Chapter 986: Who Is the Real Country Bumpkin

Images of the past.

In reality, this was no longer their unique secret; all cultivators who had attained the Dao could do it.

As for whether this was a powerful spell involving the legendary Law of Time? It didn't involve time at all. Spells that reversed time to view past images were very common.

Their fundamental principle was: "When we observe a distant planet countless light-years away, what we see is not the planet's current image, but its image from countless years ago." As long as they jumped far enough, they could intercept previous images.

However, it wasn't a true jump. Instead, it was a special "fixed-point spatial summoning array" that used extremely precise calculation and positioning to reverse-transmit and summon light images from a distant location.

"Have you located it?" the dark blue creature asked with a smile.

"Located it. Let's see what happened two hours ago... Given the speed of light, two hours ago would correspond to light imprints from a section near the southern edge of the entire solar system. Now, I'm going to activate the reverse transmission array and summon that light and shadow over..." Another creature chuckled. It was a very delicate task, requiring the manipulation of light laws to extract clear light and shadow data from it. "Although this is my first time participating in a planet assessment mission, I have practiced spells in this area."

In fact, these were very substantial and common spells throughout the heavens and the universe, with hundreds of variations. Even though both were on the Path of the Ninth Order, they could still perform this with ease. However, the past images they could intercept were not extensive, only lasting two or three days, because the distance they summoned was too short.

However, it only worked on most low-level cultivators. As for those who had attained the Dao and were involved with laws, even powerful individuals on the Path of the Ninth Order were surrounded by distorted laws, making them untraceable.

They activated the transmission and summoning array and saw a clear image. This was an image from two hours prior.

"My name is Beechu...""Do you want to become a magical girl?""Witches are evil; the ancient seal has been broken..."

They watched scene after scene, completely bewildered. "Two hours ago, this girl was still an ordinary person?" Their eyes shone brightly; it was simply incredible and intricate. While she appeared flashy now, she actually possessed the combat power of a Sixth Order being. They had initially thought she was an unparalleled genius, a Sixth Order in her early twenties, but who knew... two hours prior, she had been an ordinary human.

"Innumerable realms and system civilizations?""Some elemental-like life forms don't require conventional cultivation advancements?"

They exchanged thoughts, a little excited. Discovering powerful civilization ruins or promising races meant that they would receive ample opportunities and blessings from their superiors. There was something on this planet; they might receive commendation for this exploration mission.

"Although we are gods on the Path of the Ninth Order and our knowledge is shallow... even the higher beings would be shaken by this, wouldn't they?""Is this another mysterious civilization beyond the scope of normal understanding?" The dark blue creature looked at the two fighting parties and said, "I sense a very strange aura. Cultivating emotions? The power of these two seems to come from positive and negative emotions, respectively... This is very strange."

Although the movements before them were flamboyant and exaggerated, and they had to chant various elaborate spells and attack names during combat, which felt quite embarrassing, they were only surprised for a moment.

"Does this planet possess the glory of an ancient civilization?" The two exchanged thoughts calmly.

"Not necessarily... If there were ancient civilization ruins, then the traces on this planet would have been too thoroughly destroyed. The probability of a flourishing civilization having existed here is very low. Perhaps, there was once an ancient galactic civilization, and this planet was one of the very remote ones at the time... which allowed it to miraculously survive the destruction." Such occurrences were too common in the universe. In typical wars, core planets would undoubtedly be destroyed along with their civilizations immediately. Instead, some extremely remote, backward planets would preserve a few survivors or remnants of civilizations. Most of their discoveries of ruins also came from these remote planets.

"Is it possible that this is bait from a fallen civilization?" the young man asked naturally, still feeling touched by the situation he had just learned.

The dark blue creature smiled at the young man and explained, "We don't know, but there's no need to speculate or be paranoid... because it's impossible to prevent. If they truly want to infiltrate the Abyssal Blue Divine Realm, it's very simple. The universe of heavens is too vast. For those who have attained the Dao, various bizarre, unknown civilizations, with methods beyond our comprehension, can easily infiltrate us using various masking techniques. We possess thousands of civilizations and countless beings. Is it realistic for the three Celestial Venerables to ferret them out one by one? That's impractical. Even the two of us could be inside agents for a fallen Dao-attaining civilization. You must be extremely cautious..."

"Teachers, how could you two be?" The young man was surprised.

"Hahahahaha, it's a metaphor! Just a metaphor. In short, try not to trust anyone, but at the same time... we can't be paranoid every time we encounter a civilization... Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to absorb so many vast civilizations over hundreds of thousands of years of nomadic existence to form a huge alliance."

"Then spies must be terrifying, right? They can still get in," the young man said.

"Hahahahaha, why would they be terrifying? We naturally have a mature civilization mechanism to deal with them; otherwise, how could we have survived until today?" the dark blue creature burst into laughter. "You see, only the three Celestial Venerables, who are 'Great Dao' beings with power slightly below the Tenth Order, control the true core decision-making layer... What good is it if more Ninth Order individuals infiltrate? They come here to carry out missions for us? To fulfill their duties? They merely serve to develop our civilization and serve us."

The young man slightly stiffened.

