Before the Forest of Steles lies a desolate wasteland.
The moment Qin Yu and Hong Xiuxiang stepped in, the earth trembled violently, as if a colossal creature that had been dormant for billions of years was turning over. Before them, the heavens and earth suddenly split open, and countless stone tablets emerged upside down from the abyss, suspended in the air. The tablets were as black as iron, but their surfaces shimmered with a blood-red light, writhing like living things.
These steles are not static, but rather like stars hanging upside down in mid-air, layer upon layer, stretching to the horizon. Ancient runes flow on each stele, like living insects and snakes, sliding down from the top of the stele, converging into chains of cause and effect, hanging down to the ground, making a "drip-drip" sound, like blood dripping onto an invisible lake.
Just then, Hong Xiuxiang suddenly exclaimed in surprise, her eyes narrowing sharply—
To her astonishment, she saw two familiar characters appear on one of the stone tablets: "Hong Xiuxiang".
Almost simultaneously, the ground beneath Qin Yu's feet suddenly sank, and his divine sense instantly detected three words appearing on another monument: "Qin Yu".
The inscription wasn't carved on, but rather formed from billions of points of light condensing from the void. These points of light, like the ashes of time, were meticulously outlined on the surface of the monument, each stroke carrying with it the ripples of fate.
The patterns on the monument not only bear names but also extend into long chains of cause and effect, with images constantly appearing on these chains: past battles, bleeding wounds, and even the outline of death at some unknown moment in the future.
Buzz--!
As the last stroke was made, Qin Yu and Hong Xiuxiang's names lit up completely, the monument began to rumble, and the monument's shadow emerged from within it.
It was the figure of "Qin Yu", with a dark light burning between his brows. He held the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword in his hand, its blade gleaming. It was the starting stance of [Sever the Void in a Single Thought]!
On the other side, Hong Xiuxiang's tombstone shadow unfolded the "Spirit Brocade Book Realm," with countless pages of spiritual texts covering the sky and transforming into chains that sealed off the space. This was the [Soul Book Cuts Off Breath] that she was most familiar with.
However—these shadowy figures are not imitations of them, but rather a pre-release of the skills they are about to unleash!
Once the thought of using it arises in one's mind, the stele shadow will be even faster, extracting that skill and that future from the inscription and directly restoring it.
Deep within the forest of steles, millions of steles trembled in unison, their crimson light forming a vast dome that completely imprisoned the two within this "prison of destiny writing."
Qin Yu's eyes narrowed, and the light of the Azure Ring subtly flowed deep within his sea of consciousness. He already understood:
In this forest of steles, they are not facing enemies, but rather "themselves" written on the inscriptions, the lingering shadows of death forcibly etched by fate.
The sword's sound, echoing from the monument's shadow, pierced the sky first.
"Sever the Void in a Single Thought-- "
The voice was devoid of emotion, yet it carried an undeniable causal tearing force. As the Stele Shadow relentlessly unleashed the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword, the void instantly shattered into billions of light fragments, each fragment containing suspended images of Qin Yu's past battles: the Spectral Ghost Cemetery, the Annihilation Ancient Divine Palace, the Desolate Annihilation Secret Realm... All the past was forcibly stripped away by the Stele Shadow, transforming into causal fragments that, along with the sword's edge, crashed down!
Qin Yu's eyes narrowed sharply. He realized that this was not a simple imitation, but rather that the monument's shadow had directly extracted his actions from a certain moment in the future, making him his own calamity.
"Such terrifying power..." Hong Xiuxiang turned pale. The pages of the book realm around her flipped wildly, and the soul runes resounded, trying to resist the approaching Sword Qi. But just as she was about to activate [Soul Book Cuts Off Breath], another stele shadow had already taken the lead, and the sea of books overturned the sky, completely sealing off the world!
She was horrified to discover that her every move had already been written in advance by the stele's shadow.
Boom!
The Sword Qi arrived; the Monument Shadow's Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword cleaved through the sky, heading straight for Qin Yu's brow.
At that very moment, the light from the Azure Ring within Qin Yu's body suddenly vibrated, and he let out a low shout:
"Fate Cause Master Seal -- Seal Derivation · Mirror Returning Ring!"
In an instant, a ring appeared between his brows, and billions of runes spread out like a mirror ring, reflecting back the image of the sword blade that had struck the monument! The entire space suddenly distorted, and the "future slash" released by the monument was deflected back, with the Sword Qi rebounding back at the monument itself.
