I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

Yan Yue paused for a moment, then turned her head away so that Qin Yuan wouldn't see her expression.

"Who wants to come back?" she said softly, then turned and walked away, leaning on her wooden cane. After taking two steps, she stopped, her back to Qin Yuan, her voice even softer than before, "Save me a room in the Guixu Palace. Preferably one facing south."

After saying that, she leaned on her wooden cane and quickly left the square, walking with a limp, but her back was straight.

Qin Yuan watched her disappear outside the gates of Jian Ge Mountain, then turned and walked towards the Seven Women.

"What about us?" Su Yao asked.

"Let's return to the Ruins Palace first," Qin Yuan said. "The Primordial Era needs time to repair the world, and Elder Wandao needs someone to oversee things. Also—"

He touched his brow; the runes of the Eye of Chaos felt slightly warm under his fingertips.

"I need to go into seclusion for a while. I need to go and see what's at the end of that ladder to heaven."

Three months later.

Behind the Guixu Palace, in a stone chamber next to the taro field, Qin Yuan sat cross-legged on a futon with his eyes closed.

The Eye of Chaos slowly rotated between his brows, revealing all the hidden laws, fortunes, and energy flows of the world to his perception. In the past three months, he had mastered seventy to eighty percent of the Eye of Chaos's power. It couldn't directly enhance combat strength, but it allowed one to see the essence of things—the weaknesses of enemies, the flaws in techniques, and the trajectory of the laws governing their operation.

For someone whose cultivation level has reached his level, seeing the essence is more important than learning another cultivation technique.

The door to the stone chamber was pushed open a crack, and Yueyao poked half her head in, whispering, "Brother Qin Yuan, dinner's ready."

Qin Yuan opened his eyes, and the runes of the Eye of Chaos slowly faded away.

"What are we eating today?" He stood up and stretched his legs, which had gone numb from sitting.

"Sister Su Yao cooked taro porridge, but Sister Yan Ling Ji insisted on adding chili peppers, and now they're fighting in the yard." Yue Yao blinked, her tone full of habitual helplessness.

Qin Yuan walked out of the stone chamber and saw Su Yao standing behind the stone table with a casserole in the courtyard. Yan Lingji was chasing her in circles with a handful of chili powder. Mu Hongyi was sitting on a stone bench watching the fun. Jian Wushuang was sharpening his sword next to him. Bingji was cultivating by the cold pool. Hongyue was practicing with her spear at the courtyard gate, and the wind from her spear swept bamboo leaves all over the sky.

"Stop fooling around," Qin Yuan said.

Yan Lingji reluctantly put down the chili powder, but still secretly sprinkled a small pinch into the porridge when Su Yao turned around.

Qin Yuan pretended not to see and sat down at the stone table. Su Yao served him a bowl of steaming hot porridge, which smelled of taro. He scooped a spoonful into his mouth, then paused for a moment.

"Is it delicious?" Yan Lingji asked expectantly.

"Hmm." Qin Yuan swallowed without changing his expression.

Yan Lingji cheered and filled a bowl for herself, but after taking a sip, she spat it out.

"Qin Yuan, you're lying! It's definitely burning hot!"

Laughter erupted in the courtyard.

Qin Yuan's lips curved slightly as he lowered his head to continue drinking his porridge. The aroma of taro, the spiciness of chili peppers, Su Yao's tea, Yan Lingji's boisterousness, Mu Hongyi's sword, Jian Wushuang's silence, Bingji's chill, Hongyue's spear wind, Yueyao's wildflowers. And then there was the south-facing room where Yan Yue was about to arrive.

These are the things he protects.

He would face that gaze from the Eternal Ladder sooner or later. But not today.

Today, I'm having porridge.

The taro field behind Guixu Temple has turned yellow again.

Qin Yuan squatted on the edge of the field, a withered leaf in his hand, his brow slightly furrowed. Su Yao said he had watered it too much, Yue Yao said the soil was too poor, and Yan Lingji insisted that the taro variety was inadequate. The four of them argued around a taro patch for half an hour, finally Qin Yuan made the final decision: "Next year, we'll move to a different plot."

This is the third month since he returned from Taixu.

After the battle at the Chaos Holy City, he recuperated for two months in the Myriad Manifestations Ancient Realm, and Ye Wuji personally escorted him back to the Eternal Heaven Domain. After the bone blade was reshaped, his cultivation stabilized at the ninth level of the Sovereign Realm, just one step away from the Immortal Realm. But he was not in a hurry to break through—he was still pondering the words spoken by the Chaos Holy Lord before his divine consciousness dissipated.

"Above chaos, there is chaos."

He pondered this sentence for three months, coming up with many possible interpretations, but none of them satisfied him. Su Yao said he was overthinking it and suggested he think less and rest more. Qin Yuan thought she was right, so he spent another day squatting in the taro field.

When Ye Wuji sent the message from Taixu, Qin Yuan was researching how to fertilize the taro.

The communication token lit up, and Ye Wuji's voice came from within, his tone a bit more urgent than usual: "The mess in the Tian Shu Holy Dynasty has been cleaned up, and a new Holy Lord has been chosen—it's Bai Shuang. She released all the files on the Holy Lord's execution of her master back then, causing a stir throughout the Tian Shu Holy Dynasty, but it was suppressed. In addition, there's new activity from the Wuji Dao Court—they say they detected a very ancient aura on you, related to the Chaos Holy Dynasty."

"They said that three months ago." Qin Yuan put down the fertilizer bag in his hand.

"It's different." Ye Wuji's voice deepened. "This time, it was the Supreme Elder of the Dao Court who spoke up personally. He said that your aura highly matches the fluctuations of an 'ancient site.' That ancient site is located in the far west of the Great Void, and it has been dormant for over 100,000 years, never opened by anyone. But on the day you stepped into the Great Void, the restrictions on the ancient site loosened for the first time."

Qin Yuan's hand stopped.

A 100,000-year-old ancient site, and it's connected to him? That doesn't make sense. He's lived for a little over 10,000 years, traversing countless realms, from the Eternal Heaven to the Void, every step of the way was his own. 100,000 years ago, he didn't even know where he was, so how could he be connected to a 100,000-year-old ancient site?

"What is the name of the historical site?" Qin Yuan asked.

"It doesn't have an official name; it's just a code name in the ancient books of Taixu." Ye Wuji paused for a moment, "Seven Star Ruins."

In the main hall of Guixu Palace, the seven women sat around Qin Yuan. After hearing the news from Ye Wuji, everyone fell silent.

Seven Star Ruins. The meaning of this name is so straightforward that it requires no further explanation. Seven Stars corresponds to the Seven Star Sacred Bodies, and Ruins refers to ruins or relics. If this ancient site is indeed related to the Seven Maidens, it means that its history is older than the Chaos Holy Dynasty and even longer than the time when the first Seven Goddesses sealed the Demon God.

"Ten thousand years ago..." Su Yao repeated the number in a low voice, "The first seven goddesses sealed the demon god fifty thousand years ago. If the Seven Star Ruins are a relic from one hundred thousand years ago, then its existence predates the seven goddesses by a full two times."

"In other words, before the first Seven Goddesses, there were even earlier possessors of the Seven Star Sacred Body." Mu Hongyi continued, her fingers unconsciously stroking the hilt of her sword. "Our Sacred Body inheritance didn't start with the Seven Goddesses, but existed in an even earlier era."

Yueyao counted on her fingers: "The Seven Goddesses lived 50,000 years ago, and their sacred bodies were inherited. Going back further, where did that inheritance originate?"