Lin Moyu suddenly saw the clue: the three of them were positioned as an array formation. He did not know what this array formation was called, but its effect was obvious. At the very least, it amplified the strength of the three by several times. The vast quantity of rules between heaven and earth provided them with support, amplifying their power, and at the same time amplifying the effect of the Hongmeng Spirit Tree root.
It was not only that the three formed an array formation. They were also inside an even larger array formation. The three were merely one node of that grand array. This grand array spread across the entire heaven-and-earth, using the Heaven-and-Earth rules as its lines to lay out the array. He had misjudged it earlier. He never expected that such a grand array was hidden within this heaven-and-earth.
This grand array made Lin Moyu reveal a trace of disdain. The level of this grand array was only a notch stronger than the array formations of Calamity Scepter Supreme. It barely surpassed the Supreme level, but it was still beneath heaven-and-earth. Compared with him, it fell short by far more than a little. It was only because the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth rules were powerful that the might of this grand array became stronger.
Still, integrating a grand array into the rules and using rules to arrange the array, this line of thinking was not bad. He had been honing array formations within the Chess of All Living Beings, and he could borrow this.
Lin Moyu observed the direction of the rule-array formation. His main body, which was honing array formations inside the Chess of All Living Beings, immediately made slight changes to his own runes. Previously, he had only used the Heaven-and-Earth rules as the array base, and had not fully integrated the array formation into the Heaven-and-Earth rules. Now he could change that, and make better use of the rules.
The runes merged into the rules of the Chess of All Living Beings. One array formation after another took shape in an instant, fusing as one with the rules. Array formations originated from runes, merged into rules, and in the end transcended rules, becoming array formations above heaven-and-earth.
Lin Moyu's formation Dao was like this: starting from the tiniest beginnings, all the way to the strongest. Even with extraordinary talent, he still sought progress without ceasing. Stones from other mountains can polish jade. He acted with sharp resolve. The array formation he had seen in this Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, though inferior to his, still had things worth taking. Lin Moyu would not be polite, and accepted it with a smile.
His formation Dao, which had been stuck for many years without any breakthrough, gained a thread of progress. Three runes began to fuse with one another, and finally became two runes. These two runes were one empty and one real, one yin and one yang. Their relationship was tight, mutually dependent and coexisting. Yet when you looked again, you would feel that they opposed one another, with intense conflict, as if a collision would make them explode.
The two runes looked extremely simple, like the truth of "the Dao is simplest at its core." But when you looked again, they felt unimaginably profound and mysterious, containing a truth that was hard to describe. If one could comprehend even a bit, one could glimpse the Dao.
As the master of these two runes, Lin Moyu understood them best. These two runes truly exhausted the ultimate principles of the formation Dao. One could even use the formation Dao to understand other Daos. If one could understand any other single rune to eighty percent, then one's array-formation Dao could be considered greatly accomplished. At the level beneath heaven-and-earth, all kinds of array formations would be at one's fingertips. Calamity Scepter Supreme of the past was roughly at this level.
If one could understand both runes to eighty percent, then the formation Dao level could reach above heaven-and-earth, surpassing heaven-and-earth. And for someone like Lin Moyu, who had mastered all the profundity of both runes, his formation Dao level had long surpassed heaven-and-earth. To what extent exactly, even Lin Moyu himself was not clear.
Now he was only one step away from formation Dao perfection. If he could fuse these two runes into one, combining them into a single rune, that would be the final ultimate of the formation Dao. But this step was extremely difficult. Lin Moyu had a feeling that even if he exhausted all his strength, it would be impossible. This feeling of foreboding was extremely strong. Lin Moyu knew the time was not yet right, and he could not rush it.
He stopped honing the formation Dao and began to comprehend the rules within the Chess of All Living Beings. To comprehend the rules of the Chess of All Living Beings, one had to play chess, enter the chessboard to comprehend the Dao, then fight one's way out of the chessboard.
