313: Ancient Allies

It was a gaze.

It declared: Error code located, deletion sequence initiating.

Deep within Li Dong's core, the newly birthed Dynamic Equilibrium Singularity, shifting with billions of colors, suddenly stalled.

Inside the singularity, the perfect cycle of "Stasis" and "Variable" experienced an extremely minute disturbance for the first time.

This was the lock-on of the "Ultimate Absolute Equilibrium."

A shackle imposed from the very root of concept.

"Do you feel it?"

The voice of The Chess Player resonated in Li Dong's mind. This time, there was no trace of ease, only gravity.

"It has awakened."

"It is the underlying rule of the entire Universe chessboard, the very 'Heavenly Dao' that all things will eventually drift toward heat death. You devoured its 'firewall,' much like lighting a torch in an absolutely silent room."

"Now, the entire room sees you."

Li Dong's expression remained unchanged, but the Dynamic Equilibrium Singularity within him accelerated frantically, forcibly performing Attunement on that cold lock-on from the end of the Universe, treating the disturbance it brought as a brand-new "Variable" and incorporating it into his own evolution.

"Where should I go to find it?"

"No, you must make it come to you," The Chess Player's voice held an odd tone. "Or rather, you must go to a place it cannot fully control and pry at its Foundation."

"The Gate of Dimensions."

"Hidden in the deepest part of the 'Eternal Immortal Ruins,' the oldest Forbidden Ground in the Demon Suppression Realm, is a door it sealed with its own hands. Behind that door lies the true battlefield."

Li Dong understood.

He needed a key to open a lock.

And he himself was the key about to be thrust into the keyhole.

With a slight movement of his Divine Thought, he traversed the Void Realm and reached out to Mo Chen, who was far away in Newborn Town.

On the scroll, mountains and rivers were magnificent and full of vitality. Mo Chen was holding a brush, dotting the vivid eyes of a newly born small beast.

His body paused, and he looked up, gazing into the Void Realm as if he could see Li Dong's eyes.

There were no words.

Li Dong simply transmitted his intention to embark on a distant journey, along with that grand, deadly silence from the end of the Universe.

Mo Chen was silent for a moment.

He did not ask where he was going or how long he would be gone.

He simply lowered his head again, gripped his brush tightly, and painted a towering lighthouse on that newly born land.

The light of the lighthouse was warm and firm.

This was his answer: I will guard this place and wait for your return.

Li Dong withdrew his Divine Thought, his gaze sweeping over the Despair Mountains below, which had become an oasis, and over the Dynamic Demon Suppression Army whose eyes were reignited with flames.

He raised his hand and pointed with his fingertip.

A light containing the core mysteries of the "Source of Dynamic equilibrium" and the "Sanctuary of Variables" scattered like a dandelion, falling into the foreheads of core members like A Mu and Shitou.

Massive amounts of information exploded in their minds—truths about Law, about evolution, and about how to keep this world "alive."

After doing all this, Li Dong took a step forward.

His figure vanished from the spot.

Eternal Immortal Ruins.

This was the oldest scar of the Demon Suppression Realm.

The moment he stepped in, Li Dong felt a "sense of dislocation" that went deep into his bones.

The air was not filled with Spiritual Qi, but a more ancient, purer "Immortal Qi," which had long since decayed, carrying a sense of Death Qi that marked the end of all things.

The Law was twisted here.

Time was not a straight line, but a shattered mirror reflecting countless frozen moments.

In an Immortal palace floating in the air, the broken pillars still retained the Dao resonance left by ancient Immortals when they discussed the Dao, yet it was covered by a layer of gray "Stasis" dust, unchanging for ten thousand years.

Under a withered flat peach tree, two Immortals were playing chess; their hands holding the pieces were frozen in mid-air forever, the shock and unwillingness on their faces fixed into eternal sculptures.

The entire Immortal Ruins was a giant graveyard forcibly paused by the "Absolute Equilibrium" Law.

The deeper he went, the thicker the sorrow sealed by "Stasis" became.

