From bottom to top, her Saint King foundation had grown ever more complete. She had a premonition that once she ascended alone to the tenth level of heaven and earth in the near future, merging the insights of all ten levels, breaking through to the Great Saint realm while maintaining the Eight Forbidden Domain would not be impossible.
Perhaps it was precisely because of these gains that some of the doubts she had harbored at the start, outside the tower and on its lowest floor, had temporarily been cast aside and gradually blurred within her subconscious.
But just a few days ago, that blur seemed to vanish all at once, and certain doubts surged back into her mind with absolute clarity.
The gaps between the connections of one matter after another also seemed to have been bridged.
This anomaly made her take it very seriously, sounding an alarm for herself.
Whimper...
Before her, faced with Gu Qingying's interrogation, the Cloud Leopard first blinked its vertical pupils in confusion. Then, as if innocently, it gave a soft whine and extended its tongue to gently lick her fair palm.
This was its usual trick.
Whenever Gu Qingying got angry in the past, acting like this would usually let it muddle through.
But today was clearly different...
"Stop playing dumb. Your cultivation has now reached the Saint Realm, and your wings have grown hard. Why should you truly care about my feelings anymore?"
Beneath the light veil, Gu Qingying's stunning face curled into a self-mocking smile. As the words left her lips, the jade-like hand resting on the Cloud Leopard's nape inexplicably tightened, her five fingers slowly closing.
"Tell me, then. On that rainy night several months ago, where did you go? When you returned, the aura of Outer Domain astral winds still lingered on you. With your lazy nature, you had never gone that far before..."
Her gaze fell upon the Cloud Leopard's vertical pupils, trying to catch the slightest change within them.
"The day after you returned, news spread through the Eastern Wasteland that the Human Emperor's Legacy had emerged here. At the time, I actually hadn't grown suspicious yet."
Before one question had even ended, Gu Qingying asked another.
"But why did you suddenly fool around some time ago and 'tease' the warship carrying that group from Tyrant Blood? The formation they used to travel back and forth from the outer star domains was destroyed on the very night you went out..."
The Cloud Leopard remained silent. It merely rubbed its head against the back of Gu Qingying's hand, as affectionate as ever.
"Then tell me this too. When we passed through the lowest floor and saved that little girl, was it truly a coincidence? The formation diagram's aura was leaking from the tower at the time, so why were neither of you affected? And why did you erase that little girl's divine power foundation..."
Rustle... rustle...
The Cloud Leopard flicked its tail but still did not speak in human language. It was skilled at pretending; every movement, even its gaze, gave Gu Qingying no sign of anything unusual for the moment.
Yet every strange incident connected to it had indeed happened, laid out plainly before her.
Previously, on the fourth level of heaven and earth, Overlord Blood Cang Yuhang had merely overstepped by a trace, extending the aura of his technique into the Immortal Platform Secret Realm, and had been killed by the "enforcer" within the tower.
Yet back on the lowest floor, the Cloud Leopard had released pressure at the Half-Saint level and crushed the exotic beasts surrounding that girl. It was still alive and kicking to this day. That was another major point of suspicion...
At last, Gu Qingying fell silent.
The barrier became utterly quiet. She said nothing, as though waiting for the Cloud Leopard's answer.
At this moment, the Cloud Leopard knew that the filter through which she had regarded it as her "deceased younger brother" had temporarily disappeared.
It had to reveal something substantial today if it wanted to get through this.
Of course, even if it truly said nothing, or filled its mouth with lies, she would not take its life.
After all, back then, by such a coincidence, the Zhao-surnamed master and disciple witches of Spring Autumn Pavilion had set up an altar and performed rites to save Gu Qinghan after her Dao Dissolution failed.
Then, at the same time and in the same place, Goddess Gu's younger brother had completely passed away, while it had been born in a cave nearby.
That Zhao-surnamed master and disciple pair said that it carried a trace of Gu Qinghan's spiritual essence?
Gu Qingying had genuinely believed it, because she had sensed a hint of spiritual intelligence from this ordinary Cloud Leopard, and it had been remarkably human-like from the moment it was born.
There was no ordinary explanation for this. No heavenly treasures grew around that cave, as though this seemingly absurd possibility was the only one left...
But later, it had come to understand the truth in its heart. Especially after being driven by that Human Emperor several months ago, it had realized even more clearly that all that nonsense about Gu Qinghan's spiritual essence was bullshit!
The source that had given it intelligence when it was still a muddleheaded young beast was actually a tiny fragment of the Human Emperor's true soul!