Previously, when Lin Moyu polished his formation Dao, he kept losing again and again. He did not care about winning or losing at all, and treated the Chess of All Living Beings purely as a tool. This time, he formally entered the chessboard in person and began to train and raise troops.
The formation Dao he had comprehended before played a major role at this moment. The opening became smooth. But when the chessboard entered the midgame, the might of the formation Dao dropped sharply, suppressed by the rules. Lin Moyu, as the commander, could no longer exert power and could only rely on the troop pieces under him to fight. He had only command authority, and his own power could no longer permeate into it.
The chessboard was vast, and the forces of all sides were intricately tangled. Lin Moyu discovered in surprise that there were countless factions that actually formed alliances with one another, turning from weak to strong. His own team became precarious. In the end, when the chessboard was about to reach the late stage, he was eliminated.
As expected, it was hard. One had to comply with the rules, yet also resist the rules. If my troops want to become stronger, they need resources. Especially after the midgame, I need to ally with others. Otherwise, with my strength alone, I cannot possibly resist others. But forming alliances conflicts with my Dao heart. Only a big fist is the hard truth. Pulling in factions is never a solid block of iron. But if I do that, how can I win? If I do not win, I cannot comprehend the rules within it. Resources and strength: only with resources do you have strength. If there are no resources, how do you raise strength?
In the early game I can handle it with the formation Dao. Then I should seize as much territory as possible, establish a foothold early. Another game began.
Lin Moyu changed his thinking. In the early stage, he used the formation Dao to slaughter, seizing a vast territory. But once the midgame arrived and he could not participate directly, his troops suffered a great rout again. Because he pushed too hard in the early stage, the remaining factions felt threatened and quickly allied, launching a punitive campaign together and eliminating Lin Moyu first.
Facing the encirclement of multiple forces, no matter how strong Lin Moyu's command was, it was useless. He tried several more times, and the result was the same.
To win the Chess of All Living Beings, there were only two paths. One was to form alliances in all directions and win with strategy. One was to grow stronger and stronger in battle and crush with strength. Forming alliances runs against my Dao heart. If I choose that path, my Dao heart will probably be damaged. That path is not for me. The other path, crushing with strength, is the one suitable for me. But how do I crush with strength?
Within the Chess of All Living Beings, the initial troops of all factions are fixed. Even if you have more resources, there is not enough time to develop. Even if you can gain an advantage in the early stage, it is only an advantage. By the midgame, the advantage is no longer obvious. Unless I can wipe out all factions in the early stage and not let the chessboard enter the midgame. But the Chess of All Living Beings is too vast. This method will not work. Unless...
Lin Moyu's mind stirred. He thought of a method. Perhaps this method would work.
In the early stage of the Chess of All Living Beings, he could give up personally entering it. He had always used the formation Dao, which had become fixed thinking. In fact, there was another technique he could use. If he needed troops, then he would mobilize the Undying Spirit Soldiers and treat the Undying Spirit Soldiers as his troops. Ten trillion Undying Spirit Soldiers would join from the start, cooperating with his formation Dao to slaughter in all directions.
Thinking it, he did it. He restarted the chessboard. Ten trillion Undying Spirit Soldiers charged in, killing toward all directions within the chessboard. Lin Moyu had never tried summoning ten trillion Undying Spirit Soldiers at the same time. This was the first time. The vast tide of troops surged out, and the momentum was so strong that the entire chessboard trembled.
The troops of all factions were crushed by the Undying Spirit Soldiers, unable to organize any effective resistance. It worked. Lin Moyu felt joy. He saw hope of victory.
Within the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, after soul particles saw the array formation clearly, they continued forward along the rules. Soon he saw several other arrays. Each array formation was formed by three experts who had surpassed the Supreme, using the Hongmeng Spirit Tree root to prop up the sky-propping pillar and support heaven-and-earth. There were nine such array formations, a total of twenty-seven experts who had surpassed the Supreme.
