The Culprit Behind the Enlightenment Tea Tree's Persecution: The Utterly Wicked Netherworld (Blame) Emperor

Seeing Qin Tian pick up a book, the cultivator in charge of the Library Pavilion explained listlessly, "Someone dug that out of a Source Mine. It's an Elementary Array Dao, nothing valuable. If you like it, just take it."

"Good!" Qin Tian said decisively. The moment he saw the author's name, he realized he had to take this Elementary Array Dao with him.

For one reason alone: the author of this scripture was-Cao Yusheng!

The Jade Light Holy Land paid no attention whatsoever to the Elementary Array Dao excavated from the Source Mine. With their vast wealth and resources, they had produced more than one Saint and even possessed a Great Emperor's legacy. A mere introductory text was about on the level of an elementary-school phonics primer. Naturally, they had tossed it here without so much as opening it.

After all, it was only an Elementary Array Dao.

Besides, the name Cao Yusheng belonged to an age far too distant.

People of this era did not recognize the people and things of the Primordial Era, much less those of the unimaginably distant Mythological Era.

Forget Cao Yusheng—even his Heavenly Venerable title was known to few in this age of Post-Desolate Antiquity.

Except, of course, for those omniscient passerby characters.

But as a transmigrator, Qin Tian knew what the name Cao Yusheng represented.

An old friend of the Desolate Heaven Emperor, the first Venerable since heaven and earth were cleaved apart. The Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable, the First Venerable of the Mythological Era, one of the Nine Heavenly Venerables.

An ultimate powerhouse walking the road to immortality.

"This is the one!"

Qin Tian chose this scripture without hesitation.

As for a Divine Bridge scripture, he could choose one the next time he came.

After all, how could a Divine Bridge Chapter compare to a Heavenly Venerable's scripture? At worst, he could dig up a couple more pieces of heterogeneous source another day and come again.

Though that would attract attention and conflict with his strategy of keeping a low profile, a scripture written by a Heavenly Venerable was worth it.

People had to learn to adapt.

The caretaker raised his eyes slightly and said, "That's fine too. Learn a little about Formation Dao and acquire a skill. It'll make advancing easier in the future."

"Young man, I have high hopes for you."

Reaching the Life Spring realm at eleven or twelve made him something of a genius, at least.

After obtaining the scripture, Qin Tian hurried straight back to his room without stopping.

Looking at the book in his hands, Qin Tian adjusted his nonexistent glasses and examined it carefully. "If it survived from the Mythological Era until now, the material probably isn't ordinary either."

From the Mythological Era to Primal Antiquity, then from Primal Antiquity to the present age of Post-Desolate Antiquity—more than a million years had passed. It had endured the passage of tens of millions of years without decaying.

Its remaining perfectly preserved to this day proved that its material was extraordinary.

Qin Tian pressed the Elementary Array Dao against his forehead. His mind immediately cleared, and countless flashes of inspiration emerged.

"Good heavens, could this paper have been made from the Enlightenment Tea Tree?" Qin Tian was truly astonished.

The poor Enlightenment Tea Tree had been brought to the Nine Heavens by Huang and suffered one calamity after another. Either it was chopped down to make coffin boards, or someone uprooted it and planted it elsewhere, nearly causing it to wither.

Now it seemed the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable had been the first to start this trend!

The Heavenly Venerables of later generations saw the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable using the Enlightenment Tea Tree to hold his scripture.

As fellow Heavenly Venerables, how could they stand still and fall behind the others?

So they, too, began laying hands on the Enlightenment Tea Tree to leave their accounts behind.

Naturally, this led the Primordial Emperors to follow suit, even taking things a step further and chopping down the Enlightenment Tea Tree outright to make coffin boards.

Later, the Great Emperors of Desolate Antiquity also joined in, perpetuating this unhealthy trend.

The poor Enlightenment Tea Tree had not enjoyed a single good day since arriving in the Nine Heavens.

Truly the root of all evil-that accursed Netherworld Venerable. Thinking it over carefully, at least half the blame in Shrouding the Heavens belonged to the Netherworld Emperor.

