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Having successfully deployed the Array of Cause and Effect, Qi Yun and God of Wealth Cai Shen wasted no time, speeding westward.

Their destination was the westernmost fringe of the vast Northwest Land.

The scenery grew increasingly desolate along the way. All traces of green vanished, and the presence of life thinned.

All that remained was iron-gray rock, boundless expanses of grayish-yellow desert quicksand, and the astral winds that howled year-round, as if trying to tear apart any Soul Spirit.

Several days later, a starkly different sight came into view.

There was no more land ahead. In its place stood a towering sea cliff, dropping vertically as if cleaved by a giant’s axe.

The cliff face soared over ten thousand zhang high. Its entire surface was a deep, dark black, forged by hundreds of millions of years of wind and sea erosion. It was incredibly hard, and not a single blade of grass grew upon it.

Below the cliff lay the legendary West Sea, known as the place "where no living thing enters, neighbor to the Returning Ruins."

The waters of the West Sea were a deep blue, nearly as black as ink.

It was heavy and viscous, without a single ripple or wave, its calmness unsettling to the heart.

A layer of grayish-white mist, which never dispersed, shrouded the surface of the sea. Within the fog, enormous shadows could be seen faintly cruising by, exuding an ancient and savage aura.

Where the sea met the sky, the light itself seemed to twist and blur.

Spiritual Qi was so thin as to be nonexistent, replaced by a "Ruinous Qi" that was utterly incompatible with the laws of the mortal world.

For an ordinary Cultivator, not only would their Cultivation be impossible to advance, but a prolonged stay could even lead to their Dao Foundation being eroded by the Ruinous Qi, clouding their Divine Soul.

But for this very reason, the entanglement of cause and effect here was incredibly simple and thin—almost a blank slate. This stood in stark contrast to the vast and intricate web of causality in the Northwest’s interior.

"Alright, this is the place."

God of Wealth Cai Shen’s Little Golden Man sat on Qi Yun’s shoulder, gazing at the scene that resembled the edge of the world. He spoke slowly, his voice remaining clear even amidst the howling sea wind.

"Here, in the Northwest Land, the threads of causality are at their thinnest, like dust on a blank page."

"We’ll wait here, hidden from the world."

"I estimate that in a few months, after those old geezers in the south have pored over my main body—which has lost its spiritual nature—and come up with nothing, they’ll finally lose their patience and personally try to divine the truth."

"When that time comes, we’ll see if the Array of Cause and Effect can truly deceive the heavens."

Qi Yun’s gaze swept across the desolate, silent cliff and the ink-black sea. He asked:

"If the Grand Array holds, then we have nothing to worry about."

"And if... it doesn’t?"

Cai Shen shrugged his tiny shoulders, a look of almost nonchalant helplessness on his small, golden face.

"What else do you think will happen?"

"You die, and I get captured."

"You’re certainly taking it well," Qi Yun chuckled, unshaken by the blunt prediction.

He had long understood the risks. From the moment he decided to secretly keep the spiritual nature of the Imperial Soldiers, he had prepared himself to face a True Monarch’s wrath.

The path to the peak of the Great Dao was perilous and fraught with obstacles. Every step was a struggle against heaven, against others, and against oneself.

Since he had already taken this step, he would not regret his move.

All that remained was to see if the chips he held could secure that one-in-a-million chance of survival.

Saying no more, Qi Yun waved a large sleeve. Several Wind Stabilizing Talismans, glowing with a green light and flowing runes, shot out and embedded themselves precisely into the surrounding cliff walls.

The Talismans took effect. Within a hundred-zhang radius, the violent sea winds that could rip through refined steel immediately became gentle, leaving only a low murmur.

Then, on this clifftop at the edge of the world, he found a massive black rock, sat down cross-legged with his palms and feet facing the sky, closed his eyes, and began to cultivate in seclusion.

Cai Shen also fell silent. The Little Golden Man transformed into an imperceptible speck of golden light, hiding within the folds of Qi Yun’s robes. Its aura slowly merged with Qi Yun’s own Dao Rhyme as they both fell into a state of deep stillness.

Time flowed slowly but surely in this corner of the world that seemed utterly forgotten.

The sun rose and the moon set, tides surged and receded; only the astral winds and Ruinous Qi flowed on for eternity.

