She helped her put away the River Chart?

Jian Chou’s gaze met hers, and what passed through both their eyes was understanding.

She smiled: “Thank you, Laozu.”

Luye Laozu said nothing more, and within a few steps had walked back to White Crane Great Emperor’s side.

Several gazes from nearby cast over, all hiding some confusion.

They were Fu Jiansheng, Xie Buchen, Yingxiu, and Yueying.

Others couldn’t hear what Luye Laozu had said to her. Though it was just such a brief exchange of a few sentences, at this time, with these two people of such special identities, and not letting others hear, it was bound to make people’s imaginations run wild.

Fu Jiansheng was walking together with Yueying, though not very close.

Yingxiu was closer to the Feixie Heaven group, only occasionally turning to glance over.

Xie Buchen was different.

He had originally entered together with Jian Chou. Just now, it was only because Luye Laozu had glanced at him that he had tactfully stepped back a few paces. Now he walked back up, saying indifferently: “You two seem to have discussed something unpleasant.”

Jian Chou raised an eyebrow slightly, directly denying: “This time, the strategizing Fellow Daoist Xie has guessed wrong. What Laozu and I discussed was not only not a bad thing, but rather an extremely good thing.”

After speaking, she turned to look at him.

That gaze revealed some mockery, and even more killing intent that was difficult to discern as real or fake.

Xie Buchen stopped asking.

Between him and Jian Chou, everything was half-true and half-false. Sometimes truth sounded like lies, and lies sounded like truth—it was really too difficult to distinguish.

So, better not to distinguish.

Instead, Jian Chou suddenly asked him: “Speaking of which, after forty-four years have passed, before Fellow Daoist Xie ascended, did you still not investigate the matter of Kunwu’s Zhou Tian Star Formation? That nine-headed bird also remained without a trace?”

Xie Buchen shook his head.

He also very much wanted to know what secrets were hidden behind this, but this mystery had never been unraveled. Right until he left the Yuanshi Realm, he had no clues whatsoever.

This was not a lie.

Jian Chou could tell, or rather, Xie Buchen’s answer was within her expectations, so she lowered her gaze, seeming thoughtful, and said nothing more.

The group walked forward for a very long stretch, gradually becoming familiar with the situation in the underground of the Desolate Domain. Led by White Crane Great Emperor and the other Immortal Venerables at the front, they each took to the air, staying close to the dried riverbed and accelerating forward.

Every riverbed had once been a winding blood vessel in Pangu’s body.

They crisscrossed within the human body, and now they also crisscrossed in this desolate and silent underground.

Like a giant net.

If not for everyone being able to discern direction based on their width and narrowness, even this group of great powers would probably lose their way here.

The further forward they went, the wider the road became.

After turning several bends, it became a nearly straight road, broad and enormous, pitch-black and hollow, leading forward.

Jian Chou guessed they had reached Pangu’s arm.

At this time, the riverbed was finally no longer completely blank.

In this underground that never saw sunlight year-round, many strange flowers and exotic plants actually grew, with extremely peculiar shapes, though their colors were all rather dull.

When people passed overhead, they could still see these plants recoil in alarm.

Immortal Lord Bixi, who had been walking close to the left wall, discovered traces left by cultivators’ battles at the edges.

Some thick, some thin.

Some formed huge deep pits, others were just ordinary palm prints.

Though more traces had been covered by the vegetation on the ground, just from these alone one could deduce that people had fought here.

After Luye Laozu looked, she said: “These should be from the Saint Immortals who entered sixty thousand years ago.”

The Pangu Desolate Domain drifted through the universe. Apart from cultivators, no one else would fight here. Moreover, these traces were obvious.

Everyone nodded.

But at this time, the atmosphere inexplicably became somewhat subtle.

The batch of Saint Immortals from sixty thousand years ago should not have encountered what they were facing now, so entering the Desolate Domain, they should have been after Pangu’s inheritance.

But how far had they come?

Among this group, there were already people who had struck at their companions.

Today they had forty people here, each one extraordinary. Who knew what might happen?

Everyone had their own thoughts, but at this moment, no one spoke plainly. They just became twelve times more alert, secretly vigilant.

The group continued forward.

Soon they passed this section, and after about another hour forward, they actually felt wind ahead, and when the light from the Changye Scrolls shone over, they couldn’t illuminate anything—just pitch blackness, as if falling into the void.

Jian Chou’s brows immediately furrowed.

Everyone’s steps paused.

White Crane Great Emperor and the others exchanged glances but continued forward.

The range illuminated by the Changye Scrolls immediately became wider, so that pitch-black existence that couldn’t be lit up also became clear.

It was actually a huge hole like a sinkhole!

The originally sharp cut edges, after years of erosion by cosmic stellar flows, already showed some weathering traces, but everyone present were battle-hardened great powers. How could they not see that this cut came from outside, and had been severed to this point? From the outside, it would probably look even longer and larger!

The wind they had felt earlier was blowing from this hole.

But looking up and out, there was nothing, just pitch-black void without a single star visible.

