Chapter 876: One Flower, One World

Qin Mu didn't know how he managed to perform the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha's Boundless Calamity Sutra. He just felt the technique was present in his mind, and at that moment, he wanted to sleep.

As he fell asleep, he unconsciously performed the Boundless Calamity Sutra.

In his dream, he saw a world made of bubbles. This world emerged in his dream, and the bubbles continuously grew, gradually merging with the Long Bo Kingdom ruins.

In this bubble world, countless versions of himself sprang up like weeds and scurried in every direction.

It was a bizarre dream; each version of himself in the dream seemed to be an independent entity, yet they were all connected to his perception. Even his sleep-talking became the language of these tiny Qin Mus.

Their dream-speech was unintelligible, and even the tiny Qin Mus themselves struggled to understand each other. Later, he decided to use the simplest language to allow these smaller versions of himself to communicate, and so the Jiaolong's Maha became their shared language.

It was a dream-like carnival. During this grand dream, Qin Mu searched all over the Long Bo Kingdom and finally found the clue left by the Founding Ancestor. It was this discovery that caused him to wake up from his dream, yawning and stretching.

As he woke up, the bubble world collapsed and vanished as if an apocalypse had occurred, and all the tiny versions of himself in it disappeared without a trace.

The Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha's Boundless Calamity Sutra possessed incredible power. This dream world was just one of its wondrous applications; there were other miraculous cultivation methods. However, Qin Mu had no idea how to cultivate or perform this technique; everything seemed to happen spontaneously.

He set aside his questions about the Boundless Calamity Sutra and went to the ruins he had found.

Long Qilin and Yan'er followed him there. They saw Qin Mu standing on an observation deck in the Long Bo Kingdom. The armillary sphere and other divine weapons on the deck were shattered, leaving it in disarray.

Qin Mu lowered his head to examine the star markings on the ground, then took out his calculation spirit weapon and began rapid computations.

Yan'er wasn't proficient in numerology and, after watching for a long time, couldn't understand anything. Curious, she asked, "What are you calculating, Young Master?"

Long Qilin explained, "This is a riddle left by the Founding Ancestor of the Heavenly Saint Cult. Each time, this senior disciple would use numerology to leave a puzzle for the Cult Master to solve. Once solved, he would get a clue. They, as fellow disciples, often used this numeric language to communicate."

Yan'er was surprised. "Is numerology a language too?"

"For masters of numerology, it certainly is."

Long Qilin continued, "People often say that the Dao Sect is the foremost authority on numerology, but they overlook my Heavenly Saint Cult. Back then, I followed the Ancestor and delved deeply into numerology, achieving some minor accomplishments. The Heavenly Saint Cult's teleportation divine arts, teleportation arrays, constellation arrays, and creation techniques are all products of numerological study. Furthermore, the Founding Ancestor was a master of numerology, the Woodcutter Saint was a grandmaster, and even his mount, Senior Brother Tiger Lord, was proficient in numerology—enough to rank among the top experts in the Dao Sect."

Yan'er rewarded him with a spirit pill and praised, "Fatty Dragon knows so much!"

Qin Mu solved the riddle left by the Founding Ancestor and paced around the observation deck, muttering to himself, "He left behind spatial dimension data, but a spatial dimension needs a central point to determine its location. If I use this observation deck as the central point to pinpoint that spatial dimension..."

His expression turned strange, and suddenly, arms sprouted from under his armpits, their fingers rapidly calculating.

"This spatial dimension is not in the same space as the Primordial Realm!"

Qin Mu's expression grew even stranger. According to the dimensional data left by Wei Suifeng, Returning Ruins was indeed not in the Primordial Realm but belonged to another world.

This dimensional structure was similar to Youdu's relationship with the Primordial Realm.

Youdu overlapped with the Primordial Realm and all the myriad heavens and myriad worlds, yet it existed on a different dimension.

Returning Ruins was the same.

"It's difficult to enter this dimension solely by relying on teleportation divine arts."

Qin Mu immediately etched runes onto the observation deck. To enter the dimension marked by Wei Suifeng, only a grand stellar teleportation array could transport them there.

Long Qilin also helped, and two days later, they finally constructed the teleportation array.

