It turns out, they were the main characters.

In her alone, Mu Zhian seemed to see a combination of elements from Bai Ruoxi, Wei Mengrou, Yao Meng, Linglong, and many other people.

"It would take at least a year to fully enjoy this," Mu Zhian remarked.

Yuanlu rolled her eyes charmingly: "Only a year? I'm the embodiment of your various fantasies, a year is a huge underestimation of my charm, isn't it?"

Mu Zhian didn't say anything more, but carried her out of the cave in a princess carry. However, halfway there, Mu Zhian couldn't help but turn around and look behind him again.

Behind them, on the boundless grassland, grew countless withered trees, their branches stretching along the iron-gray sky, and the chains that filled the sky looked like a chaotic dance of demons.

The woman, meanwhile, lay peacefully asleep within a 'spider web' woven from chains.

Quiet and peaceful.

He carried Yuanluo out of the cave, and the sandalwood door behind him closed silently.

It was as if the world had returned to silence.

A gentle breeze swept by, and the moment the wooden door closed, the sleeping 'immortal' seemed to furrow its brow slightly.

……

Mu Zhian left the Heavenly Palace through the hazy white mist and placed Yuanluo on a soft, large bed.

Then he sat down on the edge of the bed: "Why do you become so weak when you're near her?"

"It's not that I become so weak when I get close to her, but that she is constantly absorbing the spiritual energy around her."

Yuanluo glanced at Mu Zhian and said quietly, "Didn't you notice? From the moment you approached the Heavenly Palace, the surrounding spiritual energy became much thinner."

Mu Zhian was taken aback. He hadn't noticed it until Yuanlu reminded him, and only then did he realize what was going on.

Compared to the spiritual energy outside the Heavenly Palace, the spiritual energy here seems much thinner.

"You mean, that woman was absorbing the spiritual energy of the Heavenly Palace even while she was asleep...? But why wasn't I drained dry by her?"

Mu Zhian paused slightly, then slowly shook his head: "No, I'm not just not drained, I feel that the spiritual energy in my body hasn't decreased at all."

The sleeping immortal had never absorbed any spiritual energy from Mu Zhi'an from the beginning, so when he and Yuanluo entered the cave, he did not realize that the immortal was frantically draining the spiritual energy from Yuanluo's body.

"Is it possible that she doesn't like you because you haven't replenished your spiritual energy enough?" Yuanluo asked.

"Or perhaps... because you are not a living being, she has no interest in the spiritual energy of the dead?"

deceased……?

"If you can talk, then say more..." Mu Zhian sighed softly, "I carried you all the way from the depths of the Heavenly Palace and safely brought you here... and this is how you treat your benefactor with such venom?"

Yuanluo's silver-white hair fell slightly across her forehead as she looked at the boy through it, smiling sweetly: "Shouldn't hugging me be the reward? I know exactly what you've been thinking all this way."

As she finished speaking, her slender, jade-like fingers gently traced along a pair of long, shapely legs clad in white silk stockings, while a playful smile flowed in her red eyes as she gazed at Mu Zhian.

Mu Zhian silently rubbed his forehead: "You'd better take it easy. If you keep teasing me like this, I'm afraid I really won't be able to hold back and suppress you later."

Yuanluo glanced at the boy, then became more serious: "If you hadn't been there, I probably wouldn't have been able to leave that cave."

"So I really should thank you properly."

Hearing Yuanluo's slightly aloof and arrogant reply, Mu Zhian couldn't help but laugh and say, "It's rare that you know how to thank people."

"Heaven always distinguishes between public and private matters."

Yuan Luo paused slightly: "However, even so, my very existence is because of you, and I have nothing to repay you with..."

She managed to sit up, and the originally dim halo behind her had regained some brightness thanks to the replenishment of the Heavenly Court's spiritual energy.

Under Mu Zhi'an's gaze, Yuanluo gently rested her fragrant shoulder on his shoulder, her beautiful legs under her skirt slightly together, and blinked her red eyes at Mu Zhi'an, saying softly, "If you need any help in the future, you don't have to be polite, okay?"

