[Primordial Continent · Banks of the Wei River · The First Cry of Civilization]
As the first rays of dawn illuminated the enormous character "人" (person), the tranquility of the Wei Riverbank was shattered by an extremely terrifying sense of oppression.
This oppression did not come from wild beasts, nor from demons.
It was stillness.
Absolute deathly silence.
The wind stopped, the rushing river froze like a mirror, and even the newly risen sun seemed frozen on a canvas by a paintbrush. The entire world seemed to have been paused; all colors faded instantly, leaving only oppressive black and white.
"They've come." Shen Qingqiu stood in the shadow of Buzhou Mountain, the branch in her hand snapping with a "crack."
She looked up at the sky, which had turned grayish-white.
There, an old man dressed in gray cloth was walking step by step through the void. He held a broken jade disc in his hand, his gaze indifferent, as if looking at a group of non-existent ants.
Dao Ancestor · Hongjun. Or rather, it was the will of Heaven in this primordial world.
"Anomalies." Hongjun paused in mid-air, his voice flat, yet it exploded directly in the minds of Shen Qingqiu and Seventeen.
"You are not beings of this world, disrupting cause and effect, altering destiny. You shall… be annihilated."
Boom—!!!
As the word "annihilate" fell,
there were no earth-shattering magical displays.
Only the entire space began to **collapse**.
Like a piece of drawing paper, carelessly crumpled into a ball. The surrounding mountains, rivers, and even the humans who had just learned to walk upright, all began to distort and flatten under this irresistible force of the rules.
"Trying to annihilate us?" Seventeen stepped forward, blocking Shen Qingqiu's path.
His black robes stood out starkly against the gray-white world.
His **[Starry Right Arm]** operated wildly, its dark red magical runes bursting forth with dazzling light, attempting to expand the compressed space.
"You dare challenge me?" Seventeen sneered, his body swelling in the wind, transforming into a thousand-foot-tall Xing Tian Demon God avatar.
He raised the **[Slaying Evil]** blade and slashed fiercely down at the gray-white aura filling the sky!
Clang!
The blade stopped three inches in front of Hongjun.
It wasn't blocked.
It was... **"Nullified"**.
The indestructible Star Demon Blade, upon contact with the gray-white aura, began to disintegrate.
The hard divine metal transformed into primordial particles, dissipating as if it had never existed.
"The rules of physics have no effect on this realm."
Hongjun glanced at Seventeen indifferently.
"I am the Dao. I say no blade, and there is no blade."
Pfft!
Seventeen's right arm instantly exploded, countless nanobots falling like dead dust. His massive avatar was forcibly pressed back to its original form by an invisible force, crashing heavily into the earth.
Blood stained the greyish-white earth crimson.
"Seventeen!!" Shen Qingqiu screamed shrilly.
She tried to rush forward, but found her body frozen in place.
A chain called **"Fate"** tightly constricted her throat.
"The fragment in your hand is the one that has vanished." Hongjun's gaze fell on the **[Bronze Fragment]** in Shen Qingqiu's arms.
"Hand it over. I will grant you immortality, allowing you to suffer in the cycle of reincarnation for ten thousand years to atone for your sins."
"Suffer…for ten thousand years?"
Shen Qingqiu laughed.
Even with blood trickling from her lips, even with her bones creaking under the oppressive force, her laughter remained arrogant.
She laboriously raised her hand and grasped the scorching bronze fragment.
"Old man, you've misunderstood something."
"I, Shen Qingqiu, never atone for sins."
"Because I…am innocent!"
She forcefully channeled her spiritual power into the fragment.
But this time, the fragment's reaction was extremely weak.
Because the **[Creation Jade Disc]** (server administrator privileges) in Hongjun's hand was relentlessly suppressing this fragment (illegal plugin).
[Warning! System conflict!]
[Warning! Insufficient computing power... Unable to analyze the Heavenly Firewall...]] Despair.
This was true despair.
Faced with the administrator of a world, faced with the "god" who set the rules, these two outsiders seemed so insignificant.
"It's over." Hongjun raised his finger and gently pointed at the two.
A gray beam of light, carrying the "delete" command, fell.
Just at this critical moment.
Beep—
Beep—
Beep— A sudden, crisp, and rhythmic electronic sound emanated from Seventeen's shattered chest.
