When Zhou Qing's true body began the simulation, one of his clones was piloting a flying boat through the chaos.
After a long time, having passed countless chaos stars along the way, he finally reached his destination.
Sitting inside the flying boat treasure, Zhou Qing gazed into the distance.
Far ahead was a chaos star that bore a striking resemblance to the Lunar Star. In its radiance, a pool of water beside it shimmered.
Was this the Moonlit Pool...?
Looking at the pool before him, which rivaled a major world of the Three Realms in size, Zhou Qing marveled inwardly.
It was truly a masterpiece of a World Realm mighty figure.
After pausing to admire the Moonlit Pool's beauty, Zhou Qing piloted the flying boat straight into its vast waters.
Time and space shifted around him, and Zhou Qing found himself hovering above a reef.
An endless ocean... a floating log bridge that stretched beyond the horizon...
Seeing these sights described in the original work, Zhou Qing immediately realized that he had entered the Moonlit Pool.
Hmm?
The next moment, Zhou Qing's face filled with astonishment.
Strange, his memories hadn't been affected...
As a secret realm established by World God Beixiu, the Moonlit Pool had an extremely powerful ability to isolate those within it.
Whether a Second Primaltwin or a clone, once it entered, its connection to the true body outside would immediately be severed, and their memories would no longer be shared.
Normally, unless a clone died, the true body outside could not sense its condition.
But after entering the Moonlit Pool, Zhou Qing discovered that he could still share memories with his clones outside.
After giving it some thought, Zhou Qing had an inkling of the reason.
Leaving aside the clones he had cultivated through the Eighteen Fiendgods of Taowu, strictly speaking, Zhou Qing currently had three independent bodies that did not affect one another.
They were Zhou Qing's true body, Wu Xian's true body, and Wu Xian's Second Primaltwin.
Under the rules of the Chaos Universe, Wu Xian's true body and Second Primaltwin could be considered one person.
But Zhou Qing's true body was different. His connection to the other two bodies had been established through the simulation panel. As far as the Chaos Universe was concerned, he had no connection whatsoever to Wu Xian's true body or Second Primaltwin.
The rules of the Moonlit Pool could sever the connection between Wu Xian's true body and Second Primaltwin, but they could not sever either one's connection to Zhou Qing's true body.
This counted as an unexpected windfall, didn't it...?
Zhou Qing nodded inwardly.
Sharing memories meant that his bodies inside and outside the Moonlit Pool could communicate at any time, which was clearly more advantageous for breaking through.
Then Zhou Qing piloted the flying boat forward along the floating log bridge.
After an unknown amount of time, the seawater near the bridge suddenly began to ripple.
Here it came!
Sensing the disturbance in the water, Zhou Qing's expression turned grave.
In an instant, a thirty-meter-tall green Yaksha burst from the sea and charged at him with a steel trident.
Seeing this, Zhou Qing shot straight out of the flying boat and swiped a claw at Yaksha.
Sky Rend Claw!
The green Yaksha instinctively raised his steel trident to block, but shock then appeared on his ugly face.
The next moment, the green Yaksha's enormous divine body exploded, its remains scattering on the wind.
Zhou Qing was not surprised by the sight.
His attack had seemed casual, but it had actually woven together the third-layer Primordial Powers of time and space. Its might was just barely comparable to that of some fourth-layer Primordial Powers.
This green Yaksha was only as strong as an ordinary Empyrean God. How could he possibly have blocked that move?
With his clone killed instantly by Zhou Qing in a single move, Yaksha was naturally very surprised, so he immediately summoned his clones from across the ocean.
Zhou Qing soon witnessed a spectacular sight.
Hundreds of green Yakshas leaped out of the sea one after another and merged in the sky into a golden Yaksha.
The golden Yaksha's divine body gave off a powerful presence, nearly at the level of a True God.
Seeing this, Zhou Qing did not hesitate. He unleashed the Great Extinction Divine Power and swiped out with a claw.
Heaven-Exterminating Claw!
This claw not only wove together third-layer Time Power and Space Power, but also concentrated fourth-layer Heartforce. In addition, Zhou Qing used a divine power eruption ability.
The might of that single move could be said to be enough to kill an ordinary expert who had reached the peak of the Empyrean God and True Immortal level.
Against this attack, the golden Yaksha's powerful divine body held out for only a moment before being torn into countless scraps of flesh.
No one knew what kind of creature this Yaksha was, but like ordinary practitioners of Fiendgod Body Refining, he possessed an Undying Body.
Thus, after a few breaths, the scraps of the golden Yaksha's flesh turned into flowing water and reformed into hundreds of green Yakshas.
"You're very strong."
Looking at Zhou Qing, the hundreds of green Yakshas spoke in unison.
"But there are plenty of old fellows ahead who are much stronger than me. Don't let your guard down."
With that, the green Yakshas scattered like birds and beasts, vanishing into the depths of the sea.
Zhou Qing naturally knew what Yaksha meant by those words.
Among the Moonlit Pool's guardians, Yaksha had nothing but brute strength and was the weakest of them.
The Snowfiend on Snow Mountain Island and the Purgatory God on Volcano Island ahead were both far more troublesome than him.
After defeating the golden Yaksha, Zhou Qing continued flying along the floating log bridge.
Before long, he spotted a magnificent island.
The island was covered in snow, and snowflakes danced through the sky. It was clearly Snow Mountain Island, the first island in the Moonlit Pool.
After landing, Zhou Qing headed straight for the splendid palace at the center of Snow Mountain Island.
What happened next was just as it had been in the original work.
As soon as Zhou Qing entered the palace, he was attacked by the only Empyrean God on Snow Mountain Island-Empyrean God Xiuke.
Empyrean God Xiuke stubbornly believed that he was the Snowfiend, the guardian of the next stage, in disguise, and went straight for Zhou Qing's life the moment they met.
Knowing the plot, Zhou Qing was naturally prepared and did not fall prey to the sneak attack.
Zhou Qing first gave Empyrean God Xiuke a sound beating, then told him some secrets that only disciples of the Daoist Sect would know.
Only after all that did Empyrean God Xiuke believe that Zhou Qing was not the Snowfiend in disguise.
"Junior Brother Taixu, why did you come to this godforsaken place?!"
Empyrean God Xiuke's voice was filled with anguish as he spoke.
During their exchange, he had discovered that Zhou Qing had already mastered the Eight-Nine Arcane Art.
Having mastered the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, his junior brother was sure to be highly valued by Daoist Sanqing and hold a far higher position in the Daoist Sect than he did.
Thus, Empyrean God Xiuke could not understand why Zhou Qing had entered the Moonlit Pool.
He and the other Empyrean Gods who had entered the Moonlit Pool to seek their fortunes were all people who were not valued by their respective factions and had come to the Moonlit Pool to take a gamble.
"Senior Brother Xiuke, since I came to the Moonlit Pool, I naturally have some confidence."
Sensing the concern in Empyrean God Xiuke's words, Zhou Qing spoke gently.
Zhou Qing could understand how Empyrean God Xiuke felt.
Having been trapped in the Moonlit Pool for countless years, he naturally had no favorable impression of it.
In Empyrean God Xiuke's eyes, Zhou Qing had willingly entered the Moonlit Pool, which was tantamount to leaping into a pit of fire.
Moreover, Zhou Qing was a disciple of Daoist Sanqing, so Empyrean God Xiuke, who also came from the Daoist Sect, naturally felt even more pained by his actions.
Hearing Zhou Qing say this, Empyrean God Xiuke merely shook his head.
Junior Brother Taixu was still too young. After being trapped in the Moonlit Pool for endless ages, he would learn what suffering was.