The qualitative transformation of Technique God Heaven-and-Earth also brought huge benefits to Little Tree.
Not only that, Chaos Child and Little Peng, who were currently being nurtured within it, had also entered a new stage.
At this rate, it would not take long before they finished their gestation and reappeared in the world.
For them, that would be a rebirth, a complete remolding.
Lin Moyu came before Little Tree.
"Little Tree, how do you feel?"
Little Tree swayed gently.
"I feel very good. When Heaven-and-Earth grows stronger, I can benefit along with it."
By now Little Tree had already become a sky-piercing giant tree, standing between Heaven-and-Earth, its roots sunk deep into the Life-Forbidden Zone.
Lin Moyu pressed one hand lightly against Little Tree.
From his palm he could feel Little Tree's power clearly.
He could clearly sense that Little Tree's level of power was very high.
Little Tree's power level seemed to surpass that of Heaven-and-Earth itself and was somewhat similar to the Heaven-Scourge Scepter.
Lin Moyu had once sensed the power inside the Hongmeng Spirit Tree Leaf.
Although the power in the Hongmeng Spirit Tree Leaf had not been strong in amount, its level had been extremely high, a bit higher even than Little Tree's current level.
Little Tree's transformation had originated from that Hongmeng Spirit Tree Leaf, and it now seemed that a single Hongmeng Spirit Tree Leaf was still not enough.
He thought of that section of tree root from within the great tribulation.
If Little Tree could absorb that root, perhaps Little Tree's power level could rise again.
Lin Moyu withdrew his hand and asked softly,
"What kind of Heaven-and-Earth did you find this time?"
Little Tree said,
"It should be a very strong Heaven-and-Earth, not inferior to the previous one."
After Little Tree had found that previous seven-wheel Heaven-and-Earth, Lin Moyu had specifically told it to search for new Heaven-and-Earth remnants using that Heaven-and-Earth as the standard.
Little Tree had done exactly that, which was why the speed of finding worlds was very slow.
Otherwise, with so many Heavens-and-Earth, they would have found plenty already.
The appearance of the Heaven-and-Earth Wall had given Lin Moyu a sense of urgency.
He needed more powerful Heaven-and-Earth remnants to strengthen his Technique God Heaven-and-Earth.
He walked over to the transparent leaf. Little Tree opened a space passage for him and sent him in.
Moving along the space passage, Lin Moyu looked out at the Life-Forbidden Zone beyond the corridor.
In the pitch-black void there was no trace of life.
Hongmeng Gem had once described the Life-Forbidden Zone.
Countless Heavens-and-Earth had once shone in this void. In general, the stronger a Heaven-and-Earth, the brighter it shone.
But there were exceptions.
For example, the Heaven-and-Earth he was heading toward this time.
From far away he could already see the passage's exit.
That place was completely pitch black.
Even with his eyesight, he could not see anything at all.
Lin Moyu stopped at the exit and did not step out.
He summoned Undying Spirit Soldiers and had them go first to scout.
The Undying Spirit Soldiers rushed out of the passage, yet he did not lose contact with them, and they did not encounter any danger.
The problem was that the information they sent back was also nothing but darkness.
Lin Moyu linked his vision to that of an Undying Spirit Soldier and found it was indeed so.
All he could see was pitch black, so dark that he could not see his hand in front of his face.
The Undying Spirit Soldiers were wreathed in their own flames, yet the firelight could not spread outward, could not illuminate the surroundings.
He could not even lower his head and see the flames on his own body.
Black.
An indescribable black.
A black in which nothing could be seen.
"This Heaven-and-Earth…"
With a thought, an invisible soul micro-particle flew out.
Since the Undying Spirit Soldiers could not see, he would try using the soul.
Soul micro-particles could likewise be linked to his vision and serve as another pair of eyes.
The result, however, was the same: nothing could be seen.
In the vision of the soul micro-particle, it was also a pitch-black void.
The darkness did not only devour sight, it even completely swallowed his perception.
Even with a powerful soul, he could not sense anything about the surroundings.
He opened the Undying Eye and finally saw something.
Within the darkness, clusters of faint soul flames were flickering.
These soul flames seemed to have lost all consciousness and drifted aimlessly in the darkness without any destination.
"They are dead."
From observing the soul flames, Lin Moyu determined that they were already dead.
The remaining soul flames no longer had any consciousness and seemed to have lost even instinct.
The soul flames were very weak, but their essence was not weak, in fact rather strong.
"These seem to be from an expedition team."
Lin Moyu's heart stirred.
He had the Undying Spirit Soldiers fly toward one of the soul flames to bring it back.
They groped their way forward in the dark.
The darkness affected their sense of direction.
It took a great deal of effort before they managed to find the location of the soul flame, then they groped their way back again.
It took them half a day just to return to the space passage.
A round trip of less than ten thousand meters had actually taken a full day.
What they brought back was a pitch-black corpse about one meter tall, humanoid but not human.
Lin Moyu felt a bad premonition in his heart.
This Heaven-and-Earth remnant was going to be troublesome.
He roused Hongmeng Gem.
