"Your foundation – is not something granted.
But something you dare to abandon... to personally recast yourself."
Outside the Spirit Concealment Altar – Southern Region Borderland
Ash still lingered from Lin Mo's footsteps after his encounter with Lin Yuan.
News of his return had spread throughout the Lin Clan. The former desolate-meridian wretch – now an uncontrollable phantom.
From afar, in the deepest hall of the Lin clan, an old man with cold eyes whispered:
"He has entered the second layer... Exterminating Embryonic Spirit Bone. If he is allowed to live, in the future, who will still dare to believe in the Heavenly Dao?"
In a deep ravine within the forbidden forest of the Southern Region, Lin Mo sat cross-legged.
Before him was a sealed embryonic bone – the last remnant of his fragmented spirit from his previous life.
"A false bone meridian... is a shackle."
"Only by destroying it can I truly be myself."
Crack!
He personally broke his seventh spinal vertebra, the central point of his spiritual power.
Blood gushed out – but from that blood, an ash-colored Dao seal began to swirl.
His soul screamed, his body fractured into pieces. But his eyes... did not waver.
An ancient female voice echoed from deep within his soul:
"You have nothing left to lose... so why do you still wish to live?"
"Because..." he whispered,
"No one has ever existed by shattering everything and recreating without a mold. I want to try."
In the ethereal sky, a stream of gray-ash light descended, shattering the entire scene – opening the second layer of the Primordial Dao of Life: Exterminating Embryonic Spirit Bone.
At that very moment, the Violet Scale Guardian from the Ancient Divine Palace appeared. He was ordered to hunt Lin Mo, carrying the Soul Sealing Tablet, a magical artifact capable of sealing soul cultivators.
"Those who defy the Dao are not allowed to have thoughts of freedom."
BOOM!!
A fierce battle erupted in the ravine. Spiritual energy, unable to control the Primordial Chaos, became chaotic – but Lin Mo did not use spiritual power; he used ash – blood – soul to fight.
Under duress, his bones healed on their own, but their structure had transformed – no longer following traditional meridians, but a new conduction system created by the gray-ash Dao script.
"You are... rewriting your own body?" Violet Scale exclaimed in horror.
In that moment of life and death, Lin Mo summoned the first fragment of his soul from the abyss:
"Ashen Soul Consciousness – manifest."
A formless entity appeared, like a colossal phantom covering the sky, screaming soundlessly.
Lin Mo merged with it.
Shattering the Embryonic Bone Meridian – Life and Death Contending with Heaven – completed.
Violet Scale was torn from space, leaving no trace.
After the battle, on Lin Mo's forehead... an ancient, never-before-seen rune appeared, a double helix like a symbol of reincarnation, but in the opposite direction.
He clearly sensed...
"Another... being... just saw me."
From a distant place, a white-haired woman stood on an ashen lotus platform – her ice-covered eyes... opened.