Activating the rune again and again, teleporting without pause, Lin Moyu headed toward Yushen Heaven-and-Earth.
He had taken who knew how many years to reach the Divine Servant Hall, yet the return required only one year.
All along the way, he said nothing.
Lin Moyu poured all his effort into sensing the rune. At the moment the rune activated, he could feel the power of yin-yang and real and empty merging together.
He was extremely sensitive to runes. No one surpassed this talent. Just during this return journey, Lin Moyu already had a foundation in his heart, gaining many insights.
He felt he was drawing closer and closer to the end point of formation Dao.
Only when he saw Heaven-and-Earth wreckage again did Lin Moyu slow down.
This place had already left the range of the Divine Servant Hall. The hall spirit could not surveil here.
"Come out," Lin Moyu transmitted to Hongmeng Gemstone.
Hongmeng Gemstone transformed and appeared, shouting loudly, "Finally I can come out. I was suffocating to death."
Lin Moyu said, "Tell me. What did you feel back then?"
Hongmeng Gemstone tilted its head and thought. "At first, I only felt some power suppressing me. I could not transform, and I could not speak. Later that power grew stronger, and I fell asleep. After that, I do not know why, but I suddenly woke up. Yet I still could not transform, until now."
Its feeling was very hazy, hard to explain clearly.
Lin Moyu knew that power suppressing Hongmeng Gemstone should have come from the Divine Servant Hall, not from the hall spirit itself, but from the Divine Servant Hall's own power.
The Divine Servant Hall should be an extremely powerful treasure, stronger than a Hongmeng supreme treasure. Being able to suppress the Calamity Scepter seemed reasonable.
Lin Moyu asked, "Have you heard of the Divine Servant Hall?"
Hongmeng Gemstone shook its head. "Never heard of it. But I have a strange feeling."
"What feeling?"
Hongmeng Gemstone spoke while thinking. "When I first woke up, I felt that place was somewhat familiar, like I had been there before."
When Hongmeng Gemstone first woke up, he was still within the Divine Servant Hall's range. The invisible power from the Divine Servant Hall filled the void. What Hongmeng Gemstone sensed should have been that power.
Lin Moyu asked, "Any other feelings?"
Hongmeng Gemstone said, "Also, I feel that the power that suppressed me before, I feel I could actually resist it."
Its feeling might not be accurate, but might not be wrong either.
If Hongmeng Gemstone said so, it must have a reason. It would not shoot blindly.
Lin Moyu said, "Before, you said it seemed you were missing a segment of memory. I suspect what you are missing is not only memory."
Hongmeng Gemstone said oddly, "Besides memory, what else?"
Lin Moyu said, "Power. Your memory is not missing, it is sealed, together with your power. Think about it. The other four gemstones all have their uses. What is your use?"
Hongmeng Gemstone froze. It had never considered what Lin Moyu asked.
Soul, balance, element, domain, the four gemstones each had a use, and it, aside from controlling and commanding them, indeed did not seem to have much use.
Even the Calamity Scepter itself could be used to smash people, but it seemed it could not even smash people.
Now thinking carefully, it seemed it truly was not useful.
It made a bitter face. "Master, do not say that."
Lin Moyu chuckled. "You definitely have a use. It is just that your use, along with your memory, was sealed."
Hongmeng Gemstone let out an "Ah." "That actually makes sense."
Lin Moyu said, "In my view, your level should be higher than Hongmeng supreme treasures, but the power you can currently exert is even a bit worse than Hongmeng supreme treasures."
Hongmeng Gemstone cried out, "Then does Master have a way to undo my seal?"
Lin Moyu shook his head. "For now, no. I have not even seen the seal. How could I undo it? Wait. There should be an opportunity in the future."
Hongmeng Gemstone made a bitter face. "Fine. I can only wait."
Lin Moyu felt the Calamity Scepter was not simple. It was stronger than the Chess of All Living Beings and the Zijin Thunder Pagoda. Even among Hongmeng supreme treasures, it was a top-tier existence.