Boom--
Qin Yu's body, as seen in the inscription, shattered into numerous cracks, his body breaking into fragments of fate-like dust. However, he did not truly Annihilation; instead, he quickly reformed within the inscription.
"It... cannot be truly destroyed!" Qin Yu frowned, staring intently at the blood-stained monument engraved with his name. The moment the monument's image was reborn, Qin Yu's name on the monument became even more crimson, as if it had absorbed the power of his previous counterattack, becoming even clearer and more terrifying.
At that moment, Hong Xiuxiang gritted her teeth and whispered, her hands dancing in unison, causing the pages of the book to unleash a galaxy of light:
"Realm Words Book Seal Script!"
Countless pages of spiritual books sealed off cause and effect, forcibly suppressing her shadow back into the stele body. But the shadow only retreated slightly before churning through the endless sea of books again, locking away her aura.
Qin Yu discerned the pattern, his voice low and deep. "They are not true enemies, but rather the 'remnants of the future' written on the monument. If we continue to fight head-on, we will ultimately be devoured by fate!"
However, the Stele Forest did not give them any respite. As the first stele shadow was re-formed, the entire stele array resonated with a roar, hundreds and thousands of steles trembled at the same time, and more afterimages emerged from the steles, ready to completely engulf them.
Azure Ring's voice rang out in Qin Yu's mind, cold and clear:
"To retrieve the fragmented map, you must use a higher level of power to erase the future written in the inscription. Otherwise, you are destined to die in the shadow of your own monument."
In that oppressive moment, Qin Yu suddenly raised his hand, and the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword appeared in his palm, its blade surging with a cold light that Mieyin.
"Since you are me from the future, then I will personally—annihilate you!"
The sword intent burst forth, and the sword's cry reverberated throughout the Stele Forest.
Boom--
The forest of steles beneath Qin Yu's feet suddenly trembled, and red, blood-like characters appeared on each stele. The names were constantly being flipped and rewritten, as if to nail Qin Yu and Hong Xiuxiang's life, death, and future to the stele surface.
Countless shadows of monuments surged forth, one after another, blocking their retreat. Each shadow held the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword, and each one foreshadowed the moment of defeat and death that Qin Yu or Hong Xiuxiang might face in the future.
Hong Xiuxiang's expression changed, and she frantically flipped through the pages of the book, but no amount of blocking could delay the shadow of the stele for even a moment.
"Young Master Qin, this forest of steles... is etching our future word by word into our lives!" Her eyes trembled, her voice tinged with fear.
Qin Yu's eyes grew even colder.
He slowly raised his sword, and the runes of "Eleven Severing Forms" suddenly appeared on the blade of the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword. The cold light was like silent thunder, each stroke carving through heaven and earth. At the same time, the Azure Ring suddenly exploded, and nine halos appeared, as if locking in the Fate Law of the entire Stele Forest.
Azure Ring whispers:
"This stele forest 'writes the future' with its inscriptions, and you, with your sword and ring, 'change the future.' Only by rewriting the inscriptions can you reverse fate."
The next moment--
Qin Yu took a deep breath, his voice low, and uttered four words:
"Sever the Main Narrative!"
The Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword crashed down with a deafening roar.
The moment the sword's edge swept across, the inscriptions on the steles in the forest of steles were directly "cut off," as if a scroll had been forcibly torn apart. The inscriptions on the steles that read "Qin Yu will perish" and "Hong Xiuxiang will be beheaded" instantly dissipated, turning into a sky full of karmic dust.
At the same time, the Azure Ring light spread, forcibly reversing the causal chain of the future of the Stele Forest. A halo enveloped everything, "whitewashing" the writing on all the steles, and the movement of the stele shadows froze for a moment, like a blank script "without ink."
Hong Xiuxiang's eyes widened in shock, and she murmured to herself, "He... he actually erased the writing of fate?"
But the Stele Forest is not content to remain silent.
The core stele, which had not been completely destroyed, suddenly exploded, and the torrent of stele shadows re-coalesced, carrying an even stronger pressure than before. At this moment, the stele forest was like an angry author, wanting to fill in the parts that Qin Yu had "tampered with," and hundreds of stele shadows surged forward.
Qin Yu's eyes darkened, and he raised the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword high once more. The sword's edge overlapped with the Azure Ring of light, unleashing an Annihilation wave that could annihilate all inscriptions.
