Chapter 983: The Candlelight in the Recording

The World Origin Secret Realm, located within East Demon Feather, is renowned for its immense utility in helping those at the Spirit Accumulation realm shape their own new worlds.

Its location is seven thousand miles north of the Lan family’s ancestral grounds, in the World Origin Barren River.

Viewed from the outside, this barren river is a place of desolate mountains and treacherous waters, teeming with fierce beasts and rising toxic miasma, and it contains a terrifyingly powerful seal that blocks all cultivators who attempt to intrude.

Even if a powerhouse were to rely on their own strength to forcibly break the seal and enter, it would be useless.

Because without the token personally crafted by the Great Emperor Ming Yan for the Lan family, anyone with a cultivation base below the Great Emperor level cannot see through the essence of this place; they would only become trapped within the desolate mountains and treacherous waters, gaining nothing.

But if one holds the Lan family token, the moment they step into this World Origin Barren River, everything before their eyes will be completely reversed.

What they see is no longer desolate mountains and treacherous waters, no longer teeming fierce beasts, no longer rising toxic miasma, but a massive basin.

In the center of the basin stands an object!

This object is astonishingly large, nearly ten thousand zhang tall, generally rectangular in shape, and engraved with a vast number of runes.

Anyone who sees this object for the first time will surely have their mind roar and endless waves surge within them.

Because this is a jade slip!

To be precise, this is an ancient recording jade slip.

Its owner is unknown, but judging by the size of this jade slip, its master must have been terrifyingly extraordinary.

As for its origin, in the records of the Demon Feather Holy Land, it arrived from beyond the heavens during the era of the Ancient Emperor Xuanyou, fell into the hands of the Demon Feather tribe at the time, and was later borrowed by the Ancient Emperor Xuanyou.

It was not until many years later, through the efforts of the Demon Feather tribe's Great Emperor at the time, that they finally reclaimed this jade slip from the Ancient Emperor Xuanyou in exchange for countless military merits.

Subsequently, this jade slip became the holy relic of the Demon Feather tribe.

Until before the arrival of the Remnant Face, the Demon Feather tribe followed the Ancient Emperor Xuanyou away to build their own holy land beyond the heavens, and after several twists and turns, this object was exclusively possessed by the Great Emperor Ming Yan.

Eventually, it became the property of the Lan family.

Its peculiarity lies in the recording imprinted within it.

Holding the Lan family token and stepping into this jade slip allows one to walk from reality into illusion, from the present world into that recorded scene.

As for the specifics of that recording...

Some call it the Creation of the World.

For many years, this secret realm has been controlled by the Lan family; outsiders wishing to enter must pay a significant price, and whether they ultimately succeed depends on the Lan family's mood.

If the Lan family is unwilling, even if the price paid is great, it is useless.

And at this moment, outside this World Origin Barren River where everything seen is desolate mountains and treacherous waters, Xu Qing’s figure suddenly approached with a whistle, until he paused in mid-air and looked down.

This place is sparsely populated and guarded by no one.

After all, few are qualified to enter this secret realm, and the peculiarity of this place requires no guarding.

A few breaths later, a faint gleam appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes; he raised his hand to take out the token given by the Empress and, without any hesitation, took a step toward the barren river below.

It was like walking through a curtain of water, filtering out all the mountains, rivers, fierce beasts, and toxic miasma.

The next instant, that massive basin and the vast, astonishing jade slip within it appeared in Xu Qing’s sight.

"Walking into the recording..."

Xu Qing gazed at the majestic jade slip, feeling its ancient aura and sense of vicissitudes, and finally, his gaze fell below.

"This jade slip is nearly thirty percent buried underground... only about seventy percent is exposed."

"What kind of existence would require such a large jade slip?"

"And what kind of existence could record the creation of the world?"

A look of anticipation appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes; although he had a general understanding of this secret realm from the memories of Xue Chenzi, he had never seen it with his own eyes.

And although he had experienced many secret realms in his life, this was the first time he had encountered one like this.

So, after confirming that the surroundings were clear and that the massive jade slip before him was operating normally, Xu Qing did not hesitate; holding the token, he headed straight for the jade slip.

He approached instantly, without the slightest pause, and the moment he touched the massive jade slip, his figure suddenly vanished.

He did not merge into the jade slip, but rather seemed to be erased.

In a bizarre manner, he disappeared from the present world!

When he appeared... he was already inside the recording!

Upon seeing the scene before him, Xu Qing, who had appeared in this recording, could no longer calm the waves in his mind, which surged violently.

"This is..."

Xu Qing’s breath hitched.

For the well-traveled Xu Qing, this would not normally happen, but the scene he was witnessing at this moment was simply too astonishing.

This was a void!

Deep within the void, Xu Qing saw a massive candle.

The candle was red and burning.

As it burned, the candle’s light illuminated all directions, causing the entire void to flicker, and within the flickering light and shadow, countless stars and countless worlds were forming amidst the gathering of dust.

There were countless of them.

One could only see that on the periphery of the light, those stars and worlds completed the process of gathering from dust in an instant, and in the next instant, as if reaching their limit, they collapsed, turning back into dust and scattering in all directions.

In this process, along with the formation of worlds and stars, countless rules and laws were born within, only to be destroyed together and merge into the dust.

It repeated over and over, in a constant cycle.