"Let us go. First return."
Activating the rune again, Lin Moyu continued toward Yushen Heaven-and-Earth.
His connection with Yushen Heaven-and-Earth grew tighter and tighter.
About one year after departure, Lin Moyu finally returned.
Yushen Heaven-and-Earth at this moment, compared to when he left, had changed in appearance.
The entire heaven-and-earth was several times larger than when he left, with power immensely strong, clearly already at the limit of a Nine-Wheel Heaven-and-Earth, only a hair's breadth from a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth.
Outside the heaven-and-earth, the vast root system of the Hongmeng Spirit Tree sprawled, guarding the heaven-and-earth firmly within.
The grand arrays he had previously laid outside were already nearly unable to contain it.
Little Tree sensed Lin Moyu's aura.
"Master, you have finally returned."
Lin Moyu asked, "How long was I gone?"
Little Tree said, "Not too long. About eight thousand years."
Eight thousand years indeed was not too long.
But in just eight thousand years, how could Yushen Heaven-and-Earth change so much? It exceeded expectations.
Lin Moyu looked into the distance, his gaze passing across hundreds of millions of li, and saw Lin Mohan's Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth.
That heaven-and-earth was still evolving. By its scale, it had not yet broken free of its embryonic form.
Eight thousand years, indeed about right.
But why had Yushen Heaven-and-Earth changed so much in these eight thousand years?
Lin Moyu asked, "What happened in these eight thousand years? Why did Yushen Heaven-and-Earth change so much?"
Little Tree said, "Nothing happened. It is just that I attracted enough Heaven-and-Earth wreckage and began absorbing the power within the wreckage. From then on, Yushen Heaven-and-Earth's growth became faster and faster."
"Later, more and more Heaven-and-Earth wreckage I attracted, and Yushen Heaven-and-Earth developed faster and faster. I feel that in a few thousand more years, the first batch of living beings in Yushen Heaven-and-Earth should be birthed."
Lin Moyu understood.
Yushen Heaven-and-Earth's foundation was too solid. Since it appeared, it had always been in a state of adjustment and growth. Other heavens-and-earth needed hundreds of millions of years to evolve and expand. Yet how many years had Yushen Heaven-and-Earth existed in total? The eight thousand years he was away actually occupied most of Yushen Heaven-and-Earth's existence.
Lin Moyu asked, "How are Xiaopeng and Chaos Child?"
Little Tree said, "They are still being nurtured. After I altered their foundations, they are like the first batch of living beings, and are being nurtured very slowly. I estimate they will be born together with the first batch of living beings."
"But they should be stronger than those fellows, because the foundation is different."
Lin Moyu nodded. "You have worked hard these years."
Little Tree said, "Not hard. I feel Yushen Heaven-and-Earth is about to evolve. But these Heaven-and-Earth wreckage seem not strong enough. If only they were not wreckage."
If they were not wreckage, but complete heavens-and-earth one by one, even the weakest heaven-and-earth could provide far more Heaven-and-Earth power than wreckage.
Heaven-and-Earth power was the key to evolving from a Nine-Wheel Heaven-and-Earth into a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth. It required enough quantity.
Lin Moyu said, "Leave this to me."
He formed a clone, carrying the Hongmeng Spirit Tree seed to send to Lin Mohan, and left another clone to continue studying the rune.
The main body returned to Yushen Heaven-and-Earth to accompany his wives. Eight thousand years apart, longing filled his heart. He needed to accompany them well.
The Hongmeng Spirit Tree bore vast quantities of Heaven-and-Earth wreckage. During the eight thousand years Lin Moyu was gone, Little Tree continuously attracted Heaven-and-Earth wreckage, regardless of strength, taking all.
Now, the Heaven-and-Earth wreckage it bore already exceeded five thousand.
As Little Tree grew, the speed of attracting wreckage did not slow, but sped up. At the current rate, in another five thousand years, the number of wreckage it bore could reach ten thousand.
