227: Door of Despair

The Void Realm storm whipped up from the entrance of the "Wound of Origin" stood before Li Dong like a moving, roaring wall.

It was not made of bricks or stones, but of pure, conflicting fragments of Law.

One Law demanded you "solidify," the next demanded you "evaporate," and the one after that demanded you "collapse."

For any matter, even the Dao body of a Cultivator in the Great Ascension Stage, there was only one fate if caught within: to have the very concept of one's existence completely erased amidst the ever-changing contradictions of the rules.

The "Boss's" will roared triumphantly from behind the storm, its meaning unmistakable.

Come over here. Aren't you capable?

"Heh, are you afraid of me entering, or are you welcoming me?"

Li Dong hovered before the storm, muttering to himself. He did not force his way in; that would be no different from seeking death. He simply closed his eyes.

The next instant, the [Void Eye] and [ancient stone slab] in his Sea of Consciousness lit up simultaneously. The entire world changed in his perception.

The violent storm was no longer a chaotic mass, but had transformed into countless entangled, high-speed flowing colored threads. Each thread represented a Law.

The vast majority of the threads were tightly knotted, but... there were always places where, the moment two threads intersected, a "gap" thinner than a hair, with a negligible duration of existence, would appear.

That was the path of survival.

It was also the path of death.

Seize the opportunity, and you could pass through. Fail to seize it, and you would be instantly torn apart by two or more contradictory Laws.

Thrilling.

Li Dong even had the leisure to evaluate it in his heart. He waited quietly, like a top surfer waiting for a gap in the waves.

Now!

He snapped his eyes open, transforming into a streak of light invisible to the naked eye. Without raising a single ripple of energy, he plunged precisely, without the slightest error, into that fleeting gap!

The moment he passed through the storm, the world went quiet.

It was not the disappearance of sound, but a conceptual dead silence. It was as if even light and darkness had lost their meaning here.

Oppressive.

Utterly oppressive.

Before him stood a massive gate, its grandeur impossible to describe in words.

Calling it a gate was inaccurate, as it had no frame and no substance. What constituted this gate were billions upon billions of solidified, twisted Souls, the most desperate beliefs of countless civilizations before their destruction, and the collective embodiment of all negative emotions from the entire world graveyard.

The gate was covered in indecipherable ancient runes, but one only needed to glance at them to realize that each rune was clearly a painful face screaming in silence.

[Gate of Despair].

A name naturally surfaced in Li Dong's mind.

This thing was the final barrier to the "Boss's" core.

To the left and right of the gate stood two figures, taller and more ancient than the gate itself.

They were like two sculptures, guarding here for billions of years as if it were a single day.

The aura emanating from them was far more terrifying than any Void Realm Clone Li Dong had encountered before.

They were transformed from the remnant consciousness of the two most ancient and powerful worlds that the "Boss" had devoured.

The arrival of Li Dong, this "variable," was like a stone thrown into a dead-silent pond.

The two guardians moved.

They slowly awakened from eternal silence.

One of the guardians was the first to open its giant eyes, which were as turbid as a Chaos nebula.

At that very moment, the [ancient stone slab] in Li Dong's Sea of Consciousness began to vibrate violently without warning!

It was not the resonance he had experienced before when facing forces of the same Origin, but a... throbbing pulse filled with a mournful cry.

A faint, yet so familiar aura that it made his heart jump, emanated from that guardian.

"This feeling..." Li Dong frowned, "Something's not right."

This aura was somewhat similar to the "Black-Clad Guard" he had first encountered in the desert, but it was more ancient, more... intimate?

It even created a faint, almost imperceptible connection with the memories belonging to the "Demon Suppressor" deep within his own Soul.

The awakened guardian seemed to have sensed something as well. It let out a roar towards Li Dong.

The roar had no sound, but it exploded directly on the level of Li Dong's Soul.

Yet, amidst this violent impact of will, Li Dong "heard" a trace of unconcealable sorrow.

Immediately after, a blurry, fragmented memory, as if breaking free from invisible shackles, forcefully surged into Li Dong's Sea of Consciousness without the "Boss's" permission!

