Chapter 654
Disorientation
Su Chen stood before the towering, wordless tombstone, his expression serene.
He gazed upon the vast graveyard before him, composed of countless remnants of gods and demons, and upon the pairs of eerie blue eyes that slowly glowed in the darkness, filled with deathly stillness and resentment, and calmly replied:
“I do not do this to disturb you, but to grant you… true rest.”
"I have Chen's memories."
“I know clearly that your [Tomb] is the most unique among the Ten Forbidden Beasts…”
"You also long for peaceful sleep, don't you?"
His voice contained no trace of murderous intent; instead, it carried a strange gentleness and compassion.
"True...rest?"
Those billions of overlapping wills let out a mocking and sorrowful laugh.
"You living, do you know what rest is?"
"We are all losers of the old era, lonely souls forgotten by time. This graveyard, and indeed the entire world, is an eternal prison bestowed upon us by the 'Way of Heaven'!"
"I cannot wait for rebirth, nor for reincarnation; I can only endure eternal torment in this endless silence! You, an intruder brimming with life, dare to speak of the word 'rest'?"
With this resentful question, the entire Tomb of God came to life!
Boom boom boom——!!!!
Those enormous ancient god skeletons, as large as stars, slowly rose from their slumber!
Within their empty eye sockets burn will-o'-the-wisps powerful enough to freeze the soul!
They brandished their broken, yet still imbued with immortal divinity, bone arms, unleashing death storms powerful enough to tear apart the stars!
In the void, countless vengeful spirits with hideous appearances and different shapes swept towards Su Chen from all directions like a black tide bursting its banks, shrieking and roaring!
Every vengeful spirit was once a powerful figure who dominated a region. What they carry is the most extreme despair, resentment, and pain before their death!
This torrent, composed of pure negative emotions and the laws of death, is enough to cause any fourth-realm expert to lose their Dao heart and be instantly assimilated into this graveyard!
In the center of this endless army of the dead, the wordless tombstone exuded a terrifying aura that suppressed all ages and brought everything to a state of "stillness"!
Under the influence of this aura, Su Chen felt that the vitality within his body, his thoughts, and even the operation of his Great Dao were being forcibly "slowed down" and "frozen" by an irresistible force!
This is the way of the tomb!
He will not fight with you, nor will He kill you.
He simply wants to bury you, along with everything you have, in this eternal silence!
However, even in the face of this terrifying scene that could change the very fabric of the world, Su Chen's face remained calm.
He simply watched the endless, overwhelming army of the dead, and slowly shook his head.
“I feel your pain.”
"I understand your resentment."
"But... your era has long since ended. Dwelling on the decaying past will only trap you deeper and deeper in an eternal prison."
After he finished speaking, he fell silent.
He slowly raised his right hand and made a sword-finger gesture.
He didn't look at the hideous vengeful spirits, nor did he pay attention to the powerful ancient god skeletons.
His gaze remained fixed on the wordless tombstone that served as the core of everything.
He knew that the millions of dead before him were merely extensions of the will of the "tomb," manifestations of His suffering.
As long as their core, "unending resentment," remains, these deceased will be eternally bound to this place, unable to find release.
Therefore, what he wanted to kill was not these pitiful dead souls.
What he wants to cut is the shackles that bind them, the shackles called "resentment"!
[Heaven-Slaying Sword]!
A pure, jet-black sword intent, representing "absolute termination," condensed at his fingertips.
He gently traced the blank tombstone.
No sound.
There is no light.
Time seemed to have been paused at that moment.
The billions of roaring, charging vengeful spirits suddenly froze in mid-air!
The ferocious, pained expressions on their faces slowly faded, replaced by an unprecedented... bewilderment and relief.
Those towering ancient god skeletons also stopped waving their bony arms, and the eerie blue flames that had burned for countless eons in their eye sockets gradually went out.
The wordless tombstone that suppressed everything and brought all things to a standstill, and the terrifying aura on it that could suffocate even those in the fourth realm, vanished in an instant.
A thin, dark crack slowly spread downwards from the top of the tombstone.
"What's this……"
For the first time, the voice formed from the collective will of billions of the dead showed confusion.
He could sense that the two contradictory yet unified fundamental obsessions that sustained his existence—the "longing for life" and the "unwillingness to die"—were being forcibly severed by a more supreme and absolute force!
“It’s… the end…”
"It is... the true... 'end' that we... have searched for through countless eras, yet have not found..."
The grand voice gradually faded, the resentment and pain within it rapidly dissipating, until finally, only a sigh remained, filled with endless weariness and relief...
Click...
As that sigh fell, the wordless tombstone, symbolizing an "eternal prison," shattered completely.
It transformed into countless points of light across the sky.
At this moment, the billions of vengeful spirits and skeletons bound here slowly and deeply bowed in Su Chen's direction.
It was a silent gratitude that came from the deepest part of the soul.
Then, their figures, like ice and snow illuminated by the sun, gradually melted away in this desolate cosmic graveyard.
They were finally freed.
……
……
As the wordless tombstone shattered, a primordial power, even more vast and pure than "Kui" and "Wu" combined, filled with the Daoist rhymes of "End" and "Peace," surged wildly into Su Chen's body like a bursting dam!
Su Chen sat cross-legged and immediately began circulating the 'Taiyi Dao', fully absorbing and refining this immense power. His late-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal realm rapidly stabilized and improved under the influence of this primordial energy! His understanding of the Great Dao also reached a completely new level in that instant!
If "Kui" helped him understand the domineering nature of "devouring," then "Wu" helped him understand the compassion of "withering."
So, the "grave" allowed him to touch upon... the essence of "end".
