The second level of the Heavenly Staircase suddenly trembled, the Gray Wheel of Cause and Effect roared and spun, and the Nightmare Disciple leader roared as he unleashed his Ultimate secret technique—
[The Abyss of Cause and Effect: Rewriting Destiny]!
Countless gray rivers of fire surged from behind it, like an inverted celestial river cascading down. Each river of fire corresponded to a certain line of fate. The moment it touched the battlefield, Hong Xiuxiang's future was "written" as failure, Yunyi's existence was "erased" as illusion, and Qin Yu's destiny was "rewritten" as Annihilation.
The entire world seemed to be being rewritten!
However, at this moment, Qin Yu suddenly roared, and the sound of annihilation reverberated throughout the battlefield.
[The Silent Origin, the Unborn Silent Cause]!
Countless annihilation patterns surged from Qin Yu's body, like a volcano erupting from billions of ash, forcibly annihilating the altered chains of destiny. The Azure Ring transformed into a dazzling, silent light, embedding itself into Qin Yu's back, the power of Annihilation and return to the origin fully intertwined.
With a thunderous clang, Qin Yu raised the Origin- Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword high:
[Sword of Dream Silence - Destiny's End - Dream Realm's Eternal Fall]!
With a single swing of the sword, the entire void of cause and effect collapsed, and the soul of the Nightmare Disciple Clan leader was dragged into the endless Dream Abyss, never to awaken again!
Just then, the Brocade Ink Soul Brush in Hong Xiuxiang's hand suddenly burst forth with light. She bit her tongue, and her soul blood dripped onto the tip of the brush, causing an enormous golden-blue seal to appear beneath it:
[Soul Seal Script Law Severance]!
The void was instantly sealed by the seal. The Nightmare Disciple Cult leader's attempt to continue rewriting his fate was frozen in mid-air by the seal. The gray river of causal fire suddenly solidified and shattered inch by inch.
Immediately following, Yunyi suddenly soared into the air, her dragon soul body overlapping with the phantom butterfly's shadow, and billions of butterfly lights poured down like a meteor shower:
[Dragon-Butterfly Unification!]
Amidst the tidal wave of butterflies, a dragon's roar resounded throughout heaven and earth, and the annihilating light transformed into a soul-destroying long blade that covered the sky, cleaving straight into the core gray wheel of the Nightmare Disciple leader!
Boom--!!
The power of the three overlapped at the same moment. Qin Yu's Annihilation Dream Abyss, Hong Xiuxiang's Seal of Severed Laws, and Yunyi's Dragon Butterfly Slash intertwined to form a destructive torrent. The Gray Wheel of Cause and Effect completely collapsed at this moment. The phantom of the Nightmare Disciple leader was torn apart by countless cracks in the world. Finally, it let out a twisted roar. The gray fire river and its figure dissipated together, turning into causal ashes that drifted away without a trace.
The entire second level of the Heavenly Staircase returned to a brief silence.
Starlight slowly descended from the sky, illuminating Qin Yu, Hong Xiuxiang, and Yunyi, making them appear like three kings standing above cause and effect.
The world stood still for a moment, and then the ashes of cause and effect did not completely dissipate in the void, but quietly gathered together. The ashes swirled like quicksand, intertwining with each other, and gradually condensed into a "Karmic Crystal".
It was a fist-sized crystal, grayish-white in color, yet deep within its inner walls emerged countless shattered traces of fate, like thousands of severed threads silently wandering within the crystal. Each line carried a low, humming sound of cause and effect, as if telling a story of a past and future that did not belong here.
The light emitted by the crystals is not dazzling, yet it is unsettling—it is not a release of energy, but a manifestation of the "weight of cause and effect." As soon as you get close, you can feel your own existence being gently pulled, as if it will be rewritten in the next instant.
Hong Xiuxiang gripped the Brocade Ink Soul Brush tightly, her expression solemn, and said in a low voice:
"This is no ordinary remnant... This is the Cause-Derived Ash Marrow that condenses after cause and effect have been annihilated; it can only appear where cause and effect are completely severed."
Yunyi flashed with a dark light, and her dragon soul's consciousness flowed within them. She gazed at the crystal and softly added:
"If I'm not mistaken... this crystal might be the key to entering the third level of the Waterfall Heavenly Stairway. It will guide us to confront a deeper distortion of cause and effect."
Qin Yu reached out, the power of annihilation and dream intertwined in his palm, and gently absorbed the crystal. He could clearly sense the danger hidden within: this was not a reward, but a premonition.