"Whatever your request, I will try my best to fulfill it."

Mu Zhian extended a finger, pressed it against Yuanluo's forehead, and gently pushed her away.

"Come on, Miss Yuanluo. I don't think it's a bad thing for you to take inspiration from other girls' personalities, but could you only copy their good aspects and not include their scheming and mischievous traits as well?"

He couldn't help but complain, "Although it's really burning, you only flirted but didn't kiss me. This isn't thanking me, it's taking revenge on me."

"It doesn't necessarily have to be done in any particular way, does it?"

Yuanlu stretched and yawned, revealing her graceful figure, and said calmly, "As I said before, I just can't accept the Heavenly Court's spiritual energy, but I can do everything else, you know?"

Other things...

Mu Zhian was taken aback, but said calmly, "I don't understand what you're saying at all..."

"Intimacy between men and women in this world is not limited to the kind of innate spiritual energy that is bestowed upon them, is it?"

Yuanluo took Mu Zhian's arm, deliberately bringing her rosy lips closer, and whispered, "Aside from letting me receive the Heavenly Court's spiritual energy, perhaps you can try other things in the future?"

With her face so close, and her ambiguous breaths, all on this sacred and quiet palace bed, Mu Zhian could almost feel the breathtaking softness of Yuan Luo's lips.

He calmed himself down slightly, trying his best to steady the emotions that had been stirred up by the Iris.

Then, he said seriously, "Stop fooling around, there's something I want to ask you."

"I remember you just said that the immortal in the depths of the Heavenly Palace was just an empty shell, right? Then where did her spirit go?"

This is the thing that Mu Zhian cares about most right now.

Just now, the three strands of Heavenly Dao Qi in his body all felt an innate affinity with that 'immortal,' which means that these three strands of Heavenly Dao Qi are very likely to have some kind of connection with that immortal.

Among all the people in the Nine Provinces who can simultaneously produce three portions of Heavenly Dao Qi, the only one known to be the Master of the Abyss is the Master of the Extreme Abyss.

Therefore, the current master of the Abyss who is currently asleep is very likely the immortal in the depths of the Heavenly Palace who ascended to the Immortal Realm, who is also the Mother Goddess who created all things.

So here's the question: after the Abyss Master fell into a deep sleep, her true form entered the Heavenly Court, and then she sealed herself away, leaving only an empty shell... So where did her spirit go?

"You already know the answer in your heart, don't you?"

Yuanluo put away her teasing expression and said with a faint smile, "Even if I can't read minds now, I can guess that you already have a name in your heart."

A silent silence.

Mu Zhian stared at Yuanluo's pure and bright red eyes, remaining silent for a long time.

Yuanluo was right. From the moment he realized that the master of the Abyss was that immortal, he already had an answer in his heart.

Rather, if it were her, some of the mysteries that had been troubling him would have been explained.

"Sect Master, is that so?" Mu Zhian said softly.

Why is Shang Yanfei able to exist in this world forever, even suppressing it when it repeatedly appears in forbidden places, and seemingly having a lifespan comparable to the heavens...? What if she did not attain the Dao, but ascended to immortality?

The realm of immortality is beyond the comprehension of cultivators. Some say she is an immortal who created all things, while others say she can cause all living beings to decay with a single thought.

For her, the entire world of immortals and heroes is just a game, because after ascending to immortality, she is immortal and can start over infinitely even if she fails.

In short, there are countless rumors about ascending to immortality in Kyushu, but even now there is no concrete explanation.

After all, there has only ever been one Immortal Realm throughout history. She is the mother of all living beings and the deity who has ascended to immortality since birth.

No one has ever seen her; in folklore, she is mostly regarded as a myth.

"I knew I thought the same thing as you."

Yuanluo said with a smile, "Shang Yanfei took in Linglong in the past and raised her to adulthood. Linglong was born with three strands of Heavenly Dao Qi... No matter how you look at it, you can only associate that immortal with Shang Yanfei."

