Chapter 1493: Heavenly Book Fragment

"Sirius Xisu and I worked together to break the barrier, and as we wished, we obtained a fragment of the World-Defying Heaven Manual. Because he was at the forefront, he suffered severe injuries when the barrier shattered and died shortly after returning to the Star God Realm," Qianye Ying'er said.

Yun Che knew this, and it was also why Jasmine utterly hated Qianye Ying'er. "Before Sirius Xisu died, did he tell anyone that you had obtained the World-Defying Heaven Manual?"

"No," Qianye Ying'er replied indifferently.

Yun Che sprang to his feet, his hands clenched. He looked at Qianye Ying'er's incredibly indifferent face, a furious rage burning inside him that he couldn't unleash. He could only curse wildly in his mind: "Sirius Xisu, are you a damn idiot?! If you had even a shred of sense, you'd know Qianye Ying'er was using you, even wishing you dead. Not only did you sacrifice your life for her, but after being killed, you even kept her secret?!"

"What a Sirius Star God! He was just an irredeemable scumbag, blinded by lust, who didn't even care about his own life for a woman! Perhaps he died without regret... It's one thing for a scumbag like you to die, but do you know how much sorrow you caused Jasmine and Caizhi?!"

Yun Che raged in his mind, and after catching his breath... he suddenly felt a strange familiarity with the words he had just used to curse Sirius Xisu.

Yun Che shook his head violently. If it were for Jasmine, for his master and the others... he too could disregard his life. But he wouldn't be foolish enough to sacrifice his life without regret for a woman who was clearly using him.

But... at that moment, Qianye Ying'er's true face, unveiled, appeared in Yun Che's mind.

He sighed quietly.

Shen Xi and Qianye Ying'er, the "Dragon Empress and Divine Maiden," known to everyone in the God Realm.

Of all the grace and beauty in the world, the Dragon Empress and Divine Maiden possessed six-tenths, leaving only four-tenths for the rest of the world.

Although it was an exaggeration, upon seeing their true faces, no one would doubt that their existence was both a great fortune and a great disaster for the men of the current age.

Everyone in the world knew Shen Xi was the Dragon Empress, but Yun Che was the only one apart from them who knew the truth.

As the Dragon Emperor, the Supreme Being of Chaos, even knowing that Shen Xi held no affection for him and never would, he never chose a successor or took concubines. Even without heirs, even if he was destined to be alone, he remained without regret or resentment for hundreds of thousands of years.

Compared to the Dragon Emperor, Sirius Xisu's willingness to die for Qianye no longer seemed so difficult to accept.

Perhaps, in Sirius Xisu's world, being used by Qianye was a sweet burden. At least, Qianye Ying'er actively sought his help, actively looked at him a few more times. At least in the secret realm, even at the cost of death, he had that brief solitude.

He had close, even intimate, contact with both Shen Xi and Qianye.

Shen Xi's ethereal beauty was like a celestial fantasy.

As for Qianye's true face, if Yun Che had to describe it with one word, the first one that came to mind was "abyss."

She made people willing to die a thousand deaths for her, even if it meant twisting their own will and soul.

Yun Che glanced at her, only daring to meet her gaze when she wore her mask. "Shadow Slave, listen. You should know who Jasmine hates the most. After I find her, if she wants to hurt you, humiliate you, or even kill you, you are not to evade, nor are you to retaliate. Understand?"

"...Yes," Qianye Ying'er replied calmly. She was not surprised or taken aback by Yun Che's command in the slightest.

She knew the relationship between Yun Che and Jasmine, and how much Jasmine hated her.

"Answer me a question," Yun Che suddenly asked. "What exactly is the World-Defying Heaven Manual?"

Qianye Ying'er calmly replied, "According to ancient records and legends, the primordial being of chaos was the Ancestral God. Because their body concentrated and connected all life force in the chaotic world, if they continued to exist, chaos would never be able to give birth to other beings. Therefore, the Ancestral God sacrificed themselves to become myriad lives. Before dissipating, they left part of their memories on eight life fragments. These eight fragments fell into the south and north of chaos, nurturing the four Creation Gods who led the Divine Race and the four Devil Emperors who led the Devil Race."

