A sphere formed from countless white bones, the Ten Thousand Bones Pile, descended with a thunderous roar above the main peak of Qingyun. Each bone was engraved with fierce immortal runes. These runes forcibly erased the will of the bones' original owners, transforming them into war machines driven solely by slaughter.
"Kill!"
At Lu Qingyun's command, tens of thousands of skeletal puppets poured forth from the mound. Wielding broken weapons, they charged forward, their bones grinding together with a piercing screech. Yet the faces etched upon each puppet were unmistakably those of Xiao Wuchen's brothers-in-arms from the First Campaign — men he had personally sent into battle, only to witness their deaths!
They were the vanguard of the Frontline Corps, the elite assassins of the Imperial Guard — loyal souls who had once shed their blood for the Great Qian Empire. Now transformed into puppets, they charged towards their commander with monstrous expressions.
"No... no!"
System Rage: The host's emotional core has been detected as severely collapsing! Warning: Lock of Despair overload at 150%; irreversible self-destruction is occurring! Synchronisation rate: 98.0% ↔ 90.0% ↔ 99.0%
Xiao Wuchen's body contorted in agony as black blood seeped from his lips. He knew that after this battle, he would forget who he was completely.
But he could not retreat. He could not let the bones of his brothers gather dust once more.
Crescent Moon Slash · Ninth Form: Lonely Moon Seals the Heart (Fatal Strike).
"Lu Qingyun, you deserve to die!"
Xiao Wuchen roared, his voice echoing across the heavens. He violently thrust the demonic sword, 'Rootless', into his own heart!
[Forbidden Technique: Ninth Form: Lonely Moon Seals the Heart — Sacrifice of Flesh and Blood.
This time, he was not targeting an enemy. Instead, he forcibly detonated all the power of the 'Unwilling Soul' within his heart.
Centred on Xiao Wuchen, an indescribable black shockwave laden with grief and final resolve swept out instantly. Although it did not cause physical damage, it precisely targeted the 'Bone Marrow Spirit Power' within every puppet in the Bone Mound — the energy cores forcibly implanted by the Immortal Sect.
The imprisoned divine consciousnesses within the puppets, sensing their commander's anguish, resonated violently. The Immortal Sect's runes shattered instantly, triggering the forced detonation of the bone marrow spirit power within ten thousand puppets.
The tens of thousands of skeletal puppets did not shatter from an external force; they imploded from within. Each puppet's explosion unleashed a crimson pillar of light piercing the heavens — the liberated 'Immortal Army Spirits'!
Bone fragments swirled through the sky like overdue snowfall.
A single sword pierced the sun as the inner gate collapsed.
As the Bone Pagoda disintegrated completely, the newly liberated 'Immortal Military Souls' let out a deafening, earth-shaking roar. Rather than attacking Xiao Wuchen, they channelled all their power into the demonic sword in his hand.
[System log: Detected 'Ten Thousand Souls Resonance'. Demon Sword power surged instantly to maximum capacity.
Xiao Wuchen raised his head. The demon sword, 'Rootless', bearing the karmic weight of eons, was no longer merely a demonic artefact. It had become the Mortal Realm's Final Hymn, fused with all the resentment, vengeance and desire for freedom!
"Lu Qingyun, this Qingyun Sect is unworthy of its mountain gates!"
Xiao Wuchen swung his sword violently, pointing its edge directly at the majestic Heavenly Gate Formation that guarded the inner sect of the Qingyun Sect.
[Crescent Moon Slash · Final Form: Eternal Void Moon (Prototype Activated!).
A pitch-black, crescent-shaped sword qi, trailing countless crimson, military-soul afterimages, tore through the void and slammed directly into the inner-sect formation.
The inner gate formation's impenetrable barrier offered no resistance under this strike and was instantly cleaved in two. The residual might of the sword energy continued unabated, cleanly severing the 'Celestial Pivot Hall' — the symbol of power at the inner gate's core — in half.
The entire Qingyun Sect, from the outer gates to the inner ones, was utterly reduced to ruins.
