This Merit Must Wait for Luohu to Bestow

Beneath Longevity Mountain, the Earth Book slowly unfolded.

A heavy ochre divine radiance enveloped Qing Xuan, Qing Yi, and Zhen Yuanzi, then silently sank into the earth.

The mountains, rivers, plants, and trees soon vanished above them.

Yet after truly entering the Earth Veins, they did not find themselves in darkness.

Countless streams of spiritual light in varying colors surged and converged deep underground. Every ray connected to an unknown number of mountains, rivers, lakes, and marshes outside, together supporting the entire western land.

But amid those spiritual lights, thread-thin black veins appeared exceptionally glaring.

They grew along the Earth Veins, intertwining with one another.

The farther west they went, the more numerous they became, like a vast black net spread out countless ages ago, quietly linking together innumerable Earth Veins along the western periphery.

Standing atop the Earth Book, Zhen Yuanzi looked even more solemn than he had at Wuzhuang Temple.

"These demonic seals have become too deeply entangled with the Earth Veins."

He raised a hand and pointed at one of the black lines.

As soon as the Earth Book drew near, the previously dormant demonic pattern contracted slightly, like a venomous snake sensing danger.

"If we remove it directly, the demonic seal will indeed be destroyed, but these Earth Veins will break along with it. Worse still, the other demonic seals will likely react."

Qing Xuan was not surprised.

Since Luohou had dared extend his hand into the Earth Veins of the entire west, he naturally would not leave behind a flaw that others could casually dismantle.

"So we won't touch it."

Qing Xuan's gaze followed the course of the Earth Veins reflected by the Earth Book before finally settling on a tiny branch vein beside the main vein, one that had nearly dried up.

"The demonic seals use the main veins as their guide. When they truly erupt in the future, these peripheral branch veins that cannot withstand the impact will be the first to be destroyed."

"What we need to do is not sever the guiding thread now, but leave another path to survival beside it."

As his words fell, the vast world behind Qing Xuan silently unfolded.

The phantom world did not press down upon the black demonic patterns. Instead, it slowly sank into that dried-up branch vein. Within the Earth Veins, which had long since fallen completely silent, a minuscule heaven and earth suddenly appeared.

Mountains and rivers had yet to emerge, and neither sun nor moon had risen.

It was like an empty box hidden deep within the earth, quietly waiting to catch the essence of the Earth Veins that would not have time to disperse when the main vein collapsed in the future.

Qing Yi stepped forward as well.

A wisp of azure light fell from the young woman's fingertips and entered that tiny world.

The azure light did not immediately transform into vegetation, nor did it release any vigorous vitality. It merely condensed into an illusory yet seemingly real azure seed in the deepest part of that world.

"If we let it grow now, it will be easier to detect." Qing Yi looked at the seed. "It will only awaken once the Earth Veins truly break."

With the Earth Book's aid, Zhen Yuanzi saw even more clearly.

Once that seed awakened, it would use the essence of the Earth Veins Qing Xuan had preserved in advance as nourishment and grow a new spiritual vein.

It might not restore the former prosperity.

But it would be enough to preserve the possibility for mountains and rivers that should have utterly died to nurture life anew.

"The Dao paths of you two fellow Daoists can actually complement each other so well."

A trace of admiration entered Zhen Yuanzi's voice.

Just as Qing Xuan was about to speak, the black vein on the Earth Book suddenly lit up.

A fresh aura of bloodshed and baleful energy flowed into the demonic seal from somewhere in the Primordial World, racing westward along the Earth Veins.

As the black line passed where the three stood, it seemed to sense something new beside it. Several tiny roots suddenly extended, stabbing toward the branch vein that had just been opened.

Zhen Yuanzi's expression shifted slightly, and the Earth Book immediately sealed off the surrounding Earth Veins.

But Qing Yi was faster.

The young woman raised her hand before those black roots, the azure light at her fingertips pure and without the slightest impurity.

She was not using vitality to wear away the demonic energy.

The roots had only just emerged and had not yet truly entered the earth, but Qing Yi directly erased from creation the possibility of their continuing to spread.

The black roots stopped before her palm, then turned to ash inch by inch.

At the same time, Qing Xuan withdrew the World Dao, completely concealing the tiny world they had just opened within the original Earth Veins.

The surging bloodshed and baleful energy did not pause again.

The black line on the Earth Book soon returned to silence.

Yet the three did not move immediately. Only after confirming that the aura had completely departed did Zhen Yuanzi slowly let out a breath.

"Luohou's methods are far more perceptive than I initially realized."

"This is already the outermost region."

Qing Xuan looked toward the bottomless darkness at the end of the Earth Veins. "The closer we get to Mount Sumeru, the less likely anything we leave behind can remain hidden from him."

Zhen Yuanzi understood his meaning. "We stop here?"

"We were never here to save the entire west."

Qing Xuan withdrew his gaze. Having succeeded once, he did not let greed drive him to venture deeper.

"Leaving the peripheral mountains and rivers a little more vitality is enough. Going any farther would no longer be reaping merit—it would be gambling our Dao fruit on when Luohou discovers us."

As far as Qing Yi was concerned, Qing Xuan only needed to decide how far they went.

She withdrew her hand and calmly said, "Then we will remain in the outer regions."

After completing the first arrangement, the three no longer stopped for every ordinary branch vein.

For the next two Epoch Cycles, they traveled throughout the western periphery using the Earth Book, avoiding every region directly connected to Mount Sumeru's Ancestral Vein. They only left contingencies within the critical branch veins capable of supporting the surrounding mountains and rivers.

Only when a cluster of mutually echoing azure points appeared across the western periphery on the Earth Book did they finally stop.

Nearly ten thousand years later, the three returned to Wuzhuang Temple.

Hong Yun had long been waiting beneath the Ginseng Fruit Tree. Upon seeing them appear, he immediately looked up at the sky.

The clouds above Longevity Mountain drifted serenely, and the spiritual aura was tranquil. Let alone golden light of merit, there was not even the faintest anomaly.

Hong Yun could not help looking at Qing Xuan.

"You two fellow Daoists have been busy for two Epoch Cycles. Could this merit... still be on its way?"

"It is still in Luohou's hands." Qing Xuan answered with complete frankness.

Hong Yun's hand, holding a spiritual fruit, froze in midair. For a moment, he nearly thought he had misheard.

Zhen Yuanzi explained helplessly, "Only when Luohou truly activates the western Earth Veins will the arrangements we left behind take effect. Nothing is happening in the west now, so Heaven and Earth naturally will not bestow merit in advance."

"I see."

Understanding dawned on Hong Yun, but he could not help asking, "But what if Luohou never detonates the Earth Veins?"

"Then we can do without this merit."

Qing Xuan looked westward, with little regret in his tone.

If Luohou never destroyed the western Earth Veins and the entire west could avoid a great calamity, that would naturally be better than gaining another share of merit.

But Qing Xuan knew that was almost impossible.

Zhen Yuanzi nodded slightly.

The Earth Book was his companion spiritual treasure.

Those azure points hidden within the peripheral Earth Veins had not vanished. Should a true upheaval occur in the west in the future, he would notice it immediately.

This plan, spanning an unknown number of ages, was now complete.

As for the Heavenly Dao merit they had yet to receive, they only had to wait for Luohou to come and personally fulfill it for them.