Living in the deep palace

The Tai Chi sword wheel, with its stark black and white contrasts and interwoven chaos and stillness, seemed to strip the entire Sea of ​​Silence of its "sound" and "color" the moment it was pushed out from Su Chen's palm.

All the chaotic currents of laws, all the mental storms, fell into absolute stillness at this moment.

The ancient incantation that the skeletal apostle was frantically chanting abruptly stopped.

His raised scythe, which he had been using to tear reality apart, froze in mid-air.

His eerie green soul flame reflected the slowly rotating, terrifying sword wheel that seemed to contain all the mysteries of the universe from its birth to its destruction.

An absolute terror called "the end," originating from the very essence of life and transcending fear, completely seized his will!
"No... what is this...?"

"You are a Taiyi Golden Immortal, but you haven't even reached the fourth realm yet. How can you wield such powerful strength?"

At this moment, his will was fractured!

He "saw" that within that sword wheel, half of it represented the supreme "chaos" and "disorder" embodied by his master, the Bone Sovereign!
The other half, however, is the Celestial Ancestor Chen Sheng, representing absolute stillness, which signifies "order" and "end"!

Two completely opposite and irreconcilable supreme paths were perfectly fused together by the natives in this "dream" in a way that he could not understand at all!
This is no longer a supernatural power!
This is creation, and this is destruction!

"【Current Chaos Returns to Stillness】".

Su Chen's emotionless voice fell like the gavel of a final judgment.

The Tai Chi sword wheel did not unleash any earth-shattering power; it simply... gently imprinted itself on the skeletal apostle's body.

then.

Everything has begun... "Reset to zero".

The indestructible divine body of the Skeleton Apostle, composed of billions of years of immortal bones, did not break or disintegrate from the point where it was touched by the sword wheel. Instead, it simultaneously "collapsed" inward and "spread" outward!
Half of his body was disintegrated into the most primitive chaotic particles, devoid of any attributes, under the power of [All Laws Return to Nothingness]!

The other half of the body, under the power of the [Heavenly Slaughter Sword], had all concepts of "existence" terminated, turning into absolute nothingness!

His aggressive and destructive "Great Way of Bones" was forcibly torn apart at this moment by two completely opposite supreme "principles"!

Half of them were assimilated into chaos!

Half of it was relegated to silence!

"Lord... save me..."

Just before its eerie green soul fire was completely extinguished, the Skeleton Apostle emitted a faint fluctuation of will filled with endless confusion and disbelief.

He never understood it until his death.

Why did I lose?
Why would a monster, something incomprehensible even to "reality," be born in this "dream"?

……

Boom boom boom——!!!!

The moment the "existence" of the Skeleton Apostle was completely erased from this world by that Tai Chi sword wheel!
Before he died, the dark rift he forcibly tore open at his own cost, connecting the world behind the "door," also suffered a direct impact from the aftershocks of [Chaos Returns to Silence]!

That crack, which should have been infinitely expanded through his sacrifice, became a magnificent passage for the will of the Skeleton Lord to descend.

But at this moment, it was as if it had been struck hard by an invisible hammer formed from the "contradiction" itself!

The edge of the crack, halfway, is attempting to heal and close under the power of "the end"!
The other half, however, was torn apart and made even more distorted and violent by the power of "chaos"!
The two forces clashed and annihilated each other, ultimately causing this spatial wound to completely lose its stability!
It neither closed nor expanded.

Instead, it transformed into a constantly twisting, spewing chaotic aura from another world, like an unhealed, festering... hideous wound on the universe!
And in that very instant!

