Chapter 284: Paradox of the Universe, Collapse of Computation

That flower blossomed there.

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's Dao Heart also shattered there.

A patch of dead ash.

These two characters precisely depict his current expression, as well as his Great Dao's Primordial Source, which is falling apart.

He lost.

Completely.

He was not defeated by divine power, nor by strength, but by a Concept he had never truly regarded.

Sun Wukong did not press the advantage.

He simply watched in silence the thought‑flowers that, amid Hongjun's despair, kept blooming more and more.

Each ray of light on the petals is a world's final cry.

Each fragrance in the stamen is the indomitable will of countless Living Beings.

This is the Master's Way.

It is those mercilessly abandoned by the Zeroers, condemned as failures by Hongjun's Fixed Number… the "children."

They have returned home.

At this moment, Sun Wukong feels he is no longer that lone, world‑defying demon monkey.

Behind him stand countless heroic souls, dead yet still glorious.

And he is their king.

"Look."

Sun Wukong spoke again, shattering the Deathly Silence of this dimension.

He pointed at the flower, as if explaining the simplest Principle to a dull student.

"Your 'Fixed Number,' your 'iron proof,' the countless Deathly Silence Universes you pride yourself on…"

"Now, they have become Old Sun's flowerpot."

"Tell me, Dao Ancestor."

"Is your so‑called 'eternity' harder, or the 'hope' I have cultivated in this pot harder?"

Every sentence pierces the heart!

Each utterance is like an invisible hammer, smashing Hongjun's already riddled Dao Heart!

"Puff—"

Hongjun could no longer suppress it; another gush of Primordial Essence Blood erupted, and his whole body wilted.

His gaze scattered, and he muttered unconsciously.

"Flowerpot… hope…"

"No… it's a virus… it's logical contamination…"

He seemed mad, trying to use his already collapsed theory to redefine everything before his eyes that had upended his understanding.

But no one paid him any heed.

Even the true ruler of this space, the massive eye representing the Cosmic Pan‑Consciousness, was already overwhelmed!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Inside that massive pupil, the data torrent collisions ceased.

Instead, a full‑scale, system‑level… war!

On one side are the "real" data Hongjun fed in, billions of Universes heading toward destruction.

They are cold, objective, forming the cornerstone of 'Order' and 'Stability.'

On the other side is the thought‑flower that bloomed from nothing, rooted in 'Impossible.'

It too is 'real.'

Its existence proves that even at entropy's end, within absolute Deathly Silence, a "miracle" can arise that transcends all laws.

【Eternal Stability】.

【Infinite Possibility】.

Which one is the Universe's 'eternity'?

Which one is truly 'correct'?

This question is like asking a computer whether both "1+1=2" and "1+1=3" are absolute truths.

It is an unsolvable paradox!

An absolute paradox capable of burning any logical system from its roots!

【Warning!】

【Fundamental Logic Conflict…】

【Core Algorithm is being overwritten by paradox…】

【Warning! Undefined Concept detected: "miracle"…】

【Parsing failed…】

【Attempting deletion… deletion failed!】

【Attempting isolation… isolation failed!】

【Aaaah—!!!】

A scream that should never have come from such a being, filled with pain and chaos, rang through the entire Source of Ten Thousand Paths!

The massive pupil began to convulse violently.

On the surface of the pupil, countless visible garbles of rule runes appeared!

Sizzle—!

Blinding electric light crazily leapt around the edge of the pupil; each flash caused violent oscillations in this eternal dimensional space!

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ stared blankly at the scene.

The horror and despair on his face were, at that moment, replaced by an even more primitive, more pure emotion.

Fear Heart Demon!

A bone‑deep Fear Heart Demon, emanating from the depths of the soul!

He suddenly realized a fact ten thousand times more terrifying than his own Dao Heart's shattering.

That monkey…

He damn… messed up the Arbiter!

He neither obeyed the rules nor broke them.

He used a living "miracle", an "emotion" that cannot be calculated, to directly cause the rule‑making "system" itself to collapse!

What madness!

And what… terror!

"You… what did you do?"

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's voice trembled; his gaze at Sun Wukong was no longer that of an opponent, but of an incomprehensible monster capable of destroying everything!

All these changes stemmed from that monkey's flick of a finger, injecting that insignificant thread of power.

That thread, belonging solely to his master Bodhi Patriarch's… "No Regret" will!

That seemingly foolish obsession was like a drop of water falling into a pot of scorching oil.

In an instant, it exploded!

Sun Wukong watched the terrified Hóngjūn Dàozǔ, watched the massive pupil convulsing wildly amid garbled code and electric light, and his smile grew ever richer.

"What did I do?"

He seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the heavens.

"I did nothing."

"I only told it a story about 'defying fate'."

"Seems it likes it very much."

Like?

Is this what the hell you call "like"?!

This is clearly about being blown up alive!

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's heart sank into an abyss with no bottom.

He realized that from the start, he and that monkey were not on the same level.

He was still pondering how to win the game.

But the monkey had already begun to consider whether to fling the entire board, together with the player, into the void!

【System... Error...】

【Database... Crashing...】

【Multiverse... Stability... is... decreasing...】

【Initiating... Final... Cleanup... Protocol...】

【Protocol... Conflict...】

【Initiating... Backup... Emergency... Measures...】

The massive pupil's voice became intermittent, filled with harsh, metal‑scraping noise.

At the center of its pupil, the deepest, darkest spot, cracks began to appear!

It seemed something was trying to burst out from within!

A force older than Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's "Heavenly Dao", more overbearing than Sun Wukong's "Equal Heaven",

and purer malice than the Flower of Thought, seeped out from the fissure in thin threads!

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's hair stood on end instantly!

He recognized that aura!

Or rather, that aura was the deepest nightmare in his memory!

It was, in the early Chaos Realm before he had attained Dao, a distant glimpse of an indescribable forbidden existence!

That is the "Primordial"!

The terrifying source that even his master shuns!

This so‑called "Cosmic Pan‑Consciousness", this so‑called "Arbiter"...

Is not a ruler at all!

It is merely a gatekeeper! A system! A... seal!

And Sun Wukong, using his Dao and his master's will, shattered that seal!

"Madman! You madman!"

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ completely lost composure, pointing at Sun Wukong and letting out a hysterical roar.

"Do you know what you released?! Do you know what this will bring?!"

"Everything will be ruined! All of it!"

Sun Wukong's eyelid lifted slightly.

He naturally sensed that aura.

That aura, sharing its origin with the Zeroers yet billions of times stronger, was a cold, ultimate malice that regarded all things as drafts.

But he didn't care.

"Doomed?"

He twisted his mouth into a grin, exposing a set of stark white teeth.

"So what?"

"I, Lao Sun, am not even afraid of death—still scared of it being ruined?"

"Perfect."

He slowly raised the Golden Cudgel in his hand, pointing far toward the ever‑widening fissure, that terrifying aura that freezes one's Divine Soul.

Within his Fiery Golden Eyes, an unprecedented, pure battle intent ignited.

"If the old doesn't go, the new won't come."

"Smash it too, and only then will the Three Realms be truly spotless!"

The moment his words fell.

Crack—!!!

A crisp sound rang, echoing through the entire dimension.

That massive pupil representing the Cosmic Pan-Consciousness, that ancient seal that had endured countless epochs…

In that instant, it shattered with a thunderous crash!

A shadow indescribable by any words, composed of pure "nothing" and Absolute Malice,

slowly rose from the depths of the shattered pupil…

The entire Source of Ten Thousand Paths, at that moment, fell utterly silent…