Chapter 453: You Can Fool Me, But You Cannot Fool the System!

Tian Yongheng waited in silence for a few moments, but he got no response.

His consciousness was submerged in silence, and the familiar presence that had accompanied him throughout his journey was nowhere to be found.

Tian Yongheng slowly opened his eyes.

He stood motionless for a long while before slowly lowering his gaze towards his hands.

Something was wrong.

No, something was very wrong.

His mind gradually cleared, and the emptiness that had previously occupied his heart began to recede.

Tian Yongheng had cultivated for more than a thousand years. Although he had witnessed many things beyond the understanding of ordinary cultivators, he had never truly considered himself an intelligent or omniscient being.

However, he was still a cultivator, and a cultivator who wished to survive in this cruel world could never afford to lose their ability to think.

His Dao Heart had become unstable, but that did not mean he had completely lost his rationality.

On the contrary, the moment he realized that the System had stopped responding, his thoughts began to move with increasing clarity.

He turned his head and looked in the direction of the distant Eternal Peak Dao Field in the Eastern Continent.

When he came out, everything was still there.

The formations were all operational, the spiritual herbs continued to grow, and the various restrictions established throughout the years remained undisturbed.

Even the unique aura of the Dao Field had not changed in the slightest.

That was the Dao Field he had obtained through the System, a place that could conceal his existence, isolate him from the outside world, and protect him from dangers that even his current cultivation might not be sufficient to overcome.

If the System had truly disappeared, why had the Dao Field remained intact?

Tian Yongheng's eyes narrowed slightly.

He raised his right hand and examined it carefully before silently activating a certain Divine Power.

Absolute Purification!

This was the first Divine Power he had obtained from the System, possessing the ability to virtually purify all negative effects and harmful influences.

A faint radiance emerged around his body.

The surrounding Spirit Qi trembled as an invisible force swept through his physical body, Essence Soul, and even the deepest layers of his existence.

Everything proceeded smoothly, with not the slightest obstruction.

His Divine Power was as powerful as ever.

However, when the radiance dissipated, the world before him remained unchanged.

The blood red heavens were still the same, the Death Qi continued to drift across the ruined land, and the System was still nowhere to be found.

Tian Yongheng fell silent for a brief moment, his gaze turning increasingly icy.

Then, slowly, the corners of his mouth lifted into a cold smile.

"Interesting."

His voice was quiet, containing no anger, panic, or any trace of the despair that had previously threatened to consume him.

The System had accompanied him since the beginning of his journey, providing him with cultivation techniques, Divine Powers, treasures, and opportunities that would have been impossible for an ordinary cultivator to obtain.

It had also concealed his existential karma, hiding his various Connate Providences from the prying eyes of the world when it first activated.

Even beings whose existence approached the incomprehensible boundaries of the Dao could not easily perceive his true circumstances.

And on certain occasions, the System had even reacted to matters related to Unspeakable Existences.

Such a mysterious existence...

Could it really disappear without warning?

And if it had disappeared, why had none of the things it had given him vanished alongside it?

His Divine Powers were intact, his Providence had not decreased in the slightest, his Dao Field was still here, and even his cultivation had not changed.

Everything was exactly as it should have been, except the System itself.

Tian Yongheng's expression gradually became colder.

He had overlooked something.

No, more accurately, he had failed to consider something that should have been obvious from the beginning.

When he broke through to the Earth Immortal Realm, the System should have issued its usual notifications!

Where was the congratulations, where was the reward, where was everything!?

At the time, he was overwhelmed by the devastation of the Lower Realm, his attention entirely consumed by the countless lives that had seemingly disappeared.

He had not even considered the absence of those familiar notifications!

How careless.

Tian Yongheng's eyes darkened.

His state of mind had indeed been affected more severely than he had imagined, but that was exactly why he could not allow himself to continue thinking along the same lines.

He was presented with a world in which everything he cared about had been destroyed, and he had been allowed to experience the despair of losing everyone, the helplessness of discovering that his strength had come too late, and the complete collapse of the convictions that had supported his pursuit of immortality.

It was perfect, almost perfect!

Tian Yongheng slowly raised his head, gazing up at the crimson heavens, a hint of deep mockery in his eyes.

"You can fool me... but you cannot fool the System!"

The moment those words left his mouth, his surroundings suddenly trembled.

Cracks began to appear in the blood red heavens.

At first, they were barely noticeable, thin fissures spreading across the distant sky like fractures in a mirror.

Then, with a faint cracking sound, the mountains began to distort.

The rivers, the earth, the clouds, and even the countless remnants of Death Qi all became strangely fragmented.

It was as though the entire world had been nothing more than a magnificent illusion, and someone had finally struck the surface hard enough to reveal the cracks beneath it.

Tian Yongheng watched the scene unfold without moving.

He finally understood.

Whatever this place was, whatever existence had constructed it, and whatever purpose it had served, there was one crucial detail that had been overlooked.

The System was not just a collection of Divine Powers, inheritances, and treasures.

It was an existence that had accompanied him throughout his journey, and its presence was fundamental to his understanding of himself.

Someone might be capable of imitating his memories, reproducing his cultivation, recreating his Dao Field, and even fabricating an entire world that appeared indistinguishable from reality.

Someone might even possess the ability to manipulate his emotions, allowing him to experience despair so profound that his Dao Heart nearly collapsed.

But could that being truly replicate the System!?

Could it imitate something whose very nature remained incomprehensible even to him!?

Tian Yongheng did not know, but he didn't think so they could.

He did not need to understand the System's true origins to recognize its absence and how transcendent its existence truly was!