Chapter 1632: The Core of the Heavenly Realm Opens the Gate of Life, The God of Latent Breath Seeks Without a Trace

"What Ran Ming?There has only ever been one worst outcome: Tsui Yin!

"Mind Sword Technique..."Without a second thought, Xu Xiaoshou unleashed all his skills. The Red Plum Three-Stream was already second nature to him; Swordless Technique replaced void, and Mind Sword Technique spearheaded the attack. The moment they met, "Prajna Void" would ensure this hidden evil deity, Tsui Yin, would not return!

"Ho..."But Tsui Yin on the divine throne merely chuckled, clearly having no intention of "making a move" or even "possessing" him from start to finish. Before Xu Xiaoshou could even strike with his sword, Tsui Yin transformed into a wisp of smoke and voluntarily vanished from the power of the Divine Seal of Fate.

"R-ran away?"This was completely unexpected! Even if he was a coward, they had already come face to face. As a fellow consciousness, he should at least display the arrogance of an Ancestral God, give it a try, and see if he could possess me or destroy me, right? Just mocking him and then scurrying away like that—what kind of evil deity are you?The Super-Daoized Intent Disk had barely formed beneath his feet, but facing empty air, it could only dissipate. The unreleased "Prajna Void" no longer caused a backlash to Xu Xiaoshou, its power gradually fading as his thoughts shifted.

Hesitating for a moment, Xu Xiaoshou stopped exploring the Divine Seal of Fate, withdrew, and decided to consult with the "smart one" first.

"You saw Tsui Yin?" Dao Qiongcang read something from his solemn expression.

"Yes." Xu Xiaoshou nodded and said seriously, "After praising me a few times, He was intimidated by my powerful aura and retreated."

"..." Dao Qiongcang feigned deafness. "What did He say?"

"He praised me, saying 'Xu Xiaoshou is full of courage,' truly unprecedented and unmatched, daring to meet Tsui Yin with just a wisp of thought. It was truly courage unrivaled in the Five Domains, and a strategy superior to..."

"So, He really ran away? Where would He go?" Dao Qiongcang casually interrupted, looking away with a frown. "You can continue exploring the Divine Seal of Fate."

Continue? My Dao, you're not trying to trick me, are you? Xu Xiaoshou looked doubtful and hesitated, feeling that Tsui Yin might not have left completely. Should he just return the Divine Seal of Fate to the flamboyant old Daoist?

"I said, I'll protect you." Dao Qiongcang chuckled. "It's still the same—if He had full confidence to kill both of us, He wouldn't need to play mind games like this. He's an Ancestral God!"

Indeed, right? In the eyes of an Ancestral God, no matter how much we struggle, we're just ants! Despite his thoughts, Xu Xiaoshou felt Dao Qiongcang's words sounded better than a song. He held onto the jade seal, not moving, refusing to continue.

Dao Qiongcang sighed helplessly, "The Divine Seal of Fate was fine before, but now you must explore it deeply. If my prediction is correct, that one look from Him was to see if you dared to explore it."

"So?" Xu Xiaoshou remained unmoved.

"The 'so' isn't important. Instead, we should consider His 'motive.' Since He took the extra step to stare, yet didn't intend to act, it means He's uneasy about this seal."

"So?"

"This 'so' is very important, my Xu. What do you think He fears most?"

"What?"

"What He fears most is that you and I will leave—taking Shen Yi, Er Zhu, the Thirty-Six Divine Punishment Pillars, and the remnants of the various Half-Saints and Saint Emperors on them, out of the God's Remains. This is His biggest concern. All His previous actions indicate His immense ambition; He even willingly fell into depravity because of it."

"So?"

"..." Dao Qiongcang was silent for a moment, then stopped beating around the bush and said directly, "Perhaps you can find the 'door' to escape the God's Remains within the Divine Seal of Fate."

A 'door' flashed through Xu Xiaoshou's mind—the one Dao Qiongcang had previously opened while disguised as the Saint Ancestor, which Tsui Yin had presented to everyone, but no one dared to exit. For real? Just from Tsui Yin leaving that one watchful glance, you, the flamboyant old Daoist, could discern so much information and deduce there's a 'door'?

"Don't believe me?" Dao Qiongcang raised an eyebrow.

"No."

"Then let's make a bet..."

"I'm allergic to bets." Xu Xiaoshou immediately shut down the topic and, half-believing, half-doubting, extended his spiritual sense into the Divine Seal of Fate once more.

He bypassed the crumbling divine palace he sensed, then the vast amount of God-Slaying power left by Ran Ming, and probed into the place where Tsui Yin had previously appeared.

Cautious, cautious, extremely cautious! Deeper, deeper, still deeper! Finally, at the very bottom of the viscous, liquid-like God-Slaying power, his spiritual sense touched a solid object.

