In the land where the castle in the sky stood, Yun Che walked slowly along the ancient path that led toward its towering gates. His footsteps echoed faintly against the silent stone, his eyes sweeping across the surroundings.
Trees lined both sides of the street, their branches frozen mid-sway as though halted in the middle of a breeze that no longer existed. Flowers bloomed in eternal stillness, their vibrant colors untouched by decay, yet unmoved by life. The entire world felt like a painting—vivid, but unmoving. There was no wind, no warmth of sunlight, no trace of time. Everything was locked in a frozen moment.
Shen Xi had tried to accompany him. She had taken a step forward with him, her hand gently clutching his, but the moment they reached the invisible threshold before the floating land, she was silently repelled. The rejection was absolute, and no matter how she tried, she could not enter. With a heavy heart, she could only bow her head and remain behind, understanding that this was the will of the senior who dwelled within.
Now, alone, Yun Che arrived before the towering gates of the ancient castle. His footsteps halted, his heart thundering within his chest.
Before him stood a structure vast and old, silent yet exuding a boundless pressure. The gates were made from dark, weathered stone, but not a speck of dust could be found upon them. Every brick, every tile that formed the massive walls shimmered faintly with ancient power.
Previously, when he had attempted to observe this place with his divine sense, he had only caught fleeting glimpses—fragments of its form and the vague presence of the senior within. Everything else had been shrouded in impenetrable obscurity. But now, standing here with his own eyes, he could finally see it for what it truly was. The bricks that paved the ground… the tiles that crowned the rooftop… each one was a divine treasure beyond imagination—items so rare and precious they could drive the entire Abyss into madness.
And yet, here… they were merely building material.
Suppressing the shock pounding within his chest, Yun Che stepped forward as the towering doors to the castle creaked open on their own, granting him passage.
The moment he crossed the threshold, a heavy silence fell upon him. It was not suffocating, but it pressed down on his soul with an ancient weight—as if the air itself remembered countless eras long past.
His steps echoed across the polished floor as he moved deeper into the vast corridor. Along the sides of the hallway hung countless paintings—each one vast and vibrant, yet mysterious in their glow. Yun Che's breath caught as his gaze swept across them.
"These…" His thoughts grew wild.
Each painting was a perfect depiction of the planes and worlds he had passed through not long ago, when the senior who resembled Fen Juechen brought him here. The River of Life Essences, the barren wastelands, the fractured skies, and the still voids… All were portrayed in terrifying, breathtaking detail—painted not by hand, but as though the very scenes had been captured directly into the walls by divine will.
Finally, after some time, Yun Che arrived at the grand hall.
The moment he stepped in, the space fell utterly still.
At the far end of the majestic chamber, atop an impossibly high dais, the senior sat upon a throne that seemed carved from a single piece of primordial darkness. The man's figure was half-shrouded in the dim glow of the hall, but his presence was undeniable—heavy, boundless, and eternal.
Suppressing the fear trembling within his soul, Yun Che lowered himself onto one knee.
Then, from the depths of his heart, he spoke with sincere reverence:
"Thank you for your grace, Senior. Your act of saving Shen Xi… this junior will never forget your kindness."
"….."
Fen Juechen's lifeless eyes remained shut, his expression unreadable. In his pale, corpse-like fingers, the Mirror of Samsara slowly turned, its faint glow reflecting across the darkened hall like ripples in time itself.
Time stretched on, silent and suffocating, as if eternity had settled between them.
Eventually, the mirror's movement came to a halt.
With a flick of his finger, the Mirror of Samsara floated gently through the air toward Yun Che. Yun Che caught it without hesitation, reverently storing it deep within his soul.
Then, Fen Juechen's eyes opened.
His gaze, cold and lifeless, locked onto Yun Che—and at that moment, Yun Che felt his soul tremble uncontrollably. That glare pierced straight through him, like countless icy needles stabbing into the deepest depths of his being. Every secret, every memory, every hidden thought… laid bare under that gaze.
He couldn't move. He didn't dare.
