On his deathbed, the torch was passed on.

Inside the cave, a thick, unyielding scent of blood mingled with the unique earthy, wild aroma of the rock bear. The bonfire had long since been extinguished by the previous tremors, leaving only the pale blue, cold light from the glowing moss on the ceiling to illuminate this hellish scene.

Nightmare lay on the straw Medicine Old Man had hastily spread, his breath as faint as a wisp of smoke. His face was no longer pale, but a deathly gray, his body cold; only the extremely weak rise and fall of his chest proved he was still alive. Forcibly extracting the Origin life energy of the world tree seedling and fusing it with Nirvana Internal Qi and spatial profoundness to unleash that transcendent sword strike had almost completely burned away the nascent vitality he had just gained. The rule fragment's light had completely dimmed, and the cracks on its surface seemed even deeper, as if it could shatter completely at any moment, annihilating his Divine Soul along with it.

Medicine Old Man's grizzled beard was stained with dust and specks of blood. He disregarded his own disheveled state, rummaged through all the useful herbs he carried, crushed them, and mixed them with water, attempting to feed them to Nightmare. But Nightmare's jaws were clenched tight, and most of the medicinal liquid flowed down the corners of his mouth. For Nightmare, whose Origin was severely damaged at this moment, those herbs were merely a drop in the bucket.

“Kid… hold on!” Medicine Old Man’s voice held a trace of imperceptible tremor. He placed his rough palm on Nightmare’s cold chest, trying to infuse a wisp of his own weak and peaceful Qi-nourishing internal breath, but that bit of Qi was like a mud ox entering the sea, unable to stir even a ripple in Nightmare’s nearly deathly silent Meridians.

He had practiced medicine and gathered herbs for most of his life, seen countless injuries and illnesses, yet he had never encountered such a bizarre and severe injury. His Physical Body was riddled with holes, his Divine Soul was on the verge of collapse, and a cold, deathly power lingered within his body, repelling any external vitality. If not for the occasional faint yet tenacious life fluctuation (the world tree seedling autonomously protecting its master) emanating from Nightmare's rule fragment space, he would have almost believed the person before him was already a corpse.

Medicine Old Man glanced at the Iron Claw Rock Bear's corpse blocking the cave entrance, his heart still filled with indescribable shock. He had examined the rock bear's wound; there was only an insignificant small puncture wound from a sword tip on its body, not even a minor injury, yet the Iron Claw Rock Bear was indeed dead, its life force completely severed, as if its existence had been obliterated from within by some power.

This had completely exceeded his understanding of "power."

“Who… are you, exactly?” Medicine Old Man murmured to himself, looking at Nightmare’s young face, etched with resilience and vicissitudes, his eyes incredibly complex. He knew that this young man carried astonishing secrets, and his Origins were likely far beyond his imagination.

Time passed bit by bit, but Nightmare’s condition showed no improvement; instead, his breath grew weaker and weaker, and the rule fragment’s fluctuations were almost nonexistent.

A look of despair appeared on Medicine Old Man’s face. He knew that ordinary methods were powerless to reverse the situation. He sat silently beside Nightmare, as if he had made some kind of decision.

He slowly took out a small object tightly wrapped in animal skin from the inner layer of his clothes. Opening the animal skin, inside was a fragment, about the size of a thumbnail, yellowish in color, and irregularly shaped… a fragment?

This fragment looked ordinary, like a remnant of some jade or bone, its surface covered with natural patterns, without any energy fluctuations. But Medicine Old Man looked at it with eyes full of reverence and reminiscence.

“Ancestral teachings state that this item must not be used unless the survival of the clan is at stake or a person of unfathomable destiny is encountered…” Medicine Old Man whispered to himself, his gaze falling back on Nightmare, “Unfathomable destiny… inciting the Iron Claw Rock Bear’s abnormal behavior, using a mortal body to perform god-slaying techniques… Kid, you are worthy of these four words.”

This fragment was an heirloom passed down through generations in his lineage, said to originate from an ancient Legacy before the advent of the Land of Absolute Spirit era. It contained a mysterious power that transcended the current world's Laws, but how to use it and what its effects were had long been lost, leaving only some vague ancestral teachings.

Medicine Old Man no longer hesitated. He gently placed the yellowish fragment on Nightmare's glabella, then bit his fingertip, squeezing out a drop of crimson blood, which he dripped onto the fragment.

The moment the blood touched the fragment, an anomaly suddenly occurred!

The yellowish fragment, which had been unresponsive, began to tremble slightly. The natural patterns on its surface seemed to come alive, emitting a warm, mellow light that seemed to nourish the Origin of all things! This light was not strong, but it carried an indescribable ancient and sacred aura, instantly enveloping Nightmare's head.

Medicine Old Man held his breath, watching nervously.

The warm light, as if possessing life, slowly seeped into Nightmare's Sea of Consciousness through his glabella, flowing towards his almost shattered rule fragment and his cracked Divine Soul.

This power was neither Spiritual Qi nor any energy Medicine Old Man knew; it was more like… “information,” a “principle,” a fundamental Law of “existence” and “continuation”!

It did not forcibly repair the cracks in the rule fragment, nor did it directly replenish Nightmare’s depleted life force. Instead, like the most precise weaver, it began to sort out the chaotic rule turbulence between the rule fragment pieces, smoothing the restless consciousness fragments at the edges of the Divine Soul cracks, providing a “stable” foundation for them, allowing the rule fragment and Divine Soul to have an “environment” for slow self-healing!

At the same time, this warm power also activated the world tree seedling and the primal cube within the rule fragment space!

The world tree seedling swayed joyfully, greedily absorbing this seemingly homologous power, and the life energy it released became more refined and vibrant, beginning to nourish Nightmare's Physical Body more effectively.

The primal cube also pulsed again, subtly resonating with the power of the ancient fragment, accelerating its analysis and data supplementation of Nightmare's body by a fraction, helping him better coordinate his internal and external forces.

Nightmare's consciousness, which felt like it was plummeting into an endless abyss, seemed to touch a warm current, and the cold sensation of death was dispelled somewhat. His rule fragment instinctively began to capture and absorb this ancient and mysterious power, integrating it into his own Internal Refinement system.

His deathly pale face regained an extremely faint trace of color at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. Although still critically injured and on the verge of death, the trend of continuously sliding towards the abyss of death was forcefully stopped!

Medicine Old Man saw that Nightmare’s breath had finally stabilized a bit, no longer worsening, and let out a long sigh of relief, a weary yet gratified smile on his face. He knew he had gambled correctly. This fragment left by his ancestors was indeed effective for this person.

He looked at the fragment, which had gradually lost its luster and turned yellowish again due to the expenditure of its power, carefully put it away, and hid it close to his body again.

“Now… it’s up to your own fortune, kid.” Medicine Old Man leaned against the rock wall, looking at the rock bear's corpse at the cave entrance, then at Nightmare, whose breathing, though weak, was gradually stabilizing. A myriad of emotions filled his heart.

Killing the Iron Claw Rock Bear had temporarily resolved the immediate crisis, but it might also have attracted greater trouble. The scent of the rock bear's blood would attract other predators, so it had to be dealt with quickly.

And Nightmare… his awakening might truly unveil a long-sealed new chapter for this Land of Absolute Spirit.