24: Hongmeng Edict, Chaos Moon Egg

"Disperse."

That edict was cold and indifferent, as if it did not come from Chen Feng's mouth, but originated from an ancient will preceding the separation of Heaven and Earth and the dawn of Primordial Chaos—the first strand of the Law of Sound that stripped away disorder and defined order at the birth of the universe.

As the word was spoken, the law followed!

In the core of the Guanghan Ruins, time and space fell into absolute stagnation at this moment. The roaring aftershocks of the gale, the shattered profound ice fragments, the flowing Moon Essence spiritual energy... everything, tangible and intangible, froze! Only the gigantic finger, wrapped in golden chains of order, burning with incandescent Immortal Flame, and carrying the will to crush the heavens, continued to move towards the precarious moon cocoon, driven by the law of inertia.

However, against this backdrop of absolute stagnation—

Buzz!!!

In front of the fingertip of Chen Feng's loosely held right hand, a "Primal Point" appeared out of thin air, whose form, color, and existence could not be described in words! It was not light, not energy, not matter, but the "Nothingness" preceding the birth of all concepts—the original "Point" before Primordial Chaos was defined!

The moment the Primal Point appeared, the tip of the gigantic Immortal Flame finger, which was capable of freezing Golden Cores and crushing space, touched "space" itself, which immediately rippled silently, like a mirror-like water surface struck by a stone! Wherever the ripple passed, space ceased to be the foundation carrying all things, transforming instead into... Chaos!

Pure Chaos, devoid of any attributes, encompassing everything yet annihilating everything!

Hiss—!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no roar of clashing energy.

The tip of the giant finger, which contained the Immortal Envoy's Natal Immortal Essence and condensed the supreme laws of order, silently... dissolved the instant it touched the Chaos ripple, like ice and snow under the sun!

It was not destroyed or defeated, but forcibly "reset to zero"! The energy, laws, will, and existence that constituted the giant finger were all forcibly erased, assimilated, and returned to Chaos by the Primordial Will emanating from that single Primal Point!

The speed of dissolution was beyond imagination! It spread from the tip of the giant finger, toward the base, and toward the source of the golden vortex that pierced the profound ice marrow coffin! It was like an invisible flame igniting a fuse!

"No—!!!" The Immortal Envoy's cold and majestic voice, for the first time, carried unbelievable shock, fury, and a trace of... bone-deep fear! That sound penetrated the barrier of spatial-temporal stagnation, violently vibrating at the level of law!

Boom!!!

The golden vortex at the center of the profound ice marrow coffin suddenly collapsed inward and exploded! Countless dazzling golden chains of order twisted and broke like dying vipers! The incandescent Immortal Flame instantly dimmed and extinguished! The entire profound ice marrow coffin, massive as a mountain, seemed to be fiercely grasped by an invisible Chaos giant hand; its surface was covered in spiderweb-like Chaos cracks, emitting a groan of unbearable strain! A backlash force originating from a higher plane, transcending the laws of the Immortal Dao, slammed fiercely onto the Immortal Envoy's Origin through the projection link!

Pfft!

Deep within a golden palace in a distant Immortal Domain, whose location was unknown, a muffled groan suppressing extreme pain sounded.

In the core of the Ice Lake, the world-destroying giant finger, along with its source vortex, completely vanished under the spread of the Chaos ripple, leaving only a massive void on the surface of the profound ice marrow coffin, its edges flowing with Chaos energy, and the coffin body itself, covered in cracks and completely dimmed. The Immortal Envoy's aura, along with the suffocating Immortal Dao pressure, rapidly receded like a tide, disappearing without a trace.

The core of the ruins returned to dead silence. Only the stagnant space-time remained unfrozen.

Inside the moon cocoon.

Chen Feng remained in the posture of loosely holding his right hand, his body rigid. The chaotic vortex light in his eyes rapidly faded, replaced by extreme hollowness and bewilderment. Golden-red Chaos Blood flowed like a stream from the wounds torn by the golden spear on his brow, chest, and Dantian, dripping onto the Moon Essence ground and spreading into patches of dazzling crimson.

