The first arrow struck the rift at the exact moment Nick Ning's spear landed, while the second arrow, in perfect harmony with Emperor Ye's Violet Saber Blade Curtain, tore the rift wider.
As the violent energy of the rift reached its peak, the third arrow arrived with flawless timing, reinforcing the assault.
A fissure, no more than two feet long and half a foot wide, appeared in the void. Yet, to the naked eye, it was clear that the rift began to rapidly contract the moment it formed. In just a few breaths, this newly opened gap would vanish once more.
"Go!" The three of them charged forward almost simultaneously. Four Creation Treasures detonated at once, the force of the explosive array and the trio's combined power finally blasted open this rift. If they waited for it to close again, tearing open this space would be nearly impossible.
Any spatial domain is easiest to tear open the first time. Once breached, regulated domains will automatically restore their laws, requiring even greater effort to tear them again. Even unregulated domains will evolve, making their boundaries stronger.
Besides, even without these factors, Creation Treasures are not common trinkets scattered everywhere. Their rarity makes them priceless.
The three figures vanished into the rift like streaks of shadow. In the next instant, the fissure returned to its original state.
...
Joe Di was stunned the moment he emerged from the rift. For the first time, he experienced a space where nothing existed—or rather, even space itself did not exist.
He truly could not sense the presence of space. Though he existed within it, a strange sensation overtook him—as if he himself did not exist, let alone the space around him. If he did not exist, how could space exist?
Here, there were no laws, no time, no color, no earth—nothing at all. It was not darkness, but a void that transcended blackness. Yes, Joe Di felt that 'void' was the most fitting word. Everything here was hollow; perhaps it was more accurate to say that here, nothing existed.
If anything remained, it was his thoughts. He could not use his Dao techniques, could not extend his spiritual sense, could not even open his eyes—including his Dao Eyes. Yet his mind could still move.
Joe Di curled up on the spot, feeling utterly uncomfortable. He wanted to stand upright, but found no space around him to do so. It was not that something blocked him—he simply felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness and dissonance.
As soon as he passed through the rift, it was as if he was being endlessly compressed. Joe Di suspected that, given time, his entire being would be squeezed into nothingness and finally disappear.
What comforted him was that after emerging from the rift, he still existed.
At first, Joe Di even thought it was space itself being compressed. If space was being compressed, then space must exist. But as he curled up, he realized it was not space, but his meridians, flesh, organs—all of himself...
Everything within his body was contracting automatically, then most of it began to dissipate. He could imagine that his thoughts would be the last to vanish.
"Emperor Ye... Nick Ning..." Joe Di tried to call out, only to discover he could not open his mouth. He felt as helpless as a child still in the womb—utterly powerless.
In only a brief moment, Joe Di regained his composure. Perhaps this was the true nature of chaos. Chaos was not a place one could walk, nor a realm for proving the Dao, much less a place for cultivation.
Chaos was a realm where no life could survive—a place that seemed to exist, yet did not.