I Created a Protagonist Sect: My Programmer Job is Super Overpowered

Chapter 23: My own Chaos

Chen Mo's eyes snapped open, pupils dilating in a futile attempt to make sense of the infinite darkness surrounding him. Where was he? What had become of the radiant spiritual sea and the majestic golden palace?

His essence drifted aimlessly, untethered in the lightless void. Even the vivid memory of those resplendent vistas felt like little more than a half-remembered dream slipping through his metaphysical grasp.

"Am I still within my spiritual sea?" The question reverberated soundlessly, swallowed by the abyssal shadows enshrouding him. Chen Mo focused his senses inward, probing the extent of this limitless void that had devoured his inner world.

Not even the faintest glimmer permeated the opaque nothingness - it was an absolute vacuum bereft of illumination. Such stark emptiness seemed wholly unnatural, even anathema, to the vibrant ocean of power a spiritual sea was meant to embody.

Unease flickered through Chen Mo's thoughts as he recalled his bewildering encounter mere moments prior.

'That woman... Rasiel'

'Rasiel are you there?'

[UPDATING] – [Time left – 7 days]

'She's still here so that's fine'

Chen Mo tried to reassure himself but thoughts of the cryptic woman still lingered in his mind.

He was sure that that was Rasiel but he didn't know how she could have gained autonomy, and in his soul at that, which hadn't yet formed until just a few moments ago.

Unless... [REDACTED] ??? [ERROR] – [CONCEALED INFORMATION] ???

'It seems things aren't that simple'

Her arcane words resurfaced in his memory.

She had said something about him being too young and coming again in another chaos or two. But Chen Mo couldn't understand what she meant by a 'chaos or two' since there could only be one chaos.

Could it be that the chaos will be destroyed? But that was impossible, the chaos was everything, how could it be destroyed, and two times at that.

Chen Mo willed himself to focus. speculation could come later. For now, he needed to figure out what was going on in his spiritual sea as the darkness and absolute silence was getting to him.

Chen Mo stretched out his senses to the limit but he couldn't see any end to his spiritual sea. But what bothered him the most was the absence of anything in his spiritual sea. Even some late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators have at least a pond in their spiritual sea so why was his so empty even at the peak of Soul Formation.

'Rasiel, what do you think is the problem'

[UPDATING] – [Time left – 7 days]

That again! Chen Mo thought to himself that he had a [Parallel Processing] skill and Rasiel should be able to multitask easily but it seemed that that wasn't the case. It seems that the "Force Update" command was different.

'What did she do earlier?'

'Oh, I remember now. Initiate manual override'

[Manual override rejected]

'That was quick, you didn't even give it time to consider.'

'Anyway, it seems that I'm on my own for now'

'Activate skill [Existence]'

"I haven't done this in a while"

[

Information: The Spiritual Sea is a world formed by one's innate element, you lack any elements therefore you have no spiritual sea. This is inside your soul where the spiritual sea should otherwise exist.

]

'I see, so that's why'

Since my space element transformed into the law of space, my body didn't have any element to form the spiritual sea with so it was left empty.

'I suddenly have a smart idea...'

Centering his thoughts, he channeled the fundamental power of space itself. The law manifested in his mind's eye, geometric forms of unseen energy that could divide, stretch, warp the very fabric of reality.

In the beginning, there was only the void. Now, Chen Mo's application of spatial law tore open a miniscule sliver in the darkness - the first step in redefining this formless potential.

Chen Mo thought to himself that he had used his [Development] and [Update] skill to merge the law of space into his soul but now there didn't seem to be any difference.

Although there was space, there was still no light nor land.

'Wait a minute'

Most people's spiritual seas only contained a single element since finding resources for core formation wasn't easy and it was rare to awaken another element after the core was formed. But this didn't apply to him, he could gain any new law at anytime and would be able to merge it into his soul.

He thought of what could happen if he managed to gather and merge all three thousand laws, wouldn't he be able to create his own chaos inside his soul.

But before that, he needed to go and save Mei Ling.

...

Recap time

Yin Mei had already exhausted all her soul power and was floating opposite the elder. Her body constantly changed from her adult and mature form to her teenage self and even to her cocooned self until it finally settled on her teenage form.

Her spiritual energy slowly dissipated as she slowly transformed back into Mei Ling. She was unconscious and couldn't keep up the flying technique and thus started plummeting to the ground.

The elder noticed her falling and decided to catch her since she was the ancestor's reincarnation.

He gathered the slumbering Mei Ling gently in his arms. After the unbridled chaos unleashed by the girl across the devastated compound, an uneasy silence now hung over the ruined ancestral shrines and buildings as scattered fires continued burning.

The Elder took a deep, centering breath. There could be no delay. He needed to relocate Mei Ling somewhere more suitable until she awakened and he could piece together exactly what had transpired here. Too many specifics waited on razor's edge. The future and destiny of the entire clan depended now on his handling of this volatile situation.

Tearing a talisman he held with his two fingers, he opened an interspatial portal to transfer them both to a secure-

"Did I say you could leave?"

The softly menacing words cut through the crackling fires as the opened spatial portal closed itself shut. The Elder froze in place, blood turning to ice in his veins. That voice...here?! Impossible!