Its ability to reach this point, advancing from an ordinary Cloud Leopard without any divine beast bloodline to become a Saint Beast, all came from the Human Emperor's legacy!
It had absolutely nothing to do with that damned Gu Qinghan's reincarnated spiritual essence!
Reincarnation and rebirth were all nonsense...
Still, it had to admit that over the years, it had truly enjoyed the special treatment of being Gu Qingying's spirit pet and "younger brother."
Spirit medicines and Divine Fruits—there was as much as it wanted.
Many times, it felt that Gu Qingying was quite pitiful...
Whimper...
The hand around its nape had tightened too much, and it whined again.
"Do you really have nothing to say? Qinghan... he would never lie to me..."
Gu Qingying's slender fingers loosened slightly, then began gently stroking the smooth fur along the Cloud Leopard's back.
It had guessed correctly. She truly would not do anything to it, but...
As her thoughts turned, a deeper contemplation flickered through the depths of her beautiful eyes. At this very moment, she vaguely felt that she had touched the edge of some enormous vortex of conflict.
Yet just as that intuition emerged, someone within the Heavenly Mystic Ancient Clan Secret Land in the Eastern Wasteland's Central Region activated [Inverted All-Causes Vision], preparing to return to the Weapon-Refining Grounds through the Mystic Platform.
In an instant, that person selectively gathered one Causal Line after another, including those of the woman and leopard within the barrier.
The next moment.
Within Gu Qingying's and the Cloud Leopard's pupils, an extremely faint crimson gleam seemed to flash by.
Gu Qingying blinked her limpid eyes. The crucial "button" in her memories that had linked all those strange events together loosened at that moment, becoming blurred again.
She glanced at the barrier she had personally set up, her delicate brows knitting slightly before she waved her hand and erased it.
Ancient Clan Secret Land's Silkworm Baby
Several days earlier, Central Region of the Eastern Wasteland.
Formless crimson mist drifted through the air. Tan Lin's remnant soul silently emerged from the void, arriving within moments from the Ancient Emperor Mountain region of the Northern Region at a desolate valley rarely visited by anyone.
The secret land abandoned by the Heavenly Mystic Ancient Clan before the Primordial Era was located within this valley.
This was also where he had arrived after using the Mystic Platform left behind by the Ancient Emperor's Daughter in the underground palace of the Drill Tower, reconstructing the passageway, breaking free from the Soul-Killing Array's confinement, and crossing the void.
It was likewise one of the treasure sites he had chosen in advance for his next lifetime.
He intended to bury the starting capital for his next life here now.
In this world, no one knew what accident might happen in the next moment.
Plans could never keep up with change.
Perhaps before the second or even third Deep Crimson Light Point had filled with Fireflies, he would encounter some mishap and be forced to activate the Soul Pearl early, reincarnating and taking a new body.
Logically speaking, with the All-Causes Soul Pearl in his grasp—a treasure capable of allowing one to undergo Disintegration Reincarnation, fake one's death and escape, and even see through the mystery of the womb—
He should have kept a low profile under a false identity, steadily accumulating strength lifetime after lifetime, avoiding too much contact with anything in the outside world before truly looking down upon this universe.
Yet acquiring the fuel needed to activate the Soul Pearl forced him to reveal himself.
Fortunately, after the Soul Pearl's transformation, its wonders had become increasingly extraordinary. Merely filling one or two Deep Crimson Light Points into the dial of the Soul Pearl Barrier had granted functions that left him unafraid of most risks.
He could even move through forbidden lands and Restricted Areas such as Ancient Emperor Mountain, continuously reaping new gains.
Tan Lin knew that this meant the difficult situation he had faced since awakening had changed, entering a positive cycle.
"Half a year ago, I truly never would have imagined that, in this state as a lone wandering soul, I could stroll through Undying Mountain and Ancient Emperor Mountain... That little girl really is my lucky star..."
As his remnant soul ventured deeper into the valley, Tan Lin continued watching the movements of the Anchor Points at the ends of the Causal Lines.
After leaving Ancient Emperor Mountain, he had already removed [All Causes Barrier], leaving only [Inverted All-Causes Vision].
Maintaining both states consumed too many Fireflies from the Deep Crimson Light Points. He had to avoid unnecessary waste.
After all, the second Deep Crimson Light Point had already become an empty shell. What he was consuming now was the capital needed to begin his next lifetime.
