The Battle with the Light-Folding Epoch Whale in the Radiant Abyss Illusory Domain

A region in the Source of Epochless · Middle Layer is known as the "Radiant Abyss Illusory Domain".

On the edge of the Annihilation Abyss Epoch, lies a virtually unrecorded forbidden zone. Here, seasons are indistinct, and light and shadow eternally float in the air like shards of glass. The sky is cloudless, yet countless fragmented starbands float in the air, and light folds and twists like fluid, where time itself loses its order.

The ground beneath our feet is composed of layers of stone interwoven with dark gold and silver light. Every step feels like stepping on crystallized time. Even the slightest tremor can cause subtle ripples in time, creating delays and mirrors in the surrounding space. If any mortal were to step in, their mind and body would be torn apart by the flow of light into countless overlapping layers of "past and future".

The Heavenly Sha Alliance's team is currently traversing this strange, folded land.

The leader was named Li Huncang, whose cultivation level was Severed Observation Realm - Supreme. He wore dark silver armor and a cloak that seemed to be woven from nebula light, and his gaze was cold and vigilant. The other twelve members of the Only Book Realm - Supreme were scattered in a defensive formation, each holding a halberd forged from "Annihilation Radiance Crystal Bone", and they looked around warily.

Their footsteps were discontinuous in space; each step seemed to be separated by several time layers, creating an eerie echo between reverberation and overlap.

Li Huncang frowned and whispered, "This region truly lives up to its name, 'The Radiant Abyss'... Even Spiritual Sense is folded into several segments, unable to take shape."

One of the cultivators in the group, a cultivator at the Only Book Realm, said nervously, "My lord, the spatial laws here seem to be constantly being rewritten, and the flow of time is also unstable. I'm afraid we shouldn't stay here any longer."

Li Huncang narrowed his eyes, staring at the utterly Space Silence area in front of him. There, a massive rift floated in the air, its interior shimmering with countless fragments of starlight, as if the remnants of the universe were folding and reflecting within it, emanating an unbearable, dazzling light.

"This place," he began slowly, "is the legendary 'Light-Folding Remnant Belt,' where light supposedly fell Annihilation Abyss Epoch. It's said that an ancient beast dwells there, capable of devouring light and bending time—"

Before the words were even finished, the surrounding space suddenly trembled slightly.

A deep hiss echoed from the depths of space. It was not merely a sound, but a resonance that shook the soul and time itself, as if the universe itself was resonating.

The air seemed to freeze, and the cultivators of the Heavenly Sha Alliance changed their expressions.

At the very center of that crack, an enormous figure slowly emerged.

It was a colossal beast covered in scales that intertwined light and shadow— the Light-Folding Epoch Whale.

Its body stretched across the sky, its scales composed of countless refracted light, each shimmering with billions of colors before turning pure black in the next instant; its eyes were like collapsing star cores, and gazing into them delayed one's consciousness by several seconds, even dragging the echo of one's soul into a folded layer of time.

It let out a low growl, and the air shattered into fragments of light.

The entire Radiant Abyss Illusory Domain instantly erupted with countless overlapping spacetime mirrors. The figures of the twelve Only Book Realm cultivators were shattered by the mirror light, and their voices repeated, stretched, and dissipated in layers of space.

Li Huncang's expression changed, and he immediately shouted, "Form the formation! Use the Annihilation Radiance Soul-Locking Formation to stabilize the boundary!"

The twelve cultivators simultaneously raised their palms, their Spiritual Sense surging and transforming into twelve silver chains that intertwined in the air, forming a massive array to stabilize the torn space.

However, at this very moment--

The eyes of the Light-Folding Epoch Whale lit up, and tens of thousands of refracted beams of light emanated from its body, forming a dazzling curtain of light that pierced the sky.

The sky suddenly distorted, and space, causality, and consciousness were all obscured by the chaotic light.

The cultivators within the array cried out in alarm, "Spiritual Sense locking has failed! Our soul skills cannot be concentrated—!"

