The innate virtue merged into a single hue, floating with golden lanterns and drifting with lotus petals, surrounding the ethereal and divine Gu Xiaosang. She lowered her eyelids, let out a light laugh, and said meaningfully, “Some great figures might have noticed the existence of the ‘Heavenly Dao Monster’ even earlier.”
She answered without addressing the question, never mentioning that the “Heavenly Dao Monster” might be the “mastermind behind the scenes.”
Some great figures had detected the presence of the “Heavenly Dao Monster” even before the fall of the Celestial Court… It gave off a chaotic and sinister aura, as if this were its nature, seemingly not always rational, adept at scheming. Even during the Celestial Court’s fall, it could calmly observe, yet there was a sense of madness and inversion… Meng Qi was stunned at first, then numerous impressions surfaced, forming a certain conjecture.
Some events from ancient times, if deeply investigated, might indeed reveal traces of the “Heavenly Dao Monster,” but it was likely also being manipulated.
Nodding thoughtfully, Meng Qi saw that Gu Xiaosang was unwilling to elaborate for now, so he changed the subject: “What exactly is Lu Ya plotting? Was his recent move merely to capture Yuan Hong?”
Gu Xiaosang spread her delicate hand, revealing a crimson, translucent peach, filled with veins and vessels, glowing with an eerie light.
She gently rubbed the surface of the eerie blood peach with her thumb, smiling faintly. “Lu Ya is the son of the Heavenly Emperor Haotian, a figure from the last epoch. He survived the destruction and lived into antiquity solely under the protection of the one from the Jade Void Palace.”
Her implication pointed directly to the Primordial Heavenly Lord!
Meng Qi was slightly stunned by Gu Xiaosang’s actions—how could she make the little peach, which only feared the Great Dao Tree, so docile?
But upon reflection, since the little peach was clearly related to lifespan and the Peach Orchard, it made sense. The Peach Orchard belonged to the Golden Emperor, who was the Eternal Mother. The relationship between the Eternal Mother and Gu Xiaosang needed no explanation.
What was more surprising was that Lu Ya had survived the end of the epoch under the Primordial Heavenly Lord’s protection, despite being sealed and suppressed by him for countless ages!
Gu Xiaosang continued, “Lu Ya has always been ambitious. During the Celestial Court incident, he seemed to have secretly colluded with either the Heavenly Emperor or the Lingbao Heavenly Lord. This likely angered the Primordial Heavenly Lord, leading to his suppression. His current actions must be related to those events—perhaps a scheme spanning countless ages. Unfortunately, even ‘I’ don’t know the specifics.”
The more Meng Qi listened, the more his heart raced. He felt that the events of the Celestial Court had never truly concluded. While it seemed like a victor had been decided at the time, subsequent calamities—such as the Demon Uprising, the Human Emperor’s reign, the Middle Ages’ Tyrant and the Demon Buddha’s chaos—were all extensions of it. Some schemes, spanning countless ages, were finally coming to fruition as the apocalypse approached.
This feeling was sudden but not unfounded—Gu Xiaosang’s clear hints and the anomalies he had noticed before all pointed to the fact that the fall of the Celestial Court and the Nine Heavens, though marking the end of an epoch, had occurred over 200,000 to 300,000 years ago, yet this epoch still persisted. This proved that the Celestial Court incident had not truly ended!
With this realization, numerous secrets in Meng Qi’s mind seemed to align, but a crucial piece was missing, preventing a complete picture.
The Demon Uprising marked the beginning, but the source of countless calamities, schemes, and grudges lay in the fall of the Celestial Court!
Understanding that Lu Ya had ties to either the Heavenly Emperor or the Lingbao Heavenly Lord, Meng Qi set aside other thoughts and smiled at Gu Xiaosang’s pale face. “The situation is relatively stable now, making it the perfect opportunity for you to ascend to the Legendary realm. But even if you achieve Legendary status, you’d still be powerless against the returning one, with few places to hide.”
He wanted to understand Gu Xiaosang’s reliance. A Legendary facing a Nirvana-level being seemed hopeless, unlike his own situation—where the Demon Buddha was sealed in Ling Mountain. As long as he raced against time to reach Nirvana before the Demon Buddha’s escape, there was at least some hope, however slim.
Still, Meng Qi didn’t expect Gu Xiaosang to reveal all her secrets, only hoping to glean something from her reaction.
Gu Xiaosang stroked the blood peach with one hand and rested her cheek on the other, smiling playfully. “You’re no different, husband. Once chaos returns, someone might sneak into Ling Mountain, break the seal, and release the Demon Buddha to overturn the board. We’re in the same boat.”
