Faced with the utterly devastating attacks of countless ghostly creatures, no one dared to confront them head-on. Even Yu Quanzhen would have had to immediately avoid the attack. If he didn't, even if he could have resisted head-on, he would have paid a heavy price. Furthermore, Yu Quanzhen wasn't alone at the moment; he had a large number of cultivators and mercenaries under his protection, making such an attack even more impossible.
The moment Wuxiang Tongzi sensed the danger, he had already devised a plan for Ming Qi and the others to evade.
The Supreme Mountain and Sea Map possessed a vast space, like a world of its own. Although only one billionth of it could be opened, even this tiny space was more than enough for Ming Qi and his companions to evade the countless ghostly creatures' desperate attacks.
Ming Qi had also learned something about the Supreme Diagram, a small world-like entity. It was a far more powerful entity than a spatial artifact, as what could be called a small world essentially already contained the embryonic form of a world within. While many things were still imperfect and incomplete, the mere fact that it was a prototype of a world was beyond imagination.
At this point, Ming Qi and his companions had all entered the Supreme Diagram's divine space. The Formless Child floated before him. They stood in a lush, vibrant meadow.
"Extend your consciousness and follow my lead. I'll lead you to the core of the Divine Diagram. From now on, you'll be able to freely control the Divine Diagram space without my having to activate it. I'm essentially just a part of the Divine Diagram."
The Formless Child spoke as he released a wisp of his aura. To help Ming Qi better identify his whereabouts, he condensed this special aura into a milky white stream.
Ming Qi naturally didn't waste any time. He immediately extended his spiritual sense, sending a wisp of it to attach to the aura of the Formless Child. Then, following the aura, he quickly extended his consciousness toward the center of the Divine Diagram.
Although Ming Qi had previously tentatively extended his spiritual sense to the center of the Supreme Diagram, the core he had previously sensed was merely a vast, chaotic mass, unable to detect any controllable presence like a point of origin. Now, guided by the aura of the Formless Child, he discovered that he could sense many things he had previously been unable to perceive.
At this moment, whether it was because the Divine Diagram hadn't fully awakened or its evolution hadn't reached its peak, the space within the Divine Diagram was devoid of any living creatures. Only towering mountains and seas, vast primeval forests, and a slightly turbid aura remained. Furthermore, Ming Qi discovered that much of this space was still in a chaotic state, akin to nothingness. These areas could be interpreted as gaps where no worlds had yet emerged. Their state lay somewhere between the Small Universe and the Opening Space, and they were in a slow stage of evolution.
Auras traveled thousands of miles in an instant, and spiritual consciousness moved as fast as lightning. In a short moment, Ming Qi's spiritual consciousness was brought to a chaotic and profound space. Compared to other spaces, this one was clearly more mysterious and profound, resembling a vast and boundless starry sky, dotted with dense points of light and filled with a thick psychedelic hue.
"This is the core of the Divine Map, called the Primordial Starry Sky. It is also the foundation of all the Divine Map's power. It is surrounded by a rich primordial energy, virtually unbreakable. Try extending your spiritual consciousness into it now. You are the destined master of the Divine Map, and you should encounter no resistance."
Staying his aura in front of the Primordial Starry Sky, Wuxiang Tongzi briefly explained the core of the Divine Map.
"You were born from the map, and yet you can't approach it?"
Ming Qi was quite surprised to hear Wu Xiang Tong's words. He had always assumed that Wu Xiang Tong was the Divine Map, and the Divine Map was Wu Xiang Tong, that the two were one and the same. But after hearing Wu Xiang Tong's words, it seemed that this was not actually the case.
"I am not the core of the Divine Map. To be more precise, I am only a small part of it. I can only reach a small part of the primordial starry sky. Of course, while you won't be hindered right now, what you can reach is probably only as good as what I can, barely enough to open the Divine Map space. As for the secrets within the Divine Map, you'll have to wait until your strength reaches a certain level before you can unlock them."
"I see. Then I'll give it a try."
After understanding this, Ming Qi didn't ask any further. Although he wasn't sure whether being destined by the Divine Map was a blessing or a curse, the current situation seemed quite favorable.
Putting aside the Divine Map's mysterious origins, Ming Qi's arduous cultivation alone would have made it impossible for him to reach his current state without the Divine Map.
Condensing his consciousness further into a single strand, Ming Qi attempted to reach out to the primordial starry sky before him.
Buzz!