"Have you ever seen this kind of Heaven-and-Earth?"
Hongmeng Gem stuck its head out at the passage exit and looked around, then looked at the corpse that had been brought back.
In a low voice it said,
"I have. This is a Dark Heaven-and-Earth."
"Dark Heaven-and-Earth?"
Lin Moyu had heard another new term.
Hongmeng Gem said,
"This is a special type of living Heaven-and-Earth. The rules within it devour all light and plunge the entire Heaven-and-Earth into darkness.
"It is complete darkness, darkness without any light at all.
"This darkness does not only target sight, it also targets the soul.
"Aside from native lifeforms of this Heaven-and-Earth, all outsiders who stay in a Dark Heaven-and-Earth long enough will lose their sense of direction and their perception.
"First they become lost, and in the end they remain in that Heaven-and-Earth forever.
"This corpse is like that.
"He was infected by the rules of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth. Both his soul and his body were altered, so he was trapped here until his death."
What Hongmeng Gem said matched what Lin Moyu was seeing.
Just then, the soul flame within the corpse suddenly went out and the body began to rot.
Hongmeng Gem said,
"His soul and body only continued to exist because of the rules of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth. Now that he has left the Dark Heaven-and-Earth, he is about to be completely destroyed."
Lin Moyu waved his hand and Undying Fire fell upon the corpse.
The body, which had begun to collapse, stopped rotting in the flames and its flesh began to regrow.
The soul flame that had just gone out rekindled and began to slowly recover.
"Perhaps we can get some information from his mouth."
Hongmeng Gem shook its head.
"We probably will not get much. As far as I know, all living beings who enter a Dark Heaven-and-Earth actually discover nothing at all.
"Even most native lifeforms within a Dark Heaven-and-Earth muddle through their entire lives.
"Only a very few can make use of the rules of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth and step onto the path of cultivation.
"But those lifeforms that can cultivate in a Dark Heaven-and-Earth are very hard to deal with."
Hongmeng Gem used the words "hard to deal with" and not "powerful," which meant that their cultivation level might not be high, but they were not easy opponents.
Lin Moyu said,
"But they should all be dead now."
"They may be dead, but do not forget, Master, there are still rule lifeforms within the Dark Heaven-and-Earth. Those are the biggest problem.
"Your Undying Fire is very strong, but whether it can withstand the rules of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth is hard to say.
"A Dark Heaven-and-Earth is an extreme type of Heaven-and-Earth and very troublesome.
"If it really will not do, you should give up and let Little Tree find another suitable Heaven-and-Earth, so as not to waste time here."
Lin Moyu thought for a moment.
"I want to give it a try. The form of this Heaven-and-Earth seems somewhat interesting."
Within the Undying Fire, this fellow who had died who knew how many years ago became an Undying Spirit and knelt obediently before Lin Moyu.
"Where do you come from?"
Lin Moyu asked calmly.
He could faintly sense the other party's fear.
Undying Spirits and previous Revived Ones were somewhat different.
They retained more of their self-awareness.
But regardless of how much self-awareness they retained, they were now Undying Spirits, beings that were as if dead yet still lived, undead yet no longer truly living.
In the days to come, they would obey Lin Moyu's commands forever.
No matter what they had been in life, in death they were his slaves.
Faced with Lin Moyu's question, he answered without concealment.
"This slave is Xuanjin, from Falling-Gold Heaven-and-Earth, under Falling-Gold True Lord."
Xuanjin was one of Falling-Gold True Lord's subordinates, a member of an expedition team.
According to the standards of the Chaotic Primordial Wilds, his cultivation was already at quasi-Great Supreme level.
However, he cultivated only body and soul, unlike ordinary cultivators, which made him more suited to walking through various Heaven-and-Earth remnants.
He had traversed multiple Heaven-and-Earth remnants and carried out many missions, and had finally come here and fallen here.
Under Lin Moyu's questioning, he recounted what had happened back then.
When they first entered this dark Heaven-and-Earth, they had not encountered any danger.
Only after groping about for a while did they realize something was wrong.
The power of darkness had invaded their bodies and souls.
Their bodies were polluted, and their souls were clouded.
Unfortunately, by the time they discovered all this, it was already too late.
They lost their way in the darkness and could not find the road back, and in the end they remained here forever.
All those who fell here had not completely extinguished their soul flames.
Although they were dead, their souls still existed, in a strange form.
This was the power of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth.
The power of darkness had polluted them, but it had also left them with a final spark.
If there were some heaven-defying opportunity in the future, they would not be without a chance to revive.
Lin Moyu was that opportunity.
"Interesting."
The power of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth was extremely terrifying, filled with killing intent in a hidden way.
Yet while it polluted others, it also left them a sliver of life.
Lin Moyu vaguely understood a bit more of what was meant by cause and effect.
No Heaven-and-Earth could escape cause and fate.
Cause and effect and destiny were like twin brothers, forever joined, one never complete without the other.
After listening to Xuanjin's account, Lin Moyu had gained some understanding of the dangers of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth, yet it was still not enough.
