Chapter 524: Only Now Knowing the Vastness of Heaven and Earth (Make-up Update 6)

The little mother dragon's divine realm was shattered to the extreme; aside from the Primordial Fire, which still retained two strands, everything else had become "junk."

But this pile of junk was of extremely high grade. Back then, its brilliance had been masked by the Primordial Fire in the ruins, but now, with a single sweep of his eyes, Li Yuan saw dazzling divine light.

The lowest were crimson-purple in color, and there was even one with a ghostly hue on the outside and azure within — a weapon light he had never seen before.

"This little mother dragon's family background is really that rich…"

Li Yuan's eyelid twitched, and he truly believed in this royal-blooded descendant's identity.

【Mirage Boat (Ninth Grade)】

【... Primarily crafted from mirage wood, supplemented by various heaven-defying treasures, forged by the 'Heavenly Craft' into a quasi-spiritual treasure prototype. It contains a small divine realm within; propelled by Primordial Fire, it can traverse the starry sky (Shattered)】

【Control Requirement: Mirage Dragon Bloodline】

【Control Effect: Tenth Grade (Purple): Traverse the Starry Sky】

It was a palm-sized fragment of a boat, broken to less than half its original size, emanating a faint purple glow.

"A quasi-spiritual treasure-grade flying boat!"

Looking at the shattered flying boat in his hand, Li Yuan felt heartache as well — broken to this extent, who knew if it could still be repaired.

When he looked at the other few shattered items, he instantly felt boundless heartache:

"What a waste of heaven's gifts!"

Beyond the broken boat, within this little mother dragon's pile of junk, there were also 【Cloud Light Mirror (Ninth Grade)】, 【Flying Cloud Hairpin (Ninth Grade)】, and 【Mirage Dragon Garment (Tenth Grade)】.

The lowest was a quasi-spiritual treasure, and there was even a spiritual treasure-grade robe!

But at this moment, all these treasures were shattered to the extreme, especially the Mirage Dragon Garment, of which only a small portion remained — not even enough to serve as a belly band.

"The damage is far too severe!"

Li Yuan couldn't help but look at the earthen mound before him. Could this little mother dragon's divine realm have encountered a horde of strange beasts?

"Ah~"

Through that faint glow, Li Yuan seemed to see the little mother dragon thumping her chest and stomping her feet, venting ceaselessly. Now he felt that the sorrows and joys of humans and dragons were indeed connected.

So many spiritual treasures damaged to this extent truly pained him immensely.

"That idiot who refined the little mother dragon into a long whip back then — couldn't he even loot the corpse properly?"

A thick surge of resentment rose in Li Yuan's heart, and upon seeing the very last item, his resentment instantly climbed to its peak.

It was a dark-red, arc-shaped iron fragment; in appearance, it looked like a piece of eggshell casually snapped off, covered in all manner of intricate patterns.

In Li Yuan's eyes, it emanated a ghostly azure glow.

【Universal Recognition Sphere (Seventh Grade)】

【... A sub-body separated from the 'Grand Void Mirror'... Holding it allows one to dream-walk into the 'Grand Void Divine Realm'...】

... Within a square inch, one can traverse tens of millions of miles to visit close friends, duel and discuss the Dao within, and exhaustively search the affairs of all domains across the ages among the stars...

【... In an instant, one can experience the turning of the four seasons, and travel freely through all domains among the stars, unconstrained by time and space...

【Control Requirement: None】

【Control Effect: None】

【Damaged.....】

【Damaged...】

"This, this..."

With a 'clatter', the junk in his arms dropped all over the ground, but Li Yuan seemed utterly unaware. He simply held the fragment of the Universal Recognition Sphere, looking as though he'd seen a ghost:

"There's such a thing?!"

After experiencing so many things, Daoist Li rarely had moments of being so shocked and losing his composure.

What shocked him was not the Grand Void Divine Realm, the Universal Recognition Sphere, or the Grand Void Mirror themselves, but how this thing seemed so much like...

