Chapter 1002: Possible Nonexistent Land

Within the Suixu world, Xu Qing and Er Niu gazed at the crack in the sky, their minds filled with a cascade of thoughts.

For Xu Qing, this experience in the outer sea was truly bizarre. Whether it was the strange beings he encountered or the human elder he had just met, everything stirred countless emotions within him.

In particular, the elder's words before leaving resonated profoundly, causing Xu Qing's worldview to rumble on a large scale.

"The Thirty-Six Star Rings... the Primordial Sea..." Xu Qing's mind was turbulent. Some things, after he gained a body sculpted from the flesh and blood of the Upper Desolation, he instinctively sensed. He had a vague impression of the Thirty-Six Star Rings. However, this was the first time he had heard of the Primordial Sea.

"While the possibility of it being false cannot be ruled out, it's highly likely to be true..." Xu Qing pondered.

Beside him, Er Niu suddenly slapped his thigh and spoke with a serious expression. "Little A Qing, I finally understand!"

Xu Qing immediately looked over, wanting to hear his Senior Brother's thoughts. After all, the human elder, who claimed to be from the Immortal Capital of the Fifth Star Ring, was utterly astonishing, both in his cultivation and his words. To describe him as unbelievable would be an understatement.

Er Niu's expression was grave as he looked at Xu Qing. "Before, out on the sea, every time I said we were safe, we'd encounter a big monster... Now I see, it was this old man who caused it! He did it on purpose!" Er Niu looked somewhat disappointed, as if he had almost believed his own words had special power. Clearly, his thoughts were different from Xu Qing's; he wasn't focused on the explosive information contained in the human elder's final words.

Xu Qing looked thoughtful. He was already accustomed to his Senior Brother's unconventional way of thinking.

"That senior finally said that the Fifth Star Ring is predominantly human, a world of immortals... But his words cannot be entirely trusted." Xu Qing murmured to himself, looking up at the crack in the sky.

As for Er Niu, whether he genuinely wasn't paying attention to this information or was simply too carefree, while Xu Qing gazed at the crack, his own eyes were fixed on the spot where the old man had shaken his straw sandals. He leaped over and squatted down, searching around. Soon enough, he actually found four dried blades of straw in the surrounding mud. Picking them up as if they were treasures, Er Niu's eyes showed wild joy. He put one to his mouth and bit down hard, then frowned, realizing he couldn't bite through it at all. Just as he was about to try again, he noticed Xu Qing's contemplative expression and blinked.

"Don't think about it, Little A Qing." "Those things are too far away from us." "Besides, it's hard to tell if that old man was good or evil. If you ask me, besides checking on your condition, he also wanted to form a connection with us! Otherwise, why would he treat us to skewers?"

Xu Qing nodded and suddenly spoke. "Senior Brother, you only said you couldn't judge whether he was good or evil, but you didn't question the truth of his words..." Xu Qing's eyes were profound. "The information that human senior mentioned, did you... already know it?"

Er Niu coughed, thinking, "Little A Qing is getting sharper; he's hard to fool now." So he chuckled, looked left and right, and then his eyes lit up. "Let's not talk about that. Oh, by the way, did you notice that golden mouse just now? We have one too, incubating with Little Sword. I wonder if it has hatched yet." "No, since this golden mouse is so powerful, we must go to the Imperial Capital and get our little mouse back from Wu Jianwu."

Xu Qing remained silent, continuously watching Er Niu.

Seeing this, Er Niu changed the subject again, shaking the four blades of straw he had just found in front of Xu Qing. "And these blades of straw! For that old golden mouse to care so much about them, they must be treasures! I bit into one just now and found it was really hard; I couldn't bite through it!" Er Niu lowered his head, looking at the straw in his hand. "But that old golden mouse really has no brains. Just because you can't bite it, does that mean you can't eat it?" Er Niu said proudly. "I've seen things I couldn't bite before! For situations like this, I have a solution!"

As he spoke, he gritted his teeth, deciding to take a gamble to divert Xu Qing's attention. Then, in front of Xu Qing, he raised his hand and violently sliced open his own stomach. As blood splattered, he actually ripped open his belly. He then forcibly put two blades of straw directly into his stomach... After doing this, he tightened the opened belly from both sides, like buttoning up clothes, and tied it shut with his black fur, effectively stitching it up. As for the remaining two blades of straw, he generously tossed them to Xu Qing. "Though I don't know what they taste like, look, I still managed to eat them." Er Niu looked triumphant and patted his stomach.

Xu Qing sighed softly. Although Senior Brother's actions didn't directly say it, Xu Qing had already formed his own judgment. He believed that there must be an unspoken reason for such behavior...

Thinking of this, Xu Qing stopped pressing. Instead, he took the two blades of straw, looked at them, and put them into his storage bag. His expression then became calm. "Let's go."

Seeing that Xu Qing no longer questioned him, Er Niu breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly nodded and ascended with Xu Qing, speeding towards the crack.

In an instant, the two traversed the crack. When they reappeared, they were no longer in the Suixu world, but on the surface of the outer sea. As for the Suixu they had just left, even now Xu Qing had not seen its true full form. The moment they flew out, the Suixu seemed to melt into the sea as if it were a painting. It vanished mysteriously.

This scene made Xu Qing's gaze even more profound. He finally took out his Great Wing, stood on it, and looked towards the depths of the distant outer sea. He was thinking about the Fifth Star Ring that the human elder had mentioned.

The sea surface was calm, silent, and utterly still.