As she said “same boat,” her eyes shimmered, her smile masking the emotions deep within. Meng Qi, in turn, felt a renewed sense of shared adversity.
Both stood on the edge of a cliff, ready to fall at any moment.
Withdrawing his divine sense, Meng Qi opened his eyes. After reviewing his thoughts, he activated the Cause of All Effects, veiling the heavenly secrets, and descended directly into the Qingwei Realm.
This was the best time to break Yang Jian’s seal.
First, his strength was sufficient. Second, external enemies like Maitreya had just suffered heavy blows and couldn’t focus on him. Third, ancient figures like the Ancient Lamp Buddha had awakened prematurely and were busy stabilizing their realms and seeking recovery methods, leaving them no time to investigate the Primordial Heavenly Lord’s whereabouts. Any delay risked allowing the Ancient Lamp Buddha or the Peerless Demon Monarch to find the Qingwei Realm first, break the seal, and destroy crucial clues.
But why would Yang Jian seal the clues instead of taking them?
As these thoughts crossed his mind, Meng Qi appeared before the lush valley, channeling the Primordial Chaos, exuding an ancient and boundless aura.
A faint golden gate materialized, revealing a verdant paradise filled with exotic flowers and spiritual roots—yet none had taken form or gained sentience.
At its core stood a weathered stone stele inscribed:
“No spiritual flora shall take form in this land.”
Seeing the stele again, Meng Qi marveled. While he could now easily destroy this “heavenly decree,” reestablishing it would only last briefly—true, lasting change required reaching the Creation realm, like Yang Jian.
His eyes gleamed with the ancient glass lamp, casting brilliant starlight, revealing the rotating cosmos of cause and effect. Around him, the illusory River of Time flowed silently, eternal and unchanging.
Combined, they exuded the aura of fate—his words could become the law of the world!
Meng Qi reached out, grasping the stele with threads of causality and the River of Time, declaring solemnly, “This land shall have no restrictions—spiritual beings may take form!”
Using his mastery over fate to counter the stele’s power, he sought to neutralize and remove it.
Boom!
The void trembled as the stele was pulled from its lofty perch, as if uprooted from the world itself. The exotic flowers and ginseng roots seemed to grow livelier, their branches swaying as if bowing.
As the stele was lifted, a breeze reduced it to dust, eroded by time.
A second golden gate appeared. Meng Qi stepped through, surrounded by countless stars and threads of causality, the ceaseless River of Time surging around him.
A gray stone platform spanned dozens of feet, bearing another stele inscribed with a heavenly decree:
“Beings of this realm shall not cross the first heavenly ladder.”
Meng Qi grasped the stele again, proclaiming solemnly, “The limits of cultivation in this realm lie within, not without!”
Boom!
Thunder roared across the two continents separated by the “Immortal’s Despair” ocean, filling the sky with purple lightning and silver snakes—as if something had been shattered, heralding celebration!
Boom!
In a sect, an elder with white hair meditated, feeling the unbreakable barrier within. As the thunder resounded, he shuddered—the ancient gate crumbled, and his breakthrough came naturally.
Opening his eyes in astonishment, he sensed the world outside, now vastly different, illuminated by lightning.
Was this the wonder of Creation, the ultimate reversal?
Across the continents, many like him experienced the same.
Boom!
Meng Qi pressed on, removing stele after stele.
“This realm shall abound in spiritual energy, treasures, and unrestricted techniques, with refining methods ever-advancing!”
“The Chaos Sea shall be free of mist, its thunder normal, its whirlpools vanished, its voids sealed—passage shall always be open!”
…
Boom!
Over the dark ocean, the eternal mist scattered, never to return. The ceaseless lightning ceased, the terrifying whirlpools and voids healed, leaving only clear skies and calm seas. All sensed the change, and those attuned to the world wept inexplicable tears.
With eight steles gone, Meng Qi stood before the final blank one, feeling its tremors—without the others, it could barely contain what lay beneath.
After a brief adjustment, he summoned the Cause of All Effects and the River of Time once more, grasping the blank stele.
It was immensely heavy, lifting inch by inch as the earth rumbled like inverted thunder.
Boom!
A violet bolt—supreme among all divine lightning—struck the half-raised stele, reducing it to ash.
In its place, a vortex of destruction and annihilation swirled, its destination unknown.
“Is the clue to the Primordial Heavenly Lord’s whereabouts inside?” Meng Qi gazed deeply, studying it intently.
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