Deep within the Scripture Repository of Qingxu Temple, ancient texts sealed for a thousand years unfolded under the glow of magical light. Tang Xiaoqi stood before mountains of jade slips and beast skin scrolls, his brow furrowed tightly. Since the astrolabe's warning, he had spent seven days and seven nights here, reading through all records concerning void rifts.
"The void is not empty; it is a place where laws intertwine." He softly read the text from the oldest beast skin scroll. "Where rifts exist, there must be places where laws are weak."
Senior Brother Mu Qingfeng carried in a fresh batch of jade slips: "Temple Master, these are copies of ancient texts sent from overseas. They are said to record several possible rift entrances."
Xiao Qi took the jade slips and submerged his spiritual sense into them. These treasures from various overseas sects did provide many clues. But every piece of information was vague, as if deliberately avoiding something.
"They are afraid." Xiao Qi put down the jade slips. "There are traces of fearful emotions in all these records."
Mu Qingfeng nodded: "Indeed. They say cultivators who contacted void rifts all went mad in the end."
Just then, Second Senior Brother Luo Feng rushed in excitedly: "Temple Master! While researching the energy fluctuations of the Spirit-Demon Engine, I discovered a strange phenomenon!"
He spread out an energy distribution map, pointing at several abnormal points: "The spiritual energy flow at these locations is extremely unnatural. It's as if... as if something is manipulating it from behind!"
Xiao Qi examined it carefully and found that the distribution of these abnormal points coincided remarkably with several suspected rift entrance locations recorded in the ancient texts.
"It seems the Spirit-Demon Engine can not only purify demonic energy but also detect void fluctuations." he pondered.
In the following month, Xiao Qi visited locations throughout the three realms. In the Extreme Cold Ice Cave of the Northern Wasteland, he sensed spatial distortion; in the Flowing Sand Abyss of the Western Desert, he discovered time abnormalities; in the Bottomless Trench of the Southern Sea, he encountered law chaos...
But these were merely aftershocks of void power, not the true rift entrances.
"Void rifts are mobile." Xuanji True Person said in a remote transmission. "According to records from Penglai Immortal Sect, they are like whirlpools in the ocean, moving with the tides of law."
This statement reminded Xiao Qi of a passage in the astrolabe's legacy. He took out the astrolabe again and began deducing the movement patterns of void rifts.
The stars on the astrolabe began moving in some wondrous trajectory, finally stopping at three locations: the North Star position, the Southern Cross position, and... directly above Kunlun Mountains!
"So that's it..." Xiao Qi suddenly understood. "The most dangerous place is the safest place."
The demonic entity had hidden the void rift's entrance directly above Kunlun Mountains! No wonder the astrolabe had been unable to locate it precisely before—because it was right above everyone's heads!
But this discovery brought a new problem: how to enter this entrance?
"A void rift is not an ordinary spatial passage." read an unsettling passage from the Heaven's Secrets Pavilion's memory. "It is a wound in the laws, a crack in reality. To enter it, one must first understand the essence of the void."
Xiao Qi began frantically researching void theory. He started from the most basic spatial magic and gradually delved into the most profound laws of time and space. In this process, he discovered an astonishing fact:
A void rift is not merely spatial distortion but also a in time. There, past, present, and future may exist simultaneously!
"No wonder everyone who contacted the void went mad." Xiao Qi murmured. "In a state of experiencing all timelines simultaneously, it is indeed difficult to remain sane."
But he did not retreat. Relying on his Spirit Transformation stage cultivation and the astrolabe's assistance, he began attempting to understand this state beyond common sense.
This was an extremely dangerous process. Several times, he nearly lost himself in the currents of time. Had the astrolabe not warned him in time, he might have been trapped in some time fragment forever.
A month later, Xiao Qi finally found a method to enter the void rift. But this method shocked everyone.
"You want to... decompose your existence?" Mu Qingfeng asked incredulously.
"Not decompose, but merge." Xiao Qi explained. "Void rifts reject all complete existences. Only by transforming oneself into the most fundamental energy form can one enter."
This method's risk was enormous. A slight misstep could result in never being able to reorganize, completely dissipating into the void.
"Let me go." Liu Yun stepped forward. "My sword heart is bright; perhaps it can resist the void's erosion."
"No." Xiao Qi firmly refused. "Those below Spirit Transformation stage will certainly die upon entering the void."
He looked at everyone, his tone resolute: "This is a battle I must face myself."
After making all preparations, Xiao Qi came to the peak of Kunlun Mountains. He sat cross-legged on the Dao-Comprehension Platform where he had once undergone tribulation and began operating an extremely dangerous technique—the "Void Spirit Fusion Technique."
This was a secret method he found in the astrolabe's legacy, capable of temporarily transforming oneself into void energy. As the technique circulated, his body began to turn transparent, eventually becoming a hazy shadow of light.
"Now!"
He sensed the entrance above his head and leaped!
In that instant, the world spun. He felt himself torn into countless fragments, then reorganized in the next moment. Time lost meaning, space became distorted. He saw himself at seven years old, and also glimpsed a future of old age; he stood at the gate of Qingxu Temple while simultaneously being at the overseas regions ten thousand li away...
This was the void! A domain beyond all common sense!
Relying on his firm Dao heart and the astrolabe's protection, Xiao Qi barely maintained clarity. He began searching for traces of the demonic entity in the void.
There was no direction here, no distance, only endless chaos. But he could sense, in some "direction," a familiar evil aura.
Following this aura, he traveled with difficulty through the void. He didn't know how long it took before a massive black vortex finally appeared before his eyes—that was the void rift where the demonic entity hid!
But just as he prepared to approach, countless black beams shot out from the vortex! These beams transformed into various terrifying demons, roaring as they charged toward him.
Combat in the void was completely different from the outside world. There were no physical entities here, only pure energy collisions. Xiao Qi operated the Qinglian Purification Origin, and pure purification power bloomed in the void.
The demons scattered under the purification power, but more demons surged from the vortex. More terrifying was that Xiao Qi felt his consciousness beginning to blur—the void was eroding his spiritual sense!
"Cannot stay long!"
He made a decisive judgment and forcibly withdrew from the void. The moment his consciousness returned to his body, he spat a mouthful of blood, his face deathly pale.
"Temple Master!" The people waiting outside rushed forward.
Xiao Qi waved them off indicating he was fine, yet his eyes were full of gravity: "I found it. But that environment... is more terrifying than imagined."
He described what he witnessed in the void. With every sentence, everyone's expressions grew heavier.
"In other words," Mu Qingfeng summarized, "not only must we fight the demonic entity in that environment, but we must also resist the void's erosion itself?"
"That's right." Xiao Qi nodded. "And I suspect the demonic entity chose to recover there not just for safety."
He had a terrifying guess: the demonic entity was likely utilizing the void's special properties to undergo some kind of horrifying evolution. If it succeeded, the consequences would be unthinkable.
"Must act quickly." Xiao Qi made his decision. "But before that, we need to find a way to maintain clarity in the void."
This task was even more difficult than finding the void rift. But Xiao Qi knew it was their only hope.
In the days that followed, he adjusted his injuries while researching methods to counter void erosion. And the astrolabe's legacy once again became the key.
In one late-night divination, he suddenly discovered a forgotten record:
"The void is not void; when the heart is still, clarity comes..."
This sentence seemed to point toward some special method for dealing with the void.