They formed arrays in threes, and between them they also formed a gigantic formation that covered more than half of the heaven-and-earth. At the center of the array formation, he finally saw the Heaven-and-Earth core.
Sure enough, it was different now. The soul particles merged into the rules, and no one discovered their existence. Using this, Lin Moyu saw the core of the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth clearly.
The pagoda remained, but it was no longer nine levels. It had as many as nineteen levels. And beside the pagoda, there was an additional palace. The palace was resplendent and magnificent, radiating a startling aura. The palace and the pagoda were connected as one, forming the core of this Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth.
Lin Moyu observed the pagoda and vaguely saw something wrong. This pagoda originally should not have been only nineteen levels. It had once collapsed. Not only the pagoda, but the palace as well. Originally, this palace should have been larger, but it too had collapsed at some point. The traces were still there. Other things can deceive people, but a spacetime imprint cannot deceive people.
As the Heaven-and-Earth core, however many wheels a heaven-and-earth has, that is how many levels the pagoda has, corresponding one by one. After surpassing nine wheels, the pagoda will exceed nine levels, and a palace will appear at the same time. But no matter how the Heaven-and-Earth core changes, it displays the strength or weakness of the heaven-and-earth. After breaking through into a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, the heaven-and-earth grows stronger without limit. The more levels the pagoda has and the larger the palace, the stronger the heaven-and-earth.
This heaven-and-earth should have been stronger before. But because of the Great Annihilation, it was damaged, and the pagoda and palace both collapsed. Lin Moyu saw this scene through the rules.
There are countless secrets between heaven and earth. These secrets are all hidden within the rules, recorded and left in spacetime. As long as one can comprehend the ultimate principles within, one can see a great number of secrets through the rules. Precisely because of this, for a true supreme powerhouse, there are rarely secrets in heaven and earth.
Lin Moyu was not a true supreme powerhouse of the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, but he could see through the rules and glimpse the secrets within. Then, from the information he obtained, he could analyze various situations and reach the final answer.
True supreme powerhouses are all very smart, but there are still differences in how smart they are. Someone like Lin Moyu, even in another heaven-and-earth, could see through various situations at a glance.
Within the rules, he pried into the biggest secret of this Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth. This heaven-and-earth had once been very strong. Its Heaven-and-Earth core, the pagoda that represented its strength, should once have had as many as thirty-nine levels. The palace was even more glorious and vast than now. But because of the impact of the Great Annihilation, the pagoda collapsed from thirty-nine levels to the current nineteen levels, collapsing by more than half. The palace was the same, shrinking dramatically in scale. And this collapse was still continuing. If it continued, the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth would fall into collapse.
The grand array that spread across heaven-and-earth, the sky-propping pillars, were originally meant to replace the Heaven-and-Earth core and prop up this heaven-and-earth. But even doing that would only slow the collapse of the heaven-and-earth. It was not progress but retreat. If this heaven-and-earth could not take another step forward, sooner or later it would collapse.
From this, the other party's goal was already clear. He was not simply trying to refine Yushen Heaven-and-Earth. Rather, because Yushen Heaven-and-Earth had the qualifications to be promoted to a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, he wanted to obtain Yushen Heaven-and-Earth. After obtaining Yushen Heaven-and-Earth, he would promote Yushen Heaven-and-Earth into a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, and then perform a replacement.
Lin Moyu could see that this Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth had already been wounded at its root. If it wanted to fully recover and even be promoted, it would be incomparably difficult, almost impossible. Then it would be better to switch to another heaven-and-earth. Find another Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, or a Nine-Wheel Heaven-and-Earth like Yushen Heaven-and-Earth that had the qualifications to be promoted, and pack up everything and take it away, taking it to a new heaven-and-earth. One could even use this Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth to cultivate a new heaven-and-earth.