"Ugh..." An extremely faint groan, as if squeezed from the depths of his soul, escaped his lips. The next moment, the dazzling bright light erupting from his body suddenly extinguished, like a snuffed candle flame. The surging dark-gold patterns instantly dimmed, like a dry riverbed. Inside his Dantian, the chaos base point, which had just erupted with Primordial power, was now completely devoid of light, its rotation utterly stopped. Its surface was covered in cracks even finer and deeper than before, resembling a fragile glass orb on the verge of shattering, conveying a deathly exhaustion and silence. [chaos base point: Energy (0%)! Deep Silence! Core Cracks (Severe)! Foundation Instability! Warning!]

[fragment of the fate plate: Cracks intensified (Nearing Collapse)! Backlash from forced activation of Origin Will! Warning!]

Overdraft! Extreme overdraft! Forcibly bearing Primordial Power that surpassed his own rank countless times, even for a single instant, resulted in a devastating backlash!

The light in Chen Feng's eyes completely extinguished, like a candle flickering out in the wind. His body lost all supporting strength, and like a sack with the bones removed, he fell straight backward, splashing blood!

Clatter.

He fell heavily onto the cold Moon Essence ground, splashing a few drops of viscous blood. His consciousness rapidly sank into the darkness, like plunging into a bottomless ice ocean. Only the fragment of the fate plate in his chest still emitted a faint warmth, like a candle in the wind, barely maintaining his last thread of vitality.

The moment Chen Feng fell, the moon cocoon Protective Formation, which had been violently shaken by the Immortal Envoy's giant finger attack and had nearly half its rune chains broken, seemed to finally recover from its state of spatial-temporal stagnation. However, instead of launching a furious expulsion against the intruder Chen Feng, it... fell into a strange delay.

In the core of the formation, the Ice Moon Rune floating above Su Wanzhao flickered erratically. It seemed to have "seen" the Primordial strike that transcended cognition, and "felt" the deathly exhaustion of the chaos base point inside Chen Feng, as well as the precarious, endangered state of the fragment of the fate plate.

More importantly, Su Wanzhao's brow!

The shattered Sword Seal did not worsen the moment Chen Feng fell and the symbiotic cycle was forcibly interrupted! On the contrary, the area that had previously consumed a large amount of chaotic energy by the chaos base point and then had its core obstruction defeated by the Annihilation Mark was now being rapidly healed and covered by pure Moon Essence silver threads! The cracks in the Sword Seal visibly shrank and faded! A vitality far more resilient and vigorous than before was stubbornly sprouting from the depths of Su Wanzhao's exhausted Origin, like a spring bud breaking through the soil!

All of this was due to Chen Feng's near self-destructive intervention!

Buzz... The Ice Moon Rune emitted a low hum, seemingly carrying hesitation and deliberation. Finally, it seemed to make a decision.

The light of the entire damaged moon cocoon Protective Formation was no longer coldly repulsive but softened considerably. The countless broken rune chains no longer attempted to repair the holes in the outer wall but slowly draped down and extended like living vines, gently wrapping around Chen Feng's weak body lying on the ground.

At the same time, the massive, pure Moon Essence Origin wrapping Su Wanzhao in the core of the moon cocoon began to actively and gently divert a trickle of energy. Instead of resisting, it flowed slowly toward Chen Feng's body with a strange affinity, attempting to moisten his exhausted base point and endangered Life Soul.

A more gentle and stable symbiotic cycle, actively guided by the moon cocoon Formation, was quietly being established! The Moon Essence Origin nourished Chen Feng's dying body and silent base point, while the trace of the most fundamental Primordial vitality remaining in Chen Feng (though extremely weak), originating from the fragment of the fate plate and the chaos base point, also slowly seeped into Su Wanzhao's reconstructing Origin core through this gentle cycle.

Time flowed silently in this shattered world of ice crystals.

At the edge of the Ice Lake, the mountain-like profound ice marrow coffin was completely silent, the edges of the Chaos void on its surface flowing with deathly gray energy, like a massive scar. The mirror surface of the Ice Lake was covered in spiderweb-like cracks, reflecting the huge Ice Prisms hanging from the dome.

Inside the moon cocoon, however, the scene had undergone tremendous changes.

