The Wildshade Broodmother sent a great deal of information. She actually bears ancient memories. A very long time ago, she appeared once before. That time, someone was hunting Wildshade Insects. Back then, many Wildshade Insects existed between Heaven and Earth. They lived in spaces that belonged only to them, contending with no one. Then someone came to hunt them. Their losses were disastrous. In the end they fused into a Wildshade Broodmother and only then wounded him and forced him to retreat. That was the first appearance of a Wildshade Broodmother. Aside from now, in the history of the Ancient Wilds, it has appeared only that once.
As for who was hunting them, the Wildshade Broodmother does not know. She only knows the other party could also manipulate spacetime, and his power was so great they could not resist. This piqued Lin Moyu's interest. That was when Heaven and Earth experienced the second Great Calamity, also called the Calamity of Living Beings. At that time, innumerable powerful lifeforms birthed by Heaven and Earth fought madly when the calamity arrived, seeking chances to break through. Back then there indeed were those who possessed the ability to manipulate spacetime; for example, Little Tree had such an ability. But to easily slaughter Wildshade Insects still seems unlikely, because the Wildshade's spacetime prowess is already top tier. It seems no other lifeform can compare.
Lin Moyu set the question aside for now. Beyond this piece of history, the message also described the Wildshade Broodmother's abilities. As the strongest of the Wildshades, the Broodmother no longer needs to cycle through layers of spacetime. She can linger for long periods in a given timespace. At the same time, she can hide her projection in the present real timespace. This makes her extremely hard to detect. Using spacetime powers, she can enter another's domain without the other even noticing. She can attack from within spacetime toward the real timespace, catching others completely off guard. The offensive power of spacetime is terrifying. It is not a "technique," yet it surpasses techniques. In addition, every one of the Wildshade Broodmother's thousand legs is a divine weapon, enough to cleave a Supreme's body.
These abilities differed slightly from what Lin Moyu had imagined, but in general they were the same and exactly what he wanted. With this ability, at the right moment he might be able to take the small world back from the Calamity Supreme.
Putting away the Wildshade Broodmother, Lin Moyu looked at the shattered void that was slowly knitting back together. Space that had been pounded to a pulp would also take time to heal. "You can tell me now, right?" Lin Moyu said to the Primal Chaos Gem.
Giggling, the Primal Chaos Gem replied, "Since Master asks, of course I can say. Do you remember I said there are three who surpass Supremes in this Heaven and Earth? At that time Lin Mohan had not surpassed Supreme, and there was no Wildshade Broodmother yet."
Back then, the Primal Chaos Gem said the three beyond-Supreme figures were Dao and the Calamity Supreme, and the third was deeply hidden. "That fellow hid very well," said the Primal Chaos Gem. "Previously I only knew he existed, not where he was. This time I finally discovered him. You were right: behind the Heaven-and-Earth rules, someone really is manipulating them."
"He can manipulate the rules of Heaven and Earth?" Lin Moyu asked softly.
"Only a little," said the Primal Chaos Gem. "The three most common ways to become a Transcendent are: proving the Dao by grand vow, merging with Heaven and Earth, and proving by force. Each Heaven and Earth is different, and the paths available differ. In this Heaven and Earth, proving by vow is difficult, so you must take another path. Proving by merging with the rules of Heaven and Earth is one of them. That fellow is on this path, but he has only just started. He can only nudge the rules a bit. He is still far from becoming a Transcendent. His ability to hide is indeed strong. If he had not manipulated the rules this time, trying to kill the Wildshade Broodmother, even I would have had trouble finding him."
"Did you see who he is?" Lin Moyu asked.
The Primal Chaos Gem shook his head. "I cannot see. He borrowed the rules of Heaven and Earth to hide himself deeply. I can only know he exists. I cannot see him, much less where he is."
Lin Moyu grew thoughtful. If it was as the Primal Chaos Gem said, then everything made sense. Why did the rules of Heaven and Earth want to kill him? Because someone behind the scenes was manipulating them. Since he had become both the enemy of Heaven and Earth and the tribulation responder, then so long as someone killed him, there was a chance to prove the Dao. What method was used to kill him did not matter. The other party used the rules of Heaven and Earth to hide, and used those rules to try to kill him, thereby proving his path. It was not that the rules had birthed consciousness; rather, someone was walking the path of merging with Heaven and Earth. His attempt now to kill the Wildshade Broodmother meant there was a grievance between them. Together with the Broodmother's memories, this also indicated that the one who hunted the Wildshades back then was him. Since the Wildshade Broodmother had once wounded him, he now wanted to kill her. That makes perfect sense.
