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

The rescue team burst out from both sides. Muddy slammed a hoe into the back of Yuan's head, breaking the hoe and leaving a dent in the back of Yuan's head, from which black liquid seeped. After a few breaths, the dent healed, and new skin grew, grayish-white in color.

Yuan turned around and slapped Mud Egg away. Mud Egg flew dozens of feet and crashed into the stone pillar of the teleportation array. The pillar broke, and Mud Egg flew a little further before landing. His mouth was full of blood, and his clothes were soaked through with blood.

Yuan ceased to defend himself. Black cracks began to appear on his body, spreading from his arms to his shoulders, and from his shoulders to his chest. The Ancestral Core was backfiring on him, but he didn't care. He charged towards the rescue team, his blade flashing left and right. Five people were instantly cleaved in two, their blood splattering onto the white light of the teleportation array and evaporating into a red mist.

Li Qing's thigh was slashed by a sharp blade, and with the old wound compounded by the new one, she couldn't stand up. She lay on the ground, using the broken hammer to strike Yuan's toes. Yuan kicked her away, and her body slid a long distance, crashing into a pile of rubble. She coughed up blood, and before she could finish, a second mouthful surged up.

Qin Yuan planted his sword in the ground and closed his eyes. The power to protect the Heavenly Dao emanated from his body and spread outwards. It wasn't golden light, but an invisible "field." It had no color, no shape, yet everyone felt it—they were within his presence. Not being protected, but being contained.

Yuan's speed was suppressed. His body became heavy, and each step required ten times more effort than before. His feet sank into the ground, his ankles and below completely buried. He turned to look at Qin Yuan, and for the first time, a flicker of emotion appeared in his dark eyes.

"You...you've spread your presence?"

Qin Yuan opened his eyes. "You are now within my presence. You are no match for me."

Qin Yuan drew his sword and walked towards Yuan. As the domain shrank, the power became even more concentrated. Yuan was suppressed in place, unable to move. His body continued to crack, the cracks spreading from his arms to his chest, and from his chest to his neck. Black liquid gushed from the cracks, pooling on the ground.

"Kill me, and the malice won't take hold of you?" Yuan's voice was no longer mocking, but calm, as if stating a fact. "You killed me, so you are me."

Qin Yuan's sword was pressed against Yuan's brow. Golden light seeped from the tip of the sword, illuminating Yuan's ashen face.

"I won't kill you. Malice won't disappear, but you can choose to stop doing evil."

"I won't. I am malicious. Doing evil is the meaning of my existence."

Qin Yuan raised his left hand and placed it on Yuan's forehead. The power protecting the Heavenly Dao surged into Yuan's body. Not to destroy, but to suppress. Yuan's cultivation level descended from the sixth level of the Myriad Daos Returning to the Origin—to the fifth level—to the fourth level—to the third level—to the second level—to the first level. The Void Ruler, the Void Supreme, the Primordial Chaos. He descended level by level, until he became an ordinary person.

Yuan knelt on the ground, the black in his eye sockets fading to gray. He looked at his hands; they no longer trembled, and the cracks had stopped widening. But his body was light, as light as a sheet of paper. He fell, his knees hitting the gravel, but he felt nothing. He had lost all cultivation; even his sense of pain had become dulled.

The rescue team members helped each other to their feet. Muddy got up from the ground, limped over to the dead, and closed their eyes. There were eight people in total. Five were cut in half, and three had their heads smashed. Muddy squatted there, his hands trembling.

Lin Qing'er walked up to Qin Yuan. Her right hand was still bleeding; the bandage was loose, and blood seeped through the gaps. Half of her ear was torn off and drooping down, and her face was covered in blood. Qin Yuan reached out and pressed her ear back in. Lin Qing'er gasped in pain but didn't flinch.

"My clothes are dirty again."

"Um."

"Go back and change."

Qin Yuan grabbed Yuan by the collar, like carrying a dead dog, and walked towards the teleportation array. Yuan's feet dragged on the ground, the gravel digging into his legs, but he didn't react. Lin Qing'er walked beside him, took out a clean handkerchief from her bosom, and pressed it to her ear. The handkerchief was quickly soaked with blood, so she replaced it with another.

The rescue team didn't follow. They had to stay behind to treat the living and collect the bodies of the dead. Muddy sat on the ground, clutching a broken hoe handle. Li Qing leaned against him, blood still oozing from her leg wound. She nudged Muddy's foot with her other leg.

"Stop spacing out. Help me stop the bleeding."

Behind the Xuan Yuan Sect, Qin Yuan used the Guardian of Heaven's Dao to forge a stone prison. The stone prison had no door, no lock, and its four sides were semi-transparent golden light walls. He threw Yuan inside, and Yuan fell to the ground, not getting up, just lying there.

Lin Qing'er bandaged herself inside the room. She aligned her torn ear in front of the bronze mirror and sewed it up with a needle. The needle pierced the flesh, but her hand didn't tremble. After finishing, she wrapped the bandage around her arm and re-bandaged her right hand. Then she took a bowl of porridge and went outside the stone cell. The porridge was white rice porridge with a few red dates added.

She placed the porridge at the entrance of the stone cell; a crack appeared in the wall, just large enough to fit a bowl. She put the bowl in, and the wall closed. Yuan lay motionless on the ground. Lin Qing'er didn't try to persuade him; she turned and left.

On the first day, Yuan didn't eat. On the second day, he didn't eat. On the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days, he didn't eat. Lin Qing'er put the porridge down each day and took it away the same way. When the porridge got cold, she threw it away and replaced it with fresh porridge. When the pickled vegetables dried out, she replaced them with fresh ones. She never asked, "Why aren't you eating?" and never urged him to "eat at least a bite." She simply put it down and walked away.

On the seventh day, Lin Qing'er put down the porridge, turned around, and took a few steps. She heard the clinking of dishes behind her. She turned back; Yuan was sitting up. He was leaning against the bare wall, holding a bowl, drinking porridge. His hands were trembling; some porridge spilled onto his clothes, but he didn't wipe it away.

Lin Qing'er walked back and squatted outside the light barrier. The light barrier was cool, and she could feel the temperature of the abyss through it—very cold, like a block of ice.

"What's your name?"

Yuan put down the bowl. "Yuan."

Do you know why you're still alive?

Yuan shook his head.

"Because he believes you can improve."

Qin Yuan emerged from behind the old plum tree and sat on a blue stone. His sword was stuck beside the roots of the old plum tree, its blade free of dust.

"I need to know about the progenitor of chaos. Where is the Sea of ​​Nothingness? What are the Primordial Relics?"

Yuan lowered his head, looking at the remaining porridge in the bowl. The porridge had gone cold, and the red dates had sunk to the bottom.

"The Ancestor of Chaos had a dream while he slept. In the dream, all living beings in the myriad realms slaughtered each other, rivers of blood flowing. When he awoke, he found a black mass on his chest." Yuan pressed his hand to his chest. "That was its malice. It didn't want me; it threw me into the Abyss of Chaos."

It said, 'Go where no one can see you.' So I went."

The abyss's voice grew softer and softer. "I have been in the abyss for billions of years. No one has come, no one knows. I thought it was the end of the world."

Qin Yuan remained silent for a long time. Lin Qing'er stood behind him, her hand on his shoulder.