"In that case, let's head to the third tower."
Qi Yuan waved his wide sleeves, and the twenty-one of them made their way toward the third tower.
The Ancient Gods were anxious yet filled with immense anticipation. They wanted to see for themselves how Qi Yuan navigated the numerous perils to reach the tower's highest floor and take away all its treasures.
Soon, they entered the third tower.
Qi Yuan turned to the crowd and said, "Wait a moment, everyone. Let me do a divination."
With that, his eyebrows began to twitch at high speed.
The villagers beside him took no notice, having grown completely accustomed to it.
The Ancient Gods, however, were left dumbfounded.
"He really uses his eyebrows for divination?"
"That works too?"
"How is that even possible?!"
Their worldviews crumbled once again.
Originally, they had assumed Qi Yuan was executing some profound Daoist art or possessed some ultimate secret regarding the towers.
In the end, it was truly just like the eyebrow divination at the entrance to the Ancestral Land.
"Could Lord God be using the legendary, long-lost Heavenly Divination of 'Dancing Eyebrows and Beaming Joy'?!" Ancient God Wangsong adapted quickly. To be a subject, one had to act like one, so he directly addressed him as Lord God.
The younger twin sister gave him an odd look. "Does such a heavenly divination method even exist? Why have I never heard of it?"
The rest of the Ancient Gods turned to Ancient God Wangsong as well. None of them had ever heard of it either, and they hoped to learn more about Qi Yuan's background through him.
"It's a long-lost heavenly divination method, so it's only natural you don't know it," Ancient God Wangsong replied.
"Ancient God Wangsong, since you know of this heavenly divination method, why don't you tell us about its origins and how formidable it is?" someone asked.
"Ahem, I don't know any of that either. This old man is utterly clueless about this art."
"Huh? Then how do you know of it? Where did you hear about it?"
"I don't know of it, nor did I hear about it anywhere."
"What?"
"It's been lost for so long—how could this old man possibly know it? I haven't even heard of it!" Ancient God Wangsong said with complete seriousness.
The Ancient Gods present were rendered utterly speechless.
After all that talk, Ancient God Wangsong had just made it up on the spot.
Yet when they thought about it, it actually made sense.
If it had been lost for so long, wasn't it completely normal that they hadn't heard of it?
"Everyone, follow me. Mirror my movements," Qi Yuan said at that moment, opening his eyes and stepping forward.
The villagers quickly followed behind, walking through the spacious, empty tower.
Seeing this, the Ancient Gods hurried to keep up.
Before long, they arrived at a platform.
"This place is safe for now. You may move freely within a ten-meter radius. I'll continue my divination," Qi Yuan said.
Meanwhile, the eyes of the Ancient Gods went red.
"Heavenly Dragon Silk!"
"Divine Dragon Gauntlet!"
"Congealed Flame Pith!"
Scattered across this small area were numerous treasures.
Every single one was extraordinarily precious.
Outside, people would wage bloody, desperate battles just to seize one, yet here, they were strewn everywhere.
The Ancient Gods' eyes burned with greed as they frantically scooped up the treasures from the ground.
If not for the fear of waking the puppet gods, they would have happily pried up and carried off the floor tiles too.
"Let's go. Forward!" Qi Yuan spoke.
He led the group onward, ascending once more toward the tower's upper levels.
Along the way, the Ancient Gods made an absolute fortune, obtaining countless rare treasures.
Then, Qi Yuan brought everyone to the highest floor.
Instantly, the breath caught in the throats of the Ancient Gods.
"Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid!"
Arranged on a table were ten vials of Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid.
A single vial could open one divine aperture!
Ten vials were enough to open ten whole apertures!
How could any Ancient God present not be tempted?
In the Mortal Heart Realm, an immortal liquid like this was an invaluable treasure.
Although a Great Venerable had once asserted that ten vials was the absolute limit an individual cultivator could consume, it was still an astonishing find!
[Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid, produced by the Industrial Zone Branch of Heyao Factory No. 6. Caring for baby's healthy growth.
Heyao Factory No. 6: Born to care for babies.]
Looking at the Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid, Qi Yuan showed a thoughtful expression.
A brief sentence held quite a lot of useful information.
The words "Industrial Zone" brought many thoughts to Qi Yuan's mind.