However, just as he was about to completely integrate this primordial power into his own Dao Fruit!
A sudden change occurs!
boom--! ! ! !
An indescribable, vast, ancient, chaotic and contradictory torrent of memories, like a burst dam in the universe, rushed into his sea of consciousness without warning!
That is the entirety of the memories of the three forbidden ancient beings, "Kui," "Wu," and "Mu," spanning thousands, even tens of thousands of epochs, from the very beginning of the universe until now!
At this moment, Su Chen's sea of consciousness seemed to be about to be completely burst!
His consciousness, like a small boat in a raging storm, was instantly overwhelmed by the terrifying torrent of memories!
“Hungry… so hungry…”
In an instant, Su Chen's pupils turned pitch black, filled with the most primal, all-consuming hunger and savagery!
He felt as if he had transformed into an ancient, formless beast with only an insatiable appetite! Only one thought remained in his mind—devour! Devour everything before him!
He has become [Kui]!
However, after a moment, a look of struggle appeared in Su Chen's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.
"not good……"
"This beast has devoured three forbidden beasts, and the memories accumulated over countless years in their minds are becoming too much for me to handle..."
"Damn..."
Su Chen formed hand seals and used his abilities to quickly erase the long memories belonging to Kui from his mind.
However, this is only the beginning.
Kui's memories had just been suppressed.
"Everything...will eventually...wither away..."
But just a moment later, the violent aura on his body vanished instantly, replaced by a decaying aura that seemed to have seen through eternity, filled with endless loneliness and sorrow.
He seemed to have transformed into a world tree that had lived for countless eons, quietly watching the universe before him, from prosperity to decay.
He has become [Wu] again!
"Silence... everything... should... be still..."
Then, he transformed into the collective of billions of the dead, his heart filled with loathing for life and longing for death, wanting only for the whole world to fall into eternal rest.
He became a tomb!
Three distinct yet equally powerful ancient wills were clashing, tearing, and vying for control of his body within his sea of consciousness!
As for Su Chen's own share of memories and personality, which belonged to "Su Chen" and amounted to no more than ten thousand years, it seemed so small and so... insignificant in the face of these three ancient wills that spanned countless eras!
His self-perception began to show serious... errors!
who am I?
Am I Su Chen?
No…who is Su Chen? Why was that memory so brief, so…fragile?
Am I... the leader? Or the weeds? Or the tomb?
Or perhaps... I am all of them?
Su Chen's eyes became incredibly confused and empty.
His aura was also switching wildly between three completely different fundamental Daos, sometimes violent, sometimes compassionate, and sometimes deathly still, as if he would completely collapse at any moment due to this intense conflict!
These forbidden ancient beings have lived through countless eons; their lives are deeply intertwined with the history of this universe. Their memories are not merely memories, but imprints of the "Tao"!
Compared to this, Su Chen's life was but a drop in the ocean.
Although his soul was incredibly resilient because of the "way of the true self," his "personality" and "experience" could not bear such a vast and heavy "history"!
This is the greatest danger of devouring forbidden ancient life!
You have absorbed their power, and you must also... bear their "past"!
"No...I...am...me!"
Just as Su Chen's self-awareness was about to be completely submerged and lost by those three torrents, at the critical moment!
Deep within his Dao fruit, the illusory wheel of the 'Path of the True Self,' which symbolizes the foundation of everything he has, suddenly burst forth with dazzling light!
"I am my own god!"
"I am my own path!"
"I am my own history!"
"You are all external things! All resources! How dare you... encroach upon your true self?!"
A roar originating from the deepest part of his soul exploded in his mind!
The core of the "Way of the True Self" is the absolute supremacy of the "self"!
No matter how the outside world changes, no matter what memories it carries, the "true self" is always the only, eternal, and unquestionable core!
Under this absolute "self" of will, Su Chen's dissipating consciousness seemed to have found its backbone and instantly re-condensed!
"town!"
Su Chen's will transformed into a towering, divine being, sitting cross-legged in the center of his sea of consciousness.
The chaos and data wheel behind him spun wildly, forcibly pulling the three rampaging ancient wills into it!
Analysis! Decomposition! Recombination!
He no longer tried to "understand" those three memories, but instead, in the most ruthless and domineering way, completely stripped away and shattered the "personality" and "emotions" contained within them!
He only wants the purest "enlightenment of the Great Dao" and "cosmic information"!
This is an extremely painful and dangerous process, like forcibly scraping the bone from one's own soul to remove poison!
I don’t know how much time has passed.
When the tomb of the gods returns to its eternal stillness.
Su Chen, who was sitting cross-legged, finally opened his eyes slowly.
His eyes had regained their clarity, but beneath that clarity lay an undisguised deep weariness and... lingering fear.
Just now, he almost completely lost his way.
Although he successfully suppressed the three wills, he was unable to completely "digest" them.
They were like three time bombs, lurking deep within his consciousness, ready to explode at any moment.
"call……"
Su Chen let out a long breath.
He slowly stood up, feeling the power within his body, which was several times stronger than before, but also somewhat mixed and impure, and his brows furrowed tightly.
He knew that his previous plan had a fatal flaw.
"If this continues, there will likely be big trouble."
He murmured quietly.
Next time, he may not be so lucky to be able to stabilize his "true self" in time.
Once he devours more forbidden ancient life forms than a certain threshold, the massive torrent of memories will likely instantly shatter his "self," turning him into a monster pieced together from countless ancient wills, devoid of self and left only with instincts...
"We must find a way to thoroughly purify the 'impurities' contained within the source—that is, those complex memories and emotions—before devouring it." (End of Chapter)