Yun Che continued to drift against the current of the vast, endless river, his body half-suspended in the scalding waters, while countless unfamiliar—yet somehow disturbingly human—forms passed by him. Each one different in shape and aura, some twisted in agony, others wearing blank, lifeless expressions as they disappeared into the distance. He stared ahead, but his eyes had dulled, as if the soul behind them had been stripped away. His lips moved slightly, but the words barely escaped as breath: "What... is going on?"
He had just reached a new height in his cultivation, one so transcendent that he believed even Ancient True Gods such as High Priest Wan Dao would be hard-pressed to stand against him now. His comprehension of laws, his body, his mastery over Abyssal Dust, and the evolution of his Great Way of Buddha—everything had pushed him beyond what should have been possible.
And yet, here, in this strange, suffocating river that cut through the abyss like a scar through time itself… he was utterly powerless.
The current refused to yield. No matter how much strength he poured out, it felt like trying to defy the will of the heavens themselves.
His gaze wandered to the beings around him once more. Some howled without sound. Some laughed as if madness had become their only comfort. Some dissolved before his eyes, their forms unraveling into ash. He could feel that none of them possessed a soul. No spirit, no divine sense, no aura—nothing. Just... fragments. Residual, undying fragments of something ancient and eternal.
If he wasn't wrong… then this place, it should be the land of true death. The land inside the Well of Samsara. A place that even souls could not reach.
A plane where only the most fundamental core of existence—what Li Suo once referred to as Life Essence—could remain. Life Essence, the most primordial thread of being, the seed from which all existence bloomed and to which it all returned. That was what floated past him. Not souls. Not remnants of will.
But the indestructible origin of all life itself.
And the moment he recalled Jie Ling's face drifting past him, the realization slammed into his chest like a divine hammer.
She... had died. There could be no other explanation.
His hands clenched, shaking. His chest tightened, like iron chains were coiling around his heart, squeezing with every breath. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Although Jie Ling had not shared a long and deeply entwined love story with him like some of the others, although her loyalty to the Devil Empress had first brought her into his arms... she was still his woman. Someone who had trusted him, surrendered to him, stood by him. Someone who had shared a piece of her life with him.
And now... She had passed beyond death itself.
Just what had happened in the God Realm?!Could it be... had the unknown force—the one threatening to invade the God Realm—already arrived?
No... that shouldn't be possible!Based on the time Qianye Ying'er descended into the Abyss and the fragments of memories she had shared with him, barely a couple of weeks should have passed in the God Realm. By all estimates, they were still several years away from that terrible arrival.
Unless...Unless everything he believed, the timeframes he had clung to, the calculations etched in his mind—were all wrong.
His breath caught as realization took root like a dagger to the chest.
If the Abyss was truly nearing collapse...If the very Time Wheel of this world had already shattered and fallen into chaos...
Then the flow of time between the Abyss and the God Realm may no longer follow the rhythm it once did.
In fact, it may never have or worse... the time of the Abyss...is now slower than the God Realm.
Yun Che's eyes widened in horror as the implications surged through him like an electric storm. Countless thoughts raced through his mind in rapid succession, each more urgent and terrifying than the last. He clenched his fists, drawing on his profound strength as he focused inward—and immediately, he could feel it.
His cultivation, after having madly absorbed the raw, chaotic laws that saturated the deepest regions of the Abyss, had long since reached the absolute peak of the Divine Extinction Realm. His very body had evolved. His comprehension of laws had deepened. And with his ascension into the Eighth Stage of the Great Way of Buddha, Yun Che understood one thing with absolute clarity:
He had no more time to waste.
A few seconds—that was all he needed.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
"BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!"
The stillness of the deathly river shattered in an instant as massive waves surged and crashed in every direction. Yun Che's roar echoed like thunder in the vast, distorted plane, shaking the very laws that governed this place. At that very moment, Othershore Asura was forcefully unleashed once more, and with it, his cultivation surged wildly as he broke through the final layer—from the Ninth Level of the Divine Extinction Realm into the unknown beyond.
