Chapter 1296: Hidden Threat

Yan Buji's lingering soul, bearing the stolen thread of "Infinity Essence", completely vanished into the deep fissure of spacetime, leaving no trace. Han Wuxian, using their "True Self Core" to repeatedly reflect their Dao Foundation and the power of the Infinite Law to comb the heavens and All Realms, can no longer find that strange breath, as if the other has been utterly erased from every dimension.

However, deep within the Dao Heart, the subtle "discord" and "stagnation" born from the lack of essence remain like a minute flaw in a jade disc, truly existent. They do not affect the current power, but act like an invisible shackles, subtly restricting the future expansion of "Infinity", causing their deductions of higher realms to always be veiled by a hazy thin veil.

They try to wash and mend with the vast "Infinity" Dao Rhythm, yet it is like punching cotton with empty fists, finding no point of leverage. The missing part is not concrete energy, but a piece of "root information" that forms their Dao Path blueprint, which cannot be restored by mere accumulation of power.

After months of breath regulation, the injuries fully healed, and the power even became purer after breaking and reconstituting. Yet they know the hidden danger has already been sown.

On this day, they perform a Heavenly Dao deduction atop Wanji Mountain Peak, their mind linked to the vortex of Gu Jing, perceiving the flow of this world's Silence Extinction origin. Suddenly, their mind stirs slightly, catching a faintly hidden law ripple. This ripple does not come from external intrusion, but from the world's own operation, yet its frequency carries a twisted sense that feels oddly "familiar" to them.

They concentrate and trace, their gaze piercing through layers of void, landing on the distant Central Continent.

There, within a medium-sized sect called "Heavenly Mechanism Gate", an Outer Gate disciple of average talent, during an ordinary closing cultivation, unexpectedly touched a profoundly mysterious "sudden enlightenment" state. Dao Rhythm flowed around them, subtly emitting a peculiar affinity for "All Things Returning to Silence" that utterly mismatched their own cultivation, and also a faint… extremely weak overemphasis on "self-existence".

This "sudden enlightenment" is not the orthodox Dao method of this world; its core logic strangely resembles and merges with Yan Buji's "self-attachment" way and certain traits of their "Infinity Return to Void". It is like haphazardly mixing two completely different pigments, scribbling a twisted painting.

And this disciple, prior to this, had never encountered any inheritance related to Silence Extinction or Return to Void, and had no connection with Yan Buji at all.

Their eyes narrowed. The cunning of the "Essence Law" far exceeds their imagination. After Yan Buji stole their "Infinity Essence" fragments, he did not merely use them for his own recovery and transformation; he somehow, through an unknowable means, combined the stolen "root information" with his own "self-attachment" residue, spreading it like a virus, silently "polluting" the Heavenly Dao law of this world!

These "polluted" law nodes will randomly manifest on beings with high compatibility, spawning this twisted "sudden enlightenment" and "talent"! These beings, unknowingly, become Yan Buji's new Dao "test subjects" and "disseminators"!

What they cultivate is not their orthodox "Infinity Return to Void", nor Yan Buji's original "Path of Self-Attachment", but a malformed "Pseudo-Infinity" way built on the "stolen Infinity Essence" as foundation and the "remaining self-attachment" as core!

This method appears to quickly reach the true meaning of Silence, yet its foundation is twisted, emphasizing extreme "self" while ignoring true "inclusion", like a castle built on quicksand—rapid early progress but later inevitably backfires, and its very existence continuously distorts and confuses the true "Infinity" concept represented by them!

"Such a poisonous and scorching method…" a chill surged in their heart. Yan Buji's move is not a direct attack, but fundamentally attempts to pollute, dilute, even alter their "Dao" definition and inheritance in this world!

If left unchecked, as time passes, the number of such "Pseudo-Infinity" cultivators will increase, their induced law ripples will continually strengthen the polluted Heavenly Dao nodes, eventually possibly truly twisting this world's Silence Extinction law, causing the genuine "Infinity Dao Ancestor"—themselves—to be partially rejected by their own world's origin!

What concerns them more is that through these "Pseudo-Infinity" cultivators' practice and existence, Yan Buji's lingering soul hidden in the spacetime fissure may continuously draw some feedback, accelerating its fusion with that thread of "Infinity Essence", and even… glimpse more mysteries of their Dao Foundation!

"Steal my Dao Foundation, defile my Heavenly Dao, nurture his lingering soul… three birds with one stone." They stand atop the peak, their robe fluttering in the Silence wind. They slowly raise their hand, a strand of pure "Infinity" Dao Rhythm condensing at their fingertips.

They cannot directly intervene on a large scale in the Heavenly Dao, for that would trigger unpredictable chain reactions. But they can… guide.

"Since you take me as source, you act twisted. Then let you all witness what truly is… the Infinity baptism."

Yan Buji flicks his fingertip, and that strand of "Infinity" Dao Rhythm silently crosses the void, merging into the newly born "Pseudo-Infinity" cultivator's surrounding qi and law pattern in the Central Continent.

This is not destruction, but "revelation".

Yan Buji wants these "test subjects", in the process of cultivating this "Pseudo-Infinity", to more clearly feel its internal twist and limitation, and subtly point toward the truly vast, inclusive "Infinity" origin, like placing a signpost at a crossroads, indicating the correct path.

This move may delay the spread of "Pseudo-Infinity", even guide some lost ones back, but more importantly, through this "revelation", Yan Buji can trace back the minute traces of the pollution source and glimpse Yan Buji's progress in merging the "Essence".

The contention of Dao has spread from internal struggle to a contest over the entire world's Heavenly Dao and the paths of all beings.