Ever since entering the Ancestral Land, he had noticed its peculiarities.
Coupled with this "industrial zone," Qi Yuan instantly felt that the Ancestral Land was like a miniature city.
So far, the towers he had entered contained things like bathwater and firecrackers—items that looked like they belonged to a residential district.
If there was a residential district, having an industrial zone was only natural, wasn't it?
Therefore, Qi Yuan suspected that among the towers further ahead, there might very well be an office or branch for Heyao Factory No. 6.
The Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid there certainly wouldn't be as sparse as the measly ten vials here.
After all, a facility like that was bound to hold far more stock.
Aside from that, the advertising slogan—"Heyao Factory No. 6: Born to care for babies"—nearly made Qi Yuan lose his composure.
Did babies need to drink Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid?
Didn't that imply that all their babies were Yin Gods?
The background of this Ancestral Land was terrifyingly immense.
"You are all members of the Ancient Clan. Do you know when the Ancestral Land crashed into the Mortal Heart Realm?" Qi Yuan asked.
Ancient God Wangsong hurriedly replied, "Lord God, legends say that when the Mortal Heart Realm's heaven and earth had just split open, the Ancestral Land fell into it."
"That long ago?" Qi Yuan was astonished. "Has this Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid expired, then?"
Qi Yuan's train of thought leaped so fast that while they were still thinking about the origins of the Ancient Clan, he had already pivoted to whether the liquid was past its expiration date.
This completely threw his new subjects for a loop.
"Are the newborn babies of your Ancient Clan very strong?"
This Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid looked an awful lot like nutritional oral liquid for infants.
"When ordinary clansmen are born, they are roughly at the Foundation Establishment stage, which is considered average in the Mortal Heart Realm," Ancient God Wangsong continued to explain.
"Born at Foundation Establishment... It seems this baby oral liquid wasn't meant for you to drink after all," Qi Yuan mused.
According to what these Ancient Clan members had said earlier, the Ancient Clan came from beyond the realm and were not natives of the Mortal Heart Realm.
Yet based on the clues gathered so far, it was evident that the Ancient Clan were indeed natives.
Their babies were merely at Foundation Establishment; they couldn't possibly stomach Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid.
It was likely that the Ancient Clan shared some connection with the Ancestral Land, and in an attempt to elevate their status, they claimed to be outsiders from beyond the realm.
"So every race really has a different starting line, huh?" Qi Yuan murmured.
In the Canglan Realm, everyone started out as an ordinary mortal.
In the Mortal Heart Realm, the starting line was already Foundation Establishment!
And in this so-called Ancestral Land, the starting line was very likely the Yin God realm.
That was utterly terrifying.
"Let's go. Onward to Heyao Factory No. 6! Onward to the Path of True Gods!" Qi Yuan stowed away the Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid, led the group out the window, and continued forward.
He decided to pick up the pace.
After all, there were too few good things in the residential district.
He wanted to head to the industrial zone.
That was where mass-produced goods would be.
If they stumbled upon a warehouse, they would make an unfathomable killing.
***
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Ancestral Land.
The burly, dark-skinned man was covered in wounds, yet an ecstatic smile lit up his eyes.
"Destiny is on my side!"
"Magnificent!"
From an alloy crate, he had found two broken bottles of Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid.
Right now, he poured the liquid down his throat, and the divine apertures inside his body coalesced continuously.
In merely a hundred breaths, he had formed two divine apertures.
"My harvest this time is far better than in the past!"
The dark-skinned man was thrilled.
This time, he had bolted right after She Lao, which had frightened She Lao out of his wits.
Seeing She Lao burn his divine apertures to flee had left him baffled, and in the end, he hadn't been willing to burn his own apertures just to chase him.
In the Yin God realm, whether one was at Step One Sky Treading or Step Seven Sky Treading, differences in sheer speed and physical strength were not particularly vast—practically negligible, in fact.
The difference between Step One and Step Three lay in divine apertures, and in the volume and utilization of divine spiritual power.
A Great Venerable, on the other hand, wielded a Divine Domain—a lethal trump card capable of casually slaughtering Step One Yin Gods.
After rushing into the Ancestral Land, the dark-skinned man had been somewhat disoriented.