The Underworld lineage needed no explanation, and he had left plenty of messes behind during his time as the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable, too. He had passed down the Posthumous Immortality Method, leading living beings throughout the universe to hope for Posthumous Immortal Ascension.

There were even more dead than living, and traces of this still remained in Post-Desolate Antiquity.

Had the Heavenly Venerable Lingbao not appeared at the crucial moment, searching the azure heavens above and the Yellow Springs below specifically to hunt down corpses, the entire universe might already have become one vast Underworld: a world of humans by day, a kingdom of corpses by night.

Where had the indelible blood brands on the Four Swords of Zhu Xian come from? From hacking down corpses, all the way from the universe's eastern end to its western end. Piled together, those bodies could have covered several Starfields.

To counter the possibility of the Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable returning from death to life, he had even specifically created the Scripture of Transcending People.

Thinking this through, Qin Tian could not help clicking his tongue. "Tribulation Transcendence Heavenly Venerable, you're so wicked!"

"But... I love it!" Qin Tian broke into a smile. Holding the scripture against his chest, he relaxed his mind, which gradually became clear and empty.

Boom!

In a haze, he saw the workings of the Bitter Sea. As the years passed, they left traces on the Wheel of Life, and death energy increased along with them.

The gushing Life Spring represented the vitality of being "alive." Cultivating the Life Spring meant cultivating one's vitality and lifespan to resist time and the laws of heaven and earth.

Defying heaven and changing one's fate-that was precisely what the Life Spring realm meant.

"Is this the Secret Realm Method?"

Glimpsing the true meaning of the Sea of Bitterness Secret Realm, Qin Tian murmured to himself, "Not a single secret realm is superfluous. Each holds profound meaning, each is vital, each is a key to transcending the mundane."

The Divine Bridge Light of the next stage also flew out of the Life Spring, representing a hazy light of transcendence. It drew Qin Tian into a Dao Realm, allowing him to observe the Sea of Bitterness from a different perspective.

He saw its most fundamental elements and became engrossed. He found it wondrous. Building the most intricate and powerful divine abilities from the most basic things-this process taught him so much.

Qin Tian immersed himself in it, forgetting food, sleep, and everything else. He was utterly enraptured, finding it indescribably marvelous.

Only after a long time did he emerge from the Dao Realm.

Qin Tian cut down and refined the Divine Bridge Chapter, originally over ten thousand characters long, to seven thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven characters.

Even so, compared with the preceding Bitter Sea Chapter and Life Spring Chapter, it was still like a pile of trash. Yet it was already an enormous improvement over the previous Divine Bridge Chapter of tens of thousands of characters.

Compared with scriptures created by some Great Powers and Kings, it was not inferior in the slightest.

Saints were another matter. Saints had already comprehended the laws of the Great Dao, and their perspective on heaven and earth differed from that of mortals.

And... this was already his limit!

The vistas Qin Tian had seen and the laws he had comprehended could only carry him this far.

That night, the moon rabbit hung overhead. Cascade after cascade of moonlight essence descended from the universe, like auroras in the far north, like silken ribbons, like bolts of silk, beautiful beyond measure.

It was a sight unavailable in his previous life. When he first arrived, Qin Tian had stared at this magnificent scene every night.

But now Qin Tian could no longer muster any interest in the sight, for he had something more important to do.

Qin Tian outlined array marks with his spiritual power.

Qin Tian recalled the words recorded in Cao Yusheng's notes: "Sense the rhythms of heaven and earth, guide them with divine sense, and turn them to your own use."

Using his finger as a brush, he drew array marks in the empty air.

This was a simple array formation Cao Yusheng had recorded in his writings.

It was an array formation that drew in heaven and earth vital energy, and also one of the most basic. Nearly all array formations needed a similar formation to sustain themselves over a long period.

Pale blue lines moved nimbly with Qin Tian's finger. Strand by strand, they grew from simple to complex, gradually linking into mysterious patterns and finally forming one corner of array marks.

The next moment, the vital energy flowing through heaven and earth gathered on that corner of array marks. Bolts of moonlight descended upon it, tinting it silver.

Repeating the process, Qin Tian finished the second corner of array marks. As he continued drawing, he gradually began to feel an unfamiliar exhaustion, and even pain.

Today's update was a little late. Sorry.

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