Then, following a special channel, he sent this chaotic power back into the chaos pearl, which roared incessantly.

The power drained from Lin Moyu exploded inside the chaos pearl, causing Chaos Child to scream repeatedly, for the chaos pearl was his true form.

Whenever the chaos pearl was struck, he felt pain, yet no matter what, Chaos Child did not stop.

Using the Undead Servants as a bridge, he continuously drew the chaotic power from Lin Moyu's body into the chaos pearl, thereby alleviating the pressure on Lin Moyu.

He himself constantly endured the damage; fortunately, the chaos pearl was strong enough, even though Chaos Child was screaming incessantly from the explosions.

He did not sustain major injuries himself. The Undead Servants rushed forward one after another, lining up to charge in and self-destruct.

As they transformed into a bridge, Little Tree saw this and once again drove the remaining golden-silver sap.

It continued to nourish Lin Moyu; at this moment, even the slightest help might be enough to turn the tide.

Gradually, the power within Lin Moyu began to weaken, and the cracks in his soul reached an equilibrium.

They stopped expanding, finally stabilizing. The golden-silver sap was exhausted.

Little Tree stopped, only able to hope that Chaos Child could hold on; it could see it.

It was almost done. The trillion Undead Servants were nearly all dead, but Chaos Child continued his efforts.

He also felt it was close. Inside the core of the scepter of calamity, Lin Moyu's avatar was outside the array.

The array was operating, and a phantom emerged from its center.

Chapter 4266: You Are Me, Yet Not Me

The phantom had no face.

The moment it appeared, Lin Moyu felt the entire space-time freeze. It was not an illusion.

It was a true stillness. It was not just the scepter of calamity; even Lin Moyu's Soul World was affected.

Including the Land of Origin, all space-time was frozen. The Soulless Beast did not notice anything unusual at all.

It remained there, motionless. The violent winds and massive forces previously ravaging the Land of Origin also ceased with the appearance of the phantom.

The Great Dao stopped flowing. The Land of Origin was sealed off by an invisible force, completely disconnected from the outside world.

Inside the scepter of calamity, Lin Moyu looked at this existence that had suddenly appeared in the array and guessed its identity.

He should be Great Venerable Tianzai, his past life. A sliver of his consciousness was hidden in the core of the scepter of calamity.

Having studied the array for so many years, he had surprisingly never discovered it; he was hidden extremely deeply.

Instinctively, he asked in a low voice:

"Are you still here?"

The phantom had no face, yet Lin Moyu could feel that it was looking at him.

After a moment, the phantom's voice slowly emerged: "I am no longer here, but you are."

Lin Moyu's heart skipped a beat. This statement almost confirmed his identity as the reincarnation of Great Venerable Tianzai. Lin Moyu felt somewhat conflicted.

He even felt a bit conflicted; upon knowing he might be the reincarnation of Great Venerable Tianzai, he had indescribable emotions.

It was hard to say whether he was happy or unhappy. At this moment, the phantom continued:

"I know what you are thinking."

"You are me, and you are also not me. There is no need to dwell on this question."

He had seen through Lin Moyu's thoughts and gave him an answer, though he did not state it explicitly.

If Lin Moyu could understand, that was best; if he could not, he would not offer further explanation.

He did not give Lin Moyu time to think, but continued:

"I completed nine sublimations back then."

"My combat power was unparalleled, yet when facing Him, I still had no power to resist."

"Because I failed to break the rules." Lin Moyu naturally understood who Him referred to in his words.

That was the Dao, the end of everything. No one knew the true face of the Dao.

What His form of existence was, where He was—people only knew that He was omniscient.

As long as one mentioned Him, one would be sensed by Him. Great Venerable Tianzai's consciousness had frozen space-time.

His words would not be recorded by the Great Dao of Time, yet he still dared not call Him by name. Lin Moyu asked:

"How does one break the rules?"

Great Venerable Tianzai said:

"Breaking the rules requires two conditions."

"The scepter of calamity is one. I assume you have already obtained the Causality Lock. Collect the five gems."

"Then you can obtain the power to break the rules. The second is yourself. If you yourself cannot break the rules,"

"then you are not qualified to be His enemy." Lin Moyu understood. Back then, Great Venerable Tianzai fought to the end of chaos.

He saw the Dao. Holding the scepter of calamity, he originally had a chance to clash with the Dao.

But because he himself was still within the rules, he lost, and lost thoroughly.

At that time, Great Venerable Tianzai had completed nine sublimations and was invincible in the world, yet he still lost.

Great Venerable Tianzai continued:

"Sublimating the origin of the Great Dao is something both those in the Chaos Realm and Great Venerables will do."

"But this matter has an order of priority; later is not as good as earlier, less is not as good as more."

"When ascending to the Chaos Realm, that is the best time for Great Dao sublimation. If you miss this opportunity,"

"it will be thousands of times harder to sublimate later. And this timing is also the only opportunity to transcend the rules."

"I know you want to ask why. Because of the realm—He will not cast His gaze upon those below the Chaos Realm."

"Those are guys not even as good as ants." Lin Moyu understood. The Dao was reputed to be omniscient and omnipresent.

But He would not pay attention to everyone. Creatures that were too weak were not even as good as ants in the eyes of the Dao.

He would not pay attention to them, or perhaps He could not be bothered to. And the dividing line for whether one was an ant or not…

"…was the Chaos Realm. Those in the Chaos Realm were ants; those below the Chaos Realm were not even ants."