He had also awakened a puppet god, and after a fierce struggle, he barely escaped with heavy injuries.
Yet finding two bottles of Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid right here—how could he not be thrilled?
"That kid's divination really has a bit of skill to it after all."
He shifted into a comfortable reclining posture, completely at ease.
At his level, opening a single divine aperture required nearly a thousand years of arduous cultivation.
To open two in one go naturally filled him with pride.
"Once I run into Yan Xi, Wangsong, Huha, and the others, this venerable self can flaunt this properly."
"Right now, they're probably fleeing for their lives somewhere!"
The dark-skinned man was exhilarated.
All he could think about was meeting those acquaintances so he could thoroughly rub it in their faces.
For Ancient Gods who had endured endless epochs, showing off to their peers was one of the few things that brought genuine joy.
***
Four hours later, Qi Yuan entered a high tower.
His gaze was calm.
Behind him, the Ancient Gods all had shining eyes.
They had struck it rich!
They were loaded!
Right now, they felt like wealthy old landlords.
Every single one had earned until their pockets overflowed.
Although the lion's share went to Qi Yuan, their own gains were ten, even a hundred times greater than all their past harvests combined!
Most importantly, there hadn't been the slightest danger.
Stepping into the tower, Qi Yuan showed a look of surprise.
"The air quality here is terrible. You all should wear masks, or you'll get sick," Qi Yuan warned.
His eyes saw that the air was filled with tiny particulate matter. Inhaling these particles would sicken even a True God.
Hearing this, all his subjects immediately cast spells to seal their mouths, noses, and ears.
By now, they had grown capable of understanding his strange phrasing.
Just then, Qi Yuan glanced at Yan Xi, a bewildered look in his eyes.
Yan Xi felt lost. "Lord God, what's wrong?"
"You have some rather peculiar tastes," Qi Yuan remarked, looking at the golden sheer fabric draped over Yan Xi's head.
Yan Xi's confusion only deepened.
The others were also curious, wondering what Qi Yuan meant.
"Wearing underwear on your head... What are you, Hentai Kamen?
"No, you're even weirder than Hentai Kamen. Yours is... the lingerie edition." Qi Yuan waved his hand dismissively.
If someone dressed like Yan Xi back on Blue Star, they would have been locked up as a pervert.
"Underwear? Lingerie?" Yan Xi touched the delicate golden sheer fabric, doubts flashing through his mind.
Was this... fucking underwear?
The other Ancient Gods hadn't thought of it that way at first.
Yet the moment Qi Yuan said it, they looked at the golden fabric on Yan Xi's head, and the more they looked, the more it truly resembled underwear.
"Pfft..." The younger twin sister was the first who couldn't hold back her laughter.
Seeing this, the remaining Ancient Gods burst into wild laughter as well.
"It's actually underwear!"
"Venerable Yan Xi... this is too funny!"
"Since Lord God says it's underwear, it's definitely underwear!"
The Ancient Gods and villagers doubled over in laughter.
Blushing with embarrassment, Yan Xi took off the golden fabric.
He initially wanted to throw it away, but reluctant to part with it, he tucked it back into his storage bag.
His lifelong reputation, ruined!
"Let's go. This place is Heyao Factory No. 6. Hopefully, the harvest is decent," Qi Yuan said with a wave of his hand, leading the group inward.
He had finally reached the branch of Heyao Factory No. 6.
"Heyao Factory No. 6?" The Ancient Gods found the name strange, but by now they were used to oddities.
The tower belonging to Heyao Factory No. 6 was indeed different from the others.
In the other towers, they climbed upward.
In this one, they were heading downward.
Walking deeper into the tower, Qi Yuan wore an intrigued look.
"As expected of a medicine merchant—the puppet gods here even reach Step Six Sky Treading."
Here, Qi Yuan had already detected at least seven puppet gods at the Great Venerable rank lying in wait.
Moreover, the further down they went, the more puppet gods there were.
"No wonder the Ancestral Land has stood for so long," Qi Yuan murmured.
Danger truly lurked everywhere.
Earlier, Qi Yuan had come across an alloy box that looked like a trash bin, and inside that bin were three Step Seven Sky Treading Great Venerables.
It was simply unimaginable.