His body began to feel lighter, the crushing weight of the river weakening with every breath he drew. The water trembled with growing intensity, as if the very will of the Well of Samsara was resisting his ascent. Yet it was too late. The energy Yun Che now exuded wasn't just overwhelming—it was blinding, furious, and unrestrained, a divine storm that dwarfed even Big Rage in his most terrifying state.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
With a second, ground-shaking cry, Yun Che's hand broke the surface, fingers clawing into the open air like a beast rising from an abyssal grave. His arm followed, then his blood-slicked torso, and finally his lower half, suspended as though the river still refused to release him.
But the grip of the river, once eternal and absolute, could no longer contain the power erupting from Yun Che's body. The force he unleashed tore through the binding waters, and within seconds—
his entire form burst free from the river's surface, soaring upward.
Yet, in that fleeting moment of triumph, as Yun Che finally emerged from the river and hovered completely above its cursed waters, a chilling shift occurred. The seemingly calm surface beneath him suddenly churned, and from its dark depths, a ghostly, translucent hand of water surged forth. It moved with unnatural speed, shaped like a claw of souls, and let out a wail so haunting and ancient that even the space around it shuddered.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
"BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!" Yun Che roared as his full cultivation burst outward, his profound energy igniting like a blazing storm as he desperately attempted to soar into the distance. But the hand had already latched onto his leg, pulling with an unholy force, refusing to let him go.
"BANG!"
Blood erupted across the air and splattered onto the black water below. Without hesitation, without a second thought, Yun Che detonated his own leg at the joint, sacrificing it in an instant. The shockwave from the explosion broke the spectral grip, tearing him free.
Before the hand could reach out again, Yun Che's crippled body shot through the air like a falling star, trailing blood and golden light, until—
"BANG!!!!"He crashed hard against the jagged, obsidian-like rocks nearby, the impact sending shards scattering as his body convulsed violently.
"Ugh…!"A groan escaped his throat, low and ragged, yet his sharp gaze never wavered—his eyes remained locked onto the river and the ghostly hand. And only when he confirmed that the eerie appendage remained where it was, seemingly unable to cross beyond the water's edge, did he finally allow himself to breathe.
In the next instant, Yun Che forcefully withdrew Othershore Asura, and a searing agony shot through his soul. His chest heaved as he coughed up a mouthful of blood, crimson splashing across the rocks beneath him, yet his heart beat on, strong and unyielding.
"Huff... huff... huff..."Panting heavily, Yun Che wiped the sweat from his brow, his entire body slick with the lingering aftershock of spiritual exhaustion and physical agony. Slumped over on the jagged rocks, he remained still for a few moments, allowing his soul to stabilize and the searing pain in his body to fade.
Within him, the Great Way of Buddha surged once more, activated to its very limit. Golden radiance pulsed softly from his pores, like the breath of divinity itself—mending the fractures in his soul and knitting together his severed leg, bone, flesh, and sinew reborn from the void of destruction.
Finally, as his breath evened and the pain subsided, Yun Che rose slowly to his feet. With a soft flick of his will, a stream of light condensed before him, manifesting into flowing white robes that wrapped around his body, concealing his naked form in an aura of dignified calm.
Now whole again, and with his strength no longer bound by the river's curse, Yun Che expanded his divine sense outward.
And immediately—billions of miles were laid bare before him.
Vast stretches of scorched land, countless jagged cliffs, valleys devoid of wind, and skies scorched yellow beneath the oppressive light of Nine Suns... but not a trace of life. Not even a speck of divine aura stirred within the range of his perception.
This place... it was like a realm forsaken by creation itself. A void-like world cloaked in unbearable heat and eternal desolation. Only dry stone and molten air kept it from being truly empty.
Yet Yun Che refused to believe it.
No, he could not believe it.
He remembered all too well—back then, when his consciousness had been drawn into this very realm, Shen Xi had been here. He had heard her voice. He has seen her! She must still be here.
Eyes narrowed, determination gleaming, Yun Che bent his knees and soared into the sky, becoming a streak of divine light. He cut across the endless land below, his divine sense sweeping continuously, unwilling to let even a single grain of dust escape his search.
This lifeless world had taken something from him. Now, he would take back what was his.
