System Possession, One Sword Shocks the Gods

235: Lost in the desert, the mind sees through illusionsLeaving the Star Abyss of Extinction, Ye Chen, bearing the Legacy and entrustment of Blazing Venerable, followed the star map’s guidance and traveled at full speed toward the region known as the ’Eternal Desert’.

The young Chaos Dragon ’Xiao’ slumbered within his Chaos Domain, absorbing Chaos energy to repair its wounded body, while the fragment of the stone stele floated quietly to the side, like a silent monument.

The space-time structure deep within the Ancient Path grew increasingly bizarre; sometimes he would travel for days, yet the surrounding scenery seemed frozen and unchanging; other times, a single step felt as if it had spanned the distance of several shattered worlds.

The turbulent currents of chaotic Law were like invisible reefs; even a powerhouse of the Law Realm like Ye Chen needed to remain vigilant at all times and carefully avoid them.

As he ventured deeper, the surrounding scenery began to gradually shed its starlit colors, replaced by a monotonous, deathly... gray-yellow.

It was neither sand nor dust, but an endless ’sea of sand’ seemingly composed of the most primal ’Origin’ ’dust of existence’ left behind after the annihilation of countless worlds.

These gray-yellow ’sand grains’ were extremely fine, yet they contained a strange ’inertia,’ as if they could absorb all energy, light, and even the probing of Divine Sense.

This place was the Eternal Desert.

The moment he stepped into the desert, Ye Chen felt his connection to the outside world significantly weakened.

His Divine Sense, when extended, was like a clay ox entering the sea; it could only reach a hundred miles at most, and beyond that, it was just a blur of gray-yellow.

Even the resonance between his Chaos Domain and the external Law became much more sluggish, as if this desert itself were a powerful Law Domain that isolated everything.

According to the star map, the ’initial fire seed’ was hidden somewhere in this desert.

But its exact location was as ethereal and uncertain as a mirage, and the star map could only provide a rough range.

Ye Chen could only rely on his perception to move slowly through the vast sea of sand.

There was no direction here, no reference points, only eternal gray-yellow and deathly silence.

Even his sense of time became blurred, as if he had fallen into an eternal stagnation.

He tried flying, but there was an invisible ’sinking force field’ above the desert; the higher he flew, the greater the consumption, and his mind was more easily eroded by that boundless deathly silence.

He had no choice but to skim at a low altitude across the surface of the ’sea of sand’.

He did not know how long he had been traveling—perhaps days, perhaps months.

Along the way, apart from endless sand dunes, he saw no signs of life and felt no energy fluctuations, only that eternal, suffocating silence.

However, Ye Chen’s heart grew increasingly vigilant.

Blazing Venerable’s warning still rang in his ears—’Trust your heart, not your eyes’.

This desert could not possibly be this simple.

Sure enough, while crossing a seemingly ordinary giant sand dune, an anomaly quietly arrived.

The surrounding scenery did not change at all; it remained a gray-yellow sea of sand.

But Ye Chen suddenly stopped in his tracks, his brows furrowed tightly.

Something was wrong!

He felt that he seemed to be... walking in circles?

No, to be more precise, the space-time structure of this area was silently undergoing an extremely subtle, repetitive distortion!

Like a precise Möbius strip, no matter which direction he moved in, he would eventually, under the guidance of the Law, unknowingly return to a similar starting point!

A space-time maze!

And an extremely sophisticated, almost untraceable space-time maze at that!

If he had not condensed the Chaos Law and were not extremely sensitive to Law fluctuations, he would likely have been unable to realize he had fallen into a desperate situation until his power was exhausted and his Divine Soul was eroded by the deathly silence!

”Hmph, mere parlor tricks.”

Ye Chen snorted coldly, not panicking.

He closed his eyes, completely abandoning visual and Divine Sense probing.

Because in this bizarre desert, what the ’eyes’ saw and what the ’spirit’ felt could both be distorted and deceived.

He calmed his heart and focused all his perception on his Sea of Consciousness—there, floating, was the chaos primordial fetus, as well as the chaos law origin imprint that had fused with the authority of the ’eye’ fragment.

”Heart’s Eye, open!”

