At the edge of the Myriad Manifestations Thoroughfare plaza within the Anchor of All Realms stood the inconspicuous Heavenly Secrets Stone House.
At some point, the sleeping old man had sat upright. The cluttered dossiers on the stone table before him had been replaced by an ancient star chart shrouded in mist, with specks of starlight flowing across it. His fingers lightly tapped the chart, and the starlight flickered and shifted, outlining complex, indescribable trajectories.
The old man's gaze pierced through the stone house, as though he could see Bao Bao in the plaza, ecstatically using its bloodline resonance to point out the direction, as well as the old woman beside it, whose aura ran unfathomably deep and whose face was set with determination—the Great Elder.
"The Void Spirit points the way, annihilation draws the thread of karma... The Eternal Furnace has surfaced in the absolute void of the Land of Nothingness... Taotie's bounty has been posted; storms are about to rise..." the old man murmured. With a light sweep of his fingertip across the star chart, a speck-sized star suddenly lit up within a dark region representing nothingness. It was faint, yet steadfast.
"The time... is drawing near." The smile on his lips deepened. He put away the star chart, slumped back onto the table, and resumed his drowsy appearance, as if nothing had ever happened.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the Thoroughfare plaza, within a palace built from piled white bones and radiating sinister demonic energy, a demon general clad in the attire of the Stomach of the Glutton respectfully reported to a figure shrouded in black robes:
"Demon Lord, the bounty notice has been issued, and the response has been enthusiastic. Several powerful teams skilled in void exploration have expressed interest and are verifying the intelligence.