The Hongmeng Gem's reaction left Lin Moyu a bit surprised. It was not as if this was his first time courting death. Did it really need such a big reaction? Was it that serious? The Hongmeng Gem narrowed its eyes and looked at Lin Moyu in a strange way, as if saying, Master, are you really that tired of living? It said quietly, "The power Master has contacted before, although also from the Life-Forbidden Zone, was power that had already been filtered by a Heaven-and-Earth. Strictly speaking it could no longer be called the Life-Forbidden Zone's own power, but power that had already fused with Heaven-and-Earth rules. It was still strong, but no longer so deadly. The true power of a true Forbidden Zone is extremely terrifying. Even a Supreme has only instant death. No life-saving means will work. Po-Cang Emperor was strong enough, right? At the time he used his Heaven-and-Earth as the first layer of defense, thinking his peak six-wheel Heaven-and-Earth could block the destruction force of the Life-Forbidden Zone. In the end his entire Heaven-and-Earth was wiped out in an instant, with absolutely no chance of survival. If Master directly contacts the Life-Forbidden Zone, the result will be the same."
Lin Moyu asked curiously, "That is exactly what I do not understand. A Heaven-and-Earth is originally inside the Life-Forbidden Zone. Why was Po-Cang Emperor's Heaven-and-Earth instantly wiped out, when previously it was fine?"
"That is very easy to understand," the Hongmeng Gem said. "The Life-Forbidden Zone targets living beings. A Heaven-and-Earth is not a living being. And a Heaven-and-Earth is evolved inside the Life-Forbidden Zone, so the Life-Forbidden Zone will not harm a Heaven-and-Earth. But when Po-Cang Emperor entered the Life-Forbidden Zone and then used his Heaven-and-Earth to oppose the power of the Life-Forbidden Zone, the Life-Forbidden Zone's power treated Po-Cang Emperor and his Heaven-and-Earth as one. Po-Cang Emperor was very strong and could hang on for a bit, but his Heaven-and-Earth could not. It was erased in an instant."
"So that is how it is," Lin Moyu understood. The Life-Forbidden Zone allowed Heavens-and-Earth to exist, but did not allow a Heaven-and-Earth to resist it. This also seemed to be a special rule, a rule belonging to the Life-Forbidden Zone.
"Fine, looks like I was overthinking it," Lin Moyu said.
The Hongmeng Gem added, "But Master's idea is not completely unrealistic. If Master's Heaven-and-Earth can be raised further, at least to the level of a seven-wheel Heaven-and-Earth, maybe you could use the power of your Heaven-and-Earth to absorb a bit of the Life-Forbidden Zone's power. Then have Little Tree cooperate a bit, just absorb a tiny bit. Master can go try it. As long as it is not too much, and it is done inside Master's own Heaven-and-Earth, even if you die you should be able to revive."
The Hongmeng Gem explained its plan in full. After listening, Lin Moyu felt that what it said made a lot of sense. Let Yushen Heaven-and-Earth absorb the power of the Life-Forbidden Zone. But Yushen Heaven-and-Earth had not yet evolved complete rules, so it could not use rules to filter the Life-Forbidden Zone's power. The Life-Forbidden Zone's power had extremely strong destructive force. Once it entered a Heaven-and-Earth without being filtered, it would cause tremendous damage to that Heaven-and-Earth. A six-wheel Heaven-and-Earth could not bear it, a seven-wheel Heaven-and-Earth could barely endure it. So he needed to raise Yushen Heaven-and-Earth to a level comparable to a seven-wheel Heaven-and-Earth, then have Little Tree cooperate, and draw in a strand of the most primitive power of the Life-Forbidden Zone. He would personally touch that strand. Maybe he would not die completely.
This was a dangerous attempt, but theoretically feasible. If it truly succeeded, he could use the destruction force of the Life-Forbidden Zone to court death. Not only could his body and soul step another level beyond the Supreme limit, he could also truly adapt to the power of the Life-Forbidden Zone and be prepared for the day he stepped into the Life-Forbidden Zone himself.
After calculating, Lin Moyu concluded that this method had a very high success rate. He said quietly, "Then first raise Yushen Heaven-and-Earth, then try according to this plan."
The Hongmeng Gem laughed. "I feel that if Master does not court death, you will feel uncomfortable."
Lin Moyu also laughed. "Indeed. I am used to dying. If I go some time without dying, I feel unwell."
These words were half in jest, but they seemed to be true as well.
They flew out of the spatial passage. A wave of heat engulfed his body. Flames soared into the sky and Lin Moyu instantly became a man of fire.
"A flame Heaven-and-Earth," Lin Moyu thought, but only ten breaths later the flames vanished. A harsh wind cut through like blades, heaven and earth turned freezing cold, and ice sealed everything around him. Between the extremes of cold and heat, body and soul were subject to heavy blows. Lin Moyu felt extremely uncomfortable. Fortunately his body and soul were strong enough. If it were someone else, even a quasi Supreme, they would probably be gravely wounded. After all this was another world and the Dao of a quasi Supreme here did not work. Their power would be suppressed and the only things that truly mattered were body and soul.
