What greeted the Silent Listener was not a human’s Sea of Consciousness.
There was no sky.
No ocean.
No mindscape.
Instead.
A vast, boundless void stretched endlessly in all directions.
At its center stood sothing.
It was not a form, nor a figure, nor even a presence that could be described by mortal logic.
Then—
Colossal eyes, vast as suns, ancient beyond reckoning, opened within the darkness.
They were neither kind nor cruel.
Neither rciful nor wrathful.
They did not burn with killing intent.
They did not rage.
They simply observed.
As one might observe an insect that had crawled into a place it was never ant to reach.
The Silent Listener’s soul convulsed.
His lips trembled violently as fragnted recognition surfaced through sheer terror.
"W–w–why... i–is a–aa–a Celes—"
The word never finished.
His voice broke, repeating like a shattered record, unable to form complete thoughts under the sheer weight of that existence.
In that instant, understanding struck him like judgnt.
He had not invaded a human’s Sea of Consciousness.
He had not even trespassed by accident.
It had noticed him.
No.
It had chosen to notice him.
Or more precisely, it had chosen to protect Mo Lin.
The Silent Listener had stepped into a domain far beyond his station.
And the price was absolute.
"AHHHHHHHHH—!!!"
His scream tore through the void as the fragnt of his existence that had entered was erased.
Not destroyed.
Not shattered.
Erased, as if it had never existed.
Before the final vestige vanished, the void stirred.
A faint silhouette appeared, an elderly woman’s outline, calm and indifferent.
In a voice that only Mo Lin could ever recognize, she spoke casually.
"Kids these days are up to no good, always ddling in matters they clearly shouldn’t."
Then—
Silence.
***
Back in the real world, within the shadow of Kui Quan.
"KUAAAA—!!"
A horrifying screech burst from the Silent Listener’s mouth.
In the next instant, an invisible force exploded outward.
Everyone hiding within Kui Quan’s shadow was violently thrown out, tumbling across the battlefield.
The Silent Listener himself was engulfed in his own blue flas.
They burned inward.
Not outward.
And within a breath, he was gone.
Erased from existence.
Not even ash remained.
Mo Lin retreated instinctively, eyes wide as he stared at the scene.
"...Did an infighting occur?" he muttered, stunned.
The others were not so calm.
Horror was etched clearly across their faces.
"IMDIATE RETREAT!!!"
The command ca from a small creature, barely thirty centiters tall but its voice carried unquestionable authority.
In unison, the remaining figures ford a tight circle and crushed a talisman.
Light erupted.
But before it could fully envelop them, from high above, a golden-red beam burst forth from Yu Xuan’s eyes, slicing through space itself.
The light wavered.
The talisman strained—
And then succeeded.
Most of them vanished.
But not all.
Nearly ten figures failed to transfer, left stranded as the light dissipated.
They lifted their heads slowly.
Their expressions were ugly.
And locked directly onto the figure in the sky.
***
Within a sealed eting chamber, a tense discussion was underway.
Evil Mind, Xie Zhi, sat at the center, conversing with representatives whose races had each sent their geniuses into the gate.
The atmosphere was restrained.
Until...
"Impossible!"
The voice rang out sharply.
All eyes turned at once.
Laughing Weeper, a Pact Demon notorious for his composure and deceit, had spoken aloud.
That alone was alarming.
If he had wanted to conceal his reaction, he could have done so effortlessly.
The fact that he hadn’t ant only one thing.
Sothing had gone terribly wrong.
"Explain," soone demanded imdiately.
Laughing Weeper’s lips trembled, then curled into an unsettling grin as laughter bubbled out of him.
"Xie Zhi," he said, half-laughing, half-mourning.
"Silent Listener is dead."
The room froze.
Not a single being spoke.
Worse still, Laughing Weeper continued, his laughter turning sharp and shrill.
"Not just that," he added, "his True Self was injured beyond recognition."
A low murmur spread through the chamber.
"That’s impossible," soone hissed.
Laughing Weeper’s gaze snapped back to Xie Zhi.
"Did you know this would happen?" he demanded.
"Did you plan for this?!"
Xie Zhi did not react imdiately.
Instead, he leaned back slightly, fingers interlaced, eyes thoughtful.
"Really?" he said calmly.
"So soon... that is surprising."
Several figures stiffened.
"I expected sothings, but I did not anticipate damage extending to the True Self."
Then he asked, almost casually.
"Did your people recover his mories?"
Laughing Weeper’s laughter died instantly.
"That’s the problem," he said grimly.
"The previous self was completely erased."
Hearing this voices rose one after another.
"This was not what we agreed upon."
"How do you intend to handle this?"
"Xie Zhi, explain yourself."
"You must share whatever contingency you devised!"
Panic crept into the room.
Losing even a fraction of self permanently was a catastrophic blow.
At last, Xie Zhi’s expression hardened.
He straightened, and the oppressive pressure in the chamber intensified.
"This outco is really unpredictable, I did not expect the True Selves to be hard." he admitted.
Several representatives flinched at the implication.
"However you will be fairly compensated." Xie Zhi continued evenly.
No one doubted that.
The Heavenly Demons were not lacking in wealth, bloodline treasures, or forbidden resources.
"But my disciple is present there!" soone suddenly interjected, unable to contain themselves.
Xie Zhi turned his gaze toward the speaker.
He smiled.
"I made the risks of this mission abundantly clear, yet you accepted them anyway." he said.
"I even ensured the safety of your geniuses, a resurrection anchor, by calling in a favor from the Blood Race."
He paused, then added softly.
"So do not bla ... Or is it that you cannot bla ?"
No one dared respond to his provocation.
Only after confirming that no one would interrupt again did Xie Zhi continue.
"Silent Listener’s future may be shattered," he said coolly, "but this sacrifice was necessary."
He rose slowly from his seat.
"And let reassure you all."
His eyes glead faintly.
"Everything is proceeding according to the Plan."
The word echoed ominously through the chamber.
And no one present doubted that whatever this Plan was, it had already claid its first irreversible casualty or Causality is it?
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