Chapter 67 The Primal World

Lin Qingyue was stunned for a moment.

She raised her hand to her mouth and spoke the truth, "It was back then, when I was receiving the Legacy in the heaven-reaching tower's trial space; that mysterious Empress Revered Master bestowed it upon me."

"Empress Revered Master?"

Gu Heng's brow twitched.

"Then... did she say anything to you?" Gu Heng asked.

Lin Qingyue shook her head, "She said nothing. She simply forced this Legacy into my body. As for this mark..."

She closed her eyes, carefully sensing the Spiritual Qi flowing within her Qi Sea. When she opened them again, they were a bit brighter.

"This mark seems to have a hidden mechanism... It keeps constantly helping me raise my cultivation?"

"Moreover, ever since I got this mark, my perception of the Laws of Heaven and Earth has become exceptionally clear. Sword Dao Laws that were difficult to understand before can now be seen directly to their Origin with just a single glance."

"A hidden mechanism?" Gu Heng muttered to himself.

He stared at the mark, his fingers tracing the edge of his sleeve.

If he weren't afraid of Lin Qingyue's reluctance, with his curiosity, he likely would have wanted to probe directly with his Divine Sense to thoroughly study this so-called "Empress's hidden mechanism."

Gu Heng shook his head, suppressing his curiosity. Now was not the time to study someone else's Legacy.

He closed his eyes again, releasing all of the Middle Stage Immortal Venerable Divine Sense he had just obtained from Chi Xiao, and began to carefully perceive the heaven-reaching tower he had already refined.

Since Lin Qingyue said those Central State Prodigies had all vanished into thin air after finishing their trials, and that the aura of the Lower Realm had once surged from the tower...

Then logically, there must be a secret passage within this tower that no one knows about.

His Divine Sense followed the golden runes on the tower walls all the way down, passing through countless Small Worlds. Gu Heng's consciousness wove through the web of Laws.

Finally,

Deep within the base of the heaven-reaching tower, he felt a very weak boundary pull.

It was a crack sealed behind layers of spatial mist. Some traces of spatial turbulence remained near the crack, and the aura was very familiar.

"There really is a passage!"

If his guess was correct, the coordinates of this crack were for the Lower Realm where he had previously stayed.

Those Prodigies who were sucked into the heaven-reaching tower back then must have been forcibly sent back to the Lower Realm along this passage by some kind of rule.

Since the passage existed, did that mean he could avoid those two covetous Sovereigns outside and return to the Lower Realm?

Thinking of this, a thought suddenly flashed through Gu Heng's mind.

He flipped his wrist and pulled something out from the furthest corner of his storage ring.

This broken fragment was the "heaven-reaching tower Dao Base fragment" that Ma Datou had shoved into his hands back in the Lower Realm.

Gu Heng pinched the fragment between his fingers, his expression a bit strange.

When Ma Datou gave him this thing, he had solemnly promised to help eliminate that enemy named "Wang Long."

Now, he had already reached the Middle Stage of the Immortal Venerable realm before he finally remembered this matter.

"Wang Long..."

Gu Heng muttered the name.

That Wang Family Elder, if following the tropes of a play, should be a protagonist blessed with Luck. A journey of counterattacks, going from a Family outcast to a giant of the Lower Realm.

But if he were to descend directly now...

An Immortal Venerable going to the Lower Realm to trouble a "protagonist" who was at most a Nascent Soul?

Alright, Wang Long, now that you've left the starter village, please challenge the final boss next!

Joking aside, Gu Heng's gaze fell back onto that Dao Base fragment.

He injected a wisp of Immortal Venerable Divine Sense into the fragment, but it was like a clay ox entering the sea—there was no reaction at all.

In fact, even now he hadn't figured out what use this so-called Dao Base fragment actually had. Since it was called the Dao Base of the heaven-reaching tower, why was there no resonance within the tower?

"A Lower Realm that can have such a deep connection with the heaven-reaching tower... is definitely not simple."

...

Deep within the infinitely distant Void Realm, an Ancient Giant Ship crushed through spatial turbulence, sailing at full speed.

