Chapter 341

Due to Wang Ping's coma and the ritual's interruption, losing active guidance, the Chaos Source Fire was deadlocked in consuming the black ray.

That wisp of spirituality within it, endowed by the Immortal King's will, seemed to sense the sorrow and anguish of the Immortal Palace on the verge of collapse, the shared bloodline about to be completely severed.

It also seemed to be stirred by Wang Ping's unyielding will, which, even in coma, still clung to the seal sign in his subconscious, maintaining a faint connection.

That speck of chaos-colored spark suddenly contracted inward!

Immediately thereafter, a fine thread of light, indescribable in color and seeming to contain the source of all order in the world, peeled off from the core of the spark.

Ignoring the remnants of the black ray still resisting and wearing it down, ignoring spatial distance, as if possessing its own life and mission, it suddenly shot forth.

It plunged into the brow of the comatose Wang Ping below; to be precise, into the depths of his sea of consciousness, into that very 'Suppress' character divine rune that was slowly fading.

Having lost that wisp of core spirituality and primal Dao rhythm, the chaos spark's brilliance instantly dimmed by half; although it still resisted the black ray, its strength clearly waned, beginning to be gradually suppressed and eroded.

But, that very wisp of the Chaos Source Fire's spirit that had entered Wang Ping's sea of consciousness brought about an astonishing change!

In Wang Ping's sea of consciousness, that 'Suppress' character divine rune, on the verge of complete extinction and shattering, upon contact with that wisp of fire's spirit, was like parched earth receiving its first drop of sweet rain, like a dying hearth receiving its final spark.

The divine rune shuddered violently! Its dimmed surface cracks were swiftly sealed and covered by a strand of chaos-colored, warm and tenacious light. A sealing truth far older, vaster, and closer to the source of 'order' than before awakened and blossomed from the rune!

This was not Wang Ping's own power, but the last gift left by the Chaos Immortal King: the most central wisp of the 'Primal Origin Seal of Order' within the Chaos Source Fire. At this moment, it resonated and merged miraculously with the 'Suppress' character divine rune that Wang Ping had condensed via the Refine God Technique, representing his own unyielding will.

The 'Suppress' character divine rune blazed forth, its chaos-colored radiance pouring out and instantly suffusing Wang Ping's entire body.

His damaged meridians were forcibly linked and nourished by this gentle yet immensely powerful force.

The near-stagnant Chaos Nascent Soul seemed infused with the purest primal power, beginning to slowly accelerate its rotation; the Five Elements Halo restabilized, and the Seed of the Establishing Wood Tree swayed joyfully, releasing vibrant vitality.

Those horrifying wounds on his flesh staunched, healed, and scabbed at a speed visible to the naked eye...

More crucially, his consciousness was forcibly hauled back from the brink of death's darkness by the 'Suppress' character divine rune fused with this new power.

"Ugh..." Wang Ping let out a painful groan and slowly opened his eyes.

What met his eyes was a ceiling riddled with cracks, and the air still replete with a suffocating aura of chaos and destruction.

It was his companions collapsed nearby, unconscious and of unknown fate; it was that clump of dark, though feeble, still writhing on the altar; and... that dim speck of radiance, the Chaos Fire Spark, slowly being eroded by the black ray.

Almost the instant he awoke, through that faint link still maintained with the formation hub and his surging divine sense, the outside world's cries of battle, explosions, the groans of overburdened gates, the desperate roars and pre-self-destruct wails of the refugee warriors surged into his perception like a tide.

Assailed from within and without! A line between life and death!

No time to rejoice in rebirth, no time to digest the sudden surge of powerful strength within him that was both strange and familiar.

Wang Ping's gaze, after the initial bewilderment, instantly became as calm as ten-thousand-year-old ice, yet as fervent as a volcano about to erupt.

He saw the speck of Chaos Source Fire residue about to be devoured, saw the 'Primal Source of Disorder' stirring on the altar, saw the incapacitated, faintly breathing Cang Xuan, Yu Liuli, Yun Hao, and Jiu Er... and also 'saw' beyond the gate.

The Iron Yue Leader about to self-destruct, the gleefully grinning Dark Bone, the horde of greedy external foes advancing, and farther out, the refugee warriors using their lives to delay the enemy, collapsing one by one in pools of blood...

