Chapter 1318: One Step Ahead

An incomparably massive torrent of information of the "Silence Extinction" law, mingling the lingering remnants of billions of beings devoured by the Return Void over endless ages, the world's wailing, and the most primal "Silence Extinction" law, surged along that root's void shadow and wildly flooded Yan Buji's mental core!

"Ugh—ah!"

Even with Yan Buji's current will and Chaos essence, he was nearly overwhelmed by this terrifying information torrent! He seemed, in an instant, to have experienced the birth and destruction of countless worlds, felt the despair and struggle of billions of beings before the Return Void, and faced directly the cold, merciless, erasing essence of "Silence Extinction"!

His chaotic thought violently trembled, its light flickering unpredictably, as if it could collapse at any moment.

But simultaneously, within this information torrent, he captured fragments about the origin of this "Silence Extinction Blue Lotus"—

It was not naturally born, but a miracle forcibly created by a chaotic ancient god from a time so distant it cannot be recalled, who, attempting to align body with Dao and explore the transformation of Being and Non‑being, before being completely Assimilated by the Return Void, combined his final life source and immortal Dao seed with a fragment of a primordial creation Blue Lotus he had accidentally obtained. It is the ancient god's proof of the Dao in the fight against the ultimate Void, and the sole hope for the continuation of his lineage!

This Blue Lotus contains part of that chaotic ancient god's inheritance and will!

And now, this inheritance and will are trying, through this method, to fuse with Yan Buji, who also walks the Chaos Path and has successfully stabilized "Existence" within the Return Void as its successor…!

It is both opportunity and trial! If the fusion succeeds, he will gain the ancient god's legacy and the Chaos Path will leap forward. If it fails, his self‑awareness will be Assimilated by the ancient god's massive residual will, becoming new nourishment for this Blue Lotus, or a guardian puppet that has lost its self!

"Want my Dao? Then see whose chaos is superior!"

Yan Buji's will roared within the torrent; he cast aside all distracting thoughts, held fast to his core, and pushed his understanding of chaos, life and death, and Being and Non‑being to the extreme! His chaotic thought no longer resisted the information torrent but actively met it, like two raging rivers, beginning the most perilous, most fundamental merging and collision!

It is Devour, and also learning; it is resistance, and also absorption.

Within his thought, phantoms proliferated. At times he became a giant who opened the heavens and split the earth, swinging an axe to cleave chaos; at other times he turned into a demon god that destroys worlds, drawing the Return Void of All Realms; and sometimes he turned into that Blue Lotus swaying in Silence Extinction, holding a sliver of Existence's faint light within absolute Void…

Time lost its meaning in this clash of consciousness.

After an unknown span, the raging information torrent gradually subsided. Yan Buji's chaotic thought not only did not collapse but became more compact and deeper. At its core, beyond the original grayish chaos, there was now a faint, almost intangible blue radiance, and an ancient, weathered essence that has endured countless tribulations and seen through the cycle of birth and death.

He slowly "opened" the eye of his thought and looked at the Silence Extinction Blue Lotus.

The Blue Lotus still swayed slowly, but between it and him there was now a peculiar connection of bloodline and law resonance. He successfully withstood the ancient god's will shock and absorbed part of its insight on chaos, creation, and Silence Extinction! Though he did not fully obtain the inheritance, he already benefited greatly.

More importantly, through the Blue Lotus's root connection, he vaguely sensed the direction of the "vein" where it was rooted, which seemed to be… a potential path out of the Return Void Sea Eye? Or perhaps a hidden node linking the Return Void Sea Eye with the outside world!

The road ahead is revealed!

Yan Buji suppressed his inner excitement; he knew it was time to leave this cultivation place. Outside, unresolved grudges and a broader stage still awaited.

He deeply "watched" the Silence Extinction Blue Lotus, imprinting its aura and Dao resonance firmly in the depths of his thought. Then, he drew the newly gained blue radiance into his chaos, followed the faint guidance from the root vein, and resolutely "swam" toward the unknown boundary of the Return Void Sea Eye.

Behind him, the Blue Lotus blooming with life in Silence Extinction flickered faintly, as if seeing him off, yet also silently awaiting the next destined person, or… its true master's return.

Following the faint guidance from the Silence Extinction Blue Lotus's root network, Yan Buji's chaotic thought traversed the absolute "Void". This time, his "movement" was no longer aimless drifting but carried a clear direction. The strand of blue radiance merged into his thought resonated wonderfully with some law deep in the Return Void, as if lighting a faint beacon for him in this sea of Void.

The closer he approached the source of the guidance, the surrounding "Void" seemed to develop an extremely subtle sense of "viscosity" and "repulsion". No longer pure acceptance and dissolution, it felt as if he touched a "boundary" or "membrane" of this Return Void Sea Eye. Occasionally, more solid, more dangerous Silence Extinction storms would spontaneously arise, a highly concentrated blend of "Void" and fragmented law, wildly tearing apart all "Existence".

Yan Buji had to be more cautious, compressing his chaotic thought to the extreme, mimicking the surrounding "Void" fluctuations, like a slippery fish struggling through gaps in the storm. He could feel that his newly gained, ancient‑god‑infused chaotic essence played a crucial role here, otherwise it would have already been sensed and torn apart by these storms.

After an unknown number of perilous evasions, the guidance finally became clear and strong.

Ahead, against the backdrop of "Void", an extremely subtle, constantly twisting "crack" appeared.

This crack was not a spatial fissure; it had no thickness, no concept of length or width, resembling more a logical loophole, a break in law. It connected not another space but the "Existence" and "Void"—the two absolutely opposing concepts—forming a theoretically impossible "interface".

Through this crack, Yan Buji clearly sensed… the aura of Youming Jie! That familiar scent, mingled with deathly silence, soul energy, grudges, and various Youming Jie Law Fluctuations, surged into his nearly dried perception like sweet water!

Found it! This is the hidden node linking the Return Void Sea Eye with Youming Jie! A "slit" that even a being like the ruler of the Underworld River might not have noticed, or might disdain!

However, passing through this crack is no easy task.

The crack itself is extremely unstable, constantly bearing the erosion of the Return Void's "Void" and the repulsion of Youming Jie's "Existence" law, existing in a dangerous dynamic balance. Any foreign "Existence" attempting to break in would instantly shatter this balance, triggering a terrifying backlash of the two realms' laws, likely resulting in being crushed instantly by the two opposing forces, or being exiled into an unknown law turbulence.

Yan Buji's chaotic thought hovered before the crack; he could feel the destructive power it contained. This was a hundred times more dangerous than his forced entry into the Return Void!

But he had no retreat and would not shrink back.

"The Silence Extinction Blue Lotus can root here, drawing power from both realms to exist; its root can probe into… I have already attained its Dao resonance, why not?"

He sank his thought, merging all the insights he had gathered in the Return Void—his understanding of the "Silence of the Beginning", his dialectic of "Existence and Void", and the mysteries obtained from the ancient god's inheritance about how to seek balance and transformation amid extreme opposition—into a single whole.

His chaotic thought began to change, no longer merely encompassing life and death, but attempting to simulate the state of the crack itself! The edges of his thought became blurred, one part manifesting extreme "Void" and assimilating with the Return Void; the other part coalescing a strong "Existence" concept, resonating with Youming Jie!

He intends to recreate, upon himself, this "miniature crack" that connects the two realms!