Er Niu stood beside Xu Qing. Noticing Xu Qing's gaze, he sighed inwardly once more, then suddenly spoke. "Little Junior Brother, don't dwell on it." "You just asked if I already knew. I didn't answer, not because I'm unwilling to tell you, but because I don't wish to utter the name of the place you're thinking of right now." "Those four characters are taboo; they bring ill fortune." "As for that old man, I've truly never seen him, neither in this life nor in my many past lives. But the moment he spoke those four characters, I had some conjectures about his identity." "He is not the first to appear in Wanggu." "Master also indirectly knows about this elder. The taboo and ill fortune were told to me by Master. In fact, over countless years, Master has conducted detailed investigations and informed me that this individual might have appeared three times in Wanggu's history." "The first time was before those Xia Immortals of old. He revealed the four characters 'Fifth Star Ring.' Then, the Xia Immortals departed, presumably heading there, but not a single one has returned to this day." "The second time, Master suspects, was before Emperor Xuan You's departure. And according to the Empress and Master's judgment, Emperor Xuan You is clearly no longer in the Holy Land. So where did he go?" "Now, it should be the third time he has appeared, for you, or for me." "The place he comes from, those four characters... Master's judgment is... a place of non-existence. But the moment people hear it, it gains a real basis. The more those four characters are spoken, the more real its existence becomes."

Xu Qing sharply looked at Er Niu.

Er Niu looked at Xu Qing.

After a long moment, Xu Qing spoke softly. "Then, Senior Brother, what is your judgment?"

Er Niu looked up, gazed into the distance, and after a long time, shook his head. "Master's judgment has its merits, and I agree with some parts, but I still have doubts about others." "After all, Master has never been there either. I feel that place might be real, but this individual's intentions are hard to fathom." "And this universe of deities holds too many strange things; anything and anyone is possible." "Just like me," Er Niu murmured.

This last sentence struck Xu Qing like a bolt from the blue, thundering in his mind and making his breathing quicken. Compared to this statement, all other information seemed less important to Xu Qing. He had never known Senior Brother's true identity, but given the many past strange occurrences involving him, Xu Qing naturally had numerous conjectures.

"Senior Brother, you..." Xu Qing looked at Er Niu.

Er Niu was silent. After a long moment, a rare look of confusion appeared in his eyes. "Little Junior Brother, some call me a divine abomination, others call me an anomaly... What exactly I am, Master doesn't know, and neither do I." "I've actually been searching." "And my memory, with the passage of time, with each resurrection, every time I recall something from the past, I forget something from the present." "Actually... I've forgotten some things and habits from this life too." "I'm afraid that one day, Little Junior Brother... I won't recognize you, won't recognize Master... It might not be until my next life that I suddenly remember you both."

Er Niu's voice grew fainter. An unspeakable feeling arose in Xu Qing's heart. He couldn't distinguish what it was, only that it felt very bitter and astringent.

Meanwhile, Er Niu, noticing Xu Qing's expression, had a fleeting look of triumph. He thought proudly to himself, "Little A Qing, Little A Qing, no matter how clever you get, Senior Brother is still your Senior Brother. Fooling you is easy." "Now, I need a perfect ending."

Thinking this, Er Niu lightly coughed. "Let's not talk about sad things. Little Junior Brother, you don't need to be too upset. Just remember to share more good things with me in the future." "Like divine flesh and blood, or authorities, or divine powers. Of course, dirty things like spirit stones, the more the better. It's not that I'm greedy, Senior Brother, but the more things you give me, the more it helps deepen my memory."

Xu Qing nodded, took a spirit stone from his storage bag, and handed it to Er Niu.

Er Niu quickly glanced at it, took it, put it away, and said with dissatisfaction, "Only one?"

Hearing this, Xu Qing's expression turned bitter. "Senior Brother, you used to love eating spirit stones, and you'd only eat one at a time. Did you... forget this habit?"

Er Niu froze for a moment, looking at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing's expression was sincere.

Er Niu hesitated, took out the spirit stone, looked at Xu Qing, then with a fierce resolve, bit into it a few times and swallowed it. Just as he was about to speak, Xu Qing took out an iron sword, magically rusted it with a wave of his hand, and offered it to him.

"Huh?" Er Niu looked puzzled.

"Senior Brother, every time you finish a spirit stone, you'd say it lacked something, and then eat a rusty iron sword..." Xu Qing said.

Er Niu was silent, then after a long moment, burst out laughing. "Uh, Little Junior Brother, I was just joking with you. How could I have amnesia? That's completely untrue."

Xu Qing's gaze was clear. He looked at Er Niu and spoke softly. "Senior Brother, I don't know how much of what you said earlier was true and how much was false, but I can feel that those four characters are very important to you... So I want to tell you this." "I will strive to ensure that all unpleasant things in the future do not happen to you and everyone I care about." "If I cannot do it, then... we will face it together."

Xu Qing's voice reached Er Niu's ears, reverberating in his heart and stirring a ripple. He looked at Xu Qing, and an impulse rose within him, wanting to disregard everything and tell him everything.

Xu Qing shook his head. "Senior Brother, you have secrets, and so do I, and Master too... Tell me when you feel it's the right time."

Er Niu was silent. After a long moment, he smiled and nodded vigorously. "Okay!"

"We're almost there..."

Beyond the Wanggu world, in the starry sky, various Holy Lands stirred up stellar storms, carrying terrifying aura, and were approaching Wanggu. Behind these numerous Holy Lands, there was an eight-armed statue. Above its head, everything was distorted. Within the distortions, a figure seemed to be vaguely seated cross-legged.

"My homeland, my disciple, and... the Primordial Sea."