Just in this one glance from Xu Qing, at least hundreds of thousands of worlds appeared and were destroyed.

But this was limited to the periphery of the light.

The closer one got to the red candle, the slower the stars and worlds formed within, and because the formation was slow, the destruction was equally slow.

Therefore, as Xu Qing looked, near the flame of the red candle, he could see many nearly complete stars.

"This scene..."

Xu Qing took a deep breath; he did not know if this was the true creation of the world, but he could clearly feel at this moment that this recorded scene was filled with an extremely dense aura of the world.

Rules, laws, origins—everything could be seen everywhere here.

"But it is illusory..."

Xu Qing’s gaze swept over everything, whispering to himself.

But he knew very well that although it was all illusory, and he himself had walked into an illusion, for a Spirit Accumulation cultivator, this would be an unparalleled place for enlightenment.

"But there is also danger."

Xu Qing’s spiritual sense expanded, covering all directions, and his body flickered as he carefully moved forward.

According to the memories of Xue Chenzi, the canyon where his destiny changed was located on a star in the middle of the candle’s light.

Xu Qing was not sure if, with these months having passed, that star had already lived out its life and collapsed into dust.

So he did not waste time and sped away within this recorded world.

As he approached the light, Xu Qing felt a sense of heat—the heat waves formed by the burning of the red candle in the distance—and he felt the embryonic changes of countless rules and laws within it.

He carefully avoided one collapsing world after another as he continued to approach his destination.

Half an hour later, Xu Qing finally saw, from afar, the star from Xue Chenzi’s memories.

This star was in the midst of collapsing.

But because the flow of time in the region where it was located was relatively slow, it had not completely collapsed yet; it was only half-destroyed.

Although there was danger in approaching, at least there was still hope.

Seeing this, Xu Qing felt a sense of relief and was about to head over, but the next instant, his expression darkened, and he suddenly raised his right hand and grabbed fiercely toward his side.

A cold sensation swept across his palm.

There was nothing there.

Xu Qing’s eyes flashed with the Dao marks of his authority as he stared at his surroundings, his mind recalling information from Xue Chenzi’s memories regarding a dangerous entity in this World Origin Secret Realm.

It was a strange existence.

Their specific form and specific number were unknown to Xue Chenzi.

He only knew that while these existences could not be seen, one could sense them after getting close because of the coldness they emitted, which contrasted with the heat contained here.

Thus, he could perceive them.

Although he did not know their true form, Xue Chenzi knew of their origin.

These strange cold entities were once cultivators.

This concerned another kind of danger within this secret realm.

That was assimilation.

Within this recorded world, if one stayed for too long, or got too close to the red candle in the center, there was a certain chance of being assimilated by this place.

After assimilation, the cultivator would be as if erased, turning into an unknown form, and would be forever trapped within this illusory recording, unable to walk into the real world.

Although most cultivators who came here knew this in advance, as time passed, there were always those who, for various reasons, were eventually assimilated and remained here.

As for their form after being erased—whether they were in a soul state or some other level—perhaps the Great Emperor knew, but clearly, Xue Chenzi did not.

Thus, after Xu Qing’s cold gaze swept across the surroundings, his body let out a boom, and his life force expanded; the uniqueness of his body gave him confidence that these strange existences could not contaminate him.

So, after looking around, Xu Qing continued to speed forward, getting closer and closer to the collapsing star.

Soon, the moment he drew near, Xu Qing took a step forward and landed directly on the star.

The moment he landed, the heat vanished instantly, and an endless cold spread from all directions.

Although it looked empty, in Xu Qing’s perception, he could faintly sense that countless strange entities existed all around!

This was, in fact, a star filled with those strange existences!

Meanwhile, outside this World Origin Secret Realm, in the western part of East Demon Feather...

Within the West Demon Feather territory, that sacred Dao platform, shaped like a wing, was currently shining with brilliant light.

On the highest part of the Dao platform, on an octagonal altar, a figure sat cross-legged.

His body was blurred, with no specific details visible, only a silhouette.

Though it was but a silhouette, the fluctuations emanating from this person and that indescribable, terrifying aura caused all who came to pay their respects to tremble in their hearts, not daring to look directly at him.

As is the case right now, a Western Demon Feather Sovereign kneeling beside the altar is exactly like this.

Unable to control the trembling in his heart, he spoke in a low voice.

"Great Emperor, during this period, we have searched every region of the entire Holy Land, both east and west; apart from the place where Great Emperor Mingyan is in seclusion, we have not found the object you spoke of anywhere else."

Great Emperor Moyu remained silent.

The kneeling Sovereign waited for a long while before rising to respectfully take his leave.

A long time later, the low voice of Great Emperor Moyu echoed from the silent altar.

"Does this object truly exist?"

As his words reverberated, the sound of iron chains rang out above the altar, and a black-robed figure descended from the void.

His entire body was bound by iron chains that were corroding his flesh, yet this black-robed person showed no abnormality; appearing completely indifferent, he spoke calmly.

"I told you long ago that this Wishing Mask possesses its own intelligence; it is never found by others, but rather it seeks out those who are suitable."

"If it does not wish for you to find it, then given your cultivation base, even if it appeared right before you, you would not be able to see it."

"And since you have searched for so long and still have not found it, that is enough to prove... you, Great Emperor Moyu, are not the suitable one."