"So, this is what you've been up to all this time?"
In a side hall of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance, wisps of smoke rose from an incense burner. Gu Changge sat with his eyes lowered, leisurely sipping tea as he casually asked the question.
Luo Xiangjun, dressed in a golden gown, stood tall and elegant. Her snow-white neck was as slender as a swan's, exuding a noble and dignified aura. Her bright eyes, with their golden pupils, gave her the exotic beauty of a sun goddess.
She sat gracefully across from Gu Changge, her hands resting on her knees, her hair adorned with a hairpin from which hung strings of pearls resembling laurel branches.
To an outsider, she might have seemed like a princess from some immortal dynasty, radiating a regal and majestic air. It was hard to associate her with the "thief" of the Vast Expanse.
"To be honest with you, Alliance Leader, every word I've said is true, with no deception whatsoever."
"Back then, after I obtained the key from you, I immediately rushed to the universe where the Eternal Secret Treasure was hidden. However, I didn't expect it to be filled with terrifying restrictions, which trapped me for thousands of years. I only recently managed to escape."
"With just the key, it was impossible to open the Eternal Secret Treasure. Those restrictions could only be bypassed by someone with the bloodline of the Eternal Divine Clan. I estimate that only by finding a member of the Eternal Divine Clan can we unlock that treasure..."
She nodded, succinctly recounting her experience of being trapped in that temporal tomb.
Luo Xiangjun dared not reveal anything about the Eternal Primordial God, as he had planted a restriction in her sea of consciousness, controlling her life and death at any moment.
Her main goal was to contact Mu Yan through Gu Changge, and then use Mu Yan's Eternal Divine Clan bloodline to locate the migration site of the Eternal Divine Clan.
At this moment, Luo Xiangjun's emotions were extremely complex.
When she first met Gu Changge in the Immortal Spirit Civilization, he hadn't yet taken control of the Zhuo Clan, let alone founded the now-feared Heaven-Slaying Alliance.
In just a few thousand years, such earth-shattering changes had occurred, leaving Luo Xiangjun deeply moved and sighing with emotion.
During her journey to the Prime-Origin Civilization, she heard daily about the Heaven-Slaying Alliance. Those who revered it were fanatically devoted, while those who despised it wished for its destruction, creating two extreme polarities.
Of course, the actions and deeds of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance over the years, as well as the incident of the Prime-Origin Covenant, left her utterly shocked and astonished.
A supreme civilization had "fallen" in such a manner, completely under Gu Changge's control and governance.
How inconceivable and fantastical this was.
If she hadn't been tempted by the Eternal Secret Treasure back then and had instead stayed by Gu Changge's side, would she now have a place within the Heaven-Slaying Alliance?
"So that's what happened. I thought you had died along the way," Gu Changge nodded slightly, setting down his teacup.
Luo Xiangjun's expression froze.
She had expected Gu Changge to express concern about her possibly absconding with the Eternal Secret Treasure. It seemed he was quite confident in her, though it was likely due to his own strength, knowing she wouldn't dare.
But dying along the way...
That sounded rather awkward.
"After escaping, I immediately tried to return to the Immortal Spirit Civilization to find members of the Eternal Divine Clan, but I discovered they had already migrated and were no longer in their original territory..." Luo Xiangjun picked up her teacup, taking a small, elegant sip, her crimson lips parting as she spoke.
"If they're gone, then forget it."
Gu Changge nodded slightly again. He had already guessed Luo Xiangjun's intentions, but he no longer needed the Eternal Secret Treasure.
Luo Xiangjun had no value to him now.
He naturally wouldn't waste time and effort helping her.
"If we want to open the Eternal Secret Treasure, we still need to find..."
Luo Xiangjun continued, trying to steer the conversation toward her true purpose for coming here. But upon hearing Gu Changge's words, she was momentarily stunned, then quickly realized what he meant and was utterly dumbfounded.
"Alliance Leader, do you no longer care about the Eternal Secret Treasure?"
Luo Xiangjun stood up abruptly from her chair, her hand holding the teacup trembling slightly from the force.
Her heart was anything but calm, even surging with waves. She had prepared herself for various outcomes before coming, but she never expected Gu Changge to be so indifferent, as if he no longer cared about the Eternal Secret Treasure.
Inside it might lie the Transcendence Codex that the Eternal Primordial God had once obtained.
That was the very thing countless ancient sages had coveted, even triggering an era of chaos and destruction.
"I don't care."
Gu Changge shook his head, his expression calm as he looked at Luo Xiangjun. "Do you have anything else?"
"Alliance Leader, this is the Eternal Secret Treasure..."
Luo Xiangjun was almost frantic, nearly reaching out to grab Gu Changge's sleeve.
If Gu Changge no longer cared about the Eternal Secret Treasure, how could she contact Mu Yan and then find the Eternal Divine Clan to escape the Eternal Primordial God?
