Chapter 834: Their Purpose

Accompanying the spurting fresh blood, Yan Buji felt the mutant force in his eye seem to return to normal; looking again at the tomb guardian's shocked face gradually turning mechanical, finally indifferent, Yan Buji knew his guess was correct.

"Fake, it's all fake!"

"What Myriad Heavens Star Gate, what mutant force dao mark, what's it got to do with me?"

"I said how could I suddenly get fired up to save the Nine Heavens Five Domains, the myriad beings at dawn—turns out I was hit with some divine ability!"

At this moment, Yan Buji slowly collapsed to the ground, his eye again seeing countless shattered civilization fragments drifting in the void, stars dyed dark red, while at the center hovered a gigantic black heart, its surface covered with bronze chains like blood vessels, the other ends of the chains connected to the phantoms of countless cultivators!

"Just like those devoured dao fruits!"

"\"Found you... \" Yan Buji let out a cold laugh."

Suddenly, the heart gave a violent beat, and an icy voice exploded in his mind.

"\"Ants, dare to shake the heavens? \""

Terrifying pressure descended, Yan Buji's body instantly immobilized, his bones groaning under the unbearable load.

"\"Heh... \" blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, yet he laughed even more ferociously, \"I don't mind this, but I want to know clearly who's scheming against me before I die! \"

"\"Scheme? \" The black heart contracted violently, the chains clanking, \"What pitiful ant dares to be schemed against? \""

Yan Buji suddenly burst into wild laughter, blood vessels bursting in his left eye: \"Then why are you putting on this show? \" He tore open his collar, revealing the ferocious scar on his chest, \"Since stepping into the Nine Heavens, every clue has been conveniently delivered to me? The Nurture Heaven Pearl, the Bronze Gate, the Key Keeper... \"

The heart's beat suddenly paused for an instant.

"\"What's more ridiculous, \" Yan Buji spat blood and sneered, \"even the Returning Abyss tomb guardian knows I have mutant force dao mark? This act is too crude! \"

I myself don't know what mutant force dao mark I have—what exactly is it?

These guys really look down on me too much!

The void suddenly twisted. A slit split open on the surface of the black heart, revealing a curled figure inside—it was that vanished girl! Her eyes tightly closed, bronze chains wrapped around her body, the star mark on her brow continuously sending golden light to the heart.

"\"Now I understand... \" Yan Buji's pupils constricted, \"You are the true 'gate spirit'; the one outside is... \"

"\"It's my shadow. \" The girl suddenly opened her eyes, her voice hoarse like an old man's, \"a shadow polluted by your human greed. \"

Countless memory fragments suddenly flooded Yan Buji's mind. He saw how the originally pure star gate was contaminated by Nine Heavens cultivators through blood sacrifice, saw the girl as the final key keeper voluntarily sealed inside the gate to suppress the shadow... also saw his left eye's \"mutant force dao mark\" was actually power deliberately leaked by the gate spirit!

"\"Why choose me? What is your origin? \" Yan Buji asked through gritted teeth."

The girl's lips oozed golden blood: \"Only those corrupted by mutant force can harm another 'pollution source'. \" She looked at Yan Buji's bronze short sword in his hand: \"This 'Returning Abyss Key' is actually a fragment of my finger bone. As for my origin....

The girl sighed helplessly: \"When you leave this world, you'll know. \"

Yan Buji suddenly understood everything.

From the moment he was swept into the Nine Heavens, the gate spirit has been using his hand to cleanse its own pollution. Those self-sacrificing key keepers, those sympathetic tomb guardians... all were just a play to lure him in!

"\"What's your stance toward the sages of the Nine Heavens Five Domains? \""

"\"Neither related nor opposed. But we share a single purpose. \""

"\"Well schemed. \" Yan Buji gripped his short sword, coldly laughing, \"But what makes you think I'll help you now? \""

The girl's figure suddenly blurred, turning into myriad specks of light that sank into his left eye. Yan Buji instantly saw the horrifying truth: the shadow had already permeated all Nine Heavens cultivators, and through the Nurture Heaven Pearl was polluting the Five Domains. If not stopped, within three days all living beings would become fodder!

"\"Not to help you. \" The girl's voice echoed in his sea of consciousness, \"but to save yourself. \""

Black shadow suddenly surged forth, countless chains lashing out like poisonous snakes. Yan Buji instinctively swung his sword to block; wherever the blade passed, the shadow emitted a piercing screech. Only then did he realize: each swing of his sword faded the mutant force dao mark in his left eye a bit, the gate spirit using its own origin to dispel the pollution for him!

"\"Remember... \" the girl's voice grew weaker, \"immediately sever all chains after piercing the shadow... otherwise... \""

Before her words finished, a chain suddenly pierced Yan Buji's shoulder. The shadow seized the chance to invade the wound, his skin instantly displaying the same black markings as the Nine Heavens cultivators. Amid the excruciating pain, Yan Buji instead showed a mad grin: \"So you're afraid too? \"

He actually grabbed the chain on his shoulder, using it to launch himself into the air! In the shadow's moment of bewilderment, the bronze short sword turned into a stream of light, piercing straight into the heart's central crack.

"\"Pfft!! \""

Golden blood spattered. The shadow emitted an inhuman howl, all chains jerking wildly. Yan Buji's left eye suddenly blazed with golden light, the gate spirit's final consciousness guiding him to sweep his sword horizontally!

"\"Clang! \""

Twelve main chains snapped in response. The black heart cracked like shattered pottery, and what poured out was not blood but countless essences of devoured dao fruits. They turned into flowing light piercing the void; several streams entered Yan Buji's body, instantly healing his wounds.

"\"No!! \" The shadow writhed trying to reform, but lacking chain support it began to crumble bit by bit. Yan Buji was about to deliver another strike when he suddenly heard the girl's final mental transmission:

"\"Hurry... the gate is collapsing... \""

The whole space began to collapse. Yan Buji strained toward the nearest rift, but just as he was about to escape, a golden-patterned chain wrapped around his ankle—the gate spirit's final pure origin!

"\"Come with me... to suppress together... \""

Yan Buji furiously swung his sword: \"Get lost! I won't be a martyr! \"

At the instant the chain broke, he heard the girl's relieved sigh. Immediately the world spun, and when he opened his eyes again he lay on a beach of the Five Domains, clutching tightly that rust-mottled bronze short sword.

On the distant sea, a phantom of a bronze gate spanning the horizon was slowly fading...

Yan Buji's face remained cold as he pondered deeply for a long time.

"\"Since I met Yun Qing, the events have become increasingly hard to understand. \""

Have I finally become qualified to join the game, or am I merely being casually placed by someone?

Yan Buji didn't understand, but this didn't prevent him from getting to know the faces of those Daytime Layer cultivators; it seems things from outside this world easily contaminate us locals.

"\"Not unlike the Lord of the Starry Sky... could these Wild Ancient Gods also come from outside the world? \" Yan Buji suddenly realized this, grasping something."

If the Wild Ancient Gods and the Myriad Heavens Star Gate are both outsiders, what then is the attitude of the local sages toward them?

However, it seems the sages have not intervened in the affairs of Youming Jie; perhaps they are not opposed?

Or perhaps there is some scheme...

"\"But it surely involves the mutant zone of present-day Luohuang Zhou, as well as Yun Qing's peculiarity.... \""

Yan Buji pinched his forehead, activating the Heaven Gate Law to leave this place.