In the vision, a towering figure clad in ancient bronze armor, wielding a great sword capable of cleaving the galaxy, was battling a nascent, chaotic shadow in the endless Void Realm.

That shadow was the embryonic form of the "Boss."

Every sword strike from the man carried the power of a world, fierce and unmatched.

But the shadow was like an endless swamp, constantly devouring and assimilating everything.

In the end, the exhausted man was completely engulfed by the shadow.

But in the final moment before he was engulfed, there was no fear, only endless regret and unwillingness.

His consciousness was twisted, his power was plundered, and finally, he transformed into...

The Puppet guarding the "Gate of Despair" before him.

At the end of the memory, a name was branded onto Li Dong's Soul.

Cang Qiong.

A century ago, the other Demon Suppression Division Commander who fought alongside him against the Void Realm, and who was rumored to have fallen in the depths of the Void Realm—his former best friend!

"It's you..."

Li Dong's hand gripping the "Law Scalpel" tightened involuntarily.

"How could it... be you..."

He had considered ten thousand possibilities, but never had he imagined he would see his old friend again here, in this manner.

The twisted "Cang Qiong" seemed unable to speak, but in its turbid giant eyes, a trace of fleeting clarity and boundless pain was revealed.

It recognized him.

The next second, it abruptly raised that massive arm capable of crushing stars.

But the target of the attack was not Li Dong.

It was the massive gate behind it, constructed of despair!

"Roar—!"

This strike held nothing back.

It poured its final will from before it was twisted, the last remnants of the Origin of the world it had guarded, and its billions of years of hatred for the "Boss," all into that strike!

Boom!!!

The "Gate of Despair" let out a piercing, mournful cry, and countless painful faces shattered amidst their wailing.

A massive crack was forcibly smashed open on the gate!

The crack was extremely unstable and was healing at a visible speed, but it was enough!

"Bastard!!"

The "Boss's" will, for the first time, carried such clear, exasperated rage.

A Void Realm tentacle, thicker and more solid than any before, tore through space from the deepest part of the Void Realm, aiming directly at the core of "Cang Qiong's" consciousness, which had just regained a trace of clarity.

It wanted to completely erase this "traitor"!

Li Dong did not hesitate for even a second.

He flashed forward, charging directly towards the crack that was about to close.

The moment before he passed through the gate, he turned back to look at that towering figure.

He gently waved the "Law Scalpel" in his hand.

He did not strike at the enemy, but instead unleashed a wave of incredibly pure Void Realm Origin energy, devoid of any Impurities, gently enveloping "Cang Qiong's" massive body completely.

"Farewell, old friend."

This was the final and most gentle release he could grant his best friend.

The violent Void Realm tentacle finally arrived with a boom.

But it struck only a patch of light points that were slowly dissipating.

"Cang Qiong's" figure, purified by Li Dong's energy, had turned into the purest Origin, which he completely absorbed, returning it into his own body.

Carrying his best friend's final power, Li Dong plunged into the "Gate of Despair."

The world behind the gate made even him lose focus for a moment.

Here... there was no space, no time, no up, down, or cardinal directions.

There was only an endless, flowing stream of Law information, like a waterfall of code.

This was the "Boss's" core.

It was the central "processor" where it devoured, analyzed, and processed the myriad worlds.

Found it!

Li Dong raised the "Law Scalpel" in his hand, preparing to perform a thorough format on this so-called "processor."

However, the moment he was about to act.

Hum—!

The "Law Scalpel" in his hand began to tremble violently, as if fearing something.

The [ancient stone slab] in his Sea of Consciousness erupted with unprecedented, blinding light, as if sounding the sharpest alarm!

A will, more ancient, more vast, and more coldly indifferent than the "Boss," slowly awakened from deeper within this core space.

That will... did not even regard him or the "Boss" as anything.

It simply "looked" over.

Li Dong's blood almost froze in that instant.

...Something went wrong.

The "Boss"... was not the real deal at all?