Undying Spirit Soldiers brought back more dead from within the Dark Heaven-and-Earth.
Their corpses were intact and their whole bodies glowed with black light.
After they left the Dark Heaven-and-Earth, their bodies began to rot and crumble, and their souls turned to dust in an instant.
Without the protection of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth's power, these people who had died long ago would naturally be erased.
Lin Moyu cast out Undying Fire and turned them all into Undying Spirits.
He wanted to gather information about the Dark Heaven-and-Earth from more mouths.
The more information he had, the safer he would be.
Firelight coiled, revealing a sheen of pale white.
Undying Fire carried an indescribable white hue that reflected off Lin Moyu's face.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he faintly saw something within the firelight.
Hongmeng Gem suddenly said,
"These corpses have a problem."
Lin Moyu said,
"They indeed have a problem, but the problem is not with the corpses, it is with this Heaven-and-Earth."
A few faint black threads rose slowly from within the Undying Fire, silent and without sign, merging into the space passage.
The space passage looked unchanged, yet Lin Moyu still keenly sensed that it had become a shade darker.
That shade was extremely tiny.
Even if another Supreme were here, they might not notice it.
He had only just discovered it himself.
"Dark Heaven-and-Earth rules have come out from the corpses and polluted the space passage.
"Fortunately there are not many.
"If there were too many, the space passage would have turned into a Dark Heaven-and-Earth.
"The rules of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth can pollute the space passage, which means they can pollute other Heavens-and-Earth.
"As long as the quantity is sufficient, they can turn other Heavens-and-Earth into Dark Heavens-and-Earth as well.
"Even if the quantity is small, these rules from the Dark Heaven-and-Earth can reproduce on their own.
"As long as they are given enough time, they can likewise pollute other Heavens-and-Earth."
Hongmeng Gem said,
"I do not know very much about Dark Heavens-and-Earth either. There are not many Dark Heavens-and-Earth, and every one of them is pitch black. I cannot see clearly what happens inside them."
Lin Moyu thought for a moment.
"This Dark Heaven-and-Earth is indeed troublesome.
"Just now its rules tried to affect me, but they did not succeed.
"Undying Fire cannot burn the rules of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth, but the power of death can.
"A few threads of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth's rules tried to sneak in, but were corroded by the power of death and failed."
Hongmeng Gem said,
"Although the rules of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth are troublesome, they should not pose any real threat to you, Master.
"Your Dao should be able to deal with them, and my Element Gem can also handle them."
As it spoke, the Element Gem flashed once.
Lin Moyu vaguely heard a few shrieks as some of the rules from the Dark Heaven-and-Earth were destroyed by the Element Gem.
Lin Moyu frowned.
"It should not be that simple.
"I feel that the rules of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth have more to them."
"Let these people finish telling us what they went through, then we will go over.
"Even though I do not want to waste time, we cannot rush now.
"This Dark Heaven-and-Earth is very strong."
Lin Moyu judged that it was not merely a seven-wheel Heaven-and-Earth. It should be an eight-wheel, or even a nine-wheel.
If it was eight wheels, it would still be manageable.
If it was nine, then based on previous experience, it would likely be very troublesome.
With a wave of his hand, the power of death covered the Undying Fire, and all the black threads that slipped out of the Undying Fire were corroded clean.
Just as before, there were no new discoveries.
One powerful figure after another was revived and became Undying Spirits.
They knelt at Lin Moyu's feet and, under his orders, recounted their experiences one by one.
The more people spoke, the more complete the information he obtained.
What they had gone through was mostly similar to Xuanjin's story, but some details stood out, especially those from an insect-type lifeform.
He came from an insect-race Heaven-and-Earth and possessed a special ability that allowed him to see things others could not.
He had discovered that hidden within the rules of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth were things that looked like hairs, but thinner than hairs by hundreds of millions of times.
Thinner than hairs by hundreds of millions of times.
That was already far beyond the limit of the human eye, and even smaller than the micro-particles with which Lin Moyu had filled his soul.
Moreover, he had found that those hair-like filaments seemed to possess life.
This discovery put Lin Moyu on alert.
The rules of the Dark Heaven-and-Earth possessed life.
Was it that the rules themselves had life, or was there some kind of lifeform living within the rules?
The Undying Eye also had limits.
When lifeforms were too small, the Undying Eye could not see their soul flames.
That was why Lin Moyu had not discovered anything earlier when using the Undying Eye.
As Undying Spirits, they would not lie to him, so Lin Moyu did not doubt his words.
It was just that this was only his observation and could not yet be taken as certain.
Hongmeng Gem had been listening as well, and it suddenly thought of a possibility.
"What if this Dark Heaven-and-Earth is itself a rule lifeform?"
Lin Moyu was slightly taken aback.
"Is that possible?"
"It is possible. Such Heavens-and-Earth have appeared before, and I have seen them.
"Those Heavens-and-Earth were very powerful and caused a lot of trouble."
"Explain in detail."
"Since you are so earnest, Master, I will tell the story properly.
"Once there was a Five Elements Heaven-and-Earth…"