Chapter 183: The End Comes, a Glimmer of Hope
The throbbing excitement of creating new life and the sense of power and fullness brought about by the successful opening of the "Samsara Star Universe" have not yet completely settled and been carefully comprehended in Ye Li and Qin Yixuan's hearts. The will that originated from the deepest and darkest part of the starry sea and erupted due to being forcibly disturbed, mixed with extreme rage and cold murderous intent, has already swept in like a destructive tide on the scale of the universe, surpassing the speed of light, ignoring the barriers of space, and with a terrifying power to annihilate everything!
Before the two of them could even communicate with each other through their spiritual consciousness, they simultaneously felt that the vast and cold deep space around them was rapidly and irreversibly "darkening" in a way that violated all known physical laws and common sense.
This wasn't simply a matter of light attenuation or obstruction in the ordinary sense, but a far more fundamental and terrifying phenomenon: the very concept of "existence," encompassing matter, energy, information, and even the very meaning of existence, was being forcibly suppressed, stripped away, and diluted by an invisible, brutal force! In the distance, those unfamiliar stars, which had once shone steadily for eons like eternal beacons in the dark void, now shimmered like feeble candles exposed to a raging storm, beginning to flicker violently and painfully, as if emitting a silent wail. Then, a heart-wrenching scene unfolded: one by one, without warning, these stars, large and small, near and far, completely extinguished! It wasn't an explosion, not a collapse, but rather a gentle wiping away of the cosmic canvas, like a eraser, leaving behind not even a ripple of their former existence, leaving behind only a deeper, emptier, and more despairing darkness. It was as if there was an invisible and intangible yet omnipresent giant hand originating from the "nothingness" itself, systematically erasing all traces of "existence" in this star field in a cold and efficient manner.
The bone-chilling silence was accompanied by a terrifying sense of oppression from the absolute crushing of the life level that was enough to make any sane creature collapse instantly. It was like countless invisible towering mountains condensed from absolute zero ice, appearing out of thin air from the void in all directions, carrying the power to crush the stars and freeze time and space, and crushing towards the "Overwatch Alliance" vanguard army that had just barely assembled and was still unstable!
This vanguard was the most elite force ever dispatched by the Temporary Spiritual Council, who had spared no expense, through the several unstable stargates hastily constructed during Ye Li and Qin Yixuan's breakthrough in the Starry Sea. They included the strongest remaining knights of the Holy Tribunal, the most steadfast ascetics of the Temple; the elite demon generals and their direct demonic forces within the Demonic Abyss who had retained their sanity and were willing to fight for their lives; the "Starlight Envoys" of the Nine Heavens Palace; the core "Shadow Guards" and "Inspectors" of the Nether Pavilion; and the most powerful elders and true disciples of the Xuanyun Sect and its affiliated factions. They represented the sharpest spears and strongest shields the Spiritual Realm could currently offer.
Yet, at this moment, this army, assembling the spirit world's top combatants, gathered behind the faint but tenacious ring of chaotic starlight emanating from the "Samsara Universe," resisting the encroaching darkness, forming a seemingly solid battle formation. But looking around, countless monks, knights, and monsters, no matter how proud and fearless they had been before, now all had faces as pale as paper, their teeth clenched, their bodies trembling uncontrollably, and their fingers gripping divine weapons or life-defining magic treasures, their joints white from excessive force. Even the battle-hardened ascetics of the Temple, indifferent to life and death, and the demon generals of the Demonic Abyss who delighted in chaos and destruction, felt the most primal and pure fear, rooted in the very code of life! Before a grand will that transcended the individual, transcended civilization, and even surpassed the world's understanding, their once-proud cultivation, unwavering faith, and ferocious demonic might were reduced to a dwarfed, insignificant speck of dust in a vast sea of sand, vulnerable to annihilation at any moment. A suffocating silence fell over the starry void, its only audible echo being the uncontrollable, heavy, suppressed breathing and the frantic pounding of their hearts against their chests, a mournful prelude to despair.
At this critical point of utter oppression and darkness, on the verge of swallowing everything, the densest region of absolute darkness deep within the starry sea, so dense that it seemed even darkness itself would be swallowed by it, began to violently wriggle, seethe, and condense! An outline, so vast it could not be accurately described in any language or form, surpassing even the limits of vision and perception, emerged from the ultimate darkness slowly but with irresistible inevitability, as if struggling out of the deepest nightmare.