"The Source Silence Severs All; the Trace and Sever, Leaving No Wheel!"
The heavens and earth roared. The forest of steles was completely out of balance under this sword strike. The core of the stele exploded, the stele shadows collapsed, and amidst the surging dust, only countless fragments of the stele fell silently.
Deep within the shattered shadows of the monument, an ancient and tattered scroll quietly floats, releasing a radiance that resonates with the third ancient image between Qin Yu's brows.
Azure Ring's voice suddenly lowered:
"That's it... the second fragment."
The void above the stele forest suddenly trembled, as if an invisible giant hand was gently brushing across the entire world, and a ripple that tore through starlight spread out from the depths of the void. The light and shadow gradually solidified, manifesting as the figure of a woman.
She was surrounded by pale purple starlight, as if she were an eternal spirit fallen from the edge of the universe. Her hair, like the bright moonlight, fell over her shoulders and was adorned with crystal-like purple petals, trembling slightly with her breath, like the rhythm of life itself. Her delicate ear tips outlined the lineage of an exotic fairy, making her appear both mysterious and noble.
She was draped in a shimmering, iridescent robe, its sleeves like thin mist and gauze, swaying in the air with her breath, radiating layers of light patterns. The amethyst flowers on her shoulders resembled blooming stars, each petal refracting fragments of light from countless universes. With a wave of her hand, stardust flowed from her palm, the crystalline fragments scattering out to illuminate the mottled inscriptions on the ancient steles in the Stele Forest.
Her eyes were clear and calm, as if they could penetrate the layers of barriers of the Stele Forest and strike the depths of people's hearts. With just a slight lift of her eyes, Qin Yu and Hong Xiuxiang felt their hearts tighten, as if they were being gazed upon by some ancient and supreme being.
Behind her, the void swirled, revealing a massive illusory star ring, with stars appearing and disappearing within it, making her figure seem like a deity who had traversed endless time and space.
At that moment, the entire forest of steles seemed to freeze in time with her arrival, and even the brilliance of the inscriptions trembled slightly, as if bowing down in submission to this woman.
The void deep within the Stele Forest gradually quieted down, and even the originally flowing starlight froze the moment she appeared, as if forcibly frozen by some higher-level will.
That woman was no ordinary person, but rather the embodiment of the essence of the Stele Forest—the soul of the Stele Forest.
Her existence lacked a physical body, yet possessed a power far greater than any physical form. Her hair transformed into flowing starlight, each strand resonating with the inscriptions atop the stele forest, as if her breath were the rise and fall of countless inscriptions. Her amethyst gown seemed to be formed from "spiritual essence" nurtured deep within the stele forest; as her sleeves fluttered, the ancient runes on the stele forest swayed in response, as if echoing her will.
Her eyes were like two deep starry seas, reflecting the phantom images of countless towering ancient steles within the Stele Forest, as if her gaze itself was the arbiter of the Stele Forest. That aura contained no killing intent, yet it gave Qin Yu and Hong Xiuxiang an inexplicable sense of oppression, as if they were facing an indescribable being, where even breathing required permission.
At this moment, the ancient steles in the stele forest trembled slightly, and specks of light emerged from the cracks on their surfaces, eventually merging into the woman's body, making her appear as if she were a soul body constructed from billions of inscriptions. Each inscription flickered, as if reciting ancient scriptures, and these scriptures ultimately returned to her chest.
At this moment, she stood in the center of the Stele Forest, the ethereal star ring behind her becoming increasingly clear, its inner ring engraved with unspeakable ancient symbols, symbolizing the Stele Forest's essential foundation that transcends the Source of Epochless.
She is the will of the Stele Forest, the Ultimate embodiment of protection and judgment. The rise and fall of the Stele Forest, the changes in the inscriptions, and the guidance of the fragmented maps all depend on her single thought.
As she extended her slender fingers and gently traced them across the void, the entire Stele Forest reverberated and shook. Countless inscriptions converged, condensing into a dazzling halo of runes at her fingertips. That halo radiated an unapproachable majesty, proclaiming that this woman was the soul Adjudicator of the Stele Forest's origin.
Qin Yu and Hong Xiuxiang exchanged a glance, a chilling thought suddenly rising in their hearts:
To obtain the fragments of the map, one must first face the test of the very soul of this stele forest!