CHAPTER 536: CHAPTER 79: THE RUINED PASS, YUSHEN PASS

(PS: The last day of 2013, Panda bursts briefly, and there’s the fourth update tonight!)

"Uh?"

At this, Li Qingming and the others were thrown into disarray.

In the memories of Hua Xia Heaven and Earth, the Pan Gu God is the Creator Ancestor who initiated the Creation of Heaven and Earth, the loving Father God. He was born for creation, died for the Primordial Creatures, possessing an incomparable status in Hua Xia Heaven and Earth.

Moreover, Li Qingming had once met the Pan Gu God himself. Judging from the last words left by Pan Gu, in no way could they be connected with an Evil Demon.

"Evil Demon? A great Evil Demon?" Li Qingming fell silent for a long while, then spoke, "Fine, since you’ve met Pan Gu, then tell me, how exactly does he become cruel? Where does his demonic nature come from?"

Swallowing hard, a hint of fear gleamed in the little brown bear’s eyes as it said, "Back when Primordial Chaos was just adjudicated and Chaos had not yet unfolded, my old master took me traveling through the Primordial World, seeking breakthroughs in Cultivation. My old master met many like-minded Chaotic Demon Gods in the Primordial World, they conversed and affirmed each other on the path of the Great Dao. Until one day, they encountered a demon-like great Evil Demon God!"

At this point, the little brown bear started to seem strange, its fur standing on end and its pupils expressing infinite fear, its body even beginning to tremble slightly.

After a pause, it continued, "It was an Evil Demon, a great Evil Demon! All the Chaotic Demon Gods were killed by him, none survived, all died!"

"Wait, you mean the Evil Demon you’re talking about is Pan Gu?" Li Qingming, with a subtle change in expression, asked.

"I’ve also heard of that battle! It was extremely tragic. Aside from a few Chaotic Demon Gods, the others all died at Pan Gu’s hands!" The Old Turtle, who had been silent until now, stood up from his dark turtle shell and said, "Nobody knows why Pan Gu suddenly exploded into a killing frenzy, slaughtering thousands of Chaotic Demon Gods."

"It’s because my old master was severely injured in that battle, otherwise, he wouldn’t even fail to cross Space Annihilation, causing his own burial in the chaotic flow of time and space," the little brown bear expressed deep sorrow, its small body seemingly carrying an invisible great mountain.

Li Qingming and the others listened with expressions full of shock; who could have thought that Pan Gu could have such a past.

The great benevolent Pan Gu God, to these Chaotic Demon Gods, inexplicably became an Evil Demon, which was utterly unimaginable.

"Master, the Pangu Great Thousand World! The old master had organized allied troops several times to attack Wanling Pass, all suffering heavy losses. Unexpectedly, master, you actually come from the Pangu Great Thousand World!" Unlike the other two Artifact Spirits, besides a bit of fear, Fire Feather was more filled with excitement.

Shaking his head, Li Qingming finally snapped out of his shock, saying, "Little guys, we don’t have much time to linger in this Central Heaven World anymore! If you wish, follow me; if not, I won’t force you."

"Go, of course, we’ll follow master!" As soon as Li Qingming’s words fell, the Old Turtle snapped out of his reminiscences, excitedly almost coming apart, "We’ve been locked up by Fire Feather Old Man for so many years, now we can finally leave this wretched place!"

"Master, take us with you!" Fire Feather was jumping up and down, its previously somewhat bare body slowly sprouting beautiful feathers. In a moment, Fire Feather looked just like a proud little Phoenix.

"Damn, turkey turning into a phoenix in a second, that’s crazy!" Long Xuhu widened its eyes, muttering softly.

The little guy grooming its feathers wasn’t pleased, baring its teeth and grimacing at Long Xuhu, "You’re the turkey, your whole family are turkeys!"

Seeing the two start to make a fuss again, Li Qingming quickly intervened, saying, "Alright, alright! Fire Feather, will there be any restrictions if I take you all?"

"Master, there are no other restrictions!" Fire Feather nodded, saying, "The other two are fine, just need to be taken into the storage space. But it’s different for me; once I leave the Fire Feather Origin Realm, the entire Fire Feather Origin Realm will collapse, with natural disasters descending, completely destroying this Central Heaven World!"

"That’s indeed a problem!" Li Qingming nodded, frowning.

"What problem is that!" Li Qingquan brushed off his sleeves, saying, "Fire Feather, I’ll ask you. Are there other creatures in this Fire Origin Realm?"

Fire Feather tilted its little head and sensed for a while, saying, "No more, apart from those little beasts in the magma, all the creatures of the entire Fire Feather Origin Realm are gone!"

"Well, that settles it! Since this Fire Origin Realm has no living creatures, what does it matter if it’s destroyed? Big brother, let’s take Fire Feather too!" Li Qingquan clapped his hands excitedly.

As the saying goes, the spectators see the game better than the players.

Upon hearing Li Qingquan’s words, Li Qingming also reacted, saying, "Alright, let’s go! Now, let’s hurry to the next Central Heaven World. We’ve lingered long enough in this Fire Origin Realm, we don’t have that much time to waste!"