"A virtual world?!"

Looking at the fragment in his hand, Daoist Li nearly cursed out loud — could such a thing really exist in this world?

He subconsciously looked up at the sky, and naturally only saw a patch of pitch-black darkness, but in a daze, he seemed to see the starry river and the cosmos.

What the hell kind of world is this?

"This, this..."

Li Yuan craned his neck for a good while before rubbing his neck and lowering his head, nearly spitting up a mouthful of old blood: "Damn it, why is this one damaged too!"

"Ah!"

The little mother dragon, who had just reabsorbed the shattered divine realm, looked up and saw the native boy thumping his chest and stomping his feet, his face so ugly it looked as if someone had dug out his heart.

Far more heartbroken than she was...

"What, what happened?"

The little mother dragon was a bit bewildered, and for a moment actually forgot the grief of losing her entire fortune.

"You..."

Hearing the little mother dragon's voice, Li Yuan's face stiffened. Yu Yu Xuanji had already reined in his boiling thoughts and began picking up the junk that had fallen on the ground one by one.

"Are you alright?"

"No, it's just that seeing you encounter such a calamity, I couldn't help but feel a bit sorrowful."

"??!"

Looking at Li Yuan, whose face carried a hint of sorrow, the little mother dragon was full of suspicion — when she had been going crazy earlier, this kid hadn't shown the slightest reaction.

"Let's go."

Li Yuan didn't explain. With a flick of his sleeve, he had already grabbed the Mirage Dragon Sash and returned to the Eight Directions Temple.

Eight Directions Temple Grotto-Heaven.

Down the mountain path, the little mother dragon was in a flurry. Li Yuan's string of questions forcibly pulled her back from her sorrow — this native boy didn't know what pill he'd taken wrongly, for his curiosity about Tian Shi Yuan had instantly shot to its peak.

From the distribution of forces in Tian Shi Yuan—the various races, sects—all the way down to local customs, city architecture, even eating, drinking, and bodily functions.

At first, the little mother dragon still answered one by one, but later on, she felt her head swelling: "... I don't know, I really don't know!"

"Don't ask me anymore!"

The little mother dragon lowered her head and played dead on the spot.

"Wake up!"

Li Yuan wasn't about to indulge her—he grabbed her and gave her a fling, accompanied by a sharp "smack," forcibly jolting the little mother dragon awake.

"You!"

The little mother dragon was furious. Is this any way to ask someone for help?

"Ahem, one last question."

Staring straight into the little mother dragon's resentful gaze, Li Yuan gave a small cough and asked:

"What is a Tongshi Orb?"

"?!"

The little mother dragon's body instantly stiffened, looking as though she'd seen a ghost: "Y-you actually know about the Tongshi Orb?!"

"Heard it mentioned."

Li Yuan simply watched her. This little mother dragon was far less cooperative than she let on—at least until now, she had never once uttered the words "Tongshi Orb."

He strongly suspected the little mother dragon was hiding a great many things.

"Who did you hear it from?"

The little mother dragon was uneasy, half in shock.

"I'm the one asking you."

Li Yuan reminded her.

"I…"

Glancing at the tail gripped in Li Yuan's hand, the little mother dragon felt terribly wronged, yet could only lower her head meekly:

"The Tongshi Orb is, um, is a, um, special magic treasure."

While answering, the little mother dragon felt a bit dizzy.

What is a Tongshi Orb?

This question—she honestly didn't know how to answer. Anyone who'd never seen a Tongshi Orb understanding what it was would be a sight to behold!

"Mm, what does this magic treasure do?"

Li Yuan kept asking. His interest in the Tongshi Orb was so great it even outweighed his interest in stance practice and smithing.

"... Uh, transmit messages?"

The little mother dragon huffed and hemmed for ages before squeezing out a sentence:

"Holding a Tongshi Orb lets you send voice to others, even across vast distances, and, and you can also use 'Yuan Fire' to trade with others, or buy books, Wu Gong manuals…"

Hearing no response from Li Yuan, the little mother dragon couldn't help but glance at him:

"Can you understand?"

