The Ghost Palace in the Deep Root Lower Layers

At that moment, the auras of the four otherworldly beings were completely annihilated, and the entire ancient space was as if the last breath of wind had been drawn away—so quiet that it was as if no sound had ever existed.

The moment Qin Yu sheathed his sword, the faint light deep within the coffin suddenly ignited.

It wasn't shining, but rather—like opening its eyes. In the next breath.

It contains no energy fluctuations, no magic, and no logical signs.

Space was "replaced". The ground beneath Qin Yu and Extinguished Light's feet suddenly disintegrated, but it did not collapse; rather, it was like a scroll being quietly rolled away.

Heaven and earth, rubble, cracks, the sound of wind... all pixels were removed, and in the next instant they stood in another world.

An unimaginably vast underground world, so vast that darkness presses down to the very edge of the field of vision.

Qin Yu frowned slightly. "... An illusion?"

Extinguished Light gazed silently ahead. "It's not an illusion."

She paused, then added, "This was a battlefield that once existed."

As the sound faded, the world burst into light.

Countless giant veins of lava surged upwards from the depths of the earth, like burning arteries of the world;

The ceiling consisted of black iron continents floating in the void, each flickering with enormous arcs of annihilation.

The mountain range appears to be upside down, suspended high in the sky, with black and gold fragments constantly falling from the base of each peak, as if the entire sky is being peeled away.

On the ground— Qin Yu's gaze suddenly froze.

There, at least a million powerful beings from the Void Obliteration Domain are engaged in a massive battle against otherworldly monsters.

The dark behemoths were numerous, each as large as a mountain.

They trailed long shadows behind them, not tails, but "Realm Breaking rifts" that pierced through countless worlds, as if they had been forcibly pulled into this place from another dimension.

Qin Yu said in a low voice, "These creatures... are far larger than those four from before."

Extinguished Light nodded. "They're not from the same system. They're not from the same race as the 'four otherworldly beings'... but rather bound by an even older bond."

Qin Yu: "Similar to -- an interdimensional army?"

Extinguished Light: "No, it's closer to the level of 'World Devourer'." The image continued to expand.

Qin Yu's vision automatically expanded under the influence of the illusion, revealing a grand underground war:

A dark, tidal wave of otherworldly monsters pressed down on the entire world, each step causing the earth to cave in hundreds of meters.

Humans, Demon Race, Spirit Clan, and Desolate Blood Clan... all the races that could be seen, heard of, or never heard of from the territories gathered together to form a massive defensive line stretching thousands of miles.

The scene made Qin Yu's heart tremble slightly. Even though he was merely a spectator, he could feel it—

That war was not a figment of imagination; it actually happened.

High in the sky, a man with black feathers on his back and wielding a giant halberd of Annihilation Star roared as he charged towards the beast horde, his power at the Annihilation Source Realm shattering a section of the battle line;

On the other side, a woman at the Only Book Realm raised a scroll, and countless spiritual characters burst forth from its pages, instantly freezing all the demonic beasts within a thousand-mile radius.

The abyss beneath the earth split open, and an Annihilation Abyss dragon roared as it rose, swallowing half the battlefield whole.

Countless starlight cannons rained down from the floating continent above, their beams striking the ground like divine punishment, carving a massive, unfathomable abyss.

Qin Yu took a deep breath. "... What era is this?"

A cold glint flashed deep within Extinguished Light's eyes. "Not the current Void Obliteration Domain, nor the era recorded by the Source of Epochless."

Qin Yu: "What is that?" Extinguished Light slowly raised his head and looked towards the center of the battlefield.

There, a gigantic otherworldly beast slowly raised its head--

Larger than any other monster, its decaying body still filled the entire underground world.

Extinguished Light said in a low voice, "That was the Source of Epochless —the era before he put pen to paper."

Qin Yu's heart skipped a beat. "Before you put pen to paper?"

Extinguished Light nodded. "Before the world was written, before the order of myriad destinies appeared."

This war... is why the world needs to be written about.

Qin Yu remained silent, a silent tremor rising within him.

The illusion continued to unfold. He saw—

Countless powerful figures looked up, as if gazing at something unseen beyond the sky.

Then their voices rang out simultaneously in the illusion, filled with despair, roars, and hysterical will.

"--Who's coming! In the last moments before the world collapsed, we sealed it... in its Primordial Coffin!"

Qin Yu's whole body jolted, and his breath caught in his throat.

Extinguished Light softly gave the answer, "Yes."

What you see is this coffin... the moment it was first closed.

Qin Yu suddenly looked up at the shattered earth in the center of the illusion.

As the illusion progressed, all the powerful warriors who fought against the giant beast fell simultaneously.

Countless runic chains emerged from all parts of the underworld, binding the behemoth and dragging it into the abyss.

The space at the bottom of that abyss began to twist, fold, and shatter...

In the end, it turned into a coffin.

Qin Yu's eyes suddenly lit up. "That's... the true origin of this coffin?"

