516: The Dao severs cause and effect, and the immortal remains come to an end.

Faced with the lethal strike locked onto him by the Immortal Corpse Puppet, Shen Yuanmo did not retreat; instead, he took the initiative to meet it head-on.

He knew very well that against an opponent that used pure rules and absolute power to crush everything, any subtle evasion or technique would appear pale and powerless.

The only way to break the situation was to crush it head-on with even greater power!

Boom!

Chaos Magic Power surged through his body like thunder, and Shen Yuanmo's figure instantly vanished from his original spot.

In the next moment, he appeared at the side of the Immortal Corpse Puppet and threw a punch.

Atop the fist's edge, Chaos Divine Light flowed; it was simple and direct, yet contained a terrifying power sufficient to shatter a Small World.

The Immortal Corpse Puppet's reaction was incredibly fast; it didn't even turn around, instead sweeping its broken halberd back in a horizontal strike.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sounds of intense collisions echoed wildly within this deathly silent Void Realm.

Shen Yuanmo pushed the power of his Chaos Dao Body and chaos myriad dao armor to their absolute limits, engaging the Immortal Corpse Puppet in the most primitive and savage close-quarters combat.

Fists collided with the broken halberd, and the Chaos Domain clashed with immortal dao rules.

With every impact, a ring of visible spatial ripples exploded in the void, causing the Ancient Starry Path beneath their feet to shatter inch by inch.

The energy that escaped was enough to easily kill any Cultivator at the Early Stage of Mahayana in an instant.

This was a battle devoid of any fancy flourishes.

In the blink of an eye, the man and the corpse had exchanged thousands of blows.

This space was beaten into fragments, with pitch-black spatial rifts scattered around like hideous scars.

However, the battle had fallen into a stalemate.

The immortal body of the Immortal Corpse Puppet was indestructible through myriad tribulations, and its strength was infinite.

It knew no fatigue and understood no fear, only executing its most primitive command to slaughter.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuanmo's Chaos Dao Body was equally overbearing and powerful, coupled with the horrific recovery provided by the Chaos Myriad Dao Returning Origin Scripture.

For a time, he actually fought the opponent to a draw.

But Shen Yuanmo's heart was constantly sinking.

He could feel his own strength being consumed violently.

The opponent, however, seemed to be connected to an infinite energy source, with its offensive showing no signs of weakening.

If this continued, it was only a matter of time before Shen Yuanmo was defeated.

“I must find its weakness!”

Just then, the Immortal Corpse Puppet also seemed to lose its patience.

It suddenly pulled back to create distance, gripping the broken halberd with both hands and raising it high above its head.

Buzz—

The entire Void Realm trembled because of it.

All the immortal dao runess converged at the tip of the halberd at this moment, condensing into a single point of ultimate darkness.

That darkness seemed capable of swallowing all light and devouring all Laws.

The Ruination Immortal Rule contained within caused a surge of stabbing pain in Shen Yuanmo's Divine Soul.

This single strike was enough to decide the fate of the world!

Under this extreme pressure, Shen Yuanmo's mind entered an unprecedented state of ethereal clarity.

“Insight into Origin, activate!”

“Perfect Deduction, activate!”

The Chaos Runes in his eyes spun wildly, taking every movement and every energy flow of the Immortal Corpse Puppet since the start of the battle...

...and replaying, analyzing, and deducing them in his Sea of Consciousness at a speed billions of times faster than normal.

Gradually, Shen Yuanmo discovered a detail.

The operation of the immortal dao rules within the Immortal Corpse Puppet was not naturally formed.

Instead, it followed a fixed, rigid pattern, as if there were an invisible thread controlling everything from behind.

That thread was extremely obscure, hidden deep within the body of the Immortal Corpse Puppet.

Had it not been for Shen Yuanmo's ability of Insight into Origin, it would have been impossible to detect.

“So that's how it is...”

