At that moment, Su Ming's clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole brought nearly one hundred thousand cultivators who had obeyed his will and joined Ninth Summit to deliver their Brands of Souls to the easternmost part of True Morning Dao World. They stopped in the region that was close to the barrier between the True Worlds.
In front of them were nine huge burning incense sticks. Each of the nine incense sticks was several hundred zhang thick and over ten thousand zhang long. From afar, they looked like nine huge pillars that stood in the starry sky. However, it was unknown what they were supporting.
Wisps of smoke rose from three of the nine giant incense sticks, causing the surroundings to become hazy and vaguely visible.
Six of the nine incense sticks had already been extinguished. Only three were still burning, as if they would burn for eternity. There was no end to them, but strangely, no matter how much they burned, their length did not seem to change. They still towered into the sky, giving all those who saw them a magnificent sight.
This was … Heavenly Incense!
It was the Heavenly Incense Rune, one of the three mysterious regions that had existed since ancient times in True Morning Dao World!
No one knew who had set up this Heavenly Incense Rune or when it had appeared. It was as if it had existed since True Morning Dao World had appeared.
Over the course of many years, countless powerful warriors had come to this place in an attempt to break the Heavenly Incense Rune and find its secrets, but no one had been able to do so. In the beginning, nine incense sticks had burned at the same time, but now, there were only three incense sticks left. They had borne witness to the changes of time and how True Morning Dao World had moved from its birth to its glory, then from its glory to its disaster.
Morning Dao Sect had once spent a large amount of manpower and resources to search for the secrets of the Heavenly Incense Rune during its most glorious period, but in the end, it had come up empty-handed.
Even Su Xuan Yi had investigated the place before, but he had found no answers. The mysterious veil of the Heavenly Incense Rune did not seem to be something that cultivators could lift. It seemed to be waiting for the appearance of a living being who could unravel its secrets, but even after the incense sticks had been extinguished, that person still had not appeared.
Su Xuan Yi had investigated it before, but he could not find any answers. The cultivators who descended from Saint Defier Expanse Cosmos had also investigated it, but they could not find any answers. It was as if … the Rune's age had surpassed that of Old Man Extermination …
At that moment, Su Ming's clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole stood outside the Heavenly Incense Rune and stared at the nine gigantic Heavenly Incenses in the distant galaxy. He stared at the smoke rising from the burning three of them, and uncertainty appeared in his eyes.
"This is the Heavenly Incense Rune. Together with the Immortals' Union's Yin Death Region and the Sun Sinking Talisman in the southwest, they are known as the three great mysteries of True Morning Dao World. Among them, the Heavenly Incense Rune's mysteriousness comes from the fact that it was clearly not formed by heat. No one knows who set it up, and no one knows what will happen once all nine incense sticks are extinguished.
It was also because … compared to the lord, she could also feel that the closer she got to the Heavenly Incense Array, the more her cultivation would boil, and there would be faint signs of a breakthrough. In fact, the closer she got, the more obvious this breakthrough would be. When she completely broke through, her cultivation would skyrocket.
However, all of this was fake. Although it looked like he was increasing his cultivation base, it was actually just an illusion. Once he left this place, everything would return to normal. "Heavenly Incense Rune has a strange attraction to the cultivators of True Morning Dao World. Once they got close to it and experienced the feeling of his cultivation base increasing, they would be unable to forget it for the rest of their lives, and they would often want to come here …
"However, if they got close to it more than three times, they would no longer be able to walk out. Instead, they would walk into the nine incense sticks as if they had lost their intelligence. Once they fused with them, their bodies and souls would be destroyed.
"This is the only way to enter the Heavenly Incense Rune, but all those who step into it will die, which is why over time, no cultivator will come to this place unless it is absolutely necessary.
"Unless their cultivation base has been stuck at a bottleneck for a long period of time, only then will they come here in search of a fake breakthrough to gain an epiphany. "In conclusion, within three times, you can treat this Heavenly Incense Rune as a mirror. This mirror can reflect your level of cultivation and show you which peak you can reach in the future," Miao Feng said in a low voice while staring at the Heavenly Incense Rune in the distance. The old man surnamed Miao said softly as he looked at the Heavenly Incense Array in the distance. He was forcefully suppressing his urge to walk over. Fortunately, the Heavenly Incense Array was not overbearing, and it was not impossible to suppress one's urge. As long as one's willpower was slightly firm, they could just barely suppress it. Once they left the range, they would return to normal.
