"A god may descend into mortality—But when a mortal ascends into Dao, what he carries… is no longer called a body."
The instant the words[Stage Two – Hollow Body Self-Manifestation]branded themselves deep into Lâm Mạc's palm, his body trembled—as if being torn apart by an invisible force.
There was no pain.No blood.Yet something… was unraveling from within.
His bones began to hum.
Crimson marrow was expelled from his spine.
His skin cracked, flaking away like ash, peeling off in quiet layers upon the ancient stone beneath his feet.
He could see it—his veins unraveling into threads of Dao.
"So this… is Self-Manifestation?"
And in that moment, he understood:
This was not the agony of a decaying body—It was the shedding of the very concept of "flesh."
To ascend into the second stage of the Hollow Fate, one must—
"Erase the boundary between form and principle.Become not a body of flesh, but an embodiment of will."
Within that soundless space, a phantom aura surged from deep inside.
He still had arms. Legs. A chest. A head.And yet—none of it was matter.
Lâm Mạc had become something else—A living form born of sheer conviction.
He moved.
No effort.No incantation.No channeling of force.
Just a thought—And he appeared beyond a mountain peak, passing through stone as if it were mist.
It was not teleportation—It was redefining his being at a new point in space.
"I do not need Spiritual Roots.""I do not need Meridians.""What I possess… is me."
At that moment, the sky shuddered.
From the distant horizon, a jet-black light tore through the clouds and descended upon the Dao Repository.
A black banner slammed into the earth like a divine decree.
Three blood-red characters seared upon its surface:
[Divine Crime Order]
A cold voice rang out across the realms:
"Lâm Mạc – bearer of Hollow Fate, defier of Heavenly Will, transgressor of Samsara.""Hereby declared a Divine Criminal of the Third Order.""Subject to the Rite of Soul Severance.""All sanctified sects are granted license to eliminate without warning."
Lâm Mạc gazed up at the blood-inked banner fluttering beneath the heavens.
His eyes held no rage.No fear.
Only stillness—And a resolve deeper than the abyss.
"Very well.""At last, you've given your names before coming to kill me."
"Then let it begin."
In that instant, a hidden formation beneath the stone floor activated—laid by the Divine Temple a thousand years ago, waiting for this very day.
A Grand Soul-Destruction Array sealed the surrounding void like transparent glass—impossible to break through.
But what none had foreseen—
Was that Lâm Mạc's form no longer belonged to the jurisdiction of laws.
Every formation designed to target a body… collapsed into futility.
"You seek to bind me with laws—when I no longer walk beneath them?""How laughable."
He took a single step.
And with it—the entire formation dissolved into mist.
His gaze turned north—toward the burning blood-banner,a beacon summoning every executioner in the Celestial Heavens.
"The Divine Temple seeks war?""Then know this—I have not come to rebel."
"I have come to end your era."
"The Hollow Fate… was never meant for those who follow the Dao.""The Hollow Fate—exists only for those who dare to destroy all Dao under heaven."