He finally analyzed the other party's goal. This also explained why the other party had allowed him to grow. After all, within Yushen Heaven-and-Earth, before the first round of the Heaven-and-Earth life-and-death Great Calamity was passed and before the strength of the heaven-and-earth was decided, he could not stop Lin Moyu from growing.
Now that Yushen Heaven-and-Earth's great calamity had passed, it was a Nine-Wheel Heaven-and-Earth, and its foundation was solid and profound, qualified to be promoted to a Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth. The fruit was ripe, and the other party wanted to pick it.
That should be it. The Chaotic Ancient Wilds should be something he found a way to create. He probably originally wanted to make a Nine-Wheel Heaven-and-Earth so he could promote it himself, but he failed and only produced a Four-Wheel Heaven-and-Earth. At the same time, he also saw my appearance. This riddle was finally completely uncovered.
Without meeting the true master, just from what he observed, Lin Moyu had already obtained an accurate answer. Many things do not need the other party to say. Seeing for yourself is more important. What the other party says might not be true, but what you see, gain, think, and infer has a high chance of being true.
Perhaps it was somewhat arbitrary, but sometimes it is like that. Lin Moyu had always been used to being arbitrary. It was like that before, and it would probably be like that afterward. This was his Dao heart, and it would not change easily.
Having seen enough outside the Heaven-and-Earth core, Lin Moyu looked toward the inside of the Heaven-and-Earth core. Within the palace, there was an aura that naturally dispersed and rose. There was someone in the palace. Someone who could live inside the Heaven-and-Earth core could only be one person, with no exception.
The Undead Eye opened. A blazing soul flame suddenly surged up. In Lin Moyu's vision, the other party's soul flame swept through the void, almost occupying the entire heaven-and-earth, boundless and endless. Everywhere here was his will, his soul, his power.
The soul flame pulsed rhythmically. The pulse frequency was not high. From Lin Moyu's experience, he was sleeping. But the frequency faintly showed a trend of accelerating. He was indeed sleeping, but it seemed he was about to wake.
He was the array core of the entire grand array. To wake, he would probably still need a period of time. In Lin Moyu's view, at the current speed, in about a hundred years, the other party could awaken. This sleep was very long for him. To fully awaken would also take a long time. But a hundred years sounded long, yet for Lin Moyu it was somewhat short.
Since that is so, then you can sleep a bit longer.
He already had the answers he wanted. There was no meaning in keeping the soul particles here. With Lin Moyu's intent, the power contained within the soul particles slowly rose. The soul particles removed their concealment and were instantly discovered by the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth.
"Who is it!"
A low shout came from the palace. Four purple-robed men flew out of the palace. They scanned the surroundings but did not find the soul particles. Soul particles were invisible to the naked eye. Ordinary methods could not see them at all. Even true supreme powerhouses might not necessarily be able to see them.
The four purple-robed men were exactly the same as the purple-robed man who had previously come beyond Yushen Heaven-and-Earth. They were all clones, and stronger than ordinary true supreme powerhouses. Though he was sleeping, he had left enough clones as protectors. In this way, it could be ensured without the slightest flaw.
Their gazes searched, and at last they saw the soul particles within the rules. But it was too late. The soul particles exploded with a boom. Tiny soul particles, yet containing unimaginably vast and mighty force. So much Heaven-and-Earth power was not absorbed for nothing.
A狂风 swept, blotting out the sky and covering the sun. The four purple-robed clones did not move an inch in the wind. They lost the trace of the soul particles.
After the soul particles exploded, they did not completely disappear. The accumulated power transformed into several runes and merged into the rules. The runes silently altered the array formation, slowing the other party's awakening. The previous hundred years was forcibly slowed by several times by these few runes. At the very least, within five hundred years, the other party should not even think about fully awakening.
As long as the other party did not wake, these clones would not dare to move recklessly. Especially after the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth had been infiltrated once, even more so.
Lin Moyu calculated his reaction. The other party had an eighty to ninety percent chance of waiting until fully awake before acting. This would also buy Lin Moyu enough time.
