219: Chapter 219 A thousand moves have passed, body and soul perish.
The vast arena of Yun Dao Cliff floated deep within the cold, silent Star Domain, its expanse comparable to a small continent. At this moment, this sacred place, which should have gathered the essence of the Universe and witnessed the birth of a new generation of Supreme powerhouses, was filled with suffocating despair.
At the edge of the arena, the few remaining Prodigies leaned against a broken Law barrier, barely supporting their bodies. They had long lost their former glory; their robes were tattered, their Qi was weak, and the divine light swirling around them was as dim as a flickering candle in the wind. Their eyes were a mix of fear, unwillingness, and a hint of numb stupor, instinctively looking towards the center of the arena, at that figure who seemed like an Incarnation of Annihilation — Luo Jiuxuan.
Between Luo Jiuxuan and these surviving Prodigies was a zone of almost absolute Void Realm. There, only one person still stood, though his Physical Body was riddled with countless wounds.
Liu Qingtian.
His black demonic robe had long been corroded and tattered by the Power of Annihilation, and his exposed skin was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, a manifestation of his damaged dao foundation. His dark golden blood had long since drained, leaving only a deathly gray-white at the wounds. His Qi was extremely weak; the surging Demonic Essence that once could swallow stars, now only remained in wisps, like dying embers, stubbornly protecting his heart and Sea of Consciousness.
Nine hundred ninety-seven, nine hundred ninety-eight, nine hundred ninety-nine… In his heart, like the most precise hourglass, he calmly and despairingly counted. Each ticking number was accompanied by a violent tremor of his Divine Soul and a subtle expansion of the cracks on his dao foundation. His vision had begun to blur, with overlapping images, and a cosmic noise-like hum filled his ears. Only in the depths of his profound eyes did an unyielding flame still burn, fixed firmly on the seemingly eternal figure in the center of the arena.
He could feel that Luo Jiuxuan's annihilating Heavy Pupils, for the first time, truly and completely focused on him. That gaze was no longer one of disregard, no longer one of condescension, but rather carried an… indescribable scrutiny, as if confirming a final outcome worthy of being recorded.
“Just one… last move…” A hoarse sound escaped Liu Qingtian’s throat, and fragments of his ruptured internal organs mixed with the last trace of Demonic Essence were forced out, yet his straightened spine remained unbent.
Luo Jiuxuan moved. He no longer unleashed his absolute Domain that brought all things to Annihilation; instead, he slowly raised his arm, which was entirely composed of mysterious star bones and flowed with the aura of the Universe's end. His five fingers gently closed, his movements fluid and elegant, as if he held not a fist, but the authority over the birth and death of the entire Universe, the ultimate destination of endless star rivers.
“The one thousandth move.”
These four words, spoken by Luo Jiuxuan with no emotionalfluctuation, clearly echoed in the silent arena, striking heavily at the hearts of every surviving Prodigy.
Immediately, he launched a gentle, empty-space punch towards Liu Qingtian.
Silent, without light or shadow, there was no surge of energy, no abnormal phenomena of Law collapse. However, at the moment he threw his punch, Liu Qingtian, and all the survivors closely watching this scene, felt a primal shock originating from the instinct of life itself—the 'definition' of the arena space around Liu Qingtian was forcibly and completely altered! It was no longer an arena, no longer a battlefield, but was absolutely conceptualized as—'The End of Liu Qingtian'!
This was obliteration at the rule level! A higher-level power that transcended energy clashes and Law collisions! It directly pronounced The End of 'Liu Qingtian' as an existence, unquestionable and irreversible!
Liu Qingtian’s pupils suddenly constricted to pinpricks! The ultimate shadow of death, like a cold cosmic wind, instantly permeated every remaining wisp of his consciousness. But he felt no fear, no retreat; instead, his Battle Intent, burning to The End of his life, surged to an unprecedented Peak at this moment!
“Roar—!”
A roar, as if from the Primordial Demonic Abyss, drained his last trace of life force! He burned, compressed, and condensed all his remaining Demonic Essence, his lifelong comprehension of the Myriad Manifestations Returning to Ruin Dao, all his desire for survival, and all his obsession with the Dao Peak!
He abandoned all defenses, all escape routes. His entire form began to blur and collapse, as if transforming into a miniature Guixu Universe heading towards its heat death! Within this miniature Universe, stars perished, black holes evaporated, and space-time collapsed, depicting the ultimate destination of all things. With a tragic and absolute resolve, he actively met the punch that defined The End, transforming his body into a ruin, embracing death to find life!
Would Guixu devour The End, or would The End bury Guixu?
Buzz—!
The expected world-shattering collision did not occur. Only an extremely faint hum, yet seemingly originating from the Universe's OriginVeins, sounded at the center of their contact.
The sound was like a snapping string, like a collapsing Dao.
Under Luo Jiuxuan’s Fist Intent that defined The End, the tragic miniature Guixu Universe that Liu Qingtian had transformed into, like a candle thrown into absolute Void Realm, flickered intensely and unwillingly, erupting with a final brilliance that illuminated the Star Domain, and then… completely extinguished, annihilated, and vanished into nothingness.
All traces of his existence—his powerful Physical Body, his vast Demonic Essence, his resilient Demonic Soul, his dao foundation that bore the Great Dao, his unyielding Battle Intent… all material and non-material aspects belonging to 'Liu Qingtian' were, under that invisible rule of termination, as if grasped by an invisible giant hand and then gently erased.
