Chapter 308: "This Mocking Heaven Sect has so many assets."

Chapter 308: "This Mocking Heaven Sect has so many assets."

At this moment, the small space also became extremely empty. With the talismans turning into ashes, the space instantly felt much emptier, indicating that the talismans had occupied a significant portion of the space.

As a flood of information poured in, Chen Qiu also learned about the talismans.

They were extremely expensive talismans.

The "Mortal Immortal Top Rank" talismans were called "Immortal Slaying Talismans," which, as the name suggested, were incredibly powerful offensive talismans. They could inflict massive continuous damage to Immortals and cause even more harm to those with high evil values.

The higher the evil value, the greater the damage inflicted.

Chen Qiu wasn't sure about the exact price of these talismans, but being of the Mortal Immortal Top Rank, they couldn't be cheap. In many mystic realms, they could even be used as the main course, and here, they were counted in tens of thousands.

It was clear how difficult it was to kill "Jiang Buying" back then.

"Senior..."

The realm host, standing behind him, gazed at the scene before him, and the voice that still echoed in his ears made him unsure of what had just happened. Instinctively, he called out to his senior, his voice trembling slightly.

"I feel like I suddenly have no connection to this realm anymore. The realm has completely closed, and I've been forcefully kicked out of it."

"I won't be able to return to this realm again."

"Hmm."

Chen Qiu stood on the floor with one hand behind his back, smiling lightly: "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"But... without the realm, how will we get back?"

". "

Chen Qiu suddenly fell silent, his expressionless face turning to the realm host: "What do you mean? Usually, after completing a realm, aren't we automatically teleported out?"

"That's true for normal realms, but our realm is clearly abnormal. That corridor is like a means of transportation, bringing us to this place, a Void Terminal that no continent can reach."

"Now that the realm has dissipated, and the corridor is gone, how do we get back?"

After an incense stick's worth of time.

Chen Qiu walked out of the room and saw Bai Pingling and Fat Dragon standing in the courtyard, their faces calm as he spoke softly: "I have some good news. We've successfully passed through the realm."

"Huh?"

Fat Dragon looked at Chen Qiu, wanting to say something but stopping: "Usually, the phrase 'I have some good news' in the human language context doesn't appear alone. It often serves as a preface, followed by a piece of bad news."

"The bad news is that we can't go back for now," Chen Qiu said calmly. "For a long time, we'll have to cultivate in seclusion here. As for when we can leave, that's uncertain. We'll have to see how things go."

"What?"

After arranging everything for the realm host and the others, Chen Qiu sat alone at the tea table in the courtyard. His dazed gaze looked through the window into the distance, where there was no sun, no stars, and no clouds.

Beyond the palace was the Void.

An extreme Void.

The entire world was white, and the blinding light sources in the Void continuously provided illumination, ensuring the palace never experienced day or night.

In a sense, this might be the most suitable place for seclusion in the entire Three Thousand Continents.

First, it was safe. Located in the center of the Void, the Void itself served as a natural protective barrier, far more effective than ordinary formation arrays. Unless one's cultivation reached the absolute pinnacle, it was almost impossible to traverse the Void or move within it.

Moreover, the Void was infinite, without specific coordinates. Finding a specific location in the vast, boundless, and chaotic Void was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

You could search for ten lifetimes and still not find it.

Additionally, the spirit energy here was extremely dense, making it the perfect place for cultivation. Before entering the realm, Chen Qiu had transferred most of his spirit stones to his storage ring, so he wasn't worried about running out. He had enough spirit stones for his cultivation.

Originally, his plan was to cultivate in seclusion after completing the realm, so there wasn't much of a problem.

However...

The Bai Clan's elite hadn't been sent back yet. After such a long time without contact with the "Evil Demon Clan," the last strand of "Shadow Emperor Fortune" hadn't arrived. Would the Evil Demon Clan continue to help the Mocking Heaven Sect disciples travel between continents, or would they, in their anger over their impending demise, kill Mocking Heaven Sect disciples to vent their frustration?

And what about people like Xiong Gao and the others, who were still in the Mocking Heaven Sect's small world? After such a long time without seeing them, and with no means of contact, Xiao Lang might think he was dead and have eaten Xiong Gao and his group.