Even Qi Yuan dared not provoke puppet gods of that caliber.
He even felt that even if all the forces of the Mortal Heart Realm gathered at their peak, they would never be able to breach the Ancestral Land.
No wonder so many towers remained standing to this day, their treasures still intact.
Coming to the Ancestral Land was definitely the right move.
With so many treasures, if his subjects consumed them all, to what heights might they grow?
It boggled the mind!
The other Ancient Gods brimmed with eager anticipation.
After all, Qi Yuan had seemed so nonchalant along the way, treating all those supreme treasures with casual indifference.
Yet here, his reaction was different from before.
Even he was looking forward to this.
"This door is a bit heavy; I can't push it open. A few of you Ancient Gods come over and pry it open."
Qi Yuan stopped outside a massive gate.
The door was cast entirely from a special alloy, exceptionally thick and heavy.
"Allow me!" The man with a mole between his brows stepped forward and wrenched at the gate.
Yet against power capable of toppling mountains, the door remained completely immovable.
"Four of you, get on it," Qi Yuan couldn't help but say.
He also lamented how weak he was—even as a burglar, he couldn't even break down a door.
Immediately, three more Ancient Gods stepped up to help, the four of them exerting force together.
"Haah!"
"Huuph!"
*Boom!*
The alloy gate was finally wrenched open.
Instantly, the breath caught in the throats of every Ancient God present.
They stared at the scene before them in utter disbelief.
"Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid!"
"Pain-Dissolving Pills!"
"Pure Spirit Powder!"
The vast room was densely packed with treasures of every description.
All of them were sealed inside transparent glass cases.
Innumerable, endless—there was simply no telling how many there were.
Their hearts trembled violently.
Even if every single Ancient God in the Mortal Heart Realm took ten vials of the Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid here, there would still be an immense amount left over.
In addition, all sorts of other precious treasures could be found here.
Cultivation-boosting, wound-healing, illness-curing—everything one could ever ask for was present.
Qi Yuan smiled at this sight. "A cheat like this is just barely worthy of my status."
He picked up a large batch of Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid along with various other items.
"Take ten vials of Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid each and use them. As for the other treasures, everyone may take two items," Qi Yuan said offhandedly.
The Ancient Gods' eyes turned red.
Ancient God Wangsong looked at Qi Yuan, his eyes brimming with profound emotion. "Lord God, I've decided: I will follow you from now on!"
Ancient God Wangsong meant that he would become Qi Yuan's subject permanently, with no time limit.
"Mm, sounds good." Qi Yuan felt no ripple of emotion inside.
While the other Ancient Gods were deeply grateful and thrilled, they didn't suffer from osteoporosis like Wangsong; gratitude was one thing, but completely surrendering their freedom for the rest of their lives was something they couldn't bring themselves to do just yet.
Following Qi Yuan's instructions, all the Ancient Gods took their ten vials of Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid and two other treasures.
None dared to take a single item extra.
After receiving the Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid, the Ancient Gods couldn't wait to pour it down their throats.
Instantly, breakthroughs occurred one after another in a spectacular display.
Happy Arhat broke through straight into Step Two Sky Treading.
"I finally reached Step Two Sky Treading!" an Ancient God exclaimed in sheer joy.
"I never thought I could reach the late stage of Step Two Sky Treading, with hope of stepping into Step Three!" the elder twin sister marveled.
The room erupted in jubilation. They were wild with joy, their minds overwhelmed by staggering euphoria.
It felt just like an ordinary Blue Star worker earning five thousand a month suddenly receiving a hundred years' worth of salary all at once.
Meanwhile, Zhao Zun and the other villagers who had not yet attained the True God realm cradled the Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid, eyes burning with envy.
Unfortunately, because they had not reached the True God realm, they couldn't use these treasures even with them in hand.
Zhao Zun was consumed by envy and a wave of frustration.
He had no idea when he would finally break through to become a True God.
"All right, now that you've all broken through, let's head to the other warehouses and take a look," Qi Yuan commanded with a wave of his hand.
All the densely packed cases in the room were swept into his storage bag.
Next, five more warehouses were pried open.
Two of them appeared to have been destroyed, leaving nothing useful behind.
The remaining three warehouses were similarly packed with treasures whose value rivaled the Divine Aperture Primordial Liquid.