A supreme will, a million times more terrifying than the skeletal apostles, cold, violent, and filled with endless malice and madness!
Suddenly, a sliver of something was forcibly squeezed out from that unstable wound!
Just a tiny bit!
But, in that very instant, this sliver of will descended!
The entire silent sea, this special realm composed of spirit and soul, seemed to have been infiltrated with a drop of... deadly poison, enough to pollute the entire ocean!
Before this will, all the lingering resentments of the souls were instantly assimilated and distorted, transforming into the most insane and primal... chaotic demonic thoughts, before they could even utter a wail!
Su Chen's vast and boundless divine soul, which had just reached the half-step Great Perfection by fusing with the origin of [Spirit], actually felt at this moment an icy chill that seemed to freeze and tear his entire soul apart!
He "saw" it!
Behind that wound, he "saw" a pair of eyes that defied description...
Those eyes were darker than the deepest abyss! There was no reason, no emotion within them, only hatred for all "order" and pure malice towards all "existence"!
This is the Corpse Lord!

Even through a broken "door," even if only a tiny wisp of will was leaked out, the oppressive feeling it brought was still... world-destroying!

This is the true terror of the Fifth Realm!
One from the chaotic faction of "reality," the Fifth Realm!

"Ants..."

A will filled with endless majesty and tyranny transcended the barriers of time and space, and was fiercely imprinted on Su Chen's soul!
"You...how dare you...destroy my...chess piece..."

boom! ! !
Su Chen's body jolted violently! He felt his 'original essence'...
"My Way" actually let out a mournful cry of unbearable pressure under the impact of that will!
This is merely the power of the other party's single "thought"!

"very good……"

“You, this strongest… ‘key’…”

"I... will remember you..."

"Until the day I... escape this predicament..."

"I will... personally... crush your soul... and transform your Dao Fruit... into my... throne..."

"You insignificant ant... So what if you're a Taiyi Golden Immortal... How could you possibly know my power in the Fifth Realm..."

That cold will slowly faded away.

It wasn't that He retreated voluntarily, but rather that the unstable spacetime wound could no longer bear His will and began to contract and repel violently!
Ultimately, although the gruesome wound did not heal, its connection to the world behind the "door" was temporarily severed by the universe's instinct to "reject" it.

……

……

The Silent Sea has returned to its "silence".

However, this silence was completely different from the previous peace.

The air was filled with an inescapable, chaotic aura belonging to the Skeleton Lord, brimming with malice.

That spatial wound, like an ominous mark, is forever branded in the center of this starry sky.

Su Chen hovered silently in place, his expression more solemn than ever before.

He won.

He used his strongest divine power to directly kill a true fourth-realm expert from the world outside the "gate".

But he also lost miserably.

He not only personally unlocked the six shackles of that "door," but was also "thanked" by the enemy in person, and was given a "divine oracle" by their master, filled with humiliation and the threat of death.

All his previous efforts, all his battles, all his devouring, all became a complete joke in the face of that cruel truth.

He, this self-righteous "hunter," was, from beginning to end, merely the most useful... pawn on someone else's chessboard.

An uncontrollable rage, along with a deeper sense of powerlessness, surged into his heart at the same time.

He slowly clenched his fist, his nails digging deeply into his palm.

“Skeleton Lord…” He slowly uttered the name, each syllable filled with chilling killing intent.

He stood in the void, motionless for a long time.

He was reflecting, reviewing, and... replanning his path.

Should we continue hunting the remaining four forbidden ancient life forms?

No.

That would only play right into the Skeleton Lord's hands. Once all ten seals are broken, that "door" will be completely open to the Skeleton Lord! At that time, what will descend will no longer be a wisp of will, but... His true form!
Just sit back and do nothing?

Not to mention!
The appearance of the Skeleton Apostles proves that the Skeleton Lord has the ability to extend his "tentacles" into this "dream"! If he can send one apostle, he can send a second, and a third!
Su Chen could certainly hide himself away using the characteristics of the Taiyi Path, making himself untraceable to anyone.

But what about this world that is on the verge of collapse?
What about the countless beings within his inner universe, those beings he personally "carried"?

What about that core of the era, which carried the last hope of "Wu" and "Zhou"?
He was no longer the Su Chen who could travel the world alone with his sword, free from all worries.