An indescribable surge of fury, grief, responsibility, and resolve raged and roared within his chest like molten lava!

His body was still undergoing violent change, repair, and strengthening under the nourishment of the new power, but his consciousness had become completely lucid, clearer and more resolute than ever before.

He slowly pushed himself up with a hand that still trembled slightly yet was unusually steady. His gaze locked firmly onto the speck of Chaos Fire Spark about to extinguish on the altar, and onto the cluster of 'Primal Source of Disorder' behind it.

The outer defenses had reached their limit, the inner companions were all severely wounded, and none were usable.

The ritual was interrupted; the Chaos Source Fire faced imminent annihilation.

It seemed that everything was already too late.

But Wang Ping's eyes held no despair.

Only a light intertwined with the frenzy and calm of breaking the cauldrons and sailing toward death.

"Chaos Source Fire..." he murmured hoarsely, yet with an odd rhythm, "The Immortal King's final gift... the Primal Origin Seal of Order..."

He raised his right hand, the one maintaining half a summoning seal; now his fingers slowly curled, as if to grasp the dissipating fire's residue, the entire chaotic situation, and all hope and despair, clutching them in his palm.

"Since it was given to me... then don't waste it."

He no longer tried to reconnect or guide that residue. Because there was no time.

His gaze swept past the residue and directly toward the altar's summit, that mass of 'Primal Source of Disorder'.

A thought, insane to the extreme yet possibly the only way to break this dire strait, flashed through his mind like lightning.

"The external attack stems from greed and destruction. The internal contamination stems from disorder and chaos."

"You... aren't you all seeking annihilation and consumption?"

Wang Ping's mouth curled into an arc of icy coldness to the extreme, also madness to the extreme.

He drew a deep breath; the 'Suppress' character divine rune within him, fused with the Spirit of Chaos Source Fire and blazing with myriad rays of light, shuddered violently!

A brand-new, stronger Five Elements Chaos Domain erupted centered on him! This time, the domain was no longer merely a murky flow of five colors; at its core suddenly appeared a faint yet strikingly conspicuous chaos-colored light source, emanating pure order and purifying intent.

He raised both hands, no longer forming the summoning seal, but began to evolve a more complex, more ancient, terrifying seal—seeming to stir the initial opening of heaven and earth, to reset earth, water, fire, and wind—this likewise arose naturally from resonance with the Immortal King's will and fusion with the Spirit of Chaos Source Fire, the deeper profundity of the Chaos Immortal Classic, perhaps to be called—'Chaos Return to the Abyss Guide·Chapter of Initiating Chaos'!

What he intended to do was not defense, not repair, but—to use himself as bait, the Spirit of Chaos Source Fire as a lure, to forcibly provoke the deepest uprising of the 'Primal Source of Disorder', and to channel its chaotic destructive force, in an almost mutual-annihilation manner, toward...... the enemies assaulting the Immortal Palace from outside!

Cut off the fuel beneath the cauldron; drive the tiger to devour the wolf!

Either perish alongside the foe, or, in the ultimate clash of utter chaos and destruction, tear open a thread of hope so slender it barely exists—for companions, for the Immortal Palace!

"Come..." Wang Ping whispered, his eyes sharp as a sword, locked firmly on that mass of "Primal Source of Disorder".

"Let me see—will your 'disorder' devour all, or will my 'Chaos', received as the true transmission of the Immortal King, be able... to stir the winds and clouds?"

The seal gesture is about to be completed. An ultimate high‑stakes gamble that far surpasses the previous ritual, betting everything, is about to begin.

At this moment, outside the gates of the Chaos Palace, the self‑explosion blaze of Elder Iron Yue has reached its peak intensity. The deathly dark light of Elder Netherbone has also shot to his chest.

Both internal and external killing moves occur in an instant.

"Come… let me see whether your 'Disorder' devours everything, or my 'Chaos'—having received the true transmission of the Immortal King—can… stir the winds and clouds!"

Wang Ping's whisper, like the last wisp of wind before a thunderclap, dissipated in the bloody, chaotic air filling the hall.

The seal gesture of 'Chaos Return to the Abyss Guide·Chapter of Initial Chaos' that he is forming with his hands has already reached its most critical point.

Each gesture is extremely arduous, as heavy as a thousand jin, as if he were not moving through air but stirring in solidified molten steel.

