Chapter 434: What a Fool

"Open for me!"

Sensing a fatal danger, Wuye hurriedly tried to break free, but no matter how hard he struggled, it seemed to be of no avail.

Shen Yu's sword had already been unsheathed; it was a terrifying Sword Qi capable of shattering stars, and as long as it touched a person even slightly, the inevitable outcome would be for them to be left without a corpse.

Wuye could clearly sense a near-extreme danger from this Sword Qi, and he was certain that if he were hit, he would undoubtedly die.

But now, his entire body was bound; let alone resisting, he found it exceptionally difficult even to move a muscle.

This was far more uncomfortable than being in the previous Array; at least in that set of arrays, although he was suppressed, he wasn't unable to even turn over like he was now, and he still had a little bit of room to maneuver.

But now, he couldn't even shift an inch; people these days are truly more ruthless than the last generation, even the suppression arrays have damn well kept pace with the times!

Seeing that Sword Qi charging straight at him, Wuye gritted his teeth and violently channeled his power to activate the Stone Bead at his chest.

Immediately, vast power gushed out from the Stone Bead; not only did the incoming Sword Qi shatter under this power, but the entire Mountain and River Map seemed to tremble.

In an instant, the Mountain and River Map seemed unable to bear it, and the Eight-Cornered Prison-Suppressing Tower that stabilized the space within it trembled incessantly, on the verge of collapse.

However, this power came and went quickly, soon dissipating into nothingness. The interior of the Mountain and River Map then became calm, as if the shocking scene just now had been nothing more than his own illusion.

But Shen Yu felt it very clearly; the terror of that power just now was not even beneath that of Mu Zishan, whom he had seen before.

Although it had only flashed by for a moment, within the Mountain and River Map, Shen Yu's perception could detect everything.

The source of the power that had just erupted was exactly at Wuye's chest; it was a bead embedded directly into his flesh and blood.

"Why, why have I been unable to control you for so long!"

After the eruption, Wuye roared in unwillingness, seemingly shouting at the Stone Bead on his chest, or perhaps unwilling that he had failed to break free from his restraints.

The current Wuye looked miserable; his flesh and blood had almost entirely disintegrated, looking bloody and blurred, too gruesome to look at. In his Spiritual Sea, only a remnant soul remained, and he couldn't even stand.

In this miserable state, it seemed that anyone who came along could take him away with a single blade.

Clearly, he had not mastered that powerful force at all; even he himself had been backlashed by the power just erupted from the Stone Bead on his chest.

If one cannot break free after an eruption, then one can only be left to be slaughtered; this was also the main reason for Wuye's impotent barking.

However, Shen Yu did not dare to be negligent and directly unleashed a Sword Qi. Under this Sword Qi, Wuye didn't even have time to let out a scream before he was turned into powder.

It seems he wasn't feigning weakness, but was truly weak—weak to the point of not having even a shred of strength left to resist.

In the original spot, only a Stone Bead remained, floating quietly. As for Shen Yu's Sword Qi just now, it had not caused any impact on this Stone Bead.

Just as Shen Yu was preparing to see what this Stone Bead actually was, the Jade Bead he had obtained from the Sect Leader of the Profound Sun Sect, Su Ye, suddenly lit up with a faint light and rushed to the vicinity of the Stone Bead.

At the same time, the floating Stone Bead also seemed to begin flickering with light; the light of the two intertwined, and the two beads began to rotate around each other continuously.

Between the Jade Bead and the Stone Bead, a special power seemed to flow, and in the end, they completely merged together.

In an instant, scene after scene seemed to appear before Shen Yu.

Mountains and rivers shattered, blood flowed for a thousand miles, and everywhere there were piles of white bones.

There was a man in white, seemingly fighting someone in the endless void. His white clothes were stained with blood—it should have been his own blood.

Above the void, powerful and terrifying forces raged; under the influence of these terrifying forces, even space was extremely distorted, making it impossible to see clearly what was happening.

Finally, Shen Yu only saw the man in white strike out with a sword toward the void with all his might, seemingly forcibly shattering a corner of the void.

The man who struck this sword exhausted his final life force, and that shattered corner happened to fall onto his body, seemingly merging with him in an instant.

Finally, the man died of exhaustion, his body turning into dust and scattering into the world, while the final power of his body completely merged with the previously shattered corner, transforming into a Stone Bead.

The Stone Bead fell from the void onto the earth, landing on an inconspicuous hillside, mixing with ordinary mountain rocks, no longer looking any different.

"It's the void!" Seeing these scenes, Shen Yu couldn't help but frown slightly.

Both the Stone Bead and the Jade Bead were formed above the void. Their powers must have had something in common, which allowed the two to combine.

