Chapter 682: Heavenly Shadow World Monument

By the next day, the darkness rapidly receded. From both the east and the west, all the darkness surged towards the cliff, vanishing completely into the cliff at the source of the Surging River.

Qin Mu immediately flew forward. Still over two hundred zhang away from the cliff, he began searching from south to north.

Hum—

His eye formation activated, and two beams of light instantly shone onto the cliff face, ensuring no crack on the cliff escaped his sight.

Qin Mu searched, following the glowing points on the paper, proceeding northward, then from north to south. After a moment, he scanned it all again.

The cliff face was very high, uneven, and geographically complex, making the search quite energy-consuming, but it was the simplest and most effective method.

He Yiyi and the others continued excavating the Supreme Emperor Heaven, attempting to open a passage. Yan Jingjing, due to her immense divine power, was invited by He Yiyi to assist. She melted rocks in the tunnel, and He Yiyi transformed the magma into lava giants, making the excavation even faster.

Yan Jingjing had always driven the Sun Ship and had never used her divine power to clear paths before, so this was quite new to her.

He Yiyi originally used formations to cut out a path, which was fast, but consumed a lot of magic power, requiring frequent stops for rest. This time, with Yan Jingjing's help, she only needed to transform the melted stone into lava giants and let them walk out of the cave themselves, so the speed was immeasurably faster than before.

More importantly, Yan Jingjing was a deity, and her flames, by melting the rocks, also reinforced the tunnel.

"At this rate, we'll break through to the Supreme Emperor Heaven in just a few days." He Yiyi was both surprised and delighted, thinking, "But if I were to elope with her lover, she would certainly fly into a rage, and I definitely couldn't defeat her. It's a pity. When her lover, riding a white horse, allowed me to lean on his back and leap out of the painting, I truly longed for marriage. No man in the Western Lands is as outstanding as him..."

"Found it!" Qin Mu's eyes lit up. He finally found a crevice that hadn't emitted light last night.

He had searched several times before finally locating this crevice on the cliff. This crevice did not glow and was situated between two other fissures, precisely concealed by a rock formation between them.

"Jing-jie is not here now, and Dragon Qilin is sleeping. Should I call them to go in and check?" Qin Mu hesitated, then decided not to bring them. Although Yan Jingjing could withstand the darkness, she did so by using her divine light to repel it. Dragon Qilin, however, had no ability to fight the darkness and would need Yan Jingjing's protection.

Only Qin Mu could merge with the darkness.

Therefore, it didn't matter whether he brought them or not.

"Fatty Dragon, when Jing-jie comes out, tell her to wait for me here." Qin Mu called out loudly, then flew to the stone block in front of the crevice. This stone block resembled a stone door, though more than half of it was embedded within the mountain. From a distance, it would be impossible to spot this entrance, and there were other crevices on either side.

He carefully examined the stone door. There were no inscriptions or runes on it, nor any handles or similar features.

"Divine Eye Seventh Heaven!" Divine light shimmered in Qin Mu's brow as his gaze swept over the portal, trying to discern if there were any unique markings inside. To his disappointment, it appeared to be an ordinary stone door, with no signs of being crafted.

Finding nothing unusual, he then went to the crevice behind the portal. The crevice was pitch black deep inside, with no anomalies visible.

He walked inside. The crevice was very long, and cracks also appeared on the mountain walls on both sides. Each of these crevices was pitch black inside, with no light visible.

Divine light shone from his eyes, illuminating the cliff cracks, but when it encountered darkness, the divine light in his eyes seemed to be swallowed, unable to reveal what lay within the darkness.

He stretched out his palm and touched the darkness. A rustling sound reached his ears.

"These crevices are the cracks of other heavens buried here!" His heart was solemn. If the Great Ruins was currently in daylight, then the other heavens buried here must be in darkness.

"The source of the darkness is behind this crevice, where the sources of darkness from various eras are buried. I want to see what caused the dark invasion of the Great Ruins..."

He composed himself and continued walking forward, his figure disappearing into the darkness.

Qin Mu kept walking, covering a long distance. Over an hour passed, but the crevice still hadn't reached its end. After walking for so long, he felt a little anxious and puzzled. If it were other crevices, entering them would lead to another heaven, but this one seemed unusually long.

"I'll walk for another half an hour. If I can't find the end, I'll go back." Just as he thought this, he suddenly saw a light ahead. His heart stirred, and he quickly hurried forward. From a distance, he saw a person leaning against the mountain wall, holding a lantern that emitted divine light.

Qin Mu stopped and looked around. He activated his Divine Eye Seventh Heaven again, using the Langxiao Divine Eye to probe ahead. After several scans and finding no danger, he continued forward and approached the person.

This was a divine being, long dead. He leaned against the mountain wall, his eye sockets empty, and his face somewhat bewildered.

Qin Mu carefully examined the clothes on him, discerning the patterns. He thought, "He is a divine being from the Kaihuang Era!"

The lantern was still lit. Its light shone on the divine being, who appeared translucent.

Qin Mu was suspicious, so he boldly pinched the divine being's skin. Suddenly, the divine being shriveled up as if deflated, his clothes and skin collapsing into a pile.