The "ground" and cocoon walls, originally composed of pure Moon Essence energy, now flowed with wisps of Chaos-colored air currents, intertwining and wrapping with the cold Moon Essence to form a strange yet harmonious gray-silver halo. The rune chains of the protective formation were no longer cold silver, but were coated in a faint, flowing Chaos Light Membrane, appearing more ancient and mysterious.

At the core of the cocoon, the position where Su Wanzhao floated was replaced by a massive, slowly rotating gray-silver "Light Egg." The Light Egg was about two zhang in size, its surface flowing with living Chaos patterns and Moon Essence Runes, and its interior contained unimaginable vigorous vitality and terrifying energy currently undergoing transformation. This was the "chaos moon egg" formed after the two entered a deep symbiotic transformation guided by the moon cocoon Formation!

Inside the egg, the scene was blurry and profound.

Chen Feng's body was wrapped in countless gray-silver energy threads, like an embryo sleeping in a mother's womb. The gruesome cracks on his body were healing extremely slowly under the nourishment of gentle and pure Chaos Moon Essence energy. The silent chaos base point was like a dry riverbed receiving spring rain; at the edges of the deep cracks on its surface, extremely minute Chaos Light Points began to re-condense and flicker. Although still quiescent, it was no longer deathly silent, but contained a faint vitality, like dry wood coming back to life. [chaos base point: In Silence... Weak energy permeating nourishment... Core crack repair (1%)... Slowly recovering...]

[fragment of the fate plate: Cracks stable (No deterioration)... Being gently nourished by weak Chaos Moon Essence...]

At the other end of the egg, Su Wanzhao's figure was also wrapped in dense gray-silver energy. The Sword Seal on her brow had vanished, replaced by an extremely tiny gray-silver Star Vortex Mark that emitted the dual Dao Rhymes of Chaos and Moon Essence! Her pale face regained a smooth, jade-like luster, appearing even more mysterious and sacred than before. Her aura was restrained and profound, like a sleeping volcano. Her exhausted Origin within was not only completely reshaped but had undergone some ineffable qualitative change through the fusion with Chaos Moon Essence, becoming unprecedentedly resilient and vast! [Su Wanzhao Status: Origin reshaping complete (100%)! Life aura stable! Origin qualitative change (Chaos Moon Essence fusion)! Undergoing deep transformation...]

Even more astonishingly, deep within her newly born Origin core, a miniature, slowly rotating "Chaos Star Vortex" constructed jointly by Chaos airflow and Moon Essence Refined Energy was forming! This was not a chaos base point, but contained the supreme mysteries of their fusion! [Chaos Star Vortex (Prototype): Nurturing...]

The entire chaos moon egg, like a massive energy furnace and a life cocoon, pulsated quietly atop the ruins at the very core of the Guanghan Ruins, absorbing the Moon Essence spiritual energy accumulated over tens of thousands of years in the ruins, and also drawing wisps of Ancient Evil Origin that permeated through the Ice Fiend Barrier deep within the Burial Wasteland, slowly but surely nurturing a radical transformation.

Outside the Ice Lake, at the distant and vague edge of perception.

Deep within a magnificent palace enveloped in Golden Auspicious Clouds.

The golden-robed figure sitting cross-legged on the Cloud Platform violently trembled. The golden mist covering the face fluctuated intensely, and a trace of dark-golden blood, extremely subtle but carrying the aura of Chaos annihilation, slowly seeped out from the lower edge of the mist.

"Primordial... Will..." A cold, hoarse voice, filled with endless dread and towering killing intent, echoed softly in the empty hall. "Fate Stealer... Defying Heaven... This child... must be incinerated by the Immortal Dao Calamity Fire... his soul burned... his foundation refined... his fragment suppressed... never... to reincarnate!"

A golden Immortal Decree, imprinted with Chen Feng's aura and the blurred image of the chaos moon egg, silently penetrated the palace barrier and shot toward the depths of the endless Sea of Clouds, aiming directly for the coordinate location of the ruins in the Burial Wasteland.

The hunt is far from over.

Inside the chaos moon egg, energy surged gently like a tide.

Su Wanzhao, wrapped in gray-silver light threads, had her long, butterfly-like eyelashes... tremble ever so slightly.