Chapter 4804: Wasteland
The wasteland was pitch‑black, suspended in midair.
It was circular, with a diameter exceeding billions of li, and its thickness was equally astonishing.
Rather than calling it wasteland, it would be better to say it was an abandoned continent.
The reason the first impression was that it was wasteland was because it was filled with a decaying aura.
Under the shroud of this aura, nothing could exist here, and nothing could reproduce.
Even if a Great Venerable entered this place, given enough time, they would also be affected by this decaying aura.
In the lighter case, their cultivation would drastically plummet; in the worse case, they would lose their status as a Great Venerable.
"Why does this decaying aura look somewhat familiar to me…?"
The soul mote flew into the wasteland.
A Great Venerable could not endure the decay here, but his soul mote was not affected.
His soul, combining void and reality, had already completed the union of soul and flesh with his body.
Whether soul or body, both had reached the extreme of the peak powerhouses.
The split‑off soul mote shared this same trait; no matter how strong this decaying aura was, it could do nothing to the soul mote.
The soul mote flew through the wasteland.
The ground was black, utterly devoid of vitality and filled only with deathly qi.
However, Lin Moyu was very clear that it was often in such lands of death that an extremely powerful vitality could be bred.
Moreover, the deathly qi here was somewhat special.
It was too extreme and did not seem naturally formed.
"This land was most likely once filled with vitality.
"When that vitality reached its extreme, for some reason it jumped to the other extreme, and only then did it become a land of death."
"With the abilities of a peak powerhouse, dealing with this patch of dead land would not be difficult.
"So why leave it here alone?
"Does it hold some special meaning?"
"There is even a grand array guarding the outside of this wasteland.
"Clearly, no one is allowed to enter this place.
"There must have been some special event here in the past.
"Let me see what exactly happened here back then."
The soul mote, carrying a trace of curiosity, relied on the rules to examine the marks left in the flow of time.
Time flowed, and the more Lin Moyu saw, the stranger he felt.
The marks left in time here had actually been deliberately erased by someone.
He was not able to see them clearly.
Yet precisely because of this, the more it proved that the other party wanted to hide something.
The grand array outside the wasteland had been set down personally by a peak powerhouse from the Hongmeng Heaven and Earth.
Their auras were interconnected, and Lin Moyu would not mistake it.
He did not want others approaching this place, but for what reason exactly?
"What is that?"
While pondering, Lin Moyu suddenly noticed something buried in the soil.
The soul mote did not move the soil aside.
This was clearly the territory of a peak powerhouse of the Hongmeng Heaven and Earth, and it was quite possible that he had people watching this place.
If Lin Moyu disturbed the soil, he would definitely be discovered.
The soul mote directly slipped inside to inspect what lay within the earth.
A trace of green entered his sight.
Within the green light were strange lines.
"This is… a Hongmeng Spirit Tree leaf!"
The patterns in the green light were identical to those on a Hongmeng Spirit Tree leaf.
The soul mote shuttled within the green light, tracing out the outline from the edges and ultimately confirming that it was a broken Hongmeng Spirit Tree leaf.
However, the vitality within this Hongmeng Spirit Tree leaf had already been replaced by decay.
It was now nothing but an empty shell, rotten within.
But the appearance of this broken Hongmeng Spirit Tree leaf allowed Lin Moyu to understand what this place was.
There had once been a Hongmeng Spirit Tree here, but for some reason it had been destroyed.
The ultimate vitality reversed to the other extreme and turned into ultimate death.
Although the Hongmeng Spirit Tree had been destroyed, some broken branches and leaves remained.
The Hongmeng Spirit Tree root that appeared during the great calamity in the Chaotic Ancient Desolation, and that Hongmeng Spirit Tree leaf, were likely both from this place.
"If this place once housed a Hongmeng Spirit Tree, how exactly was the Hongmeng Spirit Tree destroyed?
"Was it also because of the Great Annihilation?
"The Great Annihilation impacted the heaven and earth, severely damaging it, and only then was the Hongmeng Spirit Tree destroyed?
"No, that cause and effect seems reversed…"
Lin Moyu suddenly realized that he had gotten the causal relationship wrong.
The reason the Hongmeng Spirit Tree was destroyed did indeed originate from the Great Annihilation, but it was not that the heaven and earth were damaged first, which then caused the Hongmeng Spirit Tree to shatter.
