Chapter 1102 - 499: [Part 2]

With a step forward, Dao Sheng’s figure faded into the gold and gray path.

...

The Sea of Chaos, its boundaries unknown, its age unknowable.

Here, the concepts of time and space blur. The birth and death of a world could be but an unnoticed ripple. The change of an epoch might just be a gentle tide.

And at some unknown edge of the Sea of Chaos is the "Sea of Realms Dam", which has driven countless ancient supreme beings to despair.

It’s so vast that no unit can measure it. It seems like the boundary of the Cosmos, the ultimate line of defense for "existence". On the dam are marks of swords and blades, imprints of Divine Techniques, and countless enormous, unimaginable handprints and fist imprints. Each mark represents the fall of a once-brilliant, peerless warrior who attempted to challenge the "Power of Ruins".

Their paths, their Laws, their indomitable will, have all become part of this dam, radiating eternal heroic sorrow and desolation under the erosion of time.

On the dam’s 7,200th section, lies the region known as the "Blood-crying Ancient Wall".

The wall here is dark red, as if soaked for eons in the endless blood of gods and demons. Veins of cracks crisscross its surface, and the largest of these cracks emanates a heart-stopping aura of Deathly Silence.

At this moment, in front of the largest crack, a few vague yet powerful figures stand.

Their presence is vast as the sea and unfathomable, seemingly not much weaker than the "Throat of Chaos". They appear to be the "Guardians" of this region.

"The ’Throat’s’ presence has completely vanished." A figure spoke, his voice like thousands of metals clashing, filled with lethal intent, "The Fire’s plan succeeded. The new ’patch’ should be arriving soon."

"Hmph, a patch?" Another figure, surrounded by the thunder of Nirvana, gave a cold laugh, "Another pathetic consumable crafted by the Fire. How long will this ’patch’ last this time? A million years? Or ten million?"

"Silence, ’Thunder Lord’." A third figure, the most serene in presence, deep as the abyss and the sea, she seems to be the leader among them, "No matter what, his arrival is a good thing. This ’Gui Xu Crevice’ is almost beyond suppression. If we don’t find a solution, our seventy-second defense zone will be completely overrun."

As they conversed, the space behind them suddenly stirred with ripples of gold and gray.

"Hmm?"

The Guardians turned simultaneously, eyes filled with surprise and suspicion.

"Not arriving through the ’Fire Beacon’? Is it... a path he opened himself?!" The figure known as "Thunder Lord" showed a flash of surprise in his eyes.

At the center of the ripples, a tall figure slowly stepped out.

Black hair draped over the shoulders, white clothes purer than snow.

The left eye like the Immortal Dao Sun, defining the origin of all things.

The right eye like the Chaos Star Sea, encompassing all ends.

He stood there quietly, without any earth-shattering aura, yet these ancient powerful Guardians who had watched over untold ages felt a pressure...from the depths of their Divine Souls!

Dao Sheng arrived.

His gaze did not fall upon the Guardians, but immediately directed towards the "Gui Xu Crevice"!

It was a deep, bottomless black scar cutting through the ancient wall.

Within the scar, there was no Energy, no matter, only pure, suffocating "void".

Merely gazing at it, Dao Sheng felt even his newly stabilized "Path of Guardian" trembling slightly. Everything he knew, everything he understood, became meaningless in front of that "void".

As if, that was the true nature of the Cosmos.

All "existence" is but a fleeting, illusory dream. And that "void" is the eternal, the only "real".

An unprecedented urge to abandon everything and return to that "void" surged from the deepest reaches of his Divine Soul, uncontrollably!

This is the terror of the "Power of Ruins"! It doesn’t even need to act, merely "existing" is enough to assimilate the will of all beings!

"Hmph! Newcomer, steady your Heart Spirit! You are not yet fit to directly face the ’Power of Ruins’!"

A thunderous shout exploded beside Dao Sheng’s ears.

It was the "Thunder Lord"! He seemed to have noticed Dao Sheng’s anomaly and warned him with a voice imbued with majestic divine might, breaking all evil.

Yet, unexpectedly.

After hearing his words, not only did Dao Sheng not divert his gaze, but he also took a step forward.

His right eye, holding the Chaotic Nebula, suddenly flared with gray light!

"Not fit?"

Dao Sheng’s lips curled into a defiant smile.

"My path is to stand before it and tell it..."

"This world, I claim it. You cannot take it!"

As his words fell, the new Dao Power within him, centered on "guardian", erupted forcefully!

A divine halo intertwined with gold and gray spread from him, like a reverse tide, crashing into the invisible "Power of Ruins" emanating from the crevice!

Boom!

Two entirely opposite yet kindred concepts clashed at their very core before the silent Sea of Realms Dam!

No earth-shaking roar, no brilliance of shattered Laws.

It was a silent annihilation.

Dao Sheng’s divine halo, with "guardian" as its core, like a nascent Cosmos, with the absolute weight of "existence", boldly crashed against the "Gui Xu Crevice" representing "ultimate nothingness".

Yet in an instant, an event transpired that shocked all present Guardians.

That indestructible divine halo, potent enough to reshape heaven and earth, upon touching the unseen "field" at the crevice’s edge, melted silently like first snow under blazing sun.

The light of golden order, in attempting to define the boundaries of that "void", found the concept of "definition" itself erased.

The gray dawn of chaos, trying to fill the void’s emptiness with "possibilities", had the very concept of "possibility" negated.

Like a master of all earthly colors trying to paint on a "nonexistent" canvas, all his skills, all his paints, become meaningless because even the act of "painting" cannot happen.

The Power of Ruins, does not resist you, it simply renders you... meaningless.

That horrifying pull to drag all existence into eternal silence not only didn’t weaken, but became hungrier, more furious because of Dao Sheng’s provocation!

"Madman!"

The Thunder Lord growled low, a mix of surprise and anger flashing in his eyes. They have guarded here for endless ages, resisting the Power of Ruins with gradual efforts, using their own path to build layers of "logical barriers" to slow its erosion. They are like craftsmen on the dam constantly fortifying the bricks, cautious and delicate.

Never before had they seen someone like Dao Sheng, daring to charge into the "void"! This is akin to a mortal trying to block a world-devouring black hole with their chest!

"His path... is being analyzed and erased by the Power of Ruins!" The female Guardian, whose aura is as vast as the sea, spoke with a tone now tinged with gravity, "What kind of monster did the Fire send us?"

Dao Sheng’s form trembled, a trace of gold and gray Divine Blood dripped from his lips.

It wasn’t physical Damage but a wound shaking "existence" itself. His Divine Soul, his Daoist Body, everything he knew, all at that moment, were shaken by the absolute "void" of the Power of Ruins.

A great fear from the instinct of life and an urge to give up all as if cursed surged again in his heart.

But his golden left eye burned ever more fiercely at this moment!

"Erase my path?"