Li Yuan was instantly at a loss for words, feeling almost insulted, but he knew what the little mother dragon meant. He simply nodded to show he understood and gestured for her to continue.

"Uh, that's all."

The little mother dragon squirmed, feeling uncomfortable all over. Dealing with a native was way too hard—they didn't know anything, yet wanted to ask about everything.

"Thanks for clearing that up."

Li Yuan didn't press further. He casually wrapped her around his waist and rose to begin his stance practice.

"Tian Shi Yuan!"

As Xu Tui worked through his stance, Li Yuan's mind filled with what the little mother dragon had said and the information contained in that fragment, and for a moment he felt as if he were "only now realizing how vast heaven and earth truly are."

"The waters of this world run deep!"

Li Yuan murmured. The outline of Tian Shi Yuan gradually grew clearer in his mind.

A realm that gathered the stars, where longevity existed, where 'gods' dwelled—across countless tens of thousands of years of long ages, how many peerless heroes and unimaginable creations could it have given birth to?

The Tongshi Orb was surely not the only one.

"Heaven and earth are vast."

Drawing a deep breath and suppressing the surging excitement in his heart, Li Yuan continued his stance practice. Perhaps the shock was too great—even his martial training efficiency was affected.

In less than half a shichen, he slowly concluded his form, circulated his true qi, and while maintaining his visualization, stepped onto the gray stone platform to continue tallying the gains from this outing.

"Yuan Fire."

On the gray stone platform, the Dingxin Dingxin Shitai, the glow of this cluster of incense ash made it seem brighter.

Li Yuan focused his spirit and sensed it.

Incense ash and Yuan Fire were the same thing, yet with subtle differences. According to the little mother dragon, Yuan Fire could be gathered, split, and recombined.

"In Tian Shi Yuan, Yuan Fire is more like a universal circulating currency. Currency, naturally, can be split and recombined—only, normally, that requires a Tongshi Orb...

Li Yuan couldn't help but glance at the corner—the remains of the Tongshi Orb, only this single fragment left—clearly incapable of splitting or recombining Yuan Fire.

And in fact, the Tongshi Orb couldn't be used in this realm either.

"This incense ash is enough for me to merge weapons with, but, I have no weapons to merge....

"

Li Yuan thought of Wang Wang Peiyao. Before leaving Dragon Tiger Temple, he had left behind a batch of gold and silver to purchase beast hides, spirit-beast boots, belts, and the like.

Besides that, he had also placed a large order at the Divine Weapon Valley through Lord Master Gongyang Yu.

"Using seventh-tier incense ash just for sound transmission is far too extravagant…"

After much hesitation, Li Yuan still didn't touch this incense ash. Instead, he waited until his emotions settled, opened his eyes, and continued taking pills and practicing martial arts, altering his bone structure all the while.

He was also beginning to merge qi and blood with true qi, preparing to enter the Dao.

Yanshan Road.

Under the night, the city of Jiangzhou was brightly lit.

East of the city, the Broken God Temple.

"Hah!"

"Hup!"

In the bamboo grove of the Broken God Temple's rear courtyard, a burly, extremely pale-skinned great man sat cross-legged in meditation. At a certain instant, he suddenly opened his eyes.

He saw a short, small old man running over, his face full of terror:

"Bai Xiang Wang, a woman has come to the front courtyard and says she wants you to go see her personally."

"A woman? Who?"

Bai Xiang Wang's face changed, and the old man had already collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

Outside the bamboo grove, a woman dressed in black, with a graceful figure, strolled over holding a large umbrella.

"Who are you?!"

Bai Xiang Wang instinctively pressed his chest; a thread of foul blood seeped through his clothes—this was the wound from that night the main altar was destroyed, and even now it had yet to heal.

"I am Chi He Lian."

The black-clad woman's gaze shifted, her expression cold:

"I've come to borrow some incense offerings from you."

Author's note

Good evening, everyone......