Unfortunately, these were all Heaven-and-Earth wreckage, not true heavens-and-earth.
Relying on Heaven-and-Earth wreckage, Yushen Heaven-and-Earth could also evolve into a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, but the growth speed would be very slow.
After becoming a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, the core pagoda representing the heaven-and-earth's strength tier would break through the nine-layer limit and reach ten layers. At the same time, beside the pagoda, a palace would evolve.
This palace was called the Hongmeng Hall, a palace exclusive to Hongmeng true supreme powerhouses.
After that, for every increment of strength the heaven-and-earth gained, the pagoda would add one layer, and the palace would expand accordingly. At the same time, the strength of the Hongmeng true supreme powerhouse would also increase by a fraction.
The growth of a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth had almost no upper limit. As long as power was sufficient, it could keep growing.
But the growth of a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth also depended extremely on the heavens-and-earth it carried. When a Hongmeng Spirit Tree attracted all heavens-and-earth of this Great Annihilation cycle and completed the carrying, the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth would reach its limit and be difficult to advance further.
Zijin Emperor's heaven-and-earth limit back then was forty-nine layers. Later, he failed to walk into the next step. Unwilling, he used his own method to hard-resist Great Annihilation, resulting in the Hongmeng Spirit Tree being destroyed, and the heavens-and-earth it carried collapsing as well.
From then on, his Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth fell into decline.
He exhausted every method and still could not revive the Hongmeng Spirit Tree. Without a Hongmeng Spirit Tree, a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth could only continue declining.
Thus, in this Great Annihilation cycle, he scattered the remaining parts of the Hongmeng Spirit Tree, hoping some heaven-and-earth could replant a Hongmeng Spirit Tree and possess the foundation to ascend into a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth.
Then he would refine that heaven-and-earth, replace heaven-and-earth, and live several more lives.
If this method succeeded, he could live life after life. After all, those true supreme powerhouses without Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, how could they be his opponents? Those true supreme powerhouses needed immense time before they could step into the Life-Forbidden Zone. Before an existence like him, they only had the fate of being slaughtered.
Unfortunately, he met Lin Moyu.
He failed.
Yet with a remnant soul left in the Divine Servant Hall, he did not truly die, but became a divine servant.
Lin Moyu now thoroughly understood everything about Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, and also knew what to do next.
He had Heaven-and-Earth wreckage, and that was enough.
As for complete heavens-and-earth, they did not exist now, but that did not mean they would not exist next.
Little Tree carried Heaven-and-Earth wreckage, absorbed Heaven-and-Earth power within, and had already controlled them.
Lin Moyu did not even need to enter the heavens-and-earth. He could directly refine them with Hongmeng Purple Fire. When Hongmeng Purple Fire was full, the Heaven-and-Earth wreckage would collapse, leaving only the empty shell of the Heaven-and-Earth core.
Then he would use Heaven-Exploding Earth-Rending to reenact the heaven-and-earth.
At the moment of reenactment, the newly born Heaven-and-Earth power was the purest and most beneficial to Yushen Heaven-and-Earth.
Lin Moyu had already done this many times.
The difference from before was only that previously it was Yushen Heaven-and-Earth directly absorbing. Now it was the Hongmeng Spirit Tree absorbing first, then feeding back to Yushen Heaven-and-Earth.
After passing through the Hongmeng Spirit Tree, Heaven-and-Earth power carried a special aura. It was precisely this aura that could cause Yushen Heaven-and-Earth to evolve into a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth.
No one had ever tried cultivating a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth this way. After all, no one possessed a heaven-defying art like Heaven-Exploding Earth-Rending.
Hongmeng Purple Fire burned fiercely. Heaven-and-earth evolution was likewise in full swing.
The Hongmeng Spirit Tree was like a bottomless hole. No matter how many heavens-and-earth were reenacted at once, it could absorb them all.