Li Huncang's expression darkened, and he slammed his halberd down, unleashing a torrent of Annihilation Origin energy in an attempt to suppress the celestial light. "Hold on! That's its Radiance-Breaking Heavenly Revelation! Once it's completely enveloped—"

But before he could finish speaking, the surrounding light barrier suddenly collapsed into a huge folded vortex, pulling them in along with the array rings.

The balance of heaven and earth is disrupted, and spacetime collapses.

Light and shadow overlapped to create a vast and destructive spectacle.

The Epoch Whale swam slowly in the silent sea of light, vast and majestic, as if looking down upon the Ultimate disillusionment it had created.

In the realm of light refraction, time is completely disordered.

The Heavenly Sha Alliance team was now completely engulfed by the "Epoch-Folding Return to the Abyss" domain released from the body of the Light-Folding Epoch Whale. The surrounding scenery kept changing - the ground under their feet turned into the sky in a flash, and the starlight above their heads fell into the sea in the next instant. Space, time, direction, and gravity all collapsed, as if they had fallen into a multi-dimensional vortex from which Bugui.

Li Huncang gritted his teeth, his spiritual energy shield flickering rapidly around him.

"Damn it... its spacetime logic is so powerful! It even tore my consciousness into pieces!"

His eyes twitched, and he looked up at the colossal shadow slowly floating in the distance— the Light-Folding Epoch Whale's enormous body filled his entire field of vision, the light flowing between its scales like the breath of a celestial body, each arc of light it refracted capable of altering the order of the world. With a low groan, time in the entire domain began to flow backward.

"Everyone, stabilize your souls!" Li Huncang roared.

However, before he could finish speaking, twelve cultivators at the Only Book Realm · Supreme attacked simultaneously, unleashing countless spiritual blades that pierced through the void and transformed into streaks of light that slashed directly at Epoch Whale's chest and abdomen.

The next second—all attacks freeze simultaneously.

The silent fluctuations of time spread out, and all the flowing light blades, magic arrays, and spirit explosions reversed and flowed back in the air, instantly turning back into spiritual energy dust and flowing back into their own bodies.

"This is... my magic... regressing!?"

"Spiritual energy is flowing back! My sea of consciousness is rekindling!"

Several cultivators were horrified. Their spiritual energy was forcibly reversed, their bloodline power flowed backward, their auras became unbalanced, and they all spat out blood.

Li Huncang's forehead as he stared intently at the slowly opening giant maw.

"Epoch-Folding Return to the Abyss... It can actually send the enemy's skills back to the unformed stage—even the thought of casting them is folded away by it!"

The Light-Folding Epoch Whale's eyes suddenly lit up, and a resonant, nightmarish sound echoed outwards:

"Light is born from the abyss, and extinguished by its breaking... You have desecrated the order of the 'Epoch Realm'."

With a gentle flick of its tail fin, the entire light-reflecting field shattered into ninety thousand light mirrors, each reflecting a different time fracture. Dozens of versions of Li Huncang and his subordinates appeared simultaneously within these mirrors, as if their existence had been divided into different trajectories of fate.

They are trapped in a labyrinth of cause and effect of light.

"Damn it... If this continues, even our consciousness will be stripped away by time!" Li Huncang roared, slamming his palm against his chest, causing blood to gush out and condense into a dark red Soul Seal in the air.

"Using the Guan Yao as a guide— Soul Rend Reverse Folding!"

The Soul Seal instantly shattered, transforming into a spiraling storm of light that swept outwards. Within the storm emerged nine overlapping mirrors of the soul, each reflecting Epoch Whale's enormous figure.

"Activate the Guan Yao Soul Rend Seal!"

With his furious roar, the mirror shattered. The mirror fragments transformed into countless streams of soul light, tearing at the spacetime layer released by Epoch Whale like sharp blades. A deep tremor erupted in the space, as if time itself had been forcibly ripped apart.

