Chapter 455: Tracing the Origin of Tai Xu

The doors of Queyun Palace's main hall slowly closed. The disciples on duty guarded every passage leading to the hall. No matter who came to ask, the answer was only one sentence: “The sect leader and Mr. Yusheng are discussing important matters.”

Inside the hall, Yusheng was telling Yuanling and Yuanhao the intelligence he had obtained from Yunqingzi in detail.

About the story behind the Starspawn, about Yunqingzi's true plan, and… about the secrets of the Tai Xu Spiritual Pivot, the Feiyu Star Domain, and the “Imperial Lord's Legacy.”

A planet that didn't exist in the Creation Blueprint, the Feiyu Star Domain that should have been a vast uninhabited area, appearing in the blueprint as if deliberately “implanted,” the “Imperial Lord's Legacy” that was merely a footnote…

When Yuanling Zhenren was halfway through listening, he took out a medicine gourd from his bosom, and together with Yuanhao, they both took some medicine while listening, afraid that their Dao heart wouldn't last until Yusheng finished speaking.

“So, that's basically the situation,” Yusheng finally finished explaining the whole story after a long time, then gently exhaled. “By the way, although Yunqingzi's final plan was never implemented, based on the intelligence we have, his plan had a very high success rate.”

“...Senior Yunqingzi must have been deeply corrupted by the Starspawn by then, with most of his consciousness out of control,” Yuanling Zhenren said with emotion. “To still use his remaining self-awareness to complete such a setup under these circumstances... it's admirable.”

Yuanhao Zhenren also gently nodded, but couldn't help sighing: “Alas, it's a pity that he couldn't communicate with others normally then, and his every word and action was controlled by the Starspawn. Otherwise, if the Tai Xu Spiritual Pivot had cooperated, and the border had responded in advance, the current situation would be better—at least the losses on Shu Ji's side wouldn't be so great.”

As a firsthand witness of the great upheaval in Shu Ji, he obviously still couldn't forget the scene of the Starspawn's tentacles growing out from the planet. At this moment, when mentioning the losses in Shu Ji, his tone was full of regret.

“How is Shu Ji now?” Yusheng asked curiously.

“The situation has just calmed down; the real difficulties are just beginning,” Yuanling slowly began. “But the good news is that the orbital facilities of Shu Ji and the celestial boat platforms of several major cities are undamaged. Several relief teams from the nearest planets have arrived there. Although the Shu Ji planet was eroded and controlled by the Starspawn for centuries, the Starspawn's goal was not to kill the people on the planet, and the planetary disintegration caused by its 'ascension' process was stopped by you, so the casualties there are far lower than expected…”

“Besides, all of us Feiyu people practice cultivation. Although ordinary people can't achieve the ability to fly or vanish underground, they can basically guide qi into their bodies and strengthen their bones and muscles. So even though Shu Ji's environment is harsh and supplies are scarce, most people can survive for a long time,” Yuanhao added. “But the biggest problem there right now isn't the harsh environment—it's that many cities were damaged by the earthquakes caused when the Starspawn drilled out of the planet. Not only are they cut off from the outside world, but some cities have even collapsed into sinkholes... This makes rescue operations extremely complicated and difficult.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Yusheng subconsciously asked.

“A disaster like this can't be saved by one person's strength. It relies on collective wisdom and unity,” Yuanling Zhenren waved his hand. “And you don't need to worry. Although the situation is complicated, our Feiyu Star Domain is still a major power. We have ways to deal with various disasters. Shu Ji may take a long time to fully recover, but we will not abandon them.”

Yusheng nodded thoughtfully. In front of him, Yuanling and Yuanhao quietly discussed a few more sentences, and their attention soon returned to the “Imperial Lord's Legacy.”

“We still think we should find a way to continue investigating the secrets of the 'Imperial Lord's Legacy,'” Yuanling looked up and said seriously to Yusheng. “Afterwards, we will contact the various sects and schools and disclose this intelligence to them—the Tai Xu Spiritual Pivot is large, but with today's mechanical arts, digging through the center of the planet is not difficult.”

“Actually, digging through the center may not find anything, but it's still worth looking into,” Yuanhao also nodded. “If this planet under our feet is really not in the 'Creation Blueprint,' then it means that the foundation of life for our Feiyu people is likely 'problematic.' Although this land has been peaceful for so many years, after all, it involves the very foundation of billions of lives... We won't feel at ease until we find out.”

This was clearly a “family matter” of the Tai Xu Spiritual Pivot, so Yusheng naturally had nothing to say about it, but he was curious: “Where do you plan to start investigating?”

Yuanling and Yuanhao exchanged a glance and said in unison: “The Exodomains.”

Then after a pause of two seconds, Yuanling explained seriously: “No one can say for sure what the origin of the Imperial Lord's Legacy is, but at least those suddenly appearing 'Exodomains' are real. Even the Xianzhen Giant Divine Soldier brought out from one of the Exodomains is still in the Demon Suppression Tower. This shows that even when the 'Imperial Lord's Legacy' in the blueprint transformed from a 'footnote' into the current Tai Xu Spiritual Pivot, it still left behind some parts that were not accepted by reality. And these 'parts not accepted by reality' might hide the secrets of the reshaping of heaven and earth.”