Finally, in the center of a broken plaza, Li Dong stopped.

Dozens of figures slowly "walked" out from those frozen fragments of time.

They wore tattered ancient Immortal armor, held rusted Immortal swords, and gray flames burned in their empty eye sockets.

The remnant Souls of ancient Immortals.

They were the guards of the Immortal Ruins and the first prisoners eroded by "Absolute Equilibrium."

"Intruder... Eradicate..."

A dry, emotionless thought echoed in the space.

The next second, dozens of stiff yet incredibly powerful Immortal arts tore through the deadly silence and blasted toward Li Dong!

Every attack was incredibly precise, containing power that had once shattered stars.

But that was all.

Their methods of attack, their energy trajectories, and their application of Law had not changed in the slightest over the past billions of years.

This was the most perfect "Stasis."

Li Dong did not even move.

He simply raised his hand, and the phantom of the "Blade of Judgment" flashed and vanished.

This strike did not cut the Immortal arts, nor the remnant Souls.

It cut the gray thread that had long been deep in their Souls, connecting them to the "Absolute Equilibrium" Law.

*Click.*

A soft sound.

It sounded as if some kind of shackle had been opened.

The Immortal arts filling the sky suddenly dissipated three feet away from Li Dong.

The bodies of those dozens of Immortal remnant Souls trembled violently, the gray flames in their eye sockets extinguished, replaced by faint sparks of "self."

Their empty gazes looked at Li Dong, no longer filled with slaughter, but with a sense of relief, a gratitude that spanned eternity.

One by one, the remnant Souls turned into dots of light, dissipating into the Immortal Ruins.

In the final moment before they dissipated, fragments of information poured into Li Dong's mind.

It was about the deepest part of the Immortal Ruins, that altar, that door.

Li Dong flashed and appeared at the end of the Immortal Ruins.

An ancient altar built of unknown bones stood in the Void Realm.

On the altar, a huge crack, like a hideous wound, tore through space.

That was the Gate of Dimensions.

But at this moment, the door was wrapped in billions of cold, precise, flawless gray runes.

They were like the most perfect chains, sealing the door tightly and cutting off all possibilities between the inside and outside.

Li Dong reached out, and the power of "Attunement" and "Multivariate Variable" turned into tentacles, attempting to analyze and twist these runes.

However, as soon as his power touched the runes, it was like a mud ox entering the sea; it was instantly "averaged" out, turning into the most basic, meaningless energy, dissipating into nothingness.

He couldn't open it.

The power of this Seal originated from the main body of "Ultimate Absolute Equilibrium," and its Law priority was far above the "firewall" of the Demon Suppression Realm.

Li Dong frowned slightly.

This seemed to be a deadlock.

Just then.

The "Dynamic Equilibrium Singularity" deep in his Divine Soul captured a trace of extremely minute "incoordination."

That "incoordination" did not come from the outside.

It was seeping out from inside the sealed Gate of Dimensions!

It was not cold "Stasis."

It carried a trace of... anger? Unwillingness?

Like a Vicious Beast imprisoned for eternity, it let out an almost inaudible roar from the other side of the cage.

The voice of The Chess Player, filled with irrepressible surprise, boomed!

"You have alerted them! Those guys... they are not all dead yet!"

"They are ancient allies imprisoned by 'Absolute Equilibrium' on the other side of the chessboard! They have been waiting, waiting for a 'Variable' capable of breaking the deadlock from the outside!"

Before the voice could finish.

The ancient will coming from behind the door seemed to have found an outlet, suddenly resonating with Li Dong's Divine Soul!

A fragmented message crossed the Seal and flooded into Li Dong's mind.

"The key..."

"Seven... keys of Original Sin..."

"Scattered across different chessboards..."

"With the arrogance of 'life'..."

"With the greed of 'possibility'..."

"...as a lure..."

"...knock on the door..."

The message ended there.

Li Dong stood where he was and slowly opened his eyes.

He understood.

This ultimate decisive battle was never a war for him alone.