Extinguished Light nodded. "They... used the lives of an entire era to seal it off."

The illusion ends here—but it doesn't.

Instead, it suddenly shattered into countless fragments of light, as if torn apart.

The next instant— Qin Yu and Extinguished Light stood back in front of the coffin.

From the deepest part of the coffin, a low, slow heartbeat began to emanate.

"Thump--..." "Thump--..."

The air vibrated. The ground resonated. Qin Yu felt a faint stinging pain between his brows.

Extinguished Light black light flickered, and the silver lines in his pupils suddenly contracted.

Qin Yu asked in a deep voice, "It's awake?"

Extinguished Light whispered, "No... it... is calling."

Qin Yu's gaze was fixed on the coffin. "What are you calling out?"

Extinguished Light softly and coldly, yet with an ancient stirring that didn't belong to her. "Call upon—the one who can unlock it."

As the last wisp of light from the shattered illusion dissipated, the world returned to a deathly silence. Qin Yu and Extinguished Light stood side by side, gazing into the distance at the ancient coffin.

The heartbeat deep within the coffin continued, as if striking the very bottom of the Source of Epochless.

"Thump--..." "Thump--..."

Qin Yu did not act immediately, nor did he ask Extinguished Light. He simply tilted his head slightly, synchronizing his heartbeat with the rhythm, and subtly concealed the aura of the Annihilation Dawn Realm between his brows.

He was observing, analyzing, and deducing the true purpose of the coffin.

Extinguished Light stood to his right, the dark light flowing beside her even more heavily than before. She didn't speak, because Qin Yu's gaze told her—

He had realized something crucial.

The next moment, Qin Yu's pupils contracted slightly.

It wasn't because he saw anything, but rather—

The air suddenly felt lighter. No, it was as if "something" had sucked it out.

The earth no longer bears their weight, space no longer maintains their position, and even the fact that they are "standing here" seems to have been gently erased by an unseen hand.

That force appeared without any warning.

Nameless Primordial Ash.

Qin Yu immediately identified its characteristics: formless, colorless, and without cause or effect.

It's like the world's approval of your existence has been instantly revoked.

In that very instant--

The ground beneath Qin Yu and Extinguished Light's feet suddenly collapsed, but it wasn't a ground shattering; rather, it was:

The "position" beneath our feet has been removed from reality.

The next second, an irresistible pull suddenly rose from the bottom of the ancient coffin.

It carries no energy, contains no magic, and does not contain any structure.

It was a force so pure it bordered on "conceptual collapse"—

It does only one thing: pull you in.

Qin Yu reacted extremely quickly, but he did not draw his sword or resist, because that power was not a matter of "strength" or "weakness," but rather:

It's rewriting "where you should stand".

Extinguished Light turned his head. "The Nameless Primordial Ash... has begun to operate."

Qin Yu didn't reply to her. He saw it very clearly:

This isn't an attack. It's the retraction of the statement "you were written on the outside of your coffin."

Therefore, you must enter.

The next instant, both of them were dragged into the depths of the coffin.

That wasn't falling; it was being pulled away from your current position by the world, like an erased stroke of a pen.

The inside of the coffin was devoid of light, space, and direction.

There was only a deep, Nameless aura of ashes, like the smoke and dust before the world was named.

Qin Yu subconsciously raised his hand, but not to defend himself; instead, he touched the flow of the ashes energy.

He instantly deduced three things:

First, the Nameless Primordial Ash was not malicious, but rather a selection process.

Second, it identifies not power levels, but some kind of abstract "qualification".

Third, at this moment, it views the two as different "entries".

Just then--

"Bang!!!!"

The coffin lid slammed down, covering the entire world with an unstoppable force.

The outside world completely disappeared.

The darkness that fell from the coffin lid did not spread, but rather:

Directly replace the light.

Qin Yu and Extinguished Light's figures were instantly swallowed by darkness.

But Qin Yu didn't panic.

Because he immediately and keenly perceived—

The direction of the smoldering energy changed in the next instant.

Extinguished Light was dragged to the left.

But he was dragged down into the abyss.

This is traffic diversion.

Qin Yu's mind raced like lightning.

The Nameless Primordial Ash is classifying the entrants according to some kind of "scale".

The "existence level" of the Extinguished Light was classified into the unspeakable zone.

And his aura of the Annihilation Dawn Realm...

It was placed on another, deeper level.

His lips tightened slightly.

It's not hostility, it's the rules.

It's not a choice, it's a structure.

It's not random, it's inevitable.

The next instant, darkness around him contracted violently.

It's not a package, but rather writing him out separately in the opening sentence of another space.

Qin Yu's body vanished instantly.

Extinguished Light reached out to grab him, but darkness was faster, isolating her in another realm of ashes.

Qin Yu, on the other hand, was sent to --

The true interior of the coffin.

Silence, light, and Timelessness.