Xiao Wuchen knelt on one knee with the demonic sword 'Rootless' beside him. Its blade was covered in cracks, as if it might shatter at any moment. The cybernetic runes on his body glowed dimly; the Lock of Indifference was now completely destroyed. The agony tearing through his flesh and soul had, however, temporarily freed him from the system's absolute control.
Struggling to turn his head, he gazed at Chi Kui and Su Qingyue with eyes filled with unprecedented bewilderment. He remembered what he had slain, but not why.
'Sir, you're bleeding,' said Chi Kui, pointing to the corner of Xiao Wuchen's eye.
Xiao Wuchen reached up to touch it and found his fingertips were coated with a trace of icy dampness — the last tear belonging to a human, to a mortal.
When the 'Mountain of Ten Thousand Bones' shattered completely, the entire main peak of Qingyun was shrouded in a pale snowfall. Yet, amidst the swirling bone fragments, it was not silence that emerged, but ten thousand rays of crimson light, blinding as the scorching sun.
Those Great Qian soldiers — imprisoned, humiliated and even stripped of their minds — responded to Xiao Wuchen's call, forcibly piercing through the runes of the celestial gate: "Zhang Yong of the Frontline Camp! I'll fight to the death with my general!'
'Seventeenth, Death's Guard of the Imperial Guard! General Xie, thank you for sending me home!'
Shadowy figures solidified amidst the ruins. Their severed limbs were restored by pure battle intent. Tens of thousands of military souls did not dissipate, but instead coalesced into a force known as the 'Karma Torrent', which poured entirely into Xiao Wuchen's body, which was on the verge of collapse.
His vision was already blurred by blood, but the error alerts from the system panel thundered louder than any clap of thunder:
[System Log: Warning! Host is illegally absorbing 'Plane-level Causality Vow Power'! Divine consciousness synchronization detected at over 100% of the critical threshold. Initiating forced reboot... Failed!
]
Heartless Lock Self-Destruction Process: 30%, 50%, 80%.
'Reboot?' You creatures hiding in your box, scheming against all beings — you dare attempt to reboot me? Xiao Wuchen tore open the metal patch on his back, which was connected to the Lock of Indifference, and crushed its core chip with his bare hands.
The system's warning instantly warped into meaningless static. In this moment, he was neither mortal nor the system's slave — he had become the sole 'variable' across all realms.
Xiao Wuchen dragged the demonic sword, 'Rootless', which was now fully fused with his right arm, step by step towards the severed Celestial Pivot Hall.
With each stride, a black lotus blossomed beneath his feet — a phenomenon born from the fusion of Netherflames and military souls. Hundreds of surviving 'True Disciples' from the inner sect formed an elaborate formation in an attempt to stop this god of slaughter. Yet, in the face of Xiao Wuchen, their dazzling swords and heavy shields were as fragile as a moth's wings.[Crescent Moon Slash · Tenth Form: Extreme Moonfall (Gravity Distortion State).
Xiao Wuchen didn't even swing his sword. He merely walked forward and, within a five-zhang radius, the force of gravity instantly increased ten thousandfold.
The so-called prodigies of the True Disciples didn't even get the chance to draw their swords. Crushed beneath that terrifying gravity, their bodies were ground into mud and their souls were forcibly absorbed by the Soul-Sacrificing Altar behind Xiao Wuchen. At the shattered end of the Celestial Pivot Hall, a colossal figure slowly materialised — a hundred zhang tall and enveloped by ninety-nine halos of cosmic laws.
Lu Qingyun's true form sat upright on the Celestial Dao Throne. His left eye cycled through the four seasons of the mortal realms while his right eye manifested the birth and death of stars. In his hand was a transparent longsword — the 'Blade of Order', forged from the collective will of the entire cultivation realm.'Xiao Wuchen, you have destroyed my collection and attempted to undermine the foundational logic of this world.'
Lu Qingyun's voice held no anger, only programmed coldness.
'Since you insist on being that grain of sand, then I shall reduce this entire ten-thousand-mile expanse to utter nothingness.'
