Starting as a menial disciple, he cultivated beasts and achieved immortality.

"Roar--!"

A familiar roar, laced with rage and greed, echoed from the depths of the void behind him. Yu Changsheng's eyes narrowed as a massive, dark green figure tore through space—it was the Void Beast whose body he had severed a third of! Its injuries had mostly healed; twisted fleshy tentacles had sprouted from its severed wound, and… its size had nearly doubled. Strange black patterns appeared on the dark green scales covering its body—clearly the marks of the erosion by the aura of annihilation!
"It devoured the annihilation mist emanating from Meteor Abyss and mutated," Chen Xueqing said urgently.

Worse still, behind the monstrous beast followed three "Starfall Evil Spirits" of varying forms—twisted creatures born from fragments of star debris deposited in the Meteorite Abyss, eroded over years by the aura of annihilation and the turbulent currents of the void. One resembled a giant scorpion, its stinger dripping with venom that corroded the void; another resembled a jellyfish, its translucent body teeming with countless vengeful star-like specks; and the last, most bizarrely, was a "giant face" pieced together from countless fragments of star debris, its features distorted, emitting cries like those of an infant.

"Xueqing, stabilize the passage!" Yu Changsheng made a decisive decision. "I'll hold them off."

He pressed down with his left hand, continuously injecting the power of the Origin Star into the Nine Star Barrier to maintain the gap; with his right hand, he drew the Star Silence Sword, its blade a mix of ice blue and dark red, with the Star Ember Flame burning fiercely.

The Void Beast was the first to pounce. It seemed to harbor resentment for the severed body in the previous battle, and countless tentacles stabbed forward like spears, each tentacle wrapped in dark green pus that corroded the void.

"Starry Night, Universe's Pure Radiance".

Yu Changsheng's sword strikes were effortless, unleashing a torrent of icy blue starlight. Wherever the starlight touched, icy blue frost flowers condensed at the tips of the tentacles before silently disintegrating. But this time, the monstrous beast had learned its lesson; its tentacles regenerated immediately after being destroyed, and it opened its massive maw, filled with sharp teeth, spewing out a gray-black breath composed of annihilating mist and void turbulence!

Wherever the breath passed, space shattered inch by inch, even tearing a gap in the star-shaped ring at the edge of the abyss.

"Devour the Void - Devour the Realm!"

Yu Changsheng's left eye, the Void of Return, suddenly opened, transforming into a three-zhang-long black hole. The gray-black breath was frantically devoured by the vortex, yet a portion still managed to penetrate its edge and slam into his chest. The Starry Night Dao Embryo trembled slightly, and several new stars on the Starry Base instantly dimmed—that was because he had used the power of the stars to neutralize the impact.

At the same time, the three-headed star-falling evil spirit has already flanked them from the side.

The giant scorpion demon's tail hook pierced Yu Changsheng's nape, its venom leaving a corrosive trail in the air; the jellyfish demon opened its body, and the resentful star points inside poured out like a torrential rain, each star point containing a wisp of the lingering will of a fallen cultivator, capable of directly impacting the soul; the giant-faced demon was the most bizarre, it opened its mouth wide and emitted a wave that was extremely similar to the Star Key fragment, attempting to interfere with the opening of the Nine Star Barrier!
"Zheng—!"

Chen Xueqing made her move.

Her spirit form fully manifested, her hands forming the hand seals of the "Return to the Void: Origin Pivot," and emerald-gold Daoist energy transformed into countless threads of light, falling like spring rain. The threads of light touched the vengeful spirit's star points, instantly purifying them; they entangled the giant scorpion's tail hook, forcibly stripping away its corrosive venom; finally, a condensed beam of emerald-gold light shot from the Star Key Daoist seal between her brows, precisely striking the giant-faced evil spirit's mouth, completely disrupting the disruptive fluctuations it emitted.

“The passage will take another thirty breaths!” she said urgently.

Yu Changsheng nodded, and the Star Silence Sword's stance changed.