The Light-Folding Epoch Whale let out a thunderous roar, and a tiny crack appeared on the surface of its scales. Thousands of rays of light went out of control and shot out from the crack, piercing straight into the sky.

"Hmph... Looks like he's not invincible after all." Li Huncang sneered, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He turned to the cultivators behind him and whispered, "Remember, your mission here is just an excuse! The Epoch Whale contains Light-Folding Origin Crystal, the only treasure in the myriad realms capable of forging a 'Reverse Light Divine Soul'! If this beast doesn't die, I Bugui the alliance!"

One of the cultivators was taken aback. "Sir, the Alliance Leader ordered us to investigate that man from the Only Book Realm— "

"Shut up!" Li Huncang shouted coldly, a sinister ambition flashing in his eyes.

"If he were truly hiding here, he would have died at the hands of this beast long ago. Now, all I want is Epoch Whale's heart core... that is my true opportunity!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand again, and his eyes suddenly transformed into two rotating Golden Radiance stars.

"Folded spacetime? Then I'll use my soul to Guan Yao and force a rift!"

With a stomp of his foot, spiritual pressure erupted like a tidal wave, and the second level of the Guan Yao Soul Rend Seal fully unfolded. Space was divided into twelve concentric ring-shaped rifts, each with a reflection of the light and shadow of the Epoch Whale's Eye suspended on it.

"Roar--!"

Epoch Whale's roar shattered the domain once more, and countless rays of light transformed into a raging torrent that surged forth. The spacetime fragments carried within the stream of light sliced through the heavens and earth like blades, tearing apart the very souls of all who touched them.

Li Huncang's figure flickered, and his body erupted with spiritual light, forcibly channeling the spiritual power of his twelve subordinates into the Guan Yao Seal Array.

"All unite! With me at the core, lock down its temporal domain!"

The spirit array ignited like the sun, and a burst of light shot towards Epoch Whale!

At this moment, the heavens reversed direction, and the void boiled. The Guan Yao Soul Rend Seal and the torrent of time and space from the Epoch-Folding Return to the Abyss collided violently, forming a vortex of Annihilation that devoured everything.

The heavens and earth seemed to have transformed into a giant mirror of light, which was forcibly split in two.

"Roar--!!!"

The Light-Folding Epoch Whale let out a roar that shook the nine heavens. Its starlight body crumbled inch by inch as it twisted, and the liquid light flowing from its body turned into countless annihilation meteors that fell into the abyss of space.

Li Huncang's eyes were bloodshot, his Spiritual Sense almost completely burned out. He laughed wildly, "Haha--So what if Annihilation Abyss Sacred Beast! Under my Guan Yao, you're nothing but a reflective phantom!"

But just before his laughter could fully erupt, a previously unseen white-gold light suddenly shone deep within Epoch Whale's pupils.

That wasn't anger, but a kind of tranquility born of adversity.

Time seemed to stand still. Light froze, and Spiritual Qi was frozen.

Li Huncang's heart tightened suddenly, and he vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

"This guy... is he... folding the time I release?"

However, it was too late.

The platinum light exploded within Epoch Whale's body, like an echo of a collapsing starry sea. The light refraction domain rotated again, transforming into a massive anti-phase spiral.

"Epoch-Folding Return to the Abyss - Ultimate Style: Light Returns to the Origin Realm"

Heaven and earth reversed, time reversed, and all attacks, spiritual power, spells, and auras were forcibly reverted to before they occurred.

Li Huncang's pupils suddenly contracted, and his body rapidly blurred in the stream of light, as if his entire life was being "deleted."

"Damn it--!"

He roared as he forcefully suppressed the power of reversal, his soul shrieking as it burned.

The enormous figure of the Light-Folding Epoch Whale slowly moved forward in the depths of the sea of light, its huge pupils reflecting the terrified figures of the twelve cultivators.

"Light—not of mortal form." Its voice was like the whisper of a deity.

The entire Radiant Abyss Illusory Domain fell into a stillness before the explosion once again.