Like a stubborn stone rooted to the black cliff, Qi Yun’s aura gradually merged with this desolate domain.

...

「Three months passed in the blink of an eye.」

On this day, at the stroke of midnight, the "Ruin Tide" was at its ebb.

The ink-black sea was as calm as a mirror, reflecting the few, yet exceptionally large and bright, ancient stars in the Celestial Vault.

There was no wind on the clifftop. A profound silence reigned, broken only by the gentle, breath-like ebb and flow of the omnipresent Ruinous Qi.

At that moment, Qi Yun, who was seated on the giant rock, suddenly snapped his eyes open!

His eyes were no longer their usual deep black but instead erupted with a Nine-Colored Divine Radiance so bright it threatened to blind!

At the same time, a majestic phenomenon manifested in the void behind him with a thunderous roar—the Daluo Heaven, a vast and boundless space containing the birth and death of the Ten Thousand Laws and the flow of chaos!

’It’s here!’

The Southern True Monarch’s causal investigation had arrived, crossing endless lands and ignoring the barriers of time and space with tyrannical force!

Qi Yun’s Heart and Spirit instantly tensed to the absolute limit. He submerged his entire consciousness into his Purple Mansion, becoming one with the Daluo Heaven.

At the same time, he extended his senses toward the distant Valley of No Life, to the Array of Cause and Effect he had personally deployed.

Within his perception, an indescribable "great power" descended.

Above the Valley of No Life, a giant hand—formless and intangible, yet seeming to encompass all of Heaven and Earth—crashed down.

It then began, in an incomprehensible manner, to flip through all the "traces" and "connections" of everything that had happened in the Valley of No Life over the past few months, and even further back.

A single thought from a True Monarch!

A caress of causality!

Qi Yun "watched" as the formless "giant hand" first brushed over the intense remnants of Dao Rhyme left from the seven Great Masters’ battle for the Imperial Soldiers. It paused briefly, as if to confirm the details.

Then, it precisely "probed" the various anomalies from the final moments before the main body of the Imperial Soldiers was swept away by Celestial Master Chen.

The Array of Cause and Effect began to operate!

The Array’s power was Formless, yet it responded with a clever strategy of "deception" and "obfuscation."

When the True Monarch’s consciousness touched the preset Residual Cause, the Grand Array immediately presented its corresponding, meticulously fabricated Void Fruit.

The main body of the Imperial Soldiers, its internal spiritual nature already damaged from the erosion of time, had suffered excessive wear after being besieged by the seven Great Masters. Ultimately, its spiritual nature fell completely dormant and was suppressed and taken away along with the main body.

The entire process was logically self-consistent. The chain of cause and effect was complete, and it matched most of the "traces" left at the scene.

The True Monarch’s consciousness seemed to accept this explanation.

It didn’t linger on the reasons for the Imperial Soldiers’ dormancy.

After all, Imperial Soldiers were mysterious and beyond ordinary comprehension; any number of strange situations were possible.

However, just as Qi Yun thought he was about to get away with it...

The formless "giant hand," just as it was about to withdraw from the Valley of No Life, subtly "flicked" a fingertip in an extremely remote, almost nonexistent corner of causality.

That spot had already been gathered up by the Array of Cause and Effect as a Residual Cause.

But that gentle "flick" seemed to lift an extremely fine fold in the fabric of events.

The True Monarch’s consciousness came to a sudden halt!

Immediately, a gaze far more focused and concentrated than before—like the light of a Bright Mirror magnified a billion times—suddenly enveloped that one insignificant "anomaly"!

The Array of Cause and Effect operated frantically, its gray-white power of obfuscation trying to reinforce the Void Fruit’s disguise.

But how terrifying was the perception of a True Monarch?

Beneath the True Monarch’s "Bright Mirror" that encompassed the Ten Thousand Laws, that anomalous wisp became clearer and clearer... and more and more out of place!

The Void Fruit’s disguise began to fluctuate violently, and a barely perceptible crack appeared—a sign that it was about to be exposed!

Once that crack widened, the True Monarch would be able to follow the thread back to its source, tracing this unique Dao Rhyme.

Even with Qi Yun hiding at the edge of the West Sea where causality was thin, he might not be able to escape detection completely!