The newly formed five‑element chaos domain around him, containing a chaos‑colored light source, violently boiled, contracted, and expanded—like a balloon inflated to its limit while inside it undergoes a heaven‑splitting, earth‑shaking transformation.

What the seal gesture summons is not only his own power, but also the residual chaos source power of the immortal palace left in the formation hub beneath his feet.

It is the last thread of connection within the dwindling chaos-source fire remnant atop his head, and moreover… the very core of the destructive urge that ran amok deep within the altar's "Primal Source of Disorder", provoked by the aura of chaos-source fire, by Wang Ping's current frenzied, resolute will, and by a certain trait in the "Order-Chaos Chapter" seal that stirs chaos.

This is an extreme adventure. Like lighting explosives on a steel cable tens of thousands of feet deep in an abyss, hoping the blast's shockwave will fling oneself back onto the cliff. Success or failure is not a matter of calculation, but of whether one can seize that fleeting sliver of life before being smashed to pieces.

However, at the very instant the seal was about to be completed, at the moment Wang Ping prepared to recklessly unleash the power of "Disorder" to divert disaster eastward——

An anomaly erupted explosively from the deepest part of his body!

It was not qi deviation, not external invasion, but… a violent transformation rooted in the very foundation of his own Dao, moving from outside in and then inside out—a transformation ignited together by extreme pressure, life-and-death tempering, the fusion of an Immortal King's legacy, and his confrontation with the essence of "Disorder", a rebirth through nirvana on the path of Chaos!

The first to change was his sea of consciousness.

The "Seal" character glyph, fused with the spirit of the chaos-source fire, already blazing with myriad rays and flowing with chaos-colored light, under the extreme pressure of inward and outward attack provoked by the "Order-Chaos Chapter" seal, did not collapse but instead, like tempered steel repeatedly struck by a heavy hammer, began an inconceivable qualitative change!

The glyph's structure became more complex and profound, each stroke seemingly evolving on its own into a miniature chaos of birth and death. More importantly, the suppressing truth it emitted.

No longer merely a condensation of Wang Ping's own will, it began to spread outward and seep inward, in a manner that silently nourishes all things yet is unstoppable, starting to "sort" and "integrate" the chaotic energy field within his body, disrupted by severe injury, depletion, and the influx of new power.

First, the mixed spiritual power remaining from medicinal pills and the Jianmu seed was forcibly purified and refined by this entirely new, higher-order will of "Order", discarding the dross and retaining the essence.

Next, his own five-elements chaos spiritual power, painstakingly cultivated over the years and already considered pure, began a qualitative leap under the guidance of this "Order" will and the scorching tempering of the chaos-source fire's spirit.

Like forged steel turned supple as silk around a finger, and like murky river water distilled into the purest dew.

The surging torrent of spiritual power within Wang Ping began to shift its color from a variegated mix of five-colored gray to an ineffable "primal chaos hue" that embraces all colors yet transcends the material.

Its consistency shifted from the fluidity of gas to becoming viscous, heavy, and solid, each drop containing far greater energy density and affinity with the laws—several times, even tenfold, more than before.

This is not an increase in quantity, but… a leap in quality! A transformation from mere spiritual power to a higher-tier energy form—Chaos Immortal Essence!

Although limited by Wang Ping's own cultivation level, the amount of this transformed Chaos Immortal Essence is extremely scarce—just a single filament, flowing like a silk thread through the core of his meridians—but its quality already far surpasses that of most spiritual power in the Spirit Realm, and even in this shattered immortal palace relic.

He faintly touched the threshold of the true Immortal Essence power that only genuine immortals of the ancient celestial realm's heyday could wield! Moreover, because it is rooted in the Chaos Five Elements Great Dao, it possesses an extra measure of the profound mystery of inclusiveness and evolution compared to ordinary Immortal Essence.

The moment this filament of Chaos Immortal Essence came into being, it was like dropping cold water into boiling oil.

Wang Ping's chaos natal soul, which had merely been slowly accelerating its rotation, suddenly emitted a resonant hum like a great bell and a great lute!

The natal soul itself began to condense and grow at a visible pace, its surface chaos hue deepening and purifying, the five-elements aura's light surging, the bands intertwining ever more tightly until they were nearly indistinguishable.