Yet the farther Yun Che traveled, the more oppressive the silence became. The deeper he ventured into this forgotten world, the more it felt like existence itself was unraveling. Every direction he turned revealed only endless emptiness—no mountains, no rivers, no ruins, not even dust. It was as though he were flying through a canvas that had yet to be painted. The more distance he crossed, the more it felt like he was chasing a shadow that had never been real to begin with.
Days passed. Then weeks. Then months. Perhaps even years. Time here lost all meaning—there was no sun that rose, no moon that fell. Only that relentless yellow haze above, and the same jagged stone below. Yet, no matter how long or how far he searched, what he sought simply did not exist.
And then—he froze.
His body stiffened mid-flight, as if seized by an invisible force. Every strand of hair on his body stood on end. His heartbeat skipped—then thundered in panic. His soul quivered violently, and for the first time in a long while, true fear returned to Yun Che's heart.
"You will not find what you seek—even if you traverse this world for all of eternity."
The voice was quiet. Calm. And yet, its coldness was absolute, not merely brushing past his skin—but piercing deep into the marrow of his bones, threading through the very core of his soul.
Yun Che's eyes widened in horror.
That voice—he had heard it before! But this time... it wasn't distant. It was behind him. Directly behind him.
"BOOOOOOMMMM!!!"Without hesitation, Yun Che erupted with all his power. His body blurred into motion as he exploded away at a speed that could tear apart space. But as he turned—his heart froze. His pupils contracted violently. His mouth fell open in disbelief. His breath caught in his throat.
At Yun Che's current level of power allowed him to perceive all divine energies and profound forces with absolute clarity. Whether they were of light or darkness, holy or devilish, even if they shared the same hue or resonance, he could dissect and differentiate them with nothing more than a single glance. It was no longer a matter of sensing—it was instinct, absolute and irrefutable.
And yet, this man... the one standing silently before him... Standing in the void before him... was a man. A figure he had met before. Fought before.
A presence he could never forget.
At this moment, Yun Che could only pray that his senses were wrong, that what he saw was nothing but an illusion conjured by the strange nature of this place. But the dread blooming in his chest told him otherwise. The trembling of his soul screamed one thing louder than any truth he'd ever known.
"Impossible... Absolutely, undeniably impossible..."
The man before him was dressed in flowing black robes, the fabric hanging lifelessly like a funeral shroud. His long black hair spilled down his back in thick, untamed strands, not a single gleam of life glinting in its dark weight. His complexion was deathly pale, as if he hadn't seen the sun in countless eons, and his expression was blank—no anger, no sorrow, no joy... only an unnatural stillness that gave the impression of a puppet long abandoned by its master.
His eyes—lifeless, hollow, and void of light—were the worst of all. They were not eyes that belonged to the living, but to something that had already died a thousand times. A man who no longer clung to hope, no longer clung to existence. And yet, this very walking corpse...
Was overflowing with a pressure so vast, so utterly dreadful, that even though the aura had not been released—not even a sliver—Yun Che already felt his soul tightening, suffocating beneath a crushing weight.
He hadn't moved. He hadn't spoken. But his mere presence... had already begun to erode Yun Che's mind.
And in this place—a land where all should be dead, where even the essence of life was erased and devoured—this man...
He was alive.
That fact alone shattered all logic. But worse, Yun Che could see it clearly. His aura, his pulse, the flickering thread of life that should not exist here... was clear and vivid to Yun Che's divine sense.
He was no shade. No memory. No illusion.
He was real. Alive. Present.
And just from glimpsing him... Yun Che's soul was already coiling in unspeakable terror. A dread so deep, so unnatural, that it felt like a divine instinct buried in the marrow of his being was screaming at him—
Run.
This man... was no less terrifying than the Heaven Smithing Devil Emperor herself. No... he was even more dreadful. But how could that be possible? The man standing before him—the one exuding such monstrous, soul-devouring might—was someone Yun Che knew should have died long ago.
His hands trembled. His heart sank.
"…Fen Juechen," Yun Che whispered, the name escaping his lips like a curse from a past he thought long buried.
The moment the name echoed into the stillness, the figure before him—Fen Juechen—curved his lips into a faint, almost gentle smile. It was not a smile of recognition. Not one of joy. It was a smile that belonged to a man who no longer cared for the world or what remained of it—a smile so hollow it made Yun Che's blood run cold.