If possible, he did not even want to maintain [Inverted All-Causes Vision] now. Yet he could see that the causal Anchor Point belonging to Heavenly Venerable Xiaoyao's Dao Body had not returned to the Restricted Area and was still wandering through the Eastern Wasteland, though it had merely left the Central Region.
If he ran into it without any preparation during this time, that would truly be a nasty surprise, not worth the risk.
Whoosh...
As Tan Lin pondered, his remnant soul had just reached the entrance to the secret land when he discovered that the causal branch belonging to the Undying Heavenly Empress had suddenly detached from the Undying Heavenly Emperor's Causal Line, becoming an independent, tangled Main Line connected to him.
"Has she already guessed my identity from the Undying Daoist?"
A faint flicker passed through Tan Lin's deep eyes.
These Causal Lines naturally could not tell him exactly what had happened. He had to infer the key changes and their causes himself.
Buzz...
The entrance leading into the Ancient Clan Secret Land deep within the valley quietly opened, and Tan Lin entered with practiced ease.
Nearly a million years ago.
Only Ancient Emperor's Daughter Tian Ling and a few members of her clan had known of this secret land. But now, that Primordial Emperor Clan, along with the Ancient Emperor's Daughter herself, had long been buried amid the chaos of time.
After such an immense passage of time, the dead were dead, enough to bury every secret.
Now, only he knew where this secret land's entrance lay and how to open it.
The scene before him remained exactly as it had when he had crossed over and departed in haste. The Mystic Platform from the underground palace of the Drill Tower had also moved here along with him.
If he wanted to return to the Drill Tower in the Southern Region, he only needed to activate this Ancient Clan Mystic Platform here. It would not alert anyone. His former beloved, Ancient Emperor's Daughter Tian Ling, had often done the same.
Unfortunately, the secret land, the Mystic Platform, and even the painting she had given him during the Primordial Era still remained, while she had already vanished.
Standing amid the old scenery of the past, Tan Lin lingered for a long time.
The secret land formed a world of its own, vast in area and isolated from the outside like the Drill Tower. Yet it had remained quiet throughout the ages. Even at its most populated, there had only ever been him and Tian Ling.
Dense Primordial spiritual energy had condensed into mist, filling the small world and nourishing the withered remnants of spirit medicine roots scattered across the ground.
Here, even time seemed to pass especially slowly.
At this moment, Tan Lin's state of mind was utterly different from when he had arrived in a hurry and left in a hurry before.
He was in no rush to bury the rare treasures he had looted from the Restricted Areas. Instead, he began examining the place carefully.
His remnant soul drifted through various parts of the secret land's small world for a while.
Tan Lin could tell that after his death in the Primordial Era, Tianling should have lived here for a long time.
He had already discovered in the underground palace that the Mystic Platform had been activated several times before the Ancient Era. This showed that she had also stayed in that tender place on the lowest level of the Drill Tower.
After a while, Tan Lin's remnant soul floated above the Core Region of the secret land, his gaze repeatedly sweeping over this space that carried his memories with the Ancient Emperor's Daughter.
Deep within his mind, every moment he had spent here and in the underground palace with Tianling was like shattered glazed tiles, occasionally glimmering with a nostalgic light.
In the end, he stopped reminiscing and slowly composed himself.
He had not forgotten why he had come.
His beloved was gone. Those still living should seize the present.
Whoosh!
The faint radiance of his primordial spirit spread through the Soul Pearl Barrier, shining through his translucent remnant soul body.
He suddenly formed seals, activating Source Arts to seek dragons and determine acupoints.
He intended to seal the Undying Medicine Seed, the mutated Nine-Revolution Soul-Restoring Grass, Divine Metal, Medicine King, and other items beneath the most stable Dragon Vein Node in this place.
Every Dragon Vein Node possessed a naturally formed terrain formation. With geomantic forces converging there, it could not only preserve the essence of rare treasures but, if they suited the place, could even enhance their spirituality.
Together with the bit of Divine Source Liquid he had found in Undying Mountain, it would be enough to preserve these resources until he needed them in his next lifetime.
However.
When he pushed the Source Arts he had mastered to their limit and had already found the best burial site, he inexplicably sensed a ripple utterly unlike that of the Dragon Veins.
That fluctuation was extremely weak. It was not spiritual energy leaking out, but more like some highly sophisticated spatial restriction resonating with the Dragon Veins of this place after being eroded by time.
If he had not been actively using Source Arts, he would never have noticed such a special fluctuation.
"Could it be... Tianling left something here?"
A spark of interest rose within Tan Lin's remnant soul.
Before you continue