After parting ways with Great Venerable Shenlei, Qi Yuan stayed in the shrine, living quietly and keeping a low profile as he waited to depart for the Ancestral Land.
To his surprise, when the time came to select who would enter the Ancestral Land, quite a few people signed up.
For these villagers, going into the Ancestral Land was practically a death sentence with nine deaths and no life.
Yet more than fifty people still put their names forward.
This caught Qi Yuan completely off guard.
In the end, eight were selected to enter the Ancestral Land: Village Chief Yulei, Shrine Official Shentu, Shi Chongshan of Shijia Village, Chen Xifan of Chenxi Village, Zhu Zhuangshi, and three others.
Within Qi Yuan's fief, all of them were prominent figures with some standing.
Every one of them had been chosen to head into the Ancestral Land.
"None of you are afraid to die?" one day, Qi Yuan asked casually as he stood in front of the shrine, looking over the eight of them.
Zhu Zhuangshi shrugged. "Compared to dying, this Old Zhu is far more terrified of being pinned down by a big black dog for the rest of his life!"
As a member of the Ancient Clan, Zhu Zhuangshi naturally understood the dangers of the Ancestral Land.
The mortality rate of True God Venerables inside exceeded fifty percent, and even among powerful figures at the Great Venerable level, many had met their demise within its depths.
How could one catch tiger cubs without venturing into the tiger's den?
If he did not even have the courage to follow Lord God into the Ancestral Land, how could he dare hope that Lord God would show mercy and bestow upon them the God Visualization Art?
"Old Zhu, stop insulting my sworn brother!" Shi Chongshan interjected beside him, defending the big black dog's honor.
Zhu Zhuangshi eyed Shi Chongshan with disdain. "If I'm fortunate enough to receive the God Visualization Art this time, you won't even measure up to pigs and dogs!"
The others present burst into laughter.
Much of the dread they had felt about venturing into the Ancestral Land melted away.
"Alright, since the entrance to the Ancestral Land has opened, let's not dilly-dally. We... make it quick—there and back!" Qi Yuan was always a man of action; once a plan was set, he pushed forward with everything he had.
"Good!"
Village Chief Yulei took a deep draw from his dry pipe, then leaned it in the corner of the shrine wall.
The other villagers' spirits were similarly ablaze.
At this moment, Qi Yuan looked toward Great Venerable Shenlei. "A day or two at fastest, four or five at slowest, and I will be back. I'll leave Qingshui Village in the care of Old Deng Shenlei."
"Does 'Old Deng' truly mean someone of high virtue and noble standing?"
"Of course! Cultivators don't lie to cultivators." Qi Yuan nodded earnestly, wearing an expression of absolute sincerity. "Before you kill someone, just bellow, 'Old Deng is here!' It oozes coolness!"
"This old man will reluctantly take your word for it." Great Venerable Shenlei patted his sleeves. Looking at Qi Yuan, who was about to depart, a wave of sentiment washed over him. "May you be as the stars, shining brilliantly across the firmament."
Above the heavens, the stars and moon shone bright and clear, and the celestial river stretched across the sky.
"Why did you suddenly turn all poetic? Were you an artsy youth in your younger days?" Qi Yuan gave Great Venerable Shenlei a suspicious glance before adding, "I'm not cultured, so I'll just wish you boundless wealth and immortality."
"Who are you cursing? My household only has a mere ten thousand strings of cash?" Great Venerable Shenlei looked at Qi Yuan with utter disgust.
"Too greedy," Qi Yuan remarked offhandedly.
After bidding farewell to Great Venerable Shenlei and the others, Qi Yuan followed Village Chief Yulei and Shrine Official Shentu to an ancient well in the northern part of the village.
The well was bottomlessly deep, and its rim gave off a faint, eerie glow that looked quite chilling in the dark of night.
Clad in cyan robes, Shentu stepped forward and dropped a bead of blood into the well.
The eerie light flared brilliantly.
Qi Yuan felt a dense wave of spatial fluctuations wash over him.
"A teleportation array?" Qi Yuan's curiosity was piqued.
In the Canglan Realm, he had seen many formations, but he had never encountered a teleportation array.
The stirring ahead felt remarkably similar to the teleportation arrays in his memories.
Village Chief Yulei stroked his graying beard and nodded. "This is a teleportation array left behind from ancient times. It leads to the Ancestral Land."
Qi Yuan's eyes grew even more curious. "What is the principle behind a teleportation array? Is it spatial laws?"
This was something Qi Yuan had always wondered about.
Back in the Canglan Realm, he had wondered why there were no teleportation arrays.
He had once asked Sect Master True Monarch Kumu, who answered that the Spatial Great Dao could not be controlled by anyone below the Yang God realm.
On the Wangyue Continent, he had also seen teleportation arrays within the Moon Dynasty.
