"In that case, I’ll start with the easier ones first."

Aiden made his decision.

"First Sloth, then Lust, and last... Gluttony."

According to the information Jade and Zoey had worked out in reverse, the sealing point of the Pillar of Sloth was located deep within the Abyss, in a place called the Still Depths.

It was a strange forbidden land that even the ranked races of the Abyss were unwilling to enter.

Unlike the Burning Abyss, which was filled with raging lava, or the Abyss Maw, which was thick, dead, and silent, the Still Depths were completely calm.

There were no violent elements there.

No terrifying illusions.

Only a deathly silence and an unbearable heaviness.

Any living being that stepped into the Still Depths would quietly lose all fighting spirit and desire.

You would feel that cultivation had no meaning.

Resistance had no meaning.

Even being alive would become a burden.

Nothing would matter anymore.

Everything could be "put off until later."

In the end, inside that empty nothingness, you would turn into a speck of dust in the Still Depths.

"What an interesting law."

The corners of Aiden’s mouth lifted slightly, but there was no fear in his eyes.

Just as he was getting ready to tear open the void and head to the Still Depths-

"Sir!"

A clear and anxious shout interrupted his thoughts.

Kelsey came running over quickly, her small face slightly flushed from running.

Because of the supreme Miko Wraithshard inside her body, she always carried a faint, mysterious aura that seemed beyond the mortal world.

"Kelsey, what’s wrong?"

Aiden crouched down and looked at her gently.

"Sir, this is for you."

Kelsey stretched out her tightly clenched little hand.

In her palm lay a crystal-clear fragment about the size of a fingernail.

The shard was almost transparent, with a strange and mysterious color. A very faint, yet extremely noble, wave of primordial law flowed across its surface.

"I found this in front of that golden gate. I just felt... you would need it."

Kelsey spoke seriously, her big eyes full of sincerity.

Aiden reached out and took the shard.

[Primordial Law Fragment detected. Amount: trace. Attribute: Calm Mind.]

The system prompt sounded in his mind.

This time, it no longer felt as cold as before. Instead, there was a hint of warmth in its voice.

The moment the shard touched his hand, an indescribable warmth swept through his entire body.

It was a warmth that could calm every restless feeling, every worry, and every bit of exhaustion in the soul.

It was as if, as long as he held it, even if he faced the siege of gods and demons from across the heavens, not a single ripple would rise in his heart.

"Thank you, Kelsey. This helps me a lot."

Aiden rubbed Kelsey’s head and carefully put the shard away.

With this shard, which carried a "Calm Mind" effect almost like a natural counter, the silent corrosion of Sloth in the Still Depths would no longer be much of a threat to him.

Before leaving, Aiden stood on the towering wall of Celestial Imperial City and looked at Zoey beside him.

"Zoey, what is the biggest difference between Sloth and the other Pillars?"

Aiden spoke calmly, his gaze fixed in the direction of the Abyss.

Zoey’s body trembled slightly when she heard this.

She turned her head and looked at the endless Abyss hidden behind thick fog. A clear trace of fear flashed through her eyes.

She stayed silent for a long time.

Long enough for the wind on the city wall to make the banners snap loudly.

"The other Pillars all have very clear signs of corruption," Zoey finally said, her voice a little hoarse.

"Pride uses supreme pressure to force you to submit. Envy uses endless illusions to tear apart your mind. Wrath stirs up the urge to kill deep inside you. Greed tempts you with endless desires and pulls you down into the Abyss."

"But Sloth is different."

Zoey turned to face Aiden and stared at him closely, speaking each word clearly.

"Sloth never attacks you. It even gives you the deepest kindness and peace."

"It simply... makes you stop."

"Aiden, remember this."

"On the path to becoming a god, stopping, at certain moments, means the most hopeless kind of death."

...

The void shattered inch by inch like a mirror, then closed silently behind Aiden.

The mighty power of an Intermediate God surged around him. With one step, Aiden crossed endless dimensions and arrived in the forbidden land deep within the Abyss-

The Still Depths.

But the scene before him made the newly advanced Intermediate God pause for a moment.

There were no wild flames here like in the Burning Abyss, flames that could tear through heaven and earth.

Nor was there the thick, sickening, dead swamp of the Abyss Maw.

Here, there was only stillness.

A deathly stillness.

No wind.

No sound.

No light.

Even the tiny specks of dust floating in the air seemed as if a god had pressed a pause button on them. They hung frozen in midair, completely motionless.

The movement of the laws here was faint to the extreme, as if they had fallen into an endless sleep.

This was a world forgotten by time, a world stripped of all life by space itself.

Aiden stepped forward and walked ahead.

The moment his footstep landed, the sound was swallowed by the darkness, unable to create even the smallest ripple.

The corrosion began silently.