"So, if you want to transcend the rules, there is only one chance: at the moment of achieving the Chaos Realm."

Thinking this through, Lin Moyu felt it was somewhat laughable. He had cultivated until now.

He had finally reached his current level, only to have just become an ant in the eyes of others. Great Venerable Tianzai continued:

"You have already transcended the rules now. The moment you step into the Chaos Realm, you will be noticed by Him, and He will kill you without hesitation."

"Therefore, I must seal your power until you are qualified to face Him directly, then I will unseal it."

Lin Moyu was slightly stunned. "But can doing this deceive Him?"

Great Venerable Tianzai said:

"The scepter of calamity is an existence that transcends the rules. In the entire chaos,"

"only the scepter of calamity can achieve this. This is also the reason I remained here. I do not have much power left."

"I cannot lock space-time for long. You need to send most of your soul here, and then I will completely close this place."

"Until you open it yourself." Now, two choices lay before Lin Moyu. One was to trust Great Venerable Tianzai.

To seal part of his power here—which was effectively sealing part of his soul here—but by doing so…

Lin Moyu could not guarantee the absolute safety of this part of his soul. What if Great Venerable Tianzai had ulterior motives, or was deceiving him…

The second was to not trust Great Venerable Tianzai, but if so, he might be killed the moment he stepped into the Chaos Realm.

After much deliberation, Lin Moyu finally made a decision. He chose to trust Great Venerable Tianzai.

In just a short moment, Lin Moyu thought a lot. His instinctive consciousness told him that the consciousness left behind by Great Venerable Tianzai was not deceiving him.

At this time, the tenth sublimation was nearly finished. He had not yet fed back to the Great Dao, and his soul and full power were at their peak state.

The power after the tenth sublimation was very strong, so strong that even Lin Moyu felt terrified.

He even had an illusion that he could go and challenge someone in the Chaos Realm across levels without using the Gather Power technique.

He sent most of his power, along with a part of his soul, into the scepter of calamity, entering that independent space and injecting it into the array.

Inside the array, Great Venerable Tianzai acted, sealing Lin Moyu's soul and power within it.

Lin Moyu watched with his own eyes as the consciousness left by Great Venerable Tianzai became hazy; his power was being consumed substantially. If this continued, by the time the seal was completed…

he would also dissipate. Lin Moyu said in a low voice:

"You are going to dissipate."

He continued:

"This is the meaning of my staying behind. Remember one sentence."

"You are me, but you are also not me. You must walk your own path."

"The paths everyone else has walked are wrong. You must walk a path that belongs to yourself. There are no references on your path."

"There are no signposts, only your own exploration. I hope you can surpass the end."

"And truly stand at the peak." The independent space within the scepter of calamity slowly closed. The consciousness left behind by Great Venerable Tianzai…

used its last sliver of power to seal this space. Lin Moyu's aura had already dropped.

His aura at this moment was equivalent to his state during the sixth sublimation. Great Venerable Tianzai had sealed most of his power.

Lin Moyu could still faintly sense the sealed soul; as long as he held the scepter of calamity, he could establish a connection through it.

Chapter 4267: Wishing Senior Lin All the Best

If his own power became stronger, his sealed soul would also become stronger, just like a trapped divine beast.

Waiting for an opportunity, waiting for a final, ultimate explosion. Lin Moyu sighed softly.

He began to feed back to the Undying Great Dao, preparing to officially step into the half-step Chaos. The Undying Great Dao grew stronger amidst a roaring sound.

Having had previous experience, feeding back to the Undying Great Dao went very smoothly. Chaos Child returned to his normal size.

He circled around Lin Moyu. "Master, are you alright?"

"Why has your aura become weaker?" Little Tree was also very strange; previously, Lin Moyu's aura was incomparably powerful.

Now it had weakened many times over. Not knowing what had happened, Lin Moyu did not respond at all.

He was lost in deep thought at this moment. He had chosen to trust Great Venerable Tianzai, which meant complete trust.

Using this as a foundation to reflect on Great Venerable Tianzai's words, he would gain completely different insights. The sliver of consciousness left behind by Great Venerable Tianzai…

had always been hiding in the core of the scepter of calamity. Only in this way could it evade the Dao's tracking. And the reason he remained there…

was to let him complete ten sublimations when he reached the Chaos Realm, thereby transcending the rules. He had indeed achieved this.

But this was full of variables. What if he hadn't obtained the scepter of calamity? What if he hadn't been able to complete nine sublimations?

These nine sublimations were completed with the help of the World Tree and the chaos pearl, at a great cost. The variables involved were too many.

Even a Great Venerable could not possibly calculate everything so clearly. Lin Moyu instinctively thought of the old man in Green Robe. The old man in Green Robe was the mastermind behind the whole affair.

In other words, the old man in Green Robe, the old man in White Robe, and Master Tianxu…

they were all in the same group. What exactly was their relationship with Great Venerable Tianzai? Were they brothers, friends…

or subordinates?

Undoubtedly, Great Venerable Tianzai had already stood at the peak of chaos at that time.

Although they were all Great Venerables, Great Venerable Tianzai must have been the strongest one. This question…

perhaps could only be answered when he himself became a Great Venerable. Throughout the entire conversation…

the most important thing was the last sentence Great Venerable Tianzai said: he was him, and also not him.

The path he had to walk was one no one had ever walked before. There were no signposts; he could only walk forward alone.