That had given him an even higher estimation of the aloof Moon Goddess Yuanjun.
Shrine Official Shentu answered, "Teleportation arrays have nothing to do with spatial laws."
"Huh?" Qi Yuan was somewhat baffled. "Can't you tear space and run away once you master spatial laws?"
"When you tear through space, the place you enter is the Great Void. Entering the Great Void in a mortal, physical body will only result in being dissolved by it.
"Upon becoming a True God, one can also condense an Origin Spirit. Once the Origin Spirit leaves the body, it too can enter the Great Void.
"However, the Great Void cannot be used for travel. In fact, traveling for ten years in the Great Void covers less distance than walking for a single day in the mortal world.
"The place entered through a teleportation array is called the Dark Void. It is the exact opposite of the Great Void. The coordinates within it correspond one-to-one with the mortal world, but the distances are extraordinarily short," Shentu explained earnestly.
Hearing this, Qi Yuan understood somewhat.
On a flat sheet of paper, the shortest distance between two points was a straight line.
The Dark Void, however, folded the paper, bringing the two points closer together.
It seemed somewhat like a wormhole from Qi Yuan's memories.
"A little Origin Core like you, how do you know so much?
"Are you an NPC specially designed for exposition?" Qi Yuan looked at Shentu with amused interest.
"As a shrine official, these inherited memories are mine from birth," Shentu explained.
"I get it. That's your character setting. Everyone has their own setting—it's like that in games, and it's like that in reality," Qi Yuan mused with sighing emotion. "Let's go, step into the teleportation array and take a look."
In an instant, the dozen or so people present all stepped into the teleportation array.
Qi Yuan immediately sensed a transparent film wrapping around everyone.
Looking out through the transparent film, all he saw was pitch-black darkness.
"This is the Dark Void. There is no light, and there is no sound," Shentu murmured with emotion.
This was his first time using a teleportation array as well.
Normally, once a cultivator reached a certain realm, they gained night vision and could see even without light.
In the Dark Void, however, that did not work. Even a cultivator could see nothing and hear nothing.
The only thing they could hear was the chatter among the people within the teleportation array.
Qi Yuan cast his gaze outward, but it was completely pitch-black; he could not see a thing.
[Teleportation array, special creation, capable of traversing the Dark Void.]
All he could see was the teleportation array itself.
Without being able to look past the array into the true Dark Void, he could glean no useful information.
He closed his eyes and listened intently.
His sight was blocked, but what about his hearing?
Back in the Canglan Realm, his ears had been able to catch Ning Tao's voice from the Liufeng Realm.
Time ticked away, minute by minute, second by second.
Suddenly, several rushed voices reached Qi Yuan's ears.
"Tama people will never be slaves!"
"Quick, a world's been discovered ahead! Hurry and claim it so we can sell it for money! Add that to my savings from the past tens of thousands of years, and it should just about cover Xiao Ning's tuition!"
"What a pity it's not an innate world. An innate world can actually be housed inside the body."
"Sure enough, a real man is merely born by nature—how could he possibly compare to creations researched over countless generations?"
The voices were hurried, appearing quickly and vanishing just as fast.
Qi Yuan opened his eyes, curiosity gleaming within them.
"There are quite a few people in this Dark Void," he muttered, looking into the void, though regrettably unable to see anything.
Hearing him, the surrounding villagers exchanged baffled glances. "Lord God, where are there people?"
"In the Dark Void." The voices Qi Yuan had just heard came from the Dark Void itself.
They sounded rather interesting.
As Qi Yuan spoke, an eerie glow flashed.
Their voyage had reached its end. They were about to emerge from the Dark Void and enter the Ancestral Land.
***
"Is everyone here?"
Outside the Ancient Clan's Ancestral Land, a burly, dark-skinned man spoke, his appearance fierce and menacing.
A pair of twin Ancient God sisters stood a short distance away from him. The elder sister gazed toward the hazy gray Ancestral Land ahead. "We are still short one."
More than a dozen Ancient Gods were gathered here, all of them guardian gods of the Ancient Clan, or unknown Ancient Gods who had gained access to the Ancestral Land through the clan's channels.
They stood in loose groups of two or three, appearing largely unfamiliar with one another.
The younger sister's gaze swept over everyone before coming to rest on a white-robed man. "It seems Ancient God Yan Xi's cultivation has grown. You actually brought three attendants this time."
Practically none of the Ancient Gods present had brought attendants.
They could barely protect themselves inside the Ancestral Land; bringing attendants would only be sending them to their deaths.
Things changed in the blink of an eye within the Ancestral Land, and attendants could not even serve as expendable scouts, so virtually no True God would bother.
Those who did usually brought someone stuck at the peak of the Purple Mansion who could not break through, hoping to find a supreme treasure within the Ancestral Land.