"Star Silence - Return of Ten Thousand Swords to the Source".

The sword trembled, splitting into thousands of sword shadows. But this time, the sword shadows did not attack the enemy; instead, they formed a miniature sword array centered on him. Within the sword array, the Annihilation Sword Pattern resonated with the Star Base, and the icy blue and dark red sword light intertwined into a net, temporarily trapping the monstrous beast and the three-headed evil spirit.

“Not enough.” Yu Changsheng felt the sword formation rapidly collapse under the combined attack from both inside and outside. “We need stronger methods to trap the enemy.”

With a thought, the Time-Space Tribulation Seal within his Dao Embryo trembled slightly. A wisp of the power of the Law of Time surged into the Star Silence Sword, and the flow of time within the sword formation suddenly slowed down—not completely stopped, but stretched from thirty breaths to three hundred!

Outside, the monstrous beasts and evil spirits moved as slowly as tortoises; inside the sword formation, Yu Changsheng and Chen Xueqing had ample time to stabilize the passage.

Twenty breaths later, the passage was completely stabilized.

Yu Changsheng withdrew his sword formation, and the power of the Time-Space Tribulation Seal also dissipated—reversing the laws of time consumed a great deal of energy, and just that one moment had dimmed the seal by nearly a third.

"go!"

He embraced Chen Xueqing, and the two transformed into a streak of light, rushing into the gap of the Nine Star Barrier.

Behind him, the Void Beast roared in resentment, its tentacles lashing wildly at the closing passage. But in the instant the passage was completely shut, its venomous gaze briefly met Yu Changsheng's gaze as he looked back.

"Next time will be your death day," Yu Changsheng said coldly.

The passage was closed, shutting out all the noise.

Inside Meteor Abyss lies a completely different world.

There was no void turbulence, no stellar remnants, only endless silence, and... a road.

A path paved with shattered stardust winds its way to the depths of the abyss. On either side of the path float countless points of light—each a fragment of memory, a projection of a significant moment in the life of the Starfall Venerable.

The moment Yu Changsheng stepped onto the path, the first point of light suddenly lit up.

That was the young Xingyun, kneeling before a majestic Star Palace, pleading with the Star Forger to accept him as a disciple. The palace doors remained tightly shut, and no one answered. He knelt before the palace for seven days and seven nights, his knees worn raw, his blood staining the stardust. At dawn on the eighth day, the palace doors finally opened, and an aged voice rang out: "Why do you seek the Dao?"

The boy replied, "To prove that extinction is not the end, the stars can be restored."

The second light spot lit up.

The young Xingyun stood amidst a shattered starfield, his longsword embedded in the core of a dying star. With his own annihilating sword intent, he forcibly "froze" the star, which was about to collapse into a black hole, transforming it into an eternally burning ember. This act greatly advanced his cultivation, but it also planted a seed of trouble in his Dao heart—forcibly reversing the birth and death of stars, defying the natural order of the Great Dao.

The third one, the fourth one, the fifth one...

Yu Changsheng and Chen Xueqing journeyed together, witnessing the life of Venerable Xingyun, from seeking the Dao, to proving the Dao, to ultimately succumbing to tragedy. When he saw the Venerable infiltrate the void rift with an avatar, while his true self was mistakenly sealed by his fellow Daoists, the path came to an end. At the bottom of the abyss lay a vast, empty circular altar.

At the center of the altar, four chains formed from pure stellar essence pierced a kneeling humanoid body. The left half of the body remained in human form, draped in a tattered star-patterned robe, with a gaunt face and closed eyes; the right half, however, had completely transformed into a dark purple void crystal, with countless tiny tentacles protruding from its surface, wriggling slightly, emanating a chilling aura of annihilation.

The remnants of Lord Xingyun.

As if sensing the arrival of a visitor, the Venerable One slowly opened the left eyelid. That eye was as clear as the starry sky, without the slightest trace of cloudiness.