"In reality, our Abyssal Blue Divine Realm is vast and complex. The number of disguised and infiltrated fallen Dao-attainers is certainly not small... But what if we can't discover them? They cannot cause any internal division or sow discord among us, because our internal structure is inherently loose and mutually vigilant. The only ones we can trust are the three supreme gods; they assign our tasks and forge our connections into an unbreakable whole. And if those spies want to maintain their disguise, they must carry out missions for us, contribute to the development of this Divine Realm, and communicate and develop together."

The two spoke with calm expressions. The young man was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "But then spies still pose a hidden danger... A small fraction of one or two layers of member civilizations might be fine, but what if six or seven layers of spies infiltrate? Wouldn't that lead to internal collapse?"

"Hahaha, you are very intelligent, truly a rare genius in our civilization." The dark blue creature laughed heartily, with a doting expression, "Yes, other nomadic civilizations of the weaker Tenth Order are indeed typically disintegrated in this way during their flight and migration, perhaps dying from such internal collapse and infiltration. But we are different... We are great! We are the strongest!

"In our Abyssal Blue Divine Realm, the three Celestial Venerables, as members of the Abyssal Blue Divine Race, control 'Time.' These three beings can cause time on our bodies to stagnate, temporarily turning us into immortals... Do you know what this means? All beings who join our Abyssal Blue Divine Realm, as long as they are favored by the three Abyssal Blue Celestial Venerables and granted temporary immortality... can achieve perfected four-gene cultivation. With such hope, how could they possibly turn to fallen civilizations?"

The young man suddenly understood. Indeed! It was a matter of interest, a direct binding through benefits! All they had to do was offer far greater benefits than the fallen civilizations. Unless absolutely forced, who would choose to fall? And by having their "time" suspended by the three Celestial Venerables, they would gain temporary immortality, giving them enough time to perfect their four-gene cultivation, enough time to walk the Path of the Ninth Order, and enough time to enter the Tenth Order... As long as time was long enough, all gods with sufficient talent were destined to reach the Tenth Order!

Even spies would defect! Because they simply did not accept Ninth Order Dao-attainers whose genes were already imperfect—those who had no future, fallen or not, were all turned away. They only accepted geniuses with a future. These individuals naturally understood who offered a brighter path and would certainly join them to jointly resist the fallen civilizations! As a result, their Abyssal Blue Divine Realm was expanding rapidly, and its resistance was growing stronger... However, this also made them a too-tempting target, attracting more fallen beings to unite and attack them.

"Do you understand now? This is our strength!" the dark blue creature said with a proud smile. "And the three Celestial Venerables, when taking disciples, never concern themselves with the candidate's origins. Astonishing, heaven-defying talent is enough... because they know that even if a genius or monstrous talent is sent by a fallen civilization with ulterior motives, what then? Geniuses will inevitably defect... The path on *this* side is simply brighter; there's no need to discern."

The young man looked on with yearning. Yes. Joining the Abyssal Blue Divine Realm, becoming a disciple of such great beings, becoming one of their kin, possessing a wonderful future, holding the most powerful "Abyssal Blue Time" bloodline, being able to create one's own "Dao," and having eternal life—how could one possibly still plunder others?

Too powerful! Our Abyssal Blue Divine Realm is too powerful! The young man secretly clenched his fists. No wonder ordinary Dao-attaining civilizations usually face destruction every hundred thousand years, while they had enjoyed a glorious history spanning hundreds of thousands of years, absorbed thousands of civilizations of all sizes, passed down through five or six generations, and were still extremely prosperous!

"We are the righteous path, honorable and upright." The dark blue creature looked at the young man and said, "Therefore, you are the hope of our race. I hope you pass the assessment and become a disciple of the Celestial Venerables."

"I will," the young man said excitedly.

A look of satisfaction flashed between the two, and they explained again, "In reality, the number of spies is indeed decreasing, because many who are sent here end up defecting. What would they covet by coming here with no benefit, and even having to carry out missions for us? Are they perhaps coveting these common, ubiquitous spells of ours?" They looked at this civilization and shook their heads, saying, "Powerful civilizations capable of sending spies must have profound foundations! How could they not know about common Ninth Order Dao-attaining spells? Even the most backward and shallow Ninth Order civilizations couldn't possibly be ignorant of these universal Ninth Order Dao arts."

In their view, there was no way this could be malicious. What they taught were ordinary, common spells. Unless it was a truly backward, unsophisticated civilization, why would anyone covet their common spells? But how could a truly backward civilization act as a spy and deceive them? It was a contradiction. This system should be indigenous to this civilization, or perhaps an ancient ruin.

Meanwhile, in front of the television, watching the few dark blue beings that had been lured out, the players were aghast and couldn't help but exclaim:

"Holy cow, guys, this spell actually reverses time? Summons past images? That's pretty awesome!""Quick, copy it!""We call this learning! It looks like this civilization isn't some backward, unsophisticated one after all, to possess such powerful, heaven-defying spells," one player said with a serious expression."There's spatial fluctuation; this might not be a time spell, but a spatial one? The principle seems clearer to me now. Light propagates, so is it summoning a segment of distant light images that have propagated through the universe?""That principle is quite impressive. Let's see what other powerful spells they have," they said, watching the small television with keen interest, displaying their traditional spirit.