It felt like a lot of chaos might ensue.

But...

There was no other way. He couldn't leave this place temporarily, not to mention he lacked the means to traverse the Void. Even if he did, he couldn't find his continent in the Void.

Based on the information from the realm host and the inherited information from the palace,

He roughly understood the composition of this world's continents.

This world had numerous continents, collectively known as the "Three Thousand Continents." The lowest-grade continent was the First Rank Continent, and the highest-grade continent was the Twelfth Rank Continent.

Each higher-grade continent had twelve lower-grade continents beneath it.

For example, there was only one Twelfth Rank Continent, and only twelve Eleventh Rank Continents.

These continents were scattered in a vast Void, similar to the eggs of a "Fortunate Snail." Each continent was like an egg, densely packed and clustered on a giant egg bubble, but each egg had its own barrier, separate from the others.

This barrier was the "Heavenly Dao Shackles."

It was the means by which each continent's Heavenly Dao protected itself.

Chen Qiu's use of the title "Heavenly King" to travel between continents was a clever method, but it wasn't true continent-traversing. He could only move within his own series of continents and couldn't reach other series.

Truly, traveling between continents requires traversing the void.

The barrier surrounding each continent is a protective measure, preventing outsiders from entering at will. This barrier is different from the void, as it is an extreme shade of pitch-black, like the place where the corridor initially emerged—that was the continent's barrier.

While constantly traveling through the blindingly bright void, one might suddenly encounter an extreme pitch-black area, indicating the presence of a continent. That darkness is the continent's barrier.

Regardless of their rank, the lethality of each continent's barrier is extremely terrifying.

Any reckless intrusion would result in certain death.

One must possess the "password" to enter, which is the speed at which one enters the pitch-black area. Whether too fast or too slow, the "barrier" will instantly annihilate the intruder. This "password" is unique to each continent, and each has its own.

As for the Secret Realm they are in, midway through the void, they entered a flesh globe similar to a uterine chamber, which is where the fifth gate is located. According to the Realm Host, there are many such globes in the void.

When a continent completely collapses, it gradually disintegrates into a flesh globe in the void.

There is no trace of life or Heavenly Dao.

The center of the flesh globe is filled with viscous liquid, which is the concentrated essence of the continent. It is not a Heaven-grade Material Treasure, but rather a source of countless karmic entanglements. It is not something good to touch. These flesh globes will slowly disintegrate over time or await rebirth, giving birth to a new continent.

This giant egg-like bubble, formed by the "Three Thousand Continents," is the worldview of this world.

Chen Qiu exhaled deeply, leaning back in his chair, his eyes half-closed as he gently massaged his temples. He silently accepted everything, having spent a thousand years in this world trying to understand its nature.

Finally, he had figured out the world's worldview, which was completely different from that of his previous life.

There were no planets or universe, only a giant egg-like bubble.

As for what existed outside the bubble, he had no idea. Perhaps there was nothing, or perhaps there were more bubbles, or a giant sperm hurtling towards them like a meteorite crashing into Earth, or maybe a gigantic piston-like rod.

Who knows what was out there?

Even a chemical flask in a laboratory wouldn't be surprising.

Nothing in this world was strange. As for the suns and stars seen on various continents, he didn't know their origin, as the information inherited from the brass pillar didn't mention it, and the Realm Host was also unaware.

Regarding the history of the continents,

it was even more absurd, as each had its own version.

Some said the Heavenly Dao transformed into gods, some said it had always been so, and others mentioned the Immortal Emperor's basket.

Discussing these now was pointless.

His only concern was how to leave this damnable void!

He had already received the reward for passing the ninth gate, which was inheriting the brass pillar and gaining absolute control over this vast palace, including the ten thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals.

As the first person to pass through this Secret Realm, there were no additional rewards.

Speaking of which,

forget it, there was no point in following any logic, as this Secret Realm had been unreasonable from the start. It was clear that its sole purpose was to find someone to inherit the brass pillar, and everything else was left to chance.

"Enough thinking."

After pondering for a while, Chen Qiu, leaning back in his chair, ultimately couldn't figure out how to leave the void, so he decided to stop thinking about it. Instead, he prepared to go and see his ten thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Generals, a significant fortune.