Yan'er transformed into an azure sparrow and perched on Qin Mu's shoulder. Long Qilin also moved to the center of the observation deck. Qin Mu activated the array, and a beam of teleportation light shot skyward. When the light faded, they had vanished from the Long Bo Kingdom!

When Qin Mu's feet touched solid ground, he found their surroundings dim and indistinct. Low-hanging planets dotted the sky, many of them shattered with large holes, their fragments silently scattered nearby.

Beneath their feet was a dark ring-shaped mountain range, beside them a resplendent golden palace, and surrounding the mountain range was a boundless dark ocean.

At the center of the ring-shaped mountain range was a bottomless abyss!

The ring-shaped mountain range was enormous; its circumference was immeasurable. Even if the twenty heavens of Mount Sumeru were moved here, they wouldn't be enough to fill the abyss at its center.

This abyss was the Great Abyss of Returning Ruins!

The Celestial River originated in the Heavenly Court and ended in Returning Ruins.

However, Qin Mu didn't see the Celestial River flowing here. He looked up at the sky and could vaguely discern the riverbed left by the Celestial River.

The riverbed was a spatial imprint left by the Celestial River's immense weight.

But the Celestial River had ceased to flow.

Towards the end of the High Emperor Era, Ling Tianzun performed a divine art in the High Emperor Heavenly Court of Yuandu, severing the Celestial River. She used herself to replace the river's substance, unleashing an earth-shattering divine art that transcended past, present, and future.

From that time onwards, the Celestial River no longer flowed towards Returning Ruins but instead emptied into the East Sea.

When the Primordial Realm was sealed, the Celestial River became the Surging River.

With the Celestial River no longer flowing into Returning Ruins, the shattered planets in the sky must have been the stars that once orbited the river, many of them broken apart by a great battle.

Qin Mu and the others stood before the Returning Ruins Detached Palace and looked into the abyss, immediately feeling dizzy and as if their souls were about to be sucked into the depths. They quickly averted their gaze.

"This is the place indicated on Senior Disciple Brother's map."

Qin Mu took a rolled-up map from his Taotie Pouch, unrolled it, and examined it carefully. Among the maps Wei Suifeng had drawn with star sand in the Starry Gorge outside the Ark of the Other Shore, one depicted the geography of Returning Ruins.

Twenty thousand years ago, he had come to Returning Ruins to explore ancient secrets and achieve the Three Stances of Sainthood. Here, he encountered an incredible event: the Celestial River flowed again.

The Celestial River had clearly stopped flowing, yet it reappeared when he arrived. The riverbed in the sky, long dry, now had the mighty Celestial River surging down into Returning Ruins.

What was bizarre was that a mist surged from the Celestial River, engulfing Wei Suifeng. In the mist, he met Ling Tianzun. By the time he emerged from the mist, he had returned to the Dragon Han Era, becoming a part of that magnificent period and taking command of the Dragon Han Heavenly Court's Imperial Forest Army, leading the Heavenly Emperor's most powerful divine devil army.

Qin Mu meticulously examined the map.

On the ghost ship, Wei Suifeng had a notebook that also contained a geographical route map of Returning Ruins. However, it differed from the map Qin Mu held, clearly having been drawn at a different time.

Nevertheless, the general layout of Returning Ruins remained unchanged.

"Senior Disciple Brother's hidden item is somewhere within Returning Ruins."

Qin Mu's expression was peculiar. He looked at the map, then at the Great Abyss of Returning Ruins, feeling a little dizzy.

The map indicated that Wei Suifeng had hidden the item in the Great Abyss itself!

"Can one enter the Great Abyss?"

He felt a surge of doubt. The Great Abyss could even swallow the Celestial River and was extremely bizarre, seemingly capable of devouring souls. A single misstep could lead to utter annihilation.

Long Qilin picked up a large rock and tossed it into the Great Abyss. The rock fell, vanishing into the darkness, and no sound of it hitting the bottom was heard for a long time.

"Do we have to jump in?"

Qin Mu frowned. He used his Creation Demonic Arts to seal his soul, suppressing it within his body. This way, the Great Abyss wouldn't be able to pull out his soul.

Just as he was about to jump into the Great Abyss, a meteor shower suddenly began. Huge rocks rained down from the sky; it was a fragmented planet that had, at some unknown point, drifted above the Great Abyss of Returning Ruins and been captured by its gravity. The planet's fragments were now hurtling wildly into the Abyss.