“The successor of Origin Star…” His voice was hoarse, like the grinding of sand, “and… the holder of the Star Key…”

"Junior Yu Changsheng greets Venerable Xingyun." Yu Changsheng bowed and greeted her, and Chen Xueqing also curtsied in return.

The Venerable One shook his head slightly: "No need... for formalities... I am already... a dying man... to see those who come after me... to carry on my lineage... is a great comfort..."

He seemed to have gathered some strength, and his voice became much more coherent: "You have come this far, which means you have passed the test of the Broken Soul Corridor and know part of the truth of what happened back then. But those fragments of memory... were left behind before I was sealed... so they are inevitably... biased. Today, I will personally tell... the whole truth."

The Venerable One's recollection was largely the same as the memories of the Lost Palace, but with a few more key details.

Firstly, when he first discovered the void rift, it wasn't out of mere curiosity. Rather, he sensed a power on the other side of the rift that was remarkably similar to the origin of the Starfall Ancient Road, yet heading towards extreme "annihilation." He suspected that the Void Ruler might not be an external invader, but rather a collection of negative wills unintentionally "cut off" from the primordial void when the Starry Sky Forgers opened the ancient road—like light and shadow, the more prosperous the ancient road, the more powerful the Ruler.

Secondly, his infiltration of the void with his clone was not to comprehend the origin of the void, but to try to find the core of the ruler, the "Source of Annihilation," to resolve this calamity at its root. He did find it—it was a "Seed of Annihilation" located in the deepest part of the void, which shared the same origin as the Source of Annihilation in Yu Changsheng's Dao Embryo, but was countless times larger, purer, and more distorted.

Thirdly, his true self remained here to use himself as an "anchor" to maintain the connection between his clone and the main space. Once the clone successfully approached the Seed of Annihilation, he could use his true self's self-destruction as a price to forcibly drag the Seed into the Meteor Abyss and seal it eternally with the Nine Stars Seal. However, the other forgers discovered his plan, mistakenly believing he had been corrupted by the void, and forcibly sealed him here. Without the support of his true self, the clone was completely devoured by the Overlord, transforming into a void puppet.

"They... did it to protect the ancient road..." the Venerable One said bitterly, "I don't blame them... I only regret... that all our efforts were in vain..."

He raised his only remaining left hand, and two things appeared in his palm.

It was a fragment of a Star Key—three-tenths larger than the one Chen Xueqing had fused with, its surface shimmering with the Daoist aura of annihilation and starlight.

The other was a seed the size of a walnut, as black as ink. The surface of the seed was covered with twisted, void patterns, but inside, a faint, almost imperceptible silvery-white light shone stubbornly.

“The Void Dao Seed.” The Venerable’s lingering will stared at the seed. “This is a wisp of ‘pure void origin’ that my avatar desperately peeled from the Annihilation Dao Seed before it was completely devoured. It contains the most essential laws of the void—both the ‘annihilation’ that devours all things and the ‘origin’ that nurtures all things. However, this Dao Seed is still in the stage dominated by ‘annihilation’ and needs to be cultivated with special methods to transform into ‘origin’.”

He looked at Yu Changsheng: "Later, the six powers within your Dao Embryo have returned to their source, including the three origins of Nirvana, Stars, and Void. If you are willing to inherit my will, this Void Dao Seed can be integrated into your Dao Embryo, helping you to truly touch the core of the Void Laws. Once your cultivation is sufficient, you can use it to sense the location of the Nirvana Dao Seed, delve into the Void, and completely annihilate the Ruler."

"And the price?" Yu Changsheng asked. He didn't believe that such powerful strength would come without a cost.

The Venerable One remained silent for a moment: "There are three costs. First, when you fuse with the Void Dao Seed, your Dao Embryo will be eroded by the Void Origin, and you will need to use your own will to guard the anchor point of 'existence'—if you fail, you will follow in my footsteps and become a Void Puppet."

"Secondly, after the Dao Seed merges with you, the Void Ruler will immediately sense your presence. It will spare no effort to hunt you down and try to reclaim the Dao Seed. You will face an enemy a hundred times stronger than you are now."

