213: Loss and Truth

“I won… I… finally… won…”

This obsession, like a dying candlewick, flickered tenaciously amidst the cold and storm.

Lin Chuping felt his consciousness sinking into an icy abyss, dissipating into endless Chaos.

The tiger's roar and the System's chaotic alarms became distant, blurry background noise.

Just as his consciousness was about to be completely extinguished—

Buzz… An ineffable, grand, and ancient “pulsation” penetrated layers of icy curses and darkness, gently brushing against Lin Chuping's last, dissipating core of consciousness.

This was not a sound, not a light, but a… resonance of existence.

Immediately after, he “saw” it.

Not with his eyes, but his remaining consciousness directly “perceived” an indescribable, boundless sea of Chaos.

Here, there was no up, down, left, or right; no concept of time or space, only surging, primordial energy currents, like the birth of the Universe, intertwined with sacred golden radiance and… defiled purplish-black stains!

Those purplish-black stains, like maggots on bone, greedily corroded and polluted this sea of Chaos, which represented the Origin of the world, making it appear incredibly dim and weak, like a giant poisoned and on the verge of death.

At the core of this sea of Chaos, Lin Chuping “perceived” an extremely faint, yet vast and boundless will.

The faint will was filled with ineffable antiquity and vicissitude, containing the ultimate truths of creation and destruction, order and Chaos.

However, at this moment, this will was like a candle in the wind, deeply entangled and pierced by countless purplish-black, vein-like chains of pollution!

Each faint pulsation was accompanied by a silent wail of pain caused by the tightening chains.

This… is the Origin of the Six Realms? The world itself?!

Lin Chuping's remaining fragments of consciousness trembled violently! He understood instantly!

Why there was a System!

Why screening was needed!

Why, after 998 failures, the Heavenly Dao (System) still ruthlessly carried out the 999th attempt!

Because Itself was the biggest “victim”! It was the battlefield itself!

The invasion of the Extraterrestrial Demon not only occurred on the battlefield of gods, but a deeper erosion had already polluted the very root of the world!

Its power was on the verge of exhaustion from resisting internal and external erosion, and Its will was shattered by pollution and torment!

The so-called “System” was not a cold program at all, but Its last, desperate self-rescue program, woven from Its final shred of clear will and remaining world rules!

Screening the Lord of the Six Realms?

No! It was screening for an “agent” who could bear Its last power, resist the source of pollution, and even… die for It!

The 998 predecessors were 998 stones thrown out in Its despair to scout the way, 998 sparks of hope ignited, which ultimately turned into extinguished embers!

“So… that's it…”

Lin Chuping's fragments of consciousness let out a silent sigh in the sea of Chaos, filled with endless desolation and a hint of absurd realization.

He was not some lucky person; he was the 999th sacrifice chosen by a dying world!

Just then, the extremely weak world will, entangled by the chains of pollution, seemed to sense this last shred of Lin Chuping's consciousness.

An extremely faint, yet undeniably “Heavenly Dao” authoritative thought, as if spanning endless time and space, directly imprinted itself on Lin Chuping's core consciousness:

“The… 999th…”

The thought was filled with unimaginable exhaustion, bone-deep pain, and… a faint glimmer of expectation that had not been completely extinguished even after 998 failures.