It resembled a peach pit, blackish-brown, with a few slender branches coiling over it. Inside, it was chaotic, divided into three layers: upper, middle, and lower.

"Core of the Heavenly Realm."

Xu Xiaoshou swore he had never encountered this object before. But the moment his spiritual sense touched it, a surge of information appeared in his mind, revealing what this blackish-brown peach pit was:

"Core of the Heavenly Realm, the planar core of the God's Remains. The contractor can control the God's Remains and become the master of this plane."

Thump-thump!Thump-thump!His heart, against his will, began to pound wildly.

Master of the God's Remains? Ruler of all life within this ruin? Equivalent to the Master of the Apricot Realm, able to take whatever he wanted from here?

Xu Xiaoshou almost wanted to let out three long cries of joy. Obtaining the Divine Seal of Fate, which granted him the privilege to cultivate in the God's Remains at any time, he had only felt like he had acquired a sub-planar door to the God's Remains. He never imagined that the true sub-planar door was hidden within the Divine Seal of Fate, like an extra layer of nesting dolls, and he had almost overlooked it due to fear?

"A contract?"

Xu Xiaoshou stopped his instinctive impulse. If the Core of the Heavenly Realm was so powerful, why hadn't Tsui Yin seized control of it?

His thoughts receded like a tide, and he looked at the damned Dao Qiongcang with a complex expression.

Dao Qiongcang, with a spring-like expression, made no mention of their previous bet, only saying meaningfully:

"Learned something?"

Xu Xiaoshou really wanted to dig out this flamboyant old Daoist's brain and thoroughly analyze what disgusting things he pondered every day. Asking 'Is there a door?', 'Tsui Yin really isn't here, right?', or even sarcastically asking about anything else would have been fine. But you give me 'Learned something?' This is a teaching session, huh! Do you really think I, Xu, didn't think of anything beforehand? Yes! So what?

"Very good." Dao Qiongcang was not someone who needed others to give him answers to get them. Seeing Xu Xiaoshou remain silent, he mused to himself:

"A few years older, not completely a fool after all."

Just wait until you're down and out; I'll show you what it means to kick someone when they're down... Xu Xiaoshou thought bitterly to himself, but on the surface, he smiled and cupped his hands, praising without reservation:

"Hall Master Dao's foresight is divine, truly as the world says, I humbly admit defeat."

"Young Master Xu is too kind." The flamboyant old Daoist's expression flickered before returning to calm. "What did you find?"

"Core of the Heavenly Realm."

Xu Xiaoshou didn't hide it. Ba Zun'an was truly prescient. Before leaving the ruins, he was indeed with the flamboyant old Daoist. The sense of security was much greater than if he had sought refuge with Tsui Yin—this conniving scoundrel's mind is truly twisted!

Upon hearing this, the conniving scoundrel Dao Qiongcang's eyes widened in surprise, and he shook his head, clicking his tongue, a series of expressive exclamations. Soon, his emotions settled, and he also cupped his hands, mimicking Xu Xiaoshou's earlier gesture:

"Congratulations, Young Master Xu."

"I couldn't find it in the First Heaven, nor in the Eighteenth Heaven. I wasted some time in the Thirty-Third Heaven and still couldn't find it. After that, I turned the Divine Seal Temple upside down, and still couldn't find it... I never imagined that such a good thing would be given away by my own hands. This truly is fate playing tricks!"

He showed no signs of coveting it. After sincerely congratulating him, he said:

"By mastering the Core of the Heavenly Realm, Young Master Xu can become the master of the God's Remains and open the planar door to return to the Holy Divine Continent."

At first, Xu Xiaoshou hadn't thought the "Core of the Heavenly Realm" was that powerful, but hearing that Dao Qiongcang had searched for so long without finding it, he inexplicably felt satisfied. Even the fact that this guy had delayed so long in the Thirty-Third Heaven, realizing he was searching for something, he felt this small matter could be forgiven.

Xu Xiaoshou, realizing this... his face darkened, and he gritted his teeth:

"Stop praising me. If you really want it, I'll give it to you."

Xu Xiaoshou actually pulled out the Core of the Heavenly Realm! My Dao, I can't handle you anymore. Seriously, write a book. I really want to learn. Then put your energy into writing books, and stop figuring out how to trick me in the future. Otherwise, I really won't be able to sleep at night.

Dao Qiongcang stared at the blackish-brown peach pit for a full ten breaths of time. Then he looked up, stared at Xu Xiaoshou for a few more moments, and then said seriously:

"Young Master Xu and I are brothers who would die for each other. Why test me? Since it's your fortuitous encounter, I won't force it. As you said, a gentleman doesn't take what others cherish."