Azure Ring trembled slightly in her sea of consciousness, her voice cold and cautious:
"Little Qinzi, obtaining it is tantamount to accepting the challenge of the third level. The causal power there is no longer about rewriting, but rather—completely erasing the right to exist."
The three exchanged a glance, all understanding the situation. Victory on the second level would not bring peace, but rather a deeper danger.
Deep within the void, a wisp of lingering ash trembled slightly, as if whispering:
Welcome to the next level.
On the third tier of the celestial staircase, starlight cascaded down like a waterfall, but unlike the first two tiers, the light here was not gentle, but rather cold and oppressive. The entire space was shrouded in a deathly, silvery-white stream of light, as if all sound and color had been stripped away, leaving only the cold, flickering trajectory of fate.
Before the three, several eerie creatures gradually emerged. They resembled the Nightmare Disciple in appearance, but were even more hollow—their entire bodies were pieced together from translucent gray-white fragments, as if they had been deliberately deleted from a time archive and then pieced back together. They had no faces, only deep black cracks extending from their heads to their entire bodies.
These are precisely the Fate Redactors.
The moment they appeared, the entire space trembled violently, and Qin Yu, Hong Xiuxiang, and Yunyi simultaneously felt their presence diminished. It was as if their figures were no longer distinct in this world, but gradually blurred, as if they might be erased at any moment.
"... My name actually disappeared in their domain..." Hong Xiuxiang was horrified to discover that even the touch of the Brocade Ink Soul Brush in her hand had become ethereal, as if the reason for the brush's existence had been deleted.
The Annihilation Abyss Star Mark on Yunyi's forehead flickered slightly. She murmured, "These guys aren't just rewriting... they're directly erasing the entire existence from the Scroll of Fate."
Before the words were finished, one of the censors slowly raised its hand. Its arm was not physical, but a massive black "Fate Quill," its tip shimmering with a greyish-white light. As it gently descended into the void, a terrifying symbol appeared:
On Qin Yu's life trajectory, the words "deleted" gradually took shape.
In an instant, Qin Yu's figure became semi-transparent, and even the Azure Ring in his sea of consciousness vibrated.
"Little Qinzi, their skills can erase their very existence! Quickly use multiple skills in combination, otherwise..."
Qin Yu's gaze suddenly turned solemn. Annihilation and Dreamlike Intent converged simultaneously, and the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword appeared behind him, while the Sword of Dream Silence resonated at the same time. The light patterns of the Silent Ring Return to the Abyss Diagram appeared in the void, and he let out a low shout:
"Want to alter my destiny? Then first endure— Silent Origin: Eternally Sever the Heavenly Balance!"
As the words fell, the entire space resounded like a giant bell, and the scales of cause and effect unfolded in the void, forcefully stopping the "Fate Quill" of the rewriter.
But at the same time, the pen of another re-editor fell on Hong Xiuxiang's soul chain. Yunyi's eyes suddenly opened, Silent Abyss Single Gaze flashed, and Cangyuan Dragon Shadow tore through the void, swallowing the "deletion" power whole.
As the three Fate Redactors fully revealed themselves, the starlight and water flow of the entire third tier of the Heavenly Staircase suddenly froze, as if artificially frozen. Cold white light fragments filled the air; they were not light, but "deleted fragments of fate," falling silently from the sky. Each fragment that landed on the ground caused the stone surface to lose its presence, turning into a blurry blank.
The three skills of the Fate Redactors
The Name-Deleting Pen
Using the Fate Quill as a medium, the "erasure" symbol is written directly on the target's destiny trajectory.
A huge gray scroll appeared in the void, displaying the target's name and life story. The moment the pen touched the paper, the name faded, the target's body became transparent, and even their voice could no longer be heard.
At that moment, Qin Yu felt a sudden tightness in his chest, and even the aura of the Source-Extinguishing Divine Sword became distorted.
Cause-Altering Text
Rewrite the past cause and effect of the target.
As the censor's fingertips fell, the enemy's past was instantly altered—a phantom suddenly appeared before Hong Xiuxiang's eyes: she had never met Qin Yu, never entered the Dawn Cloud First Hall, but silently lived out her days in the mortal world. The power of the phantom forcibly embedded itself into her sea of consciousness, shaking the logic of her existence.
"Is this... erasing my destiny with Young Master Qin?" Hong Xiuxiang gritted her teeth, Brocade Ink Soul Brush burst forth with a ghostly blue light, writing "This destiny is not severed," tearing the illusion apart.
The Continuation-Severing Chapter
The future of the target is forcibly terminated.
