"Now tell me, what exactly is hidden beneath us?"

Liang Yi stepped on the somewhat unstable snow layer beneath his feet. Although from a great distance the Snow Mountain appeared only as the outline of a sword, once close enough and actually standing on the summit, Liang Yi felt the enormity of this mountain.

Even though its shape had been subtly altered over hundreds of years by the lingering Sword Intent that enveloped the mountain, the peak, serving as the hilt, still seemed boundless at a glance.

But apart from silence, Liang Yi temporarily noticed nothing special here.

Yet looking up, the thick clouds overhead seemed closer than before, fitting Wu Nue's description of "the place on the Abyss Continent closest to the Heavenly Vault."

"What are you doing?"

Getting no response from Master Jute, Liang Yi looked down at him, but unexpectedly witnessed a surprising scene.

Master Jute was indeed acting like a cat, methodically sniffing the ground and looking around, as if trying to find some clue here.

A sense of strangeness arose in Liang Yi; it seemed like the first time Master Jute had a clear understanding of his own role, displaying a cat's typical behaviors.

"It's definitely here, and I'm sure that Gu Chengan had found something here!"

After pulling his head out of the snow layer and shaking off the snowflakes, Master Jute declared confidently.

"So what did Gu Chengan find here?"

Liang Yi released his Divine Sense but could neither feel traces left by Gu Chengan in the Void nor sense any signs of what Master Jute strived to find; he hadn't caught sight of it at all.

"The Heavenly Dao Origin that I had separated out is hidden here!"

Master Jute told Liang Yi without turning his head.

"Heavenly Dao Origin? Is the Abyss Will unaware of this power?"

Liang Yi followed Master Jute, who was scurrying about, somewhat confused. He thought this was the same as the World Origin.

The core of the struggle between the Abyss and the Heavenly Dao lies with the World Origin, the source of their power and the only thing that can elevate their limits. Logically, the Abyss Will shouldn't ignore the Heavenly Dao Origin.

"Of course, it knows. In this world, only it has the ability to seal that power here," Master Jute said matter-of-factly.

"Why seal it? Wouldn't it become stronger by absorbing this power..."

Liang Yi was about to say something but suddenly paused, deep in thought.

"Did you tamper with this Heavenly Dao Origin? Or is this your countermeasure against the Abyss Will!?"

Liang Yi began to understand, realizing that the only force capable of making the Abyss Will hesitant to act and even seal it away had to be the Heavenly Dao, which was once more powerful than the Abyss Will itself.

"Pretty much, this thing is a tremendous opportunity for anyone, but for the Abyss Will, it's the deadliest poison."

Master Jute patted Liang Yi's leg approvingly, brushing off the snow from his paws.

"However, the Heavenly Dao Origin isn't quite the same as the World Origin you are thinking of. To be frank, it's slightly inferior to the World Origin."

"Oh? These two aren't the same thing?"

A flicker of surprise crossed Liang Yi's eyes, which piqued his interest. Because to him, the pure World Origin wasn't very useful, but if these two weren't the same, perhaps he could utilize the Heavenly Dao Origin?

"Some powerful and special Innate Divine Objects can evolve a major world within their body, after which the Divine Soul merges with the entire world, thus giving birth to the Heavenly Dao."

Master Jute, agile and supple, leaped onto Liang Yi's shoulder, explaining.

"That means the physical body of the Innate Divine Object becomes the essence of the world, and the Divine Soul transforms into the initial thread of consciousness between heaven and earth, which is the Heavenly Dao! After the Heavenly Dao absorbs the World Origin and converts it into its own power, it becomes the Heavenly Dao Origin, which cannot be transformed back into the World Origin."

As Master Jute explained, Liang Yi gradually came to understand.

Although the World Origin and the Heavenly Dao Origin seemed similar, they were unlike the Spiritual Power floating in the Void. Although Cultivators also refine Spiritual Power into their own strength, even after refinement, the internal power can still return to heaven and earth.

"The Heavenly Dao Origin now sealed in this mountain is the part that was once interwoven with the Abyss Will. I intended to cleanse the Abyss Will and then reabsorb it into my original body, but an incident occurred causing this part of the power to be lost."

Master Jute pointed a paw at the ground, or more precisely, towards the core inside the Snow Mountain.

"This part of the power still contains my will imprint, and the Abyss Will naturally dares not absorb it, for it might end up contaminated as I once was."

A hint of mockery flashed in Master Jute's eyes; the Abyss Will handled it quite decisively. Normally, it would never encounter this power in its lifetime. But who would have thought it would be reborn directly and even sneak into the Abyss secretly?

Moreover, this power has now become their life-saving straw, the only way they could confront the distant threats and safely return to the Mystical Mechanism Continent.