Qin Renhuang just became an immortal, and you told me this is the prehistoric time

However, this is also the difficulty. Who was the First Emperor? To have him accept the appointment as Grand Secretary meant that his status would change from "Retired Emperor" to "subject," and he would be subject to the supervision and control of the Imperial Study.

However, if he insists on staying in Jiujiang County and does not enter the Qin capital, then he will always be the retired emperor of Qin, and I, the emperor, will still have to respectfully show filial piety when I see him.

"Would he... be willing to come out of seclusion?"

Ying Shaoyang muttered to himself.

That's the crux of the problem. He wasn't sure if a former emperor, a figure of unparalleled power, would be willing to lower himself to serve as a cabinet minister and handle complex political affairs.

This requires a careful conversation, a test that will determine the future of the Qin Dynasty.

Having made up his mind, Ying Shaoyang no longer hesitated and decided to personally travel to Jiujiang County to discuss the matter of the Grand Secretary with the First Emperor in person. If the First Emperor was willing to take up the post, he would appoint him directly; if not, he had other plans, but those would be much more complicated.

His gaze swept over the Qin Imperial Palace beneath his feet, which had now "returned." Vast amounts of incense and spiritual energy, like an invisible river, converged from every corner of the Qin world, continuously flowing into the palace.

Nourished day and night by this vast spiritual power, the entire palace seemed to possess a unique "spirituality." The glazed tiles shimmered with light, and the palace walls and halls exuded a subtle Taoist charm, faintly emanating a mysterious aura that transcended the mundane and approached the realm of immortals.

"Large magical artifacts, once forged, are indeed far more powerful than small magical artifacts."

Ying Shaoyang thought to himself.

The Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Formation consumed many top-tier materials he brought back from the Yangshen World, and it has yet to complete its transformation into a celestial artifact.

On the contrary, the Qin Imperial Palace, due to its special status, receives sacrifices and prayers from millions or even tens of millions of Qin people every day. The amount and purity of the incense and prayers gathered there far exceed those of the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends Formation. It has actually surpassed the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends Formation and taken the lead in the essential leap.

This scene further solidified his current focus on developing the power of incense and spiritual energy. "Even if changes are to be made in the future, it will have to wait until the Great Qin world and I myself no longer need to rely on such large-scale immortal artifacts to suppress fortune and deal with crises."

With a slight thought, he accessed the world's authority. In an instant, the vast, semi-transformed energy of heaven and earth in the void was forcibly extracted. After he underwent a preliminary transformation using violent means, mixed with a trace of pure incense and spiritual power, it was poured into the spiritual roots and herbs in the palace's back garden like sweet rain.

Nourished by this special energy, all the spiritual roots and herbs in the garden stretched their branches and leaves at a visible speed, bursting forth with spiritual energy. The giant tree in the center, which had already transformed into a spiritual root of heaven and earth, swayed its branches and leaves, emitting an even purer and richer spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

For a time, the entire area within thousands of miles of the Qin Imperial Palace was filled with spiritual energy, like a misty fog, drifting and flowing, resembling a fairyland.

Immediately afterward, the He Shi Bi jade, which was floating beside him, flashed. Inside the palace, the hundreds of thousands of spiritual roots and herbs, each over two hundred years old, were enveloped by an invisible force and instantly disappeared from their original location. The next moment, they were evenly distributed and transplanted to several of the largest mountain ranges that had been selected in various parts of the Great Qin Dynasty.

The vacated areas were then replanted with various medicinal herbs collected by the palace over the years.

These spiritual roots and herbs, which have experienced the journey to the Yangshen World and endured the baptism of the aftermath of the Heavenly Tribulation, have grown at a speed and have potential that far surpasses those of the past.

Their arrival will undoubtedly add more mountains to the Great Qin world, thoroughly nourished by pure spiritual energy, becoming blessed lands for future cultivation.

Having dealt with these matters, Ying Shaoyang stood up and prepared to fly to Jiujiang County.

He knew that the sooner the Grand Secretary was chosen, the sooner the Qin Dynasty could embark on a more efficient development path.

However, just as his figure lifted off the ground, before he could penetrate the spatial barrier above the palace—

hum!
Deep within his mind, the mysterious stone gate that had been silent for so long suddenly trembled violently! An incredibly clear image was forcibly imprinted into his consciousness!
Ying Shaoyang's expression changed drastically in an instant, his pupils contracted sharply, and his previous composure and contemplation were instantly replaced by an unprecedented solemnity.