Hiding in the shadows of the Soul-Sacrificing Altar, Chi Kui carried the unconscious Su Qingyue and gazed at the demon-god-like figure ahead. For the first time, its six eyes held no greed, only reverence."Master... If you win this, no immortal in all the heavens will dare to meddle with us.' Xiao Wuchen stopped a hundred zhang from Lu Qingyun. Half of his body had already dissolved into a transparent gravitational field — a side effect of his synchronisation rate exceeding its limits. He was losing his physical form.
'Lu Qingyun, the karmic debt between us must be settled beneath this eternal moon.'The crumbling ruins of the Celestial Axis Hall disintegrated under the overwhelming pressure of Lu Qingyun, dissolving into particles of primordial spiritual energy. Xiao Wuchen stood at the centre of that terrifying gravitational field, his internal system completely paralysed. The red gibberish that had once danced before his eyes gradually solidified, ultimately coalescing into a single sentence within his consciousness:
'System Log: Logical singularity detected. Host has surpassed preset limits.'[Determination: Demon Sword 'Rootless' has achieved complete assimilation with the host's will. System status has transitioned from 'Dominant Entity' to 'Observer'.''Observer?' Xiao Wuchen let out a low, hoarse laugh and jerked his right arm violently.
The cracked demon sword began to collapse inwards, shrinking from three feet to one foot in length.
Yet the oppressive aura it emitted caused spiderweb-like black cracks to appear in the void.
He no longer relied on the system's 'enhancement'.
Now, he himself was the focal point of the array, the ultimate killing move.Lu Qingyun rose slowly from the Heavenly Dao Throne. His 'Blade of Order' sliced lightly through the void — no sword qi, no sound. Yet an airborne island beside Xiao Wuchen vanished instantly, without a trace. It hadn't been shattered; Lu Qingyun had erased it entirely from existence.'Xiao Wuchen, the "causality" you speak of is nothing but piled-up data in my eyes.' Lu Qingyun stepped forward. The ninety-nine halos of law behind him transformed into light swords, sealing off all escape routes for Xiao Wuchen. 'This world needs no variables. Order must be absolute.'The ninety-nine swords of law descended in unison, each bearing the rise and fall of an era. "Then I shall pierce this false sky with the 'data' you hold so dear!" Xiao Wuchen neither dodged nor retreated, compressing all his Nether Flames, military spirit and unyielding will into a broken blade barely a foot long.
[Arc Moon Slash · Eleventh Form: Blood Moon Cycle (Modified)]
His figure underwent extreme 'frame skipping' once more. Amidst the ninety-nine Law Swords, he flashed across the plane like a crimson lightning bolt, each flash accompanied by a shrill, metallic screech.
He seized one of the swords of law, crushing its immortal gate essence and feeding it back into his withered flesh.
Deprived of the protection of the Absolute Emotion Lock, Xiao Wuchen's spine cracked with a bone-chilling sound under the strain of the movement. Yet he charged forward like a piece of iron armour, oblivious to pain, withstanding the bombardment of the law swords until he closed to within ten feet of Lu Qingyun!
"Impossible... Your divine consciousness should have been completely erased!" A flicker of terror finally crossed Lu Qingyun's eyes. According to his calculations, Xiao Wuchen, with a 100% synchronization rate, should have been an emotionless shell, easily dissected at will. Yet in Xiao Wuchen's eyes, he saw what he had deemed 'garbage data' — tears.
Those tears, now frozen solid, became the sole algorithm in Xiao Wuchen's sea of consciousness that the Heavenly Dao could not decipher. 'Because there are things you gods, sitting on your thrones for too long, will never be able to calculate.' Xiao Wuchen thrust his short sword forward, its tip pressing precisely against the core of the law in Lu Qingyun's chest.
'That's the wind across the Nine Thousand Li of Great Qian, a bowl of wine shared among brothers, a handkerchief embroidered by her own hands.'Lu Qingyun, this 'data' is too heavy for you to bear!"