Qin Mu was horrified, his hair standing on end. He took a few steps back.

After a moment, the clothes rustled and floated up, and the divine being's skin gradually inflated as if being pumped with air. Soon, another divine being was sitting against the mountain wall.

"His flesh and blood are gone, his primordial spirit is gone too. All his divine treasures and Heavenly Palaces are empty..."

Qin Mu boldly stepped forward and examined it closely. He couldn't discern what had devoured the divine being, leaving only a sheet of skin. He whispered, "Let the past be a guide for the future. Knowing the cause of this divine being's death might benefit me. The strange thing is, since he has no flesh and blood, why does he inflate again? Is there something under the skin?"

He hesitated, then took out his Carefree Sword. He tried to cut open the divine being's skin. Something wriggled beneath the skin, resisting the Carefree Sword, preventing him from piercing it.

Qin Mu frowned, thought for a moment, then took out the Book of Life and Death. He shone it on the divine being. Just as a name appeared on the Book of Life and Death, the skin suddenly opened its mouth and let out a shrill scream. Streams of black smoke flew out from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and it quickly shriveled up entirely!

The black smoke merged into the darkness and vanished.

Qin Mu was startled and uncertain, his heart pounding. The matter was truly too bizarre. Even in Fengdu, he had never encountered anything so strange.

After a moment, his heartbeat returned to normal. He picked up the lantern and walked forward with it. Before taking two steps, he saw a massive stone tablet standing tall, blocking the path ahead.

He raised the lantern. Its light quietly cast upon the stone tablet. The characters on the tablet were an unfamiliar script, unlike any he had ever seen.

Qin Mu was proficient in many scripts and languages: divine language, demonic language, Youdu language, dragon language, and Buddhist Sanskrit. Not only could he recognize them without difficulty, but he also had a deep understanding of the principles embedded within each language.

However, the script on the stone tablet was an entirely new language.

"What kind of script is this?" He pondered, then peeled off the willow leaf from his brow. He softly asked, "Brother, Heavenly Duke, Scarlet Emperor, do you recognize the characters on this?"

In his third eye, another pupil appeared within his own pupil and looked.

"No recognition." Qin Fengqing's voice came through: "Little brother, let me out. I won't eat you."

Another pupil squeezed in, pushing Qin Fengqing's pupil aside. It should be the Heavenly Duke's clone. Last time, when passing through Xuandu, the Heavenly Duke's clone hadn't managed to escape.

"The characters above say 'Heavenly Yin World'." The Heavenly Duke's voice faintly came, saying, "The Heavenly Yin World is a world beneath Xuandu. Although I shed vast light that can illuminate all the heavens, big and small, around me, there are places my light cannot reach, and that is beneath my feet. The place beneath my feet is the Heavenly Yin World. How strange that there's a boundary marker for the Heavenly Yin World here. By rights, it shouldn't be here."

Qin Mu asked in confusion, "Shouldn't Youdu be beneath the Heavenly Duke's feet?"

"Youdu is the place where the dead return. The Heavenly Yin World is a place of dim obscurity; they are not the same."

The Heavenly Duke's clone was about to say more when Qin Fengqing's angry voice suddenly cut in: "Shut up, old scoundrel! If you explain everything so clearly, how am I supposed to trick him into letting me out to eat him?"

From Qin Mu's third eye, the sound of an old man being beaten could be heard. A moment later, the Scarlet Emperor's voice came: "I didn't even say anything, why are you hitting me...? Brat, do you think I'm afraid of you? I am the majestic Heavenly Emperor of the Crimson Light Era..."

"Son of the Qin family, your brother tore us apart and is trying to escape to eat you! Quickly put the willow leaf back on!"

"Little brother, don't believe them. We are brothers, and brothers should help each other. I won't eat you... Shut up, old man! Get him and eat him, and I can let you out!"

Qin Mu quickly put the willow leaf back on, and the commotion in his eye finally settled down.

"Heavenly Yin World? Does the dark matter originate from here?"

Qin Mu considered for a moment, then stepped back a few paces. He returned to the divine being's skin and shone the lantern on it. Just as he had anticipated, the divine being inflated again.

Qin Mu put down the lantern, took out the Book of Life and Death, and shone it on the divine being again. The divine being suddenly opened its mouth and let out a shrill scream, and black smoke billowed from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, quickly shriveling it up!

Qin Mu pondered.

"Could this black smoke be the dark matter?"

He raised his hand and grabbed a handful of darkness. For others, darkness was intangible, but for him, it felt like touching sand, albeit extremely faint and almost imperceptible.

"The Heavenly Yin World—is it all made of this dark matter? Why would this dark matter seep into the Great Ruins and into the various heavens of past Heavenly Courts?"

He composed himself. He put away the Book of Life and Death and picked up the lantern. After a thought, instead of carrying the lantern, he placed it into his Gluttonous Bag. If the Heavenly Yin World was indeed entirely composed of this dark matter, it would be utterly pointless to carry a lantern while walking through it.

He walked around the Heavenly Yin World tablet. The view before him was hazy and gray. He had arrived in a world of extremely eerie, dim gray hues.