The Echoing Bazaar did not return to normal. A tension, thick and unyielding as primordial stone, settled over the hollowed leviathan. The display of absolute negation had shaken the very foundations of what immortals understood about power. The Blazing Heaven Sect elders, their pride scorched worse than any flame could achieve, had withdrawn with silent, venomous fury. They would not forget this insult.
Li Yao felt the change in the atmosphere. The curious glances were now laden with fear, avarice, or both. He was no longer just an oddity; he was a walking treasure, a living secret to a power that could invalidate all others. He had achieved his goal of a public demonstration, but the consequence was a target painted on his back in colors visible to every immortal in the realm.
He needed to move, but not to hide. He needed to find a place where he could deepen his understanding without constant interruption. The Shattered Valleys were compromised. The neutral Bazaar was now a hunting ground.
Wei Feng found him again, this time near one of the lesser-used exits, a archway of curved bone that led out into a misty, unclaimed expanse of cloud.
"That was... educational," Wei Feng said, his tone dry. "You have successfully terrified every sect leader from here to the Celestial Fire Domain. The Primordial Nexus Sect's council is in an uproar. Some demand your immediate containment as a catastrophic-level threat. Others, a small minority I am leading, argue for observation and study."
"And you?" Li Yao asked, gazing into the formless mist. "What do you demand?"
"I demand nothing," Wei Feng replied. "I offer a path. The Blazing Heaven Sect will not let this stand. They will return, not with brute force, but with cunning. They will seek artifacts that can bypass your negation, or allies who can attack you in ways you cannot anticipate. Your strength is also your weakness—it is absolute, but singular. You understand 'no,' but you are only one man against the collective 'yes' of the entire immortal world."
He gestured to the mist. "There is a place, not on any sect's maps. A 'Mystical Zone' where the Law of Causality is weak. Effects are disconnected from their causes. A fire might burn without fuel, or a thought might manifest as stone. It is a place of profound instability, where the very concept of 'law' is fluid. It is called the Garden of Lost Reasons."
Li Yao turned to look at him. "A place where my balance would be meaningless?"
"A place where your balance would be tested," Wei Feng corrected. "Your power relies on the stable framework of laws to unmake them. What happens in a place where that framework is already broken? Can you impose balance upon fundamental imbalance? It is the next logical step in your comprehension. I can guide you there. It is warded and hidden; a perfect sanctuary for... philosophical experimentation."
It was a tempting offer. A laboratory to stress-test the limits of the Uncreating Balance. A place to grow.
"And the price for this guidance?" Li Yao asked.
"Continued observation," Wei Feng said simply. "And a promise. When you have learned what you can from the Garden, you will accompany me to the Nexus Cloud Peak. Not as a prisoner, but as a guest speaker. To present your findings to the Law-Seeking Council. To show them that you are not a mindless force of destruction, but a scholar of the absolute. It is the only way to shift the sect's policy from containment to collaboration."
Li Yao considered it. It was a risk. Placing himself in the heart of the most powerful multi-law sect in the realm. But Wei Feng was right. He could not remain a lone wanderer forever. To truly be the balance, he had to engage with the powers that shaped the world, not just react to them.
"Very well," Li Yao agreed. "Guide me to this garden."
The journey was not through space, but through the frayed edges of reality. Wei Feng produced a small, complex talisman that pulsed with Chaos Law energy. He activated it, and the bone archway rippled, its center becoming a shimmering pool of contradictory colors and impossible geometries.
"Step through," Wei Feng said. "And do not try to comprehend the path. It defies reason."
Li Yao stepped into the rippling portal. The sensation was unlike any teleportation he had experienced. It was not movement, but a dismantling of location. He felt his own history, his connection to the places he had been, momentarily loosen. Then, he was through.
He stood in the Garden of Lost Reasons.
The sky was a patchwork of different times of day. The ground beneath his feet was sometimes solid stone, sometimes spongy moss, sometimes nothing at all. A waterfall nearby flowed upwards into a lake that hovered in the air, its water as thick as honey. In the distance, a tree made of crystalline sound chimed softly, its notes forming brief, beautiful sculptures that then shattered into silence.
Here, the Uncreating Balance felt... strained. His Domain of Uncreation flickered when he tried to manifest it. The laws were so fluid and ill-defined that "unmaking" them was like trying to erase water with a wet eraser. A flower bloomed nearby, its petals unfolding to reveal not a stamen, but a tiny, sleeping sparrow. The cause (blooming) had no logical connection to the effect (a bird).
Wei Feng stepped through behind him. "Welcome to the one place in the realm that might actually be a challenge for you."
Li Yao looked around, a genuine smile touching his lips for the first time in weeks. It was not a smile of joy, but of profound intellectual curiosity.
"This," he said, his voice full of wonder, "is perfect."
He had found his new classroom. The void was about to learn how to balance a world without rules. And in doing so, he would take the next step on the path that began in a dusty prayer pavilion—a path that was leading him inexorably towards the highest echelons of power, and towards a necessary confrontation with the very architects of reality.