To be attacked at the level of "existence" itself is an experience beyond all conventional defenses.
Lin Mo felt his very "definition" being stripped away. The fibers of his cyan robe had their molecular structures traced and disassembled; the power flowing within him had its energy properties analyzed and nullified; even the memories of the Cultivation World in his mind, his plans for the Commonwealth, and his deductions about the "Chaos Purification Sequence"—all began to blur and fade, like ink erased by a rubber.
He was not being killed. He was being "denied"—erased entirely from the world's "records."
Glak, Mosek, and the other demons watched in terror as their Lord's form grew translucent, ethereal, as if he would vanish into nothingness in the next second! They tried to rush forward, but an invisible barrier held them back—they could not even get close.
"My Lord!"
Yet just as Lin Mo's "sense of existence" was about to plummet to zero, as he teetered on the edge of total annihilation—
He moved.
Not to dodge, not to resist, but to... synchronize.
His spiritual sense vibrated at an unprecedented frequency. Instead of clashing head-on with the erasing force, it acted like a precision instrument— instantly capturing, analyzing, and beginning to simulate the underlying rule fluctuations triggered by Observer 73 when he activated the "Correction Protocol"!
The knowledge from the "Spatial Foundation" and "All-Source Crystal"—knowledge that pierced to the very essence of existence—spun and merged at a speed never seen before!
He was not resisting the "correction." He was learning it!
His body still grew fainter, but his eyes blazed brighter, like burning stars.
"So that's how it is..." Lin Mo murmured, his voice as if carried from a distant void. "This so-called 'correction' is nothing but using higher authority to forcefully overwrite and format lower-dimensional worldlines..."
He lifted his hand—now also growing translucent—and at his fingertip, a tiny glimmer of light coalesced.
It was not the energy of Star Liquid, nor demonic qi or immortal essence. It was a more primal light, closer to "nothingness"—a light that seemed to be both the origin and end of all things... Chaos Light.
The glow was extremely faint, yet it carried an unchallengeable "right to define."
"Your protocol is based on interpreting and wielding the inherent rules of this realm," Lin Mo said slowly, gazing into Observer 73's emotionless silver eyes. "But rules are not unchangeable."
The glimmer at his fingertip tapped gently against his dissolving chest.
"I define—that I 'exist'."
The words fell like the pronouncement of a law.
The force erasing his existence, upon touching that wisp of light, melted away instantly, like snow under the sun! His ethereal form solidified at a visible speed—even clearer, more stable than before! It was as if his "existence" had been anchored at a deeper, unshakable level.
For the first time, the eternal stream of data in Observer 73's eyes faltered, thrown into chaos. Countless warning symbols and error prompts flashed frantically within them.
"Impossible... Fundamental rules rejecting command execution... Target existence weight forcefully elevated... Logical conflict... Reassessing threat level..."
His voice, for the first time, carried a hint of what might be called "emotion"—the stutter of a calculation model confronting an unparsable variable.
Lin Mo did not give him time to recalculate.
He took a single step forward.
It was just one step, yet it was as if he had crossed a boundary—appearing directly before Observer 73.
They stood mere inches apart.
Lin Mo looked into those chaotic silver eyes and spoke calmly: "Your 'observation' ends here."
He reached out—not to attack, but as one might touch a friend's shoulder.
There was no energy surge, no collision of laws.
But the perfect, environment-blending aura that had surrounded Observer 73 shattered instantly! He was like an exquisite porcelain figurine lifted from its display stand—suddenly disconnected from his surroundings, becoming jarringly, horribly "discordant."
The colossal world-wound behind him, as if sensing this "discordance," churned more violently. Countless twisted rule threads, like sharks scenting blood, coiled toward him, tearing and devouring his "existence" in a frenzy!
"Error! Error! Environmental repulsion coefficient spiking! Losing observation anchor! Connection terminated..." Observer 73's form flickered like a hologram with poor signal, his voice breaking into static.
He tried to summon power to resist, but without his "harmonious" link to the world's fundamental rules, his strength was like a tree without roots—quickly assimilated and dissolved by the Chaos.
He stared fixedly at Lin Mo. The last thing that flashed in his silver eyes was incomprehensible confusion—and a faint, almost imperceptible glimmer that might have been "curiosity."
"Variable... Undefinable... Recording... Uploading..."
Finally, tangled and torn by countless rule threads, Observer 73's form shattered like a broken mirror, dissolving into streaks of light that were swallowed by the colossal world-wound. No trace of him remained.
As if he had never existed.
Silence returned to the Corridor of Annihilation. Only the heaven-spanning world-wound continued to churn silently with Chaos.
Glak, Mosek, and the others stared in stunned silence, their minds blank.
What had just happened? That terrifying Observer—was he really... gone? Erased by their Lord's "definition"? Rejected by the world?
Lin Mo withdrew his hand, stood still, and closed his eyes slightly—as if digesting the vast flood of information about world rules and the "definition of existence" he had gained from that brief confrontation.
After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked toward the world-wound, his gaze deep.
"Observer Zero... or should I say, Observer 73..." he murmured. "It seems you are not omniscient or omnipotent after all."
He turned to his team, still frozen in shock, and said:
"The crisis is temporarily averted. Demote Project Ark to Level-2 standby and adjust resource allocation ratios."
"Inform headquarters to prepare for the takeover of the Thousand-Eyed Abyss's outer regions—conduct limited resource surveys and environmental research."
"Additionally... we have found a testing ground for the 'Chaos Purification Sequence'."
His gaze swept once more over the churning Chaos wound.
It was a place of despair. And also... the perfect laboratory.