The freezing lasted ten breaths, then vanished, and flames returned. Every ten breaths ice and fire alternated once, and every alternation caused huge damage.
The Hongmeng Gem looked around and sighed. "Well now, this is a peak seven-wheel Heaven-and-Earth, almost at eight wheels."
It had seen through the nature of this Heaven-and-Earth and judged its tier accurately.
Lin Moyu was delighted. Looked like his luck was good. What he needed was a Heaven-and-Earth of seven wheels or above. To find one so close to eight wheels really was lucky.
"This Heaven-and-Earth has dual poles," the Hongmeng Gem said. "The alternation of the two poles will cause enormous damage to all outsiders. This kind of Heaven-and-Earth is a nightmare for expedition teams. Here, as long as your body and soul have not reached the peak of the Supreme realm, you can hardly last long before being killed. Weaker expedition teams might die the moment they enter, without even sending a message back. Being called the expedition teams' nightmare is not an exaggeration at all. But if you do not enter, you will never know it is like this. So every time this kind of Heaven-and-Earth appears, all the Supremes lose quite a few people."
"Find the location of the Heaven-and-Earth core," Lin Moyu said.
The Hongmeng Gem nodded and had already begun searching. This kind of thing was not difficult for it. Even if it could not find the exact spot, it could at least lock onto a general direction. Very quickly it identified a direction and pointed. "Master, go that way."
Lin Moyu nodded, turned into a streak of light, and flew off. As ice and fire alternated, muffled booms kept sounding from his body. The attacks here were very strong, already able to harm Lin Moyu. But all the extra damage he took was shared by the Technique Domain, the Ten Directions Domain, and Yushen Heaven-and-Earth together. There were still countless trillions of Undying Spirit Soldiers in the Technique Domain. As strong as the damage was, once it was distributed, it amounted to little. So the commotion was huge, but it could not really hurt Lin Moyu.
For countless years this Heaven-and-Earth had endured the attacks of alternating ice and fire. Things like ground and stars had long since ceased to exist. Inside this Heaven-and-Earth there was nothing. Nothing at all remained. Lin Moyu now stood in a stretch of empty void. All around him there was nothing but ice and fire constantly alternating and changing. Ice and fire became a dirge, echoing through the Heaven-and-Earth as if telling the world of its sorrow.
Suddenly Lin Moyu narrowed his eyes. There was something ahead. In his sight a black dot appeared. Ice and fire blocked his view until the distance shrank to only ten thousand meters, and Lin Moyu finally saw that black dot clearly. It was a person. His clothes were in tatters, a broken sword in his hand. On his head grew a pair of sharp horns. He was not human, but had once been part of an expedition team.
That thought had just formed when the other suddenly moved. Sword light turned into lightning and exploded before his eyes. The sword light was razor sharp, pierced space, and instantaneously fell upon Lin Moyu. Enormous power detonated on his body. Ice and fire alternated hundreds of times in an instant, each time unleashing astonishing destructive power. Lin Moyu was blasted back in the sword light. He was not injured, but the huge force pushed him backward. As he stabilized himself, ice and fire flashed before his eyes and the man had already arrived in front of him. The broken sword in his hand turned into lightning again and exploded. Lin Moyu was blasted away once more. The man's speed was incredibly fast, like teleportation, as he chased Lin Moyu and continued attacking.
Lin Moyu seemed to be completely suppressed, knocked about all over the void with no way to fight back. But only he knew that the other posed no real threat to him. The other's speed was indeed very fast, and he could teleport and shuttle within the ice and fire. This was his home ground. He had fused into the Heaven-and-Earth and could become ice and fire itself. But his power was not strong enough and could not truly injure Lin Moyu's body or soul. His attacks were endless. Since he had merged with the Heaven-and-Earth, he did not need to worry about consumption and could fight like this for billions of years.
"Enough," Lin Moyu said in a low voice and threw a punch. His fist collided with the sword light. In the violent explosion both he and the other were blasted back.
Utmost Undying. Lin Moyu's aura surged skyward. His power multiplied. His body and soul entered an undying and indestructible state.
The other appeared before Lin Moyu again. Sword light exploded. Lin Moyu threw another punch. With far greater force he shattered the sword light and smashed the already broken body of the other into pieces. This punch shattered a large portion of the Heaven-and-Earth. For a time there was no more invasion of ice and fire, and Lin Moyu finally had a moment of peace.
"If I am not mistaken, this fellow should be from an expedition team," Lin Moyu said quietly.
The Hongmeng Gem nodded. "I do not know from which Heaven-and-Earth's expedition team. They died here, but did not die completely. They were turned into this ghostly state under the control of Heaven-and-Earth rules. These guys have long been dead. What remains is only their bodies, without souls, controlled by rules. You can see them as puppets of the rules."
