Chapter 1482: Great fortune and prosperity

"You truly are a seasoned veteran!" Shu Jun couldn't help but praise. "With this move, we'll have nothing to worry about. But I'm also an old hand; we just need to retrace our steps, and we can retreat unscathed!"

"Let's hope so," Wei Suifeng said.

"What do you mean, 'Let's hope so'? Don't be a jinx! Let's hope for good fortune!" Shu Jun burst out laughing, stepping into the Ancestral Court Jade Capital City first.

Wei Suifeng followed behind him, his heart pounding with tension. He looked around and noticed that the Ancestral Court Jade Capital City was vastly different from the Jade Capital City of the Celestial Heavens. The Ancestral Court Jade Capital City was severely dilapidated. In addition to the vast aura of the Great Dao that had surged forth when the seal was broken, there was a peculiar deathly aura. He keenly sensed that under its influence, the Great Dao laws he cultivated were showing signs of collapse and disintegration! This was the aura of the Great Dao's decay, causing his own Great Dao laws to constantly crumble and slowly lose the power of their divine arts. He also felt his physical body and primordial spirit being invaded. While his lifespan was originally as boundless as heaven and earth, he now felt it had an end. Every moment he spent in this divine city cost him a day of his life. As they ventured deeper, the rate at which his lifespan was depleting continued to accelerate!

Whoosh— A gust of hot wind swept through, stirring several skulls on the ground. Shu Jun’s expression subtly shifted. He quickly pulled Wei Suifeng, hurrying to take shelter under a withered tree, where he stood still, intently watching the hot wind. The hot wind whistled past, carrying skulls with it, and one skull clattered as it rolled to the base of the tree. Strangely, standing under this withered tree, they couldn't feel the hot wind.

Wei Suifeng stretched out his hand, about to feel the wind, when Shu Jun suddenly slapped his hand down hard.

"Don't touch that wind!" Shu Jun said, extremely nervous, his voice hoarse. "I call it the Wind of Heat Death. If you touch it, it will burn even your primordial spirit to ashes!"

Wei Suifeng's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "How powerful is this Wind of Heat Death?"

"Back then, our Creator race brought many powerful experts and ancient gods to explore this place," Shu Jun explained. "The first time we encountered this wind, all but those who took shelter under a tree perished." Shu Jun took out a large hammer and slammed it hard onto the skull. The skull, which must have belonged to a Creator, suddenly grew skeletal limbs with a clattering sound as it rolled under the tree, only to be shattered by Shu Jun's single blow.

"Their bodies and spirits were utterly annihilated," Shu Jun said, letting out a sigh of relief and waving his hand to toss away the shattered bones. He added matter-of-factly, "Not even a shred of their divine consciousness remained. Even the Great Dao of the ancient gods vanished into thin air."

Wei Suifeng looked at the shattered bones on the ground, a puzzled expression on his face.

"It was affected by the tree behind us," Shu Jun explained. "This tree must be the Dao Tree that Heavenly Venerate Mu spoke of, also known as the World Tree. The Great Black Wood is a World Tree. Although this tree is dead, its lingering power remains. Taking shelter here can block the Wind of Heat Death. However, this tree must never be touched. Back then, when we fled beneath it, some people changed after touching it." His expression grew strange. "They transformed into something else entirely, something that could no longer be called a person. They even killed many of our experts…"

"What an ominous place…" Wei Suifeng shivered repeatedly, pulling his collar tighter.

After the Wind of Heat Death passed, they left the withered tree. Wei Suifeng looked around, observing that the Ancestral Court Jade Capital City was riddled with ruined halls and collapsed structures. Even the Great Dao patterns on these palace buildings had been worn down to mere faint outlines. Amidst the ruins and shattered walls, there were also patches of chaotic qi, incredibly dense, like small ponds. Wei Suifeng even noticed that this chaotic qi had actually frozen solid!

As they passed, a wisp of white smoke rose from a frozen patch of chaotic qi, like a faceless head, exhaling a breath of cold air in their direction. Shu Jun quickly pulled Wei Suifeng, scrambling to escape the cold wind. He spoke rapidly, "That's the Wind of Cold Death, a cold wind formed by congealed chaos. If it blows on you, everything will melt away and become void!"

Wei Suifeng had no choice but to follow him in his frantic escape. They hadn't run far when Wei Suifeng suddenly froze, his eyes wide. Before them, the Jade Capital City spread out with thousands of palaces and halls, meticulously arranged. Though severely dilapidated, its former magnificence was still discernible. However, in front of every single one of these palaces stood a withered tree! Dead Dao Trees, one after another! Hundreds of these dead Dao Trees appeared before his eyes. Wei Suifeng swallowed hard, his throat dry, his mind utterly blank, overwhelmed by the sight.

Shu Jun sprinted with him, stopping abruptly under a withered Dao Tree, and turned to look at the oncoming Wind of Cold Death. Wei Suifeng stood meekly beside him. "Don't touch it," Shu Jun warned. Wei Suifeng nodded obediently.

Shu Jun nervously stared at the Wind of Cold Death, his gaze fixed as he spoke: "Back then, God King Boyang was our elder brother. His divine consciousness cultivation was extremely strong... well, just a tiny bit stronger than mine. He primarily relied on Long Xiao. He and Long Xiao jointly investigated this Wind of Cold Death and told us that when this wind blows, all matter dissolves. All motion in matter ceases. The particles that make up matter continuously split until they can no longer divide. And when they split to their smallest, the distance between each constituent particle becomes infinitely vast..." Wei Suifeng could not even begin to imagine such a scenario.

"This is the Void," Shu Jun continued, "Even the Thirty-five Layers of Void are not as powerful as this type of Void." With his fluffy hair on his big head, Shu Jun licked his lips. "Boyang and Long Xiao speculated that there's another layer of Void beyond the Thirty-five Layers of Void, which is most likely the Void created by this Wind of Cold Death. He called it the Ultimate Void, guessing that perhaps the Wind of Cold Death in this city is a fragment of the Ultimate Void, and this wind must be exhaled by the ghosts who perished within the Ultimate Void…"

The Void has the ability to etherealize. Any living being or matter that enters the Void will undergo etherealization. Etherealization means that when a person enters the Void, their body becomes larger and thinner, gradually transforming from real into an incorporeal form. The constituent particles of that person continuously stretch and increase the distance between them, eventually causing the entire person to dissipate into disconnected particles, vanishing into the Void. This phenomenon is etherealization. Qin Mu's third heaven of Dao Realm, the Great Luo Heavenly Gathering, utilized the principles of Void and divine consciousness; these were Dao Realm divine arts he had comprehended from the knowledge of the Creator race.

Wei Suifeng stared blankly into the distance.

Shu Jun stared at the Wind of Cold Death, waiting for it to pass, when Wei Suifeng suddenly tugged at his sleeve. "Wait a moment longer," Shu Jun said, "this wind hasn't completely passed yet..."

Wei Suifeng tugged at his lapel again. Shu Jun said impatiently, "I told you to wait. If we go out now, we'll hit the tail end of the wind, and a light brush will be the end of us..."

Wei Suifeng couldn't help but say, "Shu Jun, when you were here last time, did you notice any living people in the city?"

"Living people? This is a dead city. I haven't seen a single living soul, let alone a ghost..."

Shu Jun turned around. Wei Suifeng's lips trembled as he pointed, "There seems to be a living person ahead…"