After the great battle, Mu Changqing stood alone on the Ancestral Plain, looking down at the myriad beings of the ages.
His gaze swept over all things in the great world, all beings, all realms, all falling under his sight.
"Invincible... I have finally succeeded!"
Mu Changqing murmured to himself, sighing softly.
He raised his hand and created the River of Time, tracing back all established history from nothingness.
In the River of Time, history flowed.
Every past scene returned to his eyes.
This ancient history was known only to him; no other being had even the right to glimpse it.
Because... where he stood, no other being was worthy of standing alongside him, not even worthy of looking up to him.
The great world rose and fell with the alternation of eras, time flowing as if controlled by someone, drifting at will.
The great worlds existing in the River of Time reappeared with the flow of time.
This scene was utterly terrifying and awe-inspiring.
Transcending all power, transcending all known and unknown. With a mere glance, void could be turned into reality.
All beings lived on as usual, as if a part of their memory had been erased, forgetting their past fears, that doomsday-like brilliance instantly annihilating them.
Forgetting how they were once offered as sacrifices… everything returned to normal.
Now, if Mu Changqing willed it, he could revive the Seven Great Ancestral Gods from their eternal silence, turning the void into existence.
Perhaps, from Mu Changqing's perspective, the battle had only lasted an instant.
But according to the current passage of time, countless eras had passed, and countless ancient histories had been replaced.
"Nothingness? Heh heh, now am I nothing… or am I something? Ancient history bears no trace of me, no one remembers me, do I truly exist?"
Mu Changqing sighed softly, murmuring to himself. From the moment nothingness completely annihilated itself,
He himself became increasingly powerful and terrifying.
Occupying all formless void, Mu Changqing's comprehension deepened.
How strong he was now, he himself did not know.
Nor could he verify it.
Because no other being was worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with him, or fighting him.
The once fearsome Ancestral Gods, capable of creating all beings and all things,
Were now, in his eyes, no different from mortals, equally weak and fragile.
His former acquaintances could perhaps all be resurrected, even if their souls were scattered and their traces erased from ancient history.
As long as he wished it, they could become reality.
However, all of this was meaningless.
The realm Mu Changqing had reached was one where his state of mind transcended everything.
Even the familiar Heavenly Court of the past, the myriad realms, could be revived in a single thought of his.
Zhang Fanchen remained the Eternal Heavenly Emperor, entering the realm of innate beings.
Wei Ji, Nalan Yong, and other existences had all reached a state of immortality, impervious to the erosion of time.
Beneath the Heavenly Realm, a colossal entity tirelessly stole and consumed beings.
The myriad realms were still in an era of decline, with the path to immortality severed.
However, in that era, in that primordial chaos, there were no longer any innate beings, no longer any primordial heavenly laws.
All established history returned to the hands of later beings.
Mu Changqing looked down upon everything, not intervening.
He was like an emotionless heaven, neither joyful nor sorrowful; the trajectory of all beings, whether prosperity or decay, could not stir his interest.
His gaze flowed, as if mirroring the rise and fall of beings.
Mu Changqing looked towards a certain dark space, where a streak of light flashed by, falling into a certain great world.
"Yuan Datou!"
That streak of light was Yuan Datou, who had drifted in the dark space for an immeasurable amount of time.
Now, he too entered the world, embarking on the trajectory of his life.
Mu Changqing shook his head, and with a wave of his hand, retreated the River of Time.
Stretching his limbs, Mu Changqing began to walk in the formless.
Nothingness had once said that the formless realm did not exist; rather, it was one's own sufficient power that allowed one to create the formless through thought.
Therefore, in the final analysis, the formless realm existed within one's own consciousness.
No matter how long you walked in the formless realm, you were actually moving forward within your own mind.
Ultimately, you might still be in the same place, having not moved at all.
Or, you might truly have traveled an infinite distance, reaching some formless end.
"Does the formless realm have an end? Is thought truly infinite, without a shore?"
Mu Changqing was exploring the unknown, just as Nothingness had done before. Everything from nothing to something arose because thought was sufficiently rich, leading to the concept of beings.
This gave rise to heavenly laws, rules, order, great laws, the myriad things in the worlds, billions of races, all of it…!
"Have all the ends of thought, all existences that can go from nothing to something, been explored?"
Mu Changqing frowned slightly. His current thoughts were still bound by the conceptual framework of Nothingness.
In comparison, Mu Changqing suddenly felt that Nothingness was too terrifying, too formidable.
All concepts in the worlds were created by him.
Even everything on Blue Star, the wildest imaginings, were guided and created by him in his formless state.
From the smallest speck of dust to the dazzling star river, all concepts originated from him.
"Can I break free from this conceptual restraint and create new things?"
Mu Changqing murmured to himself, accelerating his pace, endlessly exploring and advancing within his own consciousness.
He wanted to step out of the formless realm, out of his own consciousness.
Perhaps, the day he crossed his own consciousness, he would transform again, be reborn.
Countless eras passed, perhaps a day, a hundred years, billions of years… In the formless realm, there was no concept of time.
But Mu Changqing was indeed moving forward, gradually becoming numb, moving forward mechanically.
On this day, a ray of light pierced the darkness of the dim and lightless formless realm, illuminating Mu Changqing's body.
Mu Changqing slowly raised his numb gaze, a sense of confusion and bewilderment upon him.
"Did I step out of my own consciousness? Or has my consciousness become a cycle, and I remain in place?"
Mu Changqing gradually became lost, murmuring to himself, and then walked towards that ray of light again, yet could never reach it.
In the ancient histories of the worlds, his name was no more.
In the ages of the worlds, his trace was no more.
Only a solitary silhouette remained, walking alone in the formless realm, solely in pursuit of the end of thought, the shore of consciousness.
Perhaps one day, a being of the same level would come from the light, and behold the Burial Emperor Mu Changqing, walking alone in the darkness.