The Voice of the Dao originating from the Great Dao's source—carrying the universe's ultimate void and extinction meaning—had struck like an invisible iceberg against Tang Xiaoqi's seemingly unbreakable Dao heart that had just endured the baptism of three tribulations.
"Even if you bear the cost and protect with all your strength. However, all things in heaven and earth must be born and must die, must form and must decay. Stars will fall, worlds will return to nothing, your loved ones, sect, civilization, and even this world you protect will one day perish, returning to eternal extinction."
"Since all will eventually perish, what is the meaning of your protection?"
"If protection is ultimately futile, is your Dao not illusory?"
Each word seemed to contain the weight of star seas being born and dying, of epochs cycling—coldly expounding what seemed an irrefutable fact: in the infinite timescale and absolute law of extinction, all efforts, including his unwavering "protection," seemed to lose fundamental meaning, reduced to a negligible ripple in the river of time, ultimately destined to return to nothingness.
That grand, despair-inducing sense of emptiness—like cosmic background radiation—was everywhere, permeating every corner of his divine soul. He seemed to see, after billions of years, Qingxu Temple becoming dust of history, Mu Xue, Senior Brother, Third Senior Sister and all familiar faces long blurred in the river of time, even the Three Realms Alliance, even this vast starry sky, possibly completely annihilated in some cosmic upheaval, leaving no trace whatsoever.
What he hadstrived with everything to protect ultimately seemed to be just emptiness.
His will—rising triumphantly after crossing three tribulations—under this ultimate questioning, as if thrown into a void of absolute zero, rapidly dimmed, temperature plummeted, nearly freezing completely, shattering, turning into part of that eternal extinction. The aura around him, originally steadily climbing toward Spirit Transformation, also stagnated,scattered, even showing signs ofreversed flow!
Outside, Mu Xue—who had been closely sensing his state with divine attention—her face instantly turned pale as snow, her ice-blue eyes showing for the first time a near-despair expression. Though she couldn't hear the Voice of the Dao, she could clearly "see" that Xiaoqi's originally unstoppable transformation like the rising sun had encountered an invisible, unbreakable wall of sighs at this moment, and was being eroded and assimilated by the endless void and coldness behind that wall!
Senior Brother Mu Qingfeng, Third Senior Sister Liu Yun, Zhao Tiezhu and others also felt their soulstrembled, an indescribable heaviness and panic gripping their throats. They didn't understand what specifically was happening, but all could sense that Xiao Qi was facing the greatest—possibly final—obstacle on his cultivation path! This obstacle was far more dangerous than all previous thunder tribulations, heart demons, and decay!
"Xiao Qi..." Mu Xue silently cried in her heart, her jade hands tightly clenched, fingernails deeply piercing her flesh without noticing.
Just as Xiaoqi's Dao heart was about to be completely devoured by ultimate void, his consciousness about to sink into the dark abyss of "nothing matters"—
A tiny but incomparably resilient spark re-lit from the deepest depths of his Dao heart—that source long connected to "the mortal world" through the tempering of worldly affairs.
That was not resisting void, but redefining "meaning"!
Countless seemingly ordinary yet extremely vivid scenes broke through the void's blockade, shining once more in his nearly frozen sea of consciousness:
In the Northern Frontier tribe, the real warmth and joy mixed with tears on the tribe members' faces by the campfire after the snowstorm. That moment's warmth was real.
In the East Sea fishing village, the thunderous cheers and burning hope re-lit in villagers' eyes when the new fishing boat was launched. That moment's hope was real.
On the Western Desert merchant route, after Hassan slew the traitor, the stronger trust bonds between caravan members that survived the disaster. That moment's faith was real.
In the Southern Frontier rainforest, the natural might he felt during the thunderstorm, and theall things flourishing vitality he saw when the sky cleared after rain. That vitality was real.
In the Central Plains capital, the heavy responsibility and commitment Prince Yi demonstrated when maintaining clarity amid the vortex of power and turning the tide. That commitment was real.
In Qingxu Temple, countless young disciples sweating under the morning sun, their pure longing for the Dao and future in their eyes. That longing was real.
And Old Wang in Qingniu Town, the longing in his eyes gazing into the distance; the excitement of children in Tide-watching Village discovering iron shell clams; and the indelible love, guidance, and companionship his parents, master, all departed and living loved ones once gave him—these emotions, these moments, all genuinely existed!
Meaning was never granted by a distant, destined "end point"!
Meaning exists in every genuine "moment," in every sincere "emotion," in every "process" of giving one's all!
The meaning of protection was not to pursue an eternal, unchanging perfect ending, but to protect the possibility of these genuine "moments" occurring, these beautiful "emotions" continuing, these hopeful "processes" unfolding! It was to allow life, within its limited existence, to bloom its radiance as fully as possible, pass on its spirit, ignite more flames of hope!
Even if stars will eventually fall, they once illuminated the night sky, guided the lost.
Even if civilizations will eventually perish, they once created brilliance, accumulated wisdom.
Even if loved ones will eventually part, the shared time and hearts that protected each other have long been inscribed in the deepest parts of the soul, forming part of what makes "me" who "I" am—real and undoubted, eternally existing in the dimension of "the past"!
His Dao heart—at this moment—seemed to break free from the shackles of "eternity" and "perish," rising to an even more detached level, closer to life's origin. He no longer clung to whether the "final result" of protection would be eternal, but deeply, from his soul, affirmed that protection itself—this process full of intention and action—was the supreme meaning of fighting against void, confirming existence, and kindling hope!
He slowly raised his head, his gaze no longer struggling and confused, but filled with clarity from penetrating essence, tranquility, and an indescribable compassion. He looked toward the Great Dao's primal source in the heavens—not using spiritual sense, but using his already flawless, truth-understood protective Dao heart as guidance—to deliver his final, also most important answer:
"The Great Dao is above!"
"The meaning of protection lies not at the destination, but in the process! Not in eternal results, but in the undying heart!"
"Do good deeds without asking about the future; give your all without letting down those entrusted to you."
"Even if all things will eventually perish, this heart's will to protect, this light of the Dao's transmission, once illuminated the universe, warmed the present, enlightened the future—is not illusory!"
"My Dao—is solely to 'protect' this life, 'transmit' this hope!"
"This resolve, heaven and earth may witness, sun and moon may attest—MY DAO HAS NO REGRETS!"
The moment the words "no regrets" left his mouth—like the first thunderclap of creation, like the first light at the universe's dawn—carrying all his Dao understanding, all his emotions, all his life's power, they brazenly broke through the ultimate void's blockade, clearly, firmly, without reservation echoing between heaven and earth, echoing in the Great Dao's source!
"My Dao has no regrets!"
"My Dao has no regrets——!!"
RUMBLE——!!!
Above all of Qingxu Temple, the tribulation clouds spanning ten thousand li, at this moment seemed to beforced apart from within by an invisible, grand force! A pillar of light impossible to describe in terms of brilliance, purity, or vastness—thunderously descended from the center—completely the figure standing tall on the azure stone below!
That was the recognition of the Great Dao! The baptism of laws! The final gift for life's ascension!
Within that endless radiance, Tang Xiaoqi's physical body, Nascent Soul, divine soul, will, and all his understandings and power began the final and most complete fusion and sublimation!
The gate of Spirit Transformation—with this declaration of "my Dao has no regrets"—fully opened to him!