So, as long as they knew who hunted the Wildshades back then, they would know who the hidden manipulator is. Lin Moyu tossed the question to Hundun Zi and Little Tree. Hundun Zi knew nothing about it. Little Tree thought for a long while before saying, uncertainly, "I did hear that a powerful figure hunted Wildshade Insects back then, but who exactly it was was unclear. What is certain is that anyone able to hunt Wildshades must be extremely adept in spacetime power, and must surpass me in that regard. Only one seems to fit: the Divine-Void Beast."
At the time, Little Tree and Hundun Zi had ranked the ancient beings. In the top ten was the Divine-Void Beast. Little Tree placed it seventh; Hundun Zi placed it sixth. The Divine-Void Beast excelled at manipulating the powers of spacetime and of void and reality. It was very powerful. By capability alone, it could rank in the top three, but its actual combat strength was not that high. Also, it died very early for unknown reasons. No one knew who killed it, though only a few could have done it.
Lin Moyu shook his head. "Then it should not be him. The timing does not match." The Wildshade Broodmother's memories placed the Wildshade hunt in the mid to late calamity, while the Divine-Void Beast died in the early calamity. With the timing off, the Divine-Void Beast could be excluded.
The Primal Chaos Gem then reminded him, "Friendly reminder, Master: you do not necessarily have to excel at manipulating spacetime to hunt Wildshades. The right treasure could also do it."
"Right," said Lin Moyu. "The right treasure could do it, but the person himself would still need great combat strength. And he would not hunt Wildshades without reason. There would have to be a motive, a benefit to be gained. The greatest benefit from Wildshades is their corpses. After refining their corpses, one can obtain something similar to a Time Essence Stone. In other words, what the other party truly wanted was actually Time Essence Stones. He needed to master the power of time. And who needs mastery over time the most?"
Lin Moyu laid out the analysis step by step, and had Little Tree and Hundun Zi think it through, since they best understood the situation of the time and would analyze it more accurately. After their discussion, they narrowed the candidates to three figures. Back then, when they ranked the beings of Chaos, ranked first was the Huntian Desolate Dragon, second the Sky-Veiling Beast, and third the Ever-Ancient Desolate Ox. Little Tree and Hundun Zi believed only these three had the capacity.
The Sky-Veiling Beast was born with the strongest space power. If it could also gain the power of time, that would benefit it greatly. But it was the first to be excluded. Lin Moyu was already certain the Sky-Veiling Beast was Dao, and the one hiding to manipulate the rules was not him. That left the Huntian Desolate Dragon and the Ever-Ancient Desolate Ox.
The Ever-Ancient Desolate Ox's strongest point was defense; its offense was unremarkable. Its defense was outrageously strong. Even the Huntian Desolate Dragon could do nothing about it. It would have a chance to escape from the Wildshade Broodmother, but the Ox did not excel at space or time. Even with a relevant treasure, it seemed to have no reason to hunt Wildshades. When Little Tree and Hundun Zi fell, the Ever-Ancient Desolate Ox had not yet died. Whether it eventually died, or how, they did not know. The Ox could be excluded to a degree, though not completely.
Compared with the Ox, the more likely suspect was the Huntian Desolate Dragon. He was the universally acknowledged number one of the time, near perfect and all-around. His defense was second only to the Ox, and his offense exceeded all others. He seemed adept in every technique, yet no one knew which Dao he truly specialized in, because those who fought him mostly died. No one could force him to go all out. He could settle opponents using only physical strength. So when Lin Moyu deduced that the Sky-Veiling Beast was Dao, Little Tree and Hundun Zi were surprised, because they truly could not imagine how the Sky-Veiling Beast took that strange flower from the Huntian Desolate Dragon.
It appears the hidden figure is eighty percent likely to be the Huntian Desolate Dragon. He probably obtained some treasure that gave him spacetime power and then went to hunt Wildshades. But the Ever-Ancient Desolate Ox cannot be completely ruled out. After all, escaping wounded from before the Wildshade Broodmother is no easy feat.
Lin Moyu thought it over. The Wildshade Broodmother's power has already exceeded the Supreme level, the third tier. Though she has not fully reached the Transcendent fourth tier, she has at least touched a bit of it. The Ever-Ancient Desolate Ox's defense, however strong, could only be at the extreme of the third tier. Thus the Wildshade Broodmother should be able to wound the Ox, though killing it might be beyond her. Even so, the Ox lacks motive, unlike the Huntian Desolate Dragon. The Ox's likelihood is only twenty percent; eighty percent it is the Huntian Desolate Dragon.