Yun Che frowned slightly. He had heard these things from the Golden Crow Spirit back when he was in the lower realms, but he didn't interrupt. He listened in silence, a strange possibility already forming in his mind.

"Before dissipating, the Ancestral God left behind a special divine art."

"All beings originated from the Ancestral God, and the Profound Way of the world was also created by the Ancestral God. It is said that the divine art left by the Ancestral God was the origin of the Profound Way. However, perhaps because it was too powerful, or unsuitable for the world's inhabitants to cultivate, the Ancestral God, though reluctant to destroy it, did not pass it down whole. Instead, they divided it into three parts, scattered throughout the chaotic space."

"And this special divine art from the Ancestral God is what the world calls the Ancestral God Art."

"I know all this," Yun Che pressed. "What is its relationship to the World-Defying Heaven Manual I asked about?"

Qianye Ying'er explained, "The Ancestral God Art is recorded in a special type of 'Primeval Divine Script.' Only the four Creation Gods and four Devil Emperors, who inherited parts of the Ancestral God's memories, can understand the Primeval Divine Script. Therefore, the true name of the Ancestral God Art has always been unknown to anyone except the Creation Gods and Devil Emperors; in ancient times, it was likely unknown to almost everyone as well."

"It was only when I touched the memory fragments of the Heaven Punishing Divine Emperor that I learned the legendary Ancestral God Art was actually named the 'World-Defying Heaven Manual.'"

"..." Yun Che stood frozen, silent for a long time.

Yun Che had known the name "Ancestral God Art" from the Golden Crow Spirit even before arriving in the God Realm. The Ancestral God Art was divided into three parts. In ancient times, two of these parts were held by the Heaven Punishing Divine Emperor Mo E and the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor Jie Yuan, respectively.

When Mo E banished Jie Yuan, he did so under the pretext of reviewing each other's Ancestral God Art.

Clearly, even Jie Yuan couldn't resist the allure of the Ancestral God Art...

Furthermore, Yun Che was certain that no one, from ancient times until now, had ever seen the complete Ancestral God Art... This was because the part Jie Yuan possessed was banished with her beyond chaos. Before that, the Ancestral God Art had never been whole, and after that, only two parts remained.

Now that Jie Yuan had returned, it was unknown if the Ancestral God Art she possessed was still with her.

And the World-Defying Heaven Manual...

Back then, in the Moon Slaughter Devil Cave, after exhausting all his efforts to kill the Moon Slaughter Devil Monarch—who had inexplicably survived—Yun Che had found a mysterious black jade. Not even Jasmine knew what this black jade was; any spiritual sensing sent into it yielded no reaction. Yet, when Xiao Lingxi approached it, a strange resonance occurred, causing a cluster of peculiar inscriptions to float in the air.

Even though Xiao Lingxi had clearly never seen these strange inscriptions, she could interpret them without any difficulty.

The name she interpreted was... the World-Defying Heaven Manual!

What was going on?

Was the "World-Defying Heaven Manual" I coincidentally obtained from the Moon Slaughter Devil Monarch truly the Ancestral God Art?

Yun Che suddenly looked up and asked, "Shadow Slave, have you deciphered the 'World-Defying Heaven Manual' in your possession?"

Qianye Ying'er shook her head without hesitation. "No. The 'Primeval Divine Script' inscribed on the World-Defying Heaven Manual can only be recognized by the four Creation Gods and four Devil Emperors. No other gods or devils can understand it, let alone the ordinary spirits of the current era."

Primeval Divine Script... only Devil Emperors and Creation Gods can understand...

Why, then, could Lingxi...?

Even more bizarrely, she claimed she had never seen such characters, yet she could understand them at a glance.

Yun Che's brows furrowed, his mind and soul in tumultuous confusion.

"I tried every method, searching through various ancient texts and consulting many scholars who studied antiquities, but I only barely managed to translate the four characters 'Nine Profound Exquisite.' This also inadvertently caused some rumors to spread that I did not wish to hear."

