The Primordial Chaos Gem had seen many True Supremes charge into the Forbidden Zone of Life and perish there. The strongest among them was the Sky-rending Emperor-Lord, who lasted ten breaths; most True Supremes could hold out only one breath—none under one breath, none beyond ten. That's for True Supremes; at the level of a Calamity Supreme, they cannot endure even a hundredth of a breath. The fact that Lin Moyu can last a tenth of a breath already makes him an outlier, stronger than Calamity Supremes. And Lin Moyu's realm is still the Chaos realm—his body and soul have only just reached the Calamity Supreme tier, far from their peak.
There was a rare solemnity in the gem's eyes. If that mirror earlier wasn't mistaken—if the figure it revealed really was that existence—then perhaps it truly is possible to enter the Forbidden Zone of Life and reach an unimaginable realm. Strange… why can't I remember who that existence is? Clearly that memory exists; it's vivid enough that, at the instant I saw him, I knew how terrifying he was. Yet when I try to think, I can't recall a single concrete detail. Worse: when I try to tell Lin Moyu anything about him, no words will come out.
The Primordial Chaos Gem couldn't make sense of what was happening to itself. After turning it over and over, it ended up telling Lin Moyu the tale of the Sky-rending Emperor-Lord. Perhaps only when Lin Moyu surpasses that emperor-lord and can roam the Forbidden Zone of Life at will will this riddle be solved. For the gem, there are few unknowns left in existence; discovering a new one made it eager to unravel it.
Meanwhile, within the power of the Forbidden Zone of Life, Lin Moyu kept dying and being reborn, his strength steadily increasing as he adapted. Everything was trending well. To fully adapt to the Forbidden Zone's power and break the ceiling of world-rules—the gem couldn't help feeling a spark of anticipation.
As Lin Moyu's death count rose, he advanced steadily within the Calamity Supreme tier. All of a sudden the gem looked into the far distance—not toward the chaos nor the Ancient Wilds, but across the entire world.
"How odd—the Great Calamity is accelerating."
It watched the world's changes: the calamity's progression seemed to be speeding up. Each Great Calamity has a buildup phase, almost uninfluenced by external forces—that's how world-rules work. Short of a True Supreme, no one can interfere with a Great Calamity. Yet now the process had suddenly shifted.
After careful observation, the gem's gaze finally landed on Lin Moyu—still just a heap of shattered flesh and blood. "It's the Master's changing power that's speeding up the calamity. How can that be? He's only a Calamity Supreme—how could a Calamity Supreme affect a Great Calamity? That defies reason… Look again."
Light flashed in its eyes. The Realm Gem began to gleam, sketching scene after scene—the recorded happenings of this world. At the same time, the Elemental Gem lit up; the flow of time poured into the Realm Gem, making the images brighter and clearer. The Elemental Gem governs all elements of a world, including time and space—intangible "virtual" elements. The power of the Heaven's Calamity Scepter is far more than just smashing things. Lin Moyu had only ever used its outermost layer, never its true capabilities.
With the Elemental Gem and Realm Gem together, the full course of the Great Calamity was traced in fine detail. The gem watched closely. Aside from the abruptness of the calamity's onset, nothing seemed wrong. "Then why do I feel something is wrong? Where is it?"
It raised a small hand; the Realm Gem and Elemental Gem flashed again. The images began to reverse, time flowing backward faster and faster—until the world's second Great Calamity appeared. At that time, the Ancient Wilds had finished nurturing life, and then, by world-rule, the second calamity erupted; countless beings died, and in its late phase a True Supreme might have been born.
The gem wasn't interested in re-watching that carnage; it locked on the time interval between the second calamity and the current third. Light danced in its eyes; a confident smile tugged at its lips. "Found it."
The gap between the second and third Great Calamities was only 30 billion years. In every world the gem had ever observed—without exception—the interval between Great Calamities is around 100 billion years, sometimes as long as 300–500 billion; even the shortest it had seen exceeded 90 billion. But here it was 30 billion. Highly irregular. If the interval is that short, something is wrong.
It pressed on, pinpointing the start time of the current calamity and scanning what else happened in the world then. Everything looked normal; the world-rules showed no signs of disturbance. Before a calamity, omens appear and rules shift—but when this one began, the world looked normal and the calamity still suddenly erupted. A Great Calamity doesn't arrive without a cause; there must be a trigger. What was it?
Instinctively, the gem's gaze fell upon that heap of flesh. "Could it be the Master?" It immediately checked what Lin Moyu was doing then. To the gem, Lin Moyu is the most exceptional being in this world; if anyone could nudge the world and bring a calamity forward, it would be him.
Locking the time precisely, the image showed a very familiar sight: a pile of meat. Back then, Lin Moyu was courting death in the Western Pure Land. The gem couldn't see into his storage space, so it could only infer from surface changes. "It must have been the Master."
That last death-trial made the calamity arrive early; this death-trial is accelerating its progress. "Is it the Master's other world (his storage-space world) affecting this one? It appears so. Which means the Master is the calamity-bearer. If he crosses the calamity successfully, his chance to become a True Supreme is very high. But calamity-bearers rarely survive. We must have the Master prepare in advance."
The gem had seen many calamity-bearers; their ends were often miserable. "Annihilation of body and Dao" is among the better outcomes. Before, it might not have bothered to mention it. Though it called Lin Moyu "Master," it hadn't cared much about his life or death—if he died, it could find another master, so long as it didn't get stranded again in the Forbidden Zone of Life. But now it was different: ever since the mirror, an unsolved riddle had appeared. The gem had begun to pay close attention to Lin Moyu. It wanted him to live, to grow stronger, to eventually step into the Forbidden Zone of Life and take it along to probe that unknown riddle.