He activated the essential power of the ’eye’ fragment—not to observe external objects, but to reflect upon his own heart and discern truth from falsehood!

In an instant, all external interference and illusions receded like the tide.

In his ’Heart’s Eye’ vision, the surroundings were no longer an endless sea of sand, but had transformed into countless crisscrossing, constantly twisting and changing—Law threads!

These threads formed a vast and complex space-time maze, like a huge, self-looping ball of yarn, trapping him firmly at the core!

And the energy source of the maze seemed to come from deep within the desert, from an existence emitting a weak yet constant fluctuation—that was likely where the ’initial fire seed’ was located!

But the correct path to that place was covered and misled by countless twisted, looping Law threads!

Ordinary methods could not break the array at all.

But Ye Chen did not only have the ’eye’.

”Extreme of Power, sever!”

He moved his mind again, and the authority of the ’power’ fragment merged into his ’Heart’s Eye’ vision!

That power intent, capable of shattering stars and shaking Laws, transformed into an invisible blade, not slashing at physical entities, but at the Law nodes that were key to the maze’s cycle!

”Chi! Chi! Chi!”

Under his ’Heart’s Eye’ precise lock-on and the domineering slash of the ’power’ authority, the key Law threads that maintained the maze’s cycle were forcibly ’severed’!

It was not a permanent destruction, but rather a momentary ’interruption’!

The entire precise space-time maze, due to the breaking of these key nodes, instantly experienced a fleeting moment of Chaos and stagnation!

Now is the time!

”Space, fold!”

”Source Seed, guide!”

”Source of Heart, resonate!”

Ye Chen utilized the power of the four great authorities to the extreme at this moment!

At that moment of Chaos, the Space Law forcibly folded a short passage pointing directly to the energy source; the power of the ’Source’ seed resonated weakly with the distant ’fire seed’ fluctuation, like a lighthouse; the ’Source of Heart’ provided surging power and firm will!

He took a step forward, his figure seemingly merging into the folded space channel, instantly breaking free from the endlessly looping space-time maze!

The scene before his eyes changed suddenly!

It was still the gray-yellow desert, but that suffocating sense of repetition had vanished.

Not far ahead, an ancient, low-lying pyramid made of some kind of dark red rock stood quietly in the sea of sand!

The pyramid was not magnificent, yet it exuded a sense of vicissitudes and warmth that had endured for eons without fading, standing in stark contrast to this deathly silent desert!

The top of the pyramid was not a pointed cone, but a platform, and on the platform, a faint yet incredibly pure Chaos-colored flame was burning quietly!

The initial fire seed!

The final Legacy and information left by Blazing Venerable were right there!

Ye Chen was excited and about to step forward.

Suddenly—”Hum!”

The seed of chaos at his brow and the chaos law origin imprint within his Qi Sea simultaneously emitted strong warning fluctuations!

A cold, twisted, and malicious sense of being watched, like a venomous snake hidden beneath the sea of sand, suddenly locked onto him from all directions!

Unlike the Abyss devouring will he had encountered before, this malice was more concealed, and more... adept at bewitchment and disguise!

”Hee hee... another... lost... Chaos walker...”

”Look... at what... you are guarding...”

”Is that so-called... fire seed... really... hope...”

”Or... another... trap...”

”Blazing Venerable... is he... really... worthy... of trust...”

Voices full of temptation and doubt, as if whispering directly from the depths of his heart, ignored all defenses and rang out directly in the depths of Ye Chen’s Soul!

They twisted his gratitude toward Blazing Venerable and amplified his inner vigilance against the unknown, attempting to create an insurmountable chasm of trust between him and the ’initial fire seed’ that was within reach!

The whispers of the Abyss! The... distortion and bewitchment that Blazing Venerable warned of!

They had long since infiltrated here, waiting for him!

Ye Chen’s footsteps halted before the pyramid.

He gazed at the flickering Chaos fire seed, a trace of struggle flashing in his eyes.

Should he trust Blazing Venerable’s entrustment that spanned a hundred years and step into this potential ’trap’?

Or should he heed this ’warning’ born from the depths of his heart, turn around and leave, and give up on this fire seed that might be his last hope?