The mountain-sized planetary fragments streaked across the sky, leaving fiery trails. Their speed increased rapidly as they plunged into the Great Abyss, one after another, disappearing from sight.

In the sky, the planet, though broken, was still enormous. Now, this very planet had also been captured by the Great Abyss. It shifted slightly in the air but couldn't escape the Abyss's gravitational pull and was swiftly pulled towards it.

As the fragmented planet moved, it was crushed and continuously fractured. Its surface ignited into a raging inferno, and tens of thousands of volcanoes erupted. Soon, the entire surface of the planet transformed into a sea of lava and fire!

Immediately, the planet was torn apart by terrifying tensile forces, stretching thinner and longer, much like noodles being vigorously pulled by a Yan Kang chef.

To the horror of Qin Mu and the others, this planet was stretched into a streak of light and plunged into the Great Abyss!

Deep within the Great Abyss, the fiery light suddenly brightened, then gradually faded.

Qin Mu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his voice hoarse. "Fatty Dragon, we can leave this place through the Celestial River's riverbed..."

Before he could finish, a light began to glow from the depths of the Great Abyss, growing steadily brighter.

Qin Mu paused, watching the light intensify. Suddenly, an earth-shattering roar echoed, and the Great Abyss of Returning Ruins erupted!

"Is this the eruption of Returning Ruins' dark current?"

Qin Mu's heart skipped a beat. A torrent suddenly erupted from the bottom of the entire Great Abyss of Returning Ruins, gushing outwards at an incredibly high speed. The force of this torrent was so immense that it directly shattered the sky!

Earlier, they had seen light within Returning Ruins, yet the torrent erupting from the Great Abyss was pitch-black, devoid of any light!

The Great Abyss of Returning Ruins was like the mouth of an enormous monster, belching after devouring a planet!

The sky was devoid of color. Already dim, the area was now even more shrouded in darkness. The seawater outside Returning Ruins grew blacker, and the sky seemed to melt from the eruption of the dark current, as an ash rain slowly began to fall.

The black, fibrous substances resembled remnants of a sky burned to ashes. They dissolved upon touch, vanishing like smoke.

"This isn't ash from the sky; it's ash from that planet just now..."

Qin Mu looked up at the gushing dark torrent, nearly cursing aloud. "This damned place is not for people! The Great Abyss of Returning Ruins can easily refine planets. Who could possibly enter there? Senior Disciple Brother, you've hidden your item too well!"

At this moment, the gushing dark current gradually slowed. The light from within Returning Ruins rose higher and higher; it was clearly the fiery glow from before the dark current erupted.

Qin Mu was momentarily stunned. The darkness was nearly static in the air, resembling a dark Celestial River, flowing extremely slowly.

Within the dark current, the light drew closer.

Finally, the light appeared before them.

It was a flower, an incredibly massive one. It was a single plant, but two blossoms grew together, like twin lotuses. One was vermilion, and the other was dark, with the black flower almost invisible amidst the black current.

Qin Mu's heart stirred, and he suddenly burst into laughter. "So that's it! Senior Disciple Brother is ingenious! Now that Returning Ruins is calm and there's no gravitational pull, we can enter the flowers and pass through them into the Great Abyss to retrieve what he left behind!"

"Cult Master, are you sure you want to go in?" Long Qilin felt his heart pounding.

Qin Mu had already stepped into the dark Celestial River and flew towards the two massive flowers. Yan'er, perched on his shoulder, looked back and urged, "Fatty Dragon, hurry!"

Long Qilin didn't want to enter, but he looked around and saw that the surroundings were incredibly dim, and faint, eerie wails could be heard. He wasn't sure if it was the sound of the dark current of Returning Ruins rubbing against space or if some monster had truly been ejected. He had no choice but to rush into the dark Celestial River and follow Qin Mu.

"Cult Master, what if these two flowers retract back into the Great Abyss? Wouldn't we be trapped inside to die?" he whispered.

Just then, the two massive flowers gently vibrated, and the dark Celestial River began to flow backward!

Qin Mu glared fiercely at him and accelerated his rush towards the two massive flowers!

"Fatty Dragon, were you a crow in your previous life?" Yan'er asked curiously.

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