Chapter 1317: Azure Lotus

He is now in a very strange state, neither alive nor dead, neither real nor unreal, and more like a flowing Chaos Law Fragment that has gained self‑awareness.

He tries to move his "body" and finds he can drift slowly within this "nothingness". The Return Void Sea Eye is not utterly empty; occasionally he can "see" faint, almost extinguishable law lights emerging from the "nothingness" and vanishing quickly. These are the last traces of powerful existences or worlds that were once devoured by the Return Void, now being slowly erased.

He also "sees" some enormous, background‑shadow‑like structural remnants—broken world keystones or unimaginably huge creations—whose very existence opposes the "nothingness", yet ultimately they cannot escape total dissolution.

Here is the end of all things, the tomb of the laws.

But for him, this place is also… a treasure trove!

Those law lights on the brink of total erasure, and those structural remnants that contain the final essence of a world or a great being, are lethal poison to others, but to his Chaos that has already adapted to the Initial Silence, they are potent nourishment!

He cautiously approaches a relatively brighter law light radiating scorching and destructive aura, and his Chaos Intent extends like a tentacle, probing slowly.

No devouring, only embracing.

The light struggles violently, erupting its final glow, but when it contacts Yan Buji's Chaos Intent imbued with the Initial Silence, its resistance quickly wanes, and it is smoothly enveloped, broken down, and absorbed, becoming part of his Chaos Intent and rendering it slightly more solidified.

"It works indeed!" Yan Buji's spirit soars.

He begins to roam this endless "nothingness" like a scavenger and a predator, searching for and capturing the lingering law lights and structural remnants, turning them into nourishment for his own growth.

His Chaos Intent grows at a slow, steady pace, and his comprehension of the Initial Silence deepens. He even begins to try extracting the most primal Silence Extinction Law Fragments from the "nothingness" itself, integrating them into himself.

Time has lost its meaning here.

After an unknown span, his Chaos Intent has grown strong enough to clearly perceive a certain "boundary" or "flow direction" of the Return Void Sea Eye. This "nothingness" is not static; it slowly "flows" toward some core.

He "looks" along this flow direction, and at the edge of his perception he "sees" a scene beyond words.

It is an incomparably massive, slowly rotating "Sea Eye"! It has no solid form, but is a vortex formed from endless "nothingness" and fragmented laws. At the vortex's core lies an absolute "singularity" that even his Chaos Intent cannot probe, seeming both the end of everything and… the beginning of everything!

The aura emanating there makes the already adapted Yan Buji feel a shiver and… yearning deep within his soul.

"Is that… the true core of the Return Void?" Yan Buji's Chaos Intent ripples violently, "Does that place contain the ultimate mystery beyond life and death, beyond existence and non‑existence?"

He knows that, in his current state, rashly approaching that core Sea Eye would guarantee certain death, yet the attraction is so intense, as if it were the ultimate summons of his Chaos Path.

He restrains his impulse to explore immediately, choosing to stay in this relatively "safe" periphery, devouring more law remnants, accumulating power until his Chaos Intent is strong enough to withstand the terror of the core region.

The journey through the Return Void Sea Eye is, for him, both the most perilous wasteland and the most perfect training ground.

While he slowly and steadily grows stronger within the Return Void, the outside Youming Jie, stirred by his intrusion, the pursuit of the Chief High Priest of Changwu, and the wills of the Asura Palace and the Lord of the Underworld River revealed after the abyssal rift, have already caused greater turmoil. The eyes of various factions begin to glance, faintly yet unmistakably, toward the Return Void Sea Eye, long regarded as an exile zone.

Yan Buji's Chaos Intent drifts in the endless "nothingness" like a greedy phantom, constantly seeking and capturing the law lights and world remnants that are about to be utterly erased. His Existence becomes increasingly solid, and his grasp of the Initial Silence deepens. His Chaos is no longer a simple cycle of life and death; it now intertwines with the dialectic of Existence and Void, becoming ever more profound and inscrutable.