Having concluded Lin Moyu is the calamity-bearer, and knowing what tends to happen, the gem decided it would tell him everything once this round of "courting death" ended. It believed Lin Moyu would know what to do.
Lin Moyu's aura kept rising. Within the shroud of the Forbidden Zone's power, his survival time kept lengthening. He was adapting again. Different Primordial Dawn Vortices carry different intensities of Forbidden Zone power; it's like climbing steps—Lin Moyu was now on the second. How many steps from here to the true summit, no one knows. This time no breakthrough was needed, only steady strengthening.
Rebirth continued without pause. Lin Moyu began to seize his will between deaths, probing his own changes. After ten thousand deaths, Lin Moyu could finally speak by soul-voice. He sighed—it sounded a little bored, yet a little excited. The gem heard it and asked at once, "Master, how does it feel?"
In the gap of a rebirth, Lin Moyu answered, "Not bad. But at this rate, after about another ten thousand deaths I'll fully adapt here—we'll need to find a new Primordial Dawn Vortex."
"I'll search first for Master," said the gem. "First step was a ten-meter vortex; second was one hundred meters. Let's multiply by ten again." It went straight to seeking a one-kilometer vortex—Lin Moyu's third step. The Calamity Supreme tier spans a vast range from entry to pinnacle; Lin Moyu was still far from the peak. He'd need at least one more vortex and another full round of courting death.
Lin Moyu found it a bit odd: the gem's attitude had subtly shifted again—for the better. He had a hunch something must have happened to it; a proud, age-old being doesn't change its manner so easily.
He gradually adapted to the current vortex's power; his survival time kept growing. Once he could live over one second, the Forbidden Zone power in this vortex lost effect. Rebirth has a timing constraint: each death cycle must not exceed one second; beyond one second, the rebirth breaks and no longer counts as continuous. After twenty thousand rebirths, Lin Moyu could now survive in this mist—formed from the Forbidden Zone's power—for longer than a second. Rebirth had been broken. He could also act without invoking his Undying Dao, using pure life force to heal himself and extend survival; he could even wrap himself in World-Scorching Fire to further extend it. If he wished, he simply wouldn't die here; he had adapted to this tier of damage.
Of course he wouldn't delude himself into thinking he could now enter the Forbidden Zone of Life. What the vortex draws in is only a tiny trace of the Zone's power, diffused into mist. If he tried to enter the Zone itself like this, he would be obliterated instantly. Lin Moyu was realistic.
He felt his strength: since stepping into the Calamity Supreme tier, it had again multiplied severalfold. He could absolutely clash with other Calamity Supremes; some quasi–Calamity Supremes might not be his match at all. His formal realm remained Chaos realm—great completion. He truly had become an anomaly: at Chaos-realm great completion, yet with combat power to rival a Calamity Supreme—likely unprecedented.
He left the vortex, put away the formation. "Have you found a suitable one?" He hadn't reached his limit; he sought a stronger vortex to further enhance himself. Having come all this way, how could he stop now?
"There's no suitable Primordial Dawn Vortex here," the gem said. "Master will need to switch regions."
Lin Moyu nodded and flew toward the edge of the vortex cluster. There are many clusters, each with masses of vortices—if one region doesn't fit, try another. With his power greatly enhanced, he no longer needed to tiptoe. He strode right out of the cluster, scoffing at the various forces along the route, and headed for another cluster.
Along the way, the gem suddenly said, very serious, "Master, I've discovered something."
Lin Moyu smiled. "Go on—what great matter?"
"When you were courting death just now, I found the progress of the Great Calamity sped up."
Lin Moyu's brow arched. "Related to me?"
"Yes. After noticing it, I rewound the world's time to view the calamity's birth. I found this: the current Great Calamity began only 30 billion years after the last. Thirty billion years is very long for individuals—even for Calamity Supremes—but for a world, it's merely decent. You said before the interval is a minimum of 100 billion, up to 500 billion. Isn't 30 billion too short?"
"Far too short," the gem said. "The shortest I'd seen still exceeded 90 billion. Thirty is highly abnormal. Then I traced the start point and found it coincided exactly with when Master last courted death."
Lin Moyu halted in mid-flight. "You're saying when I was courting death in the Western Pure Land, the Great Calamity erupted?"
"That's right. I don't know what happened to Master at that moment, but the timing is certain."
In a low voice Lin Moyu said, "I saw a seven-colored key that opened a great door. Primordial Dawn Qi poured out from behind it. My storage space evolved into an independent world."
"Seven-colored key? A door? Storage space?" The gem was intrigued. "Master, can you give the details?"
Lin Moyu recounted everything—this touched the Great Calamity, and he knew not to be coy. A small concealment on his part could lead to bad outcomes, and the gem's attitude told him this was extremely important.
After hearing him out, the Primordial Chaos Gem fell into deep thought. Lin Moyu didn't interrupt. Drawing on ages of observation, and using Lin Moyu's description as premise, the gem finally reached an answer:
"My guess is that Master's storage space is a failed, unfulfilled world—one that never successfully completed its evolution and nurturing of life. Don't be surprised; such worlds aren't rare. They're like domain seeds—if they fail at the start, they become all kinds of forms; becoming a storage space is very normal. You said every practitioner has a storage space; outwardly they may look the same, but the core can differ. Master's is special. At that time, Master's body and soul had reached a certain tier and activated the sleeping world, letting it truly begin evolving. Because Master was within this world while that happened, it stimulated this world and caused the Great Calamity to arrive early. To maintain balance, the world-rules designated Master as the calamity-bearer. By the world's logic, Master ought to perish in the calamity."