On the ship's deck,

It was packed with young Cultivators of bizarre shapes and terrifying auras.

Here,

The top Myriad Races Geniuses from the Immortals, Demons, and Yaos were gathered.

Their destination for this trip was only one—the Place of Origin.

"Brother Li, did you just say that some interesting changes have occurred over at the Place of Origin?"

Brother Han held a glass of red spiritual wine, swirling it nonchalantly.

"Indeed."

A smile curled on Li Tianqiong's lips. "For some reason, a few days ago, the internal space of the Place of Origin shook violently, and a crack leading to 'that place' appeared."

"'That place'?" Brother Han's brow furrowed slightly. "Where?"

Li Tianqiong turned his head, a flash of fanaticism in his eyes. "It is the Original Realm."

"Original Realm?" Brother Han's hand paused slightly.

"You know, that realm, although it's just an insignificant little Lower Realm now, but..."

Li Tianqiong lowered his voice, his tone greedy. "That is a place where our supreme Demon God Emperor Your Majesty once personally led troops to battle! Could a world that made the Demon God Emperor Your Majesty pause be simple?"

Hearing this, the nonchalance in Brother Han's eyes vanished, replaced by intense interest.

"Oh... in that case, it is quite good."

Brother Han downed the spiritual wine in his glass. "Since the secrets of the Demon God Emperor are hidden there, there must be a great Opportunity. However, what kind of 'favored sons of heaven' did the Human Race send this time? If they also have their eyes on that crack, a fight will be inevitable."

At the mention of the Human Race, Li Tianqiong let out a cold laugh.

"What could they have? Nothing more than the Saints and Saintesses of those few top-tier powers."

Li Tianqiong looked mockingly at the distant sea of stars. "Also being at the Immortal King Realm, how can those flowers raised in greenhouses compare to our foundation forged in a sea of corpses and blood?"

He opened his arms, pointing to the Myriad Races Geniuses with soaring blood vitality on the deck behind him.

"When we join forces and the Myriad Races Geniuses gather, which of those Human Race trash could be our match?"

Brother Han found this very reasonable, nodding as he asked further: "What about the native Cultivators of the Original Realm? After all, it's a territory left over from the Demon God Emperor Your Majesty's era. Could there be some hidden old monsters?"

"Hahahaha!"

Li Tianqiong laughed loudly, as if he had heard a massive joke.

"Brother Han, you are far too overestimating that backwater place."

Li Tianqiong's eyes were full of disdain. "Though the Original Realm was a battlefield, time has passed and the eras have changed. In the end, it is just a Lower Realm with incomplete Laws. How powerful could its Cultivators be?"

He extended a finger and shook it contemptuously.

"At most, they are just some pests at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage. Ants that haven't even reached True Immortal—this Young Lord can crush them with one hand! When we reach the Place of Origin and enter the Original Realm through the crack, we must go to those so-called Forbidden Grounds to find Opportunities. Anyone who dares to block our path shall be crushed."

Carrying the arrogance and greed of the Myriad Races Geniuses, the great ship continued its thunderous journey toward the Place of Origin.

...

Inside the heaven-reaching tower, the sea of stars was silent.

Gu Heng tossed the Dao Base fragment in his hand and tucked it back into his storage space.

He turned to look at Lin Qingyue.

Lin Qingyue was holding her immortal sword, her brow furrowed as she digested the Law insights brought by the Empress's mark.

"Qingyue..."

Gu Heng sighed, his tone tinged with disdain. "Although that mark of yours is a pretty good cheat, your current cultivation is indeed a bit too low to look at."

"Then what do you want?"

Lin Qingyue bit her lower lip, her fingers tightening around her sword.

"Nothing much, just finding you a good place to catch up on your lessons."

Gu Heng snapped his fingers.

"Buzz—"

A golden light descended from the starry sky, enveloping Lin Qingyue.

"This is the nine thousand nine hundredth floor of the heaven-reaching tower. The flow of time there is nearly ten thousand times faster than the outside world, and the concentration of Spiritual Qi is a hundred times that of the Immortal Realm. There are also several hundred remnants of Ancient Sword-Beasts to spar with you."

