Chapter 1653: Ta Yi's Trail

The butcher back then was even more wretched than Qin Mu is now. The butcher had been severed at the waist, with only his upper body remaining. Qin Mu, in contrast, had a torso, but his thighs hadn't fully regenerated. He had used Primordial Qi to reconstruct his physical body, but unfortunately, the qi had been depleted, preventing his body from fully recovering.

"Currently, there are only two paths," Qin Mu thought. "One path is to diligently cultivate and raise my cultivation level. As my cultivation improves, my physical body will slowly regenerate."

Qin Mu, "standing" on the door panel, raised a hand to scratch his head. He mused, "The other path is to search for Chaos Qi and learn from Lan Yutian how to transform it into Primordial Qi. The Ancestral Court has Chaos ore veins; even though the Chaos divine stones and raw stones are gone, there's enough Chaos Qi for me to absorb and refine."

The former path was safer, relying on him to cultivate step by step, but there was no certainty as to when his body would fully regenerate. The latter path was faster, but the psionic transfer bridge leading to the Ancestral Court had been completely destroyed. Even if he were to ask Heavenly Venerable Yue to transport him there, it would still take one or two months. Adding the learning curve for transforming Chaos Qi into Primordial Qi, he estimated it would take another four or five years.

This encounter, in a way, was a blessing in disguise. He had completely mastered Primordial Qi and used it to reconstruct his physical body and primordial spirit. In terms of pure physical strength alone, he had undoubtedly surpassed even the ancient god of Grand Initial. It was no exaggeration to call his current physical body the strongest in the world. Of course, it was not yet complete. If his primordial spirit also cultivated back to its former level, then it too would be the strongest in the world. His qi would also reach the coveted level of Primordial Purple Qi, bringing benefits unprecedented in scope!

If he were to recover to his peak state, even an ordinary Dao achiever would be unable to breach his physical body or primordial spirit, or inflict Dao injuries upon him. However, Qin Mu was genuinely concerned about when he might truly return to his prime.

He looked down and was startled. Below, there was no world from the myriad heavens, no stars or galaxies—only an expanse of pure void. It resembled a completely dark, empty region of the cosmos, devoid of any matter. Qin Mu had long since charted a grand cosmic star map, clearly identifying the geographical features of the universe. Yan Kang's masters of numerology had even calculated the total mass of matter within this cosmos. For him, the universe held few remaining secrets.

From a macroscopic perspective, matter is generally uniformly distributed throughout the cosmos, a consequence of fundamental laws. Due to the influence of the Thirty-Six Voids, space is continuously stretching, causing matter to move farther apart, from vast galaxies, stellar rivers, and planets down to individual particles. Yet, the vast expanse of the cosmos below was entirely dark and devoid of matter, an occurrence that was almost impossible.

Qin Mu paused, startled, and then remembered the desolate place in the Ultimate Void where indigestible refuse was discarded. That wasteland seemed to correspond to this very spot. "Perhaps I can find the Ultimate Void's wasteland from this realm of nothingness," he thought.

Qin Mu remained "standing" on the door panel, drifting aimlessly as he searched for any reference points that could help him determine his location. "The characters on this door panel seem to be a kind of seal," he observed. While controlling the door panel to resist the chilling winds, he scrutinized the characters inscribed upon it. The characters were extremely ancient, originating from the prehistoric universe and unlike any modern script. To infer their meaning, one had to start by analyzing the most basic runes that formed them. Although the runes that made up the characters were numerous, by deciphering the Dao language embedded within them, he could gradually deduce the fundamental meaning of the script. This was the method for deciphering prehistoric texts.

This realm of nothingness was incredibly vast, making it difficult to find familiar worlds among the myriad heavens. Qin Mu chose to "stand" on the door panel and drift against the chilling winds. The chilling winds of the Ultimate Void were incapable of dissolving him or the door panel. Given that the wind currents intended to push him back to the wasteland, by traveling against the wind, he could escape this realm of nothingness and eventually locate familiar worlds among the myriad heavens. Once he could ascertain his position in the universe, he could leave the Ultimate Void and return to the Primordial Realm.