“It is not immortal and indestructible; in the end, it is just a marionette.”

Shen Yuanmo understood instantly.

The true core of this Immortal Corpse Puppet was not its overbearing immortal body, nor the vast immortal dao rules within it.

Rather, it was that single decree hidden in the deepest depths that drove all its actions—the Karma Edict!

That was the command left by Heavenly Venerable of Nine Mysteries, the root cause that allowed this immortal corpse to move.

As long as this thread was severed, this seemingly invincible immortal corpse would turn back into a truly dead object.

With this thought, Shen Yuanmo no longer paid attention to that world-destroying strike.

Instead, he concentrated all his mind and spirit on that invisible, intangible Karma line.

At this very moment, the ultimate strike of the Immortal Corpse Puppet finally fell!

The broken halberd sliced through the void, bringing down a pitch-black rift capable of splitting this world apart as it struck downward.

Faced with this attack capable of obliterating a Saint Monarch, Shen Yuanmo made a move that would make anyone's jaw drop.

He withdrew all his defenses and slowly closed his eyes.

Then, his right hand made a grasping motion in the air.

With a soft hum, an ancient, simple longsword with a dark complexion and what appeared to be a real crack running down the center of its blade appeared in his hand.

great evolution immortal slaying sword!

The great evolution immortal slaying sword and his chaos dao embryo resonated at this moment like never before.

Shen Yuanmo slowly raised the sword, facing the immortal light that could swallow everything. His voice was calm yet clearly resounded throughout the entire void.

“Your strength does not originate from yourself.”

“But from a shackle.”

“Today, I shall sever your Karma!”

The words fell.

Shen Yuanmo swung the great evolution immortal slaying sword, delivering a single strike.

“Dao Slash!”

There was no earth-shattering sword light, nor any vast, boundless pressure.

There was only a seemingly plain and unadorned grey sword mark that flashed from the tip of the great evolution immortal slaying sword.

This sword mark seemed to transcend time and space; it did not strike the immortal corpse, nor the broken halberd, but struck directly into the nothingness.

An eerie scene unfolded.

The unstoppable broken halberd, capable of destroying all Laws, suddenly came to a halt when it was only three inches away from Shen Yuanmo's front!

Time seemed to be frozen at this moment.

The two clusters of ghostly blue soul fire in the Immortal Corpse Puppet's eye sockets began to flicker and distort violently.

It was as if it had seen the most incredible and terrifying existence in the world.

Then, with a silent wail, the soul fire in the Immortal Corpse Puppet's eyes was completely extinguished.

The Karma Edict between the Immortal Corpse Puppet and Heavenly Venerable of Nine Mysteries was severed by Shen Yuanmo's Dao Slash!

Having lost its driving core, this powerful immortal corpse finally returned to its original state.

A dead object.

Crack... a very faint sound of shattering rang out.

Upon the immortal corpse's seemingly indestructible body, fine cracks began to emerge from the inside.

The cracks spread rapidly, covering its entire body in the blink of an eye.

Finally, under Shen Yuanmo's calm gaze, this powerful Puppet that had guarded the Immortal Abode for endless ages collapsed and disintegrated.

It turned into a sky full of brilliant light spots, like a magnificent firework display, slowly dissipating in this dark void.

The fireworks faded.

In its place remained only a tattered piece of immortal armor and a crystal-clear core that seemed to be condensed from the purest immortal light in the world.

The Immortal Heart Core, containing a vast Immortal Dao Origin, floated quietly in the air.

With a wave of his hand, Shen Yuanmo took the two pieces of loot into his possession.

He cast a calm gaze forward and casually swung his sword, sending a grey Sword Qi toward the front.

The gate of the Immortal Abode, which had been tightly shut for eternal ages, was struck by the grey Sword Qi and let out a heavy "creak," slowly opening a crack inward.

Shen Yuanmo's expression remained unruffled, as if he had just performed a trivial and insignificant task.