The Yong River had arrived.
Qin Mu looked around. The Village Chief had once brought him through this area while searching for the Land of No Worries. The village where the Ghost Messenger guided souls shouldn't be too far from here. Perhaps five or six days' journey, and they could return to the Village of Broken Elders.
It was already the end of August, and the sun was still blazing fiercely overhead. Speaking of which, it had been quite a rugged journey. When Qin Mu had left the capital with Crown Prince Ling Yushu, it was still the season of late spring, but now summer was drawing to a close. Another season, and they would be returning to the village for the New Year.
The experiences and encounters along this road were nothing short of legendary.
They drifted downstream along the river. Suddenly, a misty vapor blew across the water, and then a thick white fog shrouded the great river, obscuring everything around them.
Qin Mu immediately halted. The others quickly stopped as well, standing motionless on the surface of the river.
Xiong Xiyu's heart tightened. She whispered, "Demons and monsters?"
Qin Mu shook his head. "Doesn't seem like it. It's probably one of the anomalies of the Great Ruins."
At that moment, the Wuyou Sword in the wooden scabbard on his back began to tinkle and hum. Qin Mu's heart stirred—the Wuyou Sword rarely produced its own sword cry. The last time it had done so was when they encountered his father Qin Hanzhen's treasure ship.
The Wuyou Sword continued to vibrate. From the mist, the clamor of people and horses gradually emerged, as though countless figures were passing through. Xiong Qier exclaimed softly, "Look beneath our feet—the water is gone!"
Qin Mu quickly looked down and saw that the Yong River beneath them had vanished without a trace, replaced by dry, yellow earth.
The mist slowly dissipated, growing thinner and thinner. All around, vague, moving silhouettes became faintly visible.
Qin Mu, Xiong Xiyu, and the others stood frozen, their bodies rigid. Around them stretched a vast Gobi desert under a sky filled with swirling yellow sand. Tens of thousands of divine abilities practitioners, dressed in ancient, archaic garb, were overseeing the construction of enormous buildings, each accompanied by a massive beast.
These buildings were not like human dwellings. The towers were tall and majestic, the pagodas pierced the clouds, and the palaces gleamed with golden splendor—as if built for giants or gods.
And atop lofty divine altars stood golden, radiant Celestial Beings. Some had bird heads and human bodies; others had beast heads and human bodies. Clad in golden armor, their divine eyes shone with light.
These were living deities, as if wherever they stood, eternal daylight reigned.
Tens of thousands of divine abilities practitioners labored under their supervision to forge a divine palace complex of grand and spectacular scale.
But wasn't this supposed to be the Yong River?
How had it become a desert?
Several hornless dragons pulled a divine carriage, hurtling through the sky. From far away, a voice that shook heaven and earth boomed: "By Imperial Decree of the High Sovereign: The Ministry of Works shall oversee the construction of the Western Palace and open waterways for transportation!"
Qin Mu was slightly stunned. "The High Sovereign? The third move of the Sword Diagram that the Village Chief taught me is called High Sovereign Tribulation! What is the connection between the High Sovereign in High Sovereign Tribulation and the High Sovereign of this Imperial Decree?"
A deity with a dragon's head and a human body, standing on a divine altar, bowed to receive the decree. Its body shook violently and transformed into an ancient dragon, which soared through the sky, summoning clouds and rain, stirring wind and waves, and drawing great waters to irrigate the desert.
At the same time, another deity leaned upon a bronze plow and transformed into a giant, carving mountains and digging channels to direct the water flow.
Yet another deity produced a precious vase and floated in midair. The vase pointed downward, and a surge of green erupted forth—the desert turned into grasslands, and dense forests grew in a frenzy.
Another deity set down a great cauldron. The moment it touched the ground, mountains rose from the earth, the terrain transformed abruptly, and the desert became green hills.
Qin Mu and the others watched in stunned silence. These deities of the High Sovereign era used boundless power to reshape heaven and earth. All the vast changes of seas becoming mulberry fields—nothing compared to this.
"This great river should be the Yong River, shouldn't it?"
Qin Mu stared blankly as the deity holding the bronze plow carved out a main river channel. The river stretched far, flowing eastward.
The river's form bore some resemblance to the Yong River, but its course was not exactly the same. It looked like the Yong River, but its waters were not as mighty.
Just then, the mist surged forward once more, swallowing everything ahead of them. In a daze, they felt the earth quake violently. A tremendous sound rang out, as though the heavens were collapsing and the earth was splitting apart. The mist revealed an apocalyptic scene—the sky was spinning, the ground overturning, volcanoes erupting, meteors streaking, thick smoke billowing, and thunder crashing. The once-magnificent palaces were submerged, and an entire civilization was buried.
They heard a rumbling sound behind them. Turning to look, they saw a great chasm slowly rising in the mist, severing the continent.
The mist gradually cleared, as though the rust of time and space were fading bit by bit. The great chasm behind them grew steadily clearer—waterfalls cascaded down, feeding into the Yong River.
The yellow sand beneath their feet turned back into flowing water, rushing eastward without cease, day and night.
*Plop. Plop.*
The two white bats, hanging upside down from Dragon Qilin's chin, were stunned. Their claws lost their grip, and they plunged into the water. They quickly flew up, clinging to each other and shivering: "The Great Ruins are too eerie! Sect Master Qin, send us back to the Nether Valley quickly!"
Qin Mu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You two bat brothers are yourselves part of the anomalies of the Great Ruins. What do you mean, the Great Ruins are too eerie? The two of you in the Nether Valley could scare countless treasure hunters to death."
The two white bats looked at each other. "We are anomalies too?"