Little Tree cried out with excitement, "Master, at this speed, it will not take a thousand years. Yushen Heaven-and-Earth will surely evolve to the Hongmeng level."
As the central pillar of the heaven-and-earth, it was familiar with every change. Its judgment would not be wrong.
A thousand years was not long.
Lin Moyu also needed that time. His comprehension of the rune had reached the extreme. With a bit more time, he could break through. Then real and empty as one, yin and yang fused, he would step into the end point of formation Dao.
At that time, it would also be the moment the Hongmeng supreme treasure was forged.
Lin Moyu murmured, "Good. A thousand years from now is when I strike at the Heaven-and-Earth Wall."
Hongmeng Gemstone asked, "Master, will you not wait until the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth is stronger?"
Lin Moyu shook his head. "No need. Having a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth is enough. Whether it is strong or not is irrelevant."
"Everyone has walked into a misconception. To take the last step does not require being strong. One only needs to satisfy the condition."
"It is like opening an indestructible door. As long as you have the key, you do not need much force. But if you have no key, no matter how much force you use, it will not work."
Hongmeng Gemstone was somewhat puzzled. "Did Master not say before, one force breaks ten techniques, great strength makes miracles, that as long as the fist is hard enough, there is nothing one cannot do? Why change now?"
Lin Moyu smiled. "I did not change. A big fist is hard truth, yes. But the premise is your fist must be big enough."
"Before the Heaven-and-Earth Wall, no one's fist is bigger than his. That is the limit. The upper bound is fixed there."
"No matter how strong a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth becomes, it cannot be stronger than him."
The "him" Lin Moyu referred to was the master the hall spirit spoke of. All rules were set by him. Hongmeng true supreme powerhouses, no matter how strong, were only fit to become his divine servants. How strong he was had no edge in sight.
Lin Moyu knew that as long as he was still in the Life-Forbidden Zone, as long as he had not reached the next step, no matter how strong he became, he could not break the rules.
That existence had already surpassed his cognition. Without reaching that step, he would never understand.
Within the Life-Forbidden Zone, hierarchy was strict. Sometimes one could fight across ranks, but not too far. And between Hongmeng and him was the greatest rank of all.
Lin Moyu believed this because he saw the Divine Servant Hall, which could grant Hongmeng true supreme powerhouses eternal existence in that manner. Such an existence had completely surpassed this level.
Thus, the meaning of a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth was only to let him forge a Hongmeng supreme treasure.
And the meaning of a Hongmeng supreme treasure was to serve as the key to open the great door.
If he tried to force his way through, he would only smash his head bloody, and even dying from collision would be useless.
Hongmeng Gemstone clearly did not fully understand Lin Moyu's thinking, but it chose to trust Lin Moyu.
If Lin Moyu believed something was right, it surely would not be wrong.
It had once seen the face of one of Lin Moyu's lives, and that face shocked it. Though it could not remember the identity, the feeling in the depths of memory would not be wrong.
From that moment, Hongmeng Gemstone completely changed its attitude toward Lin Moyu.
Now it was the same.
Lin Moyu said, "Continue. We will know soon."
Hongmeng Purple Fire kept burning, refining Heaven-and-Earth wreckage one after another. Coordinating with Heaven-Exploding Earth-Rending, heavens-and-earth were continuously reenacted, providing Heaven-and-Earth power in an unending stream.
Yushen Heaven-and-Earth grew stronger and stronger, and along with it, Lin Moyu's own power gradually strengthened.
The rune research did not pause for an instant. Lin Moyu felt he was drawing closer and closer to the end point.
These matters were all handled by clones. Lin Moyu's main body accompanied Ning Yiyi and the others.
In the three hundredth year after Lin Moyu returned, Ning Yiyi finally became pregnant.
With Lin Moyu's current ability, having children was difficult, but also not difficult.
If he wanted a natural pregnancy, it was extremely hard. Not many people could bear the blessings of his power.
But if he insisted, he could change the rules and easily make his wives pregnant.
