Chapter Seventeen: The Soul Matrix… and the Reforging of Existence
After the eruption of black-and-gold light, Broken Bones Valley sank into a terrifying stillness—one unseen for tens of thousands of years.
The spiritual eclipse that had shrouded the heavens began to recede slowly, yet it did not reveal a blue sky. Instead, it left behind a pale void, as though light itself feared drawing near to this place.
At the heart of the devastation stood Zhuo Fan, unmoving like an ancient mountain. He was no longer the frail youth with shattered meridians. What stood there now was an existence seemingly carved from shadow and lightning. His right hand still gripped the unconscious Ling'er by the neck, but the connection between them was no longer merely physical—it had become a complex computational link.
Streams of violet Soul Engineering energy flowed out of her body and into Zhuo Fan's pores. Yet instead of driving him mad or tearing him apart, the energy organized itself the instant it entered him.
Within Zhuo Fan's Sea of Consciousness, the Lost Celestial Calculations spun wildly, every character radiating a cold, golden light.
Inputs: Violet Soul Essence…
Processing: Heavenly Ordering Algorithm…
Outputs: Core Stabilization…
Zhuo Fan recited internally.
He could feel every "hole" in his pierced meridians being sealed by layers of structured soul energy. His meridians no longer leaked power; they had transformed into solid channels of black crystal, capable of withstanding an overwhelming flow of qi.
Nearby, Long Xiao struggled to rise. His body trembled violently as blood streamed from his ears. The Bone Zither—his pride and greatest weapon—was engulfed in pale green flames as it crumbled into ash.
"You… what have you done?" Long Xiao screamed hoarsely, terror and disbelief twisting his features.
"This isn't cultivation! This isn't magic! You're tearing apart the laws of Heaven and Earth!"
Zhuo Fan turned toward him slowly. There was no hatred in his eyes—something far worse resided there: absolute indifference.
It was the gaze of a god staring at an incorrect value in an equation.
"The laws of Heaven and Earth?" Zhuo Fan replied, his voice echoing through the valley like distant thunder.
"Heaven and Earth are nothing more than a system. And a system has no emotions—it only follows rules. You followed the rules of sound and thought yourself its master. But you forgot something."
As he spoke, the physical copy of Soul Engineering in his hand began to disintegrate, dissolving into luminous symbols that floated through the air before being absorbed into his forehead.
"You forgot that sound requires a medium.
The medium requires matter.
And matter… is subject to calculation."
An explosion of knowledge erupted within Zhuo Fan's mind.
"I am not tearing the laws apart," he continued calmly.
"I am merely rewriting the initial values of your equation."
The world changed before his eyes.
No longer did he see solid forms—he saw the matrix behind all existence. He saw the chaotic flow of energy inside Long Xiao's broken body. He saw the rapid leakage of his life essence.
"Your Sonata of Annihilation was interesting," Zhuo Fan said as he stepped closer.
"But it contained a fatal error in derivation. You focused on external destruction… and forgot that collapse always begins from within."
Zhuo Fan raised his left hand and pointed a single finger at Long Xiao.
"Chaos Derivation: Division by Zero."
In an instant, the space around Long Xiao compressed violently.
There was no physical blow. Instead, his very existence began to contradict itself. The particles of his body repelled one another in madness. Long Xiao screamed as he poured every last drop of his cultivation into defense—but the moment his energy touched the Void Field surrounding Zhuo Fan, it vanished as if it had never existed.
"No! Please!" Long Xiao wailed as his arm dissolved into gray dust.
"I'll give you everything! I'll be your servant!"
"Weak variables have no place in my final equation," Zhuo Fan replied coldly.
With a simple press of his finger through the air, Long Xiao's body did not explode—it ceased to exist, erased in a flash of black light.
Only his Storage Ring remained, flying on its own into Zhuo Fan's hand.
Zhuo Fan turned to Ling'er, who was slowly regaining consciousness.
When she saw his face, she did not see the pitiful "slave" she had once half-pitied.
She saw a terrifying entity whose aura crushed her soul with unbearable pressure.
"Z-Zhuo Fan…?" she whispered, fear flooding her eyes as she felt the chill of his hand on her neck.
"Ling'er," Zhuo Fan said calmly as he released her.
"I borrowed your Soul Engineering to repair my meridians. In return, I have planted a Void Seed within your heart."
Her pupils shrank.
"If you attempt betrayal or escape," he continued evenly,
"the seed will detonate and reduce you to nothingness in less than a second."
Ling'er trembled. She finally understood—she now belonged to this computational monster.
She had never imagined that the slave who once carried water would reach such a level in a single night.
"What… will you do now?" she asked weakly.
Zhuo Fan looked toward the distant horizon, where elite disciples from various sects were already approaching, drawn by the massive spiritual disturbances.
"This valley is no longer sufficient," he said, the golden light in his eye gleaming with a maddened brilliance.
"There is far too much spiritual waste on this continent."
"Long Xiao was nothing more than an insignificant number. Now, I will go and face the so-called masters who believe they own the heavens."
He raised his gaze to the sky.
"I will show them that the heavens themselves are nothing but a calculation—
and I am the one who holds the solution."
At that moment, the earth trembled violently. A black aura surged forth, engulfing Zhuo Fan and Ling'er entirely.
When it dissipated, both of them were gone—leaving behind a shattered valley, and the beginning of Zhuo Fan's legend, one that would soon shake the entire cultivation world to its core.