Yun Che took a deep breath and looked at her sideways. "Is this... why you targeted Qingyue back then?"

"Yes," Qianye Ying'er replied.

"Hmph! Inscriptions that you couldn't understand at all, that were utterly undecipherable, and merely a fragment at that, yet you still targeted Qingyue because of it... You truly are a lunatic."

Qianye Ying'er said calmly, "Such is my pursuit of the Profound Way and my life's creed."

Yun Che scoffed. "The fragment of the World-Defying Heaven Manual you obtained, it's with your father now, isn't it?"

He could easily guess that something so important, she would have specifically left with her most trusted person before heading to the Moon God Realm with resolve... The World-Defying Heaven Manual, if it truly was the Ancestral God Art, would be something supremely valuable and important even in the eyes of Creation Gods and Devil Emperors.

However, to his immediate astonishment, Qianye Ying'er said, "No, I didn't hand that fragment of the World-Defying Heaven Manual to anyone. It's currently on me."

"..." Yun Che's eyes widened for a few breaths. He suddenly stood up and extended his hand, saying, "Let me see it."

"Yes."

No matter how important or forbidden an item, Qianye Ying'er would not defy him. Under Yun Che's eager gaze, Qianye Ying'er extended her arm, revealing a grayish-white square stone tablet in her palm.

The stone tablet possessed no spiritual energy. It appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary rock, somewhat square in shape, covered with a scattering of similarly sized holes... That was all.

"This is the fragment of the World-Defying Heaven Manual you obtained?" Yun Che found it somewhat hard to believe.

Qianye Ying'er flipped her palm, and a golden light flashed. An extremely potent Brahma Divine Power silently poured into the stone tablet.

Instantly, the grayish-white stone suddenly emitted a strong silver glow. This silver light lasted only for a moment before it abruptly burst forth and then vanished without a trace.

At that moment, Yun Che suddenly sensed something. He quickly looked up, his gaze fixed for a long time... a very long time.

Directly above him and Qianye Ying'er, a large expanse of dazzling silver light rapidly unfurled, then slowly spread, separated, and twisted until it formed hundreds of strange shapes, similar in size but distinct from one another.

Clearly, they were rows of peculiar characters!

Against the grayish-white sky, these silver, peculiar characters were incredibly clear. As his gaze fell upon them, the gray sky seemed to vanish, and his vision was filled with nothing but these strange characters, devoid of any other color.

Staring at these peculiar characters, his gaze remained fixed for a very long time... a very long time.

The way these peculiar characters appeared was almost identical to the way the mysterious black jade revealed its inscriptions.

Although he didn't recognize a single one of these peculiar characters, the sense of "shared origin" was remarkably clear and strong compared to the characters revealed by the mysterious black jade.

This was the fragment of the World-Defying Heaven Manual obtained by Qianye Ying'er, and also a fragment of the Ancestral God Art!

Then, was that mysterious black jade... truly also a fragment of the Ancestral God Art?!

If everything was true... the one in Qianye's hand was Mo E's fragment, Jie Yuan had one fragment, so the one he obtained was the third and final fragment!?

Why would such a supreme divine artifact as the Ancestral God Art be on the Moon Slaughter Devil Monarch?

His status among the devil race seemed high, but he definitely couldn't have been on the level of a Devil Emperor.

Moreover, his ability to escape the Calamity of Extinction and survive into the present world was already incredibly strange... Could it be related to this?

Countless thoughts flashed through Yun Che's mind, but what he couldn't let go of was undoubtedly...

Why could Lingxi understand the Ancestral God Art?!

"I'll take this," Yun Che said, reaching out to grasp the stone tablet and directly putting it away.

"Yes," Qianye Ying'er replied without resistance, then suggested, "If Master wishes to examine it, you might consult the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor. She is the only being in the world who can understand the Primeval Divine Script."

"I see," Yun Che said, a faint smile playing on his lips. "So this is why you kept it with you."

Qianye Ying'er: "..."