“However, it’s strange. I’ve searched your memory for relevant information. Shang Yanfei’s spiritual awareness is indeed strong, but not strong enough to make me wary… A celestial being in the Ascension Realm shouldn’t have spiritual awareness that limited to that level,” Yuanluo continued.

Mu Zhian frowned and said, "So you think the owner of that body deep in the Heavenly Palace is not the Sect Master?"

“Logically, it should be her.” Yuanluo paused slightly. “But I always feel that something is wrong. Shang Yanfei’s spiritual consciousness is too strange. It appears and disappears at any time, as if it is about to disappear into that world at any moment. I still have the same idea… The spiritual consciousness of someone in the Immortal Ascension Realm cannot be just like that.”

Mu Zhian hesitated for a moment: "Could it be that the sect leader blocked the secrets of heaven, and the Immortal Golden Lock sealed his self, which is why you couldn't detect it?"

"If I can't detect it, then how come you can't detect it either?"

Yuanluo gently stroked Mu Zhian's chest with her small hand, pulling out the three intertwined strands of Heavenly Dao energy from his embrace. She looked at him with a smile: "Haven't you already had physical intimacy with her? You should know very well how strong her spiritual consciousness is, right?"

Mu Zhian was taken aback, but then felt a little embarrassed and fell silent.

Yuanluo was also stunned, staring at Mu Zhian incredulously: "You weren't so engrossed in her body during those intimate moments that you didn't even notice what was going on with her spiritual consciousness?"

Mu Zhian coughed and said, "Of course I care about the sect leader's situation, but every time I try to check on her spiritual consciousness, it just so happens that I'm in the middle of being intimate with her, and then it seems that I'm bewitched by her using some kind of Taoist magic..."

"Heh, the dignified ruler of the Heavenly Court has actually stooped so low." Yuanluo glanced sideways, her red eyes filled with disdain.

Then, before Mu Zhian could speak, she suddenly said, "How about we give it a try?"

As Yuanluo stretched out her hand, the milky-white aura of the Heavenly Dao seemed to be burning fiercely, exuding a sacred and captivating aura.

She gazed into Mu Zhi'an's eyes and said softly, "Use this to test whether she is truly that immortal."

……

……

[Looking for recommendations for writing tools; better data will motivate me to keep writing!]

[PS2: I think this new version of Tendou is pretty good too]

Chapter 604 Mu Zhian's Strategy for Conquering the Heavenly Dao, the Identity of the Primordial Mother Goddess

"Using this to test the sect leader...? Are you trying to see if the Heavenly Dao Qi will feel any intimacy with the sect leader when it sees her?"

Mu Zhian instantly understood what Yuanluo wanted to do, and couldn't help but frown, saying, "The Qi of Heaven should not only be close to those who have refined it in the past, right?"

"The reason why those three strands of Heavenly Dao Qi were able to remain in Ling'er's body was because they were naturally inclined to favor the Spirit Dragon, wasn't it?"

Yuanlu slowly shook her head: "That kind of affection is different. It's like I also have feelings for you, but they're not romantic feelings."

"The same goes for the Qi of Heaven. It only shows affection and flattery to those who can refine it. As for others... the Qi of Heaven will at most have some goodwill towards them."

The three strands of Heavenly Dao Qi are not so easy to refine.

"Moreover, the spirit dragon symbolizes the fortune of the nine provinces, and all things will have an innate affinity for it."

After speaking, Yuanluo stretched out her small hand to touch the Heavenly Dao Qi. The Heavenly Dao Qi just let Yuanluo's small hand knead and play with it, seemingly without any temper.

The silver-haired beauty gently stroked the Heavenly Dao Qi with her small hands, then lightly caressed it with her fingertips a few times. She then raised her head and said with a smile:

"You see, it likes me too, so it doesn't object to me teasing it, but it doesn't take the initiative to get close to me or even try to please me."

Mu Zhian looked at Yuanluo's snow-white little hand, seemingly deep in thought.

Only when he noticed the gaze directed at him by Yuanluo did he come to his senses and nod slightly:

"So in your opinion, anyone who is willing to be affectionate and flattered by the Heavenly Dao Qi is very likely to be its former master?"