Starting at the Nascent Soul stage, a rogue cultivator is incredibly poor.

Mr. Mo remained silent for a long time.

The night wind swept through the dilapidated courtyard, blowing his wide black robe and dispersing the lingering aroma of tea on the stone table.

He slowly raised his hand and gently drew a horizontal line on the table.

"Why are the demons from beyond the heavens called 'beyond the heavens'..." he murmured, his voice filled with an almost pious confusion. "That's because they come from 'beyond the heavens'."

With his fingertip resting below the horizontal line, he wrote the ancient seal script character "天" (tian, meaning sky).

Then, his finger hovered above the horizontal line, hesitating to drop it.

"But what exactly is this outer space...?"

Qingyouzi looked at him quietly.

According to what they knew from their previous life, they should be on a star, and beyond the star is an endless galaxy.

But this world seemed different. He had consulted ancient texts and had never seen the terms "stars" or "universe." The "heaven" that the cultivators spoke of seemed more like a tangible dome that covered everything.

Mr. Mo suddenly raised his head, a strange light appearing in his eyes.

"I have always been flying upwards."

He said.

"After exhausting most of my magic power, I flew a full 100,000 miles. But the higher I went, the more oppressive it felt, as if some invisible force was suppressing me there, preventing me from getting close or spying on me."

His voice became agitated, and his fingers trembled slightly:

Thirty years ago, I stumbled upon an ancient ruin and learned a secret.

"Ten thousand years ago, countless powerful predecessors went to a 'Mount Tongtian'. Legend has it that they attempted to 'open the heavens' there, split open the dome of this world, and travel to a wider world to seek the true and eternal Dao."

A slight thought stirred in Qingyouzi's heart.

The mountain that reaches the heavens... Could it be...?

He spoke, his voice calm:

"They failed?"

"No." Mr. Mo slowly shook his head.

He suddenly stood up and looked up at the sky. Moonlight shone on his face, reflecting a distorted expression that was a mixture of fanaticism and fear.

"They succeeded."

"But the moment the sky was split open, those extraterrestrial demons poured in through the gap."

His voice trembled:

"In that battle, heaven and earth shattered, and all living beings perished. The surviving powerful beings paid an unimaginable price to reseal the breach. And that mountain was also cast down to the mortal realm, where it has remained hidden ever since."

As Qingyouzi listened, numerous clues flashed through her mind.

Back then, at Mozhou Mountain, the identification information indicated that the ancient demon came from the "Demon Realm".

Xuan Yizi fought alone against the three-headed extraterrestrial inner demons, and they perished together.

Mr. Mo said that ten thousand years ago someone "created the world," which attracted the Heavenly Demon, while he heard in Nanxuan that the appearance of Demon Zhou Mountain was something that happened several thousand years ago...

The timing doesn't match.

Unless, that breach has been opened more than once.

Mr. Mo was still whispering, as if talking to himself:

"What exactly is beyond the heavens? Is it this sky full of stars? Or is it another, more expansive world? Are there also mountains and rivers there, where the sun and moon revolve? Are there even higher realms beyond the Nascent Soul and Void Refinement stages...?"

He suddenly laughed, a desolate laugh:

"But here, the Nascent Soul stage is not yet visible, and the Spirit Transformation stage is already the pinnacle. But people... once they obtain it, they want more. Once they know there is an 'outside world,' they can no longer sit still."

Qingyouzi stared at him.

That expression, that tone... reminded him of Cangming.

The dragon that was unwilling to be confined to the desolate sea and was determined to go to the other side of the boundless sea.

They are all trapped people.

They are all people who want to break free.

He suddenly felt a sense of irony.

"What you're saying," Qingyouzi interrupted Mr. Mo's whisper, "has nothing to do with me."

Mr. Mo was taken aback.

Qingyouzi stood up and looked directly at him:

"There's no need to talk about those grand ambitions anymore, nor to test whether I have the same 'ambitions' as you. I'll just ask one last time."

He pointed to the magic stone on the table:

"Should we replace this?"

A struggle flashed in Mr. Mo's eyes.

After a long silence, he said in a hoarse voice:

"You truly have no records of the extraterrestrial demons?"

"No," Qingyouzi answered crisply. "I have already thoroughly studied the 'Yi Xuan Zhen Jie' (易玄阵解), and found nothing but insights into formations."

He took a thin booklet out of his storage bag and slapped it on the stone table.

The booklet cover bears the four characters "易玄阵解".

"This is the first half," Qingyouzi said coldly. "Plus your life, that's enough to exchange for that Demon Spirit Stone."

Mr. Mo's pupils suddenly contracted.

He stared intently at Qing Youzi, his fingers trembling slightly, and after a long while, he managed to squeeze out a single word through clenched teeth:

"you......!"

Qingyouzi remained unmoved.

The two looked at each other.

The courtyard was deathly silent, save for the mournful howl of the night wind.

After a long while, the fervor in Mr. Mo's eyes gradually faded, turning into a weary and dejected look.

He slowly sat down and reached for the thin booklet.

There was a slight pause when my fingertips touched the pages.

"it is good."

He uttered the word as if he had used all his strength.

He pushed the Demon Spirit Stone toward Qingyouzi, then stood up and walked toward the courtyard gate without looking back.

The figure in black robes quickly blended into the night and disappeared.

Qingyouzi put away the Demon Spirit Stone and scanned the surroundings with his divine sense. Mr. Mo's aura had completely disappeared.

He snorted coldly, flicked his sleeve, and the remaining array fluctuations in the courtyard were dispersed.

Then it transformed into a blue rainbow and soared into the sky.

On the way back to Tingzhu Pavilion, Qingyouzi's mind was filled with mixed thoughts.

Mr. Mo's words may not be entirely false.

There are demons beyond the heavens, the Tongtian Mountain was once opened, and Xuan Yizi died fighting the demons... These clues are faintly connected, pointing to a buried truth.

But what does it have to do with him?

He, Qingyouzi, cultivates not to save the world, nor to create a new heaven, but only to go further on this path and live longer.

With the Demon Spirit Stone in hand, the Heavenly Demon Annihilation Array can be activated.

The Divine Herb has been consumed, and the Seven Chapters of Refining the Divine have been completed up to the fourth chapter.

Next, we will prepare for breaking through to the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

As for extraterrestrial demons and secrets from ten thousand years ago... he can explore those later when he reaches the Nascent Soul stage.

When the light returned to Cuiwei Mountain, the east was already showing the first light of dawn.

Qingyouzi stepped into the cave and activated all the formations.

In the quiet room, he took out the magic spirit stone, which was the size of a fist.

The jet-black crystal emanated a faint, demonic aura in my palm, as if life was flowing within it.

"System, identify this item."

"Ding, five hundred spirit stones consumed, appraisal successful."

Item Name: Supreme Magic Stone

"Item Description: Originating from the source of demonic energy, it has been condensed over thousands of years. It contains pure demonic essence and can support the operation of the 'Heavenly Demon Annihilation Array' for more than ten years. It can also be used to cultivate specific demonic techniques or to temper demonic treasures."

ten years.

If you use it sparingly, it's enough.