Alert! The Dragon Lord has emerged from seclusion!

The pool water is not real water, but a liquid mixture of spiritual energy and rules.

It is viscous and heavy, making it extremely difficult to dive.

Lin Chen circulated his chaotic energy, forming a light gray shield that enveloped the seven people, instantly accelerating their descent.

The further down you go, the dimmer the light becomes.

A hundred meters later, the surroundings were pitch black, with only the talismans and chaotic light shields on the seven people emitting a faint light.

At 300 meters, the pressure increased sharply, and the light shield began to deform slightly.

Five hundred meters away, a strange phenomenon appeared—countless fragments of light and shadow swept by like swimming fish, each reflecting a different scene:

The battles of ancient battlefields, the turmoil of dynastic changes, the brutality of cultivators undergoing tribulations...

"The Heavenly Dao Illusion has begun," Su Qingxue reminded her telepathically. "Don't look at those fragments, guard your spiritual platform."

Everyone closed their eyes, using only their spiritual senses to perceive each other's positions, and continued to descend.

At 700 meters, the illusion becomes even more realistic.

Lin Chen "saw" the scene of being bullied in the Zhao family when he was a child, the scene of his seven masters healing him in the Heavenly Prison, the profile of Su Qingxue lying unconscious in the hospital bed, and the flames when Ye Qingcheng's family was destroyed...

"It's all fake!" he gritted his teeth and hissed, as the nascent bud of chaos swayed in his dantian, spreading out a circle of clear light.

The other six women also encountered their own inner demons and illusions, but with the connection of the Seven Star Talisman, their auras merged and they supported each other, eventually stabilizing their minds.

Nine hundred meters, finally approaching the bottom of the pool.

There is a faint light source here.

It was a crystal fragment suspended in a complex sealing array—only the size of a palm, irregularly rhomboid in shape, completely transparent, yet containing a scene resembling a cosmic galaxy.

It floated quietly, and every slight pulsation caused the surrounding pool water to ripple.

"That is... a fragment of the Heavenly Dao?" Ye Qingcheng transmitted her voice, her voice filled with shock.

"So beautiful..." Qin Yurou murmured.

Beautiful, yet deadly.

Lin Chen could feel that the nascent chaos within his dantian was resonating strongly with that fragment!

The tender buds swayed wildly, as if they were about to burst out of the plant!

The fragments seemed to sense the same aura, and their light gradually grew stronger!

"Watch out!" Shen Qingqiu shouted urgently, "The radiation level is skyrocketing!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the fragment suddenly burst out with a dazzling white light!

Where the white light passed, the pool water evaporated, and the sealing formation trembled violently!

Lin Chen and his six companions were engulfed by the white light, instantly losing all sensation...

White.

Pure white, boundless.

Lin Chen felt himself floating in this white void, without a body, without weight, only consciousness.

"Where...am I?"

He tried to move, but couldn't.

Suddenly, the white began to change.

Colors emerge, and the scene unfolds—

He saw a star born from a nebula, the first life born in the ocean, and the land rise up, with all things flourishing.

Then came the emergence of humankind, the rise of civilization, the development of slash-and-burn agriculture, and the changing of dynasties.

Cultivators appear, refining their Qi to establish their foundation, reaching the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages, and then undergoing the Deity Transformation and Tribulation...

The images flashed by rapidly, like a carousel.

This is... a memory of the Heavenly Dao?

Lin Chen suddenly realized that he was in a special state, coming into contact with a part of the ancient Heavenly Dao's memories contained in that fragment.

He witnessed the splendor of the ancient cultivation civilization: celestial palaces floating in the air, cultivators as numerous as clouds, and magical treasures filling the sky.

They also saw that mad cultivator—an old man dressed in a star-patterned Daoist robe—in a towering structure, sacrificing billions of lives to refine that "Fragment of the Heavenly Dao."

The moment the fragments took shape, heaven and earth wailed, and lightning rained down.

The old man laughed wildly as he tried to merge the fragments, but the moment he touched them, his body disintegrated and his soul was devoured by the fragments.

The fragments then went out of control, unleashing a devastating energy wave that swept across the entire cultivation world.

The celestial palace collapsed, cultivators perished, and civilization was destroyed in just three days.

Only a few survivors escaped into the deep mountains, barely clinging to life.

The fragments fell into Kunlun, and the few remaining powerful beings sacrificed their lives to set up a seal.

And then... three thousand years passed.

Screen switch.

Lin Chen saw what his seven masters looked like when they were young—they met in Kunlun Mountain, and each of them was attracted by the radiation of the Heavenly Dao due to their special physiques, and finally decided to guard the Heavenly Prison together.

He saw his masters taking turns going out to find a way to resolve the source of the disaster, and he also saw how they found him as an infant—abandoned at the foot of Kunlun Mountain, bearing the Nine Yang Burning Heaven Body, on the verge of death.

His masters took him back to the Heavenly Prison, used the Mysterious Yin True Qi to prolong his life, and raised him to adulthood.

He saw his masters secretly investigating and discovering the secret of the Seven Star Nine Yin Physique, and they began to look for a fiancée for him...

Everything originated from this fragment.

Just as Lin Chen was immersed in these memories, a voice suddenly rang in his consciousness:

"You...have come."

It is not language, but a thought, ancient, weathered, and filled with endless weariness.

"Who are you?" Lin Chen responded telepathically.

"I am... Echo," the thought said, "the last bit of 'self' left in the fragments after the collapse of the ancient Heavenly Dao."

"The seed of chaos within you was originally a part of me. When it disintegrated, it separated from my main body, fell into the cycle of reincarnation, and after countless lifetimes, finally merged with you."

Lin Chen was shocked: "So, I am..."

"You are not me," the echo interrupted him. "You are merely a vessel that holds 'possibility.' The seed of chaos sprouted within you, giving birth to your own 'Tao,' not a continuation of mine."

"What does Jiang Wuyai want?"

"Power." A hint of disgust lingered in the echoing thought. "He only wanted to seize the remaining power within the fragments and become a false god. He doesn't understand, nor does he care, that the true 'Way of Heaven' is not about domination, but about balance."

"balance?"

"Creation and destruction, order and chaos, life and death... all oppositions require balance. The ancient calamity was caused by that madman's attempt to break the balance and usurp the throne through human power."

The echo paused for a moment: "Your path of chaotic symbiosis is very interesting. It doesn't involve plundering or suppressing, but rather embracing and harmonizing... Perhaps this is the right path."

Lin Chen was silent for a moment: "How can I completely resolve this fragment?"

"Two choices," the echo slowly said. "First, with your power and that of the Seven Stars, strengthen the seal and suppress it for another three thousand years. But this is only a temporary solution; the radiation will eventually leak out."

"Second... absorb me."

"What?"

"Integrate my remaining will and rules into your Chaos Tree." The echo's tone was calm. "In this way, the fragments will lose their 'spirituality' and become pure energy crystals, which can be slowly refined or used for other purposes."

"But doing so will subject your consciousness to a huge shock, and if you are not careful, you will lose yourself and become another 'me'."

Lin Chen didn't hesitate: "I choose the second path."

"Have you thought this through? This could lead to your utter ruin."

"I've thought it through." Lin Chen's resolve was firm. "I don't want my masters to guard this place for another three thousand years, nor do I want this source of calamity to continue threatening the world."