It is not a fixed, understandable form. It seemed a grotesque creation forcibly blended from pure contradictions and oppositions, constantly twisting and shifting in a dizzying manner. Sometimes it extended countless wriggling tentacles of chaos, condensed from broken laws and resentment, like a dying nebula's final spasms. Sometimes it collapsed and condensed into a hideous and terrifying behemoth constructed from the wreckage of countless extinguished stars and the desperate wails of billions of lives, its maw open as if it could devour the galaxy. Sometimes it twisted and deformed, transforming into a blasphemous "angel of light" emitting an ominous and corrupted glow. Its wings were a woven of solidified darkness and twisted holy light. Its face was blurred, yet it exuded a cold "mercy" that made the soul shudder... Light and darkness, order and chaos, creation and destruction, these supposedly opposing concepts, frantically intertwined, collided, and annihilated in it, yet strangely achieved a sickening, twisted, and blasphemous sense of "harmony" and "balance." Just in the process of "manifestation" of its existence, large areas of void in its core area collapsed and decomposed silently like fragile glass, and finally turned into an absolute "nothingness" zone that even the concept of "nothingness" is difficult to describe!
This is the manifestation of the "Lord of Annihilation" in this star region! It is the ultimate form presented by the distorted will of the God of Light combined with the devouring instinct of "Nothingness", enough to make all realms tremble!
He did not launch a devastating attack the instant he manifested. At the center of that vast, ever-shifting form, a tangle of light and darkness, countless cold, indifferent, emotionless eyes, gazing upon everything like the abyss, slowly "opened" simultaneously. These invisible gazes, like the most precise and icy scanners, indifferently swept over the vast Alliance army below, which, in his eyes, gathered like dust particles, passing over the ants trembling in fear. Finally, this gaze, heavy as stardust, cold as absolute zero, passed through countless lives, piercing the void. Like the strongest shackles, it locked itself firmly and precisely upon Ye Li and Qin Yixuan, who stood like two indestructible reefs at the forefront of the "Samsara Universe," radiating a vibrant energy that stood in stark contrast to the surrounding dead silence.
Then, a low, hoarse whisper, as if forcibly blended and distorted from the final sighs of billions of universes heading for heat death, the final wails of countless civilizations, and the desperate murmurs of all souls trapped in eternal darkness, disregarded all physical distance, energy barriers, and even spiritual defenses. It resounded directly and brutally in the deepest souls of every living being present, reverberating in every corner of their consciousness:
"Foolish struggles... pathetic... remnants of existence..." The whispers, like cold venomous snakes, coiled around the soul. "You have gathered here, burning this insignificant flame of life... for what? To... witness together... your own predestined... end?"
This whisper itself contained an extremely powerful force of spiritual contamination and corrosive law, directly affecting the very essence of consciousness! Countless coalition soldiers, even those with profound cultivation, could not help but clutch their heads, letting out suppressed roars of pain. Their eyes uncontrollably flashed with the most terrifying visions: the spiritual world they relied on for survival crumbling before their eyes, turning into cosmic dust; loved ones and friends turned to ash amidst silent screams, leaving not even a trace; they themselves fell into a boundless, absolute nothingness where even time lost its meaning, enduring eternal loneliness and cold torture... Negative emotions of panic, despair, and self-doubt, like the most deadly plague, spread and grew wildly within the tight battle formation at an unprecedented rate! The once relatively strict formation began to show visible turmoil and disorder, and morale plummeted like an avalanche.
"Give up... Surrender to... the inevitable destination... Embrace this ultimate nothingness..." The whisper continued, like a hypnotic magic sound, trying to break the last shred of resistance. "That is... the ultimate liberation... the only... 'perfection' after chaos and pain... Pointless resistance... will only futilely prolong... the pain... brought about by your flawed... existence..."
At this moment, the direction of the whisper suddenly became extremely clear. The thought, which contained endless temptation and cold insight, was like a precisely guided arrow, focusing on Ye Li, with a kind of understanding that seemed to have already seen through all her struggles, all her pursuits, and all her secret desires in past and present lives:
"Especially you... the one who holds... the power of the cycle... the reincarnation... Li Zun, or should I call you... Ye Li?"
The tone of the whisper became unusually clear, and each word seemed to carry a thousand-pound weight, striking at Ye Li's defenses.
"You travel between life and death, peering into the past and future, pursuing the ultimate truth of reincarnation... You yearn to transcend this seemingly endless cycle, to reach... eternal freedom. But have you ever truly seen clearly? You appear to control reincarnation, but in reality... you are also bound by it. This so-called universe of 'existence' is nothing but an eternal prison... constructed by endless cycles of pain, betrayal, loss, and... futility!"
The allure of the whisper suddenly reached its peak, as if it had transformed into the confidant who understood her best, painting a twisted yet alluring picture:
"Join me...abandon this old world filled with flaws and pain...With me, take control of this...final, pure 'reincarnation'—return all noise, strife, pain, and imperfection...to eternal silence! Together, we will reshape...a new universe...without sorrow, without betrayal, without birth, old age, sickness, and death, without any 'impurities' or 'imperfections', absolutely balanced, absolutely pure!"
"There... you, Ye Li, will be the only... 'Lord of Reincarnation'! Controlling the end of all things, and... the eternal beginning after returning to death! This is... the path of reincarnation... the final and only... supreme destination! It is the great freedom and transcendence that transcends all false appearances!"
