The passage's end was not a portal as expected, but a curtain of rippling darkness like water waves, emanating viscous devouring force. Beyond this curtain was the source of that terrifying pressure like a cosmic black hole.
Xiao Qi and Mu Xue stopped here. Even with their two personas's mental composure, facing this final barrier, they could not help but feel nervous. The aura beyond the curtain was filled with pure evil, extreme darkness, and a kind of indifference towering above all things.
"Are you ready?" Xiao Qi turned, looking at Mu Xue beside him.
Mu Xue's ice-blue eyes were clear and resolute. She gently nodded, reaching out to grasp Xiao Qi's hand voluntarily. The two's spiritual power and divine consciousness blended without reservation at this moment. Ice Heart Art's absolute calm and Green Lotus Origin's pure protection complemented each other, forming a wondrous harmonious state.
"Let's go!"
The two hesitated no more. Spiritual light blazed around them, transforming into a blue-green intertwined beam of light, brazenly crashing into that dark curtain!
SIZZLE!
Like a hot branding iron immersed in ice water, violent energy erosion sounds rang out. That dark curtain contained powerful corrosion and rejection force, crazily eroding the two's protective spiritual light. Xiao Qi fully urged the Green Lotus Origin, purifying force surged like tides, constantly counteracting the darkness's erosion. Mu Xue released extreme cold, freezing and slowing nearby dark energy.
This crossing process seemed infinitely long, yet also seemed to pass in an instant. When that viscous devouring sensation suddenly vanished, the scene before them opened up, making the two hearts shrink simultaneously.
They had broken into an expansive space beyond verbal description.
Here, it was as if it were the dark side of the universe, the Gui Xu of all things. There was no distinction between up and down, no concept of time's passage, only eternal darkness devouring everything. At the center of this boundless darkness was a pool so massive it was unimaginable.
The pool's contents were not the dark-red demonic fluid seen before, but something viscous like asphalt, yet seemingly composed of countless shattered stars, extinguished worlds, and the most desperate wails of billions of living beings... the "Primordial Darkness." The pool's surface was calm and still, yet emanated a deathly stillness and coldness that froze even souls.
And at this "Primordial Dark Pool's" center, a figure floated.
It was not thethe expected towering, ferocious demon god body. Its size was no different from an ordinary person. Its entire body presented a semi-transparent, obsidian-like texture. Within, countless intricate, cosmic star-map-like dark veins slowly flowed.
Its features were blurred and unclear, seemingly shrouded in eternal shadow. Only two eyes as deep as black holes could be seen, containing no emotion whatsoever, only indifference toward all existence and desire for ending.
Countless energy threads of varying thickness, condensed from the purest demonic energy and negative laws, extended from below the "Primordial Dark Pool," connected like umbilical cords to the figure's back, limbs, and even head, continuously injecting that despair-inducing energy into its body.
This figure floated there quietly, as if existing since ancient times, yet also seeming just born. It did not emanate world-destroying momentum and pressure, but that absolute "high-level" sensation from life forms and law origins suffocated people more than any violent pressure.
The Demon Lord's True Body!
Unlike the violence and madness felt in the secret realm andvoid projection, the current Demon Lord's true body gave people a feeling of absolute "stillness" and "emptiness." It was destruction itself, the final destination of all things.
Xiao Qi and Mu Xue's appearance seemed to arouse not the slightestfluctuation in it. Those two black hole-like eyes did not even turn, still indifferently "gazing" at the emptiness ahead, as if these two were no different from dust floating in this dark space.
However, Xiao Qi could clearly feel that this Demon Lord's True Body's aura was far stronger, more concentrated, more terrifying than any previous encounter or perception! It seemed to have completed some key transformation,in a peculiar state, as if sleeping, yet also fusing with some deeper level of laws.
"It... has become stronger." Mu Xue's voice carried a trace of undetectable trembling, not fear, but lifeinstinct's shudder when facing this level of incomprehensible "existence."
Xiao Qi tightly grasped her hand. Green Lotus Origin circulated faster within him, dispelling that pervasive cold and despair. His gaze firmly locked on the floating Demon Lord's True Body, and on the "Primordial Dark Pool" seemingly containing the entire universe's negative history beneath it.
This was the enemy they ultimately had to face. Not a crazy beast, not a twisted monster, but... "the other side of the Dao," the ultimate obstacle purification and protection must cross.
No roars, no declarations of war. In this silent core forbidden zone, on one side stood "darkness" representing the universe's ending; on the other stood "light" carrying the tiny flame of hope that had broken in.
The final battle, in this silent confrontation, was about to erupt.