Chapter 1118 - 507: Twisted! (Part 2)

He himself is the "answer."

That vicious "logic virus," at the very instant it was absorbed, completely lost all its "toxicity," turning into the purest "information" and melting into Dao Ruins’ body.

Dao Ruins’ "Ruins Dao Body," that body woven from night sky and stardust, seemed to solidify by yet another degree.

His grasp of "Law," his understanding of the "Dao," stepped onto an entirely new rung.

He even, by parsing this "virus," reverse-traced it, and obtained a "scene" more distinct than before.

...

That boundless, shoreless, black coast.

This time, he saw it clearly.

Standing upon that coast was not a single "shadow."

But countless upon countless, tens of thousands of "shadows"!

Their forms were all different, twisted and grotesque, impossible to describe with any known tongue. Some were like dead trees rooted in the void, whose branches were hung with wailing Cosmic remnants. Some were like a writhing lump of flesh made of countless eyes, and in every single eye was reflected the downfall of a civilization.

They simply stood there, silently, upon the shore.

As if waiting for "feeding time."

And the "food" was the "Origin" of those shattered worlds that were being endlessly flushed ashore along the enormous "conveyor belt" of Gui Xu.

But this was not what most shook Dao Ruins’ will.

He saw, behind these tens of thousands of "shadows," at the very end of the coastline, in that deeper darkness where even "malice" itself seemed frozen.

Faintly, there was standing an..."throne."

A throne piled up from countless "Cosmos corpses," vast beyond imagination, pitch-black.

Upon the throne sat a supreme existence whose very outline, merely being "Perceived," made Dao Ruins’ "Ruins Dao Body" feel a stab of "pain."

He could not see that one’s face clearly.

Because any attempt to "observe" It would cause the very concept of "observation" itself to twist and collapse.

Dao Ruins could only "feel."

That existence on the throne seemed to be "asleep."

And those tens of thousands of "shadows" upon the shore were merely "servants" condensed from the wisp of "breath" that leaked out from Its "dreams."

This realization was like a basin of ice water from the Nine Netherworlds, poured over Dao Ruins’ heart.

He had always thought that his enemies were those "shadows."

Yet now it seemed those "shadows" did not even have the qualification to be called "enemies."

They were merely "watchdogs."

The true "terror" was still sleeping upon that throne.

And the Fire, the Sea of Realms Dam, the struggles and Guardianship of billions of epochs... before this sleeping "King," what did they amount to?

Perhaps, merely a "commotion" It couldn’t even be bothered to notice in Its dreams...?

Right at this moment, Dao Ruins’ will seemed to have triggered some "alarm."

In that "scene," on the throne, that sleeping supreme existence, one of Its "fingers" appeared to move, ever so slightly.

Rumble!!!!!!

In Dao Ruins’ mind, it was as if billions of Cosmos exploded at once!

An indescribable, incomprehensible, irresistible "Great Terror" surged upstream along that analytic link, intent on utterly erasing Dao Ruins’ "will"!

It was not an attack of Power, not a crushing by the Dao.

It was a higher-dimensional "declaration."

"The one who peeps—dies."

Yet just as this "declaration" Power was about to descend.

Within Dao Ruins’ body, that mark formed from the Fire Origin, which had always lain dormant, suddenly erupted with a brilliance unprecedented and dazzling to the extreme!

This light was not for attack, nor for defense.

It was "burning"!

Burning itself in a mad frenzy, with a resolve to perish together, paying every price!

What it burned was not Energy, but "causality."

Between Dao Ruins and that "King," it forcibly created a "causal black hole," and the link between the "cause of peeping" and the "effect of being erased" was brutally burned apart!

Pu!

Dao Ruins’ "Ruins Dao Body" shook violently for the first time. The Chaos-colored microglow flowing over his skin dimmed for an instant.

That Fire mark, after severing that causality, also became far more unreal, as if it could go out at any moment.

Dao Ruins slowly raised his head, and for the first time, those Chaos-colored eyes looked toward the Fire mark on his chest that was dimming.

He had been saved by the "Fire."

This "Order" he had once thought was one side of the same coin with Gui Xu, something that had to be "surpassed," at the most critical moment chose to burn its own Origin to protect him.

Why?

Dao Ruins’ will reached toward that weakened mark.

He "heard."

In the deepest part of the Fire mark there was not only cold "Order" and "rules."

There also remained an exceedingly ancient yet incomparably blazing "obsession."

"Live on..."

"No matter what, you must live on..."

"Pass down the fire-seed of ’existence’..."

"Until... someone can walk to ’Its’ presence..."

This was the Fire’s "mission."

It was not Guardianship for Guardianship’s sake, nor Order for Order’s sake.

Its sole meaning of existence was to nurture a final "Fire Holder" who could stand against that "King."

And Dao Ruins was the "hope" it had waited for across endless epochs.

Dao Ruins fell silent.

He reached out, gently touching the mark on his chest.

The Chaos Origin Power within him, for the first time, took the initiative, flowing out softly, and poured into that mark on the verge of going out.

The dim flame once more stabilized.

Though still weak, it no longer faced the danger of extinction.

He said nothing, but his actions had already expressed his "stance."

Between him and the Fire, a wordless "reconciliation" was reached.

Or rather, a "pact."

After doing all this, Dao Ruins slowly drew back the hand pressed upon the "Causal Cliff."

Behind him, that chasm which had once driven even supreme giants to Despair had completely vanished.

The thirty-thousand-and-first segment of the wall, and the thirty-thousand-and-second segment, were perfectly re-linked together.

As if that cliff had never appeared.

Dao Ruins raised his head, his gaze piercing the layered mists ahead.

His expression was still calm.

But deep within those Chaos-colored eyes, there was now something new.

Something that even the Thunder Lord and Wen Xi could not comprehend.

That was "battle intent."

Not aimed at Gui Xu, nor at those "shadows."

But aimed at the end of that black coast, at that throne, at that sleeping "King" who had almost erased him with a mere twitch of Its finger!

He now knew his own "path."

And he knew his own "destination."

Repairing the Dam was only a process.

Surpassing the Fire and Gui Xu was also only a process.

His true mission was only one.

To walk before that "throne," and then...

Drag It down.

Dao Ruins stepped forward, onto the thirty-thousand-and-second segment of the wall, passing over that giant’s corpse which had once been incomparably arrogant, yet now seemed small and pitiful.

His figure was still solitary.

But no longer lost.

The Dam ahead shifted once more.

No longer specific "pollution" or "dead end."

But a kind of overall "distortion."

Space here was like a canvas being kneaded. Time here was like a stream sometimes rushing forward, sometimes flowing backward.

The entire stretch of Dam presented a bizarre, kaleidoscopic spectacle, like the mutterings of a drunk.

And at the core of that distorted spacetime region.