Chapter 1414: Peak of the Cloud Sea, Hypothesis (First Update)

The Blood Sword whistled, its speed surpassing thunder, instantly shooting toward the dry ground. Amidst the roar, just as the Blood Sword descended, a muffled roar suddenly emanated from within the earth.

Cracks immediately appeared in the earth, forming dense Rifts. A sheet of purple light rapidly pierced through these Rifts, spreading outwards along them. From a distance, it looked as if a purple sun was hidden within the earth!

With a rumble, the stones on the ground flew up and immediately collapsed, pulverized by the Blood Sword's Qi, forming a massive depression. This depression continuously deepened into the earth. In a flash, the purple light greatly intensified, as if it had broken through the surface, revealing something deep underground!

Amidst the flashing purple light, a purple Vicious Beast, hundreds of zhang long with a body like a python, instantly rushed out from the depths of the earth. This creature had no head, only a Rift at its front end, from which a stream of purple poisonous water sprayed out, sweeping directly toward the Blood Sword.

With a bang, the Blood Sword pierced through the poisonous water, rushing directly into the Rift at the creature's front end, penetrating deep into its hundreds of zhang body, its momentum unstoppable, piercing straight through.

A shrill roar echoed from the earth. The Blood Sword flashed, rumbling incessantly underground. Wang Lin, suspended in mid-air, formed Hand Seals with both hands and waved forward, causing a massive palm print to materialize with a roar, heading straight for the ground.

All of this happened in an instant. As soon as the palm print appeared, it immediately absorbed boundless Primal Energy, stirring up a terrifying gale, and descended upon the earth with a roar.

The ground shook. Large amounts of dry trees instantly turned into dust, propelled outwards by the impact. The palm print landed on the ground, creating a massive sound and transforming into a powerful force of counter-shock that wildly transmitted into the earth.

"Still not coming out!" A cold light flashed in Wang Lin's eyes.

As the palm print descended, the ground began to collapse amidst the rumbling. Patches of earth turned into scattering ash. Under layer-by-layer disintegration, a massive Sinkhole was revealed.

At the bottom of the pit, a section of grayish-white skull was exposed—specifically, the right eye socket of the skull!

This skull was too large, almost occupying the entire underground area beneath the forest. Within the exposed right eye socket, four purple python-like Vicious Beasts, intertwined, were roaring out.

Wang Lin was in mid-air and could clearly see through the gaps between the bodies of the four Vicious Beasts that a massive Tumor was hidden inside the skull!

These four tendril-like Vicious Beasts were clearly the Tentacles of that Tumor!

It was similar to the Moon Gazer, but definitely not a Moon Gazer!

When Wang Lin previously examined the withered trees, he immediately saw that a massive skull was buried beneath this forest; the entire forest was growing right on top of this skull!

Inside the skull, Wang Lin felt a savage vitality, and when his Divine Sense swept over it, it provoked an attack from the creature. Therefore, he flew up without hesitation and unleashed the Blood Sword to strike first.

With Wang Lin's current cultivation, even the Moon Gazer of the Luotian Star Domain back then would be qualified to fight him, let alone this strange Vicious Beast, which was similar to the Moon Gazer but far weaker in strength!

Even a Third Step Spirit Movement expert had become his Ancient Slave, which was enough to testify to Wang Lin's growth and power!

At this moment, Wang Lin's mind was calm. He sped downward like lightning, instantly approaching the four intertwined tendrils. Just as the tendrils whistled toward him, Wang Lin's left eye burned with Nine-Colored Flames, and he waved his right hand forward, immediately unleashing a roaring flame storm that directly enveloped the four tendrils.

Amidst crackling sounds, they fiercely ignited.

Amidst the echoing, shrill screams, the flames followed the tendrils and burrowed into the skull's right eye socket, burning straight toward the main body. bloody light flashed within, as the Blood Sword continuously moved through, inflicting massive damage.

The screams continued. Suddenly, with a fierce flash of purple light, the Tumor hidden inside the skull rapidly shrank, eventually turning into a streak of purple light that burst out from the skull's right eye socket, heading straight for the sky, attempting to escape.

After it rushed out, its body was fully revealed: a massive Tumor with numerous tentacles and tendrils extending around it, emitting wafts of foul odor. This creature was truly too similar to the Moon Gazer. If it weren't for the complete absence of Ancient God Qi within its body, Wang Lin might have thought it was a mutated Moon Gazer!

Wang Lin's gaze was cold. A Lightning Diagram flashed in his right eye and roared forth. In the blink of an eye, the sky above the forest suddenly shook, and the entire sky formed a massive thunder Vortex. The Lightning Diagram materialized, replacing the sky, and descended directly upon the Tumor.

As it descended, countless bolts of Thunder struck down, blasting the Tumor.

Three breaths later, the entire Lightning Diagram descended, completely enveloping the Tumor. The roar shook the heavens, and a scream faded into a residual sound. The Tumor instantly collapsed, leaving nothing behind.

Having destroyed this strange Tumor, Wang Lin's eyes were like electricity. He looked at the skull in the depression on the ground. His body slowly descended, stepping onto the skull. He waved his right hand forward, and the soil uniformly dissipated. In an instant, nearly half of the vast forest vanished completely.

The ground rolled layer by layer, as if stirred by a fierce wind, revealing a massive skull that had been buried beneath it for untold years!

This skull was enormous; the part exposed now was only half of it. At the center of the skull's brow, there were nine Star-Point Imprints, but the ninth star was slightly blurred.

"Nine-Star Ancient God!!!" Wang Lin's eyes flashed, and he took a deep breath. In his entire life, this was the first time he had seen the remains of a Nine-Star Ancient God!