So it was not difficult.
Lin Moyu did not do that. Everything followed nature.
Lin Moyu was the master of the heaven-and-earth, and Ning Yiyi and the others were the heaven-and-earth's mistresses.
When a mistress became pregnant, the heaven-and-earth naturally sent down blessings. As long as the heaven-and-earth possessed something, the best of it would be delivered.
One pregnancy lasted a hundred years.
After a hundred years, Ning Yiyi finally gave birth.
On this day, Yushen Heaven-and-Earth's rules rang in unison. Boundless rosy radiance descended. Hundreds of millions of golden lotuses spread across the heaven-and-earth.
Not only Yushen Heaven-and-Earth, but the Ten-Direction Domains as well.
At the instant the child was born, heaven-and-earth real and empty alternated. Boundless vitality descended.
The child, just having landed with a cry, saw its cultivation rise in a straight line. Its flesh body and soul directly reached the Dao Venerable level.
Rosy radiance filled the spaces between heaven and earth.
A mistress giving birth was the greatest joy in heaven and earth.
Lin Moyu looked into the void. In his eyes, Yushen Heaven-and-Earth appeared as a different scene.
His child stirred the real and empty and yin and yang within Yushen Heaven-and-Earth. Heaven-and-earth rules erupted on their own, gathering into a sea to send blessings.
Little Tree also absorbed Heaven-and-Earth power at the same time, sending over the extremely pure Heaven-and-Earth power to lay the most solid foundation for the child.
The rosy radiance shone and reflected beyond the heaven-and-earth into the void. In the Life-Forbidden Zone, annihilating power became visible. Endless annihilating power surged like an ocean current, vast and roiling.
In the past, Lin Moyu could not see annihilating power. After completing soul-flesh unification, as long as he wished, he could see it.
Little Tree's roots pierced into it, drawing power from the surging flow and feeding it back into the heaven-and-earth.
Everything, fortunes and calamities alike, had its rules. Everyone moved within rules.
But in this instant, in Lin Moyu's eyes, some things changed.
The surging annihilating power was only the surface phenomenon.
The Life-Forbidden Zone was likewise only the surface.
There was something hidden behind it.
At the moment his child was born, a trace of extremely faint aura flowed from the Life-Forbidden Zone into Yushen Heaven-and-Earth, entering his child's body in a special way.
That aura was extremely faint and contained special rules. Even he, in a normal state, could not see it.
Because he was the child's father, with intimate bloodline ties, he could see it through that link.
If another child were born, he would not be able to see it.
So that was it.
The Life-Forbidden Zone was also the source of life.
When any living being was born, the Life-Forbidden Zone would sense it and send down the most basic seed of life.
Without this seed of life, living beings could not be nurtured normally.
And this seed of life came from the deepest part of the Life-Forbidden Zone.
The Life-Forbidden Zone meant death. The annihilating power within could destroy all living beings.
Yet at the extreme of death, it nurtured the strongest vitality.
And that vitality was the source of all heavens-and-earth and all living beings within them.
The Heaven-and-Earth Wall governed the Great Calamity and controlled the future of heaven-and-earth.
But the vitality within the Life-Forbidden Zone directly controlled the nurturing and birth of heaven-and-earth and living beings.
It was more fundamental.
The origin land of life could also be seen as the "empty" side of the Life-Forbidden Zone.
Real and empty, yin and yang, existed everywhere. Heaven-and-earth was so, the Life-Forbidden Zone was so, and so were my runes.
A truth he had understood for many years, his understanding of runes finally broke through at this moment.
A sudden enlightenment came with the child's arrival and fell upon Lin Moyu, the father.
His soul bathed in thunderlight. His body rumbled without cease. Two runes of yin-yang and real and empty fused into one within the thunderlight.
In Lin Moyu's palm appeared a strange rune.
This rune could transform in a thousand ways, could be formless or have form.
One rune could form an array. One rune could reenact a heaven-and-earth.
