Night of Despair

Wuji Heavenly Venerate walked forward step by step.

He seemed to have really seen something, then he began to gather black stone slabs with his bare hands and carved words onto them, letting them fly away.

More and more stone slabs flew out, increasing in number and density.

Wuji Heavenly Venerate's body became smaller and thinner, as if he was using his own body to condense into Source Material, creating stone slabs. He also made some black stone-shaped markers and released them. They seemed to be the black stones on the Vitality Ship.

Not knowing how long it took, finally, his movements slowed down until the last stone slab condensed, but he could no longer carve any words.

He finally froze completely, motionless.

Translucent black crystals gathered and covered his body again.

This time, there was no change; the crystals grew thicker and thicker until they completely enclosed him.

Yu Hong watched him, seeing that until the end, his mouth corners were smiling, and his eyes were filled with hope.

Even though he couldn't see the other's face, figure, or any detailed features, he understood the reasons behind why Wuji Heavenly Venerate made so many stone slabs....

Open eyes.

Yu Hong looked again at the golden void ahead.

'So.... from the very beginning, there was no land of vitality at all...!'

He quietly squatted down, reached out, and suddenly grabbed from the void a black stone slab where Wuji Heavenly Venerate hadn't finished carving.

Marks remained on the slab.

All were lines of repeated writing.

'Vitality doesn't exist, but hope... cannot be abandoned... Abandoning it means losing everything...'

'Cannot be abandoned.... cannot.... cannot.... no....'

Putting down the slab, Yu Hong looked around.

Suddenly, he didn't know what he should do or what he could do.

With the slab, he returned to the Black Black Spirit.

Closing his eyes, everything in front of him flashed and shifted to a dark void.

Beneath his feet was the canoe representing the Vitality Ship, which stayed in place, no longer moving.

Inside the canoe, a semi-transparent black stone quietly laid, identical to the markers Wuji Heavenly Venerate had made in previous scenes....

Yu Hong gazed at that marker, reaching out and gently pinching it to take it out.

"The so-called land of vitality.... turns out it was all just a lie..."

"A lie...."

The Black Black Spirit remained here, motionless.

It lost the drive to continue forward; this was the final point confirmed by Wuji Heavenly Venerate.

But there was no land of vitality here; there was nothing here.

Yu Hong remained here, unmoving.

He didn't know where to go or what to do.

He just stayed here.

He tried to jump dimensions, but no matter how he jumped, it was still vast and empty, with nothing.

This was the end of all things....

But it only gave him an inexplicable feeling of loss.

His only hope now was the enhancement of the Black Mark, continuously enhancing until he could grasp the power to reverse and redeem everything....

This was his wish and his goal.

Time flowed continuously, and the countdown on the Outer Eye kept decreasing and shortening.

Finally, without realizing it, the enhancement time reached its end.

On top of the Black Black Spirit, Yu Hong, holding a guitar, was covered with a thin layer of purple light, quietly looking at the splendid golden outside.

His Holy Power now filled his entire body, finally allowing him to use all abilities of the Heavenly Venerate Realm.

Although his understanding of the abilities was still far from complete, his actual power was certainly much less than a true Heavenly Venerate, yet he had completely surpassed the Golden Immortal.

During the last stage of the journey, Yu Hong already doubted whether the land of vitality truly existed, and Wuji Heavenly Venerate's trace message only confirmed his inner suspicions.

Thus, his reaction was not as intense as it was at the Forgotten Belt.

He simply felt disappointed and lost, then accepted everything.

"There's no danger here, apart from a golden expanse, nothing else. Without the Great Annihilation, maybe staying here wouldn't be so bad...."

He murmured softly.

"What a pity...."

Turning around, he could already vaguely see a wall weaved from black and white threads, boundless, rapidly advancing toward here.

That was the Great Annihilation of the Wind Disaster.

Even if this was the core of the Source Disaster, they still were closing in.

This made Yu Hong realize that no matter where one hides, there's no avoiding the outcome of annihilation.

Estimating the approach time of the black-and-white wind wall, he withdrew his gaze, pried out the Outer Eye, and looked at the countdown: 1 minute.

The next second.

With a hiss, the Outer Eye blurred and vanished for a moment, then reappeared, no longer in the shape of an eyeball, but turning into a mass of black smoke.

An intangible message flowed into his mind.

'Outer Eye: also known as Eye of Origin, evolved from Eye of Time. Able to see the initial origin form of all things.'

'Since you obtained the Eye of Origin, you gained the talent: Space-Time Manipulation.'

'Space-Time Manipulation (by consuming power, you can significantly reverse or advance the time of the target material or energy.)'

'Tip: When advancing time, it is based only on the current causal relationship. The resulting outcome is just one of the countless possible futures, not the only one.'

'Since you obtained the Eye of Origin, you gained the talent: Origin Body.'

'Origin Body (Your body will gradually transform into Origin Elements, immune to all damage below Saint Position, with a 50% reduction in Saint Position damage.)'

'Since you obtained the Eye of Origin, you gained the Origin Realm.'