His primordial spirit retreated into the vertical eye on his forehead as he prepared to examine the ecosystem within the Vase of Heaven, to see if the hundreds of millions of Yan Kang people and gods and devils inside could still survive. Lan Yutian gazed at Qin Mu's primordial spirit, now no bigger than a tiny bean, and his expression turned peculiar. How immense had Qin Mu's primordial spirit been before? Now, after being reconstructed with Primordial Qi, it was merely the size of a bean sprout, incredibly minuscule.

Qin Mu surveyed the contents of the Vase of Heaven. In addition to the Yan Kang people, there were also demons and demon gods from the Dutian world, numbering in the billions. The demon race was proliferating at an astonishing rate, and their resource consumption was equally staggering. The ecological structure within the bottle was in a precarious state. Simple powers of creation were insufficient to alleviate the ecological pressure. "They can probably hold out for another two months," Qin Mu estimated.

Qin Mu's vertical eye on his forehead opened, and he meticulously analyzed the runes within the prehistoric characters. He listed each internal rune, deciphered its meaning one by one, and then slowly articulated them in the Dao language. After several days, Qin Mu finally deciphered the inscription on the door panel. His expression turned peculiar. The characters on the door panel roughly indicated that the Grand Young Master of Miluo Palace had sealed a sworn enemy of Miluo Palace, forever suppressing them in the Ultimate Void, ensuring this adversary could never escape.

"A sworn enemy of Miluo Palace? Sealed personally by the Grand Young Master of Miluo Palace?" Qin Mu was slightly taken aback. The Second Young Master of Miluo Palace was the Goddess of the Return to Ruin, whose power was so immense that even the great tribulation of cosmic creation and destruction couldn't erase her. This Grand Young Master's power must be even greater, perhaps approaching that of the Miluo Palace Master themselves! If he had to personally seal and suppress this enemy, then who exactly was this sworn foe of Miluo Palace?

"Could it be Grand Initial? Or some other terrifying entity?" His mind began to race. In the previous universe, there were many powerful beings who did not join the Miluo Palace; Venerable Ling Yu was one of them. Of course, Venerable Ling Yu's power wasn't exceptionally high, not comparable to that of the Miluo Palace's young masters, but he still possessed methods to survive the great tribulations of creation and destruction. Besides Venerable Ling Yu, there must have been other, even stronger beings! Judging by the inscription left by the Grand Young Master of Miluo Palace on the door panel, the prehistoric universe contained not only the Miluo Palace but also another formidable power not inferior to it! This entity sealed by the Grand Young Master could be Grand Initial, or it could be another prehistoric powerhouse from that rival faction!

Qin Mu frowned, inspecting the door panel. It was incredibly hard and indestructible, the strongest treasure Qin Mu had ever encountered, even better than his Calamity Sword. The fact that such a formidable item was used merely as a door panel underscored the Grand Young Master's immense regard for the entity he had suppressed. "Beings who have cultivated to the profound level of Grand Initial are essentially impossible to kill or obliterate; they can only be suppressed," Qin Mu mused. "I haven't found a location in this universe that corresponds to Grand Initial's geographical map. Perhaps Grand Initial truly is suppressed within this void wasteland, treated as discarded refuse by the Ultimate Void."

Qin Mu looked down to see the star-filled sky. Unbeknownst to him, the door panel had already left the realm of nothingness, and the first of the myriad heavens came into view. "Judging by the fact that Grand Initial's Dao tree consistently appears above the Ancestral Court World Tree, Grand Initial is indeed still alive," he thought. "His Dao tree emerges every night, dripping Dao dew that allows us to repair Mount Taiyuan. This suggests he can still control his Dao tree."

Qin Mu looked back at the realm of nothingness, a hint of hesitation in his eyes. "Of course, what's suppressed there might not be Grand Initial. It could also be some other immensely powerful demon—a demon that even Miluo Palace couldn't destroy!" He furrowed his brow. Regardless of whether Grand Initial was suppressed there or not, he knew he had to return to that wasteland in the Ultimate Void to uncover its mysteries. "But I can't do that now. I must return to Yan Kang as soon as possible to release the Yan Kang people from the Ancestral Court!"

He composed himself and focused his gaze on the nearby heavens. That particular heaven was Star Source Heavens, situated on the northern frontier. It was extremely distant from both the Primordial Realm and the Ancestral Court, yet surprisingly close to the Northern Pole Heaven. What surprised Qin Mu, however, was the presence of a psionic transfer bridge in this heaven! The bridge's light formed a funnel, its destination unknown. For a remote location like this, situated on the cosmic frontier and close to realms like the Northern Pole Heaven that were not subservient to the Heavenly Court, the Heavenly Court would never establish a psionic transfer bridge. The existence of such a bridge here unequivocally meant it was not connected to the Heavenly Court!

