Gu Qingfeng observed the nine elders opposite him, their expressions grave, and felt rather puzzled within.
He had been tricked by Da Xing the Mad Monk into the Little Zen Secret Realm, and because that secret realm inexplicably collapsed, he had fallen into the Endless Sea and been swept into this Primordial Black Hole.
How had these people gotten in?
Could it be that something from the Great Desolate had also fallen into the Endless Sea and been swept into the Primordial Black Hole?
If that were the case, when had they fallen into the Endless Sea?
Was it in the Current Era?
Or the Ancient Era?
Or were they, like Patriarch Lin Chi, already trapped in the Primordial Black Hole as far back as the Remote Antiquity Era?
Unclear.
He did not ask.
The nine elders opposite him also remained silent. They had been holding their magic treasures all along, on high alert, appearing deeply wary of Gu Qingfeng.
After a moment.
Gu Qingfeng leaped up and directly flashed away.
Once he left, the nine elders sighed in relief as if a great weight had been lifted; the stone hanging in their hearts finally dropped. For when they saw Gu Qingfeng, they had already recognized his identity.
In the Current Era, across the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, everyone knew that Nine Nethers Emperor Gu Qingfeng possessed no cultivation whatsoever—neither immortal nor Buddha, neither demon nor monster—but was a mere mortal of the mundane world.
Such a distinctive trait might be hard to identify in the mundane world across the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, but within these Primordial Ruins, if one encountered a mundane mortal, that person was almost certainly the Nether Emperor, Gu Qingfeng.
An ordinary mundane mortal could not possibly appear within Primordial Ruins.
Only a mysterious, unknown, bizarre, and peculiar existence like the Nether Emperor would appear here.
"The Nether Emperor... is actually here too," said the leading elder, watching Gu Qingfeng depart, his expression extremely solemn, his tone particularly heavy. "Why wasn't he seen in that Primordial Ruin that manifested in the Great Desolate?"
"The situation was too chaotic at the time. He might have been hiding."
"Perhaps."
The leading elder sighed. "It seems the Current Era is truly about to undergo a great upheaval."
The facts were just as Gu Qingfeng had guessed. When he was lured by Da Xing the Mad Monk into the Little Zen Secret Realm, a ruin had suddenly manifested in the Great Desolate—moreover, a ruin from the Primordial Era.
As was widely known, the Primordial Era was the most mysterious era aside from the Daoless Era.
Legend had it that during the Primordial Era, someone had once opened the Daoless Era. Unfortunately, a later, terrifying cataclysm caused the fall of many Great Dao progenitors. Hence, there had always been rumors that the ruins of the Primordial Era were buried with countless Great Dao fortunes.
These included Great Dao innate treasures, Great Dao innate seeds, and even Great Dao bloodlines.
Obtaining just one of these would be enough to stand proudly in the Great Desolate.
Precisely because of such legends, when the Primordial Ruin manifested in the Great Desolate, the great powers of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, ancient sects and clans, experts from the Thirty-Six Cave Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands all swarmed in. Among them were numerous great patriarchs and powerful holders of Heavenly Mandates.
To everyone's disappointment, upon entering the Primordial Ruin, they found it utterly desolate, with nothing inside. Not long after, something unforeseen happened: the Primordial Ruin that had just manifested in the Great Desolate inexplicably fell into the Endless Sea.
To be precise, it didn't just fall into the Endless Sea, but into something even more terrifying—the Primordial Black Hole.
Upon learning they were trapped in the Primordial Black Hole, some were joyful, others worried.
The joyful ones were naturally the powerful experts from the Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands, those great powers of the Great Desolate. With their profound cultivation and powerful magic treasures, perhaps they couldn't survive alone in the Primordial Black Hole, but by joining forces, they could enter one Primordial Ruin after another.
As for the others, forget about venturing to other Primordial Ruins to seek treasures; with their strength, they couldn't even leave the Primordial Ruin that had manifested in the Great Desolate. And even if they had the capability to leave, they lacked the courage to seek treasures in other Great Desolate ruins. They could only stay put, worrying, fearing, praying—unable to do anything else.
To this day, many were still trapped within that Primordial Ruin that had manifested in the Great Desolate.
These nine elders were all Grand Elders of the Ascension Immortal Realm.
And the Ascension Immortal Realm was one of the great powers of the Great Desolate. While its prestige didn't match that of the Thirty-Six Cave Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands, within the Myriad Heavens and Worlds of the Great Desolate, it was still a formidable power.
The nine had charged out alongside other patriarchs of the Ascension Immortal Realm. They knew the Primordial Black Hole was extremely perilous and had mentally prepared themselves before charging out. However, they still underestimated the horror of the Primordial Black Hole. Not long after charging out, their group of thirty to fifty from the Ascension Immortal Realm was instantly scattered by the black hole's chaotic currents.
Not only that, one magic treasure, unable to withstand the powerful impact of the Primordial Black Hole's chaotic currents, had its structure disintegrate. The six people inside it were similarly struck by the black hole's chaotic currents and reduced to ashes.
Fortunately, the Primordial Black Hole was filled with chaotic current vortices formed by Primordial Ruins. After being scattered, the remaining members of the Ascension Immortal Realm were each swept into different Primordial Ruins. Although these ruins were desolate and devoid of any spiritual energy, they were far safer than the outside Primordial Black Hole—at least there was no immediate threat to life.
They also counted themselves lucky to have been swept into a Great Desolate ruin. If they had remained in the Primordial Black Hole, even holding their sect's heavy treasure, they wouldn't have lasted long.
"We should continue searching, to find the other elders as soon as possible."
The nine nodded. They all knew the Primordial Black Hole was fraught with danger; a single misstep could mean being reduced to ashes. For now, the only plan was to find the other elders of the Ascension Immortal Realm as quickly as possible and then figure out a way to leave.
High in the sky, a massive chaotic current vortex slowly rotated, sweeping up the chaotic currents of the Primordial Black Hole. The various chaotic currents rolled across the sky like river waves, more like dark clouds, looking utterly eerie and giving a very oppressive feeling.
Gu Qingfeng, alone, continued wandering through the ruins.
He wandered while probing.
Perhaps because the Primordial Ruins within the Primordial Black Hole were merging with each other, ever since entering, he had noticed this Primordial Ruin constantly changing, twisting like smoke, feeling very unstable.
Thinking of this, Gu Qingfeng couldn't help but smile.
The space of this Primordial Ruin had neither origin nor structure, nor any laws or order. How could it be stable or unstable?
He shook his head, didn't dwell on it, and continued his probing.
This Primordial Ruin had many sand dunes. Some were pure sand dunes, while beneath others lay desolate mountain ranges and broken remnants of ruins.
And within both the mountain ranges and the ruins were many cave dwelling ruins. However, most of these cave dwellings had already decayed, dispersing like bubbles at a touch.
Suddenly.
Gu Qingfeng noticed something ahead.
Going over to look—good heavens!
There were actually people fighting here, and fighting fiercely.