"BOOOOMMMMM!!!"
In that instant, Yun Che's body erupted with power. There was no hesitation, no warning. His divine aura exploded out and in the next heartbeat, his figure vanished—leaving behind countless afterimages that painted the air in trails of light and shadow.
He didn't look back. He didn't dare.
As he fled through the lifeless sky, streaking across the dead expanse at impossible speed, the distant voice of Fen Juechen whispered behind him.
"You searched so long... for a sign of life... and now, when you finally find it... you run?"
It was nothing more than a soft murmur—quiet, almost melancholic.
Yet to Yun Che, it was as if a thousand ghastly wails screamed into his ears, each one slicing into his soul like spectral blades. His eyes widened in agony as he spat out a mouthful of blood, the pain not of the flesh, but of the spirit—deep, raw, and ancient.
Still, he did not stop. He could not stop.
With every shred of will he had, Yun Che pushed his battered body to move faster, farther, across this scorched and barren plane. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't know what lay ahead.
But he knew one thing for certain—
He had to get away.
Seeing that Yun Che continued to flee without looking back, Fen Juechen's lifeless, empty eyes slowly stirred to life—a flicker of awareness, of ancient coldness, piercing through their hollow sheen. As if awakened from eternal slumber, the aura he exuded deepened with suffocating dread. He raised a single finger.
And in that instant—
The entire world trembled.
The space around Yun Che violently warped, collapsing in upon itself as though reality had folded like fragile paper. Before Yun Che could even grasp what had happened, the world ahead of him shattered like a mirror... and his body, which had already disappeared across millions of miles, was suddenly yanked backward through the void—dragged by an unseen force—and returned to the exact spot where it all began.
!!!!!!!!!!!
"BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!"
Not sparing even a breath, Yun Che exploded with power once more, shattering the air around him as he sped away with such intensity that the surrounding space cracked beneath his pressure. His divine essence burned like a storm unleashed, every heartbeat echoing with desperation.
Yet once again, before he could gain any meaningful distance, the space twisted with unnatural silence, and Yun Che's figure was pulled once more into the folding fabric of reality—reappearing directly before Fen Juechen, as though his frantic escape had never happened.
Fen Juechen remained silent.
But before he could utter a single word, Yun Che erupted with energy again—his body breaking through space with renewed speed, a second desperate escape now underway.
"..."
Fen Juechen stood unmoving, expressionless, his pale lips sealed shut. His eyes, once dead and empty, now twitched ever so slightly... not in amusement, not in anger, but in something far more chilling—indifference.
And this time... he allowed Yun Che to run.
For hours, for days, Yun Che soared through this desolate, scorching world—endlessly pushing forward, endlessly burning his profound energy, endlessly hoping to leave it all behind.
Until, without warning, Fen Juechen—still in the exact place Yun Che had first seen him—raised his finger again.
RUMBLEEEEEEEEEE—
Reality cracked once more.
And like a cruel joke written into the laws of this realm, Yun Che's body was snapped out of the distance and hurled back like a thread tugged by its weaver. The vast distance he had just traveled... was reduced to nothing.
!!!!!!!!!!!
Yun Che's soul trembled in sheer horror. For days—no, perhaps weeks or longer—he had soared across the lifeless world, traversing billions upon billions of miles, exhausting every ounce of his power, leaving nothing but afterimages behind in his desperate attempt to escape. Yet all of it… every step, every breath, every drop of his effort… had been reduced to a cruel illusion.
This man… this thing that resemble Fen Juechen… had brought him back effortlessly.
There was no spatial fluctuation, no detectable energy ripple—just a thought, and Yun Che was dragged across the cosmos like a puppet on a fraying string.
Now, as his feet touched the same jagged rocks where it all began, Yun Che glanced around, and with a single sweep of his divine sense, his heart sank further. This place—it was unmistakable. The exact spot where he had first laid eyes on that impossible figure.
Everything... had reset.
Then, with a voice as cold as the abyss itself, Fen Juechen finally spoke.
"Still thinking of running?" His tone was calm—neither mocking nor hostile. It was simply... hollow. A question, detached and lifeless, like wind brushing over an ancient grave.
"....."
"...."