Qin Mu's eyes lit up. He immediately piloted the door panel out of the Ultimate Void and flew towards Star Source Heavens. "At my current speed, reaching the Primordial Realm would take five or six months, during which I'm afraid the people in the Vase of Heaven would suffer mass casualties," he calculated. "However, if I can reach Star Source Heavens, I can temporarily resupply and extend their survival for a longer period."

Two days later, he arrived at Star Source Heavens. To his surprise, it was richer than he had imagined, far from the harsh and barren land he had envisioned. Most of the settlers here were divine beings possessing the bloodline of the Black Tortoise. Compared to the bloodlines of the Winged Serpent or the Profound Tortoise, they were considerably inferior, likely a lower-tier divine race formed from the fusion of multiple ancestral bloodlines. Besides these divine beings, he also observed acquired races such as humans and demons! Humans had established numerous production facilities here, employing the local divine beings of Star Source Heavens to smelt divine ores and forge divine weapons. Trade was bustling and vibrant.

Qin Mu stopped someone to inquire. The person, clearly not recognizing Qin Mu, replied, "The transfer bridge? Of course, Yan Kang built it! Six years ago, the Imperial Preceptor ordered connections to other heavens. The Supervisor of the Secretariat then dispatched Yan Kang's envoys, who traveled through various heavens to reach here. They signed a mutual trade agreement with the ruler of Star Source Heavens, helped establish the psionic transfer bridge, and built many branch factories for Yan Kang's production facilities here."

"Si Yunxiang is still incredibly efficient!" Qin Mu remarked. He smiled, thinking, "Yan Kang has established psionic transfer bridges even to the most remote Star Source Heavens, which means most other heavens also have trade relations. This is excellent news. Since this bridge leads to Yan Kang, I can allow the people within the Vase of Heaven to leave in batches and travel there."

He let out a long sigh of relief. Stepping directly into the psionic transfer bridge would undoubtedly trigger an extremely violent transfer of psionic energy, potentially exceeding the altar's limits and causing it to collapse. However, if they traveled to Yan Kang in batches over a period of one or two months, there would be no need for such concern.

Seeing him standing on a door panel with no legs, the person found him truly pitiful. So, he generously offered Qin Mu two Da Feng coins and said, "Don't go begging around; it shames us Yan Kang people. Take this money, go to the psionic transfer bridge, buy a ticket to Yan Kang, and return home soon." With a shake of his head, he walked away.

Qin Mu raised an eyebrow, a wry smile playing on his lips. He pocketed the two Da Feng coins, then summoned Dutian Devil King and Lan Yutian. "The psionic transfer bridge to Yan Kang charges a fee," he explained. "This must be either Si Yunxiang's or Hu Ling'er's doing. To get everyone across, it looks like it will cost a considerable sum."

Dutian Devil King exclaimed in surprise, "A bridge built by Yan Kang still charges money?"

"Rules cannot be changed," Qin Mu replied, feeling a bit awkward. "I don't have any money on me..."

Lan Yutian, puzzled, asked, "Brother, you're the former Imperial Preceptor..."

"Precisely because I'm the former Imperial Preceptor, I have no money," Qin Mu explained. "All my funds were managed by Ling'er, but ever since I got married, Ling'er stopped bothering with me and handed the money over to my wife..." Qin Mu sighed. "Besides, I never carry money on me. Getting all of you to Yan Kang will be a huge expense. Only that merchant just now gave me two Da Feng coins, which is enough for one ticket to Yan Kang. I'll go back to Yan Kang first and have that girl Si Yunxiang bring some money. You all wait here for a few days."

Dutian and Lan Yutian had no choice but to remain there. Qin Mu, "standing" on the door panel, floated towards the psionic transfer bridge and handed the two Da Feng coins to the god-demon guarding the bridge at Star Source Heavens. The god-demon glanced at him, then handed one of the Da Feng coins back. Qin Mu looked confused, but the god-demon explained, "The ruler stipulated that the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled pay half price. You only need to pay half."