"What about the Eternal Secret Treasure? I've lost interest in it now. If you had come to me earlier, I might have reconsidered," Gu Changge said, shaking his head slightly.
Seeing Gu Changge refuse so directly and even prepare to leave, Luo Xiangjun was completely stunned. She no longer cared about maintaining her dignified and elegant demeanor, quickly stepping in front of Gu Changge. "Alliance Leader, please wait."
Gu Changge raised an eyebrow, looking at her. "If you want to find the Eternal Divine Clan, go ahead. I won't stop you, and I won't reveal the secret of the Eternal Secret Treasure. Whatever benefits you gain from it, I won't interfere."
"That's not what I mean..."
Luo Xiangjun quickly shook her head, her beautiful eyes fixed on him. "Alliance Leader, I want to ask for your help..."
She bit her silver teeth and bluntly stated her desire to find Mu Yan, hoping to use her Eternal Divine Clan bloodline to locate the migration site of the Eternal Divine Clan.
"It seems you're still unwilling to give up on the Eternal Secret Treasure."
Gu Changge's gaze swept over Luo Xiangjun's face, as if seeing through her many thoughts and intentions.
He smiled faintly and continued, "But I can't help you with this. I can't force Mu Yan, though I can relay your message to her. Whether she agrees or not is up to her."
Hearing this, Luo Xiangjun was overjoyed, her beautiful face lighting up with a radiant smile. "Thank you, Alliance Leader. Mu Yan is kind-hearted and surely won't refuse. I won't let her help for nothing; I'll offer her a satisfactory reward."
"In the future, if the Alliance Leader has any tasks for me, please don't hesitate to ask. Xiangjun will repay you with all her heart."
With that, she didn't linger to waste Gu Changge's time. After bidding farewell, she left with joy.
"Mu Yan isn't as kind-hearted as you think..."
Gu Changge watched Luo Xiangjun leave with a slightly strange expression, not stopping her.
"Master, this woman seems to carry the aura of the Eight Follower Tribes. I suspect she might be a member of one of them."
In the side hall, the Old Man Cold Crow, with his gloomy eyes and chilling aura, respectfully appeared after Luo Xiangjun left.
The old Taoist had already left the Prime-Origin Civilization, returning to the Heavenly Decline Faction to follow Gu Changge's orders and search for traces of the other six follower tribes.
The Old Man Cold Crow, however, remained here to handle some matters for Gu Changge.
Previously, Gu Changge had often assigned tasks to the White Bone Ancestor King and Hun Yuanjun, but now the Old Man Cold Crow, Jing Tianyun, and Chu Heng were more convenient, as their strength far surpassed that of ordinary Ancestral Dao Realm existences.
The White Bone Ancestor King and Hun Yuanjun were still some distance from the Ancestral Dao Realm.
"Oh?"
"It seems she's hiding quite a few secrets and treasures. But a petty thief who hasn't even reached the Ancestral Dao Realm dares to covet the secret treasure of a Primordial God? No wonder she's in such a mess," Gu Changge said with a faint smile.
Although the aura was well-hidden, its rotten, ancient, and decaying stench couldn't escape his notice.
"Master, should I follow her?"
The Old Man Cold Crow, despite his strength, hadn't sensed the aura of the Eternal Primordial God and didn't understand what Gu Changge meant.
"No need. She's of no value right now, and she'll come back on her own soon."
"I want to see if she can lure out some interesting old monsters."
Gu Changge waved his hand, not taking the matter to heart.
On the other hand, as soon as Luo Xiangjun returned to the inn, before she could even catch her breath, a portal opened in the void, and the faint shadow of the Eternal Primordial God, wrapped around the jade, flew out and landed on the table.
"It seems you were wise enough not to reveal my existence," the Eternal Primordial God sneered with a hint of disdain.
"The matter is almost settled. I hope you keep your promise."
Luo Xiangjun looked at him coldly, her eyes filled with undisguised indifference and loathing.
"Don't worry. Once I find my clan, I'll leave. Without a physical body, my current state can't last much longer."
The Eternal Primordial God spoke indifferently.
Luo Xiangjun's beautiful eyes flickered, unsure if he was telling the truth or testing her to see if she dared to act.
"But you're quite lucky. The leader of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance didn't notice your emotional fluctuations. Though he's bold, he does have the strength to back it up. For now, no one in the Vast Expanse can challenge him..."
"Unless..." The Eternal Primordial God's eyes suddenly flashed with a hint of fear, as if he had thought of something, his voice growing low.
Luo Xiangjun looked at him in surprise, unsure what he was hinting at.
She naturally knew Gu Changge was terrifyingly strong. She had realized this when she first met him in the Immortal Spirit Civilization. This was her thief's intuition.
Many times, it was this intuition that had allowed her to escape danger in forbidden lands and perilous regions.
"Haha, after countless epochs, I've once again sensed such a dense aura of an Ancestral God, but I never expected it to come from him."