Even at the brow of the natal soul, a tiny chaos rune faintly surfaced, sharing the same origin as the external "Seal" character glyph.

Late-stage Natal Soul!

When the water reaches the channel, it flows without hindrance! With the birth of Chaos Immortal Essence and the transformation of his Dao foundation propelling it, Wang Ping's cultivation bottleneck burst like paper, and in a single step he entered the late-stage Natal Soul realm!

This was not a mere accumulation of spiritual power, but a simultaneous leap in life level and Dao comprehension under extreme pressure!

The chain reaction brought by the cultivation breakthrough swept over Wang Ping's entire body like a tsunami.

The Five-Elements Chaos Domain bore the brunt first!

The domain that originally shrouded his surroundings in several zhang, with a core point of chaos light, surged outward like an engine injected with endless power! Ten zhang! Thirty zhang! Fifty zhang! … Ultimately stabilizing at a radius of one hundred zhang!

Within that hundred-zhang radius, it was no longer merely a hazy gray flow with five-colored light shifting. The domain seemed to have become a miniature, evolving chaos world!

Phantasms of earth, water, fire, wind, and lightning arose and faded within it; the five-elements laws were no longer clearly distinct but blended and evolved in an undifferentiated chaos, yet implicitly contained the highest order.

The point of chaos light at the domain's core had now swollen to the size of a fist, like the sun and Dao source of this miniature chaos world, exuding a gentle yet supreme purifying, suppressing, and evolving intent.

How could the domain's power be merely a tenfold increase? Within it, Wang Ping felt himself the master of this hundred-zhang chaos!

His perception and control over every bit of energy and matter within the domain reached an unprecedented fine-grained precision, even able to subtly interfere with and assimilate lower-level laws within the range!

And as the domain underwent qualitative change and expansion, the myriad five-elements Dao arts mastered by Wang Ping underwent a heaven‑overturning evolution!

Wood‑system·Thunder‑Summoning Art: Previously summoned Yang Wood Divine Thunder, utmost yang and proper, its power was extraordinary.

Now, with a mere flick of thought, the wood‑aspect laws within the domain naturally converged; no deliberate spellcasting was needed, and strands of verdant, dripping yet inwardly destructive purple‑tinged "Chaos Yang Wood Divine Thunder" sprang forth as if at the command of an arm and finger!

This divine thunder not only retained the utmost‑yang, evil‑subduing trait, but also gained a hint of chaos's annihilating and evolving power, its might doubled, and its mental control having reached mid‑stage perfection!

Fire‑system·Golden Yang Blazing Heaven: The source of the true solar fire, nourished by Chaos Immortal Essence and resonating with the domain's fire laws, quietly changed its nature.

No longer mere golden flames, it became a flow of chaos‑tinged fire, hot enough to seemingly burn the void, yet bearing a hint of purifying and reshaping meaning—the "Chaos Solar True Fire".

Wherever the fire passed, not only material burned, but chaotic energy and lower‑order laws were also purified and reorganized—likewise reaching mid‑stage perfection!

Earth‑system·Gravity Technique: Formerly merely manipulating a gravity field to bind or attack, Wang Ping's understanding of earth's laws, of "force" and "field", suddenly deepened.

Within the domain, gravity was no longer a fixed direction and magnitude; he could freely create gravity vortices, gravity faults, even localized "weightlessness" or "overweight" singularities—unpredictable and unstoppable—likewise reaching mid‑stage perfection!

Metal-White Tiger Slaying-God Sword Aura: the peerlessly sharp White Tiger Geng-metal sword qi, merging with chaos's inclusiveness and evolution, as well as the supreme suppressive truth intent from the divine script of the character meaning 'suppress', has transformed into the 'Chaos Slaying-God Sword Aura'.

This sword aura is grayish-white in color, appearing unremarkable, yet it is unstoppable against any obstacle, and also carries a terrifying characteristic of severing rules and suppressing souls. The sword aura's release and recall are at will; within the domain it almost instantly arrives, its power shocking. Mid-stage perfection!

Water system·Taiyin Extinction Chill: the extreme cold of the Taiyin power, under the harmonization of chaos, has lost a bit of its ferocity and gained a bit of profundity and eternal extinction's meaning.