“This will be a long-term matter, and the investigation will unfold across the entire planet, even the entire star system. Naturally, it won't be convenient to keep troubling you,” Yuanhao looked at Yusheng and continued. “We will contact the Borderlands and ask their 'Exodomain experts' to assist.”

The Borderlands Special Service Bureau is a professional organization for combating Exodomains and Entities, which is well known throughout the world. Their deep-diving teams and Exodomain investigation squads not only operate in the Border City , a “nest of Exodomains,” but also often serve as external expert teams to various powers to deal with crises. For a “place of peace” like the Feiyu Star Domain, where high-risk Exodomains rarely appear, hiring people from the Borderlands after a tricky Exodomain appears is standard practice—other powers do the same.

Yusheng naturally had no objection to this—although he was indeed quite curious about the “Imperial Lord's Legacy” itself, what was about to unfold on the Tai Xu Spiritual Pivot side was clearly no simple small operation of sending two or three people to investigate an Exodomain, but a project on the level of “tracing the origins of a civilization.” This kind of job was typically a lot of work, big scope, long duration, consuming time, materials, and manpower. His “Traveler's Inn,” not counting the mass-produced puppets for padding, had only four people at most (and the exact headcount was still questionable). There was really no need to snatch this kind of job.

However, he still specifically mentioned to the two old men—if the investigation of the Imperial Lord's Legacy really made any significant progress, especially progress related to the Dark Angel, they must contact him.

As the world's most authoritative “angel combat expert” (and the only one), his request was clearly well-founded and no one could refuse.

Yuanhao readily agreed, but the handsome old man was also a bit puzzled: “From what you're saying, do you think the investigation of the Imperial Lord's Legacy will later connect to the Dark Angel again?”

Yusheng thought for a moment, then nodded seriously.

“Why do you say that?” Yuanhao asked again.

Yusheng thought even more seriously this time, but finally shook his head: “Just take it as my spiritual intuition.”

Yuanhao looked at him seriously for a moment, then nodded slightly: “...I understand.”

“Ah, it's a pity that the 'Omen Wanderstar' had an accident,” Yuanling stroked his beard and suddenly sighed. “Originally, it should have known the most about the 'specialness' of the Tai Xu Spiritual Pivot. If we could have gotten its cooperation, we might have found a breakthrough from other angles. But at this critical moment, it became unable to speak.”

Hearing this, Yusheng couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat. He muttered to himself: This old man really dares to think—your Tai Xu Spiritual Pivot kept it locked underground and fed it shit for three thousand years. What level of negotiator would it take to trick that ball into helping with this kind of thing? Not to mention, would it even dare to help? Would you dare to trust it?

Of course, there was no need to worry about this now, after all, the Omen Wanderstar had become a poor thing that would bounce to the ceiling and couldn't get down by itself without someone to pry it off. Completely hopeless... Anyway, he didn't know if it had recovered by now. What if, the moment it “woke up,” it saw four Eileens present again, and then got so excited it bounced to the ceiling?

He had a feeling Eileen would do something like that.

Yuanling, however, didn't know what Yusheng was thinking when he suddenly got distracted after hearing “Omen Wanderstar.” He had just casually sighed and then naturally changed the subject: “In a few days, there will be a celebration on the mountain and at the foot, to celebrate the safe passing of the 'Starspawn' calamity. It will be very lively. You can also let those children in your cave dwelling go down the mountain to have a look around...”

...

At the same time, at the Beast Taming Peak of Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain.

A pavilion was built halfway up the mountain. Around the pavilion were large open spaces, ponds, small bridges, and woods. Various rare beasts frolicked in the woods. In the distance, the sun was setting, and a mountain stream babbled outside the pavilion.

But in such a pleasant scene, the large snake demon coiled around the pavilion pillar was tense all over, its several heads hanging down from midair, continuously hissing at Yuanhe Zhenren sitting in the pavilion.

“Old thief Yuanhe!” several of Snake Ji's beast heads let out threatening growls, while the human head looked wary. “What exactly do you want? First you catch me and take me to the upper level, shine a bunch of mirrors at me, then bring me here without explaining your intentions... I warn you! Although I can't beat you now, I still won't be able to beat you in the future! I'm no threat to you! Let me go back to my cell, okay? I really didn't try to escape! I got up early because I was hungry, so I burrowed into the next room to eat some fruit. And I didn't steal them—I discussed it with the neighbor, and he said he had no objections! Biting tongues...”

Snake Ji slipped down from the pavilion pillar in one smooth motion, then lay on the ground without any backbone, rattling off a long string of words. But even so, she still didn't forget to call him “Old thief Yuanhe” at every turn, as if this title had been imprinted into her reflexes.

Yuanhe Zhenren just looked at the large snake demon with a mixture of amusement and helplessness. After a long time, he gently sighed.

“Snake Ji.”

“Wh... what?”

“From today onward, you don't need to go back to the Demon Suppression Tower—Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain, come and go as you please.”

Snake Ji: “...What?!”