262: Drifting in the void, a glimmer of hope

In the annihilation space storm, the black crack that tore apart Old Monster Cang Xuan's Void Return Domain instantly closed after swallowing Shen Yuanmo's figure, vanishing without a trace.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Old Monster Cang Xuan's gigantic Law-infused hand, capable of crushing stars, grasped at empty air.

He froze in place, his old face, like dried orange peel, contorted from extreme shock and absurdity, which finally erupted into a volcanic rage.

"Ah—!"

A roar filled with endless fury and unwillingness burst from Old Monster Cang Xuan's mouth.

The mighty power of Law contained within that sound actually caused the surrounding violent annihilation space storm to momentarily stall, stirring up visible ripples of destruction.

He, Old Monster Cang Xuan, a Half-step Void Return existence who had lived for nearly five thousand years, plotted for three thousand years, and believed he had long since jumped off the chessboard to become the player.

He was actually escaped by a chess piece he had regarded as an ant from beginning to end, right under his nose, in a way he couldn't comprehend and that even overturned his five thousand years of cultivation knowledge!

That wasn't just escaping!

That was leveraging his authority over Law within his own Domain!

That was a harsh, merciless slap across his face!

"Little Beast! Little Beast!!"

Old Monster Cang Xuan's hair stood on end, like a madman, and for the first time, an unconcealed, insane killing intent burned in his turbid old eyes that had witnessed the vicissitudes of time and were usually as still as an ancient well.

He abruptly stretched out his hand, his Divine Sense transforming into boundless black raging tides, surging out with unprecedented intensity, attempting to capture any trace of spatial fluctuation or any wisp of residual Divine Soul left after Shen Yuanmo's disappearance.

However, there was nothing.

The Void Realm was utterly silent.

The destination of that randomly generated spatial rift could not be calculated within this violent annihilation space storm.

Shen Yuanmo's aura, along with the heart of chaos origin he had plotted for three thousand years, had completely evaporated from this world.

"This old man doesn't believe it! This old man doesn't believe it!!!"

Old Monster Cang Xuan roared to the sky, the terrifying sound waves causing the entire storm to tremble violently, and countless spatial fragments were born and destroyed as a result.

He had lived for so long, yet he had never been so distraught, so aggrieved and humiliated as he was today!

He stomped on the Void Realm beneath his feet, his Void Return Domain unfolding without reservation, transforming into a grey stream of light filled with endless fury, and furiously chased in the direction Shen Yuanmo had vanished!

Even if he had to chase him to the ends of the earth, to the edge of the world, he would find that Little Beast!

Then, he would tear him into ten thousand pieces, light his Divine Soul as a sky lantern, and reclaim his supreme fortune!

...Absolute darkness.

Absolute nothingness.

Absolute silence.

When Shen Yuanmo's body was completely swallowed by the black spatial rift, he fell into an unknown place even more terrifying and desperate than the annihilation space storm.

There was no light, no sound, no Spiritual Qi here.

Even the concepts of time and space presented a chaotic and distorted form, like crumpled waste paper.

This was the crack between worlds, the fault of dimensions.

It was, in the true sense, the Void Turbulence, which even immortals and gods would dread.

"Urgh..."

An indescribable agony surged from every corner, every inch of flesh, every cell of Shen Yuanmo's body.

That was pure spatial tearing force.

His powerful Physical Body, at the seventh stage of the Vajra Glazed Body, was as fragile as paper in the face of this power.

Skin, flesh, tendons, and bones were being stretched, twisted, and disintegrated at a visible rate.

Deep, bone-visible wounds silently bloomed on his body, yet strangely, not a single drop of blood flowed out.

Because the blood, the moment it left his body, was directly decomposed into primal particles by this chaotic Void Turbulence, returning to nothingness.

The collapse of the Physical Body was secondary.

The most terrifying was the withering at the Divine Soul level.

Previously, to forcibly comprehend that wisp of spatial leap Dao rhyme, Shen Yuanmo had not hesitated to ignite his Half-step Nascent Soul Dao fruit and Origin Divine Soul.

At this moment, his Divine Soul Origin was already less than one-tenth of its original state, with only a final flicker like a candle in the wind, ready to extinguish at any moment.

And the omnipresent chaotic Laws in this Void Turbulence transformed into invisible steel needles, frantically piercing and stirring his Sea of Consciousness, which was already on the verge of shattering.

His Physical Body was perishing, his Divine Soul was disintegrating.

The dual torment caused Shen Yuanmo's consciousness to scatter and blur in endless pain.

Was he going to die?

After exhausting everything, calculating everything, was he still unable to escape the fate of death and Dao dissipation?

Unwilling... truly unwilling... the future of his Family, the expectations of his loved ones, and the homeland that nurtured him... countless thoughts and images flashed rapidly like a revolving lantern in his fading consciousness, finally sinking into an increasingly thick, increasingly cold darkness.

Just as Shen Yuanmo's consciousness was about to completely sink and be utterly swallowed by this eternal nothingness.

Buzz—

The heart of chaos origin in his embrace, which he had protected with his last shred of strength, seemed to sense that its host's life was nearing its end.