Without any hesitation, his figure, which was originally heading towards Jiujiang County, was abruptly twisted in mid-air, transforming into a dazzling stream of light that tore through the sky. With a speed exceeding the limit, he soared into the sky without hesitation, heading straight for the endless void beyond heaven and earth!

His speed was so great that it left a long ripple in space behind him. Passing through layers of clouds and over the nascent stars, his gaze was fixed on the chaotic area beyond the world barrier.

In the image transmitted through the stone gate just now, he clearly "saw" that in the endless chaos, a huge world several times larger than the Great Qin World was being violently affected by the chaotic airflow for some unknown reason. Its trajectory was deflected, and it was "drifting" straight and inevitably toward the location of the Great Qin World!

According to the information from Shimen, this terrifying change actually happened when he was undergoing the "First Tribulation of Heaven and Earth"!
"Is this a calamity that inevitably accompanies the world's advancement? Or is it a 'human calamity' that I will face after I have survived the Heavenly Tribulation and the first tribulation since the creation of the world?"

Ying Shaoyang's mind raced, countless guesses flashing through his mind, but at this moment, it was pointless to investigate the reason.

He only knew one cold, hard fact—the collision of two worlds was already inevitable!
The only problem now is the true strength of the world that's crashing into us. He must ascertain this as soon as possible in order to prepare a response. Otherwise, for the still-developing Qin world, this would undoubtedly be a catastrophic disaster!
Ying Shaoyang's body flashed with light, and one after another, powerful immortal artifacts appeared and surrounded him.

With the power of these celestial artifacts, he continuously broke through the void that blocked his way, traversing extremely long distances. Even with his current cultivation level and speed, it took him nearly ten days to finally reach the very edge of the membrane of the Great Qin World.

Standing here, he could more clearly sense the changes in the membrane of heaven and earth. The membrane, which was originally formless and intangible, was now covered with countless fine and profound lightning-type law runes, which were like tiny black spots imprinted on the surface of the membrane.

At this moment, these "black dots" are glowing faintly, autonomously attracting and capturing air currents from the chaos.

The raging chaotic energy was incorporated into the runes. After initial transformation, it was sent into the inner membrane of heaven and earth. After a second transformation within the membrane itself, it was finally transformed into relatively compliant semi-transformed energy of heaven and earth and injected into the void of the Qin world.

This is one of the significant benefits he brought to the Qin world after surviving the tribulation.

The existence of these lightning-based law runes increases the efficiency of chaotic energy conversion, and the converted energy is far more gentle than before. Although the increase in the world's total energy may seem small in the short term, in the long run, it has immeasurable benefits for the stability and growth of the Qin world.

Ying Shaoyang glanced back at the Great Qin void. Because he had taken over a dozen immortal artifacts used for energy conversion, the energy flow pattern in the void had been disrupted. The airflow that was originally flowing towards those artifacts was blocked, causing it to surge and become chaotic in the void. However, in the short term, this impact was still within an acceptable range. His gaze returned to the outer membrane of heaven and earth. Looking through this barrier, the chaos outside was utterly silent—a deathly, all-consuming silence, where even light seemed to be swallowed by the endless chaos. Compared to the void inside the Great Qin world, this place was tens of thousands of times more dangerous!
Within the void of the Great Qin world, if he did not rely on the identity and power of the world's ruler and flew solely on his own strength, he would still need the assistance of a celestial artifact.

In this true chaos, any ordinary immortal artifact would likely be instantly obliterated into the most basic particles by the omnipresent chaotic energy if exposed!
Ying Shaoyang did not rush out, but carefully used the "perspective" of the celestial membrane to observe.

He could "see" tiny wisps of chaotic energy being drawn to the lightning-based runes on the fetal membrane.

When the chaotic energy entered the rune, it seemed to undergo an extreme compression and qualitative change. Its total amount first expanded a hundredfold, and then, through the transformation of the celestial membrane itself, its volume and energy intensity suddenly increased by about a thousandfold, before it was transformed into the semi-transformed celestial energy that he was familiar with.

"It was just a wisp of chaotic energy, yet after transformation, it could become such a vast amount of semi-converted energy..."

Ying Shaoyang felt a chill run down his spine as he sensed the terrifying power contained in the transformation process.

The inherent strength of this chaotic energy far surpasses any immortal artifact he has ever seen, including the strongest ones he possesses!

He gazed into the distance, trying to pierce through the endless chaos and pinpoint the location of the enormous world that was crashing towards him.

However, the chaos blocked his way, making it difficult for his divine sense to reach far; he could only rely on the vague sensations emanating from the stone gate.

