77: Chapter 77 The Map of Mountains and Rivers

Yun Ming stared at the feather in his palm, the corners of his mouth curling slightly upward.

Golden Crow.

An ancient great demon, the legendary sun god bird.

A single feather was already High Grade Tier 6; if it were a complete Golden Crow, what kind of Realm would that be?

He carefully placed the feather into his naxu ring. The moment the feather was placed into the naxu ring, it transformed into a small golden sun, suspended in the center, casting a warm glow.

Yun Ming withdrew his focus and looked toward the sea of stars once more.

Shooting stars were still streaking across.

Countless streaks of light flew past him, but none were like that golden light from before, which had been like the great sun.

He no longer invested specific draw counts.

He simply stood quietly, his gaze sweeping across the endless sea of stars, waiting.

Waiting for a unique light.

Ten shooting stars.

A hundred shooting stars.

A thousand shooting stars.

Occasionally, golden lights would shine, but none were as intense as the first. Yun Ming raised his hand and caught them one by one. Those were the other nine golden lights; although not as dazzling as the Golden Crow feather, they each possessed their own wonders. He did not have time to examine them closely, so he simply placed them into his naxu ring and continued to wait.

The shooting stars in the sea of stars gradually grew sparse.

He estimated, from the first golden light until catching these nine, that was eleven thousand draws.

The light in the sea of stars began to dim, and the meteor shower was coming to an end. Yun Ming frowned slightly, thinking, "I can't be that unlucky!"

Suddenly.

At the far end of the sea of stars, a light lit up.

It was not gold.

It was colorful.

That light shifted constantly; at times it was crimson as blood, at times azure as the sea, at times emerald as a forest, and at other times interwoven with purple and gold. It flickered for an instant at the edge of the sea of stars, then flew toward him at an indescribable speed.

In an instant, all the light in the sea of stars vanished.

The shooting stars stopped.

The stars dimmed.

The Golden Crow feather trembled gently in his Sea of Consciousness.

In the entire sea of stars, only that colorful light remained.

Its flight pattern was indescribable, dreamlike and illusory, seemingly real yet false. Sometimes it was clearly a thousand miles away, only to appear before his eyes the next instant; sometimes it was clearly within reach, yet when he reached out to grab it, he grasped nothing. It constantly shifted between reality and illusion, as if alive, yet as if dead; like the first ray of light at the dawn of the world, yet also like the final glow at the end of all things.

Yun Ming took a deep breath and raised his hand to grab it. The colorful light was slippery and escaped through his fingers.

He reached out again, this time using his full strength. The moment his palm extended, the sea of stars trembled, the Void Realm solidified, and the colorful light was finally gripped in his palm.

At that very instant—the surrounding scene collapsed with a roar.

The sea of stars, the stars, the shooting stars, the light—everything dissipated completely.

Yun Ming's vision blurred, and when he opened his eyes again, he had returned to that small Quiet Room, back on that old meditation cushion.

The moonlight outside the window remained the same.

In the corner, the Red-Feathered Luan Egg lay quietly, emitting a warm, pale golden luster.

Yun Ming was stunned for a moment and looked down at his palm. A colorful light was hanging there quietly.

It no longer shifted or dodged; it just hung there quietly, like a newly born star, or like an eye that had just opened.

Yun Ming counted the remaining draws.

Eighteen thousand two hundred draws, and now only six thousand eight hundred remained.

After over eleven thousand draws, only one colorful light had appeared.

Why was his luck getting worse and worse?

Yun Ming shook his head, casting these distracting thoughts to the back of his mind. He slowly opened his palm, wanting to see clearly what he had actually caught.

Yun Ming slowly spread his palm.

The light had already faded, and lying quietly in his hand was a scroll.

The scroll was about a foot long, pale cyan in color, neither silk nor fabric; it felt warm and smooth like jade to the touch, yet was as light as nothing. Cloud patterns faintly flowed on the scroll's body, and upon closer inspection, those cloud patterns were actually moving slowly, shifting into the shapes of mountains, rivers, the sun, the moon, and the stars—a scene every instant, endless and inexhaustible.

