He could tell the September Supreme's state was a little strange. Her eyes were closed; she seemed to be pouring all her strength into something and couldn't spare any attention.
The Primal Chaos Gem said, "She should be cracking the passage."
In terms of eyesight, the Primal Chaos Gem surpassed Lin Moyu; it could see more.
Lin Moyu asked, "How's the cracking going?"
The Primal Chaos Gem said, "She's made a slit. This passage is very peculiar—nothing can be seen from the surface; you have to touch it yourself to know. The pagoda in your hand should be the key that opens it. For a passage that can force a Supreme to rack her brains like this, it truly isn't ordinary."
After arriving, Lin Moyu didn't speak or make a move. Goldfire Venerable also didn't dare act; Nine suns rose above him as he stood fully on guard.
Only after watching for a while did Lin Moyu call out, "I'm not a bloodthirsty man. I'll give you one more chance: step aside and let me pass. I won't make things hard for you."
Goldfire Venerable said quietly, "Same answer as last time—impossible."
As his words fell, the nine suns simultaneously fired ten thousand beams of flame.
"East Extremity Purgatory—formation, activate!"
In an instant, a great array surfaced from the Sea of Fire and enclosed Lin Moyu within it. This array laid by Nine-Suns Venerable in the East Extremity Sea of Fire could not only gather the sea's full power, it could also call upon the Dao of Chaos. With the Sea of Fire as its root, it refines all beings and things; with the Dao of Chaos as a cage, it prevents escape. Even a Supreme, caught within it, would suffer a splitting headache. It had been used once before to trap a Supreme for a hundred years.
This time, flame bathed Lin Moyu. The East Extremity fire was driven to the extreme, yet to him it was merely a bit more warmth. Hurting him with such fire was next to impossible.
Lin Moyu had many ways to break the array. The simplest was brute force: trigger Utmost Undying and then follow with two or three punches to smash the formation to pieces. One force breaks ten thousand arts—as long as the force is enough, any array or method collapses.
But that method wouldn't make the other side despair. To kill a man, cut his heart. Since they wanted to use an array against him, he wouldn't be polite—he would take the array, and bundle the entire East Extremity Sea of Fire away with it. This "East Extremity Purgatory" formation had clearly been laid for many years; it could command the sea's total power and had virtually become the sea's core. Using the array, he could compress the entire Sea of Fire, store it inside, and carry it off. The East Extremity Sea of Fire might not be much, but placed in Yushen Heaven and Earth it would make a fine landscape—for his wives to admire from time to time.
If Nine-Suns Venerable had known Lin Moyu's thoughts, he would certainly have regretted invoking this array. But it was too late.
After observing in the flames for a moment, Lin Moyu had already grasped the formation in full. Though he was screened by heaven-and-earth rules as the "enemy of heaven and earth," his formation mastery and rune effects still existed. Heaven-and-earth rules cannot screen out runes—if they could, every array and rune in Chaos and the Ancient Wilds would fail.
Lin Moyu sketched runes; in an instant, hundreds of sigils pierced the fire and merged into the array. With his rune augmentation, the formation's power grew stronger still. The strength of the East Extremity Sea of Fire exceeded its own limits.
Nine-Suns Venerable, controlling the array, suddenly wore a strange look. "Why did the array get stronger?"
Goldfire Venerable said in a low voice, "Stronger is good, isn't it? Burn him to death—refine his soul to ash." Now only a remnant soul, he would need an age to recover. Even if he could recover, he would likely never return to his peak. He was filled with hatred for Lin Moyu and didn't spare a thought for whether Nine-Suns had purposely sent him to die as a probe earlier. He saw Lin Moyu as a mortal enemy and wanted him dead at once.
Nine-Suns Venerable shook his head. "It's not that simple. I know exactly how strong East Extremity Purgatory is. Now it's beyond its proper level…"
Goldfire Venerable asked, "So what does that mean—good or bad?" With only a remnant soul, even his thoughts had become abnormally simple. He didn't realize that because he was just a remnant soul, the great calamity was affecting him—his thinking not only simple but belligerent, even reckless.
The array's power kept rising. The entire Sea of Fire boiled. From afar came waves of screams, one after another without end. The beings that originally lived in the Sea of Fire were now being burned and refined by the rapidly strengthening sea, becoming part of it.