Wherever the 'Chaos Taiyin Chill' passes, it not only freezes all things, but can also freeze the circulation of spiritual power, slow the thoughts of souls, and even cause time's flow in a small area to acquire a subtle sense of stagnation. Mid-stage perfection!

The five major Five Elements Dao arts all at once broke through the early-stage Point Spirit Realm's shackles, in one leap entering the mid-stage perfection realm!

This is not only an increase in might, but also a huge leap in understanding the essence of the corresponding Five Elements laws; using them becomes more rounded and effortless, almost instinctual.

And the ultimate manifestation of all these changes, also the core sublimation, lies in his fundamental divine ability—the Five-Color Divine Light!

The Five-Color Divine Light, which originally swept away all things and left nothing unbroken, under the combined effect of all five Five Elements Dao arts reaching mid-stage perfection, the birth of the chaos immortal core, and the transformation of the domain's quality, finally underwent a fundamental transformation!

Wang Ping's mind stirred slightly, and a divine light emerged from behind him. No longer were the clearly separated green, yellow, red, black, and white five colors; instead, the five colors completely merged and flowed, ultimately turning into a hint of chaos-five-colored divine light!

The hue of this divine light is hard to describe, as if it contains the origin of all colors in the world, yet also seems to transcend color itself, exuding a supreme Dao rhyme of 'embracing all laws', 'evolving the myriad heavens', and 'returning to chaos'.

Chaos Five-Color Divine Light!

Its power is now far beyond what it once was. Wang Ping feels that when he sweeps with this divine light, not to mention same-tier magic treasures and arts, even higher-level powers, as long as their essence does not transcend the scope of 'Five Elements' and 'Order', are highly likely to be swept away in a single stroke, or even be encompassed and refined by it!

This is already a terrifying means that truly touches the threshold of a great divine ability.

All these breakthroughs and transformations, though they seem prolonged, actually occur in the instant of Wang Ping's mind turning like lightning and the violent changes within his body.

From the birth of the chaos immortal core, to the breakthrough in cultivation, domain expansion, and the comprehensive sublimation of Dao arts and divine abilities, it altogether takes no more than two or three breaths!

When Wang Ping awakens from that profoundly mysterious breakthrough state, outside, the blinding light from the self-detonation of Old Leader Tie Yue has reached its utmost intensity, and the Nether Bone Elder's netherworld death light is about to reach him.

Inside, the remnants of the chaos source fire are about to be completely devoured by the black rays; the 'Origin of Disorder' on the altar, stirred by Wang Ping's earlier seal gesture and the new aura emanating from his breakthrough, becomes even more restless; the seal light nets on the stone pillars, having lost active maintenance (everyone having fallen), are rapidly dimming……

Time, still pressing to the point of suffocation.

But Wang Ping at this moment is no longer the exhausted, dying person who could only gamble on a desperate move just before.

He felt the chaos immortal essence within his body—although its total amount was small, its quality was terrifying, and as it circulated it drove the mighty power of heaven and earth.

He felt within the hundred‑zhang chaos domain a control as effortless as moving his arms, almost like holding the source of the laws.

He felt in his sea of consciousness the divine rune of the character meaning 'suppress'—its light restrained yet heavy as a star—and the surge of energy and fierce confidence from his new power, as if he could shatter the heavens with one punch.

His gaze remained icy and sharp, yet less mad and desperate, more calm and in control.

"Luring the tiger to devour the wolf… perhaps no longer needs such risk." Wang Ping's thoughts raced: "With this power… perhaps I can try… to hold the formation head‑on, even… counterattack!"

The plan changed instantly.

The hand seal for the nearly completed "Chaos Return to the Abyss Primer – Disorder Chapter" shifted abruptly—from drawing chaos and diverting disaster eastward to becoming upright and proper, stabilizing the source.

"Chaos Suppression Seal Technique—Stabilize Source!"

A low shout rang out, like the clash of gold and jade, carrying the unique Dao resonance of his recent breakthrough, echoing through the hall.

Wang Ping slammed his palms downward—not at empty air, but onto the formation‑core pattern beneath him that had always maintained a faint connection with him.

Hum——!!!

The power of the hundred‑zhang chaos domain, together with the precious strand of chaos immortal essence within his body, surged into the formation hub like a breached dam, holding nothing back.