Chapter 1393: The Origin of Guibao

On the Eastern Continent, there is an area almost devoid of spiritual energy. That is the Boundless Sand Sea.

When the Eastern Continent first emerged in this world, this region was a fertile land, teeming with vibrant life, birdsong, and fragrant flowers.

The reason it transformed into the desolate wasteland it is today is that, in ancient times, a powerful being from outside this realm brought a swarm of locusts. Their original intention was to transform this world and establish a foundational ecosystem.

Not just locusts, but various other true spirits were also brought from beyond this realm and placed in suitable environments. From nothing, they propagated all living things, allowing this world to complete species evolution that would normally take hundreds of millions of years.

This particular swarm of Wutu True Locusts, due to their strong survival capabilities and rapid reproduction, quickly came to dominate the Eastern Continent.

After devouring the fertile land they inhabited, they expanded endlessly in all directions, consuming everything in sight. They frantically multiplied their population, severely damaging the ecosystem.

This ultimately led to the true spirits from the five continents and four seas of the Heavenly River Realm uniting to eradicate all high-level Wutu True Locusts.

However, the areas consumed by these locusts became a permanent scar on the Eastern Continent.

While the true spirits of the Heavenly River Realm collaborated to wipe out the high-level locusts in ancient times, they were unable to eliminate the tens of billions of lower-level locusts. Consequently, this species continues to survive to this day.

Furthermore, in the centuries that followed, low-level Earth Spirit Locusts evolved into Wutu True Locusts on several occasions, repeatedly unleashing locust plagues upon the Eastern Continent.

Even after the establishment of the Eastern Earth Imperial Court and the rise of humanity, locusts continued to be a menace.

The physical body currently occupied by the Demon Venerable possesses the bloodline of the Wutu True Locust. After achieving the Void Refinement stage, the Demon Venerable completely activated and awakened this bloodline.

Through this bloodline connection, the Demon Venerable clearly sensed, after reaching Void Refinement, an ancient sixth-tier True Locust slumbering deep within the Boundless Sand Sea of the Eastern Continent.

With Chen Mobai now unrivaled in the world, the Demon Venerable intends to awaken this ancient ancestor and unleash another sky-darkening locust plague.

This way, as the leader of the Eastern Continent and with the Boundless Sand Sea bordering the Eastern Wilds, the Five Elements Sect — and by extension, Chen Mobai — would certainly not stand idly by.

No matter how powerful Chen Mobai is, even if he has reached Void Refinement, resolving such a locust plague, let alone defeating that sixth-tier True Locust, would undoubtedly require his full effort.

Regardless of the outcome, once his Void Refinement strength is exposed, Chen Mobai would surely ascend and depart.

With the Eastern Wilds' Azure Emperor gone and Wuchen already ascended, the Demon Venerable did not believe that the hidden forces would spare the Nine Heavens Demon Extermination Sect.

The reconstruction of the Life-Death Disk was being watched by countless eyes.

However, with the Eastern Wilds' Azure Emperor presiding over the Eastern Continent, even top-tier Spirit Transformation experts like the Lord of the Central Demonic Path dared not make a move.

Originally, the Demon Venerable also intended to wait for Chen Mobai to ascend, but was surprised that he had lingered in the Heavenly River Realm for so long.

Given Chen Mobai's talent, the Demon Venerable was certain he had reached Void Refinement.

His continued presence in the lower realm was likely due to a request from the Nine Heavens Demon Extermination Sect. After all, it was widely known that Chen Mobai and Ye Qing were sworn friends who entrusted their lives to each other.

Furthermore, when the Grand Void Measuring Ruler intervened back then, it had stated that Chen Mobai should ascend to meet True Monarch Grand Void after reaching Void Refinement.

Yet, for the sake of brotherly loyalty, he was even delaying this. Therefore, the Demon Venerable dared not wait for Chen Mobai to make up his own mind and ascend from the Heavenly River Realm.

Something had to be done to force him to leave.

Revealing his true form, the Demon Venerable vanished into the Nine Heavens Tribulation, precisely flying over the Desolate Sea, Dongwu, Yunmeng Marsh, and the Eastern Wilds Plateau, before descending upon the desolate dunes at the very center of the Boundless Sand Sea.

As his bloodline talent manifested, the dunes began to churn and separate continuously, as if an invisible, abyssal maw deep within the earth was devouring them, revealing a bottomless pit.

Strange, trembling sounds of wings flapping echoed, and crimson compound eyes, like embers from the earth's depths, lit up around the unseen bottom of the pit.

These were countless dormant locusts, awakened by the Demon Venerable outside.

Facing this horrifying scene, the Demon Venerable's expression remained unchanged. He flapped his wings and descended.

Due to the presence of a fellow creature, these awakened locusts, swarming densely over the surrounding sand and stone, trembled nervously but did not attack the Demon Venerable.

