is known is that he was once the Ultimate will spanning eras.
Now, a fourth name has appeared on this list— Qin Yu.
The elder guarding the tower slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, his tone carrying an undisguised sigh of admiration, "A prodigy among prodigies... Such talent would likely have even caught the eye of the progenitor in his lifetime."
Qin Yu simply smiled faintly, his gaze calm and profound, as if he had anticipated passing the fifth level. He bowed slightly to the tower-guarding elder. "Thank you for allowing me to enter the tower for training." After saying that, he turned and left, his figure gradually disappearing in the golden light, leaving everyone with endless shock and an unforgettable image.
In the innermost part of the Eternal Extreme Sacred Hall, the silence was so profound that even the breath of time seemed to be sealed off. A heavy, silent light descended upon the towering platform, where an ancient figure sat serenely, surrounded by a vast and boundless, Stainless radiance, like the sole lighthouse in the Realm Sea.
Ancestor Hao Wuli slowly opened his eyes. In that instant, the entire inner hall seemed to be pushed open by an invisible tide of light, and the spatial walls rippled outwards in layers. His gaze was reflected in the sky hundreds of thousands of miles away. It was a gaze that overlooked all worlds and discerned cause and effect, but at this moment it revealed a rare sense of joy.
"Not bad... not bad..." His voice was deep and clear, like a resounding bell that transcends eras.
"The person personally selected by Hao Yuanzun has indeed lived up to expectations. For billions of years, countless people have shattered upon touching the five levels of the Extreme Refinement Tower. Very few have been able to pass the third level smoothly, and only a handful of core elders have passed the fourth level. But today, he has broken through it in one fell swoop."
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, as if he were peering into the future flames of war and glory.
"With this young man in charge, the Eternal Extreme Sacred Hall has a good chance of regaining its reputation as the number one holy temple in the Source of Epochless · Middle Layer!"
As his words fell, his aura returned to deep silence, as if the entire universe held its breath in response to his silence.
Meanwhile, in the Radiant Heaven Imperial Capital.
The towering, strangely shaped ancient buildings on both sides of the street, and the long street paved with gold-infused spirit stones, shimmered with a cold radiance under the midday sun. Pedestrians thronged the area, and the auras of cultivators mingled into a subtle tide. From the shops came the resonant hum of treasures and the faint scent of spiritual fragrance.
Qin Yu's figure slowly appeared on the main street. His expression was calm and his steps were steady, but there seemed to be an indescribable sharpness around him, which made people subconsciously give way. Having just come out of the Extreme Refinement Tower, he did not rush back to the Annihilation Abyss Star Palace. Instead, he turned his gaze to the more prosperous area at the end of the street to make final preparations for the "Desolate Annihilation Secret Realm" three days later.
In the heart of the main city of Radiant Heaven Imperial Capital stands a magnificent building that resembles a starry sky – the Radiant Abyss Fate Splendor Hall.
Its exterior resembles a palace forged from billions of galaxies, with a dome composed of layered, rotating crystalline star rings, each ring adorned with different temporal and spatial radiance, as if inlaid with fragments of countless parallel worlds atop the palace. The palace gates, towering over a thousand feet high, are carved from a single piece of annihilated gold spirit crystal, their surfaces engraved with ever-flowing patterns of fate, each pattern seemingly carrying different auction histories and the stories of countless powerful figures.
When Qin Yu stepped onto the Radiant Stairs in the Radiant Abyss Fate Splendor Hall, the aura of the entire palace seemed to isolate the noise of the outside world, replacing it with a calm and heavy pressure—a hidden domain formed by the resonance of countless transcendent treasures and divine artifacts.
Passing through the main gate inlaid with spirit jade and star patterns, one is greeted by a domed hall that is a hundred miles wide. The surrounding walls are not made of stone, but are constructed of translucent "Mirror Time Flow Walls," within which scenes of grand auctions throughout the ages are constantly displayed: supreme powerhouses fight to the death for a supreme treasure, Ancient Clan ancestors exchange a boundary river for a sacred artifact of Fate Soul, and even gods from beyond the boundary cast their wills to personally attend.
At the center stood a massive auction platform, crafted from a single piece of "Eternal Radiant Heart." Its surface radiated a soft glow, yet when Spiritual Sense probed into it, it revealed a sharpness capable of Sever Karma and effect. The seating around the platform was divided into nine tiers. The outermost circle housed ordinary cultivators and those from mid-level forces; the inner circle demanded increasingly higher levels of status and cultivation. The supreme seat at the very center was reserved solely for the most elite members of the Source of Epochless · Middle Layer.
Qin Yu's gaze swept calmly over the crowd in the hall, and he thought to himself:
"This time, if we can find suitable logical components and defensive structures... it will be the greatest help to the Desolate Annihilation Secret Realm."
He slowly stepped in, and countless divine senses quietly swept over him, but when they touched the faint golden-purple light between his brows, they all retreated, not daring to probe even slightly.
Led by an attendant, Qin Yu walked straight to the Golden Radiance Seat in the inner circle—a seat reserved only for core disciples of the Eternal Extreme Sacred Hall or direct descendants of the nine top-tier forces in the middle ranks. The back of the Golden Radiance Seat was crafted from the bones of the Annihilation Radiance Dragon, and the seat was covered with divine beast hide with starlight patterns. Every texture on it seemed to resonate with the pulse of time and space, and once seated, one could invisibly isolate oneself from external divine sense probing.
He had barely taken his seat when a wave of light began to ripple in the void above the auction stage. The auctioneer—a white-haired elder Supreme of the Severed Observation Realm —slowly walked onto the stage. Twelve floating golden dragon shadows surrounded the elder, each dragon shadow's eyes reflecting a different cosmic scene, as if silently scrutinizing the entire audience.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today's first item for auction—" The elder paused, raised his hand, and a jet-black beam of light, as deep as an abyss, surged forth from the stage, lifting the entire item up.
That was a Radiant Extreme Soul-Annihilating Shield Core.
Its appearance is not solid, but rather resembles a star core condensed in the void, its surface flowing with silver chains of cause and effect and jet-black annihilation ripples. With each ripple spreading, the surrounding space slightly folds. The auctioneer slowly introduced it:
"This shield core originated from the Soul-Annihilating Imperial Clan, dating back countless eons. Legend has it that it was refined from the True Soul essence of an Annihilation Overlord. Before it is struck, it can sever the life-force chain of an enemy's attack, rendering all attacks based on cause and effect, fate, and rules—directly ineffective."
As his words fell, a demonstration appeared on the void light screen—a powerful expert at the Only Book Realm unleashed a World-Covering strike. The energy that could overturn mountains and rivers seemed to be swallowed up by an invisible force when it approached the shield core by half an inch, without even causing the slightest ripple.
A murmur of amazement rippled through the audience.
Starting bid: 500 million Annihilation Starlight Crystal; each bid must be at least 50 million higher.
Almost the instant the words were spoken, cultivators in the surrounding seats began to bid, creating a cacophony of voices.
Qin Yu's gaze darkened slightly.