Silent slumber, the seed of the Dao sprouts

Boundless darkness and silence.

Nightmare's consciousness drifted in the endless void, as if he had returned to the moment he was first enveloped by Chaos and traversed the turbulence of time and space.

But this time, he was not drifting aimlessly; he could feel that his Divine Soul, though dim and covered in fine cracks like an eggshell on the verge of shattering, was still stubbornly guarding the core spark of light.

Agonizing pain radiated from every inch of his body; his Meridians felt completely crushed, and the basin-sized vortex of his Chaos Dao Foundation had already dissipated, leaving only a tiny, barely perceptible point of Chaos Origin slowly rotating in the center, like a candle in the wind, liable to be extinguished at any moment.

His Divine Soul had suffered even greater trauma, his consciousness scattered, making even thinking extremely difficult.

However, in this state of extreme annihilation and near-death, certain deeper changes were quietly taking place.

Inside the Chaos Dao Foundation space, the world tree seedling sensed the rapid decline of its Host's life Origin and no longer held back. Its emerald light bloomed as never before, and pure, vast life Origin poured like a breached flood into Nightmare's ruined Physical Body and Divine Soul, forcibly sustaining his last strand of vitality.

This torrent of life was so massive that it even permeated into the dissipated Chaos Dao Foundation Origin.

At the same time, the primal cube also broke free from its previous state of dormancy.

It hovered in the center of the Chaos Dao Foundation space, its surface flowing with countless minute streams of data light. These streams were no longer just analyzing the outside world; they began to scan and parse Nightmare's own Divine Soul structure, the composition of his Chaos Dao Foundation, and even the bizarre state of life and destruction intertwined in his severely wounded condition.

It seemed to be collecting precious data on some kind of "near-death evolution."

Even more peculiar were the two array node stones pressed against Nightmare's chest, emitting a faint Dao Rhyme of protection.

Their Dao Rhyme no longer just radiated outward to protect the Seal; instead, a portion of it, guided by the life energy of the World Tree, seeped into Nightmare's Divine Soul and Chaos Origin.

This pure and ancient protective intent, originating from the ancient Oathkeepers, began to undergo an unfathomable Fusion with Nightmare's own Dao Rhyme of Annihilation, the World Tree's vitality, and the inclusive nature of Chaos.

Under these extreme conditions of internal (World Tree, primal cube, protective Dao Rhyme) and external (severe injury, near-death, state of annihilation) distress, the dissipated Chaos Dao Foundation Origin did not completely annihilate. Instead, like iron being tempered in a furnace, it began a slow and firm reshaping!

It was no longer just an energy vortex; it began to evolve toward a more essential, core form—a 【Chaos Seed】 existing between the virtual and the real, containing infinite possibilities and opportunities for evolution!

Destruction and vitality, protection and annihilation, rules and Chaos... various opposing yet unified forces reached a fragile balance within this nascent dao seed. Using this as a foundation, it began to spontaneously absorb and refine the torrent of life provided by the World Tree, repairing Nightmare's broken Physical Body and Divine Soul.

This process was extremely slow and full of uncertainty.

Nightmare's consciousness was immersed in boundless darkness and pain most of the time, and only occasionally could he catch fleeting, fragmented insights about the evolution of Chaos and the birth and death of all things from the depths of his Divine Soul.

He did not know how long he had been drifting in the darkness.

A day? A month? A year?

Shiquan Village, edge of the Back Mountain Forbidden Land.

Since the earth-shattering explosion and energy storm that came from the core area that day, the soul-locking mist on the periphery of the Forbidden Ground seemed to have thinned, and that unsettling, eerie aura had also weakened significantly.

The old village chief and Medicine Old Man organized several cautious investigations, but they could not venture too deep. They could only confirm that a massive change had occurred inside the Forbidden Ground and the energy had become calmer, but Nightmare's life or death remained unknown.

The villagers prayed day and night, filled with immense gratitude and anxiety.

Medicine Old Man almost lived at the entrance of the Forbidden Ground, trying various methods to sense him every day, but it was always like a stone sinking into the sea.

Under the command of the old village chief, Stone Tiger and other young hunters stepped up repairs to the village's defenses and cleared out the scattered Vicious Beasts attracted by the previous beast tide and the disturbances in the Forbidden Ground.

Everyone understood that whether Mr. Ye could return or not, Shiquan Village had to rely on its own strength to continue surviving in this Land of Absolute Spirit.

And the prestige and kindness Nightmare left behind became the spiritual pillar uniting the hearts of the entire village.

On this day, Medicine Old Man was sitting in meditation at the entrance of the Forbidden Ground as usual, sensing, his brows tightly locked.

Suddenly, the ancient, yellowish ancestral fragment in his bosom emitted a gentle warmth without any warning!

Medicine Old Man opened his eyes abruptly, his face revealing incredulous ecstasy!

This fragment shared the same source as the protective power inside the Forbidden Ground. Its disturbance at this moment could only mean one thing—

Inside the Forbidden Ground, in those ruins that had been silent for who knows how long.

The Chaos Seed on Nightmare's chest gave a gentle jump, as if it had completed some key transformation.

It was no longer just absorbing energy; it began to slowly release wisps of incomparably pure chaos qi flow, containing the principles of birth and death, like a mother's amniotic fluid, nourishing and repairing Nightmare's body.

His Divine Soul, which had been like broken porcelain, began to have its cracks mend at a visible rate under the infiltration of the chaos qi flow and the nourishment of the World Tree's vitality. Although the light was still weak, it was no longer deathly silent, but carried a hint of the hazy luster of the beginning of Chaos.

More importantly, his consciousness finally broke through the shackles of endless darkness and pain, like a drowning person surfacing, suddenly regaining clarity!

He... woke up.

His eyelashes trembled slightly, and his heavy eyelids slowly opened.

What met his eyes was still that ruined dome, and the spherical Seal in the center, which was covered in cracks but still stubbornly operating.

The agonizing pain still existed, his body was extremely weak, and his Divine Soul was far from recovered; even moving a finger was extremely difficult.

But as Nightmare, with his Divine Soul, sensed the dao seed slowly rotating and exhaling chaos qi flow within his body, as well as the newly formed barrier with Chaos patterns on the surface of his Divine Soul, a profound light flashed in his eyes.

Breaking and then establishing, the dao seed was initially formed.

He had survived.

Moreover, his Dao of Chaos, after experiencing this great life-and-death tribulation, had finally truly taken root and embarked on an unprecedented path.

His Divine Soul stirred, sensing that inside the Chaos Dao Foundation space, Su Wanqing's aura was still steady, sleeping peacefully under the protection of the world tree seedling. His heart eased slightly.

Then, his Divine Soul caught a familiar, weak aura from outside the Forbidden Ground, full of urgency and anticipation—Medicine Old Man.

A barely perceptible arc curled at the corner of Nightmare's mouth.

It was time to go back.