“This is a wound, isn’t it?”

“It hasn’t healed. It seems it should have been left from the Long Night War, and not long before the Great Venerable’s fall…”

“The power of the Divine Clan is truly terrifying.”

Several Saint Immortals couldn’t help but sigh, imagining what kind of terrifying existence could leave scars on Pangu’s body, and they couldn’t help but shudder.

More frightening still, this was just the beginning.

The further they went, the more such wounds there were, and some had even split into abyss after abyss, connected only at the bottom, making one wonder if Pangu’s entire arm had nearly been severed!

White Crane Great Emperor’s expression gradually grew grave. After crossing that abyss and looking back, he finally said: “When Pangu the Great Venerable led humanity’s migration to the stars, he had the great power to open the heavens. What could cause such wounds on His body must have been those ancient deities. Unfortunately, in that Long Night battle of remote antiquity, our ancestors struggled through hardships, barely able to ensure survival, leaving behind too few records. We can hardly deduce what happened then.”

“Wasn’t it said that in this battle, all deities were annihilated and the Long Night dispersed?”

The one who responded was actually Yueying.

He had also crossed over and was likewise looking back at this abyss. His slightly lowered eyes held a gaze difficult to detect, actually hiding some sorrow.

“Those deities, though born in the universe, feared humanity’s growth and dreaded human cultivators mastering the universe’s rules, so they waged war against humanity. The most sinister among them was a deity called ‘Musi.’ Initially, he was friendly with the ancient ancestors, always saying the two races shouldn’t war. But in the end, he came under the pretense of making peace, deceived our race’s defenses, causing countless innocent ancient ancestors to perish, forcing the Great Venerable to establish reincarnation to preserve humanity’s existence. Only the Great Venerable himself fell from exhaustion…”

Being Saint Immortals who had entered the Desolate Domain, everyone had heard something about this history related to Pangu, but none as detailed as Yueying.

White Crane Great Emperor knew some, but that was because he had cultivated for the longest time.

He hadn’t expected Yueying to know as well.

This Saint Immortal was often in closed-door cultivation and rarely seen. He was somewhat curious: “How did Fellow Daoist Yueying come to know this?”

“I happened to obtain some ancient texts left from remote antiquity, so I know a little, but only this much. If the Great Emperor wants to ask further, this one knows nothing more.”

Yueying appeared quite modest.

He smiled and cupped his hands, then said nothing more.

At this moment, someone nearby seemed quite unable to stand his previous words and laughed coldly, interjecting: “We’re only knowing some minor details, seeing the forest for the trees, glimpsing just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows? Perhaps the facts are completely different from the legends of that time?”

This voice carried several traces of mockery.

Everyone was startled upon hearing it. Following the sound, they saw it was actually “Yingxiu,” who had the lowest cultivation here and had only been promoted to Saint Immortal a couple of days ago!

Immediately, people frowned.

Though most of them weren’t familiar with Yueying either, the cultivation world respected strength, and everyone still needed to be somewhat polite when speaking, with some sense of propriety.

This snake demon was being rather excessive.

Yueying also looked at him. After meeting his utterly unabashed gaze, his smile faded considerably as he asked: “This little friend Yingxiu seems to have something to say?”

“How could we demon race learn human skills?”

It was a retort that stabbed back.

This was saying that such petty tricks as “having something to say” were beneath the demon race, while also scorning Yueying.

“Yingxiu” had no intention of restraining himself.

“I just feel that as a demon standing here listening to you discuss human affairs is rather boring.”

The cultivators from Great Luo Heaven all changed expressions.

Those from Feixie Heaven showed little change, though they found it somewhat strange that Yingxiu, who usually didn’t stand out or cause trouble, would suddenly say such things. But they were also truly impatient.

After all, constantly hearing “our human race” was indeed nauseating.

Daidai covered her mouth with pink gauze and laughed, smoothing things over: “Alright, whether it’s caring about human race or deities, or whatever is born at dawn and dies at dusk, looking at this won’t help us. The key is to find that thing that can restore reincarnation, isn’t it? Let’s keep moving.”

As she spoke, her boneless body leaned toward “Yingxiu.”

She actually smiled seductively: “Young one, how did sister not know you had such a sharp tongue and were so charming?”

She had been smoothing things over in the first part, but the latter sentence directly admitted that “Yingxiu’s” previous words were exactly her thoughts.

The cultivators from Great Luo Heaven were all glaring in anger.

Jian Chou also raised her eyes to glance at the two of them.

At this moment, Daidai had already pressed against “Yingxiu’s” shoulder. “Yingxiu” frowned, inexplicably glanced at Jian Chou, quickly pushed the person away, and said to Daidai with a dark expression: “Have some self-respect.”

Self… what?

Self-respect???

Daidai could hardly believe what she had heard. Were her ears broken? It was one thing for that Purple Wei Saint Lord Xie Buchen from Great Luo Heaven to push her away.

But serpents were lustful by nature!

This stinking snake actually told her to have self-respect?!