Testing him? Xu Xiaoshou was genuinely stunned for a moment, then immediately felt even more exhausted. My Dao, I really give up on you... He shoved the peach pit into the other person's hand:

"I'm not kidding you. If you truly want it, take it now, and I'll keep my life. If you don't take it now, and then scheme to trick me and take my things and my life, I will genuinely fight you to the death, I mean it!"

After a pause, Xu Xiaoshou remembered something, pulled out the Divine Seal of Fate, and also shoved it over:

"This one works too! You can take all of these. We'll focus wholeheartedly on dealing with Tsui Yin. Once we're out of the God's Remains, you go your merry way, and I'll go mine. If we miss each other, we can chat with a communication bead. In reality, we'll keep to ourselves, just like online friends, okay?"

Too tired! Dao Qiongcang treated scheming as life itself, and he enjoyed it. But Xu Xiaoshou couldn't endure living in constant fear every day. He now felt that his survival after recklessly fighting until dusk on Void Island was truly a blessing from fate, and that clinging to his life even when the old Daoist of Qingyuan Mountain personally laid out schemes meant he had exhausted all his luck. It's not the thief that steals you fear, but the thief who keeps thinking about you. The Ten Venerated Seats were all unparalleled through the ages, yet each one changed color at the mention of Dao, fearing him like a tiger. There truly was a reason for this. If you retreated, he could scheme to trap you. If you advanced, you might not only fall into a trap, but you might not even be able to defeat him head-on. Dao Qiongcang, mighty as he was, was still confronted by Tsui Yin.

Who could have imagined things would turn out this way?

Dao Qiongcang was amused by Xu Xiaoshou's sudden surrender and, quite puzzled, pushed back all the items in front of him. His lips twitched twice, as if suppressing a laugh, but in the end, he said nothing more, only pointing at the peach pit and saying:

"You can form a contract."

No, are you really a mind-reader, knowing even what I want to ask? Xu Xiaoshou unhappily clutched the items in his hand: "You really don't want it? It's the Core of the Heavenly Realm! You'd fight tooth and nail for a sub-planar door!"

"A sub-planar door is something the Hall Master Dao (the title) wants, but Dao Qiongcang (the person) does not," Dao Qiongcang said, tapping the peach pit. "This item is the same."

Phew... Xu Xiaoshou let out a long breath. Fine, whatever. I'll take you seriously, and assume there are no traps inside this peach pit.

"Blood contract?" he asked.

"Blood contract." Dao Qiongcang nodded.

"If anything goes wrong, you'll protect me, right?"

"Of course, you are my Xu."

Anyway, I'll take you seriously! Xu Xiaoshou bit his finger, and a drop of blood fell into the Core of the Heavenly Realm. Suddenly, he felt the world spin, and the God's Remains shrank dramatically.

In just an instant, with his current mental strength, he easily withstood the impact of contracting the Core of the Heavenly Realm. Then, he gained a panoramic view, as if looking down from a high mountain! The entire God's Remains, with its upper and lower three heavens, was entirely visible to him. He even saw the World Tree clinging to this special world outside the God's Remains, its life force barely clinging on.

"I saw the Diyi Sacred Plant."

Xu Xiaoshou spoke whatever he saw, like a useless person whose brain couldn't think. Dao Qiongcang then thoughtfully explained to him, "The Diyi, revered as a World Tree, coexists and dies with the God's Remains. If it dies but the world doesn't perish, it can be revived through this. And vice versa."

"Revive?" Xu Xiaoshou turned into a repeater again. Anyway, he didn't need to ask much; as long as he indicated he was still breathing, Dao Qiongcang would always understand his point of worry.

The flamboyant old Daoist, also very understanding, counted his fingers and said, "It's not the kind of revival you're thinking of. It's more like a cycle of reincarnation. When it reappears, Diyi will no longer be Diyi. You can try to control her, as she will be completely devoid of intelligence."

That good? Doesn't that mean I'll have two living Ancestral Trees? Dragon Apricot, stop coveting the Nine-Sacrifice Osmanthus, which already has an owner! I'll soon bring you a captivating tree-mother home!

"Are there any drawbacks?"

Xu Xiaoshou calmly returned to his senses, yet he couldn't believe such a dramatic turn of events could occur. He had struggled for so long with nothing to show for it, and now suddenly he could gain such benefits in the God's Remains without any repercussions?

"Yes." Dao Qiongcang nodded. "Tsui Yin could revive on the Diyi at any time; this could be His contingency plan."

Before Xu Xiaoshou could curse out loud, Dao Qiongcang added, "But anyway, you still have the Heavenly Ancestor and the Dragon Apricot watching, so this last resort won't be used by Tsui Yin unless He's truly at His wit's end."

"Then..."

"Even if that happens, Tsui Yin in a weakened state would probably be worse off than He is now. Couldn't Young Master Xu simply flick Him out of existence?"

"But..."

"Even if you can't destroy Him with a flick, you still have Ba Zun'an, and you have me. You and I are sworn brothers; if you ask me, I'll help you."