Yet, despite the suffocating dread, he remained standing. Because now—after his conversation with Shen Xi… after hearing the trembling voice of Li Suo—he understood.
He understood why he, of all beings, could stand here and not be obliterated.
Even if his soul shook, even if fear threatened to consume him, he was not instantly annihilated like others would be.
It could only be because of one thing.
The Void Body granted by the Ancestral God.
That body… that existence… was the only reason he could face this being—no, this existence—and still draw breath.
After sometime, Fen Juechen averts his gaze as he closed his eyes and spoke.
"Mother has been truly kind to you."
???????
"Mother?"
Yun Che's eyes flickered with confusion.
He didn't understand.
Who was this senior?Who was his mother?
The questions swirled in his mind like a storm. But then, a thought surfaced—an inkling, faint yet persistent. Swallowing the weight pressing on his chest, Yun Che gathered his courage and voiced the one question he needed answered:
"Senior… may I ask who you are?"
His tone was calm, yet laced with deep respect—from the bottom of his heart.
This being before him… if he so wished, could erase Yun Che from existence in an instant. Yet, not only had he refrained from doing so, he had granted him mercy—and even returned Shen Xi to him.
That grace alone warranted Yun Che's utmost reverence.
Fen Juechen did not respond. Silence reigned—long and heavy.
But Yun Che had already come to understand: this was simply how this senior was. His silence did not mean rejection. So he waited… patiently.
Finally, after what felt like another stretch of eternity, Fen Juechen slowly rose from the throne. As he did, the very space around them twisted and turned—realms folded inward, and light bent like reflections in shattered glass.
And then, in a single instant, they reappeared—in the void.
Floating above countless broken planes and shattered worlds.
It was a place Yun Che had passed once before, guided along by this very man. Now returned, he remained silent, simply watching… as if waiting for something he could not yet name.
"Yun Che, do you know what these are?"Fen Juechen's voice echoed softly in the vast void.
Yun Che lifted his gaze, looking out across the endless space littered with ruined stars and crumbled worlds.
"Senior... these seem to be dead planets and worlds," Yun Che replied earnestly, his tone respectful.
"Do you know why they are this way?" the senior asked again, his voice calm but tinged with something unreadable.
Yun Che narrowed his eyes slightly, extending his divine sense toward the countless shattered remnants drifting in the dark.
"Every lifeform on those planets is gone... no, it's more than that."His brows furrowed."It feels like... they never existed in the first place."
There was no lingering aura, no decay, no trace of what once might have been. These were not just dead worlds. They were voids—lifeless stones floating in seas of death, saturated with the Laws of Death so dense that even the faintest spark of life could never emerge.
And yet, as if his very thoughts had been read, Fen Juechen spoke.
"You're right. A place like this can never sustain, let alone give birth to, life."
There was a pause. And then...
"If only I had understood it all from the beginning..."His voice grew heavy—distant, yet filled with sorrow."Then the God Realm wouldn't be in the state it is now... with the heavenly laws weakened to such a pitiful degree..."
"And the Abyss... would have never come into existence."
!!!!!!!!!!!!
With widened eyes, Yun Che's mind descended into utter chaos the moment he heard the senior's words. His lips trembled, and before he could even begin to form a question, the senior continued.
"You wish to know who I am, don't you? Then let me tell you a story."
As his voice fell, the space around Yun Che shattered—not as if it was destroyed, but as if the entire universe had been unraveled and reduced into pure nothingness... no, not destruction—birth.
In the midst of that infinite void, a presence began to take form. A being emerged from the heart of nothingness.
Yun Che squinted his eyes, straining to see, yet no matter how hard he tried, the figure remained veiled in blinding obscurity. His cultivation simply wasn't enough to truly grasp what he was witnessing. And yet—despite the vagueness, there was a strange, indescribable sense of familiarity radiating from that figure. A feeling he had only experienced once before.
"The... Ancestral Goddess…" Yun Che murmured unconsciously.