That wasn't a heartbeat.
That was... the startup sound.
The **[Abyss Soul Crystal]** on Seventeen's chest, which had long been dim, suddenly erupted with a dazzling blue data light.
A childish voice, tinged with a hint of morning grumpiness, echoed through the desolate, primordial world:
"Hey! Who unplugged my internet?!"
"So noisy! Zero was dreaming about calculating pi!"
Buzz—!!!
A tiny figure flew out from Seventeen's chest.
He was only the size of a palm, wearing a miniature black Taoist robe, with two pairs of transparent data wings on his back.
It was their "lost" son in the Infinite Terror instance—Zero.
Zero rubbed his sleepy eyes.
He glanced at his father (Seventeen), covered in blood, then at his mother (Shen Qingqiu), frozen in place.
Finally, his gaze settled on the gray-robed old man high above.
His once adorable eyes instantly narrowed into dangerous slits.
"Old man." The small abacus in Zero's hand clattered.
Countless green data streams swirled around him, forming a terrifying data storm.
"You dare touch my parents?"
"Don't you know who I am?"
"I am… the terminator of logic, the bug-maker!"
"A-Ling?!" Shen Qingqiu exclaimed with surprise and joy, "You're awake?" Previously, during the battle against the Main God's mirror image, A-Ling had entered a deep hibernation to protect the core data. Unexpectedly, at this critical moment, he was awakened by the divine metal reorganization within Seventeen's body.
"Mother, don't be afraid!"
A-Ling hovered in mid-air, his small body unleashing astonishing computing power.
"This old man wants to play with the 'Tao'?"
"Then we'll play with him…mathematics!"
A-Ling suddenly charged towards the **[Bronze Fragment]** in Shen Qingqiu's hand.
He had no physical form; he directly burrowed into the fragment.
[System Access: Eastern Emperor Bell Core (Fragment).]
[Auxiliary Cheat: A-Ling (Hyperdimensional Algorithm).]
[Computing Power Fusion: ∞ (Infinity).] Boom!
The bronze fragments, originally suppressed by the Jade Disc of Creation, suddenly flared up as if injected with stimulants.
The light was no longer a simple cyan;
it transformed into a flowing light across the entire RGB color gamut—the color of data!
"Old man!"
A-Ling's voice, amplified billions of times through the fragments, shook even Hongjun's Jade Disc of Creation.
"Your so-called 'Dao' is nothing more than… a complex set of equations!"
"Since it's an equation, it has a solution!"
[Godslayer's Divine Song – Deconstructing the Heavens]
Shen Qingqiu felt the fragments in her hands transform into the terminal of a supercomputer.
Countless "rule loopholes" concerning this world were clearly displayed before her eyes.
Hongjun's expression finally changed.
"What…is this?"
He couldn't understand those 0s and 1s. But he could sense that his "Heavenly Dao Authority" was being frantically altered.
"This is…science."
Shen Qingqiu broke free from her restraints.
She helped Seventeen up, and the two stood side by side.
Although Seventeen was severely injured, the light in his eyes shone brighter than ever before.
This was because Ah Ling was using the data link to take over his body, repair his injuries, and calculate the optimal attack path for him.
"Daddy! Slash him!"
"Coordinates (X, Y, Z, T) locked! Weakness analysis: Missing corner of the Creation Jade Disc!"
"Attack probability: 100%!"
Seventeen smiled.
It was a smile filled with fatherly love and pride.
"Good son."
The **[Slaying Evil] Blade in his hand** condensed once more.
This time, the blade was no longer covered in demonic runes, but rather in densely packed data chains.
"Slash!" Seventeen swung his blade.
This slash contained no magic power, no malevolent energy.
Only the purest… logic.
It followed the only "death line" calculated by Ah Ling, ignoring space, ignoring time, and directly slashed into the defensive network of the Creation Jade Disc.
Crack!
A crisp cracking sound rang out.
A crack appeared in the Creation Jade Disc in Hongjun's hand.
The grayish-white world, like shattered glass, collapsed instantly.
Color returned.
The sounds of wind, water, and people flooded back into the world.
Hongjun took a half-step back.
He looked at the jade disc in his hand, and for the first time, shock appeared in his eyes.