What this rune could do depended on Lin Moyu's single thought.
The end point of formation Dao had finally been reached.
Lin Moyu murmured inwardly.
At this moment, his heart was unusually calm.
Reaching the end point of formation Dao did not make him wildly excited.
He stood at the end point. Everything about runes and arrays held no more secrets in his eyes.
On the back of his hand, the rune the master left behind flashed. With a slight shake of Lin Moyu's hand, it naturally dispersed.
He no longer needed it.
For such a rune, if Lin Moyu wanted it, a single thought would produce it.
"Moyu, come see our child."
A gentle call sounded.
Ning Yiyi held the newborn, smiling as she looked at Lin Moyu together with the other wives.
Lin Moyu took the child.
A chubby, sturdy baby boy, very adorable.
At the child's brow, a rune flashed.
Lin Moyu knew that his child should also have extremely high talent in runes.
This breakthrough was thanks to this child.
Ning Yiyi smiled. "Moyu, give the child a name."
Lin Moyu thought, hoping he would be smooth and safe all his life. "Call him Shun'an."
Ning Yiyi was delighted. "Good. From now on, you are Lin Shun'an."
Lin Shun'an, a very ordinary name, yet carrying the most beautiful wish.
Lin Shun'an was born, and Lin Moyu broke through. Yushen Heaven-and-Earth had double blessings.
In the days after, Lin Moyu continued accompanying his wives. Perhaps fate had not yet arrived. Aside from Lin Shun'an, no one else became pregnant.
While teaching Lin Shun'an, Lin Moyu also refined the Hongmeng Divine Jade. He already knew what kind of Hongmeng supreme treasure he would refine.
In the blink of an eye, five hundred years passed.
The time Little Tree predicted arrived.
In recent decades, Yushen Heaven-and-Earth had rumbled unceasingly. It had reached its limit and was about to break through.
Lin Moyu came beside the Heaven-and-Earth core.
The nine-layer pagoda also trembled without cease. Above the pagoda, the phantom of the tenth layer faintly appeared.
Little Tree's voice came. "Master, it is going to break through."
Lin Moyu said, "Break through with full force."
He had been waiting for this moment.
The Hongmeng Divine Jade had been refined almost completely, lacking only the final step.
At the instant Yushen Heaven-and-Earth ascended into a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, a powerful Hongmeng origin aura would be produced.
This was the key to forging a Hongmeng supreme treasure.
Little Tree kept absorbing Heaven-and-Earth power. The heavens-and-earth it carried already exceeded six thousand.
All six thousand heavens-and-earth were reenacted, contributing Heaven-and-Earth power of incomparable purity and strength.
After Little Tree accumulated enough Heaven-and-Earth power, it suddenly shouted, "Break through."
The heaven-and-earth boomed in explosion. Countless rifts appeared in the void. Endless Heaven-and-Earth power poured from the rifts like a Milky Way from the Nine Heavens, cascading down.
Yushen Heaven-and-Earth rapidly grew stronger, remade in body and bone.
This time was not an increase, but a metamorphosis, an evolutionary transformation.
From a Nine-Wheel Heaven-and-Earth, it leapt into a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth.
From now on, as long as its power was strong enough, the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth could continuously grow stronger.
It was said there was no upper limit, but Lin Moyu knew there still was an upper limit.
On the nine-layer pagoda, the floating tenth layer quickly solidified.
A small palace naturally formed.
At the same time, clusters of purple mist poured out.
Hongmeng origin aura.
Lin Moyu's heart stirred. Countless points of light flew from his body and condensed into a purple jade disc.
This purple jade disc was the earlier Hongmeng Purple Jade. Over these years, Lin Moyu had refined it into an embryonic form, only missing the last step.
The jade disc was sent into the Hongmeng origin aura. On the disc, countless runes immediately appeared.
These runes looked many, but in truth there was only one. All runes were evolved from that single rune.
"Refine."
Lin Moyu let out a low shout and formally began refining.