Along his journey, he has inevitably carried too much weight on his shoulders.

He had nowhere to retreat.

"We can no longer passively follow the enemy's lead..."

The confusion born of anger and helplessness in Su Chen's eyes gradually faded. In its place was an absolute calm and resolute determination, a result of destruction and rebuilding.

"Since I cannot stop the 'door' from being opened..."

"Then, I will..."

"Personally, lock this 'door' again...!"

A crazy, yet singular, thought took shape in his mind!

The Skeleton Lord wanted to use him to "unlock" the lock.

So he did the opposite!
He's going to "lock" the door!

He was going to find the remaining four forbidden ancient beings!
The [Armor], with its inherent "protective" nature, became one of the core components of the seal, the "Heavenly Fortress." Therefore, the remaining four—[Power], [Speed], [Life], and [Death]—must also be indispensable key elements forming this "Sealing Gate"!

He can no longer "devour" them.

Devouring represents "destruction".

What he needs to do is "take control"!
He had to find the remaining four forbidden ancient beings before the power of the Skeleton Lord could reach them!
Then, with his own will and his own Dao, he forcefully forged them, along with the six primordial sources that had already merged within his own body, into a completely new, more solid, and more unbreakable "seal" that belonged only to him, Su Chen!
He wanted to lock the Skeleton Lord behind that "door" forever!

This plan is undoubtedly going against the tide!

Its difficulty is tens of thousands of times greater than simply devouring!
But this is his only... way to break the deadlock!

……

After setting this incredible plan, Su Chen did not set off immediately.

He knew that this was something he could hardly accomplish on his own.

The remaining four forbidden ancient beings, [Power], [Speed], [Life], and [Death], respectively represent "absolute power," "absolute speed," "absolute vitality," and "absolute annihilation."

They were the purest fighting units, and their strength was far greater than any he had encountered before.

Moreover, the Skeleton Lord would never sit idly by and watch him ruin his plans. Next time, what he sends will likely be more than just a "skeleton apostle."

He needs help.

Some, powerful enough, were also driven to the brink of despair... "allies".

His gaze seemed to pierce through endless time and space, landing on those twenty lofty figures among the fourteen star seas, figures that ruled this era.

The Ten Ancient Gods.

The Ten Celestial Venerables.

These guys, though selfish and self-serving, and though not long ago they even tried to plot against him.

However, they share a fundamental and irreconcilable common interest with him.

That is—to survive.

"It's time to go and meet the masters of this era."

A complex smile appeared on Su Chen's face.

He, who was regarded as a "taboo" and a "threat" by everyone, is now forced to play the role of a... "savior".

This, it must be said, is a brilliant irony.

He did not choose to seek out the East Sea Dragon Emperor, with whom he had a grudge, nor did he seek out the Ten Heavenly Venerables, who were terrified by him.

From the very beginning, he had only one goal.

That being, who lived the longest, saw the farthest, and was most likely to understand him and help him.

Among the ten ancient deities, the strongest is... Heavenly One Ancient Deity!

With a thought, Su Chen vanished from the silent sea filled with an ominous aura.

……

The Ruins of the Beginning.

This is the secluded cultivation place of the Heavenly One Ancient Venerable, and also the legendary place where the first wisp of "primordial energy" was born in this universe.

Here, there is no matter, only the purest and most primordial energies, the clear and turbid, slowly merging and flowing, evolving the supreme and wondrous principles of the beginning of heaven and earth.

A figure, its face obscured by intertwined light and shadow, sat quietly at the boundary between the pure and impure energies, as if it had completely merged with this world.

Indeed, it is the Ancient Venerable Tianyi.

At that moment, his seemingly eternal "existence" suddenly rippled with an almost imperceptible ripple.

He slowly opened his eyes.

He "looked" at the void in front of him.

There, a figure in a green robe had appeared silently, looking at him with a calm, scrutinizing gaze.

"You've finally arrived." (End of Chapter)