It was like winning the lottery,

but the environment was less than ideal. It was like winning a lottery but being stranded on a deserted island, unable to return to human society. Something worth a fortune in the human world was now used for wiping one's backside, and it was a bit rough, making it easy to get sticky hands.

Regardless, he decided to go and take a look.

He lightly patted the armrest of his chair.

The next moment—

A strong sense of weightlessness suddenly overcame him. The chair beneath him quickly descended, stopping at a certain height before coming to rest on a corridor wall adorned with Celestial Orbs. Then, without warning, the chair sped along the corridor.

In just two breaths,

as the chair circled several times, the dead-end corridor in front of them suddenly opened up, revealing a large hole. Chen Qiu, still seated, appeared in the limestone square below, while the chair floated in mid-air.

"Not bad."

Chen Qiu jumped down from the chair, feeling impressed as he looked back at the spirit stone floating in the air behind him and the slowly closing wall behind it.

This palace was undoubtedly the most "technologically advanced" one he had ever seen.

Although discussing "technological advancement" in a cultivation world was somewhat absurd, it wasn't incomprehensible, given that it was the site of a transcender's legacy. While there was no related information, it was evident that these transcendents had spent a significant amount of time researching other things.

It couldn't be said that it was a wrong path, but it seemed like it hadn't yielded very good results.

For example, the research on puppets and the utilization of spirit energy.

The entire palace was enormous, with a thousand-zhang tall mountain gate and buildings reaching several thousand zhang at their highest points, appearing grand and majestic. However, the most impressive part was underground, extending thousands of zhang deep.

Beneath the palace,

there was a dense network of "spirit energy pipelines." These pipelines ensured a sufficient and dense supply of spirit energy, allowing it to reach any location, serving as an energy source.

It was akin to placing a "permanent" and "freely accessible" spirit gathering array in every room.

Of course, this was just one of its functions.

For instance, the pipelines could be used for hot springs in the courtyards, nurturing plants, cleaning, and more. These spirit energy pipelines covered every aspect of life in the palace, from clothing to food, shelter, and transportation. The reason this palace was located in the void, aside from safety, was that nowhere else could support such a massive energy system.

This thing consumes around one hundred thousand High-grade Spirit Stones daily.

Not Medium-grade Spirit Stones, but one hundred thousand High-grade Spirit Stones.

One High-grade Spirit Stone is equivalent to eight hundred Medium-grade Spirit Stones, meaning that one hundred thousand High-grade Spirit Stones are approximately eighty million Medium-grade Spirit Stones.

With his current wealth, he can barely afford to operate this thing at full power for less than two days.

Only the Void, with its infinite Spirit Qi, can sustain such a gold-devouring beast. The entire palace below is like an inverted pyramid, and within this pyramidal structure, there are eighteen large Formation Arrays that continuously purify the Spirit Qi from the Void.

It's quite durable.

After so many years, it's still usable.

However, the Spirit Qi drawn from the Void is unstable. Although it can be used for cultivation after purification, it cannot be condensed into Spirit Stones. It can only be used, and no matter how much is wasted, it cannot be preserved.

It's like eating at a buffet.

To be honest, when he saw these Spirit Energy Pipelines, he felt a sense of familiarity. He had only seen "Spirit Energy Pipelines" in Daxia Country, and after leaving, he had basically never encountered the existence of Spirit Energy Pipelines again.

Now it seems that it was inherited from Mocking Heaven Sect.

These Spirit Energy Pipelines also serve as a means of transportation, allowing one to quickly reach any corner of the palace. However, he feels that it might be a bit redundant for short distances.

For example, this Limestone Square is right below the well, and the well is in the courtyard outside his house. Despite being only a two-step distance, it took him two breaths to reach the square after circling around underground.

The principle behind the floating chair and its rapid movement within the pipelines is also simple.

It's somewhat similar to magnetic levitation, but not quite the same.

Surrounding the square Spirit Energy Pipelines, which resemble corridors, are countless smaller pipelines as thin as a fist or even thinner. These pipelines are made of soft materials and spread throughout the palace like blood vessels. The Spirit Qi flowing within these blood vessel-like pipelines is fully compressed and unsuitable for cultivation.