This supreme divine object, which had been quietly dormant since its birth, finally awakened on its own.

A soft, chaotic-colored glow, tinged with a seven-colored halo, slowly emanated from the heart of Chaos.

That glow was warm and profound, carrying an ancient Dao rhyme of the Origin of all things and the beginning of life, as if it were the first ray of light at the dawn of the Universe.

It was like a loving mother's gentlest embrace, gently and completely enveloping Shen Yuanmo's collapsing, broken body and his Divine Soul core, which was about to completely dissipate.

Chh! Chh! Chh!

The Void Turbulence, powerful enough to tear apart Dao Artifacts, upon contact with this layer of chaotic glow, was instantly smoothed and assimilated by an invisible force, like snow melting in boiling water, no longer able to harm Shen Yuanmo in the slightest.

The chaotic glow formed a bubble, perfectly enveloping Shen Yuanmo's body.

This tiny bubble drifted aimlessly, rising and falling with the currents, within this Void Turbulence that could annihilate everything.

Like a lone boat struggling in an endless ocean of destruction.

He didn't know how long he had drifted.

A day? A month? Or a year?

In this Void Realm where the concept of time was blurred, years seemed to have lost their original meaning.

Finally, under the continuous nourishment of the chaotic glow, Shen Yuanmo's almost extinguished Divine Soul fire rekindled a faint glimmer of light.

"I... I'm still alive?"

A faint consciousness struggled to awaken from the endless darkness.

Shen Yuanmo laboriously opened his eyes, his eyelids heavy as a thousand jun.

What met his gaze was the seven-colored halo enveloping him, and beyond the halo, the eternal darkness representing absolute nothingness.

He immediately activated the Delusion-Breaking Dharma Eye deep within his glabella, which was also protected by the chaotic glow.

The vertical pupil opened with difficulty, and the sight within his eyes instantly plunged his heart to rock bottom.

Shen Yuanmo saw it.

He was in a bizarre, indescribable crack between worlds.

Countless shattered Law fragments, like sharp, multicolored crystals, drifted aimlessly here.

They were the remnants of dead worlds, each containing destructive power.

Occasionally, two Law fragments would collide, erupting with terrifying energy capable of instantly killing a Soul Transformation cultivator, or generating a random rift leading to an unknown dimension, swallowing everything around it.

This was a forbidden zone for life, a graveyard of order.

What made him even more desperate was that he could clearly see the life-saving halo enveloping him slowly becoming thinner and dimmer at a visible rate.

Although the heart of chaos origin was a supreme divine object, its power was not endless.

It was using its own Origin to resist the constant erosion of the entire Void Turbulence.

At most... Shen Yuanmo silently calculated.

It could only last for another month!

After a month, if he still couldn't find a stable foothold, when the heart of Chaos's energy was exhausted, he would still face the sole outcome of complete physical and spiritual annihilation, utterly turning into dust in this Void Realm!

Despair, like a cold tide, once again surged into his heart, almost extinguishing the flame of will he had just rekindled.

But immediately, it was fiercely suppressed by an even stronger desire to survive!

"I, Shen Yuanmo, who managed to escape a certain death situation even from a Half-step Void Return cultivator, how can I die in this godforsaken place!"

Two defiant flames reignited in Shen Yuanmo's eyes.

He forcibly suppressed the tearing pain from deep within his Divine Soul, pushing his Insight into Origin and Delusion-Breaking Dharma Eye to their limits!

Shen Yuanmo wanted to find that sole path to life in this desperate Void Realm!

His gaze penetrated through layers of chaotic Law turbulence, beginning to frantically search in this boundless darkness.

Searching for the invisible, intangible, yet truly existing world barrier between different worlds!

Only by finding a world barrier and its weakest point could he have a chance to break into a stable world and gain a true respite!

Time was flowing by, second by second.

The chaotic halo enveloping him also became increasingly thin and dim, transforming from its initial seven-colored glaze into a faint, single-layered glow.

Just as Shen Yuanmo's Divine Soul was about to collapse again due to excessive consumption, and just before that life-saving halo was about to completely dissipate.

His gaze suddenly sharpened!

He saw it!

At the end of his vision, in that eternal darkness and nothingness, an extremely faint, almost imperceptible speck of light, like a candle in the wind, was quietly flickering!

Upon that speck of light, a stable aura, though weak, was truly present, full of vitality and order!

That was a world!

An unknown Small World with complete Laws and life!

He found it!

"Heaven will not destroy me!"

A silent roar of ecstasy erupted in Shen Yuanmo's heart.

Without another moment of hesitation, he used his last shred of recovered willpower to laboriously control the rapidly shattering chaotic bubble, turning its direction.

Then, with his remaining strength, he fiercely crashed towards that speck of light representing hope and new life!

Boom!

A violent spatial tremor, as if the world itself was shaking, resounded.

The chaotic bubble that had protected Shen Yuanmo for an unknown duration, upon colliding with the world barrier, finally exhausted its last trace of Origin power, shattering like a splendid dream!

Meanwhile, Shen Yuanmo's body, like a burning meteor trailing a long tail, tore through the spatial barrier of that unknown Small World, plummeting straight down from ten thousand zhang in the sky.