Having already been stunned by the first warehouse, the Ancient Gods took the sight in stride this time, though the lingering shock in their hearts refused to fade.
"Heyao Factory No. 6 isn't all that great. Everything is tailored for babies—don't they have anything for adults?"
Qi Yuan, however, was not entirely satisfied.
By now, he had led everyone down to the fourth tier.
They had entered more than seventy towers.
There were still three tiers of the Ancestral Land left unexplored.
***
At this moment, on the seventh tier of the Ancestral Land.
A burly man was clad in a sleek, streamlined liquid battle suit that shimmered with radiant, multicolored light.
This battle suit had been excavated from the Ancestral Land.
The man was known as Great Venerable Aoshi, and this was only his second time entering the seventh tier of the Ancestral Land.
The first time, he had entered while in the Purple Mansion realm, stumbling upon an opportunity that allowed him to step into the True God realm.
Later, even after becoming a Great Venerable, he had not dared to return.
Over the years, he had continually studied the Ancestral Land and finally unraveled some of its secrets.
Of course, those research results mostly originated from the Ancient Gods' studies of the Ancestral Land prior to the Hongtang Great War.
Now, the streamlined battle suit he wore greatly improved his chances of survival within the seventh tier.
At this moment, he stared coldly at She Lao before him, his gaze dark and unfathomable.
"Your identities as moles were exposed by them?"
She Lao and the other Ancient Gods wore terrified expressions. They too wore streamlined battle suits, though theirs were clearly far inferior to Great Venerable Aoshi's.
"Yes. That newcomer pointed us out immediately.
"I suspect some Great Venerable discovered our scheme!"
She Lao truthfully reported what had transpired to Great Venerable Aoshi.
Great Venerable Aoshi narrowed his eyes. "Since you didn't kill anyone, I don't blame you."
Hearing that, She Lao breathed a sigh of relief.
Great Venerable Aoshi was notoriously temperamental, and they had feared incurring his wrath.
"You need not fear me. We are fellow Ancient Gods and should look out for one another.
"I am all alone on the side of the New Gods, isolated and without support, and I need reliable hands to assist me.
"Since you are fellow Ancient Gods, I can use you with peace of mind." Great Venerable Aoshi's voice softened.
She Lao's worries evaporated entirely, replaced by a sense of being valued. "We are willing to serve Great Venerable Aoshi like dogs and horses!"
The other Ancient Gods chimed in as well.
"As it happens, there is one more matter I must trouble you all with," Great Venerable Aoshi said in an earnest tone.
"Please command us, Great Venerable!" She Lao replied hastily.
Having failed his previous mission, he was eager to redeem himself.
"To open the side door of this high tower, we need to incinerate a few True Gods. We happen to be short a few, so I must trouble you... to enter the tower," Great Venerable Aoshi said gently.
She Lao's face changed drastically as an overwhelming sense of deadly peril washed over him.
"You!"
He cursed aloud and tried to flee.
However, a Divine Domain unfolded, instantly suppressing him so thoroughly that he couldn't move an inch.
At that moment, several New Gods wearing streamlined battle suits stepped forward. With mocking smiles, they seized them and threw them into the terrifying furnace before the tower.
That furnace could incinerate even True Gods to ash!
Great Venerable Aoshi had never intended to leave She Lao and the other Ancient Gods an avenue of survival.
Perhaps these Ancient Gods didn't know, but among the New Gods, everyone knew that the one who dealt with the Ancient Gods most ruthlessly was Great Venerable Aoshi, an Ancient God himself.
Perhaps to display his loyalty and prove his allegiance, his cruelty toward his fellow Ancient Gods knew no bounds.
"Feng Kui, Tan Zui, the two of you make your move. Haul all the Ancient Gods who entered the Ancestral Land over here.
"To open this gate, we still need a few more True God corpses," Great Venerable Aoshi commanded.
Instantly, two terrifying New Gods clad in streamlined battle suits appeared.
Both were Step Three Sky Treading powerhouses!
If Step Three experts took action, how could that pack of Step One and Step Two Ancient Gods hope to resist?
"Understood!"
The male and female New Gods bowed their heads, their figures dissolving into nothingness.
Chapter 203