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

Everyone looked at Su Yao. Su Yao possessed the Chaos Saint Body and was the only one among the seven women to have fully received the inheritance of the First Goddess within the sealed palace. If any information was missed, it could only be found in the inheritance she received.

Su Yao closed her eyes and reviewed the entire inheritance she had received within the pillar of light in the sealed palace in her mind. The inheritance left by the First Chaos Goddess was very complete, detailing everything from the cultivation method of the Holy Body to the process of sealing the Demon God. However, Su Yao noticed one thing—at the beginning of the inheritance, the First Goddess used four words to describe the origin of the Holy Body.

"Originating from chaos." Su Yao opened her eyes. "She only said these four words. She didn't explain who chaos was, nor where chaos came from."

"The Old Man of Chaos?" Yan Lingji asked.

"Not necessarily," Su Yao shook her head. "Yuan Chu said he was the first being to possess self-awareness at the beginning of chaos, but he is not chaos itself. Chaos is the source of everything, encompassing both order and chaos. Chaos gave birth to Yuan Chu, the Demon God, and the origins of the seven sacred bodies. But what is chaos itself? Where does its consciousness come from? The Seven Star Ruins existed before Yuan Chu and the Demon God, so could the one who built it be the first incarnation of chaos itself?"

Silence fell over the hall once again.

Qin Yuan stood up and walked to the window. The setting sun outside the Guixu Palace was just right, its light illuminating his white hair and coating it with a pale gold. His Chaos Eye activated automatically, piercing through the clouds and space, and he could vaguely see an extremely faint fluctuation in the direction of the void, like a sleeping heart slowly beating.

Those were signs that the restrictions on the Seven Star Ruins were loosening.

"Whatever it is, we'll find out when we get there." Qin Yuan turned around and looked at the seven women. "This time, we'll all go together."

"You've finally figured it out." Yan Lingji slammed her hand on the table, flames leaping high. "Last time you went to Taixu alone, we were worried sick at home for three months."

"Last time was for scouting." Qin Yuan walked up to Yan Lingji, raised his hand and patted her head, suppressing half of the flames that had sprung up. "This time, we're going to fight. And you'll all be involved in the fight."

Yan Lingji's flames surged again, but this time they were fueled by excitement.

Three days later, Qin Yuan led the seven women on their journey to Taixu.

This time, he wasn't climbing the Eternal Ladder alone; he was leading the entire team. The Elder of Ten Thousand Paths stayed behind at the Guixu Palace, while Ye Wuji sent people from the Wuji Dao Court to meet him at the other end of the Eternal Ladder. Yan Yue rushed back from the Great Yan Dynasty to see him off. Standing at the entrance of the Guixu Palace, leaning on her nearly worn-smooth wooden cane, her expression was calm.

"I had Yueyao tidy up the south-facing room for me," she said. "I stayed there twice while you were away, and the bamboo outside the window is growing nicely."

"Wait until I come back to stay," Qin Yuan said.

Yan Yue nodded, without saying anything like "Come back soon," but simply tapped the ground with her wooden cane, her tone as indifferent as ever: "The Great Yan Dynasty is currently building a new post road, I'll go back and keep an eye on it. If you come back early, you can come to the capital to find me."

Qin Yuan's lips curved slightly.

"it is good."

The pillar of light on the Eternal Ladder was brighter than before. As Qin Yuan stepped onto the hundredth step, he heard the guardian's voice again. But this time, the guardian didn't say "Don't turn back," but instead said in a surprised tone, "You've come again. And with others."

Qin Yuan led the seven women through the jade gate and arrived at Jieyin City. Liu San was already waiting at the city gate, still as familiar as ever, smiling like a flower.

"Brother Qin! You're finally back! Three months ago, after you won the Heavenly Pride Battle, your name was all over Jieyin City. Now your portrait is selling for three hundred source crystals on the black market, and I've even raised the price for you."

He pulled a crumpled portrait from his pocket. The person in the picture did resemble Qin Yuan somewhat, but had black hair and a fierce look in his eyes. Next to it was a line of text: "The most ruthless person in the history of the Heavenly Pride Battle, a Creation Realm cultivator who can slay an Immortal Realm cultivator." Qin Yuan looked at the portrait, expressionlessly crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into a roadside trash can.

"Seven Star Ruins," Qin Yuan said. "Do you know where it is?"

Liu San's smile froze for a moment.

"Why are you suddenly asking this?" He lowered his voice, looking around. "The Seven Star Ruins are a taboo subject in the Great Void; few dare to mention them openly. That ruin is in the 'Silent Star Region' in the far west of the Great Void, a dark area where even starlight can't penetrate. For a hundred thousand years, countless people have tried to enter, but none have returned. Recently, there have been rumors that the ruin's restrictions have loosened, but no one has dared to approach—because at the same time as the restrictions loosened, a sound emanated from within the ruin."

What was that sound?

Liu San took a step closer, lowering his voice even further: "The bell tolls. It rings once every seven days, seven times each time. After it rings, all the laws within a radius of ten thousand miles of the ruins will temporarily become ineffective. Within three breaths, any cultivator below the Eternal Realm who enters that area will lose all their cultivation and have their laws reset to zero. Some people call that 'Return to Nothingness'—all things return to nothingness."

Qin Yuan and Su Yao exchanged a glance.

The name "Gui Xu" (归墟) holds immense significance for them. Qin Yuan's Daoist temple is called Gui Xu Palace (归墟殿), and the core restriction of the Seven Star Ruins is also called Gui Xu. This cannot be a coincidence.

"Lead the way," Qin Yuan said.

Liu San's face immediately fell: "Brother Qin, it's not that I'm unwilling to lead the way, it's just that that place is too eerie. I'm just a rogue cultivator, only at the Dominator Realm. If I go in, I won't even know how I died."

"I will protect you."

Looking into Qin Yuan's eyes, Liu San saw the unyielding coldness beneath the calm surface and knew he couldn't refuse. He sighed resignedly and pulled a tattered star map from his pocket.

"Let me make this clear first: I'll only take you to the outer perimeter of the Silent Starfield. You'll have to find your own way inside."

The Silent Starfield is located in the far west of the Great Void. Starting from Jieyin City, one must traverse the territories of three holy dynasties and a vast, unclaimed star sea. Ye Wuji arranged for the Wuji Dao Court's teleportation array, shortening the journey by two-thirds. Even so, Qin Yuan and his group still traveled for a full seven days.

During these seven days, they passed through the new capital of the Tian Shu Holy Dynasty. Bai Shuang had officially succeeded to the position of Holy Lord, Gu Changfeng had been appointed as the Holy Dynasty's Grand General, and Han Meng and Sun Yuan's injuries had healed. Although their cultivation was damaged, Bai Shuang used the Holy Dynasty's elixirs to help them preserve their foundation. Qin Yuan stayed in the capital for a day, drank with Gu Changfeng, and sat for a while by Han Meng and Sun Yuan's sickbeds. Han Meng was still his usual rough and boisterous self, saying that he would come and join Qin Yuan once he was fully recovered. Sun Yuan was blind, but the burning of his Breaking Formation Bloodline had given him a new understanding of formations. He said that he could now see the structure of formations even with his eyes closed.

After leaving the Tian Shu Holy Dynasty, the markings on the star map became fewer and fewer. By the time they reached the exit of the last teleportation array, even Liu San's tattered star map was reduced to just a single line at the very edge.