"Yes," Fen Juechen's voice confirmed softly beside him. "The first being born from the void—She who came into existence from the nothingness itself."
There was a brief silence.
Then, with a tone that was neither boastful nor proud, but calm and absolute, he added:
"She is my mother."
"....."
Yun Che nearly collapsed. His heart seized in shock so intense it almost stopped.
"S‑Senior... y‑you must be joking..." Yun Che stammered, struggling to suppress the overwhelming shock that clawed at his chest. His voice cracked, his throat dry. Even now, part of him refused to accept what he had just heard.
Yet, Fen Juechen did not respond immediately. He simply stood there in silence, which only add more horror to Yun Che. Then, at last, his voice drifted out again—calm, hollow, like an echo from the beginning of time.
"As my mother came into being and gained awareness of herself, she realized that all power—every force that could exist—had naturally gathered within her."
"And so, in a moment of supreme sacrifice, she shattered her own physical form. From her body were born the heavens, the realms, the gods and devils, and all the myriad races that now live beneath the sky."
"But... long before the worlds were given shape... before even the concept of life could be born…"
He slowly turned his gaze to Yun Che, whose breath caught in his throat as their eyes met.
"She created me. Her first child. Her first breath into the void."
Fen Juechen's voice deepened, laced with something ancient and unfathomably heavy.
"I am the Law of Death...I am her first creation"
"That's who I am" Fen Juechen said plainly since to him, this is just matter of fact.
Yun Che could only stand there, numb, his mind an empty void as the weight of everything he had just heard pressed down on his soul. He had made countless guesses in his heart, countless wild conjectures that spiraled far beyond reason—but none of them, not a single one, had come close to the truth.
He had long since dismissed the notion that this senior could be one of the Eight Creation Gods or Devil Emperors. After all, the power he felt from this being—this impossible existence—was far too vast, too ancient, too terrifying. Even Li Suo, the Goddess of Life herself, had trembled in unspeakable dread at his presence.
Yun Che had imagined many things… but this? To think that this senior… was not just a god… not even a divine emperor… but a primordial law given form. Not a wielder of death, but Death itself.
Since Laws are Ancestral Goddess first creations, it's not false to say he is the child of the Ancestral Goddess. With the Law of Death holds dominion over all—space, time, and every thread of life itself. That's why he's much more powerful than everything. In the eyes of death, all things are meaningless, destined to return to nothing.
Although the Creation Gods and Devil Emperors possess power great enough to defy the Heavenly Laws, their dominion stretches only over most laws—not all. Death stands above everything. Even the Creation Gods and Devil Emperors must bow to its decree… for when they are killed, they die like all others.
That is why this man… dared to call Li Suo, the Goddess of Life, his little sister. Because he truly is… an elder to all existence.
This… this was beyond all imagination.
The space remained still, the silence stretching endlessly, mirroring the infinite void that surrounded them. Not a ripple of sound nor shift of presence stirred—until the cold, lifeless voice of Fen Juechen finally echoed out, slicing through the emptiness like a blade of ice.
"Now that I have answered your question... it's your turn to answer mine."
His voice carried no hostility, yet it bore a weight that pierced directly into Yun Che's heart, dragging his soul out from the depths of stunned silence.
As the words sank into him, Yun Che's breath trembled slightly, but his composure quickly returned. Pushing down the lingering shock still echoing in his chest, he steadied his gaze, bowed his head, and answered with utmost respect:
"Senior, what would you like to know?"
To think that this being—this embodiment of the primordial Law of Death, whose power far surpassed even the Creation Gods—would have something to ask him… Yun Che's mind raced in every direction, trying to guess what kind of question it might be. Yet even if he had a hundred more minds, not one of them could have predicted what came next.
Still, despite his inner turbulence, he stood calm, composed, and respectful—waiting.
"...."
The silence dragged until Fen Juechen's lifeless eyes slowly drifted toward the endless void beyond, and then, without any warning, he finally spoke.
"Do you believe in the existence of fate and destiny?"
"..."
