Silence spread across the reborn heavens.
The war had ended, the Supreme had vanished, and the Celestial Realm shimmered with newfound harmony.
But Lin Tian's heart was far from calm.
Standing alone in the endless sky, he gazed toward the deep fringe of creation — a place no god, immortal, or demon had ever dared approach.
A place older than time.
A place called…
The Origin Void.
It pulsed faintly now, like the heartbeat of a slumbering giant.
Ding!
[New Warning Detected]
The Origin Void is awakening.
Estimated time until emergence: 47 days.
Lin Tian exhaled slowly.
"So the true enemy wasn't Heaven…
nor the Abyss…
but something deeper."
The air rippled as Lord Xuan Dao and the remaining immortals approached carefully, still trembling from the force Lin Tian had displayed.
"Lord Lin Tian," Xuan Dao said, bowing low, "the Supreme Deity has vanished. Are we safe now?"
Lin Tian shook his head.
"No. The Supreme wasn't the beginning.
He was the caretaker — the warden of a prison far more ancient."
The immortals exchanged fearful glances.
"What lies within that prison?" one asked.
Lin Tian turned toward the void, his eyes distant.
"The Origin Void…
the first entity to ever exist.
A being of pure neutrality — before chaos, before law, before creation."
Lord Xuan Dao swallowed hard.
"Is… is it a god?"
Lin Tian's gaze sharpened.
"It is what gods fear."
The First Breach
A sudden trembling tore through the heavens.
The sky cracked — not like glass, but like a living thing splitting open.
A chilling whisper echoed across the realms.
"Equilibrium…
…broken…"
Billions of immortals shuddered. Clouds darkened. Stars flickered.
Lin Tian stood firm, Nexus aura swirling gently around him.
"So you've awakened sooner than expected."
A single tear in reality widened.
From within came nothingness.
Pure and absolute.
Not darkness — but the absence of all things.
The Origin Void began to spill out like a slow, hungry tide.
Even Lin Tian felt a pressure tugging at his soul — a pull toward erasure.
Lord Xuan Dao collapsed to his knees, coughing blood.
"W-what kind of power is this?! I can't resist—!"
Lin Tian extended a hand, stabilizing him with a wave of balanced energy.
"Stand back. This is not something you can battle."
The void paused, swirling as if recognizing him.
Then a voice — ancient, emotionless, neither male nor female — filled the heavens.
"Nexus Bearer…
You unsealed the balance.
You are the first to free me."
Lin Tian narrowed his eyes.
"I didn't free you. I freed myself. The Nexus evolved beyond Heaven's control — that was all."
The voice trembled like collapsing worlds.
"Its evolution was enough.
The seal weakened.
I awaken because you exist."
Lin Tian clenched his fists.
"Then tell me — what are you?
And why did the Supreme fear you?"
The void darkened.
A colossal eye — endless, emotionless — opened within the breach.
The sight alone caused galaxies to shake.
"I am the Origin.
Creation's first breath.
And its inevitable end."
The Truth Behind Everything
Lin Tian floated upward, facing the massive eye without fear.
"Why did the Supreme imprison you?"
The Origin replied calmly:
"Because I was perfect neutrality.
Creation requires imbalance.
Light and dark.
Life and death.
Chaos and law.
Without conflict… existence cannot grow."
Lin Tian's expression hardened.
"So the Supreme locked you away… to create a world of struggle."
"Correct."
"And the Nexus?"
"A fragment of myself.
A seed of equilibrium placed inside the seal.
You inherited that seed."
Lin Tian felt the Nexus stir in his core.
"If I carry a part of you… then why do you awaken?"
The void pulsed, its voice heavier.
"Because you have become me.
Your ascension completed the cycle.
Now both halves must reunite."
Lin Tian's aura surged defensively.
"I won't be absorbed."
"You misunderstand.
I do not wish to consume you.
I wish to merge with you —
and rewrite creation."
The heavens quaked violently.
Lord Xuan Dao shouted, "Lin Tian! Don't listen! That thing must be stopped!"
But Lin Tian's eyes remained locked on the void.
"Rewrite creation… into what?"
The Origin responded:
"Perfect balance.
No suffering.
No conflict.
No death.
No life."
Lin Tian froze.
"That's not balance — that's emptiness."
"Emptiness is peace."
He stepped forward, aura blazing.
"No.
Peace without struggle is lifeless.
Creation must breathe, evolve, strive."
The Origin's massive eye narrowed.
"Then you oppose me."
Lin Tian raised his hand.
"I oppose your destiny — not your existence."
The void churned angrily.
"Then you defy the purpose of the Nexus."
Lin Tian smiled faintly.
"The Nexus didn't choose you.
It chose me."
The Void Extends Its Hand
A massive tendril of nothingness emerged from the crack.
Every immortal gasped as entire planets dissolved in its wake.
Lin Tian shot upward, intercepting the tendril with a single strike —
—his fist glowing with black and gold radiance.
BOOOOM!
The impact blew the void back, but not completely.
The Origin spoke:
"You are powerful…
but incomplete.
Without me, you cannot stabilize the Nexus.
It will consume you."
Lin Tian clenched his jaw.
He could feel it — the Nexus surging uncontrollably inside him, struggling to maintain form.
"Then I'll perfect it myself."
The Origin paused.
"Impossible.
Without the original core, your existence is limited.
Join me.
Merge.
Become what creation needs."
Lin Tian stepped back.
His decision was made.
"I will not become a void.
I will forge a future where balance breathes.
Where existence thrives."
Lightning crackled around him.
The Nexus roared like a sleeping dragon awakening.
Golden and black fire wrapped around his body.
"Origin Void," Lin Tian declared,
"if you want me…
then come and take me."
The eye of the void widened.
Then—
"Very well…
Mortal Sovereign.
Let the True War begin."
The breach tore further open.
Endless nothingness poured out.
The heavens screamed.
And Lin Tian, the Equilibrium Sovereign, soared forward…
…to face the oldest enemy creation had ever known.