Rather, it was because the Hongmeng Spirit Tree shattered first that the heaven and earth were severely damaged.
The Hongmeng Spirit Tree was an important core supporting the Hongmeng Heaven and Earth.
Its role was even more important than that of the heaven and earth core and could be seen as another core of the world.
The heaven and earth core governed the powers of rules and the great Dao, while the Hongmeng Spirit Tree supported the heaven and earth.
It continuously absorbed power from the Forbidden Zone of Life and fed it back to the world.
As long as the Hongmeng Spirit Tree existed, the Hongmeng Heaven and Earth would be able to obtain an endless supply of nourishment.
Even if it was slightly damaged, it could be restored.
At the very least, the Hongmeng Spirit Tree could wrap around the heaven and earth to maintain its current state so that it would not gradually collapse.
It was also because of the existence of the Hongmeng Spirit Tree that the heaven and earth could become stronger over time.
The living beings and peak powerhouses within that heaven and earth, even if they did nothing, would see their power grow along with it.
For the Hongmeng Heaven and Earth, the Hongmeng Spirit Tree was like a powerful passive enhancement.
But now that the Hongmeng Spirit Tree had been destroyed, the heaven and earth had lost its most important source of nourishment.
Once damaged, it would fall into continuous, unending collapse, difficult to reverse.
After he figured out the nature of the wasteland, Lin Moyu also realized the importance of the Hongmeng Spirit Tree.
Without a Hongmeng Spirit Tree, it was fundamentally impossible to advance to a Hongmeng Heaven and Earth.
Fortunately, his Yushen Heaven and Earth already possessed a Hongmeng Spirit Tree, meeting the conditions for evolution.
However, from the current situation, the correct method of evolution had not yet been found.
Lin Moyu still felt that something was missing.
The soul mote left the wasteland and continued to fly through this heaven and earth, observing.
He observed for dozens of years, almost viewing the entire world and understanding every detail, but he still could not find the answer he sought.
He still had no clue as to how to evolve the Yushen Heaven and Earth into a Hongmeng Heaven and Earth.
In the end, the soul mote returned to where the heaven and earth core lay, looking at that nineteen‑storied pagoda and palace, sensing the aura of the peak powerhouse inside the palace.
The tricks he had played on the formations were clearly effective.
The other party's recovery speed had been significantly slowed, yet that being still knew nothing about it.
The soul mote chose an inconspicuous corner to hide, continuing to secretly observe this heaven and earth.
Back in the Yushen Heaven and Earth, after the main body completed yet another round of the Game of All Beings, it muttered to itself, "It seems that evolving to a Hongmeng Heaven and Earth is not that easy.
"I can only proceed step by step."
He continued to enter the Game of All Beings to comprehend the rules within.
In the blink of an eye, more than two hundred years passed.
The Yushen Heaven and Earth and the Chaotic Ancient Desolation were both peaceful, and nothing unusual appeared in that Hongmeng Heaven and Earth.
Only occasionally did Lin Moyu sense that someone was spying on the Yushen Heaven and Earth, with the gaze coming from the Forbidden Zone of Life.
He knew that the man in purple had not gone far.
He was right outside the Yushen Heaven and Earth, watching him.
Lin Moyu did not bother with him.
If you want to watch, then watch.
Watching him would not cost him a piece of flesh.
Besides, with the Hongmeng Spirit Tree shrouding the heaven and earth, that man could not see much.
At most he could only check whether the Yushen Heaven and Earth was still there.
Lin Moyu knew that he was waiting, waiting for the main body to awaken.
Finally, two hundred years later, the heaven and earth core of the Yushen Heaven and Earth completed its evolution, and the Technique of Primordial Heaven also took shape at the same time.
In an instant, Lin Moyu refined the heaven and earth core and simultaneously comprehended the Technique of Primordial Heaven, integrating it into his Nine‑Heavens Fate Technique.
The entire process was extremely smooth, and at that moment Lin Moyu completely took control of the Yushen Heaven and Earth.
A faint light lit up in his soul.
The main body in the Game of All Beings suddenly raised its head and looked into the distance.
His gaze pierced through the Game of All Beings and the Forbidden Zone of Life and once again fell upon that thing…