Clean and thorough.
The thousand-move pact, he had accepted it.
But the price was the perishing of his body and Dao, the complete annihilation of his form and spirit.
On the arena, a deathly silence fell.
The few exhausted Prodigies stared blankly at the empty Void Realm where Liu Qingtian had disappeared, their faces drained of color. A desolate feeling, like a fox mourning the death of a rabbit, clutched their hearts, but beneath this desolation, there was an indescribable shock, and… a sense of relief from surviving a catastrophe that even they were unwilling to admit.
“He… he really took a thousand moves…” A woman clad in a seven-colored ethereal robe, now dull as common cloth, murmured, her voice dry.
Next to her, a burly golden-armored giant, whose half-body was now petrified, bitterly interjected, “At the cost of his life… What kind of existence is this Luo Jiuxuan? Is the Eighth Realm Supreme truly so insurmountable?”
Elsewhere, a thin figure shrouded in shadows trembled slightly, his voice hoarse with lingering fear: “Liu Qingtian… he could have had a chance to escape. With his Guixu Dao, if he had focused solely on fleeing, he might not have…”
“But he didn’t.” The golden-armored giant interrupted him, a complex and unreadable admiration flashing in his eyes, “He is the Guixu Demonic Venerable. His Dao is devouring, it is ending, it is embracing death to find life. To retreat in the face of a stronger ‘End’ would cause his Dao Heart to collapse. Fighting until his form and spirit were annihilated… perhaps that was the destination he chose.”
Their conversation was low and rapid, filled with the joy of surviving a catastrophe and sighs for the fallen strongman.
Luo Jiuxuan’s annihilating gaze swept over them like a glance at a few insignificant dust particles, not making another move. The thousand-move pact was fulfilled, and Liu Qingtian’s demise seemed to have made him lose the last shred of interest in this final battle.
He slowly retracted his star-bone arm, as if he had merely done a trivial thing. Then, he turned and took a step. Space rippled gently beneath his feet like docile water, and his figure completely vanished from the vast arena, as if he had never appeared.
The final battle thus concluded in a way that exceeded everyone's expectations, with extreme tragedy.
In the spectator stands, the projection area formed by the giants of various worlds, races, and representatives of ancient Dao Lineages was now utterly silent. There were no cheers of victory, no heated discussions, not even a discernible breath. All 'people,' regardless of whether their forms were energy bodies, spiritual bodies, or flesh and blood, stood frozen, immersed in the immense shock brought by the ultimate power and tragic demise they had just witnessed.
After a long while, an aged sigh, from an unknown corner, broke the suffocating silence.
“Guixu Demonic Venerable… Liu Qingtian… what a pity, he truly had the potential to contend for the Supreme position…” The voice was filled with endless regret.
This sigh, as if opening a floodgate, allowed low discussions to begin spreading like a tide.
“To be able to directly withstand a thousand moves from Luo Jiuxuan, looking through ancient and modern times, among his contemporaries, how many could do it? Though dead… he is still glorious!” A resonant voice said with respect.
“Indeed, that last move, ‘Transforming Body into Ruin,’ had already touched upon the ultimate Profound Truth of the Guixu Dao. Had he not met a monster like Luo Jiuxuan, who could have claimed victory?”
“Eighth Realm Supreme… obliteration at the rule level… This Luo Jiuxuan is probably beyond the comprehension of anyone in this realm. Liu Qingtian’s defeat was not due to his lack of skill.”
“Alas, such an astonishingly talented figure, to fall like this, without even a chance for Reincarnation and re-cultivation… complete annihilation of form and spirit…” Sighs rose and fell, filled with lament for the premature death of a Genius, awe at Luo Jiuxuan’s terrifying power, and helplessness at the cruelty of cosmic Laws.
No one noticed that in the deepest part of the Void Realm where Liu Qingtian’s form and spirit were annihilated and completely erased, a strange fluctuation, so faint that it transcended all perceptual limits, seemingly non-existent in the current space-time dimension, and even interacting with no Laws of this world, subtly flashed like an illusion, then vanished without a trace. It was too minute, too transcendental, so much so that even the mighty beings in the spectator stands, and even the closest surviving Prodigies, were completely unaware.
The news of the battle at Yun Dao Cliff ending swept across countless Star Domains like a cosmic storm. The powerhouses dispersed with complex feelings, and the Star Domain, after experiencing the ripples of a Peak duel, returned to a superficial 'calm'.
Liu Qingtian’s name did not sink into oblivion with his demise; instead, it transformed into a legend, a tragic and magnificent legend circulating in the Star Domain—the Guixu Demonic Venerable, who, with a body of the same Realm, fought Luo Jiuxuan for a thousand moves, ultimately exhausted himself to death, his body and Dao perishing.
Time flowed, stars rose and fell; a thousand years, on the scale of the vast Universe, was but a flick of a finger. New Prodigies rose, old legends gradually faded, and only the ruins of Yun Dao Cliff, and a few ancient records, still recounted that world-shaking battle, how that demonic cultivator named Liu Qingtian, with the most resolute posture, interpreted to the Universe what Guixu was, and what… unyielding meant.
And in some unknowable, immeasurable dimension, that subtly vanished strange fluctuation might be brewing unknown variables. The cosmic chess game has never truly ended because of a temporary departure of one piece.