"Looks like this Heaven-and-Earth is very ancient," Lin Moyu said. "Its destruction came long before the Great Annihilation. After the Great Annihilation there were no more expedition teams. Expedition teams could only have come here before the Great Annihilation. If at that time this Heaven-and-Earth had not yet become a remnant, then what attacked the expedition team would not have been the Heaven-and-Earth itself, but the living beings inside it. From this we can judge that this Heaven-and-Earth is very ancient. A seven-wheel Heaven-and-Earth has an extremely long lifespan. It faces a great calamity once every hundred billion years. A seven-wheel Heaven-and-Earth can endure seven such calamities before heading toward destruction. And from heading toward destruction to truly being destroyed is at least another very long period. Add to that the unknown years it has existed as a Heaven-and-Earth remnant, and its age is unimaginable. It might well have surpassed a trillion years. Compared with it, the Chaotic Ancient Wilds truly is a newborn Heaven-and-Earth."
"Even if a seven-wheel Heaven-and-Earth becomes a Heaven-and-Earth remnant, it can continue to exist for a very, very long time," the Hongmeng Gem said. "There are even some five-wheel Heavens-and-Earth, where the time from evolution to destruction to having their remnants turned to dust is less than what this one has already experienced. There might be many such rules puppets inside. Some of them, if they were strong enough while alive, might cause Master some trouble."
"No matter. I have you, do I not? Smash them," Lin Moyu said.
The Hongmeng Gem muttered, "Did Master not say that if you can avoid using me, you would avoid using me?"
Lin Moyu shook his head. "That is in other Heavens-and-Earth. We also need to value efficiency. If we can save some time, all the better."
The Hongmeng Gem was a bit speechless. "Fine. Whatever Master says is how it is."
He did not dare accuse Lin Moyu of going back on his word. After all, he was the Master. Whatever he said was right.
Lin Moyu really did think that way. Sometimes he could avoid using it and handle things himself. But in some situations he should use it. For example here, a seven-wheel Heaven-and-Earth was not safe, and he did not want to waste time. The great calamity in the Chaotic Ancient Wilds was still ongoing. There were still matters waiting for him to handle. So Lin Moyu decisively chose to use the Calamity Scepter.
Bang. Lin Moyu exited his Utmost Undying state and was instantly shattered to pieces. Purple light flickered and he completed rebirth. After reviving, Lin Moyu held the Calamity Scepter and charged toward the Heaven-and-Earth core.
Soon another black dot appeared in his sight, another former expedition team member. They had died here and become puppets of Heaven-and-Earth rules. They had no souls and were controlled by Heaven-and-Earth rules. Even the Undead Eye could not detect them in advance.
This time the puppet held a broken blade. As Lin Moyu approached, he suddenly swung the blade. With immense force the slash came down. Within the blade light ice and fire raged and arrived before him in an instant. Their attack followed the Heaven-and-Earth rules and was faster than lightning, impossible to dodge.
"Out of my way," Lin Moyu said in a low voice and swung the Calamity Scepter. A gigantic phantom appeared in the void. In that moment the Calamity Scepter grew a hundred times larger and swept across the air. Wherever it passed, the Heaven-and-Earth shattered and ice and fire vanished. As for the puppet, it was like tofu, silently swept into dust without even ash remaining.
This was Lin Moyu's first time using soul power to activate the Calamity Scepter for an attack. Although he had only drawn out a trace of the Calamity Scepter's power, the effect was already far better than before. Previously he had to hold the Calamity Scepter and smash people face to face. Now he could smash people from very far away. Smashing people in front of him and smashing people from afar, that was not the same thing at all.
"How is it? Pretty good, right?" the Hongmeng Gem giggled.
Lin Moyu grunted. "Not bad. But still not enough."
"When Master becomes a Supreme, it can be stronger," the Hongmeng Gem said. "To truly draw out my power, Master needs to become a Supreme."
Lin Moyu mused, "I am afraid even a Supreme might not be enough. The Calamity Scepter's level is beyond a Heaven-and-Earth. A Supreme at the end of the day is only on par with a Heaven-and-Earth, not truly beyond one. A Supreme probably still cannot draw out the Calamity Scepter's true power. Besides, the Calamity Scepter should not be something used to smash people. It should have a deeper purpose. I just do not know what it is yet. It seems even you yourself do not quite know."
Holding the Calamity Scepter, Lin Moyu flew onward, smashing anyone he saw. Here there were only enemies, no friends, so there was no chance of smashing the wrong target. The closer he got to the Heaven-and-Earth core, the more former expedition team members there were. They had all come here searching for the Heaven-and-Earth core. Unfortunately none of them had managed to find it. They fell partway through.
Lin Moyu used the Calamity Scepter to clear the path. No matter how strong they had once been, no matter how powerful they seemed now, he smashed them all to dust. Nothing could block his way.
At last Lin Moyu saw the Heaven-and-Earth core, a seven-story pagoda of ice and fire, shimmering with a captivating luster in the void. Around the pagoda there were quite a few former expedition team members. Lin Moyu was already wary. These people had already found the Heaven-and-Earth core and still died. That meant this core was not simple. Otherwise those former experts would not have perished here.
Lin Moyu's arrival broke the calm. These former expedition team members attacked at once.
"Die."
The Calamity Scepter swung up. Lin Moyu struck out without the slightest politeness.