What to do?
Where to find some amusement?
Gu Qingfeng shook his head. He had already sought amusement in Fengyue Small World before, and there wasn’t much else to find.
It’s just that… if he wasn’t looking for amusement, then what should he do?
He had come full circle, returning to this headache-inducing question for Gu Qingfeng.
He thought for a long time, until his head felt like it might explode, and still couldn’t figure out what to do.
Could it be he really had to go explore Original Sin?
Never mind that Gu Qingfeng didn’t want to actively explore that thing; even if he did, he wouldn’t know where to start.
How does one explore it?
He still hadn’t even figured out what kind of relationship existed between himself and Original Sin. What was there to explore?
Wait!
Just as he was thinking, Gu Qingfeng suddenly remembered something. Ever since he awoke, there was one question he had always wanted to understand: How exactly did he come to the Great Desolation, and why did he lose consciousness in the Liusha Small Secret Realm?
Originally, this wasn’t anything particularly strange or worthy of curiosity for Gu Qingfeng.
Because he had already comprehended the Buddhist Great Nirvana Silence, transcending life and death. In other words, life and death held no distinction for him. Life was death, and death was life, akin to being immortal and indestructible.
Even if his physical body turned to dust and smoke, it merely transformed into particles of dust, temporarily merging with Heaven and Earth. These particles shared a kind of mental connection; they would search for each other within Heaven and Earth, gradually fusing until they became one, thus undergoing Nirvana Silence Rebirth.
As for when these particles would fuse or where they would reunite, that was completely unknown.
Gu Qingfeng had experienced Nirvana Silence Rebirth several times in his life, and each time he awoke in an unfamiliar place.
However, under normal circumstances, if one turned to dust and smoke in a Great Thousand World, then one would also undergo Nirvana Silence Rebirth within that same Great Thousand World.
It was rare for someone to turn to dust and smoke in one Great Thousand World and be reborn in a different Small Thousand World.
Of course, it was only rare, not impossible.
Gu Qingfeng had once turned to dust and smoke in the boundless Great Desolation, and his Nirvana Silence Rebirth occurred in a desolate Small Thousand World.
The problem now was that the place where Gu Qingfeng turned to dust and smoke back then wasn’t in the Great Desolation, nor in any Great or Small Thousand World. It was in the Mount of Illusion in the Daoless Age—that is, within the mysterious space of the Daoless Age.
So why did he undergo Nirvana Silence Rebirth in a Liusha Small Secret Realm?
Could there be some connection between the Liusha Small Secret Realm and the Mount of Illusion from the Daoless Age?
Unclear.
Gu Qingfeng thought it would be best to go take a look in person. Since he was idle anyway and had nothing better to do.
“Old Ma, do you know the Liusha Small Secret Realm?”
“I know it, been there a few times.”
“Let’s go take a look.”
“Alrighty!”
Ma Wangye took out his Star Chart, located the position of the Liusha Small Secret Realm, cracked his Firecloud Whip, and headed straight for it.
The Star Chart, like Immortal Armor and Immortal Weapons, was a magic treasure every cultivator must possess.
Since the Great Desolation was vast and boundless, without a Star Chart, one could easily lose their bearings. Having a Star Chart avoided this problem.
This thing was also a type of magic treasure; after tempering it, one could use it to make marks.
Typically, when someone arrived at a new place or passed by a small world, they would immediately take out their Star Chart and make a mark. Next time, just by channeling their Divine Sense into the Star Chart, they could locate that small world’s position.
Fengyue Small World had these Star Charts for sale everywhere, but the ones sold mostly marked the locations of various cave heavens, blessed lands, mysterious heavens, and secret realms within the Dual-Pole Celestial Domain.
As for private Star Charts, they didn’t just mark major secret realms. They might also mark untamed, wild resources within some Small Thousand World that hadn’t matured yet, or perhaps some ancient relic about to emerge, and so on.
Gu Qingfeng toyed with Ma Wangye’s Star Chart. After channeling his Divine Sense to probe it, he found it densely packed with marks everywhere, making his eyes dizzy. He asked, “What on earth are all these marks in here?”
“This… if you ask me to tell you right now, even I can’t say for sure.”
Ma Wangye said somewhat sheepishly, “Most of them are places that have nurtured wild resources. Generally speaking, wherever resources tend to spawn easily, I make a mark and go check it out next time. If luck is good, I might even pick up some leftovers.”
“That works?” Gu Qingfeng asked. “Even if some places easily nurture resources, wouldn’t they be snatched away as soon as they appear? Could they really wait for a guy like you to pick up leftovers?”
“Hehe, Great Lord, the leftovers I’m talking about aren’t picking up those resources.”
“Then what leftovers are you talking about?”
“Great Lord, you may not know. In this Present Ancient era, although all things are reviving, spiritual energy is dense, and the various resources being nurtured are countless, they can’t withstand the fact that people are also getting more and more numerous. Those big and small secret realms in the Dual-Pole Celestial Domain fight over territory every other day, especially in those newly formed Small Thousand Worlds rich in resources. The major secret realms often have violent clashes over the resources inside. Where there are clashes, there are casualties. We can just pick up the leftovers in the aftermath.”
Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng understood. So Ma Wangye’s so-called “picking up leftovers” was actually profiting from the dead.
“You kid sure know how to have fun.”
“I have no choice, really! Completely forced into it. Those wild resources are all monopolized by the major secret realms. Dangerous places? Someone with my cultivation level wouldn’t dare take the risk. To survive, this is the only path.”
Gu Qingfeng nodded, indicating he could understand.
Although throughout his years of cultivation, he had never worried about resources, nor had he ventured out to seek resources to support himself as Ma Wangye described.
However, when it came to profiting from the dead, he was absolutely an expert among experts. The reason he never worried about resources in this life was precisely because he killed his way forward, profiting from the dead.
Of course, that was only during the early stages of his cultivation. Later, he couldn’t even be bothered to profit from the dead anymore. The reason was simple: he could no longer bring himself to care for the magic treasures in the hands of those he killed. So later, he directly plundered spirit altars, broke open spirit springs, tapped spirit veins, distributed spirit treasures, and scattered spirit stones. Later, finding that still unsatisfying, he even severed immortal rivers and summoned rains of spiritual energy.
“By the way, Old Ma, how much do you know about the Liusha Small Secret Realm?”
“Not much. It’s very dangerous inside, with an extremely harsh natural environment. Poisonous miasma is everywhere. Someone with my cultivation can’t last long inside at all. I can only loiter around the entrance, not daring to go deep inside. I’ve heard it’s even more dangerous further in, not only with stronger poisonous miasma but also all sorts of demonic creatures and evil spirits, and the like.”
“Is that so…” Gu Qingfeng rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment, then asked again, “When did the Liusha Small Secret Realm come into being?”
“When? From memory, seems like about a thousand years, right? Yes, that’s right, should be around a thousand years or so.”