A New Chapter Begins: A Glimpse into Despair

His consciousness drifted in endless darkness, like a candle flame about to be extinguished in a storm.

The collapse warnings and self-destruction countdowns coming from the [rule fragment] were like distant background noise.

The excruciating pain of his Soul tearing apart intertwined with the suffocating pressure of the Law, as if to drag him into eternal nothingness.

Had he failed?

In the end... he had lost the gamble...

No!

Just as his consciousness was about to dissipate completely, a cool, emerald-green energy containing infinite vitality and peaceful Dao aura surged like a sweet spring into his nearly dried-up Sea of Consciousness and shattered [rule fragment].

It was the world tree seedling!

Sensing that its Host was on the verge of death, it spared no expense in consuming its own Origin, releasing the purest life force to forcibly keep Nightmare's last breath alive!

At the same time, inside the [rule fragment] space, that Void Realm ancient lotus seed, stimulated by the previous Law impact and the fluctuations of the primal cube, catalyzed a faint trace of Innate spirituality ahead of time.

This spirituality, carrying a pure intent of spatial protection, together with the life energy of the World Tree, stabilized his Soul body, which was on the verge of collapse.

Beset by trouble from both within and without, Nightmare's iron-willed consciousness finally grasped a glimmer of light and struggled back from the brink of sinking!

He "saw" the massive silver-white creation disintegrating from within.

Violent explosions occurred one after another, and the outer armor peeled off layer by layer, revealing the intricate yet lusterless mechanical structure inside.

The energy core, which he had shattered with a single finger, had turned into a chaotic energy source that was constantly collapsing, triggering a chain reaction.

[Warning! Creation self-destruction program final stage! Estimated total annihilation time: 3 seconds!]

[Unknown spatial beacon detected and activated! Forced teleportation initiated! Target coordinates: Unknown! Stability: Extremely low!]

Just a moment before the silver-white creation was about to turn into cosmic dust, an emergency System inside it that had not been completely destroyed seemed to have triggered a preset escape protocol by mistake due to the core collapse!

A faint but stable silver light shot out from the wreckage, enveloping Nightmare and the area where his [rule fragment] space was located!

Hum!

A strong sense of spatial pulling came, more violent and chaotic than any previous traversal!

Nightmare could feel the [rule fragment] shaking crazily.

His just-stabilized injuries were impacted again, and the excruciating pain made him almost faint.

He held firmly onto the last sliver of clarity in his mind, and the [rule fragment] did its utmost to protect Su Wanqing and important items within the internal space.

Before his eyes was a chaotic flow of grotesque and bizarre colors that were completely incomprehensible, as if he were being forcibly stuffed into an unstable space-time tunnel!

He didn't know how long had passed; perhaps it was an instant, perhaps ten thousand years.

Bang!

With a dull thud, accompanied by the crisp sound of bones fracturing, Nightmare felt himself slam heavily onto some hard object.

The violent shock made his vision go black, and he completely lost perception of the outside world.

...

Cold, damp.

This was the first sensation Nightmare felt when he regained a faint consciousness.

He felt as if he were lying on some rough, mossy, damp rock.

The ubiquitous excruciating pain throughout his body reminded him of the severity of his injuries—the [rule fragment] light was dim, covered in cracks; the nirvana dao seed was withered to the extreme, almost undetectable; his Meridians were broken, his internal organs displaced, and his Divine Soul was covered in cracks, as if it would shatter at the slightest touch.

The vitality from the world tree seedling was like a trickle, barely maintaining his dilapidated shell to prevent it from immediately disintegrating.

He struggled to open his heavy eyelids bit by bit.

What met his eyes was a dim, faintly blue-glowing cave.

Some glowing moss and crystal clusters hung from the top of the cave, providing a faint light source.

The air was damp and filled with a mixed scent of soil, minerals, and some... faint, never-before-smelled scent of otherworldly plants.

Spiritual Qi... The Spiritual Qi here was extremely thin, and its nature was different from any place he knew, carrying a kind of inertia and... rejection?

His [rule fragment] could barely function, and he could only rely on his most basic senses to barely probe the range of a few zhang around him.

Su Wanqing...

With a thought, his [rule fragment] space gave a weak response, confirming that she was still safely inside, though it seemed she had also fallen into a coma due to the previous impact; fortunately, there was no danger to her life.

He was still alive... Su Wanqing was also still alive...

This was already the greatest fortune in misfortune.

Where had that final forced teleportation of the silver-white creation brought them?

This was definitely not the Myriad Laws Star Domain, and it might even... not be in the original Universe?

Nightmare tried to mobilize a trace of faint Divine Sense to explore this cave.