In the deepest part of the Ancient Wilds, Lin Moyu and that Diting Beast ancestor were only one step apart. Lin Moyu hid within the rules, and the other party did not notice Lin Moyu at all.
Lin Moyu sent a voice transmission to the small tree. "Are the marks done?"
The small tree immediately replied, "Both inside and outside the heaven-and-earth, they are done."
Earlier, Lin Moyu had instructed the small tree to leave corresponding marks inside the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth and within this independent space as well. When the time came, even without going through the entrance in the deepest part of the Ancient Wilds, the small tree could establish a spatial passage directly to this place.
Lin Moyu said, "A hundred years from now, build a passage directly to the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth. I want to go take another look. But be careful in the process. Do not be discovered."
The small tree nodded. "Do not worry, Master. I will be careful. There is one matter to report to Master. In that heaven-and-earth, I sensed the aura of my own kind."
Lin Moyu said, "There are some Hongmeng Spirit Tree roots there, being used as array bases."
390
The small tree said, "No. I mean a complete Hongmeng Spirit Tree. That place seems to have once had a Hongmeng Spirit Tree, but now it is gone."
Lin Moyu said, "Your feeling is not wrong. There should indeed have been a Hongmeng Spirit Tree before. The specifics, after a hundred years, I will go investigate again. This time going over already alerted the other party a little. He will certainly be extremely vigilant now, and it is not suitable to go again."
Lin Moyu planned to take another look after a hundred years. After a hundred years of peace, the other party's vigilance should relax a bit. As long as he was careful enough, there should not be a problem.
The small tree said, "Then what will Master do now?"
Lin Moyu said, "Just do a little tampering. From now on, this passage can only be traveled in one direction. Entry is allowed, exit is not."
Several runes flew out soundlessly and transformed into a grand array, placing the hole in the deepest part of the Ancient Wilds within the array. The array formation unfolded, sealing the heavens and locking the earth. The void quickly became stable. Those auras coming from the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth were blocked by the array formation and could no longer flow into the Chaotic Ancient Wilds.
Without the influence of the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth aura, the Chaotic Ancient Wilds would gradually become pure. The deepest part of the Ancient Wilds would also undergo a qualitative change. Most importantly, Lin Mohan refining the Chaotic Ancient Wilds would no longer face obstacles.
However, this required a process. The aura of the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth was extremely powerful, far surpassing the Heaven-and-Earth power of the Chaotic Ancient Wilds. This process could easily take tens of thousands of years.
Lin Moyu could not wait that long. He tapped a finger lightly. Rune after rune flew out and merged into the rules. In total, there were one hundred and eight runes. In fact, the runes were only of two kinds: one yin and one yang, one empty and one real. One hundred and eight runes formed a total of fifty pairs of runes, shrouding the entire deepest part of the Ancient Wilds and forming a grand array: refining.
The array formation activated, and formless fire rose, using the grand array to refine the aura of the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth. In this way, only ten years were needed for the deepest part of the Ancient Wilds to be purified once, and it would no longer have any relation to the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth.
That Diting Beast ancestor could still monitor the Chaotic Ancient Wilds, no different from before. But in reality, it was already different. Lin Moyu did not completely cut off the connection between the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth and the Chaotic Ancient Wilds. In the plans that followed, the Chaotic Ancient Wilds still had great use.
Lin Moyu continued arranging array formations. One grand array after another took shape in the deepest part of the Ancient Wilds. These grand arrays were hidden and powerful. After forming, they lay dormant, waiting for the right time to activate.
With Lin Moyu's current formation Dao, his array formations had long surpassed heaven-and-earth. Any grand array could move as he wished. Whatever function he wanted it to have, he only needed a single thought.
Yet now, within the deepest part of the Ancient Wilds, in this region of only a hundred million li in radius, he arranged a full eighty-one array formations. And he used the method of nested grand arrays. On the surface, there were only nine grand arrays, but inside, one array nested within another, ring embedded within ring, a total of eighty-one grand arrays.
