Xu Tianran already had an astonishing amount of Devour Points—9999.9 Trillion—more than enough to upgrade everything in his arsenal, including his cultivation realm.
Without hesitation, he pressed the '+' symbol next to Supreme Cautious Eternal Extinction Dao in his system interface.
Dao Concept Breakthrough Path:
1% Comprehension→1st Heaven Immortal Realm
??
21% Comprehension → 1st Mystic Immortal Realm
??
51% Comprehension → 1st Dao Immortal Realm
??
100% Comprehension → Peak Dao Immortal Realm
...
As his Devour Points drained, chaos energy surged into his body, and his comprehension skyrocketed at an absurd speed. Endless insights poured into his mind like a divine revelation.
Without hesitation, Xu Tianran activated his Parallel Mind Function, absorbing every fragment of understanding into his soul. His body trembled violently, flickering like a nightmarish distortion—an eerie transformation akin to a horror scene.
Then, his cultivation began to break through in rapid succession:
Heaven Immortal Realm:
1st → 3rd → 5th → 7th → 9th → Peak Heaven Immortal Realm
His cultivation exploded, reaching Peak Heaven Immortal Realm in an instant—but it didn't stop.
The momentum surged forward, carrying him into the Mystic Immortal Realm:
Mystic Immortal Realm:
1st → 3rd → 5th → 7th → 9th → Peak Mystic Immortal Realm
Then, without stopping, he directly stepped into the Dao Immortal Realm:
Dao Immortal Realm:
1st → 3rd → 5th → 7th → 9th → Peak Dao Immortal Realm
Each breakthrough happened in a flash, as if heaven and earth were rewriting his existence.
Yet, just as he stood at the edge of Peak Dao Immortal Realm, he forcefully restrained himself.
If Xu Tianran formed his Origin from his Dao Concept and broke through to Primordial Immortal Realm, that old bastard Tian Mozi would instantly sense his Origin formation, forcibly connect to it, and attempt to seize his body.
He might be able to sever Origin Connection using his unparalleled Dao Concept.
But it wasn't 100% certain—and that was a risk he wasn't willing to take.
Because of Primal Severance—the system's inactivated function. He had deliberately avoided activating it for so long, knowing it would instantly alert unwanted eyes.
Now, with his Dao Concept already at its peak, he finally had the perfect means to sever all unnecessary ties.
Why use a small knife to cut the rope when he had a giant sword?
Xu Tianran narrowed his eyes and commanded, "System, show me the prompt for the inactivated system function—Primal Severance."
A moment later, the system responded.
Ding!
[Primal Severance: A system function that allows the host to sever any and all bindings—be they origin control, soul imprints, slave marks, karmic ties, fate entanglements, time locks, or reincarnation loops—while devouring the forces attempting to control the host]
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[Activation Cost: 100 Billion Devour Points (Adjusted due to late activation)]
Xu Tianran's lips twitched. "The hell? The system is actually charging me for activating it late?!"
But after checking his remaining 6,680 trillion Devour Points, he shrugged. "Tch, whatever. A small price to pay for absolute freedom."
Without hesitation, he directly activated it.
The moment Primal Severance took effect, he felt something deep within him—an invisible chain, connected to his very existence, suddenly being cut.
Zzzng!
As if a forbidden link had been severed, two powerful beings were instantly alerted.
.....
Far away, in a vast, storm-wracked void deep within the Primordial Chaos Realm, a strange white prison room hung suspended in the endless chaos. Within it, Tian Mozi was impaled by countless golden lightning spears, each one nailing him in place.
Suddenly, his closed eyes snapped open in shock.
His soul telepathy link—cut.
His link to his false disciple Xu Tianran—severed.
His expression twisted into rage. "HOW DARE HE?!"
Instantly, he tried to reconnect—only for his soul to be met with something terrifying.
A saw-like force—merciless, slow, and excruciating—began to tear through his very existence.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
His agonized screams echoed through the void, shaking the very foundations of his domain.
Only when he stopped trying to reconnect did the pain subside.
Panting heavily, his once-imposing figure trembled. Hah… Hah… Hah…
He was an Origin Dao Emperor—second only to an Origin Dao Ancestor—but this pain… this horrific, mind-tearing torment...
