I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

The Faceless King began to feel fear.

It had lived for billions of years, devouring countless powerful beings, and had never encountered anything like this before. Those powerful beings, faced with the power of nothingness, were either terrified, desperate, or struggled desperately. But Qin Yuan was different—he was neither afraid, nor desperate, nor did he struggle. He simply stood there, existing calmly, firmly, and unwaveringly.

"What exactly are you?!" The Faceless King's voice trembled.

Qin Yuan said, "I am Qin Yuan. Qin Yuan from the Xuan Yuan Sect."

"Xuan Yuan Sect? What kind of place is that?"

"It's a very small sect. There's a stream behind the mountain, and an old plum tree by the stream," Qin Yuan said. "It was there that I decided to become stronger."

The Faceless King couldn't understand. It didn't understand anything about streams or old plum trees. It only knew nothingness, only knew how to devour, only knew existence and non-existence. But it sensed something it had never felt before in Qin Yuan's words—a power rooted in a specific place, not an ethereal Dao, but a real, warm power.

"You cannot kill me," said the Faceless King. "I am the King of Nothingness. As long as Nothingness exists, I exist. Can you destroy Nothingness?"

Qin Yuan said, "I cannot destroy the void. But I can make you cease to be me."

He loosened his grip on the Faceless King's wrist and took a step back.

The Faceless King, thinking he was about to flee, immediately pounced. But Qin Yuan did not run. He raised his right hand, his index finger pointing at the Faceless King's brow.

"This finger strike is called 'Soul Shattering and Evil Breaking'," Qin Yuan said. "I've been using this move since I was at a very low cultivation level. Back then, my cultivation was weak, and I would use this finger strike to kill enemies stronger than me. Later, as I became stronger, I used it less often. But this move has always been my trump card."

The Faceless King sneered. "You think such a low-level move can hurt me?"

Qin Yuan ignored it and continued, "Later, I comprehended the Heavenly Dao of Protection and integrated the power of protection into this finger technique. It is no longer about breaking evil, but about breaking through the void. It's specifically designed to deal with things like you."

He pointed it out.

There was no sound. There was no light. There was no energy fluctuation.

But a crack appeared on the Faceless King's body, starting from his brow. The crack spread outwards, crawling all over his body like a spider web.

"You..." The Faceless King opened his mouth, his voice broken and hesitant, "What did you do?"

Qin Yuan said, "I marked your non-existence. Your existence was given to me, and I'm taking it back."

The Faceless King looked down at his own body. Cracks multiplied and widened, and greyish-white light poured out from them, flowing away like sand. His body was collapsing, dissipating, and returning to nothingness.

But it felt no fear. At the very last moment, it suddenly smiled.

"Interesting. Very interesting." Its voice grew softer and softer. "After billions of years, I can finally rest."

Its body shattered completely, turning into countless grayish-white specks of light that drifted into the air. The specks of light slowly rose, like snowflakes falling backward, and disappeared into the gray sky of the Void Sanctuary.

[Ding! The ruler of the Void Sanctuary—the Faceless King—has been defeated. Reward: Unlimited Energy Points.]

[Residual Void Power of the Faceless King detected. Absorb?]

[Absorbing this will allow you to break through your current cultivation level.]

Qin Yuan did not hesitate. "Absorb."

The grayish-white light spots reconverged, as if drawn by an invisible hand, surging into Qin Yuan's body. That power was cold and heavy, carrying the hollowness unique to nothingness. But Qin Yuan did not resist; instead, he used the Heavenly Dao of Protection to envelop, transform, and integrate it.

His aura began to rise.

Void Saint Emperor Ninth Level Peak - Eternal Saint Emperor First Level - Eternal Saint Emperor Second Level - Eternal Saint Emperor Third Level - Eternal Saint Emperor Fourth Level - Eternal Saint Emperor Fifth Level!

His breakthrough stopped at the fifth level of the Eternal Saint Emperor realm. Qin Yuan opened his eyes, a golden light flashing within them.

[Current cultivation level: Fifth level of Eternal Saint Emperor.]

[Lin Qing'er simultaneously gained a cultivation boost: from the fifth level of the Void Saint Emperor to the peak of the ninth level of the Void Saint Emperor.]

[Obtained special item: Heart of Nothingness. Effect: Can withstand one fatal attack; disappears after use.]

Qin Yuan opened his palm, revealing a grayish-white crystal, about the size of a fist, with a faint light flickering within. It was the core of the Faceless King, the crystallization of its billions of years of ethereal power.

Lin Qing'er ran over and looked Qin Yuan up and down. "Are you alright?"

Qin Yuan shook his head. "It's nothing. How about you?"

"I'm fine." Lin Qing'er wiped away her tears. "I was so scared just now. I thought you were really going to be swallowed up by it."

Qin Yuan smiled. "I told you, it's alright."

He withdrew his nihilistic mind and turned to look into the depths of the ruins. There, a curtain of light stretched out, beyond which lay the Eternal Sanctuary. He could sense a powerful force on the other side of the curtain—the power of time, heavy, slow, and unstoppable.

"Let's go," Qin Yuan said.

Lin Qing'er grabbed his hand. "Wait a minute. The Faceless King is dead, but what about its subordinates? Does the Void Sanctuary have any other enemies?"

Qin Yuan thought for a moment. "The core of the Void Sacred Domain is the Faceless King. With its death, the Void Sacred Domain has lost its ruler. The remaining void creatures, without a leader, are no threat. We can ignore them."

He led Lin Qing'er toward the light screen.

After taking a few steps, a faint grayish-white light suddenly appeared where the Faceless King had vanished. Within the light, a voice echoed—the Faceless King's last words.

"The Eternal Sanctuary... the Lord of Time... is a hundred times stronger than me... it has already noticed you..."

The light went out, and the sound disappeared.

Lin Qing'er gripped Qin Yuan's hand tightly. "The Lord of Time? A hundred times stronger than the Faceless King?"

Qin Yuan nodded. "It should be."

Are you scared?

Qin Yuan thought for a moment. "I'm not afraid. The Faceless King said it was a hundred times stronger than me, but what happened? Realm doesn't represent strength."

Lin Qing'er smiled. "That's true."

The two passed through the light curtain and left the Void Sanctuary.

The sky above the Eternal Sanctuary was a solidified gold. There was no sun, no moon, no stars, only an eternal, unchanging light. But within this eternity, Qin Yuan felt an unprecedented pressure—not the pressure of power, but the pressure of time itself.

He felt his heartbeat slow down, his blood flow slow down, and even his thinking become sluggish.

"The time flow here is incorrect," Qin Yuan said.

Lin Qing'er nodded. "I feel like I've aged. Even though only a few breaths have passed, it feels like hundreds of years have gone by."

Qin Yuan frowned. He knew this was the effect of the power of time. The ruler of the Eternal Sacred Domain was the Lord of Time, who controlled the time rules of the entire domain. Outsiders entering here were essentially handing over their time to the Lord of Time.