Gu Heng waved his hand, "Go in and have a good session of closed-door cultivation. Don't come out and embarrass me until you reach the Immortal King Realm."

Before Lin Qingyue could resist, her vision blurred, and she was sucked in by the spatial Laws.

Before vanishing, she left behind a strange look that Gu Heng didn't catch clearly.

Watching the place where Lin Qingyue disappeared, the Old Dragon King, who had been shrinking in the corner, scurried over, rubbing his claws and saying, "Revered Master is wise! That little girl just needs some training. Then Revered Master, should this old servant also..."

"You? You just stay here and act as a decorative ornament."

Gu Heng gave him a sidelong glance.

This old loach was slippery; if he were really thrown in for closed-door cultivation, he'd likely just find a corner to sleep in.

Having dealt with Lin Qingyue, Gu Heng set aside his joking demeanor.

He struck a hand Seal into the void.

Ripples appeared at the center of the sea of stars, and a water mirror condensed, projecting the scene from the outside.

"Let me see what the situation is like outside now."

He was shocked by what he saw; Gu Heng's eyelid twitched.

The sky outside Chiyan City had completely collapsed.

The originally dark red sky of the Demon Realm had been torn into nine holes. Behind each hole sat an aura capable of destroying heaven and earth.

The Human Race Immortal Emperors had descended.

And it wasn't just one—there were actually nine!

"Rumble—"

The vibrations transmitted through the water mirror caused the space inside the heaven-reaching tower to resonate.

The first to step out of a spatial crack was an old man wearing purple-gold Daoist robes.

He was surrounded by nine thunderous true dragons.

With every breath, heavenly thunder exploded on the scorched earth of the Demon Realm, turning low-level demons who couldn't dodge in time into ash.

Next, snow began to fall.

A female emperor stepped barefoot onto an ice lotus. Wherever she walked, boiling lava froze into glaciers.

Following that, stars reversed, Sword Qi crisscrossed, and all things withered and flourished.

Nine types of Great Dao Laws pinned themselves onto the land at the border of the Demon Realm.

The Nine Great Immortal Emperors of the Divine Court had arrived in person!

The pressure was so great that Chong Batian, who was guarding the palace below, couldn't even let out a scream.

He was pressed against the bluestone floor, the blood flowing from his seven orifices evaporating.

Even the Dragon Clan Quasi-Immortal Emperor Elder, who had previously wanted to detain Jiang Wuji and Emperor Li, now had a solemn expression.

The dragon horns on his head emitted golden light, activating the power of rules to form a light shield, protecting himself and the palace behind him.

But under the combined pressure of the nine Immortal Emperors, the light shield was covered in cracks.

"Old Ghost Ao, your Dragon Clan has stayed hidden from the world, yet today you would start a full-scale war with my Human Race for the sake of a thief who stole a Divine Court treasure!?"

The Dragon Clan Elder gritted his teeth, his hands trembling behind his back, but he did not retreat a single step. "Thunder Emperor! This old one has already said, this place has the aura of my Dragon Clan's Chosen Son. Until my clan's Bloodline is recovered, no one shall touch a single blade of grass here!"

"Stubborn! Since you wish to die, this Emperor shall fulfill your wish, skinning you and pulling out your dragon tendons to make this Emperor's thunder whip!"

The Thunder Immortal Emperor raised his hand, and a bolt of Zixiao Divine Thunder smashed into the Dragon Clan Elder's light shield.

"Bang—"

The explosion made the water mirror's image blur for a moment.

Inside the tower,

Gu Heng took a sharp breath.

"It seems... there are a bit too many!"

He thought that at most, a Divine Envoy at the Quasi-Immortal Emperor level would come, and he could use the durability of the heaven-reaching tower to hold them off for a bit.

As it turned out, the Divine Court had gone mad, flipping the table and bringing out all their assets to block the door of his starter village.

Nine Immortal Emperors!

Is this a configuration for a final holy war? All for catching a single Middle Stage Immortal Venerable like him?