Chapter 352: The

Yu Sheng recounted all the intelligence he had obtained through communicating with the deceased, then added his various deductions based on those vague fragments of speech.

"... He mentioned 'The Emperor's Illusory Dream spans far more than one place.' I believe this means the entrance to this foreign realm is not unique, which is how they managed to infiltrate here despite the Thousand Peaks Lingshan sect having stationed people to blockade the mine entrance."

"Furthermore, the four characters 'Emperor's Illusory Dream' are quite concerning to me. Does this mean the foreign realm is actually a dreamscape? Or perhaps its entrance is a dreamscape? Or maybe its activation conditions and control methods are related to dreams?"

"Based on current intelligence, every time this foreign realm opens, the situation explorers see upon entering differs. Theoretically, this process should be random, yet these black-clad figures entered the same desert as us and were even able to lie in ambush around these Giant Divine Soldiers in advance. This suggests they must have found a method to stably enter a selected 'scene' within the foreign realm, or even predict in advance which scene others entering from different portals would encounter. Of course, it could be pure coincidence, but that probability is far too low."

"The Emperor's Legacy, the Emperor's Illusory Dream—all this intelligence revolves around a single 'Emperor,' yet we do not know what sort of divine being this 'Emperor' truly is..."

Yu Sheng paused here, unable to help but turn his head again to look at Xuan Che: "Does your Grand Void Spirit Pivot truly have no legends regarding this? For instance, some ancient powerhouse whose legacy after death could transform into a secret realm..."

Xuan Che had been frowning slightly since the beginning, listening very intently, but now he shook his head with a grave expression.

"If such a powerhouse truly existed, I would certainly know," he said in a deep voice. "In fact, let alone the matter of 'legacy after death transforming into a secret realm,' I have never even heard of any ancestor on the Grand Void Star holding the title of 'Emperor'."

"Ah? The title 'Emperor' has never appeared at all?" Yu Sheng was genuinely surprised this time. "I thought this was a fairly common title among you cultivators..."

"No," Xuan Che said with a strange expression. "Where did you get that impression?"

Yu Sheng: "..."

He thought for a moment and really didn't have the heart to tell the other party that he had read it in novels—and that he himself often wrote it that way in novels...

With limited intelligence, the group's discussion and speculation suddenly lost direction. Seeing this, Erin looked left and right, scratched Yu Sheng's pant leg, then raised a finger to point at the other scattered black-clad corpses nearby: "Then you might as well ask the rest of them too while they're still warm."

Yu Sheng's eye twitched involuntarily: "How is it that no matter what normal topic enters your mouth, it comes out filtered as if mixed with a laxative..."

"Your words are even more tooth-grating than mine," Erin said, crossing her four arms over her two waists, puffing out her chest and speaking with righteous confidence. "And tell me, what is normal about a person like you who, after death, still has the ability to press down on souls and interrogate them?"

Yu Sheng looked up at the sky, thinking that the short, stout fellow was right.

Then he proceeded to question every single corpse at the scene one by one.

The entire process was long for him, but for Erin and the others, only a moment passed—they simply watched Yu Sheng stand before each corpse for a second or two before quickly returning.

Hu Li noticed the slightly disappointed expression on Yu Sheng's face: "Benefactor, did you find nothing?"

"Sigh, the situation gets worse with each one," Yu Sheng sighed. "Those killed by Luna had their souls already burned to ash; those defeated by you and Erin were left with nothing but a few muddled delirious mutterings. Only the one just now, whom Xuan Che smashed to death with a single palm strike, managed to speak a few key words with at least some clarity."

Erin listened, stunned, then turned to look at Xuan Che, her face full of emotion: "Truly, the benevolence of a physician."

Yu Sheng: "... What the hell, smashing someone to death with a single palm strike counts as the benevolence of a physician!"

Erin: "Among us few, it certainly does. At the moment he was smashed, he was still vividly lifelike."

Xuan Che, listening from the side, felt his expression growing increasingly subtle. He felt the direction of this topic was somewhat strange, but he could neither speak nor remain silent, so he could only smile awkwardly and then stiffly change the subject: "Regardless, it would be best to send these corpses back. The Spirit Nourishing Peak has many experts in autopsy. Although they do not possess Mr. Yu's godlike abilities, they might still be able to find some clues on these bodies. Combined with the live prisoner we caught earlier... it is not impossible to figure out the true origin of this so-called 'Emperor'."

"Fine, I'll open a door for you again," Yu Sheng nodded, then casually pulled open the gate leading to the Queyun Palace. "Go over there and ask a few people to come help carry them."

Soon, the corpses of the black-clad cultivators were all sent to the Thousand Peaks Lingshan.

After handling this matter, Yu Sheng strolled over to the "Charge-Breaking Giant Divine Soldiers" that lay toppled in the yellow sand.