"What exactly is above this void!" Looking up at the sky, Shen Yu wanted to see through the endless starry sky to the other side of the void.

However, in the end, his strength was insufficient, and he could see nothing at all.

Only in his heart was there a hazy feeling, as if above this void, there was a barrier shrouding the entire earth, also separating the earth from the void.

It made it impossible for people to see through, to understand, or even to touch that endless void.

And just at this moment, the scene before his eyes changed again. The Stone Bead stayed on the hillside for countless years, experiencing the vicissitudes of life and endless time.

Until one day, a young boy playing on the small hillside picked up this Stone Bead.

The boy thought it was very special, so he brought it home. At night, in a daze, the boy fell asleep holding this picked-up Stone Bead.

At night, after the moonlight shone on the Stone Bead through the roof of the dilapidated thatched cottage, the Stone Bead began to glow with a dim light, just like a night-luminescent pearl.

This light was not dazzling, but rather very soft. These rays of light poured into the boy's body, seemingly nourishing and transforming his physique; from then on, the boy began a life that was almost like cheating.

First, he mingled in the pugilistic world, becoming invincible under heaven in less than twenty years; later, during the chaos of war, he raised a banner of revolt, defeated countless competitors along the way, and climbed to that supreme position.

Holding the Stone Bead, the boy seemed to be favored by heaven and earth; not only could he turn danger into safety countless times, but each time he could greatly increase his strength.

After the situation was settled, this picked-up Stone Bead was revered by the boy as the Nation-Suppressing Stone Bead and enshrined within the Imperial Court.

Time flew by, and countless more years passed.

The scenes before his eyes showed many strange and fragmented images; after watching for a while, Shen Yu finally understood that these must be the residual memories of the now-dead Wuye.

Wuye and that young boy were clearly not the same person; the boy was a hero of the highest order.

As for Wuye, he seemed like a spoiled child; one look and it was clear he was used to a life of smooth sailing and hadn't experienced much of the world's harshness.

In the scenes, Wuye should have been of noble birth, showing extraordinary talent from a young age and receiving key cultivation.

Afterward, the entire family poured almost all their resources into him, and Wuye then advanced by leaps and bounds under the heavy bombardment of various resources.

At a young age, he was already a rare talent in the pugilistic world, and as he grew older, he became famous throughout the pugilistic world. By the end, he had few opponents in the entire pugilistic world.

It could be said that from childhood to adulthood, Wuye received only praise and admiration, as if everything he did was right.

Even when he did something wrong, there were plenty of people to fawn over him, which also made him gradually become selfish and arrogant, looking down on everything.

When the world changed, Spirit Qi surged, and the Great Contention Era arrived, old monsters ran rampant, and countless heroes sacrificed their lives to save the people.

The Imperial Court where Wuye was located had long been prepared; using the Nation-Suppressing Stone Bead as a foundation, they spent hundreds of years constructing an Array to ensure the safety of the Capital after the Great Contention Era.

The Capital gathered most of the Imperial Court's experts and accommodated tens of millions of people, preserving enough seeds for the world. After the Great Contention Era passed, the Imperial Court could rely on these seeds to flourish once again.

During this time, quite a few old monsters also drooled over the Capital; after all, there were enough experts inside, and some of the ranked Heavenly Prides were also protected within by the Imperial Court, which was exactly what they needed.

Yet, despite their repeated sieges, they returned empty-handed every time. With the Nation-Protecting Stone Bead present, the location of the Capital was as secure as a fortress of gold and soup.

It is unknown from when it began, but a voice started to ring out in Wuye's heart, constantly tempting him.

As long as one obtains the Nation-Protecting Stone Bead and absorbs the power within, one can endure as long as those old monsters, without needing to worry about one day aging and dying.

Wuye was very clear about what the Nation-Protecting Stone Bead represented, but he did not care at all; in his eyes, the Life and Death of the world was not as important as his own future.

The greatest characteristic of this person was that he could not withstand temptation, and he never felt that this was wrong.

The human heart is inherently fragile; whether one barely accepts temptation after suffering through pain, or simply takes the direct step to the end, there is no essential difference.

Thus, on a dark and windy night, Wuye stole the Nation-Protecting Stone Bead, causing the Capital's Array to be unable to maintain itself, and the Great Array collapsed immediately.

The terrifying power formed by the collapse of the Array swept through everything, causing the entire Capital to be submerged in ruins.

Among this, naturally, was Wuye's family, as well as his parents and brothers.

When stealing the Nation-Protecting Stone Bead, Wuye did not mention it to anyone, but left all alone. In other words, he single-handedly buried the family that raised him, without a shred of emotion to speak of.

Truly, they raised quite a white-eyed wolf.