Consciousness, which had fallen into boundless darkness, began to slowly awaken.
He started to feel the wind brushing past him, hear his own heartbeat and breathing, and see the hem of a white Daoist robe floating before him.
He wasn't dead?
All the meridians in his body were still completely shattered—this should have been a fatal wound caused by his forcible channeling of spiritual energy.
Yet he hadn't died.
His life had been forcibly kept in this world by a mysterious, utterly unreasonable, majestic power.
Chen Yan knew what the essence of this power represented.
Cause and effect.
Because his death was not permitted by this realm's heavens.
And the one who wielded this majestic power was...
Chen Yan raised his head, looking toward the figure in white Daoist robes standing before him.
It was a young man whose every movement, from lifting a hand to stepping forward, seemed effortlessly casual.
The Daoist robe he wore wasn't as blindingly bright as those of the Kongshan Sect, but a simpler, unadorned white.
The casualness in his every gesture wasn't like Mr. You's cynicism, nor like the arrogant and unruly nature of Zuo He, the Ultimate Sage of Heaven's Extremity. The young man standing before Chen Yan exuded a more composed sense of control.
"You are quite unique."
The young man finally spoke:
"The Great Dao is already in chaos, the laws of heaven and earth are collapsing. It's hard for any cultivator in this realm to escape the fate of having their spiritual sense eroded and then driven mad. But that 'anyone' doesn't seem to include you."
Chen Yan didn't answer the young man. He simply forced himself to stand up from the ground.
"And furthermore..."
The young man slowly lowered his gaze, fixing it on the silver spear lying beside Chen Yan's feet:
"A cultivator at the peak of the Unity Realm, forcibly channeling Immortal Qi?"
"Who are you?"
Chen Yan's gaze and tone were both calm.
"You can take a guess."
The young man said.
"In this realm, there are a total of forty-nine Great Daos, forty-three True Immortals of the Immortal Ascension Realm, four Returning to Void Realm True Lords, and two Uncarved Simplicity Realm Sages. One of them is the Ultimate Sage of Heaven's Extremity, Saint Zuo He."
As he spoke, Chen Yan's tone paused for a moment:
"And the other..."
"The Ultimate Sage of Imperial Void, Bai Chen."
The young man interrupted Chen Yan, then chuckled lightly:
"That's right, it's me."
"I really didn't expect to meet the Sage of Imperial Void at this time."
Chen Yan's demeanor was quite composed. He didn't grovel just because the person standing opposite him was a Sage of the Uncarved Simplicity Realm.
Because he understood very well that, under the current circumstances, there was no need at all to lower his stance.
"The sky is about to fall; how could I not come back to take a look?"
As he said this, Bai Chen slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the countless pitch-black rifts of various sizes in the sky. Then he raised his right hand, spread his thumb and index finger, and aimed them at the direction of a rift several hundred zhang in length in the air.
The Sage of Imperial Void's thumb and index finger pressed together.
The next instant, that pitch-black rift, several hundred zhang long, seemed to be forcibly pinched together by some invisible, massive force, vanishing from the sky.
A flicker of disbelief passed through Chen Yan's eyes.
Was this the power of a Sage in the Uncarved Simplicity Realm?
But if a cultivator at the Uncarved Simplicity Realm could achieve such a feat, why had Zuo He never shown himself from beginning to end?
Chen Yan had originally believed that all cultivators in this realm, including the Ultimate Sage of Heaven's Extremity and the four True Lords, had been affected by the "Dao Struggle Calamity" caused by the contention over the forty-nine Great Daos. That was why Zuo He hadn't been able to step forward when the situation spiraled out of control—because he himself couldn't even save his own skin.
But the appearance of Bai Chen, the Sage of Imperial Void in white Daoist robes before him, shattered Chen Yan's original assumption.
A Sage of the Uncarved Simplicity Realm was not affected by the Dao Struggle Calamity.
"If the Sage of Imperial Void is here, then the Sage of Heaven's Extremity..."
Chen Yan began to ask.
"Who knows? The reason this realm has fallen to such a state is entirely because of Zuo He's stubborn insistence on his own path. I think he will pay the price he deserves."
Bai Chen shook his head:
"As for this mess, I'll have to clean it up myself."
"..."
Chen Yan remained silent, simply weighing every word the Sage of Imperial Void had just said in his own mind.
"By the way, do you know how to clean up this mess?"
Bai Chen then asked in Chen Yan's direction.
"I don't."
Chen Yan shook his head honestly.
"The laws of heaven and earth are collapsing, spatial rifts are appearing, and everything in this world is about to sink into nothingness. To save this mess, I can do it."
As Bai Chen spoke, he turned his gaze back to Chen Yan:
"Take a guess—what method is it?"
It seemed this Sage of Imperial Void really enjoyed having people guess riddles.
Yet, at the very moment Bai Chen asked, an answer also arose in Chen Yan's mind.
That answer was to change everything that had happened before the laws of heaven and earth collapsed.
However, Chen Yan didn't plan on voicing that answer.
"Reshape the laws of heaven and earth."
The answer he gave was a far more mediocre one.
"Wrong."
Bai Chen shook his head, then said:
"Once the laws of heaven and earth collapse, there is no possibility of restoring or repairing them. The only way to salvage this mess is to knock everything down and start over."
Knock everything down and start over?
"Your meaning, Sage, is..."
Chen Yan said.
"All laws, spiritual energy, and living beings will return to chaos. Then this realm will evolve again, with me as the sole survivor."
The Sage of Imperial Void's lips curled into a slight smile:
"But in that 'everything,' you are not included."
Chen Yan remained expressionless. He knew what Bai Chen was referring to.
"The cause and effect you bear, and even your very self, shouldn't belong to this current realm at all."
Faced with the Sage of Imperial Void's words, Chen Yan simply remained silent.
Because there was nothing to refute.
With his meridians completely shattered, he was now just a mortal. Thus, he couldn't use the Emptiness Annihilation Art, the Hidden Immortal Art, or the Great Derivation Art at all.
The forged cause and effect spanning over sixty thousand years that Chen Yan carried—he couldn't conceal it using the Hidden Immortal Art or the Emptiness Annihilation Art. It was completely exposed right under the True Lord of Imperial Void's eyes.
"Do you know why I didn't allow you to die?"
The Sage of Imperial Void asked.
"Because of the cause and effect I bear."
Chen Yan said.
"That's only one reason. Even if this sixty-thousand-year-old cause and effect is forged, the karmic backlash it produces is still quite a headache."
The Sage of Imperial Void smiled:
"Any other answers?"