The first step fell.

Aiden felt his divine body sink slightly.

It was as if a pair of gentle, invisible hands had brushed over his shoulders, softly trying to hold him back and stop him from moving forward.

"So tired..."

A faint sense of exhaustion rose from deep within his soul without any warning.

The second step fell.

"Actually, there’s no need to rush."

A trace of confusion flashed through Aiden’s twin-pupiled eyes, and images kept passing through his mind.

He had already broken through to the level of an Intermediate God. Across the entire Earth, he was now invincible.

Even the High-Tier Demon Gods in the deeper layers of the Abyss would have to avoid him.

He was already the hero of the Great Shaw Empire, the champion of the Global Exchange Tournament, and the strongest person on Earth.

"I’ve already done enough. What’s wrong with taking a short rest?"

The third step fell.

Leon’s scheme, the system’s devouring, the heavy burden of the Primordial Pillars...

Did he really have to carry all these suffocating responsibilities alone?

"Isn’t things being like this already good enough?"

Aiden’s steps slowly began to slow down.

His eyelashes trembled slightly. A powerful wave of sleepiness swept over him, and he almost wanted to lie down in this silent void and fall into a deep sleep.

No conflict.

No betrayal.

No damned system that could swallow him at any moment.

Moving forward was a painful struggle.

Stopping was the gentlest form of death.

Just as Aiden’s right foot hung in the air, about to fully come down-

"Buzz-"

A clear and stubborn warmth suddenly came from his palm.

It was the Primordial Law Fragment Kelsey had given him, the one with the "Calm Mind" effect.

In this extreme cold and deathly silence, that bit of warmth was like the only spark in the darkness-bright, sharp, and warm.

[Detected: soul will is being corroded by an absolute law. "Calm Mind" effect activated. Soul unrest has been soothed.]

The system’s clear, distant voice rang out in his mind like a great bell.

Aiden’s twin-pupiled eyes instantly became clear again.

Dark gold and pure white light intertwined deep in his eyes, tearing apart the layers of fog before him in an instant.

He did not keep moving forward.

Instead, he stood still and quietly sensed the power that was trying to make him stop.

"So that’s it..."

Aiden murmured softly, a self-mocking smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Sloth isn’t really laziness."

"Its true nature is... ’This is enough. Why change anything?’"

At its core, this thought was not about giving up on oneself.

It was the deepest kind of survival instinct.

As long as you move forward, you will get hurt.

As long as you reach for something, you will have to face the fear of losing it.

But if you stop, if you no longer hope for anything and no longer try, then you will never make a mistake.

You will never feel pain.

"This is the shell the soul creates to protect itself after being hurt too many times."

Aiden looked into the depths of the Still Depths. His expression was calm, but his voice pierced through the void.

"I understand why you want to stop."

Aiden spoke slowly.

Around him, the Law of Space suddenly erupted.

"Buzz-"

Spatial Lockdown.

Full power.

In an instant, the deathly silence within ten thousand miles was forcibly torn apart.

Countless frozen fragments of space began to dance wildly around Aiden like a storm.

The pure white Law of Light and the violent Law of Thunder turned into a huge godly phantom behind him, completely lighting up the darkness of the Still Depths.

"But I have not reached the point where I can stop yet."

Aiden raised his head. His twin-pupiled eyes were filled with a proud, commanding aura.

"Not because some mission is forcing me to move forward."

"And not because the Great Shaw Empire, or this world, needs me to save it."

Aiden paused. Then he spoke each word clearly, his voice shaking the heavens.

"It is only because I... choose to move forward!"

Boom!

The three great laws roared at the same time.

A terrifying pressure swept through the Still Depths like a raging wave, forcing back the law of sloth that had been trying to make everything fall asleep.

At that moment-

In the deepest part of the Still Depths, within a shadow that no light could ever reach, a huge and faint phantom of an ancient stone pillar slowly appeared.

The Pillar of Sloth.

Then, a distant and tired voice, filled with endless temptation, sounded directly in Aiden’s mind.

"Why do you choose to move forward?"

"Countless lives have found eternal peace here with me. From then on, they no longer suffer. They no longer lose anything."

"This is the best gift I can give to this cruel world."

There was a strange power in that voice, one that could make people give up all struggle.

Aiden sneered. The Radiant Blade in his hand pointed at the huge phantom at an angle.

"Peace may be real, but stopping... has never been the answer."

"Stopping is only a coward’s way of running away. It does not solve anything."

Aiden’s gaze was as sharp as a blade.

"A frog in warm water feels peaceful too-right before it dies."

Deep within the Still Depths, the ancient voice fell into complete silence.

A long time passed.

Then, at last, the voice sounded again, carrying a trace of deep emotion and a quiet sigh.

"...You said the same thing Yves did back then."