560: Chapter 560 Primordial Creation Island

"Let us go. To Hongmeng Creation Island."

The two boarded the Taiyin vessel once more, and it transformed into a streak of silver-white light. The outline of the Chaos Sea shrank beneath them, the golden canopy of Daluo Island turning into a glowing grain of rice before quickly vanishing into the grey, misty Chaos.

Standing on the deck of the vessel, Lu Yuan watched the Chaos Sea recede and asked Immortal Monarch Taiyin for details regarding the "Dao Seal."

"In the present world, in order to prevent their Dao Fruit from being erased by external forces, Immortal Lords must go against the current of the River of Time and hide their Dao Seals in nodes of past eras."

Lu Yuan's voice was deep, mingling with the wind, yet it reached Immortal Monarch Taiyin's ears with perfect clarity.

He turned his head, the golden light in his double pupils flashing briefly at the corners of his eyes, his gaze landing on Immortal Monarch Taiyin.

"But in the ancient immortal era, it seems that is not the case."

Immortal Monarch Taiyin stood a step to his side, her hands folded over her lower abdomen, her posture dignified and serene.

Hearing Lu Yuan's words, she tilted her head slightly, the corners of her mouth curling into a shallow arc. The smile was faint, yet it softened the lines of her entire face.

"My husband is absolutely correct." She spoke softly, her voice as gentle as if she were coaxing a child who had just woken up: "The Heavenly Dao of the present world is incomplete, and the River of Time is turbulent; that is why they must hide their Dao Seals in the past."

As she spoke, her tone carried a hint of undisguised contempt—a dual disdain for the present world: despising both its incomplete Heavenly Dao and the cumbersome, clumsy life-saving methods of the present-world Immortal Lords.

"But in our ancient immortal era, the Heavenly Dao is perfect and flawless, and the barriers of space-time are as stable as divine iron."

She raised her right hand, her fingers slightly spread, as if touching some invisible wall in the Void Realm.

Her fingertips pressed into the air; though there was clearly nothing there, the sensation was as if she were pressing against an indestructible piece of fine iron, unmoving.

"Going against the current of the River of Time to imprint the Dao Fruit is simply an unnecessary, redundant act."

These words were vulgar, yet they came from someone whose features were exquisitely refined and whose temperament was chillingly cold.

Her expression was serious, her tone matter-of-fact, as if she were stating the most simple of truths.

"In the ancient immortal era, the way Immortal Lords imprint their Dao Fruit is very direct." She withdrew her hand and folded it over her lower abdomen again: "We imprint it directly into the core of the Immortal King's main island of the era."

"The Laws of the main island are the most ancient and perfect." She raised her hand to point ahead of the vessel, toward the end of the Chaos Sea, where a sea area shrouded in purple radiance could be vaguely seen: "As long as the Immortal King's main island does not shatter and the Immortal King does not perish, the Immortal Lords who leave their Dao Seals there can borrow the Luck of the main island, reaching a Realm where they are indestructible and eternal."

Lu Yuan nodded slightly, understanding in his heart. He grasped the meaning: this was equivalent to binding a portion of his own Luck with the Immortal King—they would prosper together and suffer together.

If the Immortal King existed, he would exist; if the Immortal King fell, he would surely suffer grievous injury. This was a high-stakes gamble, with his own nearly immortal existence as the wager, betting that his backer, Immortal King Zaohua, would remain prosperous and enduring.

But as long as Immortal King Zaohua did not fall, he would be absolutely immortal in the ancient immortal era.

He could afford this price. Several hours later, the vessel arrived at the deepest part of Hongmeng Creation Island.

In a mountain range perpetually shrouded in purple rain of creation, a magnificent divine palace radiating ten thousand zhang of golden light stood tall.

That was the Grandmist Golden Palace.

"My husband, please follow me."

He followed Immortal Monarch Taiyin across the plaza. On both sides of the stone steps stood two rows of golden-armored divine statues holding giant halberds, each thirty zhang tall, their faces blurred as if deliberately obscured by some power.

When they passed between the statues, the heads of the golden-armored divine statues seemed to turn slightly, emitting a faint sound of stone rubbing against stone.

Lu Yuan sensed it, but his footsteps did not falter. The moment he stepped into the gate of the Golden Palace, the scene before Lu Yuan's eyes changed abruptly.

The interior of the great palace was a world unto itself; there was no dome, and above it lay a brilliant, endless galaxy.

There were no lamps inside the hall, nor were any needed; starlight spilled down, shrouding everything in a soft radiance.

Most eye-catching of all were the thousands of ancient stone steles standing within the hall.

Each stele pierced straight into the clouds, its surface engraved with complex Dao runes.

The heights of the steles varied, representing the level of the Immortal Lords' cultivation. The names engraved on the most towering steles were all renowned like thunder in the ancient immortal era. Their prestige was the most intense in the forest of steles; standing even a hundred zhang away, one could feel a tangible pressure weighing on one's back, making one involuntarily want to bow.

When Lu Yuan stepped into the forest of steles, there were dozens of Immortal Lords in the hall who had just returned to pay their respects.

Some were gathered in small groups, whispering to one another, while others were alone, sitting cross-legged before their own steles to comprehend the Laws.

Their attire varied; some wore crimson battle armor with flames flowing ceaselessly across the plating; others were wrapped in dark green robes with dense patterns of poisonous insects embroidered on the hems; still others were shrouded in black mist, their gender indistinguishable, with only occasional flashes of blood-red light from their eyes visible within the mist.

When Lu Yuan, a stranger, stepped into the forest of steles, the conversations came to an abrupt halt.

A scrutinizing gaze turned toward him, followed by a second, then a third.

Dozens of gazes converged on Lu Yuan from all directions, like dozens of invisible needles pricking his body simultaneously.

He could hear faint whispers in his ears—this was Divine Sense transmission. The content was unclear, but from their tone and inflection, he could tell they were asking one another: "Who is this? A newly promoted Island Master?"

A subtle atmosphere permeated the air, a mixture of curiosity, probing, and a faint, lingering hostility.

Lu Yuan ignored these gazes. Immortal Monarch Taiyin followed three steps behind him; her very presence was a deterrent.

Many Immortal Lords hastily withdrew their gazes upon encountering Immortal Monarch Taiyin's cold, frost-like face.

The Taiyin lineage held immense power under Immortal King Zaohua, and Immortal Monarch Taiyin's own cultivation ranked among the top. Few were willing to provoke her without cause.

Lu Yuan walked straight through this forest of divine steles, heading toward the deepest part of the Golden Palace.

The further he went, the fewer the steles, but their height became increasingly astonishing.

The steles on the outermost perimeter were mostly only a few thousand zhang tall, but by the middle of the forest, the height of the steles generally exceeded ten thousand zhang.

There were fewer and fewer names on the steles, each one radiating a pressure sufficient to suffocate a person.

Lu Yuan could feel the pressure on his shoulders gradually increasing; with every step he took, it felt as if someone were adding an invisible burden onto him.

However, the circulation speed of his Chaos Arts also increased accordingly, the grey-white Chaos Qi surging and roaring through his Meridians, completely neutralizing the external pressure.

At the end of the forest of steles, several ownerless black steles, standing one hundred thousand zhang tall, loomed ahead.