The crisis was at a tipping point!

In this moment of life and death—

On the clifftop, the Nine-Colored Divine Radiance in Qi Yun’s eyes flared to its absolute limit.

Divine Technique—Mastering All Skills!

He activated it, reaching across the void to affect the Array of Cause and Effect he had personally deployed in the depths of the Valley of No Life!

"Seal!"

Faint golden threads of blood seeped from Qi Yun’s seven orifices. His aura fluctuated wildly, and the Daluo Heaven phenomenon trembled violently.

He was doing something incredibly dangerous.

With the body of a mere Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he was forcefully mending a causal disguise under the scrutiny of a True Monarch.

It was no different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

The slightest misstep, and the True Monarch’s consciousness would follow this thread of interference back to him, inflicting a fatal backlash that would obliterate both his body and soul!

But he had no choice!

If he didn’t fight back, he would just be waiting to be exposed!

The great power of Mastering All Skills combined with the Array Power of the Array of Cause and Effect, transforming into a formless but incredibly resilient "Heaven-mending Needle" that instantly "stitched" at the cracking trace on the Void Fruit!

He wasn’t confronting the True Monarch’s consciousness—that would be suicide!

Instead, he was subtly and secretly mending the crack!

The move could not be called anything but audacious.

If even the slightest fluctuation were detected by the True Monarch, it would instantly incur his thunderous wrath.

"You brat... you’ve got some nerve!"

God of Wealth, who had just been sighing that their efforts were about to fall short, was astonished to see Qi Yun dare to pull a stunt right under a True Monarch’s nose.

"If that’s how it is, then I’ll join you in this gamble!"

Leaping onto the crown of Qi Yun’s head, God of Wealth chanted ancient syllables. With a great rumble, his form once again transformed into the sky-piercing ancient gold tree, and boundless Spiritual Light poured ceaselessly into Qi Yun’s body.

With God of Wealth’s aid, Qi Yun’s faltering aura was instantly restored to its peak, becoming even stronger than before.

The Nine-Colored Divine Radiance in his eyes almost became tangible, even causing the West Sea beside him to roil with turbulent waves.

Under the combined efforts of Mastering All Skills and the Array of Cause and Effect to smooth things over...

The "crack" that was about to be torn open paused for a fraction of a second.

Then... slowly, with extreme difficulty, it sealed itself shut!

The focused consciousness of the True Monarch repeatedly scanned and probed the quietly mended "fold" for several breaths.

In the end, it accepted the concealment offered by the Void Fruit.

The suffocating feeling of being "watched" slowly receded, like a tide going out.

It left the Valley of No Life completely, fading into nothingness.

The True Monarch’s investigation was over.

PUH—!

On West Sea Cliff Peak, Qi Yun violently spat out a large mouthful of blood tinged with a faint golden light. His face instantly turned as pale as paper, and his aura withered to an extreme low. After flickering violently, the Daluo Heaven phenomenon shot back into his body.

Those few short breaths had nearly drained his Heart and Spirit and his Magical Power, and he had endured an unimaginable pressure from the backlash.

However, at the very moment his mind relaxed, as he struggled to regulate his breathing, his Dao Heart stirred by the thrill of surviving a great peril...

Deep within his Purple Mansion, the three clusters he had been nurturing—the Origin Mechanism, the Peak Essence, and the Mysterious Hidden Treasure—simultaneously burst forth with brilliant light!

The three Spiritual Mechanisms no longer circled independently. Instead, they began to converge and merge toward a single point at their center.

At the core of their fusion, a brand new point of dark radiance was quietly born. Initially as faint as a mustard seed, it rapidly expanded and manifested!

This radiance was incomparably profound, as if it could absorb all light, all color, even concepts themselves.

It was precisely the final component of the Four Seasons marvels—the Collection of Returning Ruins.

The Four Seasons were gathered. Here, at the edge of the West Sea, amidst the aftershocks of a True Monarch’s probe and the enlightenment born on the razor’s edge of life and death, they had finally manifested in Perfection!

Feeling the four profound Spiritual Mechanisms within his Purple Mansion now shining in harmony, forming a perfect cycle, a smile of profound relief slowly spread across Qi Yun’s pale face.

He had finally collected all of the Four Seasons.

...