Of course, the main reason was that the Demon Venerable had obtained a fortuitous encounter in the prison, causing his Earth Spirit Locust bloodline to revert to its ancestral form, transforming him into a Wutu True Locust.

His rank was superior to these low-level locusts.

Although the pit was bottomless, the Demon Venerable's cultivation was already profound, and he quickly reached its deepest point.

Here, even more and more powerful locusts appeared. Some were even fourth or fifth-tier Locust Mothers, immense in size and already possessing sentience. As they watched the Demon Venerable descend, their compound eyes revealed a sense of confusion.

They could sense that this was a fellow creature even more powerful than themselves, but why had they never seen it before?

The Demon Venerable looked at these Locust Mothers, and fragments of memory flashed through his mind – memories belonging to the body he had possessed.

It was the memory of a corpse, remarkably similar to these Locust Mothers, found within a sealed ice cave.

The Demon Venerable quickly suppressed these images and, expressionless, flew horizontally towards an earthy-yellow palace.

He could sense that the ancestor, guided by his bloodline, was within this palace.

Amidst the buzzing tremor of wings, two fifth-tier Locust Mothers, guarding the palace entrance, turned their crimson gazes towards the approaching Demon Venerable, attempting to block him.

"Insignificant lowly creatures, retreat!"

However, the Demon Venerable scoffed coldly in response, then revealed the aura of his Wutu True Locust bloodline.

Instantly, all the locusts involuntarily prostrated themselves in the Demon Venerable's direction, instinctively obeying the hierarchy of their bloodline.

The Demon Venerable did not pause. He flew past the Locust Mothers and entered the palace.

Soon after, the Boundless Sand Sea, which had been dormant for countless years, suddenly began to tremble. It churned like a vast yellow ocean, raising waves of sand that engulfed all living creatures within.

***

Beiyuan City.

Zhuo Ming, who was managing the Sky Curtain and Earth Net Grand Formation and harnessing the sixth-tier spiritual energy of the Profound Sea, suddenly felt a pang in her heart. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly, and she looked around with a hint of confusion.

A mournful cry from the earth suddenly echoed in her mind.

As Zhuo Ming's gaze fell upon the eastern part of the plateau, she vaguely began to form a hypothesis.

She immediately took out her All-Reaching Device and contacted Yan Yuanhao, who was responsible for guarding the sand sea border and overseeing the specific planning and implementation of tree planting.

Yan Yuanhao: "Honored Master, what are your commands?"

Zhuo Ming: "Are there any unusual movements in the Boundless Sand Sea?"

Yan Yuanhao: "Reporting, Honored Master, I was just about to report to the sect. An unprecedented earthquake has occurred in the sand sea, affecting not only the three newly established prefectures but even Hong Prefecture has felt the tremors…"

After hearing this, Zhuo Ming knew her intuition was correct. She then inquired about the specific cause of the earthquake.

However, Yan Yuanhao did not know the cause, but stated he would personally lead disciples deep into the sand sea to investigate the situation.

Zhuo Ming: "The matter might not be simple. I recall that Branch Sect's Lord of Water Virtue Mountain is still managing the sand sea there, right? I will post a fourth-tier mission in the Spirit Treasure Pavilion to investigate the sand sea earthquake. Please inform him of this; I'm sure he will be willing to investigate."

For the sake of the Longevity Great Dao Pill, fourth-tier missions posted in the Spirit Treasure Pavilion were usually immediately claimed by interested Nascent Soul cultivators.

As the Five Elements Sect's foremost Earth Master, Zhuo Ming had the authority to issue fourth-tier missions.

Unfortunately, Xuande had already ascended to the Hanging Dao Platform, and Zhuo Ming had to manage the Sky Curtain and Earth Net Grand Formation to gather spiritual energy, so she could not leave. Otherwise, she would have personally gone to the Boundless Sand Sea to see what could cause such a rare, millennium-level earthquake in that desolate place.

As expected, the Lord of Water Virtue Mountain at the sand sea border, upon hearing Yan Yuanhao's reminder, accepted Zhuo Ming's newly posted mission without hesitation and, taking several professional Earth Masters with him, headed deep into the sand sea.

This matter soon reached Yin Qingmei's ears as well.

After all, her Liujia Mountain was near the sand sea, and theoretically, she was the Nascent Soul cultivator of the Five Elements Sect guarding this area, not counting the Branch Sect's Lord of Water Virtue Mountain.

However, Yin Qingmei was not interested in these matters. For the past few decades, apart from undertaking missions to accumulate sect contributions, she had mostly been in seclusion cultivating, striving to reach the peak of the Nascent Soul stage as quickly as possible.

Although Chen Mobai had promised to arrange Spirit Transformation resources for her, it was, after all, only a verbal commitment.

What if her foster father ascended, and her foster mother didn't acknowledge this debt?

With this thought in mind, Yin Qingmei intended to secure her share of Spirit Transformation resources before Chen Mobai's ascension.

