The Heavenly God was formed from a wisp of obsession left behind by Sansheng's junior brother.
He was an unconventional Yang Six.
Back then, the name Sansheng was known to everyone throughout the Yang Realm.
Yet many had overlooked the Heavenly God—Sansheng's junior brother.
His talent had also been terrifyingly immense.
Had Sansheng not existed, he might have been one of the most brilliant lights of that era.
It was simply that his brilliance had been completely overshadowed by Sansheng.
To Qi Yuan's thinking, if events had played out according to a typical script, Sansheng's junior brother—the Heavenly God—would have long since succumbed to darkness.
Yet the Heavenly God... had never fallen.
He had worked tirelessly and without complaint, even constantly looking after Sansheng to cover every shortcoming and mend every flaw.
Only at the very end, when their people were swallowed by Returning to Nothingness and he had nowhere left to turn, did he finally perish.
A wisp of obsession came into being, manifesting as the Heavenly God to fight against Returning to Nothingness.
And He, too, became an unconventional Yang Six.
The sole reason for His existence was to resist Returning to Nothingness.
Or rather, to take up the remaining burden of responsibility that Sansheng had left behind.
Qi Yuan stood within the void, though the Heavenly God had not yet appeared before his eyes.
He let out a quiet sigh.
"Regardless of how things once were... in the end, we still stand on opposing sides."
Sansheng's junior brother harbored no hatred toward Sansheng.
His obsession, however, was another matter.
In particular, the actions the Heavenly God had taken had already placed Him directly in opposition to Qi Yuan.
If the methods employed by the other Yang Six experts—including Sansheng—to resist Returning to Nothingness could be considered relatively gentle,
then the Heavenly God's methods were extraordinarily ruthless and unyielding.
He had gone so far as to establish the Nine Heavens Divine Palace in an attempt to enslave the Yin Realm and even the Rebirth Realm, seeking to use the living beings of both realms to mass-produce experts who had overcome the Three Calamities and Three Tribulations, all to combat Returning to Nothingness.
Yet such a method came at the cost of sacrificing the beings of the Yin Realm.
When it came to the Abandoned Lands, the Heavenly God and the Heavenly Emperor held divergent views.
For living beings who inadvertently wandered into the Abandoned Lands, the Heavenly Emperor chose to have them pay a price to cleanse the Curse of Sinking.
The Heavenly God's choice was simple slaughter.
To the Heavenly God, whenever any living being strayed into the Abandoned Lands and perished at the hands of Returning to Nothingness, it served only to nourish and empower Returning to Nothingness.
Qi Yuan stood in silence.
The Heavenly God was a tough nut to crack.
Or rather, against an unconventional Yang Six, even the current Qi Yuan had no certainty of victory.
In fact, the disadvantage lay with him.
Unless he truly managed to find Samsara and step into the next realm.
The wind died down, and the rain ceased.
A silent battle intent permeated the surroundings.
Across the cosmos, numerous powerhouses could not help but fall back or employ secret techniques to protect themselves.
In a clash between figures of this level, even the slightest leak of residual force could inflict severe wounds upon them.
"Is the battle finally about to begin?"
"How many years has it been since we last witnessed a clash between experts of this caliber!"
"This old man intends to see just how vast the gap between us truly is."
It was unknown how many years had passed since a confrontation of such ferocity had taken place in this world.
At this moment, the powerhouses of the Cosmic Alliance found themselves caught in a dilemma.
Should they help... or not?
After all, this Qi Yuan shared deep origins with the Yang Realm. What if... Qi Yuan chose to stand on the Yang Realm's side?
If they intervened and suffered catastrophic losses, only for Qi Yuan to turn against them in league with the Yang Realm, the Cosmic Alliance would likely be obliterated in an instant.
Of course, even if Qi Yuan were purely a native of the Yin Realm, that possibility had always lingered.
Yet this had always been a gamble.
"Do we help or not?" Dao Lord Black Crow asked.
"If we do not help, Qi Yuan stands a very high chance of dying in this battle!"
"This is our sole opportunity—our only chance to enter the Yang Realm and scale the absolute pinnacle!"
The Dao Lords whispered among themselves, and many turned their gazes toward the Dao Lord who held dominion over the Dao of Fate.
"I..."
The bronze mirror's voice hesitated before ultimately twisting into a strained tone.
"I cannot see!"
"I cannot see it at all!"
When a confrontation involved figures of such magnitude, even as a Dao Lord who wielded fate itself, he could not fathom the battle or discern the path ahead.
Yet at that exact instant, the Dao Lords of the Cosmic Alliance froze in astonishment.
Not only them—the rest of the surrounding powerhouses were also struck dumb with shock.
Because... the great war had not begun.
What had begun... was dead silence, or rather, absolute extinction.
The Heavenly God... was dead!
Or rather... the Heavenly God was fading into nonexistence.
This... was enough to leave everyone utterly stunned, or more accurately... terrified.
The Heavenly God was an unconventional Yang Six.
Could He have... died just like that?
"I... am not reconciled."
