Chapter 216: The Mystery Fully Unveiled

Speaking of the He Tu Luo Shu, subduing it originally cost Zhou Yi a great deal of effort.

Fortunately the emperor's divine soul was annihilated, the original restriction naturally vanished; otherwise even spending thousands upon thousands of years it would be hard to open the gate.

But Zhunti Saint's six pure bamboo roots and the empowered divine pestle, even while in his hand, could never be refined; could a mortal break the Saint's seal?

Keeping these treasures is merely to give the Western Sect a headache.

As for the karmic bond with Zhunti, Zhou Yi has long been aware that sooner or later he must face that Saint head‑on.

Although he has not yet fathomed the Mixed‑Primordial He Luo Great Array, the He Tu Luo Shu itself already proves infinitely useful.

The innate Five Elements and Eight Trigrams theory it contains is precisely suited to deducing the bodily mysteries of chaotic deities and demons.

Zhou Yi strides swiftly upon clouds, with most of his spirit sinking into the scroll world.

As the deduction deepens, the bodies of chaotic deities and demons are parsed layer by layer, and the method of employing Chaotic Qi gradually reveals its outline.

Although fully refining Chaotic Qi to remake the flesh still requires time, a glimmer of dawn is already visible.

The Great Peng Bird demon master's nest ahead draws ever nearer; Zhou Yi's mouth corners lift slightly, and the scroll in his hand emits a star‑like radiance.

Chaotic Qi, like an invisible millstone, grinds over Zhou Yi's body, and the ancient saintly physique, under repeated tempering, unexpectedly emits a faint glow.

He lifts his hand to wipe the blood from his mouth corner, a smile flickering in his eyes, and the previously perfected physique unexpectedly loosens, with unprecedented power surging through his flesh and meridians.

"Break before you stand, indeed that is the principle," he whispers, looking at the golden light flowing among his palm lines.

If he can continue hammering his flesh, perhaps he can truly break the shackles.

Then, even if trapped in the Chaotic Sea, he could survive by refining Chaotic Qi with his own body.

More importantly, this mysterious realm beyond the reach of the Heavenly Dao may become his greatest trump card.

When the Great Peng Bird's aura in his divine consciousness suddenly intensifies, Zhou Yi is channeling the tenth Chaotic Gale into his meridians.

He suddenly opens his eyes toward the depths of void, and amid the swirling gray mist of the Chaotic Sea, a massive presence flickers in and out.

"Truly interesting," he runs his hand over the trembling Demon‑Slaying Sword at his waist. That old demon, fully aware that the Chaotic depths are riddled with peril, still insists on diving into the abyss.

Is it cowardice or some ulterior motive?

Zhou Yi stores the Chaotic Demon God's remnants into the Sumeru Ring, and true crimson‑gold fire rises around him.

Anyway, he has secured this big fish.

The Chaotic Gale tears at the protective true aura, and time loses its meaning here.

When Zhou Yi replaces the shattered Heart‑Shield Mirror for the third time, his divine perception suddenly surges severalfold.

He suddenly halts, and ahead the Chaotic mist reveals specks of starlight.

"This…" his pupils contract. How could there be stars deep within the chaos?

The shattered fragments of Honghuang could never have drifted here.

More strangely, as the distance closes, the dense spiritual energy penetrates the protective true aura and strikes his face, its concentration comparable to Kunlun's divine realm.

Zhou Yi condenses his breath into flowing light, and seven Delusion‑Breaking sigils form at his fingertips.

The instant he passes through the Chaotic barrier, his vision clears, revealing a colossal star of ten‑thousand‑mile diameter floating in the void, its surface bearing azure‑dark Dao patterns, unmistakably a man‑crafted celestial realm.

"Great Peng Bird demon master, is this your trump card?" he lightly touches the stellar barrier, and the ancient saintly body and Dao patterns resonate subtly.

When his foot touches solid ground, the phantom of the Nine‑Heaven Palace flickers in the sea of clouds, and the majestic Dao rhythm shakes his blood into a surge.