Under nested grand arrays, the might would become stronger, and it would become harder to destroy the grand arrays.
"Small tree, carry the Chaotic Ancient Wilds."
Lin Moyu ordered, and the small tree obeyed. The Heaven-and-Earth coordinate of the Chaotic Ancient Wilds had long been locked. The small tree's roots stretched over from the Life-Forbidden Zone and dragged the Chaotic Ancient Wilds back.
The small tree's ability could carry heaven-and-earth. The heaven-and-earth's true body would cling to the small tree's roots, and its projection would appear on the Hongmeng Spirit Tree leaf. In this way, even if Lin Moyu completely left the Chaotic Ancient Wilds, he could still go there at any time.
Once the Chaotic Ancient Wilds completed its attachment, it would also be protected by the small tree and become safer.
After finishing all this, Lin Moyu's clone sat cross-legged in the void. He was in the array core and would not leave. He would wait, and after a hundred years, continue the next step.
Yushen Heaven-and-Earth, Chess of All Living Beings.
Lin Moyu's idea came true. Ten trillion Undying Spirit Soldiers slaughtered in all directions on the chessboard, until the chessboard entered the midgame, and the Undying Spirit Soldiers vanished. By then, Lin Moyu had already taken more than seventy percent of the territory. The resources were so many it was hard to imagine. The forces of all sides had been completely scattered and broken up by him. The territory was fragmented, and it was difficult to form alliances.
After the midgame, Lin Moyu continued to maintain a strong posture, steamrolling all the way, finally pushing the chessboard into the late stage. Relying on the accumulation of the early and midgame, even in the late stage Lin Moyu still maintained a powerful stance, until the final victory.
Strands of enlightenment drilled into his soul, as if someone were whispering by his ear, telling him the various ultimate principles of rules within the Chess of All Living Beings. Lin Moyu knew this was the Chess of All Living Beings' reward to the victor. Only the victor was qualified to comprehend.
These rules within the Chess of All Living Beings, in the end, would yield the Chess of All Living Beings itself. And winning only once was not enough. One needed to win repeatedly, without stopping, until one fully comprehended the rules within.
Each game of the chessboard was different. Lin Moyu used his own method again and again to steamroll, winning with his own method. No matter how the rules of the Chess of All Living Beings changed, for him there was only one rule: only a big fist is the hard truth. His Dao heart grew firmer and firmer. The rules he comprehended from the Chess of All Living Beings became more and more.
Gradually, Lin Moyu discovered that his connection with the Chess of All Living Beings was becoming closer and closer, faintly giving him a sense of control.
At this speed, in as little as two hundred years, or as long as three hundred years, I will be able to completely control the Chess of All Living Beings. Then I will understand where the Chess of All Living Beings came from. This supreme treasure always feels like it is not so simple.
A hundred years later, the spatial passage that the small tree quietly established opened. Lin Moyu once again flew in as soul particles, entering the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth.
After entering the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, the soul particles did not move at all. After confirming he had not been discovered, he continued to merge into the rules. 0.8
He roamed through heaven-and-earth. This time, he did not go to the Heaven-and-Earth core, but surveyed the entire Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth, searching for traces left in time to obtain the answers he wanted.
The history of the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth was ancient, and it contained countless hidden secrets. If he could figure them out, it would greatly benefit his Yushen Heaven-and-Earth. The previous trip had already obtained a lot of information, giving him some understanding of the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth. Now he could supplement it completely.
With such a good reference object, if he did not make use of it, it would be far too wasteful.
The soul particles drifted through heaven-and-earth, observing little by little. Starting from the lowest level of heaven-and-earth, he compared and cross-verified it with Yushen Heaven-and-Earth. Lin Moyu worked on multiple fronts, not wasting a moment.
Years later, the soul particles arrived at a corner of the Hongmeng Heaven-and-Earth and saw a wasteland. This was...