Certain supreme treasures, once unearthed, could only linger for less than a hundred breaths, which was why attendants were sometimes kept at hand.
Ancient God Yan Xi glanced at the younger sister, an unreadable look in his eyes. "I merely had the good fortune to break through to Step Two Sky Treading. In this Ancestral Land, I can do little more than scrape by."
Hearing that Yan Xi had broken through to Step Two Sky Treading, the dozen or so Ancient Gods all cast extra glances at him.
Step Two Sky Treading was already among the pinnacle of strength among those gathered.
The elder twin sister's brows furrowed slightly before smoothing out. "It seems Ancient God Yan Xi is quite confident this time."
The crowd exchanged polite words and then fell silent.
At this moment, the elder sister sent a voice transmission to her sister. *Venerable Yan Xi's situation isn't good.*
The younger sister glanced at the three attendants beside Venerable Yan Xi, her tone turning cold and sharp. *Those three are definitely running dogs of Great Venerable Aoshi!*
Great Venerable Aoshi had once been an Ancient God, but had later become a New God.
The Ancient Clan's Ancestral Land had four entrances in total, three of which were controlled by Great Venerable Aoshi.
Only a single entrance remained in the hands of the Ancient Clan.
Great Venerable Aoshi wished to unearth the secrets of the Ancestral Land, so he had encircled three sides while leaving one open.
Rumor had it that Great Venerable Aoshi was close to uncovering those secrets and was preparing to make a move on the final entrance, taking complete control of the Ancestral Land.
*Unfortunately, we can't get out right now, nor can word be sent out,* the younger sister transmitted worriedly.
*We can barely protect ourselves. Who knows how many of these Ancient Gods have secretly defected to Great Venerable Aoshi?* the elder sister sighed. *Once we enter the Ancestral Land, stay far away from Venerable Yan Xi.*
The Ancient Clan's Ancestral Land lay near the central region of the Southern Lands.
In this area, the power of evil gods had a slight upper hand over Ancient Gods, though not by much.
Right at that moment, an eerie light flashed.
All of a sudden, a grand procession of more than ten people appeared.
Every Ancient God present was momentarily stunned.
"Why... are there suddenly so many mortals?"
"What's going on?"
With a casual sweep of their divine senses, they found only two individuals carrying divine auras.
The rest had none at all; they looked to be ordinary mortals.
This grand procession was, of course, Qi Yuan and his group.
Looking at the gathered crowd, Qi Yuan could not help remarking, "Could it be... I'm the last to arrive again?"
The younger twin sister was straightforward by nature. Looking at Qi Yuan, she could not resist asking, "Ancient God, why did you bring so many people?"
The others were equally curious.
It would be one thing if he had brought powerful experts.
Instead, most of them were at the Origin Core and Divine Infant stages.
"Many hands make light work," Qi Yuan replied offhandedly.
The burly, dark-skinned man from earlier flashed a mouthful of broad white teeth. "Aren't you bringing far too many people? Did you fail to do your homework before coming here? The Ancestral Land is perilously dangerous.
"Or do you intend to emulate those ignorant fools and use your subjects as disposable cannon fodder to scout the way?"
The burly man's words carried a tinge of displeasure, sounding like an accusation toward Qi Yuan.
"Is it very dangerous here?" Qi Yuan looked toward the hazy gray Ancestral Land ahead.
The burly man said in a deep voice, "Extremely dangerous. Even True Gods have a high probability of falling inside.
"Things change in the blink of an eye in the Ancestral Land; using people to scout is useless. Bringing your subjects along... will only send them to their deaths.
"How about this: give three of your subjects to me, and I will give you a Yin God Dharma artifact in return."
The burly man felt he could protect three mortals at most, moved by a moment of pity.
In his heart, he felt considerable disdain toward an Ancient God like Qi Yuan.
Qi Yuan shook his head. "Following you would be the real danger."
He looked toward the Ancestral Land, his left eyebrow suddenly twitching violently. "As the saying goes, the left eye twitches for wealth, the right for disaster. On this trip... I'm going to strike it rich."
As Qi Yuan spoke, a look of delight appeared in his eyes.
It seemed this venture was bound to succeed.
The burly man glanced at Qi Yuan and said in annoyance, "Your eyebrow can predict fortunes and misfortunes? Come then, do a reading for this venerated one."
Naturally, he assumed Qi Yuan was talking nonsense to brush him off.
Qi Yuan did not look at the burly man. Instead, his gaze swept over the gathered Ancient Gods, his mouth curling into a smirk.
"Meeting here is fate, so I'll act as a master fortune teller for free and give you all a reading.
"To be honest, reading fortunes for True Gods is a first for me."
In his past life, Qi Yuan had watched many TV dramas where the protagonist was an immortal fortune teller who did readings for mortals and earned their praise.
What fun was there in telling fortunes for mortals? Reading fortunes for True Gods was where the real fun lay.