One day, he follows a peculiar, faint pull that seems to originate from the source of life, heading toward a remote corner of the Return Void Sea Eye that deviates from the main "flow". There, even fragmented law lights are extremely scarce, a region deadlier than the outer periphery.

Yet, within this ultimate "nothingness", he "sees" a splash of a different hue.

It is an extremely faint, almost inseparable cyan halo within the "nothingness".

In this Return Void where even the concept of color is nearly extinct, any stray hue appears stark and precious. Yan Buji approaches cautiously, his Chaos Intent like the most delicate feeler, slowly reaching toward the cyan halo.

As he draws nearer, the cyan halo becomes clearer. It is not a floating light but rooted upon an extremely tiny, almost imperceptible "Existence Substrate". The substrate seems forged from countless fragmented "Existence" concepts, stubbornly resisting the surrounding "nothingness"'s erosion.

And at the center of the substrate grows a… lotus.

A strange lotus whose whole body bears a chaotic hue, yet its petal edges drip with a faint cyan glow. It has only three petals: one displays ultimate "Dead Silence", merging with the Return Void environment; another circulates a faint "Life Force", emitting a tenacious, unyielding intent; the middle one is pure Chaos, seemingly evolving in perpetual rotation between life and death.

The lotus moves without wind, swaying slowly; each sway seems to draw in the thin, almost nonexistent "Existence" concepts around it, emitting a faint yet primordial scent of purification and creation. In this absolute Dead Silence, it carves out a modest but truly existent "Pure Land of Life"!

"This is… Chaos Azure Lotus?! No, it's something else…" Yan Buji's intent trembles violently, sensing an unprecedented aura that shares the source of his own Chaos Path yet is older and purer.

Legend says the Chaos Azure Lotus is a descendant or branch of the Creation Azure Lotus, containing the seed of world‑shaping. The one before him clearly emerged in this Return Void abyss from a lingering primordial source, fused with the Return Void's Silence Extinction aura, mutating into existence! It simultaneously holds the supreme laws of "Creation" and "Return to Silence", achieving a subtle, miraculous balance amid this extreme opposition.

This "Silence Extinction Azure Lotus" is, for Yan Buji, far more valuable than the sum of all law remnants he has devoured. If he can refine it, his Chaos Path will undergo a qualitative leap, perhaps even glimpse a fragment of true creation and annihilation mysteries!

Yet he also clearly feels that, though the lotus appears feeble, the "Existence Substrate" it roots in is extremely stable, and its emitted balancing field is exceptionally resilient, not easily disturbed. Moreover, surviving this deep within the Return Void Sea Eye cannot be ordinary; it must possess unfathomable power.

He restrains the urge to act immediately, and his Chaos Intent cautiously circles the lotus, beginning a careful study of its structure, field, and interaction with this "nothingness".

He discovers that the lotus's roots plunge deep into the "Existence Substrate", and beneath that substrate seems to connect to a more profound, massive… network? That network faintly exudes an aura that shares the source of the entire Return Void Sea Eye yet is more concentrated and older, as if embodying the very "Devour" and "Dissolve" laws of the Return Void.

"This lotus… is actually drawing the Return Void's own power, transmuting that sliver of Life Force?" Yan Buji is horrified. It is like surviving inside a whale's belly by siphoning the whale's digestive fluid to live and grow! What an defiant essence and resilience!

Just as he concentrates fully on studying the lotus, a sudden mutation erupts!

Perhaps sensing his foreign "Existence" coveting it, the chaotic petal at the center of the Silence Extinction Lotus flickers, and a minute, almost invisible root‑like phantom, as if crossing space, instantly pierces Yan Buji's Chaos Intent!

"Bad!"

Yan Buji startles, immediately mobilizing Chaos Force to resist! Yet the root phantom is not an attack but… a connection and Assimilation!