When the chair falls from high above and is about to reach the precise location, a large amount of Spirit Qi surges from the bottom, suspending the chair in midair and delivering it to the designated pipeline. After reaching the designated pipeline, Spirit Qi gushes from all around, keeping the chair afloat. Then, Spirit Qi surges from the rear wall, providing the chair with sufficient acceleration.

This is why.

The pipelines cannot be constructed too long. If they are too long, the Spirit Qi from the rear wall cannot provide enough acceleration. Therefore, the pipelines beneath the palace are segmented, which is why he has to circle around several times to travel the short distance from his study to the Limestone Square below the well.

He has never seen this design concept anywhere else.

And he never will.

It's just too damn wasteful!!!

This thing constantly consumes a large amount of Spirit Qi, and it must be the kind of compressed, high-intensity Spirit Qi. The natural Spirit Qi is far from sufficient, and these Spirit Qi are drawn from the Void through the Spirit Suction Formation, then compressed to form.

This type of Spirit Qi doesn't need purification; it only needs to be compressed to ensure its explosive power.

Apart from the Void.

It's not easy to obtain this kind of compressed Spirit Qi elsewhere. The Spirit Qi released from shattered Spirit Stones is only more dense and profuse, not fully compressed, and cannot provide such explosive power.

Even with the means to compress it, the entire process is a bit too extravagant.

It's indeed a bit wasteful, but after all, in the Void, a large "buffet" site, even if you don't waste these Spirit Qi, they still cannot be preserved.

"It's undeniable that this is indeed a great place."

Standing on the Limestone Square, Chen Qiu gazed at the one hundred thousand Sword Cultivator Puppets and sighed with a sense of emotion. This palace has almost no flaws, and if he could freely return to the continent, this would be a perfect place for seclusion.

He had searched for a secluded place for a long time on the Jiang Taiping Continent but never found one that fully satisfied him. In the end, he settled for a mediocre one. This palace completely met all his expectations.

It's just

a bit like being forced into seclusion.

How to get back is a headache for him.

At this moment, Chen Qiu once again focused his attention on the Sword Cultivator Puppets. Mocking Heaven Sect's puppet technology is very advanced; he dares to say that, so far, he hasn't seen any continent's puppet technology surpass that of Mocking Heaven Sect, even after thirty thousand years.

After all, this is a wrong path.

High-level puppets require a large amount of Spirit Stones to drive and many Heaven-grade Material Treasures to create their bodies. By consuming so many resources, one can indeed produce a batch of immediate combat power in a short time.

But. The strength of puppets has a limit. At least, from the information he has obtained, the strongest puppet created by Mocking Heaven Sect is only at the Peak Celestial Immortal cultivation level. At this level, they can have absolute dominance in Fourth Rank and Fifth Rank Immortal Realms, but in higher-level battles, they become somewhat insignificant.

Spending so many resources to create a batch of insignificant puppets seems like a loss.

Currently, he cannot activate any of these Sword Cultivator Puppets.

These Sword Cultivator Puppets require Top-grade Spirit Stones to activate, and he has some High-grade Spirit Stones but not a single Top-grade Spirit Stone. To activate a Peak Celestial Immortal cultivation level Sword Cultivator Puppet, sixteen Top-grade Spirit Stones are needed.

The sword cultivator puppet's head mechanism contained a small storage space, ensuring that the sixteen Top-grade Spirit Stones could be stored without any issues.

A single Top-grade Spirit Stone was equivalent to eight hundred Medium-grade Spirit Stones, and each Medium-grade Spirit Stone, in turn, was worth eight hundred Lower-grade Spirit Stones.

The sixteen Top-grade Spirit Stones amounted to 1,024,000 Lower-grade Spirit Stones, and this amount could sustain the sword cultivator puppet in high-intensity continuous combat for a month or intermittent combat for a year, with a defensive capability lasting a century.

Just activating a single Peak Celestial Immortal puppet required millions of Lower-grade Spirit Stones.

To activate all these puppets would require an astronomical amount of Spirit Stones.

Now he understood why these puppets, despite being manufactured, had never been used; they were brand new and simply too expensive to operate. Who could afford such a cost?