"It should be the Huntian Desolate Dragon," the Primal Chaos Gem said with certainty.
Lin Moyu was surprised. "Why so sure?"
"To merge into the rules is actually very hard," said the Primal Chaos Gem. "First you must be proficient in the rules. Proficiency in the rules requires mastery of many Daos. The Ever-Ancient Desolate Ox clearly does not meet this condition. The Huntian Desolate Dragon does. Therefore it is the Huntian Desolate Dragon."
The Primal Chaos Gem approached the question from a different angle. With his explanation, the answer surfaced. There was a ninety-nine percent chance it was the Huntian Desolate Dragon. At last, the identity of the one who hid deepest was known. That alone was a significant gain.
"It seems this fellow will not be easy to deal with," Lin Moyu said mildly. "I wonder if the other two know of his existence."
"They probably do not," said the Primal Chaos Gem. "He hides very well. Since he is taking the path of merging with Heaven and Earth, he does not need to fight outside. Almost all his time should be spent comprehending the rules of Heaven and Earth. But he failed during the last Great Calamity, which proves this path is hard for him. Judging by how he appears now, he should have gained little all these years. So with the new Great Calamity upon us, he finally could not hold back and made a move, hoping to kill you so that Heaven and Earth's reward would help him prove the Dao."
Lin Moyu smiled. "He probably has two plans. Continue merging with Heaven and Earth during the Calamity, while also trying to kill me. If either succeeds, his path goes through."
"I think his merging path will not work," said the Primal Chaos Gem. "If it were going to work, it would have by now. He still wants to prove the Dao by killing you."
"I do not care," Lin Moyu said. "Let him come. We will see who wins in the end. I am curious how he took that step back then. The Sky-Veiling Beast seized that strange flower and then broke through to Supreme. The Calamity Supreme used a Time Essence Stone to fuse with his former self and, with Primordial Qi, broke through to Supreme. Lin Mohan used a sea of Primordial Qi and the soul-power of the Divine Lotus Transcendent to break into the Supreme realm. How did the Huntian Desolate Dragon take that step? I am truly curious."
"There are a thousand roads," said the Primal Chaos Gem. "In a Great Calamity, each has its own fortunes. It is not surprising that someone takes that step. In the end he did not succeed anyway. Without becoming a Transcendent, it is not true success."
"All right then. We will wait and see. One step at a time," Lin Moyu said.
As they spoke, Lin Moyu summoned Xiaopeng, still using Xiaopeng as his proxy, and headed toward the East Extremity, then planned to return to the Central Region via the East Extremity's cross-domain teleportation array. Xiaopeng flew swiftly along the boundary, quickly nearing the teleportation array. As he went, he skimmed over many battlefields and saw countless corpses floating in the void. Some were intact enough to tell whether they were from the Ancient Wilds or from Chaos; some were only shredded flesh. It could no longer be described as mere carnage.
By now, the Eastern Region and the Central Region had formally gone to war, fighting fiercely. Moreover, both sides had gained another opponent. Vast numbers of beings from the Ancient Wilds had crossed the Wildscar into the Extremities. They killed any Chaos beings they saw, plunging Chaos into even greater chaos. Each Extremity, while fighting the others, also had to fight the Ancient Wilds beings. The Ancient Wilds beings poured in without end, impossible to kill off, and they inflicted no small harm on Chaos.
Normally, the forces of Chaos across the four Extremities and three Regions should band together and jointly resist the beings of the Ancient Wilds. In ordinary times, they would. But now that the Great Calamity had arisen, everyone's minds seemed affected. The beings of the Ancient Wilds had to be resisted, but the battles among the Extremities could not stop either. Chaos had become a boiling cauldron. Countless lives were falling. In a Great Calamity, lives are just that cheap.
Lin Moyu's heart did not ripple. However many died, in his view it was all the working of calamity. "Those few in the West Extremity must be run off their feet," he said softly. The Supremes of the West Extremity had originally intended, amid the wars of the Extremities, to collect the flesh and souls of living beings to batter open the gate leading to the Heaven-and-Earth Wall. Given the present situation, they would collect more than enough flesh and souls. He wondered how far along they were.
"Father, there is someone ahead," Xiaopeng suddenly said.