Nine-Suns Venerable's face changed drastically. "Not good—the array has a problem!" He sensed something wrong, but didn't know where the problem lay. He could never have guessed the formation was changing owners.
The sea surged to its limit, then began contracting sharply—so fast it shocked the mind. In under half an hour the vast East Extremity Sea of Fire shrank ten millionfold, until it covered only a thousand li—the core region of East Extremity Purgatory. As the sea shrank, its power intensified further. Even Nine-Suns Venerable felt the heat; Goldfire Venerable, a quasi-Supreme who had cultivated the fire Dao in this sea for endless years, was scalded by it.
Nine-Suns Venerable's face grew ashen. He discovered he had completely lost control of the array. East Extremity Purgatory was no longer his—and could even be turned against him.
Lin Moyu strolled out of the flames unscathed, standing within the sea of fire. The thousand-li array shrank again until it was the size of a fist, landing in Lin Moyu's palm as a blaze of utmost heat. He juggled it lightly like a ball.
"The East Extremity Sea of Fire is nice. I'll be taking it," Lin Moyu said with a smile.
Without ceremony, he sent the sea into Yushen Heaven and Earth. From that moment on, the East Extremity Sea of Fire belonged to him and had nothing to do with the East Extremity.
Nine-Suns Venerable went pale and trembled all over—angry and afraid. To seize the Sea of Fire was to seize the root of the East Extremity; how could he not rage? Yet Lin Moyu's means filled him with fear. How could there be such a method—an array meant to deal with him taken and pocketed instead? It meant Lin Moyu's formation attainments had reached a frightful height. Among all array masters he knew in Chaos and the Ancient Wilds, none could do this.
Goldfire Venerable's soul shook uncontrollably. A few breaths later he reacted: "Impossible. This is impossible!"
Lin Moyu shook his head. "This quasi-Supreme with only a remnant soul looks about to be scared mad." His soul was turning chaotic; once it completely unraveled, madness would follow—the first quasi-Supreme to be frightened insane was about to appear.
"Enough play. Time to do proper business," Lin Moyu said, throwing a punch.
In an instant, countless giant fists appeared in the void, blanketing billions of li and pouring down like a storm. He didn't invoke Utmost Undying; he already knew its effects and didn't need it. Even without it, he could handle Nine-Suns Venerable. As for Goldfire Venerable—already a cripple—if he didn't flee, the aftershocks alone would kill him. And Lin Moyu didn't spare him; the sky-covering rain of fists enveloped him as well.
Soul-shocks arrived first in waves. Goldfire Venerable shrieked and fled—no Sea of Fire to dive into now. He ran for his life, mustering everything to resist the soul shocks.
Nine-Suns Venerable did not retreat a step, standing before the September Supreme. The nine suns fell, nine merging into one to form a giant shield before him. Fists crashed into the shield, thundering; colossal force drove him back again and again.
Lin Moyu's body and soul were honed to the extreme. On those alone he could contend with the very top Supremes. Nine-Suns Venerable, though not weak, was far inferior.
He was beaten back to the September Supreme's side; there he stopped retreating, roaring as he forced himself to hold. Cracks spread over the shield. The nine suns were his Dao foundation; cracks meant damage to his foundation. Even so, he did not retreat, guarding her tightly.
The rain of fists did not stop. If Nine-Suns relaxed even a hair, the blows would fall upon the September Supreme.
As cracks multiplied upon the shield, they also spread across Nine-Suns Venerable's body. With his foundation damaged, he himself was injured. Yet he did not back away half a step.
"Truly deep sibling bonds," Lin Moyu chuckled, then ceased his assault, smiling as he watched. "The September Supreme is probing that passage, yes? My advice: give it up. That passage doesn't suit her."
Nine-Suns Venerable exhaled a thread of relief, but his expression remained grave. "Do you know something?"
Lin Moyu said, "I was entrusted to go to the far side and fetch something. I don't actually know what's inside, or what lies on the other side."
"What do you mean to retrieve?" Nine-Suns asked.
Lin Moyu shook his head. "No comment. But you should know you can't stop me. If I wanted to kill you, it wouldn't be hard. And if you die—given her current state—do you think she survives?"