The planet before him is absurdly huge, even the three thousand minor worlds surrounding Honghuang combined cannot compare; it could easily sustain dozens of star systems.

This is not an ordinary planet at all; it is a completely independent micro‑universe.

But the question arises, where did that old Great Peng Bird get such an exaggerated thing?

Did he happen to stumble upon a treasure? Or is the planet itself something he personally forged?

Zhou Yi now cannot spare time to investigate the cause; his entire being is drawn away by this big fellow's allure.

With his current abilities, slipping into such a planet is as easy as unlocking a fingerprint lock at home.

After entering, he discovers that although it doesn't match Honghuang's main world, it possesses all the mountains, rivers, seas, fully alive, and its configuration is as if built by the same developer as Honghuang.

The most striking is the spiritual energy density here; even breathing imparts a refreshing sense of cultivation growth.

Zhou Yi does a quick calculation; housing several hundred billion people would be more than sufficient, and the key areas could be turned entirely into cultivation communities.

Just then, he suddenly detects a living aura—good fellow, it's a demon of the Demon Race sporting antlers!

Zhou Yi immediately activates full‑map scan mode, and his divine consciousness spreads across the planet like a Wi‑Fi signal.

Result: without looking, one wouldn't know—this damned place houses four to five hundred billion residents, all of them of the Demon Race!

One should note that in Honghuang the Demon Race was hammered by the Wu Clan down to single digits, yet here still harbors such a massive wild demon nest.

If this batch of demons suddenly returns home, the Human Race, now lacking even a Quasi‑Saint, would certainly be doomed.

Fortunately, after scanning the data, Zhou Yi discovers that although the demons are numerous, there are few masters; there are a few hundred Great Luo Golden Immortals, yet they cannot compare to the lavish Heavenly Court lineup of the Demon Race of old.

Now the Human Race, at most, has about two hundred Great Luo Golden Immortals, still fewer than the number on this demon planet.

But Zhou Yi's investigation finds not a single Quasi‑Saint‑level demon here. With his peak Quasi‑Saint strength, turning this planet into rubble would be as easy as a snap.

However, if these hundreds of billions of demons were left to cultivate in the Chaotic Sea for tens or hundreds of millions of years, surely a few Quasi‑Saint seedlings would emerge.

With better luck, perhaps a few world‑defying demons could appear. Yet given this place's cosmic laws, at most a few early‑stage Quasi‑Saints could emerge.

Want to break into the Decapitation Realm? Unless they can sneak into Honghuang's continent, there might be a one‑in‑ten‑thousand chance.

This demon race's old stronghold truly serves as a lifeline for the demon world, much like the Wu Clan guards the Six Realms of Reincarnation.

However, after all it's not Honghuang's realm, and still falls short of the official Six Realms of Reincarnation.

Zhou Yi feels an itch inside, so he simply transforms into a little demon and strolls the planet. From various demons' mouths he finally extracts the place's grand name, Gou Chen!

The name Gou Chen is remarkable; among the Four Sovereigns of the Heavenly Court, Emperor Gou Chen is the one who oversees ten thousand demons. This Gou Chen Star, as the demon race's main base, truly lives up to its name.

Traveling the entire planet, Zhou Yi discovers that hundreds of billions of demons have formed warlord cliques; the stronger claim mountains as imperial thrones, while the weak are merely lambs awaiting slaughter.

All day it's you hit me, I hit you—just a scattered sandpile.

Back in the days of Honghuang, the demon race was mighty; Demon Emperor Qun and Taiyi presided, ten great demon gods each oversaw a race, binding the demons into a single rope that dominated Honghuang.

Now Chen Xing is in such chaos it's like a vegetable market; there's not even a trace of the Demon Race's bearing.

If this really is a refuge set up by the Demon Race, it should at least have some order; most likely there's still some hidden truth we haven't figured out.

"Looks like we need to hurry and find that old demon master, the Great Peng Bird, before we can fully get to the bottom of the mystery!" Zhou Yi stroked his chin, muttering to himself.