'Origin Realm (Heavenly Venerate united with all things, can unleash the highest power among all things to attack enemies at will, and beyond Heavenly Venerate, it is when everything is being born or has not yet been born, with no associations yet, and elements remain indistinct from one another. This realm is not limited by the number of attacks a Heavenly Venerate can perform.)'

After the information transmission was complete, Yu Hong frowned; he didn't find any capability explanation of the Origin Realm.

What abilities does it have? Could it simply be that removing the nine strikes of the Heavenly Venerate would render it powerless?

Letting go of the guitar, Yu Hong's figure flickered, returning to the Black Black Spirit, and heading to the Main Control Room.

His gaze swept across a row of metal figurines placed in a hidden compartment on the sidewall and he suddenly froze.

His sight re-focused on each of the figurines.

"Ku Chan, Quan He, Senior Feng Xuezi, Senior Fu Bai... and, Yiyi...."

The features of each figurine were lifelike, with corresponding names engraved on different parts of the body.

No forgetting, no blurring.

All the people, he remembered them!

Yu Hong paused abruptly, staring at the figurines in a daze.

Suddenly, a gentle smile appeared on his face.

Reaching out his hand, he gently rearranged the figurines, using a bit of Holy Power to protect them.

Turning his head, he walked again to the window of the Main Control Room.

"I knew it, the Black Mark wouldn't disappoint me.... Since there is no land of vitality... then...."

"I will create one myself!!"

His expression was firm, closing his eyes as memories from the very beginning to the present quickly raced through his mind.

No blurring, no forgetting, everything returned.

This Origin Realm forcibly immunized against the forgetting brought by the Great Annihilation, using its own method to replicate corresponding traces, leaving them around itself.

Yu Hong was very clear this was only a replication, not a restoration; the essence of restoration must be restoring the annihilated objects themselves.

And now, since the Great Annihilation was still present, it could only be a replication.

Just due to the high rank of the Realm, it immunized against the impact of forgetting.

Removing the Outer Eye again, Yu Hong further added a strand of hair, once more initiating enhancement.

'Enhance the Outer Eye, direction: all-round extreme enhancement.'

A black line flowed out from the Black Mark, streaming swiftly into the Outer Eye, a countdown appeared: April 11, 67, at 9:56.

After confirming the inquiry from the Black Mark, Yu Hong returned it into the eye socket, blinking a few times.

Suddenly, his expression subtly shifted; just as he was preparing to plan and create a land of vitality, he unexpectedly saw something from the front visual field of the Eye of Origin.

Ahead was the circular window of the Black Black Spirit.

Outside the window, in a gold expanse, a faintly discernible transparent pale white vortex could be seen, slowly and expansively rotating clockwise.

Yu Hong blinked, confirming he wasn't seeing things.

There was indeed a large pale white vortex, slowly rotating in the golden ocean.

This vortex was about tens of times larger than the Black Black Spirit, with its form switching occasionally between circular, oval, triangular, and square shapes.

It was constantly changing.

"Could it be.... this isn't the end of the Source Disaster, the real end lies elsewhere!?"

Suddenly, an idea flashed through Yu Hong's mind.

As soon as this thought appeared, it made him shiver slightly as if electrified.

"If this is true.... perhaps, there is still hope!!"

Without hesitation, he stood in the Main Control Room, a purple halo emanated from him, belonging to the Holy Power of the Origin Realm, swiftly enveloping the entire Black Black Spirit and the Aus Spaceship behind.

Then, together, they charged directly toward the transparent pale white vortex.

But this charge only passed through the center of the vortex, as if merely passing through a phantom.

Yu Hong stopped the Black Black Spirit, pondered for a moment.

'Could it be, this vortex doesn't exist now, but was present once, or will be present in the future as an entry or exit point?'

He sensed his consciousness was naturally erupting some special intuitions after the strengthening results of the Outer Eye.

Just like right now, he would never have had such thoughts in the past.

But now, he felt it was a matter of course.

After pausing, Yu Hong slowly raised his right hand, aiming at the vortex.

'Space-Time Manipulation!'

Buzz!

A transparent pale golden beam shot out from his palm, passing through the window, landing at the center of the vortex.

Hiss...

The time of the vortex began reversing rapidly.

With the consumption of Holy Power, the ability of space-time manipulation constantly fed back the specific time of reversal to Yu Hong.

One minute later, the region of the vortex reversed ten years in time.

Five minutes later. This region reversed a hundred years.

Ten minutes later... reversed six hundred years.

The time reversal sped up, seemingly accelerating, and the transparency of the vortex began gradually reducing, turning more solid.

As Yu Hong's Holy Power consumed about a third.

The time of the vortex region reversed to seven thousand six hundred and nineteen years ago.

Finally....

After a slight sound.

The faint white vortex completely solidified, re-manifested, suspended in the center of this golden ocean.

Yu Hong breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the sustaining strength of his Holy Power around the vortex.

Ensuring no signs of collapse, he carefully examined the vortex itself.

"A vortex opened seventy-six hundred years ago... unfortunately, Wuji Heavenly Venerate doesn't possess eyes to see through past and future, so even if he can manipulate time, he doesn't know how to locate...."

Without any hesitation, Yu Hong drove the Black Black Spirit headlong toward the vortex.