He never wanted to experience it again.
Then, his eyes flashed with terrifying killing intent, cold enough to freeze entire universes.
.....
Meanwhile, a thousand quadrillion light-years away, in another universe, a monstrous entity of galaxy-sized proportions lay dormant.
Its name was Xal'Zyros, the Tyrant of Ruin—an ancient horror that once sought to devour Xu Tianran's universe but was ultimately repelled.
Suddenly, its countless crimson eyes snapped open. A deep disturbance rippled through its being.
It focused on its Slave Soul Imprint, which had been embedded in Tian Mozi—half clustered within him, half scattered across the universe, likely within his clones. But that wasn't what alarmed it.
No.
What truly shook it to its core… was that a fragment of that imprint had been severed.
Impossible.
Such a thing should have been utterly unthinkable.
With an unsettling sense of urgency, Xal'Zyros reached out to reconnect the broken fragment—only for something horrifying to strike back.
A storm of microscopic, needle-like shards erupted into its being. Not a clean severance—no mercy.
Billions of the needle-thin fragments drilled into its flesh, piercing straight into its soul, its origin, and its very existence itself.
Each shard writhed and twisted, burrowing deeper, tearing apart its existence bit by bit—slowly, deliberately, agonizingly.
Xal'Zyros had never known pain. Not like this.
A torment beyond reality—as if an invisible force was unraveling its being thread by thread, shredding its power, devouring what it was.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
The Tyrant of Ruin's monstrous scream echoed through the cosmos, distorting space itself as galaxies trembled from the sheer force of its pain.
Only when it finally stopped trying to reconnect did the agony begin to fade.
But its countless eyes now gleamed with something beyond rage.
Fear.
For the first time in its existence… it felt fear.
...
Meanwhile, within the Star Sword Sect, Xu Tianran felt true freedom for the first time.
It was as if he had been reborn, unshackled from every chain that had ever bound him. The sensation wasn't just physical—it was something far deeper.
His very existence itself felt light, unburdened.
He let out a breath and muttered, "So good… If I had known it would feel this liberating, I should have activated the Primal Severance system function the moment it appeared."
Just as Xu Tianran was about to savor his newfound freedom, the system notification echoed in his mind.
Ding!
[Primal Severance has devoured fragments of existence from Tian Mozi and Xal'Zyros.]
Devour Points obtained: 2,000 Trillion.
Remaining Devour Points: 8,680 Trillion.
Xu Tianran was shocked beyond belief—not because of the massive amount of Devour Points he had just obtained, nor because a fragment of Tian Mozi's existence had been severed and devoured. That bastard had it coming.
What truly sent a chill down his spine was the appearance of an unfamiliar name—Xal'Zyros.
Even the name itself carried an eerie, suffocating weight. Who was this entity?
For the first time in a long while, a flicker of fear appeared on Xu Tianran's face. A known enemy like Tian Mozi was a hundred times better than an unknown one lurking in the shadows.
Without hesitation, he activated the Brainstorming Function and Parallel Mind Function, pushing his mind to its limits to search for any indirect connections to this being.
Then, the system prompt appeared:
[Xal'Zyros—A galaxy-sized entity from another universe. This creature implanted a Slave Soul Imprint on Tian Mozi and provided him with the All-Severing Poison, meant to kill Gu Xuanyin, the Origin Dao Ancestor of this universe. Even after reincarnation, Tian Mozi's soul fragments still contained fragments of this Slave Soul Imprint.]
Xu Tianran's expression darkened.
What kind of shitty luck is this?! "Why the hell am I entangled with every monstrous villain out there?!"
After calming down, Xu Tianran sighed and muttered, "With whatever little luck I have, at least Xal'Zyros—that cool-named monster—never activated the Slave Soul Imprint to kill Tian Mozi. Otherwise, I would've died along with him as one of his reincarnated soul fragments."
"Well, as they say—sometimes misfortune is just a blessing in disguise. That monster unknowingly gifted me a fortune in Devour Points."
With an exaggerated motion, he gave a slight bow in a random direction, as if paying respect to some unseen entity. "Thank you, monster."