He reached out to touch the armor on these giant mechanical men, his gaze sweeping over their massive and majestic bodies. The mechanical puppets buried by the yellow sand stood silent between heaven and earth; on their steel-covered faces, it seemed as if millions of years of secrets were tightly sealed, and the air was filled with an atmosphere of desolation amidst the silence.

The armor was cold and rough to the touch. Due to the abnormal space-time within the foreign realm, no one could say how long these massive "soldiers" had been buried here. Yet, looking at their complete and majestic appearance, Yu Sheng even had an illusion that they could awaken at any moment and return to the battlefield.

Clearly, he was not the only one with this feeling.

"I have a feeling these big guys could start moving again at any time," Hu Li, still maintaining her demon fox form, walked over and nudged the Charge-Breaking Giant Divine Soldier in front of Yu Sheng with her snout. "There doesn't seem to be any damage on the surface."

"I have already inspected the interiors of several of these mechanical men," Xuan Che said from the side. "They are not empty shells or illusions; there are indeed mechanical structures inside. However, their cores are complex and strange, making their principles incomprehensible, and it is unknown whether they can still be activated."

Yu Sheng pondered for a moment, and an idea occurred to him.

He turned to look at the Artificial Saintess standing on standby not far away: "Luna, stab me."

Luna reacted, lifting her head blankly as if suddenly confused. After a moment, she walked over, her tone full of hesitation: "... Do you want me to stab you to death?"

Yu Sheng almost choked to death on her words: "... What are you thinking? I'm asking you to let some blood for me! Since you're right here, I'm too lazy to stab myself!"

Only then did Luna understand. After all, she was a newcomer to the group. Although she was the most deeply affected by Yu Sheng's blood, she was clearly not yet familiar with the "work flow" of the Inn. However, she adapted quite quickly. After confirming Yu Sheng's order, she immediately raised her hand and, without blinking, swiftly drew her blade, slicing a long wound on Yu Sheng's hand.

The speed was so fast that Yu Sheng didn't even feel the pain.

Then he directly pressed his hand onto the shell of that Charge-Breaking Giant Divine Soldier.

Blood gushed out, then was rapidly absorbed by the cold, rough armor as if seeping into a sponge.

Seeing this, Erin immediately muttered softly: "I told you there would be a healthy and moderate disaster of blood."

Xuan Che said nothing, merely widening his eyes slightly as he watched Yu Sheng's miraculous "operations."

... How to put it? No matter how you look at it, he looks like a demonic cultivator.

But because he is incredibly powerful and one of our own, we can only say he is an innovative orthodox sect with ideas, unique characteristics, and subjective initiative.

A moment later, Yu Sheng withdrew his hand and looked up at the "Charge-Breaking Giant Divine Soldier" before him, his brows slightly furrowed.

Erin immediately reacted: "Ah, what's the situation?"

"It feels... different from normal," Yu Sheng said, still frowning, his expression full of confusion. "The blood was indeed absorbed by something, but I didn't feel any 'connection' from these 'Giant Divine Soldiers.' On the contrary, I only felt a void behind these things, as if... the blood had fallen into emptiness."

As he spoke, he reached out and knocked on the armor of the Giant Divine Soldier.

A solid, tangible sensation came from his fingers; this thing was indeed present here.

Then where did the blood I just released go?

Yu Sheng walked over to the other Charge-Breaking Giant Divine Soldiers and repeated the process several times.

The result was the same: his blood was absorbed, yet no connection was established with these massive mechanical puppets.

A massive and vague sense of emptiness vaguely transmitted at the instant the blood disappeared—although it lasted only an instant.

Yu Sheng's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, and some increasingly bold conjectures began to stir and rise involuntarily in his heart.

Hu Li noticed the change in Yu Sheng's expression: "Benefactor, what have you thought of?"

"... Either that blood truly 'vanished into thin air,' or it flowed into something even larger," Yu Sheng raised his head, his gaze seeming to pierce through the majestic figures before him, buried in yellow sand and clad in armor. "Extremely, extremely large. So large that the connection established by such a small amount of blood is insufficient to transmit any effective intelligence. So large that one glance cannot reveal its full scope..."

Hu Li slowly lowered her body, rubbing her cheek against Yu Sheng's side, while her tail curled around as well.

Yu Sheng turned to look at the great demon fox rubbing against him.

"... Uh, are you bristling?"

"Benefactor, what you said is quite frightening," Hu Li said, shifting her body again as if trying to curl herself into a fox ball to hide behind Yu Sheng—though her snout alone was taller than a person.

Yu Sheng: "..."

Slightly speechless, Yu Sheng took a deep breath, stroking the downy fur on the Great Demon Fox's cheek while turning his head: "Let's get out of this place first; we've stayed in this Otherworld long enough."

Hu Li immediately went "Oh," and in the blink of an eye transformed back into human form.

Yu Sheng looked at this Miss with a mix of helplessness and amusement, then casually pulled open a large door leading to the outside.

Outside was precisely the scenery near the entrance of that inclined shaft in the Mine Park.

(End of this chapter)