As He dissolved, the Heavenly God spoke with a trace of reluctance in His voice, yet His expression remained serene.
Hearing those words, Qi Yuan's gaze dimmed slightly.
As the Heavenly God dissolved and countless information factors scattered into nothingness, Qi Yuan came to understand a great deal.
The Heavenly God was merely a wisp of obsession left behind by the junior brother.
The purpose of that wisp had always been to resolve Returning to Nothingness.
Back then, Sansheng had vanished to seek the Dao of Samsara.
Left entirely on his own to confront Returning to Nothingness, the junior brother had ultimately fallen in battle, leaving behind only that wisp of obsession to continue resisting it.
Thus, the Heavenly God's entire existence was spent warring against Returning to Nothingness.
He had even embarked upon the path of an unconventional Yang Six.
Yet regardless of His power, the Heavenly God was not a consummate Yang Six; He was, after all, merely a wisp of obsession.
The junior brother's obsession was to conquer Returning to Nothingness.
Yet deep within the junior brother's heart, he had believed that Sansheng would pursue the true path of Samsara and ultimately resolve Returning to Nothingness.
In his eyes, Sansheng was flawless, invincible, and omnipotent.
Later, because of his junior brother's death, Sansheng's Dao heart had become fractured. Coupled with his inability to glimpse Samsara, he had compromised and settled for the Dao of Cycle instead.
It was precisely because of this that the Heavenly God born of that obsession felt such profound disappointment.
Sansheng... had not walked the path of Samsara; he had chosen the path of Cycle.
If so, what was the meaning behind everything?
He would have been better off embarking on another path of Yang Six from the very start.
Naturally, what disappointed the Heavenly God above all was that Sansheng had abandoned the Dao of Samsara he had yearned for all along, simply because of his death.
To him, Sansheng was perfect and all-capable.
Yet bound by sentiment for his fellow disciple, he had discarded Samsara and turned to Cycle.
The Heavenly God had felt bitter disappointment and anguish.
Since... his senior brother was unable to do it, then He would resolve Returning to Nothingness Himself.
And so, the Heavenly God founded the Nine Heavens Divine Palace, endlessly forging powerhouses to combat and eliminate Returning to Nothingness.
Yet... the moment the Heavenly God laid eyes upon Qi Yuan,
the obsession stirred.
The Heavenly God seemed to perceive... that Qi Yuan possessed the turning point needed to resolve Returning to Nothingness.
Or perhaps, this time, the Heavenly God's obsession chose once more to place His faith in Qi Yuan.
He believed... that Qi Yuan, or Senior Brother Sansheng, remained that omnipotent brother of old.
Capable of sheltering him from wind and rain, capable of... completely eradicating Returning to Nothingness.
Therefore, by the Heavenly God's foundational premise, if Senior Brother Sansheng was absent, He would resolve Returning to Nothingness Himself.
Yet if He met Senior Brother Sansheng, He would choose once again to trust Sansheng, and then... fade away.
This was His core design, and His obsession.
The Heavenly God's eyes turned crystal clear as His form dissolved and His true spirit extinguished into quietude.
"Sansheng, or Qi Yuan... if you cannot resolve Returning to Nothingness... I... shall surely return."
Qi Yuan looked at the Heavenly God, as if gazing upon that junior brother of the past.
The Heavenly God's true spirit continued to dissolve.
By His design—or rather, by the power of the Heavenly God's obsession—His energy enveloped Qi Yuan.
Immense strength and the laws of the Great Dao poured into Qi Yuan.
This carried all the experience the Heavenly God had accumulated across countless years of resisting Returning to Nothingness.
Along with the Heavenly God's comprehension of Returning to Nothingness.
As well as His insights into the Yang Six realm.
Only then did Qi Yuan realize that over all these years, the Curse of Sinking the Heavenly God had endured while battling Returning to Nothingness was no less severe than what Sansheng had suffered when creating the Dao of Cycle.
In truth... the Heavenly God had already reached the end of His tether, a spent force.
Perhaps before long, the Heavenly God's final obsession would have scattered regardless, leaving behind nothing more than a faint mark upon time.
Only to be... slowly forgotten by all, entirely consigned to nothingness.
At that very moment, a murmur rose softly beside Qi Yuan's ear.
Qi Yuan seemed to see the junior brother fighting Returning to Nothingness all alone, sheltering their clan, shedding blood at the cosmic frontiers as his life force ebbed away, whispering to himself in his dying moments:
"Senior Brother Sansheng, when I was young, you protected me, protected the sect, protected our people... I always stood behind you, taking it all for granted."
"Now that you aren't here, it's my turn to protect our people for you."
"In truth, you never owed our people anything, nor did I. Yet... they constantly placed the blame on you. How utterly hateful of them."
"Senior Brother Sansheng, I know you will surely find the most perfect Samsara."
The phantom dispersed like a fleeting dream, a phantom bubble, as though it had never truly existed.
In that split second, the Heavenly God's ferocious roar rang out:
"You and I both return to nothingness—he is a fool!"
With that final bellow, He faded away completely, returning to nothingness.
Chapter 632