Fragments of the future appeared around Yunyi. She transformed into a dragon and soared into the sky, but was completely erased on the scroll of emptiness. The flight and roar of the future were extinguished in an instant. Only silence and black blankness remained in the entire space.
Yunyi's eyes suddenly turned cold and sharp, her soul wings unfurling, and countless butterfly shadows appeared. "You want to erase my future? Then first bear my annihilation!"
With all three skills unleashed simultaneously, the entire battlefield was instantly under control.
Qin Yu's expression turned cold. He no longer used the Sword of Dream Silence alone, but suddenly stacked multiple combat skills on top of each other:
[Silent Origin · Trace the Spirit Abyss]: Reversing cause and effect, pulling back the "deleted" destiny trajectory, forcibly restoring its existence.
[Silent Ring - Primordial Resonance]: The Silent Ring unfolds, forming Primordial Waves that reflect back the "deletion power" of the Fate Redactors.
The first and second moves of the Sword of Dream Silence were unleashed simultaneously, illusory consciousness and dream sounds overlapping, dreams and Annihilation like two waves, severing the "book of fate" of the reviser.
At this moment, Hong Xiuxiang wielded her brush, and [Book Annihilation Ink Waves] stirred up a sea of ink, with millions of pages flipping back and swallowing up the "Cause-Altering Text".
Yunyi transformed into a dragon and soared into the sky. The [Rending Domain Dragon Soul] crashed down, tearing apart the void of fate with its soul dragon shadow, shattering the "Continuation-Severing Chapter".
The moment when the three worked together
The world frozen by starlight shattered with a deafening roar, countless fragments of light exploding like fireworks. Annihilation and dreams, Ink Wave and dragon shadows intertwined, transforming into a monstrous storm of Annihilation that directly engulfed the three re-editors.
As they died, their grayish-white bodies shattered into countless words and symbols, scattering in the air and emitting a low, mournful melody of lost archives being burned.
In the end, only one Karmic Crystal remained, suspended in the center of the starlight and water, like a solidified teardrop of destiny, shimmering with an incomparably profound light.
The Karmic Crystal suspended in the center of the starlight and water was like a teardrop of fate frozen over countless epochs.
It is not a crystal, but a pure causal condensation. Transparent yet flowing with countless tiny lifelines, each line is like a microcosm of a world. Some are being born, some are collapsing, and some are forever frozen in a certain moment. If you look closely, you can even hear the deep heartbeat of lifelines emanating from within, as if it itself is a fragment of the heart of the cosmic causal chain.
When it floats, the surrounding spacetime automatically freezes, and even light cannot get close.
Its surface radiates a purple-gold glow, each ray of light resembling a causal path being judged.
Whenever someone approaches, fragments of her past and future appear in her mind's eye, as if she were being judged by fate.
Karmic Anchoring
It possesses the dual attributes of "repair" and "tear". It can be used to mend a past karmic connection that has been erased, or it can be used as a weapon to sever the enemy's karmic ties.
In battle, if it is integrated into the soul consciousness, it can render the enemy's causal skills "ineffective" because their anchor point is taken over by the crystal.
Fate Trajectory Insight
By immersing oneself in the radiant light of Karmic Crystal, one can glimpse fragments of one's impending destiny.
However, excessive prying can lead to a "causal burden," causing irreversible rewriting of certain future trajectories of users.
Karmic Burnout
Crystallization can serve as a source of a one-time burst, instantly releasing all causal energy and transforming it into a "causal storm."
All skills and entities within the area will be rewritten, blurring the lines between friend and foe.
This is our trump card for defeating the enemy, but the cost is enormous.
Philosophical connotation
It is the core gift of the Karmic Forest Abyss, symbolizing that "the past, present, and future can all be rewritten."
Obtaining it means gaining some control over one's destiny.
The moment Qin Yu reached out and took the Karmic Crystal, the entire Starfall Heavenly Stairway trembled, and the radiant water flow was instantly pulled, forming an upward tidal force.
Hong Xiuxiang exclaimed in a low voice, "It's starting again... It's taking us to the next floor!"
Qin Yu's heart skipped a beat, and the crystal in his hand released a radiant light, reflecting the phantom of the fourth level of the Heavenly Rank. It was a boundless courtroom-like sky, with countless judgment chairs floating, and a blurry giant shadow looming in the very center, as if the Fate Adjudicator was waiting for their arrival.
Yunyi narrowed her dragon eyes slightly, her voice low and cold. "Little Qinzi... the fourth level will be the true battle of referees."