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

The first crack appeared on the mirror-like face of the Ancestor of Chaos. Not from an attack, but because its rules began to fail before the "existence" of Qin Yuan and Lin Qing'er. The rules said: In my space, only my rules are valid. But they said: We are here. The rules said: You shouldn't exist. But they said: We exist. The rules couldn't overcome existence.

The Ancestor of Chaos looked down at the crack on his chest, then looked up at Qin Yuan.

"You remind me why I'm asleep. Because existence is too noisy."

It ceased its oppressive force. It withdrew and retreated several feet. The oppressive feeling emanating from Qin Yuan vanished, but his knees remained on the ground. He stood up, and Lin Qing'er stood up as well.

The Progenitor of Chaos clasped his hands together in front of him, then slowly opened them. Between his palms, the air began to distort. Not compressed, but separated—fibers of space were drawn out one by one, woven together to form a sword. The sword was colorless and transparent, like a shapeless piece of glass. But the edge of the blade could slice through space. Within the rifts in the sliced ​​space, fragments of countless worlds could be seen: a forest, a city, a river, a sleeping infant.

"Your swords are called Xingtian. My sword has no name. Because it doesn't need one."

The Ancestor of Chaos swung his sword. A colorless sword aura slashed out, not towards Qin Yuan, but towards Lin Qing'er behind him. Qin Yuan sidestepped, blocking with his own sword. The golden and azure light shield collided with the colorless sword aura; the sword aura didn't stop, and the light shield didn't shatter. But Qin Yuan was blasted away—not pushed away, but his feet left the ground, as if he'd been hit by a speeding truck. He crashed into an unseen wall behind him, bounced back, and slammed to the ground. Lin Qing'er was also knocked down by the shockwave, rolling twice on the ground.

The second sword strike from the Ancestor of Chaos arrived. This strike was even faster, its sword energy finer and more condensed. Qin Yuan had no time to parry; he had barely stood up when the sword energy was already at his chest.

Lin Qing'er got up from the ground and stood in front of him. She had no sword; it had broken in the previous battle, leaving only the hilt. She held the hilt up, shielding Qin Yuan.

It was no use. She knew it. But she didn't back down.

The hilt shattered the moment it touched the sword's edge. Fragments flew, slicing across her face, leaving a bloody gash running from her left cheekbone to her right jaw. But she didn't back down. She stood before Qin Yuan, arms outstretched.

Qin Yuan reached out from behind her and grasped her hand that was holding the sword hilt. She no longer held the hilt; fragments slipped through her fingers. But Qin Yuan's power flowed along her arm to her palm, condensing into a new sword in her empty hand. A cyan blade, a golden edge.

"Let's go together," Qin Yuan said.

Lin Qing'er nodded.

The two of them gripped the same sword. It wasn't Qin Yuan holding her hand while she held the sword; rather, both hands held the same sword, neither taking the lead. The light emanating from the sword illuminated the entire Heartbeat Space. It wasn't golden, nor cyan, but a color never before seen in any of the myriad realms—the color of the two of them. It had no name, for it had only appeared once.

Qin Yuan and Lin Qing'er simultaneously swung their swords. Their wills were perfectly synchronized, their movements perfectly identical. Sword energy flew from the tips of their swords, slashing towards the Ancestor of Chaos. The Ancestor of Chaos raised his sword to block, and the moment the colorless blade made contact with the sword energy, cracks appeared. Not from the outside, but from the inside. The cracks spread outwards from the point of contact, like a spider web, like ice fissures.

The Ancestor of Chaos looked down at his sword.

"Your path is not about protection, not about trust. It's about 'being together'," it said. "I created all worlds, created all living beings, created the rules. But I have never been 'together' with anyone. So I don't understand."

The sword shattered. The fragments didn't fall to the ground, but floated in the air like shards of ice, each reflecting a different image—fragments of countless worlds, fragments of time, fragments of destiny. The fragments slowly rotated, then faded away one by one.

Qin Yuan and Lin Qing'er's sword energy continued forward, striking the Ancestor of Chaos in the chest. There was no blood, no wound. But dense cracks began to appear on its transparent body, spreading outwards from the chest to the shoulders, arms, and legs. It was like a glass doll struck by a hammer, ready to shatter at any moment.

The Ancestor of Chaos looked down at his chest.

"You've won." For the first time, its voice carried emotion. Not anger, not sorrow, but a sense of relief. Like someone finally setting down something they'd carried for far too long. "The myriad realms are yours now. Don't let anything other than living beings grow in them. Living beings are noisy enough already."

The body shattered. Transparent fragments scattered in all directions, flying farther and farther, smaller and smaller, until they finally turned into specks of light and disappeared into the void. The Heartbeat Space began to contract—not collapse, but like a balloon being deflated, the four walls contracted inward, and the top layer pressed downward.

The core of the heart remained suspended in place. The outer shell had completely shattered, exposing the core, which beat weakly. With each beat, the space shrank a little. The intervals between beats grew longer, and the force of the beats weakened.

Qin Yuan walked to the core and pressed the tip of his sword against its surface. He glanced at Lin Qing'er.

Lin Qing'er nodded.

The blade pierced the core. The core shattered; the fragments didn't scatter, but fell downwards, as if pulled by gravity. The last heartbeat echoed in the space, once, then again, and then vanished.

The entire ancient tomb began to tremble. The black ground cracked open, fissures spreading outwards like a spiderweb. Walls collapsed, boulders crashing to the ground, kicking up dust. Staircases broke, falling one step at a time into the unseen void below. One by one, the eternal lamps went out, their black flames turning white the instant they were extinguished, then evaporating.

Qin Yuan pulled Lin Qing'er and ran towards the stairs. The stairs had broken into several pieces, the bottom few steps completely disappearing, revealing the void below. They jumped onto one section of the still-shaking stairs, then another. Behind them, the stairs continued to fall, the broken stones crashing into the void without a sound.

Qin Yuan looked up and saw the stone gate he had come from. The gate was now crooked, the frame tilted, and the stone door panel leaning against it, leaving only a narrow gap to pass through. He quickened his pace, leaping up the last few steps and squeezing through the gap. Lin Qing'er followed closely behind; he reached out and grabbed her, pulling her out.

The stone gate collapsed behind them with a loud crash, smashing to the ground and kicking up a cloud of gray dust.

The ruins outside the tomb were also collapsing. Stone pillars toppled one after another, crashing to the ground and breaking into pieces. The ground cracked, and gray light gushed from the fissures, like blood flowing from a wound. The ancient inscriptions carved on the stone pillars flashed violently the moment they broke, then went out.

Qin Yuan didn't linger. He pulled Lin Qing'er along and flew towards the crack. The ruins behind them grew smaller and smaller in their field of vision, and the sound of collapses faded into the distance. The chaotic energy stopped churning and instead slowly sank, like the receding tide.

The rift remains. A black crevice hangs in the void, its edges thinned to almost invisible by the chaotic energy. Through the rift, one can see the skies of all realms—blue, with clouds.

Qin Yuanxian passed through the crack, with Lin Qing'er following behind.