"If that day really comes, Senior, please don't forget to take me along," Sun Erlang joked with a smile after a moment.
"That shouldn't be a problem." Yi Shu glanced at Sun Erlang and nodded in agreement.
Sun Erlang was instantly taken aback.
"Is your master not in the Daqi pocket world lately? I can no longer sense his presence," Yi Shu said, brushing the topic aside to ask a different question.
Hearing this, Sun Erlang frowned. "Yes. I just don't know where he went. In my memory, this is the first time he has ever left the Sacred Dynasty."
Yi Shu looked toward the Holy Emperor Throne, which seemed to loom ever taller, countless flickers of light and shadow flashing across his eyes in an instant.
Beneath the Holy Emperor Throne, inside the secret chamber where the You people were kept.
Over a thousand You people stood in concentric rings, dancing with hands and feet as they conducted an arcane ritual.
In the center of their gathering loomed a pitch-black doorway that seemed capable of devouring all light.
And stepping through this mysterious dark doorway led to the other side of the Xuanhuang Realm—the sea of gloomy darkness.
Holy Emperor Li Ping was currently inside it.
With him was Master Yin.
In the sea of gloomy darkness, vision, sound, and even divine sense lost their ability to communicate.
Yet Li Fan could still feel Master Yin's whispers right beside his ear.
It was as though a wondrous, profound power clung directly to the surface of his skin, conversing through intimate touch.
Being in the sea of gloomy darkness cut him off from the Sacred Dynasty's fortune.
At this moment, Li Ping's strength could be said to be utterly frail. Any random Soul Formation cultivator from the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals could probably slay him with ease.
Yet the Sacred Dynasty's Destined Holy Emperor, standing in this foreign domain of gloom, felt not the slightest fear.
For deep within his body surged a latent power undetectable to ordinary cultivators.
A vast, golden might that bordered on transcendent.
The breeding program for the You people was progressing very smoothly.
It had even bypassed the physical growth process entirely; the moment an individual was born, it was already a mature specimen with all bodily faculties at their peak.
Although the downside brought by this was an even shorter lifespan—expected to be only three to five years—as long as the flesh-and-blood factory maintained steady production, it could guarantee the scale and population of the captive You people who faithfully prayed for the Holy Emperor.
Once the You population broke four digits, the vow power essence generated each day reached a truly formidable scale.
Under Li Ping's deliberate manipulation and weaving, it formed a massive golden web centered around his heart.
Source Power Essence surged like an unceasing torrent. Now, even without mobilizing his own cultivation, Holy Emperor Li Ping could execute all manner of incredible divine abilities with a mere gesture.
For instance, with a single thought, he could trace the origin of the Source Power Essence and instantly return to Great Qi within the Sacred Dynasty, no matter where he was in the Xuanhuang Realm. Even if an external force interfered, at most it could only slow his return; it could never completely halt the process.
Moreover, whenever he came under attack, the web of Source Power Essence would spontaneously defend and counterattack.
With the scale of the golden web's power inside him now, Holy Emperor Li Ping was confident that even if a Longevity realm cultivator of the Xuanhuang Realm made a move, they would fail to keep him there.
Chuanfa, of course, was an exception.
This was the foundation of his confidence in personally venturing into the sea of gloomy darkness this time.
Through the power of Master Yin's world wraith, the two conversed back and forth.
"Don't you sense the strangeness here?" Master Yin's voice came intermittently, his true body nowhere to be seen.
"Pitch darkness, and nothing else besides," Holy Emperor Li Ping replied in a deep voice.
"Ah, right. You're different from me, so it's natural you can't hear these sounds. The faint murmurs of various figures across every era of the Xuanhuang Realm are all rising and falling within this sea of gloomy darkness..."
With Master Yin's explanation, Li Ping finally understood what the strangeness was about.
The You Realm was an accumulation of the Xuanhuang Realm's forces that turned away from the Immortal Ruins.
These had originally been part of the Xuanhuang Realm. When drawn into the You Realm by some inexplicable cause, they brought along fragments of 'information' as well. It could be a snippet of sound, a few images, or even an intact strand of divine thought.
Accumulating over the years and suppressed by the power here, they all sank into the sea of gloomy darkness.
"So the sea of gloomy darkness is actually quite lively," Li Ping said thoughtfully.
"You can't really put it that way. The nature of this place dictates that all information falls silent. I'm only able to access these fragments of time through absorption. Didn't you ask me why the You people have such a unique constitution? I think I know the answer now."
With those words, Li Ping felt the darkness behind him surge.
Master Yin suddenly appeared.
Utterly out of place amid the gloom, he was surrounded by tiny, vortex-like ripples in the sea that allowed Li Fan to 'see' him clearly.
"If we consider the Immortal Ruins' pull as suction, then the force maintaining the You Realm's existence can be seen as repulsion. This repulsion doesn't exist constantly like the suction of the Immortal Ruins. Instead, it rises and washes through rhythmically, like ocean tides. The accumulation of these sweeps across the scale of time created such a peculiar place in the Xuanhuang Realm."
Master Yin's tone was full of marvel.
Previously, while he vaguely knew of this region's existence, he had never systematically studied it.
Delving into it this time, he was thoroughly awed by the wonders of the sea of gloomy darkness.
"The suction is a force from beyond Xuanhuang. The repulsion originates from Xuanhuang itself. Yet it doesn't stem from the world of Xuanhuang directly..."
Master Yin fell silent for a moment, seemingly calculating something.
"If my guess is correct, this periodic, spontaneous repulsion must originate from the ancient Xuantian Sect's Grand Star-Crossing Array!"
When mentioning this formation, Master Yin's tone instantly turned subtle.
Some unpleasant memory seemed to flash through his mind.
Yet he soon suppressed this emotion born of his true nature and continued his analysis.
"So that's how it is. 'Star-crossing, star-crossing'—if it couldn't counter the Immortal Ruins' suction that gave birth to the Pitch-Black Star Sea, how could it float in the boundless sea of stars?"
"By comparison, the method of capturing other worlds with golden chains was more like salvaging materials to strengthen itself—merely a secondary pursuit."
"It truly was a magnificent, unprecedented array that shone through the ages in the Xuanhuang Realm. What a pity it has already been damaged. And if I'm not mistaken, every activation of this repulsion in the sea of gloomy darkness comes at the cost of consuming the Xuanhuang world. In the past, the Xuanhuang Realm could capture other worlds to offset that consumption."
"Now, however, times have changed. Forget supplying this gloomy repulsion—the Xuanhuang Realm can barely preserve itself."
Master Yin's voice carried a rare hint of gloating.
Chapter 1215