"But..."

"Even if all that fails, the Ten Ancestors' contingencies wouldn't allow Tsui Yin to revive like this. At that point, even Heaven itself would help you. The risk is virtually zero."

You're infuriatingly clever.

After being rendered speechless, Xu Xiaoshou was convinced. The longer he worked with Dao Qiongcang, the more terrifying he seemed. He was so utterly at a loss for words that he didn't know what to use to describe the "scheming monster" in front of him. Others think about how many ways there are to solve a problem. Dao Qiongcang thinks by listing all possible methods and then blocking them one by one, effectively letting the problem die on its own.

"Then..."

He looked left and right, up and down. Xu Xiaoshou suddenly realized he had nothing left to say. The brain beside him had already calculated all the "what-ifs" and "what-ifs of unknown what-ifs" in advance. He was left holding the blackish-brown peach pit in his hand, and after a moment of contemplation, he said uncertainly:

"So, should I open the door?"

"Open it." Dao Qiongcang, holding his Overlord, said, "I'm waiting."

Open, then open! With a thought, inspiration struck. Xu Xiaoshou, who had just finished contracting the Core of the Heavenly Realm, instantly understood how to open the door from the God's Remains to the Holy Divine Continent. He only needed to know any spatial node on the Holy Divine Continent in advance, and then bind it to the Core of the Heavenly Realm. Through the connection between the two, he could activate the power of this plane and construct a planar passage...

Buzz!The void trembled, and a massive tree-door split open. Visible evil deity power emanated around the tree-door, and purple mist swirled at its edges.

Xu Xiaoshou glanced at it, his mind completely blank, and only looked back at Dao Qiongcang:

"So, should we go out?"

Dao Qiongcang raised an eyebrow high, looking at Xu Xiaoshou as if he were an idiot, and pointed at the door, saying:

"Evil deity power, didn't you see it?"

"I did!"

"You saw it and you still want to go out?"

"Oh, we can't go out?"

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly realized. Tsui Yin wasn't dead. He would only need to disrupt the planar passage, with minimal effort, and anyone attempting to cross it would inevitably be lost in the planar turbulence. They wouldn't be able to return home, and wouldn't even know how they died! It was at this moment that Xu Xiaoshou finally understood why the Ten-Member Council members didn't like to use their brains when going out; they only learned to think more after being thoroughly beaten. Steel is forged this way, indeed...

"My Dao, what's next?"

"The Core of the Heavenly Realm is in your hand. See where He is hiding in the First Heaven, and the Thirty-Third Heaven."

"Look... okay..." Xu Xiaoshou murmured unconsciously, glanced at the Core of the Heavenly Realm, didn't find Tsui Yin, then raised his bright, dark eyes, filled with clear stupidity, "Didn't find Him?"

Dao Qiongcang's face darkened, having already sensed Xu Xiaoshou's tendency to devolve into a rubber-stamping 'yes-man' for the Ten-Member Council, and said sternly:

"Did you even search thoroughly?"

"I did search thoroughly!" Xu Xiaoshou truly hadn't found Tsui Yin. As the current master of the plane, how simple should it be for him to find someone? Even if it was an Ancestral God, the seemingly foolish method of locking onto an aura should work, right? Tsui Yin hadn't left a single trace of an aura! It was as if He had vanished into thin air!

"Impossible..." Dao Qiongcang, while suspecting Xu Xiaoshou's search method was flawed, couldn't very well take his Core of the Heavenly Realm to contract it himself and search. At the same time, he began to ponder where his own calculations might have been insufficient, allowing Tsui Yin to exploit a loophole:

"Impossible. He absolutely couldn't have vanished. He's absolutely, 100%, confined to the God's Remains, waiting for an opportunity..."

Dao Qiongcang grabbed Xu Xiaoshou's shoulder, his gaze piercing. "Did you truly search every single place?"

Nonsense! Do I look like an idiot? Xu Xiaoshou pointed at the tree-door, too lazy to explain: "If He's not in the God's Remains, then He must be hanging behind the door, waiting to give you a surprise."

Behind the door? That was indeed an angle so peculiar that only Xu's way of thinking could observe it. Xu Xiaoshou's casual joke made Dao Qiongcang truly ponder.

"Wait!" Xu Xiaoshou, holding the Core of the Heavenly Realm and having searched several times to no avail, suddenly remembered something: "There's one more place that's both within the God's Remains and should be beyond the mundane world. It's definitely not Tsui Yin's first choice, but it's worth considering."

"So mysterious..." Dao Qiongcang rarely said such things. He immediately tilted his head and looked at him: "What place?"

Xu Xiaoshou was about to answer when his lips suddenly curled into a subtle smile. My Dao, so there are times when even you can't figure it out?

"Heaven's secrets must not be revealed."