A strong sense of resentment welled up inside him. "I knew in advance that another world was crashing into us, yet I can only passively wait here!"

He recalled those records of worlds being collided with and swallowed by other worlds without warning. Although he possessed the extraordinary treasure, the Stone Gate, which allowed him to detect the crisis in advance, it seemed... he still couldn't change this passive, waiting situation? This sense of powerlessness made him extremely uncomfortable.

Just as his heart was churning, pondering whether he could take the initiative to do something, even if it was just to obtain some information about the other world in advance—

A clear, emotionless message suddenly and directly entered the depths of his mind.

[By consuming one hundred strands of world power, the Stone Gate clone can be projected into the target world.]

This information shocked Ying Shaoyang, who immediately weighed the pros and cons.

He deeply understood the preciousness of the world's power.

Under his management, the Great Qin World is currently in a period of rapid growth. In addition, he constantly brings back various treasures from all the heavens and myriad worlds to nourish the world's origin, which is why he can steadily condense a world power every month.

This power of the world, in his hands, can unleash earth-shattering might. For example, if he wanted to instantly transform the ocean vapors of the entire Qin world into sweet rain and shower it upon the world, he only needed to consume a single strand of world power to achieve this.

In contrast, the world of Liaozhai that he once visited is in a downward trend and it will probably take at least ten years to condense a complete world power.

To advance the Great Qin World from its current level to the next, it would require accumulating a full thousand strands of World Power! Each strand of World Power is a manifestation of the Great Qin World's original essence, serving as the foundation for its future ascent to higher levels, making it incomparably precious.

Now, just to gather intelligence on the world that is about to collide with them, they need to consume the power of a hundred worlds at once, which is equivalent to eight years of accumulation in the Great Qin World! In Ying Shaoyang's opinion, this price is far too high, and it is simply not worth the loss.

After all, the stone gate space in his mind can automatically open three passages to different worlds every year, and it does not require the power of the world. On the contrary, it allows him to bring back various resources, treasures and knowledge from those worlds, continuously strengthening himself and the Great Qin world.

"One hundred..."

Ying Shaoyang frowned, torn between his own thoughts and his own mind. Abandoning the investigation meant he would be completely unaware of the impending threat and could only passively await disaster; while paying this huge price might give him a head start, but the information he gleaned might be far less valuable than what he had consumed.

However, when he considered the terrible consequences of merging the two worlds, his eyes suddenly hardened. Merging was far more than a simple merger.

This involves the collision and devouring of the world's origins, concerning his identity and authority as the world's master! If, during the fusion process, the other world takes the lead and the consciousness of the Great Qin world is suppressed or even obliterated, then his position as the master of the Great Qin world will be in jeopardy, and he may even suffer a backlash.

All the treasures he painstakingly brought back from the myriad worlds will serve as a foundation for the other world's advancement!

"We must never relinquish the initiative to the unknown!"

A resolute glint flashed in Ying Shaoyang's eyes.

These hundred strands of world power must be spent! This is not for simple reconnaissance, but for advance planning, to secure a glimmer of hope for Great Qin in the upcoming clash of worlds!
Without further hesitation, he turned around resolutely, transformed into a stream of light, and returned to the Great Qin world at an even faster speed than when he came.

More than ten days later, Ying Shaoyang reappeared in a desolate area within the Great Qin world. Compared to before, he was now fully prepared. He wore the thousand-thread brocade robe that had been tempered by lightning tribulation and now revealed hidden lightning Dao patterns, and a jade pendant with an increasingly restrained and profound aura, representing the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Grand Array, hung at his waist.

Without the slightest hesitation, he directly unleashed his divine power, connecting with the core of his inner world—the He Shi Bi jade. In an instant, a vast, pure, and immense power, containing the primordial will of the Qin world, was forcibly extracted from him!

A hundred streams of world power, as dazzling as a galaxy and as heavy as a mountain, roared and poured into the huge stone gate phantom that suddenly appeared in front of him, like a hundred golden dragons!
The stone gate, infused with such a massive amount of world power, burst forth with unprecedented light, and the patterns on the door frame seemed to come alive, slowly flowing.

Behind the door was no longer the familiar starry sky or otherworldly scene, but a constantly rotating, incomparably deep chaotic vortex, vaguely pointing to a specific direction.

Ying Shaoyang took a deep breath, glanced one last time at the sky of the Great Qin Dynasty, and then took a step forward, his figure completely disappearing into the chaotic vortex.

After he entered, the illusory stone gate rapidly shrank, eventually transforming into a barely perceptible speck of dust and disappearing into the void. (End of Chapter)