"Thirdly... when you finally face the Dao Seed of Annihilation, you will need to make a choice: whether to use yourself as a container to seal the Dao Seed and guard the void for eternity; or to completely destroy the Dao Seed, but this may cause the void to collapse, triggering a catastrophe that will affect all the heavens and myriad worlds. No matter which choice you make, you will pay... an irreparable price."

Yu Changsheng remained silent.

Chen Xueqing gripped his hand tightly, and the emerald-gold Daoist energy flowed into his body like a gentle stream, silently expressing her support.

After a long silence, Yu Changsheng spoke: "Venerable One, on the eighth floor of the Star Tower, I witnessed the myriad forms of life. One scene in particular was when the ancient road collapsed, an ordinary cultivator used his flesh and blood to block the spatial rift, buying seven breaths of time for the mortal world behind him. Seven breaths later, he was torn apart by the rift, his soul and spirit annihilated, but the world he protected has survived to this day."

He raised his head, his gaze clear and firm: "Throughout my cultivation, I have come to understand the Dao of 'Striving, Guarding, and Balancing.' Striving for a sliver of life, guarding those I care about, and balancing all forces and circumstances. The Venerable One's entrustment is not only 'Striving'—striving for a sliver of life in the cataclysmic calamity with the Void Lord; it is also 'Guarding'—guarding the ancient path and those beings worthy of protection, like that nameless cultivator; and it is also 'Balancing'—finding the way of balance between annihilation and origin, destruction and rebirth."

“This path aligns with the path of this junior. This junior is willing to carry on the legacy of the Venerable One.”

The Venerable One gazed at him for a long time, and gradually, a sense of relief and reassurance appeared in his clear left eye.

“Alright,” he said softly, “but before you can inherit, you must pass my final test—not a test of your strength, but a test of your Dao heart.”

With a flick of his left hand, countless points of light suddenly appeared around the altar. Each point of light was a fragment of memory from a pivotal decision made by Venerable Starfall in his life. These fragments were no longer mere observers, but rather directly pulled Yu Changsheng's consciousness into them, allowing him to relive those choices from the Venerable's perspective.

Act One: The young Xingyun kneeling and begging for entry. Yu Changsheng felt the excruciating pain of his chafed knees, the despair of being rejected, and the ecstatic joy of the moment when the gates of the Dawn Palace opened on the eighth day. But what was clearer was his Dao heart at that time—not for glory or power, but for "proving that Nirvana is not the end".

Act Two: The Young Starfall Forcibly Reverses the Cycle of Star's Life and Death. Yu Changsheng sensed the resolute determination with which the Starfall Sword Intent pierced the core of the dying star, and also felt the Great Dao's will that the star "should have naturally fallen, turning into stardust to give birth to new stars" resisting. The choice Venerable Starfall made at that time, although it greatly improved his cultivation, also made him incur a "debt to the Great Dao".

Act Three: Discovering the Void Rift, he decides to infiltrate it. His companions try to dissuade him, his disciples beg him on their knees, but he remains unmoved. He knows that the prosperity of the ancient path is nourishing the Void Ruler, and if the problem isn't addressed at its root, the ancient path will one day collapse completely. Yu Changsheng feels his loneliness at that moment—knowing that this journey is fraught with peril, yet no one understands, no one accompanies him.

Act Four: The clone is devoured by the Sovereign, while the true body is sealed by fellow Daoists. It was the ultimate pain and resentment. Not resentment at being sealed, but regret at "failing at the last hurdle." He was only one step away from the Dao Seed of Annihilation, yet he could no longer reach it.

Act Five: Thirty thousand years spent in the seal. Day after day, year after year, he maintained the Nine Star Seal with his lingering will, preventing the power of the Sovereign from seeping out through his connection with the Ancient Road. Lonely, exhausted, and desperate, yet he never gave up waiting—waiting for a successor who could inherit his will.

Memories flooded Yu Changsheng's Dao heart like a tidal wave. His destined enemy. (End of Chapter)