The cave was not large, and the exit was mostly blocked by collapsed boulders, leaving only a few cracks to let in faint daylight (if it was daytime outside).

There were no other signs of life in the cave except for him.

He struggled to move his body, and the intense pain made cold sweat pour down.

He had to heal as soon as possible!

In his current state, any Vicious Beast or low-level Cultivator could take his life.

He still had some spare Medicinal Pills and Spirit Stones in his [rule fragment] space, but the [rule fragment] was severely damaged, making it extremely difficult to retrieve items.

He could only fumble bit by bit like a Mortal, trying to take out the Medicinal Pill.

Just then—

Click.

The boulder blocking the entrance of the cave was suddenly slowly pushed open from the outside, creating a larger gap!

A figure, with their back to the slightly dazzling daylight outside, cast a shadow into the cave.

Nightmare's heart tightened.

He instantly held his breath, and his [rule fragment] forcibly restrained all his aura; even his heartbeat almost stopped.

His body was tensed to the limit, like a lurking, injured Vicious Beast, staring fixedly at that figure.

Friend or foe?

Or... a native of this place?

The figure also seemed to be observing the situation in the cave, and after a moment, he walked in completely.

By the faint light of the moss on the cave ceiling, Nightmare saw the appearance of the newcomer clearly.

It was an old man... wearing simple gray linen clothes, with a thin figure and a somewhat aged face, but his eyes were exceptionally clear and peaceful.

He held a seemingly ordinary wooden staff in his hand, and there was no powerful energy fluctuation on him, just like an ordinary old man from the mountains.

However, Nightmare's [rule fragment] on the verge of breaking felt a kind of extremely subtle, yet seemingly integrated with the whole heaven and earth nature... Dao aura from this old man?

This feeling was different from any Cultivation System he knew.

The old man's gaze swept across the cave and finally landed on Nightmare, who was curled up in the corner, covered in blood, and on the verge of death.

There was no surprise, no fear, and no greed in his eyes, only a calm peace, as if he were looking at a small injured beast in the wind and rain.

He walked slowly to Nightmare's side, squatted down, and used those calloused yet steady hands to gently check Nightmare's injuries.

"Outsider traveler..." The old man spoke in a language Nightmare had never heard, but strangely, the remaining instinct of his [rule fragment] managed to decipher the meaning.

The voice was old and gentle, "You are heavily injured... Being able to survive is already a miracle."

He looked at Nightmare's fist, which was tightly clenched even in his semi-conscious state (trying to take the Medicinal Pill), and his guarded gaze, and sighed slightly.

"No need to be nervous, this old man has no malice."

He gently put down Nightmare's hand, took out a few fragrant, strangely shaped herbs from his coarse cloth pocket, took out a stone bowl, crushed the herbs, mixed them with some clear water, and made a simple medicinal paste.

"The Spiritual Qi here is thin, and the Laws are very different from the outside world. Your Medicinal Pills will likely have less than one-tenth of their effect here."

As the old man spoke, he carefully applied the cool-scented medicinal paste to several of Nightmare's most serious wounds.

When the paste touched the wounds, a cool sensation came, which actually relieved some of the burning pain, and even a faint, gentle energy that was different from the Spiritual Qi of this place seeped into his body, beginning to slowly nourish the damaged tissues.

Nightmare's tensed nerves relaxed slightly.

At least for now, it seemed this old man truly had no malice, and he seemed to know effective healing methods in this environment.

"Thank... you..." Nightmare struggled to spit out two local language words simulated by his [rule fragment], his voice hoarse and dry.

The old man smiled, and the wrinkles on his face smoothed out: "Just a small effort. Rest assured and heal here; this cave is quite safe."

He stood up and looked at the blocked cave entrance: "I will go find some food and fresh water. Your injuries have not healed, so do not move rashly."

After speaking, he leaned on his wooden staff, pushed the boulder open again, and his figure disappeared into the light at the cave entrance.

Inside the cave, silence returned once again.

Nightmare lay on the cold rock, feeling the faint coolness from his wounds, looking at the glowing moss on the cave ceiling, his mind filled with thousands of thoughts.

He was still alive, but his [rule fragment] was severely damaged, his cultivation was almost completely wasted, and he had drifted to a completely strange world with thin Spiritual Qi and vastly different Laws.

The road ahead was vast and filled with crises.

But, as long as he was still alive, there was still hope.

He slowly closed his eyes and began to guide the gentle energy from the herbs in the most primitive way, cooperating with the surviving vitality of the world tree seedling, extremely slowly repairing this dilapidated body.

A new world, new challenges, perhaps... also a new beginning.