He had lost.
On the level of rules, he had been deconstructed by a "child" in a way he couldn't understand…
"Variables… indeed cannot be allowed to remain."
Although Hongjun had lost a move, the power of a sage was still inexhaustible. He was about to mobilize the power of the entire primordial world to launch a counterattack.
"Wait!" A-Ling's small figure emerged from the shards, holding a small holographic projection.
"Old man, are you sure you want to fight us to the death?"
A-Ling pointed at the image on the projection.
It was a terrifying sight: the sky shattered, countless black cubes rained down, dismantling the primordial world like building blocks. That wasn't magic; it was… a higher-dimensional attack.
"You foresaw the Lich War, you foresaw the Investiture of the Gods."
"But did you foresee this?"
A-Ling's voice turned serious and cold.
"A lower-dimensional attack. If you don't leave us two 'variables' alive, when those things arrive… your primordial world will be nothing but a meal."
Hongjun fell silent.
As a Dao-Merging Saint, he vaguely sensed that threat. It was a terrifying future that even the Heavenly Dao couldn't touch.
And these two people before him carried the aura of that "future."
After a long while.
Hongjun put away the Jade Disc of Creation.
The previously chilling aura dissipated.
"Alright."
Hongjun uttered a single word.
"You may remain in this world. But…"
His gaze swept over the trembling humans below.
"The rise of humanity is ordained; it is destiny. You must not interfere too much, nor teach... that kind of power (referring to high technology)."
"Deal." Shen Qingqiu readily agreed.
"We'll only teach them how to survive. As for the future..."
She glanced at A-Ling.
"That's their own business." Hongjun gave the three of them a deep look, his figure slowly dissipating into the void.
Leaving behind only a meaningful sentence:
"Take care of yourselves. That 'wall'... is about to collapse."
...The crisis was averted.
"Yay! We won!" A-Ling cheered, flying to Shen Qingqiu's cheek and giving her a quick kiss.
"Mommy, isn't A-Ling amazing?"
"Amazing, our A-Ling is the most amazing." Shen Qingqiu hugged her regained "little cheat code," tears welling up in her eyes.
Seventeen sheathed her sword; although still weak, her eyes, looking at the two, were as gentle as a pool of spring water.
"Welcome back, son." He reached out his broken hand and gently touched A-Ling's little wings.
"Daddy, you need to fix it, this skin is too ugly." A-Ling pouted in disdain, then started fiddling with her little abacus again.
"According to my calculations, if we combine the magnetic field of Buzhou Mountain with nano-divine metal... hmm, we could create a **'Pangu-level' mecha**." Shen Qingqiu looked at the father and son, feeling reassured.
With A-Ling as her "supercomputing strategist," the rise of humanity was secure.
She looked up at the sky.
Although Hongjun was gone, the image A-Ling had projected—those black cubes—still weighed heavily on her heart like a boulder.
"Higher dimensions descending..." Shen Qingqiu murmured to herself.
That would be even more terrifying than the myths of the primordial era... a dimensional war.
But for now, let them enjoy this moment of peace.
Under the setting sun.
Seventeen carried Shen Qingqiu on her back, while Shen Qingqiu held A-Ling in her arms.
The three walked towards the human tribe.
There, the campfire had been relit.
The flame of civilization, in this struggle against the Heavenly Dao, not only did not burn out, but instead… burned even brighter.
(Volume 7: Primordial Myths - The River of Time - End)
[Next Volume Preview: Volume 8 - Higher Dimensions Descend - Dimensional Wars]
"That's not a meteorite!"
"That's… a pixel?"
The primordial world shattered, the Heavenly Dao collapsed.
The true enemy was not the saints, but "players" and "cleaners" from higher dimensions.
They viewed this world as a game, and life as data.
Shen Qingqiu stood atop Mount Buzhou, watching the sky being "pixelated."
She donned a [Conceptual Armor] she had never seen before, a fusion of cultivation and cyberpunk styles.
A-Ling transformed into countless data streams, merging into the spiritual energy network of the entire primordial world.
Seventeen drew the demonic blade powerful enough to cleave dimensions.
"Want to delete your save file?"
"Did you ask the knife in my hand first?"
The dimensional war is about to erupt!