Chapter 681: The Heavenly Yin Boundary Stele
By the next day, the darkness receded rapidly. Whether from the east or the west, all the darkness surged toward the cliff, vanishing in a single torrent into the cliff at the source of the Surging River.
Qin Mu immediately flew forward, stopping about two hundred zhang from the cliff face, searching from south to north in a single sweep.
Hum—
The formations in his eyes activated, and two beams of light shot out, illuminating the cliff. Not a single crack could escape his gaze.
He compared the glowing points on the paper, searching all the way to the north, then back from north to south. After a moment, he swept his gaze over the area again.
The cliff wall was tall and uneven, the terrain complex. Searching was a labor-intensive task, but it was the simplest and most effective method.
He Yiyi and the others continued excavating Grand Emperor Heaven, trying to open a passage. Because Yan Jingjing possessed great divine powers, He Yiyi had invited her to help. In the tunnel, Yan Jingjing melted rock with her flames, and He Yiyi transformed the magma into lava giants, speeding up the excavation.
Yan Jingjing had always piloted the Sun Chariot and had never used her divine powers to clear a path. This kind of work was novel to her.
Originally, He Yiyi had used formations to cut a path. Though fast, it consumed a great deal of spiritual energy, forcing her to stop and rest frequently. With Yan Jingjing’s help now, she only needed to turn the molten stone into lava giants and have them walk out of the cave on their own. The speed was many times faster than before.
More importantly, Yan Jingjing was a god. Her flames not only melted the rock but also reinforced the tunnel.
“At this rate, it will only take a few days to break through Grand Emperor Heaven.”
He Yiyi was both surprised and delighted. She thought to herself, “But if I tried to take her lover for a walk-marriage, she’d go berserk, and I definitely couldn’t beat her. What a pity. When her lover rode the white horse and let me lean against his back as we jumped out of the painting, I truly felt the urge to marry. The men of the Western Lands… none are as outstanding as him…”
“Found it!”
Qin Mu’s eyes lit up. He had finally located a crevice that hadn’t emitted light the previous night.
He had searched several times before finding this crack on the cliff. It didn’t glow, lying between two other cracks, hidden behind a rock that jutted out between them.
“Crystal Sister isn’t here now, and Dragon Qilin is asleep. Should I call them to explore together?”
Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, then decided against it. Although Yan Jingjing could resist the darkness, she did so by using her divine light to push it away. Dragon Qilin had no ability to fight the darkness and would need Yan Jingjing’s protection.
Only Qin Mu could merge with the darkness.
So bringing them along or not didn’t matter.
“Fat Dragon, when Crystal Sister comes out, tell her to wait for me here.”
Qin Mu called out loudly, then flew to the rock in front of the crack. The rock looked like a stone door, but most of it was embedded in the mountain. From a distance, it was impossible to spot this entrance, especially with other cracks nearby.
He examined the stone door carefully. There were no words, runes, or handles on it.
“Divine Eye, Seventh Heaven!”
Divine light swirled in Qin Mu’s brow as his gaze swept over the door, trying to see if there were any unique marks inside. But to his disappointment, it seemed to be an ordinary stone door, with no signs of being crafted.
Finding nothing unusual, he went to the crack behind the door. The crevice was pitch black, and he couldn’t see anything abnormal.
He walked inside. The crack was long, and the walls on both sides were also covered with cracks, each one dark and lightless.
His divine light illuminated the cliff walls, but when it met the darkness, it seemed to be swallowed, unable to reveal what lay within.
He reached out his hand, touching the darkness. A rustling sound came from his ears.
“These cracks… are the fissures of the other heavens buried here!”
His heart tightened. Now that the Great Ruins were in daytime, the other heavens buried here were the darkness.
“The source of the darkness lies behind this crack, burying the dark origins of each era. Let’s see what caused the dark invasion of the Great Ruins…”
He steadied himself and continued forward, his figure vanishing into the darkness.
Qin Mu walked for a long time. Over an hour passed, and the crack still hadn’t ended. He grew a bit anxious, puzzled. If it were another crack, entering it would lead to another heaven. But this one seemed far too long.
“If I can’t find the end in another half hour, I’ll turn back.”
Just as he thought this, he saw light ahead. His heart stirred, and he quickened his pace. In the distance, he saw a figure leaning against the cliff wall, holding a lantern that emitted divine light.
Qin Mu stopped to look. He activated his Divine Eye, Seventh Heaven, using the Langxiao Divine Eye to scan the area. After several sweeps, he found no danger and continued forward until he reached the figure.
It was a divine being, long dead. He leaned against the wall, his eye sockets empty, his expression somewhat dazed.
Qin Mu examined his clothes, studying the patterns. “He’s a divine being from the Kaicheng Era!”
The lantern was still lit, its light shining on the divine being, making him look almost transparent.