Only one path, like an "unwritten draft of destiny," lit up in the darkness.

Qin Yu steadied himself, his gaze slightly lowered.

He didn't need to ask Extinguished Light, because at that moment he already understood:

The coffin isn't meant to swallow them. The coffin is reading them.

In that instant, the coffin lid closed completely, and the entire ancient space was swallowed by the darkness of the Nameless Primordial Ash. The next moment, a silent stream of light erupted from the bottom of the coffin—not energy, but a "shift in position." Qin Yu could even sense, in the complete darkness, that the coffin had left its original world structure.

He didn't try to break free, nor did he ask any questions. He could sense that the coffin followed an "ancient logic that was hard to trace," and each vibration seemed to be traversing the sinking layers of different worlds.

Thump--thump--

With each heartbeat, a dull thud, like the movement of a massive object, echoed from the outside of the coffin.

Suddenly, the veil of secrecy surrounding the gambling operation was torn away. The scene surrounding the entire coffin transformed into an endless universe.

It wasn't the starry sky, but a magnificent waterfall of the Milky Way. Qin Yu frowned slightly, yet remained fearless. He didn't ask Extinguished Light, for the answer was already written in his eyes.

This is not space; this is the deepest celestial fault line in the Source of Epochless.

The coffin rose into the air, silently hovering in the depths of space.

Around it, a waterfall of stardust tens of thousands of feet high sank into the eternal night, each cascade of Milky Way light shattering like the Milky Way itself, falling along the Endless Abyss.

That's not "like the Milky Way".

That was the Milky Way itself, broken off from spacetime and suspended upside down at the end of the Grave Slope Ruins.

Extinguished Light raised her eyes, her long, black hair swaying slightly in the starlight, her pupils reflecting countless shattered starlight.

Qin Yu didn't need words; he could determine the current structure simply through his divine sense.

This galaxy did not form naturally, but was forced here by some Nameless force, forming a "bottom-level falling tunnel".

And the coffin—was descending along it. The next breath, the coffin began to move.

It wasn't falling, nor flying, but rather "sliding" into the abyss along with the fragments of the Milky Way's light.

The starlight around them was torn into countless rays, which frantically scraped against the coffin walls, weaving into countless lightning-like silver trails in front of Qin Yu.

Beside the Milky Way cascade are constantly collapsing spatial fragments, extinguished celestial remains, and broken celestial patterns, like a giant skeleton left behind after annihilation.

The entire path of descent seemed to run through the very roots of the entire Void Obliteration Domain.

Qin Yu watched quietly. His gaze was extremely sharp, capturing every tremor in the structure of the Milky Way.

Every fault, every crack, tells him—

This is a level that the Void Obliteration Domain can reach.

This is the deepest page of the Void Obliteration Domain. The root of the world. The bottom of the Annihilation Root.

The coffin had been falling for an unknown period of time when the starlight suddenly converged from all sides, and a blinding white glow appeared at the end of the Milky Way.

A palace. Not a building.

Rather, it is the Ultimate relic standing at the edge of the universe.

As the coffin drew nearer, ancient stone pillars rose from the abyss.

Countless colossal pillars support the sky, each adorned with carvings from millions of years ago.

The details are so precise, like patterns etched into the bones of destiny. Galactic flames erupt from the top of the pillar, their blazing light condensed from stardust, as if the life-fire of countless worlds has been ignited.

The entire palace was bathed in a shower of annihilating stars, like Realm God of gods awaiting judgment.

The coffin slowly descended to the main hall in the center of the pillar forest. The starlight went out the moment the coffin hit the ground.

--Silence. Then, in the deathly silence, the coffin lid was suddenly flung open.

Boom!!! A surge of light shot into the sky, and the starlight was knocked back.

Qin Yu stepped out of the coffin. His feet landed on the dark stone floor of the palace, starlight scattering around his feet.

Extinguished Light followed him out, his black robes reflecting a cold, ethereal light in the starlight.

Qin Yu looked up.

He gazed at the azure yet strangely shaped world structure, as if it were interwoven with the deep sea and the starry sky.

Outside the palace lies a vast, unimaginably expansive, azure Void Realm.

Billions of giant structures resembling sea trees extend from the earth's depths to the sky.

Each one pulsates with patterns resembling a divine soul.

Starlight, like flowing water, slowly wafted between these giant roots.

Qin Yu quietly surveyed the entire room.

There was no confusion or bewilderment in his eyes.

Everything--

Galaxy, Abyss, Starfall, Column Forest, Deep Blue Void Realm...

He calmly broke them down into hundreds of judgments.

Extinguished Light gently landed a step beside him, but said nothing.

Qin Yu's expression told her that he had realized what this palace was.

Just as Qin Yu's gaze fell upon the darkest, most secluded area at the heart of the palace—

A deep, ancient voice, seemingly originating from Creation the Source of Epochless, slowly echoed from the depths of the palace.

"... You have finally... reached my... forgotten bottom."