During the first Immortal-Demon War, at the edge of the world barrier,
The moment Yuan Shi truly broke through the world barrier and stepped into the void.
After a scream, this monster, who had plotted for the entire world, and even indirectly pushed for its ascension, completely departed from this world.
Qin Shang, who remained in the chaos, felt a sense of melancholy.
His most hated culprit was gone, his fate unknown, and the entire world was now half-ruined. The void rifts in the distance would take who knew how many years to mend.
Qin Shang suddenly felt weary. Perhaps he no longer had a reason to live...
The immortal essence stored in his head was almost depleted, and the chaos previously dispersed by Yuan Shi was gradually creeping back.
Perhaps, merging into the chaos and becoming sustenance for the future world would be his best ending...
But, just as Qin Shang was about to completely abandon the thought of survival, from not far away, angry and mournful spiritual fluctuations kept coming.
It was an extremely broken iron sword, the divine sword Yuan Shi had used to cleave the heavens before.
Looking at the anger and resentment emanating from the sword at this moment, Qin Shang understood why Yuan Shi had discarded it.
This sword was a part of the boundless slaughter Yuan Shi had wrought, carrying ill fortune.
Yet, Qin Shang felt a resonance with this sword. Was he not also the last witness to the immortal civilization?
His remaining immortal essence was quietly mobilized. Before the chaos fully arrived, Qin Shang flew forward, directly biting onto the iron sword.
Endless sorrow and anger surged towards Qin Shang. But sensing the similar hatred in Qin Shang's heart, roars echoed in his ears:
"Revenge!"
"Yuan Shi! Kill Yuan Shi!!"
"Unwilling!!!"
Qin Shang tightly bit the iron sword, feeling the hatred of countless vengeful souls within it, and sighed:
"He went to the place he wanted to go, but our path has to end here..."
Time passed, and the chaos gradually enveloped Qin Shang's head and the iron sword in his mouth.
The Dao-palm Dharma body, forged by immortal essence, was slowly returning to the chaos. Yuan Shi's Dragon-Slaying divine weapon, forged with supreme means, was also gradually decaying and failing.
But in the last moment before death, as if in a hallucination, he saw that man again...
From the torn, boundless void rift, a broken body rushed in once more.
Although corroded by some power to the point of being almost unrecognizable, Qin Shang recognized him at first glance.
It was Yuan Shi! The Yuan Shi who was full of spirit and ambition, the Yuan Shi who had stepped into the void!
"Yuan Shi!!!!" With a roar! Qin Shang's eyes bulged! The last bit of immortal essence constituting his head erupted completely!
This Dao-palm immortal, with only his head remaining, tightly bit the residual sword in his mouth and slashed fiercely at Yuan Shi!
But Yuan Shi merely raised his eyes and withstood the desperate Qin Shang.
Yuan Shi's single remaining eyeball, upon seeing Qin Shang clearly, revealed a hint of disdain:
"You're not dead yet? Fine, let your ancestor send you off one last time!"
*Hum!*
The seemingly broken Yuan Shi lightly raised his hand, and a power completely different from before shot out abruptly.
In an instant, Qin Shang's life was completely extinguished.
After this, Qin Shang knew nothing more of what happened in the chaos.
...
These were the records in the destroyed River of Time, the beginning of all errors in this world.
Within the chaos, after Yuan Shi annihilated his direct bloodline with a raised hand, his damaged body showed no signs of improvement.
He gazed at his body, riddled with holes and corroded, his eyes filled with chilling coldness.
"You... are... going... to... die..."
Suddenly, a slow, sluggish voice echoed in the chaos, a voice that surprisingly carried a hint of concern.
Yuan Shi abruptly looked up, gazing at the boundless chaos before him, and said with a mocking tone:
"What? Aren't you happy that I'm dying? Why did you save me?!"
"And why did you only respond to my call now? You clearly have your own consciousness! Why have you always refused to let me out!!!"
"I... have a flaw... you... destroying... all spirits... is when I... truly... awaken..."
"Outside... is dangerous... protecting... you all..."
Yuan Shi suddenly burst into maniacal laughter: "Hahaha! Heavenly Dao! Such an ignorant and unfeeling fool is the Heavenly Dao that nurtured all spirits!!!"
"The eternity I desperately sought, you actually blocked my path to enlightenment in the name of protection?! How laughable!! How laughable!!!!"
"I did nothing wrong!! You deserve to die!!!"
"But... you... are too late..."
"You... are locked on...."
As Yuan Shi laughed wildly, an indescribable suction force emanated from the void rift spanning billions of miles behind him.
His existence, his being, everything about him was being continuously absorbed by the middle layer of the void!
Yuan Shi's wild laughter instantly turned to shock. Everything that had just happened rapidly replayed in his mind.
...
The moment he stepped into the void, Yuan Shi knew he had made a mistake.
The information from that drop of void dragon blood was extremely fragmented, so Yuan Shi's understanding of the void was also shallow.
He had always believed that his power would be sufficient to engrave the void and achieve the sublimation of entering the Void Refining stage.
But he did not know that his mother world was inherently located within the middle layer of the void, and it had no anchor projection in the outer layer of the void.
Therefore, the moment he tore open the world barrier and stepped outside, the immense power he had cultivated for countless eons was instantly and madly absorbed by the void of the middle layer.
Yet, Yuan Shi was indeed the greatest mastermind who had schemed for several eras. Under these near-impossible circumstances, he had truly broken through the limits of the immortal path, stepping beyond ascension to forge the path of Void Refining!
But a newly entered Void Refining stage cultivator had no possibility of survival in the middle layer of the void!
Although the power of Void Refining slowed down his refinement by the void, without any anchor, his complete demise in this middle layer of void was only a matter of time.
Even as a newly ascended Void Refining cultivator, he lacked the ability to even observe the true form of the middle layer of the void.
In his eyes, everything around him was colorless nothingness, and in this nothingness, everything about him was being madly absorbed from everywhere.
He wanted to rush back to his mother world, but he had only taken one step out of the world, and when he looked back, he could find nothing.
Shock, despair, anger, and unwillingness – frenzied emotions surged within this cornered monster!
But in Yuan Shi's deepest despair, within the void, a pure white light guided him back.
The moment he touched that light, he understood it was the power of the Heavenly Dao.
...
Yuan Shi had originally thought that the foolish Heavenly Dao had delayed his path to enlightenment.
But now, pulled back into the world, Yuan Shi understood.
The moment he stepped into the middle layer of the void, his fate was already sealed...
The void had begun to devour him!