In the primeval era, there had once been a mighty cultivator who, in a dream, had transformed into a butterfly, dancing and flying among the flora. Upon waking up from that dream, confusion had taken over.

What is real, and what is actually a dream?

Was the butterfly my transformation, or is it that I am the transformation of a butterfly?

Such was the questioning of existence.

Many years ago in the Omega Secret-Realm, Lin Xun had, during the Great Azure Cloud Path’s ninth trial called Self Realization, he experienced a reincarnation in another identity.

The reincarnation had lasted over twenty years.

During that meditating period of intimate experience, he had explored truth and falsehood, gained insight into the imaginary, and seen himself for who he truly was.

As the saying went, ‘When falsehood seems real, real things seem false. When nothing has a place, it’s still nothing!’

In order to cultivate oneself, one needed to understand exactly the kind of person one was.

Xi had once said,

“…A karmic tribulation of the Saint stage called ‘knock at the heart and ask for the truth,’ and its question is directed at one’s dao mind. Nothing is more perilous than this ordeal of the truth and falsehood in the great dao. Once you fail to break through this tribulation, your entire cultivation will become illusory and dissipate into nothingness!”

[1]

Then, she had asked him,

“What did you finally realize?”

To which Lin Xun had replied,

“That I am real.”

What had happened then had happened again here. After getting trapped in this volitional world, Lin Xun had poked through the illusions and gained insight into what was real and what was not. As such, he had ultimately protected the stability of his mind and will, resolving the disaster!

“But your state of mind is still under suppression and influence. When you can actually walk out of my volitional world is, perhaps, when you are able to defeat me,” rang the cauldron’s voice a long time later.

It was still devoid of any emotional fluctuations, but the content implied that it had recognized Lin Xun as a worthy opponent.

“I will,” said Lin Xun calmly.

As the cogs in his brain turned, he swiftly transformed into a furnace whose aura seemed to embrace all dao paths and have the might to dominate everything.

This was a transformation of his mindset and willpower!

Rumble~

He merged all of his cultivation and dao into the furnace the next second, and the latter rotated and emitted exploding noises, reflecting countless grand phenomena.

There was a true dragon roaring as it soared up, water and fire blending, the cycle of Tai Chi, the derivation of immortality… There was raging lightning and thunder, stars dying, the life cycles of all things, the changes under heavens …

The big furnace encompassed the almighty dao and derived thousands of arts!

In the empty, borderless volitional world, the images of mountains and rivers, of the sun, moon, and stars, of the seasons and the changes appeared…

“Creating something out of nothing! How could you… How could a supreme quasi-Emperor possibly touch this level?” rang the cauldron’s voice with a rare hint of emotion to it. It sounded shocked and incredulous.

No one knew better than it what a taboo ability ‘creating something out of nothing’ was, for it involved a supreme dao level.

The current situation was that Lin Xun's mind power had peered into a hint of this level’s fundamental principle, then applied this to interpret the miracle of ‘creating something out of nothing’ in its volitional world. This was inconceivable to say the least.

In fact, the cauldron will force was not the only one.

When Lin Xun had learned a principal hint of ‘creating something from nothing’ from the eighth trial of the Great Azure Cloud Path, Xi had also been appalled.

Similarly, that year in front of the Ten Thousand Tribulation Palace in the Mulberry Woodland, the golden cicada had also been shocked by Lin Xun's realization of a mystery of ‘creating something out of nothing.’

At this moment, the Great Dao Furnace coalesced from Lin Xun’s mind and will, by creating the scenery of the sun, the moon, the mountains, the rivers, and the rotation of the seasons in this volitional world, had already faintly portrayed the essence of ‘creating something out of nothing.’

Of course, they were only built by the power of his mind and will, but to be able to do this was already history-shaking!

Ignoring the cauldron’s surprised yelp, Lin Xun was in an unprecedentedly focused state as he manifested his entire dao through the furnace.

The mind roamed free in all directions, the spirit flew high tens of thousands of miles!

Rumble!

Dao light roared in vaporizing radiance.

As the furnace operated more and more rapidly, the exploding noises coming from it gradually became low and heavy…

Until later, not a single sound could be heard anymore.

However, its power only grew more and more horrifying. Each rotation easily shredded the energy filling the one-hundred-thousand-mile radius of the volitional world, forming a vacuum around Lin Xun.

It looked as though he was the supreme Creator of this zone of voidness, who was using the furnace of his willpower to construct and deduce every metaphysical change.

The furnace imparted creation, and all things grew wild!

Gradually, the silently rotating furnace became more and more ethereal and translucent, reaching an extreme where every rotation displayed a profound theory being birthed and developed. It was utterly radiant and miraculous.

When this silent, heavy, and brilliant furnace power reached the limit, the speed of its rotation also became slower and slower to the point it resembled that of an ant dragging a range of mountains.

This went on until the furnace transformed from Lin Xun's body and mind suddenly stopped.

It was also at this instant that a pressure of immeasurable horror came crashing in from all sides of the volitional world.

This was an attack from the cauldron will force. It had sensed a serious threat from Lin Xun’s performance and, for the first time, it had decided to take the initiative to attack!

Just as the overwhelming pressure arrived from all around, Lin Xun in the form of the stationary furnace suddenly trembled.