This promise not only tapped into Ye Li's deepest desire to transcend reincarnation and control her fate, but also offered a brilliantly clever and dangerous twisted identification and ultimate temptation with the very avenue of reincarnation she wielded! Becoming the "Lord of Reincarnation" of a brand-new, pure, eternal universe, ruling over the ultimate, lifeless order... For any cultivator striving for the pinnacle of power and the pursuit of the ultimate avenue, this allure was like placing a cup of alluring, yet poisonous, sweet spring water before a dying person in the desert!
In an instant, the entire battlefield, from the Alliance troops bracing in front to the spiritual beings struggling to maintain observation through magic in the rear, all minds and gazes were involuntarily and nervously focused on the figure in black robes and black hair, standing before the shimmering light. A near-tangible tension and worry permeated the coalition forces, along with a deep, unconcealed fear. What if… what if even the Samsara Sanctuary, considered the last hope, faltered under this temptation that reached its core? Then, what was the point of all their struggles and sacrifices? A dark cloud of despair threatened to completely devour the tiny glimmer of hope that had just been ignited.
Qin Yixuan sensed the momentary pause of the person beside her (however brief), and without hesitation, she gripped Ye Li's hand even tighter. The warm and resolute divine power of the stars, like the purest current of warmth, flowed endlessly across. She turned her head, her star-like, bright, and resolute eyes gazing deeply into Ye Li's. There was not a trace of doubt in her gaze, only complete trust, support, and a silent vow: "Whatever you choose, I will be with you."
In this fateful moment, with countless eyes focused and soul-searching questions descending upon her, Ye Li slowly and resolutely raised her head. Her gaze, like a sword tempered by the icy cold of eternity, was clear, cold, and piercing. Without a trace of confusion, hesitation, or persuasion, she met the ever-changing "Lord of Annihilation," emanating the ultimate oppression and temptation. The corners of her mouth even curled up in a faint arc, yet imbued with endless mockery and contempt.
"A new universe? ...The Lord of Samsara?" Her voice was soft at first, as if she were mumbling to herself, but each syllable carried a resolute, unquestionable force, clearly piercing the suffocating whispers, echoing in the deadly silence of the starry sea, and like a hammer hammering on the shattered hearts of every living being. "A... a so-called 'universe' where there is only eternal silence, without the throbbing of life, without the flow of emotion, without the sprout of hope, where even the concept of 'existence' itself has lost its meaning?"
Her voice suddenly rose, carrying a righteous aura that seemed to be able to tear the void apart:
"It's just... an enlarged, cold, lifeless... tomb on a cosmic scale!"
Before she finished her words, she suddenly took a step forward! With this seemingly simple step, the "Reincarnation Universe" surrounding her, which had previously only gently resisted the darkness, seemed to be infused with infinite vitality and will, and its light suddenly became blazing! The magnificent scene within it, the birth and death of stars, the cycle of all things, and the constant birth of new life in destruction, was revealed with unprecedented clarity and vitality. It formed the most stark and extreme opposition and contrast in the universe with the absolute silence and nothingness brought by the "Lord of Nirvana" that attempted to devour everything!
"The reincarnation I pursue..." Ye Li's voice was like a declaration uttered by the vast sea of stars, carrying the power to cleanse the soul. "It is the flame of life... the eternal flame that reignites again and again in the ashes! It is the light of civilization... the inheritance and relay that transcends the barriers of time and space! It is the hope of a new life that is tenaciously nurtured in the face of devastation, a brighter hope! It is all 'existences' in this vast universe... no matter how powerful or insignificant, struggling hard and blooming to their heart's content, even if their existence is as fleeting as a shooting star... they must leave their own unique mark... of magnificence and dignity in this endless darkness!"
Her gaze was like the most blazing flame, burning away all vanity:
"Rather than... the cold, numb, executioner's behavior that completely annihilates all vitality and meaning..."
"The 'perfection' you promised..." she spoke each word with utter contempt, "To me... is the greatest, most tragic... incompleteness in this world! Your 'temptation'... only makes me... feel... incomparably... sick!"
Every word resonated like thunder, every sentence sounded like divine decree! This uncompromising, powerful refusal, this unwavering defense of the essence of the great path he held, this heartfelt eulogy for the very meaning of existence, was like a torch of hope suddenly ignited at the bottom of an endless, icy, dark abyss. Though seemingly faint, it shone with an incomparably dazzling, resilient flame, imbued with boundless vitality and unyielding will!
This fire may not be able to immediately dispel the ultimate darkness that shrouds the sea of stars, but its stubborn lighting and steadfast existence declare that the will to resist has not been extinguished and the dignity of life cannot be trampled upon!
The glimmer of hope, at this moment, before the darkness that symbolizes the absolute end falls completely, under the gaze of billions of lives, blooms proudly!
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