Qin Mu was both amused and exasperated. These two had not the slightest self-awareness. The anomalies of the Nether Valley were terrifying beyond measure—various eerie creatures that even Celestial Beings could not guarantee they would escape unscathed. And these two brothers were the guardians of the Nether Valley—the anomalies among anomalies.
The mist around them had not yet fully dispersed. The great chasm in the distance remained hazy and indistinct.
Suddenly, clusters of mist walked toward them. By the time they arrived, the mist had taken on gray-white humanoid forms, then passed through their bodies with a soft *whoosh*.
Everyone quickly turned around. The mist gathered together again, and a voice from within the fog spoke: "What happened during the High Sovereign Era? Why did this magnificent age vanish from heaven and earth? Was the scene just now an echo of history—an imprint of past events burned into the fabric of time, which through chance and coincidence re-enacted that moment? This land is truly wondrous, and the ancient empire is truly astounding."
"Your Majesty, the Daoist temples and the Great Thunderclap Monastery have some records that have been passed down. If Your Majesty issues a decree, they can send those records over."
"Good. Send for them. I have no desire to deal with those monks and Daoists—they are always telling me not to implement reforms. If we do not reform, how can we change the lives of the common people? I do not wish to see them."
The leading cloud of mist moved toward the great chasm, and a voice drifted from within: "I do not want our Kingdom of Kaihuang to meet the same fate. We must learn from the lessons of the previous dynasty. What a magnificent empire it was—gods governing the mortal world, working on behalf of the people. It was so powerful, so prosperous—why did it leave behind only these ruins..."
...
Qin Mu's heart surged with emotion as he gazed toward that figure of mist. The Founding Emperor?
In the genealogy of the Qin clan, the first name listed was the Founding Emperor—the oldest ancestor of the Qin family!
He hurried after those humanoid figures of mist. They moved with great speed, and within a few steps they had left him far behind. Qin Mu activated his Heaven-Stealing Divine Legs, hurtling forward like lightning, but the figures of mist suddenly vanished without a trace.
Qin Mu stood there, stricken and lost, staring blankly.
The Founding Emperor.
The Kingdom of Kaihuang.
It should have been the nation that existed before the catastrophe of the Great Ruins. But what relationship did the Kingdom of Kaihuang have with the Land of No Worries?
Xiong Xiyu and the others caught up. Xiong Xiyu's eyes shimmered as she looked around. "Sect Master Qin, what was that just now?"
"An echo of history."
Qin Mu composed himself and said, "There are many strange occurrences at the source of the Yong River. This place may connect to several worlds. Many oddities happen when night falls. I didn't expect strange things to happen in daylight as well. From the echo just now, this should have been one of the High Sovereign's temporary palaces. Perhaps we can find relics from that era here."
"An echo of history?"
Xiong Xiyu and the others were all taken aback, somewhat confused. How could something that had already happened echo back?
But Qin Mu had witnessed an echo of history before—on the treasure ship, he had seen the scene of his father Qin Hanzhen being ambushed.
Such echoes of history were usually time imprints left by powerful beings. When they resurfaced, they were typically triggered by a person, object, or event related to them, carrying a strong element of chance.
The echo on the treasure ship had been triggered by Qin Mu and the Wuyou Sword. What had triggered this echo?
"This time it was two echoes!"
Qin Mu suddenly realized—or rather, an echo within an echo!
The Founding Emperor had come here, triggering the first echo, which revealed the scene of the deities under the High Sovereign reshaping the desert in ancient times. The second echo was the appearance of the Founding Emperor and his companions on the Yong River!
The first echo was a part of the second, and had also been recorded in the annals of time.
"Then what triggered this echo? Was it the Wuyou Sword again?"
Behind Qin Mu, the Wuyou Sword had gone quiet, no longer emitting its sword cry. The echo of history had completely dispersed. There was not a wisp of mist on the river's surface—the sky was clear and bright, the sun blazing fiercely.
Where had that mist come from, and where had it gone?
"This is too strange—why would these things happen here... Wait. The echo of history also occurred on Father's treasure ship. And the treasure ship exists in the rift between the Netherworld and the real world, sealed by the Hive Seal that blocks the entrance between them. If the conditions are the same, then the echo of history occurring here must also be because this is a passage connecting to other worlds!"
Qin Mu pondered. Perhaps the echoes of history were reflections cast upon the barriers between worlds. Once triggered, they would replay the past.
He and the Village Chief had also encountered a Ghost Messenger near here, entering the Realm of the Living Dead in Fengdu. The second time they came, they had encountered a Ghost Messenger as well, and had entered the Realm of the Living Dead nearby to borrow the Moon Ship.
The Realm of the Living Dead was nearby. The Netherworld should also be nearby.
"The source of the Yong River is more like an important node connecting to other worlds. Perhaps there are passages to other realms here. There must be nodes that link to other worlds!"
Qin Mu's heart, recently shaken, returned to calm. Layers of radiance spun within his pupils as his Azure Sky Eye manifested. He scanned in every direction but found nothing unusual.
He looked up and gazed for a long while, then suddenly noticed something strange.
The sky was the same azure blue—yet he saw two clouds meet and pass right through each other!
In his understanding, when two clouds collided, they would merge together. But these two clouds, though they passed through one another, seemed not to have touched at all!
This was more as if the two clouds existed in different spaces, appearing to meet but never truly coming into contact.
Which meant—above their heads, there were two skies, two skies overlapping one another!
"No—it might be three!"
Qin Mu leapt upward, hurtling toward the heights. A sudden gust of wind struck him, sending shivers through his body. "It could also be four overlapping skies, or five..."