Yun Ming's fingers trembled slightly.

He took a deep breath and slowly unfurled the scroll.

The moment the scroll unfurled, a vast and ancient aura rushed toward him, as if the first breeze from the dawn of creation, brushing against his cheeks and seeping into his marrow. That aura was indescribably ancient, as if it had been asleep for hundreds of millions of years and had just awakened.

Inside the scroll was a world.

Mountains rose and fell, rivers crisscrossed, plains were vast, and deep valleys were profound. There were towering ancient trees piercing the clouds, waterfalls cascading down ten thousand zhang, jagged rocks like swords and halberds, and swirling mists dreamlike and illusory. Birds and beasts ran and soared within it, flowers and Spirit Medicine grew everywhere, and one could even faintly see the outlines of palaces and pavilions looming in the distant mountains.

Vivid and lifelike.

Yet unreachable.

Yun Ming looked closer and suddenly discovered that the world was static.

Birds hung in mid-air, wings spread but not flapping; waterfalls hung down, the water frozen like ice crystals; beasts lifted their hooves but did not lower them. The entire world seemed to have been frozen at this moment by supreme power, waiting for some fated person to awaken it.

"map of mountains and rivers..."

Yun Ming murmured the name, his voice trembling, his eyes full of disbelief.

He had once read records about this item in the Sect's classics—it was a legend among legends, an Innate supreme treasure born at the dawn of creation, containing a real world within. It could trap immortals, suppress demons, evolve all things, and create life. It was said that ancient mighty figures who possessed it could use the power of the world within the map to suppress the heavens and myriad worlds.

It was a supreme treasure that even Saints would covet.

Yun Ming's hands holding the scroll shook even more violently. He looked at it over and over again a dozen times, from the cloud patterns on the scroll's body to the world inside, from the patterns on the edges to every detail in the corners.

Yun Ming forced himself to calm down and began to carefully examine the quality and defects of this map.

A moment later, he had roughly figured out the situation.

This map of mountains and rivers contained a space of about one hundred thousand li in circumference.

One hundred thousand li.

This number sounded astonishing, but for a supreme treasure, it actually did not amount to much. The true map of mountains and rivers was said to contain three thousand worlds, each vast and boundless. In comparison, this map's one hundred thousand li was indeed like a grain of sand compared to the sun.

But this was not the biggest problem.

The bigger problem was—the Laws of this world were incomplete.

There was no cycle of four seasons, no sun, moon, or stars, no day or night. The sky was forever a chaotic gray-white, and the mountains, rivers, plants, and trees were forever frozen in a certain instant. There was not even the most basic Spiritual Qi.

This was a dead world.

A world that needed him to awaken, to transform, and to create.

Yun Ming closed his eyes, sensing the static world within the scroll. He could faintly perceive that world's call to him—it was a longing, a longing for living beings to step inside, a longing for Laws to descend, a longing for the power of creation to awaken it.

What he needed to do was infuse Laws, evolve the four seasons, and create life. Yet he was currently only at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, and he was still far, far away from that step.

"No rush," Yun Ming murmured to himself, "Take it slowly."

He had originally intended to refine the Golden Crow feather into his Lifebound Treasure, but looking at the map of mountains and rivers in his hand, that thought vanished instantly.

No matter how precious the Golden Crow feather was, it was only an external object.

The map of mountains and rivers, however, was a supreme treasure that could accompany him for life and grow with him. If he could completely refine it, he would be the master of this world; in future battles, he could simply sacrifice this map and suppress his opponents with the power of an entire world.

Invincible among his peers, capable of fighting across ranks.

"Lifebound Treasure, you are the one."

Although Yun Ming's voice was soft, it was full of determination.

The map of mountains and rivers could not be placed into the naxu ring, so he simply placed it into the System storage.

Yun Ming nodded with satisfaction, and only then did he turn his attention to the other nine golden lights.