Back then, he had read Chu Tianxiong's fortune at the Black Mountain Sect, predicting a blood calamity.
That very night, Chu Tianxiong was killed by the Faceless Man.
Evidently, his fortune-telling skills were superb.
Now that he had acquired this new ability of a twitching eyebrow, his readings would naturally be even more accurate.
He glanced at the burly man, his eyebrow giving a hop. "In the Ancestral Land, you will run into some bad luck first, followed by good fortune."
Hearing this, the burly man's face remained dark. "I'll take your auspicious words."
Qi Yuan turned to the other Ancient Gods present, glancing over them one by one.
His eyebrow twitched madly.
"You... will be safe and sound."
"You... face a calamity of perishing," Qi Yuan said, pointing at an old man in a cyan jacket.
The cyan-jacketed elder wore a genial expression, but a glint of disdain flashed in his eyes. "Could your hexagram... be working in reverse?"
The younger twin sister could not help chiming in as well. "She Lao is at the late Step Two Sky Treading realm, the strongest among us here. He is the least likely of us to perish."
The others looked at Qi Yuan as though watching a clown.
All of them knew the cyan-jacketed elder and were well aware of his formidable strength.
Qi Yuan smiled.
Wasn't being doubted completely normal?
"Not only did my eyebrow tell me he faces a blood calamity, but even my eyes told me he might perish," Qi Yuan said languidly. "Alas, you're beyond saving."
Toward this old man, Qi Yuan had only the three-part diagnosis of Bianque to offer: hopeless, hopeless, hopeless.
"Come, next," Qi Yuan said, his enthusiasm rising.
His eyes had long since noticed something amiss with the Ancient Gods here.
Now, before entering the Ancestral Land, he might as well have a bit of fun.
"You... nothing major."
"You... fine."
"You're done for," Qi Yuan said, pointing at a short man.
The short man's expression shifted slightly. He shot a sidelong glance at the cyan-jacketed elder and let out a cold snort.
"Your luck is pretty good; there's a great opportunity in store," Qi Yuan said, looking at Ancient God Yan Xi. "However, your three attendants won't do. Their faces are practically dripping with impending doom."
Hearing this, the expressions of the three attendants behind Ancient God Yan Xi shifted repeatedly.
Yet Qi Yuan paid them no heed, continuing to blurt out his judgments for the remaining individuals.
In the end, among the thirteen Ancient Gods and five attendants, four Ancient Gods were identified as having blood calamities.
The three attendants were singled out as well.
Having finished his readings, Qi Yuan swept his gaze over the crowd. "It's only my second time reading fortunes, so it might not be accurate. None of you should take it too seriously."
The Ancient Gods wore varied expressions. Some treated it as a joke.
Others furrowed their brows, seemingly lost in thought.
As for the Ancient Gods Qi Yuan had pointed out as being in danger, on the surface they looked no different from anyone else.
In truth, their hearts were heavy; they smelled an intense crisis looming.
The younger twin sister was lively by nature and giggled playfully. "If I give you a treasure, will you change She Lao's hexagram result?"
Qi Yuan replied with deep, cryptic meaning, "Some people are dead, yet they still live; some people are alive, yet in truth, they are already dead."
The burly man cursed under his breath. "Speaking in riddles. Let's go, we can talk after we enter the Ancestral Land.
"Kid, if you can't protect your subjects, you can hand a few over to this venerated one."
Qi Yuan shrugged. "I'd rather not have my subjects suffer by following you."
"Let's move, we should enter the Ancestral Land first."
"Right!"
The remaining Ancient Gods murmured in agreement, preparing to enter the Ancestral Land.
At this moment, She Lao, the short Ancient God, and the other singled-out Ancient Gods were actively communicating via voice transmission.
*What is going on with that kid? He picked out all of us, except for Yan Xi, who is being coerced. Could it be... he knows something?*
*This matter is truly bizarre. Our defection to the New Gods could not possibly have leaked. Could it be that Great Venerable Aoshi... has abandoned us?*
*That kid is utterly bizarre. There might be a hidden powerhouse beside him aimed right at us.*
*If it's aimed at us, why would he point us out and put us on guard beforehand?*
*He might be signaling the other Ancient Gods to strike at us the moment we enter the Ancestral Land!*
*Right! It's inconvenient to fight at the entrance, as it would destroy this place. This is a secret signal for the others to join forces against us once inside!*
*This old man believes that once we enter the Ancestral Land, we should just run.*
These Ancient Gods were filled with profound dread.
The attendants beside Qi Yuan appeared to be ordinary mortals.
Yet who could tell if a mighty True God was deliberately hiding their aura among them?
If even She Lao could not see through it, that person had to be at least a True God of Three Steps of Sky Treading.
*What about our mission this time?*
*Mission? Run!*
Chapter 200