THE REAL PROTEGE-Chapter 521: THE SOVEREIGN NULLITY SUTRA

The Sovereign Who Erases

The Azure Dragon threw his head back and laughed. Not polite. Not reserved. It poured out of him, rolling from his chest in a booming, full-bellied peal, low and wild, swelling and cresting, echoing again and again against the wooden beams of the garden hall. Such laughter rose, thundered, then tumbled down in rumbling waves.

"I knew you would ask this question!" he declared, eyes glittering in Lily’s direction. "But allow me ask you this — wouldn’t you fear anyone who can bring back the dead?"

The question did not feel rhetorical.

It pressed against them.

Lily shivered exaggeratedly, hugging her arms.

Lily let out a small, nervous laugh and hugged her arms tighter, eyes drifting briefly to the gloom beyond the pillars. She said nothing at first, but her eyes shifted, searching the faces around her while weighing her answer. Finally, she replied, voice faint though edged with something more acute, "Isn’t it unsettling, the idea that someone could bring back the dead?" She paused, her brows knitting. "Still... I wonder if that’s really what makes everyone afraid of Otako."

The Azure Dragon’s laughter came back, richer this time.

“Ha ha ha ha! Smart girl!”

Red grinned slightly beside him, clearly enjoying the exchange.

"You’re right," the Azure Dragon continued, leaning forward slightly. "He is feared most for his heavenly-defying combat technique. It violates the fundamental law of cultivation: energy cannot simply cease to be. Yet his art bends existence at a point, ignoring the boundaries that normally bind qi and matter."

The atmosphere tightened instinctively.

"The Sovereign Nullity Sutra."

The name alone seemed to thin the air.

A tremble of unease moved through the room at the name. Its origin was spoken of only in fragments. Some said the text proved ancient as memory, sealed in secret archives where even immortals would not linger. There existed whispers that the heavens never sanctioned its creation. Certain people said it was born after a lost war, written in silence beneath the world tree as punishment for a god’s rebellion. Some said a single page, read aloud, could erase a bloodline from history. To speak of its creator was to invite misfortune. To seek the Sutra was to draw the gaze of things that watched from beyond the sky.

"...."

Whenever Otako hears this myth, he is left not just speechless but helpless.

Ling Li’s expression stayed still. Only her eyes fell, just barely — a sign of fate.

Four Eyes once again caught it.

The Azure Dragon’s tone changed. Storytelling faded. Reverence took its place. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Otako does not attack."

A pause.

"He erases physical stability." It is as though the very framework holding things together is wiped away — not cut, not shattered, simply made to vanish, like a fabric among the threads tugged free until nothing is left to hold the pattern.

For an instant, the bamboo floor under their feet seemed to go slack, as if all the fibers in the wood seemed about to unravel. It seemed like watching a magnificent sculpture dissolve into dust without a sound, leaving only empty space where something solid once stood.

The air got thinner, sound seemed to grow damp and warped, and a chill tingled along Lily’s arms, as if something core in the world had been quietly undone.

Shun’s spine straightened unconsciously.

"When Otako flicks his finger—"

The Azure Dragon lifted his own hand slightly, mimicking the gesture.

"He injects a perfectly compressed strand of immortal qi."

His fingers came together as if pinching something invisible.

"It vibrates. Delicate at first. Then sharper, the pulse tightens. Each wave fracturing what should hold together. A frequency that rocks the bones of existence. It breaks. Just there, at a single point."

Fatty blinked rapidly.

"It bypasses defenses."

Mushu’s eyes darkened.

"It ignores armor."

Shun’s jaw stiffened.

"It ignores protective artifacts."

Ren swallowed.

"It ignores cultivation realm differences."

Shi Min’s pupils contracted faintly.

"Because it does not clash with qi."

The Azure Dragon’s gaze steeled.

"It severs continuity."

A stillness spread, vast and spreading. Somewhere in the distance, a bell that had been tolling abruptly fell quiet; a single candle on the lacquered table flickered low, its flame guttering. At once, the hush thickened as though the earth itself halted, the burden of the words suspended in the halt.

Cold.

"Flesh separates from function." The Azure Dragon continued.

Ren inhaled sharply.

"Meridians disconnect from flow."

Lily’s excitement had vanished completely.

"Soul detaches from anchor."

The koi pond rippled, faint and slow. The air itself did not move.

"The victim collapses not from impact..."

The Azure Dragon’s voice lowered.

"But from structural cancellation."

For a moment, no one moved.

Then Fatty whispered, "That’s... insane."

Everyone stared, jaws slack.

The Azure Dragon studied their reactions with subtle satisfaction.

"Why is it terrifying?" he asked, deliberately pausing.

They didn’t blink.

He smiled slightly.

"Because during its execution—"

His voice mellowed.

"There is no beam of light.

No sword arc.

No shockwave.

No explosion."

The Azure Dragon flicked his fingers lightly.

"Just a flick.

And a body that falls apart internally."

A cold current passed through the room.

"As observers once stated—"

The Azure Dragon’s eyes grew distant, recalling memory.

"Otako flicked his finger.

The peak Nascent Soul elder stiffened.

Then died."

Mushu’s throat felt dry. He only recently ascended to Nascent Soul.

"No one sees the strike.

They only see the verdict."

The word verdict struck. Again.

Ling Li remained silent.

Four Eyes’ thoughts churned faster now.

The precision.

The judgment.

The silent authority.

It all corresponded too perfectly with what he had long suspected.

Everyone in the room shivered.

Even Red’s fiery aura seemed dimmer.

"You may ask why only Otako can use it?" For generations, no one has succeeded in emulating what he does. Yet, there have always been rumors — quiet speculations that somewhere in the vast world, someone might one day grasp a portion of this forbidden technique or bear its destructive force for more than a heartbeat. Some ancient writings imply that, under impossible circumstances, a cultivator with an unbreakable soul or a fate warped beyond reason could survive the cancellation for a moment, long enough to leave a mark. But until now, all attempts have ended in catastrophe.

They in the hall nodded almost in unison.

The Azure Dragon grew serious.

"Because to perform this technique—"

"Your internal cultivation must be perfectly stable. No turbulence."

Shi Min’s breathing slowed.

"Your external cultivation has to withstand the recoil of nullifying forces."

Mushu perceived the weight of that line.

"Your soul must be anchored above mortal fragility."

Ren glanced instinctively at her brother.

"Anyone weaker attempting it would..." The Azure Dragon’s tone hardened.

For a moment, he stalled, as if deliberating whether to speak the truth aloud. "They will convulse, every vessel rupturing inward under a crushing, unwinding force — meridians tearing like torn silk as the dantian caves in and the soul itself screams before splintering into numbness. It happens all at once. There is not even time to cry out."

Fatty paled.

"It requires someone whose body and spirit are unified beyond flaw."

The Azure Dragon leaned back.

"That is only Otako."

The declaration settled. Heavy as a mountain at the center of the hall.