CHAPTER 21: THE SILENT THRONE AND THE BORDER OF THE UNKNOWN
The birth of the New Origin was not a loud event; it was a profound, chilling expansion of absolute silence. Li Xiao sat upon the Throne of Obsidian Starlight, a seat that existed at the very intersection of the void and existence. He was no longer the youth from the Blue Cloud Sect, nor was he merely the Devourer. He had become the 'Omni-Fate Architect'. His hair flowed like a river of captured galaxies, and his eyes, once violet rifts, were now calm pools of primordial darkness that contained the blueprints of every soul in his new multiverse.
Around him, the New Origin flourished. It was a reality where 'Karma' was no longer a tool of oppression, but a natural balance. His four Apostles—Lin Yue, Wei, Han Xue, and Yan Feng—had been granted their own star systems, evolving into 'Progenitor Gods' who watched over the rebirth of their respective races. For a time, there was a peace that the previous heavens could never have imagined.
However, as Li Xiao sat behind his new loom, weaving the threads of trillions of lives, he felt a sudden, microscopic tremor. It wasn't a flaw in his design, but an external vibration. Something was knocking on the outer shell of his multiverse.
[ Ding! Omni-Fate Interface: Analyzing External Interference. ]
[ Status: Unknown Entity from the 'Great Beyond' detected. ]
[ Warning: The New Origin's barrier is being sampled by an 'Existence Eater'. ]
Li Xiao's gaze didn't waver, but the shadows behind his throne deepened. "So, even at the edge of the ultimate creation, there are still parasites," he murmured, his voice resonating through the foundations of the stars.
He waved his hand, and the space before him distorted, revealing a projection of the 'Final Border'—the outermost layer of his reality. There, he saw a terrifying sight. The crystalline barrier he had forged from the Weaver's essence was being gnawed at by swarms of colorless, formless entities. They were 'Null-Walkers', beings from the chaotic dimensions that existed between multiverses. They didn't eat energy or souls; they ate the very concept of 'Meaning'.
"Master," a voice echoed through the hall. Lin Yue appeared in a shimmer of golden and black light. She was now the Goddess of the Eternal Blade, her aura so sharp that the very space she occupied seemed to bleed. "The borders of my sector are thinning. My disciples are reporting that their memories are starting to fade. It is as if they never existed."
Li Xiao looked at his first apostle. Even as a Goddess, she still looked at him with that haunting mix of loyalty and lingering regret. "The Null-Walkers do not kill, Lin Yue. They unwrite. If they consume a star, that star never existed in the past, present, or future. They are the ultimate janitors of the void."
"Can we fight them?" General Wei's voice boomed as he manifested beside Lin Yue, his obsidian armor now integrated with the Laws of the Great Wall. "My shield can block a supernova, but how do I block a force that makes my shield 'never been forged'?"
Li Xiao stood up from his throne. The obsidian wings behind him spread out, covering the entire Grand Hall in a shroud of nihility. "You cannot fight them with the laws of this world, because they are the absence of law. To stop them, I must enter a new simulation—one that does not belong to our history."
[ Ding! New Simulation Protocol: 'The Nameless Guard of the Void Gates'. ]
[ Warning: This simulation is 'External'. You will be projecting your consciousness into the Great Beyond. ]
[ Objective: Learn the 'Language of Null' to protect the New Origin. ]
Li Xiao turned to his apostles. "I will be leaving a portion of my essence on this throne to maintain the reality. But my core consciousness must descend once more. Lin Yue, Wei... while I am gone, you must hold the border. Do not let the Null-Walkers consume the memory of our sacrifice. If they reach the center, everything we fought for—every life I died for—will be erased as if it were a dream."
Lin Yue knelt, her heart tightening with a familiar fear. "You are leaving again? Will you... will you forget us in this new simulation?"
Li Xiao walked toward her, and for the first time since his ascension, he placed a hand on her shoulder. The touch was cold, yet it carried the weight of ten million years of shared karma. "I cannot forget what is written in my own blood, Lin Yue. But to protect your future, I must face the emptiness that birthed me."
With a final surge of power, Li Xiao's body dissolved into a stream of violet-black particles, plunging into the rift that led beyond the New Origin.
The Apostles watched as the throne became silent, occupied only by a hollow phantom of their Lord. Outside, the colorless swarm continued to gnaw at the world. The war for the New Origin had begun, and this time, the enemy wasn't a god or a system, but the literal end of all stories.
Li Xiao's consciousness plummeted through the layers of the void, stripped of his godhood and his memories, until he woke up in a place where there was no light, no sound, and no self.
[ Simulation Start: Year 0. ]
[ Identity: Null-Squire #909. ]
[ Mission: Survive the Silence. ]
The cycle had started again, but the stakes were no longer the regret of an Empress; they
were the existence of the multiverse itself.