...

After taking away three Innate Treasures, everyone was in a pleasant mood.

Except for leaving Fire Feather to lead the way, the other two little guys all hid within the Spiritual Treasure’s main body, as they still had injuries and couldn’t move freely in the external world.

Passing through the Yin Yang Gate, walking out of the Fire Feather Temple... The group wandered on the vast plaza paved with white bones, feeling very moved.

"After we leave, this Fire Feather City will sink underground, these dry bones will eventually become cosmic dust!" Li Qingming said thoughtfully.

"Yes, among these dry bones, perhaps there are the remains of creatures from our Hua Xia Heaven and Earth. They will also eternally rest here! Amitabha Buddha," Shakyamuni smiled kindly, his handsome face flickering with golden light, his presence majestic.

Li Qingquan smiled, saying, "This creature’s life is nothing but dust to dust, earth to earth. We cultivators, don’t we also face Heavenly Tribulation, the three disasters and nine misfortunes, as well as killing calamities and Calamities?"

As they spoke, everyone arrived at the city gate of Fire Feather City.

The crimson city gate was enveloped in a layer of crimson light film, which was an array sealing the entire divine city.

For a Fire Spirit, this seal would be unbreakable even with a lifetime of focused and hard training. But for Li Qingming, this array was a mere joke.

"Step aside, and let me break this sealing array!" Li Qingming waved and dismissed everyone, then raised his hand to strike the light film.

"Pu!"

With a soft sound, the forbidden light barrier that had existed for several calamities, under the touch of Li Qingming, burst as easily and casually as piercing through a layer of paper.

"Boom!"

In an instant, space twisted, and scorching hot lava poured down unrestrained.

The constantly "gudong gudong" bubbling lava world once again displayed its unmatched energy to the Fire Origin Realm.

Palaces, pavilions, houses, divine statues...everything seemed to have its fate sealed:

Under the pouring lava, they became part of history.

The only thing they had witnessed was the past glory of the Fire Feather Ancestor.

...

Passing through the lava, the group walked out of the volcano that had lost the power of Bing Fire, and they headed north.

To reach the next Central Heaven World, one must traverse from south to north, find the extreme northern border, and open the Primordial Qi Crystal Wall.

Under the night sky, a gentle breeze brought a hint of coolness.

In this desolate world, where space was unstable, the group did not use the power of space.

The group flew swiftly through the sky, and through the hazy starlight, they could faintly see pieces of collapsed buildings—these were ancient pavilions and towers, fallen over time.

"Is there really no life at all, could it be that the creatures of the Fire Origin Realm have all perished as the Heavenly Fire said?"

"The message under the Vermilion Bird Divine Statue mentioned that a great calamity was upon us. Could this great calamity be the Apocalypse?"

"Amitabha Buddha!"

There were too many doubts in everyone’s hearts. Eager to ask Heavenly Fire but finding the confused little creature oblivious to everything, they ultimately let the matter rest.

They flew for countless days and nights, and when another night fell, Heavenly Fire suddenly stopped, its rosy little claws pointing forward, saying, "Master, just over a thousand li ahead is the Primordial Qi Crystal Wall of the Fire Feather Origin Realm!"

Upon hearing this, everyone’s faces lit up with joy, and they gazed intently into the distance.

The heavens were filled with dense clouds, devoid of any starlight. Yet, the group noticed a faint and elusive light source in the distance, illuminating their path forward.

Through that hazy light, they could vaguely see a large area of uneven shadows ahead, like clusters of rocky piles connected unevenly.

After quickly covering this final thousand-li distance, when they approached closer, they finally saw everything clearly.

This edge of the land was a wasteland; what they had seen earlier was just the forefront, with an even larger expanse of ruins stretching east to west behind it.

The solid foundation of this land was all made of crimson boulders. Comparing the broken and ruined traces meticulously, Li Qingming deduced that there had once been a city here, similar to Wanling Pass in the Huaxia Heaven and Earth, symbolizing a strategic pass.

Through these ruins, one could fully imagine the grandeur and magnificence of this city in the past.

And that elusive light source was at the end of this wasteland.

"Heavenly Fire, was there once a pass here?" Li Qingming stroked his chin and suddenly asked.

"Yes, Master! How did you know?" as Heavenly Fire fluttered up and down, its body radiating circles of crimson flames, making the surroundings unusually bright.

Li Qingming pointed to the forefront of the ruins and said, "If I’m not mistaken, this city was called Yushen Pass!"

Following the direction of Li Qingming’s finger, everyone saw a huge stone at the base of the wall, mottled with scars. The stone was rectangular but had its left third broken off; the remaining part had the Tao Runes for "Feather God" engraved on it.

"Master, this place is indeed called Yushen Pass. As for when it became a ruin, Heavenly Fire doesn’t know!" Heavenly Fire shook its slender tail feathers and its big watery eyes occasionally flashed a sly look.

Li Qingming shook his head and took the lead into this abandoned pass. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)