According to the information he obtained from the brass pillar, when the original Sovereign of Mocking Heaven Sect ordered the creation of these puppets, the sect had been engaged in a long war and was on the brink of defeat. He didn't know the specifics of the battle or the enemy, only that it happened thirty thousand years ago.

After these puppets were secretly manufactured, they were never utilized. Soon after, the Mocking Heaven Sect officially perished, and not a single puppet had been activated until its demise.

Such a blatant waste of resources made him wonder if the former Sovereign of Mocking Heaven Sect had been desperate and had no other choice.

The Mid-stage Tribulation Transcender puppet, on the other hand, was created as a logistical support puppet to guard the others, and it was the only one that had been activated.

Although he couldn't activate all the Peak Celestial Immortal puppets, activating two or three wouldn't be a problem for him. Having two or three Celestial Immortal bodyguards in the Immortal Realm would provide an unparalleled sense of security.

He couldn't wait to go to the Immortal Realm.

Of course, this was all assuming he could get out first.

After Chen Qiu toured his army in the Limestone Square, he returned to the study room, satisfied.

This grand and enormous palace had many more functions beyond what he had seen.

For instance, the formation array enveloping the entire palace prevented it from being corrupted by the Void.

Additionally, its formidable defense meant that even if an enemy managed to traverse the Void to invade, they would face an impenetrable fortress, rendering their efforts meaningless.

The palace also employed methods similar to the Artifact Spirit.

The palace boasted numerous intelligent features, such as the Spirit Energy Pipeline, which controlled the release and timing of Spirit Qi during high-speed movement. The Mocking Heaven Sect must have had some exceptional individuals.

According to the information from the brass pillar, the Mocking Heaven Sect had initially planned to use a large number of Artifact Spirits to achieve this, but they later abandoned the idea. Firstly, Artifact Spirits didn't have eternal lifespans, and replacing them was cumbersome. Most importantly, if they weren't regularly checked, Artifact Spirits could easily awaken their consciousness.

Chen Qiu had already experienced the consequences of an awakened Artifact Spirit.

So, the Mocking Heaven Sect invented something extraordinary.

They created a vast circuit board beneath the palace, using a large, square "Spirit Energy Pipeline" as the main structure and a dense network of "soft material Spirit Energy Pipelines" like veins.

This circuit board utilized the vast and infinite Spirit Qi as its driving energy source to achieve complete automation.

For instance, when he entered the tunnel earlier, he used his thoughts to control the brass pillar, which required the highest level of access. However, others could do the same; every location within the palace had its own code. By inputting the code of their desired destination on the walls, in the study room, or on the elevator buttons, they could automatically navigate to that location.

There were ten numbers, and by clicking two of them, one could determine the code of their desired location, such as 09, 18, or 37. His current room had the code 01, and certain areas required higher access levels to visit.

His room, for instance, was coded 01.

The Limestone Square had the code 02.

The elevator from the sixth stage could also instantly transport anyone with the necessary access to any part of the palace, although some functions were hidden at the time. After he inherited the brass pillar, the entire slumbering palace came to life.

One notable feature was worth mentioning.

The palace had its own name: "Cao Tian Palace."

This place wasn't the Mocking Heaven Sect's headquarters but a temporary refuge established in the Void by a small trusted team sent by the Sovereign of Mocking Heaven Sect when he felt imminent defeat.

Apparently, the Sovereign planned to escape here and enjoy his remaining years.

However, the Sovereign never set foot in this place, not even for a glance. With the fall of the Mocking Heaven Sect, the palace was gradually abandoned, and the trusted team, along with the workers, had long since turned to dust with the passing of time.

The palace had never been officially used; only the souls of the trusted team and numerous workers lingered in the air throughout the palace.

This room was initially designed for the Sovereign of Mocking Heaven Sect, but as time passed, the trusted team member, unable to contact the Sovereign, probably guessed the situation and decided to stay.

The reason for the disheveled bedding remains a mystery, perhaps due to some sudden event, but the brass pillar didn't provide any further details.

"Regardless..."

"The Mocking Heaven Sect's assets are truly impressive."

Chen Qiu couldn't help but sigh; even in their final moments, they had the resources to create all this. Not only did they create it, but they didn't even use it or bother to take a look. He couldn't understand such behavior.

If it were him, he would have been heartbroken.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end