Chapter 1252: Cognition

A series of unprecedented problems surged in his mind. He had previously focused on 'termination', regarding desire as a disturbance that disrupted peace and led to destruction. But now, observing this most primal desire field up close, he faintly felt that desire and termination might not be simply opposed.

His divine sense involuntarily traced the source of that desire field, trying to glimpse its innermost law fragment. In a daze, he seemed to see an boundless, boiling primordial sea; countless 'wanting to exist' thoughts rose like bubbles from the sea, colliding, merging, growing……some turned into vitality, nourishing all things; some turned into obsession, stirring conflict; some, at the extreme……returned to eternal silence.

"Desire…… is one of the primal forces driving the transformation of 'Existence'?" A shocking thought flashed like lightning across his sea of consciousness! "Termination is also not a static 'nothing', but rather a state where some desire (for peace, for return) is satisfied? In the cycle of life and death, the rise and fall of all things—could there be some deeper 'desire' behind them, driving them?"

Just as his mind surged, trying to catch that fleeting glimmer of insight in the dim——

"Buzz!"

The Heavenly Dao Forbidden Seal on his brow suddenly burst forth with blinding golden light! A warning backlash far stronger than any before, like billions of red-hot steel needles, fiercely pierced his soul!

"Ugh!" Han Wuxian let out a muffled groan, his face instantly turning ashen as paper, his aura violently fluctuating, nearly falling from midair!

The reaction of the Heavenly Dao Forbidden Seal was extremely intense! It seemed to judge that Han Wuxian's recent insight had come infinitely close to 'touching the taboo'! To scrutinize the essence of the Desire Dao and link it to the cycle of life and death was undoubtedly striking at the strict boundary that the Heavenly Dao order had drawn between 'termination' and 'origin'!

Amid the intense pain, Han Wuxian clenched his teeth, forcing himself not to immediately sever the link with that desire field. At the very moment his consciousness was about to be overwhelmed by pain, he forcibly imprinted that instant insight, along with the 'data' of the Heavenly Dao Forbidden Seal's violent backlash, deep into his soul!

Immediately, he decisively cut off all external perception, withdrew his divine sense completely, and fully activated the core of the source star together with his will to resist the rule backlash that surged like a tide!

No one knew how long passed before that terrifying pain gradually receded like an ebbing tide.

Han Wuxian collapsed sitting in his cave abode, drenched in cold sweat, his soul feeling as if torn apart and barely stitched together, sending waves of feeble, stabbing pain. The Heavenly Dao Forbidden Seal on his brow still emitted scorching golden light, full of warning.

Yet deep within his weary eyes burned an unprecedented bright flame!

Although he paid a heavy price, he had seen it! He had glimpsed the tip of the iceberg of another great Dao hidden beneath the surface of all things, possibly as important as 'termination'! Moreover, he personally verified that thinking about linking 'desire' with 'termination' was an extremely forbidden realm, which thus provoked the Heavenly Dao Forbidden Seal's fiercest reaction!

"Indeed…… this path touches the core." Han Wuxian panted, the corner of his mouth curling into a near‑mad arc. Pain and danger precisely proved its worth!

The Heavenly Dao Forbidden Seal prohibits him from actively defining and guiding 'termination' and 'reincarnation', but it cannot forbid him from thinking, from understanding the essence of other related Daos. By studying the Desire Dao, by contemplating the inner link between desire, termination, and vitality, he might be able to bypass the seal's direct restriction, and from a higher, more essential level, re‑examine and define his own 'Return to the Void' path!

This is no longer 'merging with the rules', but an attempt to 'understand the logic behind the rules'!

The road ahead is undoubtedly more dangerous; each deep exploration could invite heavenly punishment. Yet this is also the only possible way to break the century‑old shackles, and perhaps……transcend the bonds of this world's order!

Han Wuxian slowly closed his eyes, beginning to digest the gains of this adventure, and that fleeting glimpse imprinted in his soul of the primordial sea of desire.

The backlash from forcibly probing the essence of the Desire Dao was far more severe than Han Wuxian had imagined. The Heavenly Dao Forbidden Seal seemed utterly enraged, leaving an indelible 'scorch' on his soul, and thereafter continuously emitting a cold, suppressive fluctuation for as long as two years, making even his previous subtle 'assisting purification' difficult, often triggering the seal's stinging warning.

He seemed to have been knocked back to square one, even worse than when the seal was first implanted. The outside world, which had slightly improved its watchful attitude after he repaired the teleportation array, once again became subtle. Some previously lurking malice, like sharks smelling blood, began to stir again in the darkness.

Within the cave abode, Han Wuxian appeared gaunt, the golden seal on his brow like a brand, radiating undeniable authority. Yet his deep‑set eyes did not grow dim under this lasting suppression; instead, in the utmost silence and pain, they settled into a more introverted, yet sharper light.

He could not practice any form of power cultivation, and even large‑scale projection of his divine sense was strictly limited. Thus he poured all his mental energy into introspection and deduction.

His consciousness replayed over and over the glimpse of that day's 'primordial sea of desire', replayed every detail of how desire's power stirred the living beings, replayed the transmission from the Heavenly Dao Forbidden Seal's violent backlash—the hidden hint behind that cold order……a barely perceptible 'rejection' and 'fear'.

"What does the Heavenly Dao order fear?" This thought, like a seed, took root in his heart.

"What it fears is not desire itself; otherwise all living beings in the world would have been eradicated long ago."

"What it fears is the connection between desire, termination, and vitality……? Is it the uncertainty that such a connection might bring?"

Han Wuxian's consciousness, like the most precise abacus, frantically simulated various possibilities in his sea of mind. He placed his understanding of Return to the Void, his vague sense of reincarnation, and his initial glimpse of desire on the same platform for comparison and analysis.

"Return to the Void is the termination of form, the force moving toward 'stillness'."

"Desire is the driving force of form change, the force moving toward 'motion'."

"Vitality is the maintenance and propagation of form, the balanced state between 'motion' and 'stillness'."

"Reincarnation might be a kind of passage transcending linear time between 'motion' and 'stillness'……a cyclic channel?"

One abstract concept after another collided and combined in his consciousness. He no longer tried to 'control' or 'define' them, but like an observer, sought to understand their inherent, intrinsic connections and transformation laws.