"Then what about the Sun Sinking Talisman you mentioned previously?" Su Ming's clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole asked faintly.
"That Sun Sinking Talisman seems to be even more mysterious. It's a talisman that has been placed in the southwest of True Morning Dao World for countless years. That talisman will shine once every one hundred years. Every single time it shines, all the cultivation planets in True Morning Dao World that were supposed to be night will remain dark, but the cultivation planets that are supposed to be in daylight will instantly look as if the sun has been forcefully sunk, and they will turn into night.
"That is why that mysterious talisman is known as Sun Sinking Talisman. "Besides this, the Sun Sinking Talisman can absorb all light around it. All things that shine will disappear, and night will return to the area.
"However, compared to the Heavenly Incense Rune, the talisman seems to be easier for cultivators to come into contact with. As long as they can walk into the darkness and approach the talisman, they can investigate and copy it at will. In fact, they can even use all sorts of methods to try to subdue it, but over the course of countless years, no one has ever heard of anyone taking the Sun Sinking Talisman for their own use.
"No matter how time passes, no matter how the universe changes, whether it is a disaster or a flourishing age, it will still exist in the southwest, as if it is an eternal existence.
"As for the third mystery, it's the Immortals' Union's Yin Death Region. There's a huge vortex there, and it's rumored that it leads to another world. It's a world where the dead live." The old man named Miao told them everything he knew.
Su Ming's clone stared at the nine burning incense sticks. Ripples rose in his body, and a feeling as if his physical body was about to become stronger rose in him. It was as if there were countless ants crawling in his body, causing him to itch from the inside out, but he could not scratch them. He could only endure the increasingly stronger urge that was gathering in the midst of the numbing itch.
That urge even agitated the portion of Su Ming's true soul in the clone, causing ripples to appear in it, but it was not impossible to suppress them. Soon, they were forced down. The clone's expression turned dark. He cast a glance at the nine incense sticks in the distance again, then turned around, intending to leave.
However, at the instant Su Ming's clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole was about to leave, one of the three Heavenly Incense sticks that were still burning … suddenly extinguished!
From ancient times until now, there had been nine burning Heavenly Incense sticks. As time passed, one by one, they were extinguished. Now, however, one of them was gone. From now on, the Heavenly Incense Spell Formation would only have two burning incense sticks.
At the instant the third incense stick was extinguished, a wave of power that was stronger than before spread out in an unseen manner. In an instant, it affected Su Ming's clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole and the one hundred thousand cultivators behind him.
During that instant, Su Ming's clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole shuddered violently. The feeling of him swiftly becoming stronger erupted violently … and suppressed the portion of Su Ming's soul, causing him to throw his head back and roar before charging towards Tian Xiang.
It was as if the clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole no longer belonged to Su Ming. This sort of thing had never happened in the history of the Abyss Builders, because the Abyss Builders' inborn ability allowed them to form clones that were not that much different from their real bodies. One soul and multiple bodies. This was the Abyss Builders' perfection.
Yet at that moment, the clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole seemed to have lost control. If Su Ming noticed this, his heart would definitely tremble.
At the same time, the one hundred thousand cultivators behind him, including the old man named Miao, all looked as if they had gone mad. They only knew that they had to get closer to the Heavenly Incense, because the closer they got, the faster their levels of cultivation would increase. Crazed delight appeared at the corners of their lips, but it hid the confusion on their faces.
…..
When the clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole suppressed the portion of Su Ming's soul outside the Heavenly Incense Rune and lost control, a smile appeared on Su Ming's face even though he was drunk. His eldest senior brother was by his side, and the two of them stared at the whirlwind in the galaxy beyond the ripple. A lone ship was charging towards them at an incredible speed.
The ship was originally not heading in that direction. It was about to move through another region, but Su Ming's divine sense saw them, and they also noticed their eldest senior brother's presence.
That presence seemed to be guiding them, causing the lone ship to change its direction and charge towards them.
As the ship drew closer, it shot out of the whirlwind, touched the white ripple, and rushed into it. At that instant, Su Ming saw the people on the ship with his naked eye.