Boom!

There was an earth-shattering sound, like the first thunder at the beginning of primordial chaos.

Following it, the entire volitional world exploded.

“You…” the cauldron was finally revealed again, still with three feet, two handles, and suffused with bronze chaos qi. However, it seemed terrified at this moment.

Never in its dreams had it thought someone would be able to break its own volitional world, and that person was only a supreme quasi-Emperor at that!

“As I said, the ninth floor is waiting for me,” resounded Lin Xun's voice.

Accompanying his voice was the emergence of a furnace whose divinity contained all daos in existence. However, it immediately turned into a huge abyss that glided toward the cauldron with a devouring momentum.

Its aura was immeasurable, and its depth was unfathomable!

“NOO...!” The cauldron finally lost its composure with an angry shout. The majestic, heaven-dominating might it had exuded had vanished.

In an instant, the abyss blanketed down like eternal night, swallowing the cauldron will force along with the surrounding area.

Kaboom!

The Dao Forbidden Tract welcomed an unprecedented turmoil. In this blood-colored world, a huge abyss was spinning, producing a terrifying might that engulfed the nine layers of the sky and ten layers of the earth.

“Huh!” The gray-robed man froze in place, gawking in shock at the unspeakably horrible aura that was sweeping through the distant force field and spreading in all directions.

Wherever it passed, the stars crumbled, the soil sank, and the whole world seemed to be crumpled up, overturned, and destroyed!

It was as though a gigantic hand was viciously kneading the Dao Forbidden Tract, leaving no corner intact.

The gray-robed man's heart lurched.

However, before he could react, the scarlet force field that had taken root in the eighth floor of this Dark Hidden Purgatory for countless moons fractured and collapsed!

Rumble! Rumble!

An unparalleled turbulence swept outward, quaking the whole heaven and earth of the eighth floor.

Bang!

Despite having run his cultivation for defense, the gray-robed man was still shaken by the destructive energy wave. He stumbled and fell back a dozen steps before stabilizing himself, while his expression had become that of immense gravity and astonishment.

The Dao Forbidden Tract…was actually destroyed?

And it’s likely the work of that young man called Lin Xun?

An indescribable shock welled up inside the gray-robed man. His heart stirred with emotions.

He could still clearly remember the huge cauldron will force who had acted like the master of the Dao Forbidden Tract. No one had been able to defeat it in these countless years.

That included the Lord of Copper Sparrow House, who had also passed through the tract by receiving its recognition and permission.

Now…not to mention that cauldron, even the whole Dao Forbidden Tract had been wrecked!

At the thought of this, the gray-robed man was in a trance. At first, he had doubted Lin Xun's ability and advised him to leave out of worry.

Later, Lin Xun had consistently shown his strength, which had conquered him and left him astonished and incredulous.

Now, the gray-robed man only felt one thing: dumbfounded!

All of his worldviews had been toppled, all his predictions had been shattered, and both his mind and body had suffered an unprecedented impact!

This caused him to quiver uncontrollably.

It was indeed too incredible, almost like a never-before-seen legend had just been born right before his eyes!

A long time later, the destructive atmosphere in the Dao Forbidden Tract finally subsided until there was not a trace left. The ground within a ten-thousand-mile radius around it had been filled with cracks and ravines.

Upon closer inspection, there were smoke puffs of destructive aura whirling up from those ghastly ravines, strong enough to make one’s heart palpitate.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

In the center of the Dao Forbidden Tract, Lin Xun stood alone, motionless like a clay statue. Although he did not utter a sound, he was like a godly mountain that had stood firm forever, giving off the impression of being unshakable.

“Lin Xun, are you alright?” asked the gray-robed man.

There was no answer.

Frowning, the gray-robed man sent out a strand of spirit sense to investigate, but it was blocked by an invisible force of will before it could come into contact with Lin Xun.

Furthermore, if the gray-robed man had been a little bit slower in retracting it, then his strand of spirit sense would have been directly smashed to bits!

This caused his heart to jump again. He was scared out of acting without a second thought…

If other people knew such a feeling had appeared in an old fossil like him, then the embarrassment would kill him.

However, he was too serious right now to consider that, finding the young man named Lin Xun too surprising. The other party was simply a freak who could not be measured by common sense at all.

Being a mere supreme quasi-Emperor, he had broken into the eighth level of Dark Hidden Purgatory, and in the span of three months, he had defeated all the will forces left by thirty-six primeval mighty experts, thus destroying the entire Dao Forbidden Tract!

In the infinite eons since the beginning of time, what kind of quasi-Emperor had been able to accomplish such a feat?

Only Lin Xun!

“The Lord…really found an extraordinary character…” sighed the gray-robed man again as he could not help it.

However, his lament this time wasn’t just admiration, but a kind of astonishment with renewed cognition and recognition.

Just like that, Lin Xun stood in place for three days, continuously processing and absorbing the pure will energy that had once belonged to the cauldron.

Once he was done, he was like a statue coming to life. From his tall and handsome figure, a boundless aura surged out.

It was as if the great dao’s arcane mysteries were wrapping around him, enacting a majestic might like an abyss, like the sea!

1. See Chapter 1418 if you want to go back. ☜