258: Broken Reincarnation

The moment Li Dong's spark of memory, carrying his "self," crashed violently into the memoryless one.

Boom—

The entire space of the ruins felt as if it had been gripped by an invisible hand, then violently shaken.

There was no sound, no explosion of light, only the wail of Law piercing through the Divine Soul.

That was "Oblivion" crying, struggling, and being forcibly torn apart by another, more brutal and vibrant concept.

Li Dong felt as if he had been thrown into a high-speed blender, with cold, dead "Oblivion" on one side and his own burning, vibrant "Past" on the other.

Two diametrically opposed Laws used his Divine Soul as a battlefield, engaging in the most primitive slaughter.

"Ugh..."

Even he couldn't help but let out a muffled groan.

This was far more painful than fighting someone.

Spiderweb-like cracks began to appear on the surface of the memoryless one's massive, light-shadow sphere.

What seeped out from the cracks was no longer nothingness, but countless solidified, translucent shards of light.

Each piece of light was like a piece of amber sealing an ancient creature.

Li Dong looked through the [Void Eye], and his heart trembled.

Inside, there was a little boy holding his father's hand for the first time, looking up at the starry sky.

It was a young girl shyly accepting flowers from her sweetheart at a graduation ceremony.

It was the back of a scientist cheering with arms raised after a successful experiment.

It was an old woman, peaceful with her children and grandchildren by her side before passing away.

A civilization, billions of living beings—their most beautiful moments, stripped away and sealed, were all here.

The body of the memoryless one was the collective tomb of this civilization.

However, with the shattering of the "Oblivion" shell, the awakening did not bring joy.

"...Where... am I?"

"So cold... where is my home?"

"Dad... Mom..."

Countless fragmented, confused, and pain-filled consciousnesses, like countless cold needles, pierced into Li Dong's perception.

They woke up, only to find that their world had long turned to dust, and they were merely rootless memories.

The eternal paradise of happiness had become an eternal Hell of confusion.

Pain instantly turned into despair, and despair gave birth to madness.

"Give it back to me!"

"Why! What did we do wrong!"

Hum—

The billions of memory fragments that had just awakened could not bear this cruel reality and instantly spiraled out of control.

They turned into a storm of memories that swept through everything, a thousand times more chaotic and violent than the previous pure "Oblivion."

The entire space of the ruins was teetering under this storm, as if it could be torn to pieces at any moment.

Just then, a cold, harsh, emotionless will descended like a block of eternal ice.

Hand of Order.

"Look, this is your 'Attunement'."

A grand and indifferent voice echoed in Li Dong's mind, "You broke the silent balance and created a new 'disorder'."

"According to the Balance Act, chaos of this scale should be judged as 'Universe gangrene' and eliminated."

The implication was that it was about to take action.

It would format everything, including these poor Souls and Li Dong, the "culprit."

"Shut up."

Li Dong, bracing against the impact of the memory storm, rudely retorted with his Divine Thought, "You call a stagnant pool balance?"

"I'll show you today what 'endless life' means."

Merely waking them up was indeed not enough.

He looked at those specks of Soul light wailing and crashing in the storm, and somewhere in his heart was touched.

Just letting people out of prison and watching them starve to death at the prison door—what kind of salvation is that?

That's a second execution, dammit.

No, I have to find a home for them.

A thought quickly took shape in his mind.

Since this civilization is gone, let them start a new story in a new world.

The Law of the Universe is endless life, a cycle of repetition.

Perhaps he could... create a miniature "Reincarnation" that belonged to these Souls.

The moment Li Dong made up his mind, the gaze belonging to the "Observer" above suddenly became extremely active.

It felt very strange, like a student listening attentively who suddenly sees the teacher demonstrate an unheard-of way to solve a problem, even the tip of their pen showing excitement.

Li Dong even felt a faint fluctuation of Law, as if it were helping him stabilize the space around him that was about to collapse.

"Yo, you know how to help?"

Li Dong grinned, "Fine, then today's lesson is free."

He no longer hesitated, uniting his mind and spirit.

"In my name, I establish a place for 'Rebirth'!"

The [ancient stone slab] within him erupted with unprecedented light, no longer for defense, but for creation.

With the power of the stone slab as the Foundation and Li Dong's own "Attunement" Law as the framework, a massive, slowly rotating vortex of Law was built out of thin air at the core of the collapsing "the memoryless one."

It was not a physical entity, yet it was more solid than any material.

A "soul furnace" capable of carrying, purifying, and reshaping Souls.

"Come, all of you, come to me."

Li Dong reached out his hand, as if to embrace the entire storm of memories.

The "Tune of Harmony" sounded; this time, it was not to soothe, but to guide.

The violent storm of memories, as if having found an outlet for release, surged madly into the "soul furnace."

Inside the furnace, those memory fragments filled with pain, unwillingness, and confusion were washed one by one.

All negative emotions were stripped away, all broken pasts were repaired, and in the end, only the purest, most original specks of Soul light remained.

Seeing this unprecedented "feat" about to be completed, that cold will finally could no longer tolerate it.

"Erroneous behavior must be calibrated."

A grey spear of light, condensed from the ultimate Law of Order, pierced through the Void Realm with the determination to erase all "Variables," striking fiercely at the operating "soul furnace."

Hand of Order had acted.

It wanted to stop this blasphemous act of Li Dong, which it saw as "tampering with Universe data."

"I said, I'm in charge here!"

Li Dong did not even turn his head; he reached back and grasped, the [Blade of Judgment] forming, and he met the grey spear of light head-on without dodging.

"My Order is defined by me!"

Boom!

The Blade of Judgment and the spear of Order clashed violently; there was no earth-shattering explosion, only silent annihilation on the level of Law.

Li Dong's arm holding the sword trembled slightly, but the "soul furnace" behind him did not even sway.

He had blocked it.

At the same time, he accelerated the operation of the furnace.

Transformation, complete.

The next moment, billions of pure and flawless Soul orbs, like fireflies dancing in the sky, ascended from the "soul furnace."

They were no longer confused, no longer in pain; each speck of light carried a longing and joy for rebirth, converging into a brilliant river of stars, breaking through the shackles of the ruins, and flying into the vast, boundless depths of the Universe.

They would begin a brand-new journey in some newly born world.

Li Dong watched this magnificent scene, just about to breathe a sigh of relief.

A will ten times stronger and a hundred times colder than before instantly locked onto him.

The entire chessboard seemed to begin to tremble slightly under the fury of this "Hand of Order."