The void twisted; blades suddenly appeared—legs of the Wildshade Broodmother, flashing cold light from different timespaces.
Nine-Suns Venerable knew Lin Moyu wasn't bluffing. Yet his eyes tangled with hesitation. After several breaths he said, "It's not that I refuse to withdraw— I can't."
"Oh?" Lin Moyu's interest rose. "Explain."
"This passage is hidden within the East Extremity Sea of Fire," Nine-Suns said. "It surfaced only by accident, tens of thousands of years ago. We studied it for a long time; Little Moon finally opened a slit, and her soul entered to explore—then couldn't return."
Lin Moyu said, "Didn't she only send in a wisp of soul? The Undead Eye can see it—her soul flame is still brilliant, so it must have been just a wisp or a soul avatar. There should be nothing to fear."
"At the time Little Moon refined a soul avatar to enter," Nine-Suns replied. "We thought it foolproof. But her consciousness was locked inside and couldn't come back. What entered was a soul avatar, but the September Supreme's consciousness attached to it. The avatar and her consciousness were trapped, leaving the body seemingly intact—but without awareness. That shouldn't be possible; consciousness is almost impossible to lock and can return at any time—unless the passage doesn't lead to Chaos or the Ancient Wilds at all but to another set of heaven-and-earth rules. Only that explains it."
He said, "If you can go in—can you help me?"
So that was why there had been no response from the September Supreme during Lin Moyu's last visit to the East Extremity—an accident had occurred.
Lin Moyu thought, Helping you isn't impossible, but what's in it for me? Don't forget you tried to kill me before, and might try again.
Nine-Suns said at once, "I can swear: whatever you are, I will never be your enemy henceforth."
Lin Moyu laughed. "Do you think I fear you? Swearing on something I don't fear is a bit funny."
Nine-Suns thought a moment. "You're the enemy of heaven and earth; all treasures are useless on you. I don't know what I can give you." After pondering, he added, "We have a set of secret arts that might be useful to you."
Lin Moyu said, "I just told you I'm the enemy of heaven and earth—what use is a secret art to me?"
Nine-Suns shook his head quickly. "This set of secret arts does not rely on heaven-and-earth rules."
Secret arts that didn't rely on heaven-and-earth rules? The Primal Chaos Gem sent a voice: "Master, agree."
Trusting the Primal Chaos Gem—there was indeed such a secret art, and it sounded interesting—Lin Moyu said, "I can agree. But I hope you're not deceiving me."
"I won't gamble with Little Moon's life," Nine-Suns replied.
"Then step aside," Lin Moyu said. "Withdraw a billion li and hold the perimeter—don't let anyone approach. Leave this to me."
Nine-Suns was decisive. Since he had asked Lin Moyu for help, he chose to trust him. He retreated a billion li, clearing a vast void, and summoned hundreds of millions of Undying Spirit Soldiers to gather in space, encircling the area. Lin Moyu was going into the passage; no one knew what might happen inside, and he would not permit anyone to meddle at the entrance. He didn't even take the Wildshade Broodmother in, leaving it to guard outside as the final barrier. In this way, even a Supreme would find it hard to break through.
Coming to the September Supreme's side, he ignored the flames around her and slipped straight in. An outsider entering caused the fire to mount an automatic assault; nine moons fired dazzling moonlight at Lin Moyu—an autonomous defense of the September Supreme, requiring no conscious control. Lin Moyu ignored it, letting the beams fall upon him; with his body, such a passive defense from a mere Supreme posed no threat.
Beneath the September Supreme, between her and a crescent moon, there was an inconspicuous hairline crack. It was shrinking. The September Supreme was continuously pouring a portion of her power into it to maintain it.
The passage was entirely hidden in the void—utterly invisible. Who knows how many years it had existed in the East Extremity Sea of Fire without anyone discovering it. If not for that accident, it would have stayed hidden still.
Lin Moyu came to the crack—the passage right before him, merely unseen. He took out the stone pagoda and touched the fissure. The pagoda burst into brilliant light; a great door appeared before his eyes. That crack was precisely the gap beneath the door.
"Finding even a door-seam—well done," Lin Moyu said, already understanding that the September Supreme had simply been lucky enough to find this sliver of a seam.
Light from the pagoda fell upon the door, and the door slowly opened.