His gaze automatically ignored the others and only focused on two men. One of them was as gentle as a flower, and the other was as built as a tiger. He stared at them, and the smile on his face was one of happiness that had rarely appeared over the course of thousands of years.
His eldest senior brother stood on the ship. He did not have a head, but the murderous aura spreading out from his body had completely disappeared. In its place was joy. Perhaps it would be difficult for the others to notice it, but Su Ming could see it clearly.
The ship drew closer, and the man who looked like a flower stared at the two figures staring at them in a daze. The headless man, as well as the slightly thin and frail man beside him, had an unfamiliar face, but the excitement in his eyes and the faint feeling of brotherhood between them caused the man who looked like a flower to shudder.
Hu Zi, who was standing behind him, also had his eyes fixed on Su Ming. Slowly, he started laughing loudly, and as he laughed, tears fell down his cheeks. With one move, he rushed out of the lone ship and charged towards Su Ming.
Hu Zi had always been the one who was the least skilled at hiding his emotions among Su Ming's senior brothers. If he wanted to cry, he would cry, and if he wanted to laugh, he would laugh. His simple and honest personality was something that could not be changed no matter how much he went through.
Perhaps he had learned how to hide his emotions before others, or perhaps he had learned how to hide killing intent in his heart even though he was laughing loudly in front of others. However, everything he had learned seemed to have melted away before his Master and his brothers, disappearing without a trace.
He took a huge step forward and used the fastest speed he could muster in his life to instantly appear before Su Ming. He cast him a scrutinizing glance, and with tears in his eyes, he swiftly hugged the person who looked rather unfamiliar to him. In fact, even to his divine sense, he was still unfamiliar, but his instincts told him that this person before him was his youngest junior brother, who he had been separated from for many years and who he often thought about in his dreams.
That smile might have been on another person's face, but it was his youngest junior brother's smile. The excitement in his eyes might have changed, but the sincerity in that excitement was an emotion that no one else could possess.
If they did not share the same ninth summit, it would have been impossible for this smile and gaze to appear. Even if their appearances were different, Hu Zi was certain that he would not be mistaken.
"Youngest junior brother!" Hu Zi could not stop his tears from falling. He remembered how he had protected the ninth summit alone when he was still in the land of Berserkers. He had faced the torment from the outsiders, and as he waited in endless pain, he had always believed that he had to protect his home, because one of these days, his senior brothers and junior brothers would return home. He could not let them not have a home. He could not let his senior brothers and junior brothers not have a place to gather once they lost the ninth summit.
Because he was afraid that once the ninth summit was gone, he would no longer be able to see his Master and Junior Brothers scattered in the universe. He also remembered the excitement and tears he had felt when he saw Su Ming return. Compared to his other two senior brothers, Hu Zi could be willful and talk nonsense, but he could not when he was with Su Ming. Even if his mind was still that of a child's, he still remembered that he was Su Ming's senior brother. He still remembered that Su Ming was his youngest junior brother, and he still remembered the ninth summit's principles!
He hugged Su Ming and started crying.
"Youngest junior brother, it's all my fault. If I had been strong in the past, I would have beaten up that damn ancient will that forced you to enter the Barren Lands of Divine Essence!
"After you left, I trained madly, but … but no matter how much I trained, I missed you. When I thought about you being alone in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, I felt terrible. I wanted to go mad, and I wanted to kill …" Hu Zi was rambling a little incoherently. His voice was like thunder, but it did not travel too far. He did not want anyone who should not be able to hear him.
Su Ming stared at Hu Zi, who was hugging him. This was his third senior brother, Hu Zi, who had walked up to him and patted his chest after he entered the ninth summit. He was a simple and honest man who could give up his life for the ninth summit and his senior brothers. He was the senior brother who had always existed in Su Ming's memories.
Compared to his respect towards his eldest senior brother and his resignation towards his second senior brother, the brother Su Ming had been the most worried about when he left in the past was Hu Zi, who was hugging him as if he would never grow up.
In fact, there were times when Su Ming felt that he should be Hu Zi's senior brother and not his youngest junior brother …
With a smile on his face, Su Ming hugged Hu Zi and whispered softly, "Hu Zi, don't cry …"
He had said the same words many years ago. Right then, when Su Ming said them after they reunited, more tears fell from Hu Zi's eyes. He patted Su Ming's body in excitement.
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