Yun Che blinked. Of all the questions he had prepared himself for, this was not one of them.
"Existence of....fate and destiny...?" he repeated softly, his voice laced with confusion. He had imagined being asked about secrets of the gods, the nature of the Abyss, or the Ancestral Will itself… but this?
What kind of question was this supposed to be? And how would he even answer that?!
Fen Juechen remained silent as Yun Che spoke, but in that silence, the void itself seemed to listen.
Memories surged through Yun Che's mind—Xiao Lingxi, the first warmth of his youth... Xia Qingyue whom by fate, was created solely for him, … Jasmine, whose hatred carved a path to love… Shen Xi, whose presence had once seemed so distant yet now stood closest to his soul. Each of them, like stars bound by an unseen force, had appeared in his life without reason—yet they could not have been mere accidents.
And then there was the Mirror of Samsara... the threads of gold that crossed the heavens of the Abyss… One linking him to Shen Xi, bright and unbreakable, and another—faint, almost invisible—tying even this unfathomable being before him to the same weave.
How could that not be fate?
After a deep breath, Yun Che slowly answered:
"I do believe in the existence of fate, Senior..." His voice was steady. "But as for destiny... I do not know."
He paused.
"If fate is what binds lives together—then I've seen it, felt it. But destiny... whether I am bound to something greater, or if I must carve it out myself... I do not yet understand."
"So, I do not know in its existence"
Time passed like the stillness between stars, stretched long and quiet in the vast void, as Yun Che's answer hung in the air. The being before him—this existence too great for comprehension—remained silent for so long that Yun Che wondered if his response had even been heard at all.
Then at last, Fen Juechen spoke. His voice was low, cold as ever, yet distant… almost hollow.
"I used to think like that too..." he said, his gaze falling fully upon Yun Che, lifeless eyes holding an unfathomable depth. "But they exist. Both exist."
"Long, long ago... before the birth of all beings, Mother once told me—'Fate can be changed... but destiny must be obeyed.'" His words floated gently, yet carried the weight of laws older than time. "So both fate and destiny... exist."
Yun Che stood still, unable to hide the growing tension in his brows. His heart was calm, but his thoughts spun wildly.
Fate can be changed... but destiny must be obeyed? The words echoed again and again in his mind. What was the senior trying to say? Why ask him such a question? What was he supposed to understand?
Yun Che's cultivation, willpower, and mind were all honed through endless storms, yet before this being, even clarity eluded him.
Was this a test? A lesson? Or... a warning?
He didn't know. And the more he tried to understand, the less certain he became of where this was all leading.
"You, right now, don't need to overthink it," Fen Juechen said plainly, as though reading the whirlpool of confusion behind Yun Che's eyes. "Just know that you're here… because fate led you to me, and me to you."
His words carried no emotion—only an undeniable finality, like the tolling of a divine bell echoing through eternity.
"I will obey Mother's will. That is all there is to it."
"You're here because of that little dragon lass. You've accomplished that much."
As Fen Juechen raised his pale hand, a soul—quivering, glowing faintly—rose from his palm like mist from the void. Yun Che's eyes widened.
"You wanted something to mend your relationship with Nephew Mo..."
With a flick of his finger, the soul drifted toward Yun Che. Stunned, Yun Che reached out instinctively, carefully storing it into his soul, sensing the dormant but familiar essence sealed within.
"You got that..."
"You wish to repair the world… to restore the Heavenly Laws to what they once were..."
Fen Juechen's lifeless gaze dimmed briefly, and for a moment, it was as if countless eras passed through his eyes. A decision, ancient and unwavering, glinted like a cold star deep within them.
Suddenly, the entire void fractured like shattered glass.
Yun Che felt the ground vanish beneath him, the infinite space twisting, reforming—and then, they stood once more before the ruined plane, a land of broken worlds and extinguished light.
Fen Juechen turned toward him slowly.
"That can be done...."
"But before any of that... you must resolve your mortal soul."
Then came the words that cut into Yun Che like a blade:
"Fight me. With everything you have."