Staring at the skull, Wang Lin fell silent. He could tell at a glance that the position where the Seven-Colored Statue had been placed was precisely the philtrum area of the skull, using that single point to restrict the entire head.

Or perhaps, the purpose of the Seven-Colored Statue being here was to Seal it!

To Seal the head of this Nine-Star Ancient God!

Sadness filled Wang Lin's eyes. He was an Ancient God. After entering this Ancient Tomb, seeing the numerous Ancient God skulls had made his heart extremely complicated. Now, seeing the Nine-Star Ancient God skull, all this complexity accumulated, turning into a tide of grief surging in his mind.

"Even a Nine-Star Ancient God… is dead?" Wang Lin slowly walked to the center of the skull's brow, squatted down, and gently stroked the Star-Point Imprint on the skull with his right hand.

There was not much Ancient God Qi left inside the skull; it was almost completely exhausted, having all faded away through the ages.

Stroking the Star-Point Imprint on the skull, it wasn't hard for Wang Lin to guess the scene from back then. He seemed to vaguely see a massive figure, an Ancient God who fought against the heavens, being slain by a Seven-Colored Cultivator. After its head was cut off, it was Sealed here using the Cultivator's statue.

After years and years, this place was covered in dust and turned into earth. For some unknown reason, trees grew on this earth, gradually becoming a forest.

In his silence, Wang Lin's gaze suddenly focused. He carefully looked at the skull beneath him and frowned.

"The power of a Nine-Star Ancient God is unimaginable, and its body is incomparably vast. Its skull absolutely cannot be this small… unless it suppressed its True Body and shrank it… or perhaps…" Wang Lin's eyes flickered. With a sway of his body, he drilled into the skull's right eye socket, entering the cranium.

It was vast inside. After a long time, Wang Lin's figure emerged from within. In his hand, he held a palm-sized bone fragment.

"The Ancient God's Three Deficiencies and Seven Calamities—he was slain while undergoing the Second Deficiency…" Wang Lin sat cross-legged on the center of the skull's brow, gazing at the bone fragment in his hand, his eyes thoughtful.

"What exactly is the Ancient Burial Ground? Who created it, and what is its purpose?" In silence, Wang Lin recalled everything that happened since he entered the Ancient Tomb. This Ancient Tomb was very mysterious, and even now, Wang Lin still couldn't figure it out.

But he clearly remembered a scene he saw inside the Dao Spirit, a sentence that shook his mind.

"Feeding the Heavenly Dao with Dao Pills is indeed not easy… I must think of another method… to make this Heavenly Dao I snatched quickly grow up…"

Wang Lin's eyes flickered. He kept pondering this sentence. Literally speaking, the Heavenly Dao was something snatched by that Seven-Colored Daoist. Where did he snatch it from, and from whose hands?

Wang Lin couldn't know this detail. His focus of analysis was the "other method" mentioned in the Seven-Colored Daoist's words. "Another method…" Wang Lin looked down at the skull beneath him, and an extremely bold hypothesis surfaced in his mind.

"Hypothesizing that this Seven-Colored Daoist is the Ancient Immortal Emperor, this person snatched a Heavenly Dao before obtaining the Heaven Defying Compass back then, and for some reason needed to nurture the Heavenly Dao. However, he found nurturing it with Dao Spirits difficult, so he set up a scheme…"

Wang Lin's eyes grew brighter as he continued his analysis. He clearly remembered that the First Generation Vermilion Bird once said that in the world he belonged to, Ancient Gods existed, and although Ancient Gods were not Venerables, they could still fiercely contend against the Venerables of his world.

Moreover, the First Generation Vermilion Bird mentioned a name: dao ancient Ye Mo!

"Why wasn't he called Ancient God Ye Mo, or Ancient Demon Ye Mo, or Ancient Demon Ye Mo… but was referred to as dao ancient? Can it be inferred from this name that this Ye Mo is not a God, Demon, or Devil, but… Ancient (Gu)!"

"Also, when I underwent the Soul Transformation Heavenly Tribulation in the Demon Spirit Land back then and first met Ancient Demon Ta Jia, this demon once said that the Ancients were the first generation of Heaven Defying Cultivators, who died fighting the Heavenly Dao. Thereafter, they propagated the Three Races, which became the second generation of Heaven Defying Cultivators…"

"Also, before Wan'er's Lifespan was severed, the Heavenly Dao Messenger who appeared was clearly a Sealed Ancient God… And the Heavenly Dao Messenger who appeared again in the Flashing Thunder Clan—I severed one of this person's arms… But before he left, after realizing I was an Ancient God, he said I belonged to the Heaven-Betraying Dao-Destroying Clan…"

Wang Lin's breathing became slightly hurried. He vaguely seemed to have guessed something.

"Heaven-Betraying Dao-Destroying… Everyone says the Heavenly Dao is dead, yet this Heavenly Dao Messenger says I belong to the Dao-Destroying Clan… The answer is almost obvious! But Heaven-Betraying (Pankong)… Who is Kong? Could Kong be the Seven-Colored Daoist, the Ancient Immortal Emperor, the master of the First Generation Vermilion Bird, the Immortal Venerable?!"

"If this matter is truly so, there are many points that don't make sense… Why is the Heavenly Dao Messenger an Ancient God? Since the Heavenly Dao is dead, what exactly is this Heavenly Dao? I don't mean its physical form, but its existence, and what connection it has to the Starry Sky… Cultivating the Dao, cultivating the Dao—could it be that what we Cultivators cultivate is this Heavenly Dao, which we don't even know is truly dead?" Wang Lin's eyes showed confusion.