"Either he has enslaved an Ancestral God, or he has killed one."
"Truly unimaginable..."
The Eternal Primordial God ignored Luo Xiangjun's surprise, simply sneering.
His eyes grew deep and cold, with visions of universes collapsing and stars shattering, exuding a terrifying, heart-palpitating aura.
Many years ago, he had also been called the Eternal Ancestral God. Today, he once again felt the aura of his kind, but never expected it to be under such circumstances.
"What?"
These words sent a chill down Luo Xiangjun's spine, making her hair stand on end.
Ancestral Gods were different from Ancestral Dao Realm existences in the immortal cultivation system, who could gradually reach that level through cultivation.
In this era, beings who could be called Ancestral Gods had lived for countless eons, their lifespans immeasurably long. They were true innate deities.
Before such Ancestral Gods, the history of some supreme civilizations might not even amount to a fraction of their existence.
As far as Luo Xiangjun knew, there were many supreme divine kingdoms in the Vast Expanse, with heritages comparable to supreme civilizations, all created by an Ancestral God.
Meanwhile, deep within the Imperial Immortal Palace, amidst a sprawling complex of palaces.
An ancient and majestic library stood tall.
This library had a hundred floors, each grand and imposing, surrounded by chaotic mist and intertwined with formation patterns that radiated world-destroying power.
The floors were ancient and weathered, exuding an aura of time, as if it were a tower of ten thousand immortals, housing all the books and ancient texts of the world.
On the highest floor, a tall and slender figure, with her sleeves rolled up and her hair casually tied back, frowned deeply as she flipped through several notebooks before her.
She was extremely focused, her eyes fixed on the notebooks, her frown deepening. Soon, her expression turned to shock and disbelief.
"How is this possible..." Ling Yuxian tightly gripped the notebook in her hand, taking a deep breath to calm herself.
During this time, while stabilizing the situation in the Imperial Immortal Palace, Ling Yuxian had also been investigating the reasons behind her sister's creation of the Prime-Origin Covenant.
Fortunately, her efforts bore fruit. While going through some of Ling Yuling's notebooks, she finally discovered some clues.
She first found a note about the Supreme Treasures of the First Civilization in the middle of an alchemy manual. The note was written on a thin sheet of paper, the handwriting fresh and clear, neatly detailing the mysteries and control methods of the Mirror of Reincarnation, one of the Supreme Treasures of the First Civilization.
Then, she flipped through several other notebooks and, unsurprisingly, found similar notes.
Each note was tucked in the middle of a manual, the handwriting clear and neat, and strikingly familiar to her.
This left Ling Yuxian utterly shocked and incredulous. She immediately recognized her sister Ling Yuling's handwriting.
Unbeknownst to her, her sister had recorded information about the various Supreme Treasures of the First Civilization and hidden them among her collections.
Where had her sister learned all this?
While shocked, Ling Yuxian also found it hard to believe. She and her sister were so close they could sense each other's thoughts. Had her sister deliberately shielded her mind to keep this from her?
Had her sister been in contact with some entity or faction all along?
Otherwise, why would her sister suddenly decide to create the Prime-Origin Covenant and craft the Covenant Golden Book?
It seemed this had all been premeditated.
"It seems that during that time, my sister must have been in contact with someone, or perhaps a faction. Everything she did was likely orchestrated by them."
"My sister has always refused to admit this and has gone to great lengths to hide it. What is her true intention? The mastermind behind the plot against Senior Brother Gu must be the one who provided her with these records."
"Perhaps my sister didn't believe that her so-called ally was actually setting her up, framing her for the crime."
Ling Yuxian suppressed the turmoil and chill in her heart, quietly collecting the notes. Over the next few days, she questioned the elders about her sister's whereabouts and activities during her absence from the Imperial Immortal Palace.
She suspected that it was during that time her sister had made contact with outsiders and devised the plan to create the Prime-Origin Covenant.
With these suspicions, Ling Yuxian finally focused her attention on the depths of the Imperial Immortal Palace, where a chaotic sea of time and space lay.
When her sister founded the Imperial Immortal Palace, she had built it here to prevent the terrifying beings of the chaotic sea from entering the Prime-Origin Civilization and causing havoc. She had even forged nine Dragon-Pinning Pillars to prevent the tides of the sea from sweeping in and destroying everything.
Ling Yuxian suspected that her sister had ventured into the chaotic sea during that time, as the elders of the Imperial Immortal Palace had claimed she never left the palace, let alone made contact with outsiders.
Moreover, Ling Yuxian knew that while the chaotic sea was considered a death zone for living beings, over countless eons, anomalies and changes had occurred, creating areas suitable for life.
Her sister likely knew of these places and had visited them.
"With my current strength, I can't cross the chaotic sea. But I can relay this information to Senior Brother Gu and uncover the true mastermind, clearing my sister's name."
"The Prime-Origin Civilization also needs the truth about the Prime-Origin Covenant."