As soon as his concentrated consciousness touched the hazy mist surrounding the primordial starry sky, a tremendous buzzing sound erupted from Ming Qi's mind, sending his blood churning and causing him to feel the urge to vomit blood.
"Wow!"
Shocked, Ming Qi didn't dare act rashly. He temporarily dispersed his consciousness, gradually spreading it out in small increments.
This proved effective. The rebounding energy wasn't as strong as before, at least to a level Ming Qi could withstand.
"The primordial energy surrounding the primordial starry sky is Primordial Qi, the first layer of protection. Since you're destined by the divine map, you can enter. Simply try to find the entrance."
Ming Qi's actions were naturally perceived by Wu Xiang Tongzi, who understood that Ming Qi was doing this to avoid the massive recoil from the primordial energy.
However, Wuxiang Tongzi had always believed that since Mingqi was the destined recipient of the Divine Map, the Map wouldn't recklessly retaliate. It would surely leave him a passage to the center of the Map, allowing him to gradually grow in power and control it until the end.
After hearing Wuxiang Tongzi's words, Mingqi felt a certain truth in his thoughts, but he didn't dare concentrate his spiritual sense to search for it.
"If that's the case, then disperse your spiritual sense completely, filling the entire space. That way, the entrance will become clear."
Mingqi's approach was undoubtedly correct. Within a short while, he could clearly sense a narrow entrance somewhere in the outer Primordial Qi layer. It looked like a crack in the Primordial Qi layer.
"That's it!"
Finding this crack left Mingqi somewhat shocked, but also filled with great anticipation, anticipating what would happen after he mastered the Divine Map.
Focusing his spiritual sense once more, he accurately located the gap and crevice, then carefully guided it through.
"Alright!"
The progress was surprisingly smooth, this time encountering no obstruction at all. Within a breath, Ming Qi's mind sensed a brand new dimension appearing before him through his spiritual sense.
"Is this the inner space of the Divine Map?"
Looking at the dreamlike space before him, seemingly filled with meticulously crafted paintings of vast landscapes, Ming Qi sighed in awe. It was so remarkably similar that he almost had the illusion that he had entered a large-scale meticulous painting exhibition.
Of course, meticulous paintings couldn't exist in this world, so Ming Qi immediately zeroed in on anything within the space that could trigger fluctuations in his spiritual sense.
"No, how could there be nothing?"
After his spiritual sense swirled around, Ming Qi was surprised to find no trace of anything resembling a point of origin for his spiritual sense to attach to. This was odd. If he couldn't manipulate the Divine Map in this space, then could there be another dimension?
However, Ming Qi refused to give up. A second time, he focused his attention on the seemingly endless patterns.
Each of these patterns was a masterpiece of divine craftsmanship, with no trace of connection anywhere. It was as if everything was seamlessly integrated and naturally formed, a true divine masterpiece.
The patterns uniformly depicted mountains and rivers, pristine forests, desert rock formations, vast mountains and snowy plains, and so on. Above these diverse geographical features, a myriad of bizarre creatures emerged. Some were familiar to Ming Qi, such as wolves, insects, tigers, and leopards, as well as tigers and wolves hundreds of meters tall and flying birds as small as a fist.
Among these, there were even creatures Ming Qi had only heard of but had never seen in person, such as the mysterious four-clawed golden dragon, the winged celestial dragon, the ancient giant elephant, the great roc, and so on. In short, the vast array of creatures was a true feast for Ming Qi's eyes.
After a careful inspection, Ming Qi's gaze finally settled on a volcano that appeared poised to erupt. Though static, it inexplicably gave off a scorching sensation.
The gushing flames, the lava flowing down the mountainside, the blinding crimson, all gave him an incredibly awe-inspiring feeling.
"This volcano stands out so prominently. Could it be the point of control?"
Thinking of this, Ming Qi couldn't help but direct a strand of his spiritual sense to tentatively contact this striking volcano.
Ding!
As soon as his spiritual sense made contact with the illusory outline of the volcano, a crisp sound echoed in Ming Qi's mind, followed by a sound like a door opening.
As the sound grew louder, Ming Qi was shocked to discover that in the center of the space, the ground began to crack, and a dazzling, multicolored bead rose from the crack!
"I hit the mark! It's indeed opened through this volcano!"
Delighted, Ming Qi knew he was quite lucky. Without much effort, he immediately focused his spiritual awareness and entwined it with the giant orb of light.