Therefore, although Zhuo Ming had issued a fourth-tier mission in her territory, without a direct notification, Yin Qingmei simply pretended not to know. Sitting beneath the Jasper Parasol Tree, she put down her All-Reaching Device and closed her eyes again, continuing to cultivate the Azure Emperor Longevity Scripture.

She was only one final barrier away from achieving the pinnacle of the Nascent Soul stage.

***

Within the Profound Sea's Eye.

Chen Mobai's consciousness had completely merged with the power of creation left by the Sea Mother here.

The Heavenly River Realm was a new world created by the disciples of Zixiao Palace. After a failed world, they learned lessons and meticulously recreated a new world modeled after the Zixiao Universe.

They did not waste the previously failed world; instead, it became the material foundation for the birth of the Heavenly River Realm.

After all, even a failed world had seen the evolution of the Three Thousand Great Daos.

Besides the Dao powers of Tianhai and others, the Heavenly River Realm also absorbed the Three Thousand Great Daos from that failed world. It was created from nothingness at an incredibly fast pace, passed through the Five Primordial Phases, and transformed into a world entirely composed of water.

During the process of guiding the Heavenly River Realm to absorb the Three Thousand Great Daos from that failed world, Tianhai, by chance, refined the first stream of creation power.

The moment this power of creation was born, that previously failed world suddenly became less of a failure.

Under the influence of this creation power, despite still having various issues, the failed world gained a step on the Heavenly River Realm by giving birth to primordial spirits.

However, these primordial spirits, limited by the failed world and incomplete Great Daos, possessed no physical bodies. They were merely pure spiritual essences, like lonely souls. Yet, born from the gestation of the Great Dao, these spiritual essences were innately knowledgeable, naturally comprehending the power of the Great Dao, and were primordial Void Refinement cultivators.

Among them, some astonishingly wise individuals understood the truth of their world. They discovered their Great Daos were constantly weakening, being plundered by outer-realm fiends. Therefore, these primordial beings, desiring survival, wished to break free from their prison and fight their way into the outer realms.

One of them, a leader, burst out of the failed world.

But the moment it emerged, Tianhai sighed and crushed it with a single finger.

Chen Mobai suddenly understood.

That was the Ghost Mother.

That failed world was the Underworld.

No wonder there was both a mortal realm and an underworld here.

In the Zixiao Universe, however, such things did not exist; there was only the cycle of life and death. Once dead, one simply ceased to be.

Chen Mobai had initially thought it was due to the incomplete nature of the primordial life-and-death Great Dao here. Only now did he realize it was because the Underworld was the first world Tianhai created, but it was a failure.

Yet, the success of the Heavenly River Realm was built upon absorbing the Three Thousand Great Daos of the Underworld, through which Tianhai even attained the ninth-tier Realm of Creation.

However, after Tianhai crushed the Ghost Mother, a chain reaction ensued, causing even the primordial life-and-death Great Dao in the Heavenly River Realm to shatter. This halted Tianhai's progress in refining creation power.

Left with no choice, Tianhai could only take remedial measures: on one hand, instructing the Celestial Venerable to mend the primordial life-and-death Great Dao, and on the other, continuing to refine and open up the Heavenly River Realm.

During this process, to pursue efficiency, Tianhai and the others from Zixiao Palace created a third new world.

That was the Spirit Void Immortal Realm.

This Spirit Void Immortal Realm was established upon the foundations of the Heavenly River Realm and the Underworld.

With the experience from the previous two attempts, the Spirit Void Immortal Realm also proved very successful.

Within the Spirit Void Immortal Realm, Tianhai refined more creation power, utilizing the derived Three Thousand Great Daos.

As time passed, Tianhai finally stabilized her ninth-tier Creation Realm.

However, she discovered that if she continued this way, she would never be able to progress further and achieve the Eternal Realm beyond creation. This was because the foundation of creation lay in the Three Thousand Great Daos. Yet, the Three Thousand Great Daos of both the Underworld and the Spirit Void Immortal Realm were incomplete and weak compared to the complete Zixiao Universe.

To truly attain eternal transcendence, it was imperative to open up a grand universe equivalent to the Zixiao Universe.

After comprehending this, Tianhai ceased refining creation power.

Upon emerging from seclusion, she shared her insights on creation and eternity with the inhabitants of Zixiao Palace.

After some deliberation, some decided to follow Tianhai into the depths of chaos to open up a true grand universe and help her achieve the genuine Realm of Creation.

However, others felt this was merely paving the way for Tianhai. Having obtained the secrets of creation power, they chose to remain in the Zixiao Universe, cultivate themselves, open up chaos, or even refine the Three Thousand Great Daos of the Zixiao Universe.

Before Tianhai departed, she did not completely abandon the worlds she had created. She left a portion of her creation power in foundational areas like the Sea Eye.

Upon learning the origin of this creation power, Chen Mobai suddenly awoke from his immersion.