Qin Mu was suspicious. He bravely pinched the divine being’s skin. Suddenly, the figure deflated like a punctured balloon, the clothes and skin collapsing into a heap.
Qin Mu’s hair stood on end, and he stepped back in terror.
After a moment, the clothes rustled and floated up, and the divine being’s skin slowly inflated again. Soon, it was once more a divine being sitting against the wall.
“His flesh and blood are gone. His primordial spirit is gone. All his divine treasuries and heavenly palaces… empty…”
Qin Mu bravely stepped forward to examine him closely. He couldn’t tell what had devoured the divine being, leaving only a layer of skin. He murmured, “The fallen before teach the ones who come after. Knowing how this divine being died might benefit me. Strange… since he has no flesh, why does he inflate again? What’s under the skin?”
He hesitated, then took out the Carefree Sword, trying to cut the divine being’s skin. Something under the skin squirmed, resisting the sword, preventing him from piercing it.
Qin Mu frowned. He thought for a moment, then took out the Book of Life and Death and shone it on the divine being. As soon as a name appeared on the book, the divine being’s mouth opened wide, letting out a piercing scream. Black smoke poured from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and he quickly deflated!
The black smoke merged into the darkness and vanished.
Qin Mu was shocked, his heart pounding. This was too bizarre. Even in the Netherworld, he had never encountered anything so strange.
After a moment, his heartbeat returned to normal. He picked up the lantern and walked forward. After just two steps, he saw a massive stone stele towering before him, blocking the path.
He raised the lantern, its quiet light spilling onto the stele. The characters on it were a script he had never seen before.
Qin Mu was proficient in many languages and scripts: divine language, demon language, Netherworld language, dragon language, and Buddhist Sanskrit. He could not only recognize them but also understood the principles behind each.
But the script on the stele was a completely new language.
“What script is this?”
He thought for a moment, then peeled off the willow leaf from his brow. He said softly, “Brother, Heavenly Duke, Red Emperor, do you recognize these characters?”
In his third eye, another pupil appeared and looked.
“Don’t recognize it.”
Qin Fengqing’s voice came: “Little brother, let me out. I won’t eat you.”
Another pupil squeezed in, pushing Qin Fengqing’s aside. It was the Heavenly Duke’s avatar, which hadn’t managed to escape last time they passed through the Heavenly Capital.
“The characters say ‘Heavenly Yin Realm.’”
The Heavenly Duke’s voice came faintly: “The Heavenly Yin Realm is a world below the Heavenly Capital. Although I shine brightly, illuminating the various heavens around me, there is one place my light cannot reach—my own feet. Beneath my feet lies the Heavenly Yin Realm. Strange… why is there a boundary stele for the Heavenly Yin Realm here? It shouldn’t be here.”
Qin Mu asked, puzzled: “Shouldn’t the place beneath the Heavenly Duke be the Netherworld?”
“The Netherworld is where the dead return. The Heavenly Yin Realm is a place of dimness and obscurity. They are not the same.”
The Heavenly Duke’s avatar was about to continue, but suddenly Qin Fengqing’s angry voice interrupted: “Shut up, old thief! If you explain everything so clearly, how can I trick him into letting me out so I can eat him?”
In Qin Mu’s third eye, the sound of an old man being beaten came. After a moment, the Red Emperor’s voice rang out: “I didn’t say anything. Why hit me… Little brat, do you think I’m afraid of you? I am the dignified Heavenly Emperor of the Red Ming Era…”
“Son of the Qin family, your brother tore us apart trying to escape and eat you. Hurry up and put the willow leaf back on!”
“Little brother, don’t believe them. We’re brothers. Brothers should help each other. I won’t eat you… Shut up, old man! If we eat him, I’ll let you out!”
Qin Mu quickly stuck the willow leaf back on, and the commotion in his eye finally settled.
“Heavenly Yin Realm? Could the dark substance originate from here?”
Qin Mu calculated for a moment, then stepped back to the divine being’s skin. He shone the lantern on it, and sure enough, the divine being inflated again.
Qin Mu put down the lantern, took out the Book of Life and Death, and shone it once more. The divine being opened his mouth, screamed horribly, and black smoke billowed from his orifices as he rapidly deflated!
Qin Mu pondered.
“Is this black smoke the dark substance?”
He raised his hand and grabbed a handful of darkness. To others, darkness was untouchable. To him, it felt like grasping sand, though very faint, almost imperceptible.
“The Heavenly Yin Realm… is it all made of this dark substance? Why does this dark substance seep into the Great Ruins and into the heavens of the past dynasties?”
He steadied himself, put away the Book of Life and Death, and picked up the lantern. After a moment’s thought, he decided not to carry it and instead placed it into his Taotie pouch.
If the Heavenly Yin Realm was full of this dark substance, walking through it with a lantern would be like carrying a lantern in a latrine.
He walked around the Heavenly Yin Boundary Stele. Before him lay a gray, hazy world, a realm of eerie, dim tones.
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