Chapter 144: The Divine Spring, the Ruin Well, and the Eye of the Ruins

Qing Hu had been plotting to open her private treasury for a long time. Once she had the treasures inside, she would lack for nothing.

Unfortunately, she had never accumulated enough divine energy, so opening the treasury had to wait.

Now that she finally had enough, Qing Hu could hardly wait to temper her body to the required strength. She only needed to hold out for five seconds after opening the treasury.

Though impatient, Qing Hu was not truly foolish.

So she merely pinched off a tiny piece of Earth Marrow Fungus and refined it.

Then blood began streaming from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth...

Half the blood in her body was drained away before the terrifying medicinal power finally began to subside, no longer rampaging through her body in an uncontrolled flood.

The trouble was that her body had already been ruined by the process. Even her brain had nearly exploded.

If it truly exploded, she would have to change bodies again. This was the precious little body she had painstakingly cultivated for years.

She had not even practiced for half an hour, yet the miserable process of healing her injuries took a full seven days.

At long last, she recovered. Her brothers had also obtained their treasures and were preparing to leave.

Spirit Ruins came to see her specifically to send the three siblings away.

“We probably won’t know when we’ll meet again,” Spirit Ruins said reluctantly.

Qing Hu rolled her eyes. “Just say it plainly. What do you actually want?”

“What do you think of that old ox under my command?” Spirit Ruins asked.

“You mean that bull-headed fellow?”

“Exactly. He wandered through the Eastern Wilderness for many years and has plenty of friends and acquaintances among its various tribes. He also has connections everywhere. If you take him with you, he can save you a great deal of trouble in the future.

“After all, Your Majesty, you don’t intend to remain trapped forever in some tiny human territory, do you?”

The key point was that Old Ox had a contract with him, allowing Spirit Ruins to locate him at any time. If he sent Old Ox to stay beside Qing Hu, he would also be able to contact her whenever he wished.

“He can follow me for the time being,” Qing Hu said indifferently. Spirit Ruins still had dealings with her, and bringing along an ox could help her with chores or pulling a cart.

“Good. Then Ox Big Horn will follow you from now on,” Spirit Ruins said.

“Big Foot? The kind with hooves?”

“Horn. The horn on his head.” Spirit Ruins hurriedly explained. “If it were the foot with hooves, he would be called Ox Big Hoof.”

“Who came up with that name?” Qing Hu asked with a grin.

“Apparently, his grandfather. The names among his brothers are all rather down-to-earth. Ox Big Horn has an elder brother called Ox Big Eye and a younger brother called Ox Big Bellow.”

“Then Ox Big Horn is actually a pretty nice name,” Qing Hu said with a smile.

Spirit Ruins nodded. “The tribespeople here give their children simple, straightforward names. Things like Dog Egg, Strong, Stone, or Fluffy. The young lord of the Black Wolf Tribe who used to be by your side was called Black Stone Egg.”

“Fine. Simple names are easy to remember.” Qing Hu chuckled.

“I’ll tell him to go find you later,” Spirit Ruins said.

Qing Hu nodded. “Tell him to come find me when I call for him.”

“Then I’ll send the three of you out now. Your Majesty, once you are outside, please do not reveal anything about me or my master. My master has many enemies.”

Qing Hu felt deeply sympathetic upon hearing that. “It really hasn’t been easy for you.”

She thought to herself: To survive under a master like that until now... How incredible.

Spirit Ruins nearly wept. His master was hopeless, so he had no choice but to struggle on by himself. His heart was full of misery.

But what could he do?

He still had to hold everything together himself.

“By the way, what was the matter with that high-level evil creature? After it fell into your spirit cavern, why didn’t you drive it out? Instead, you let it seize control of the cavern’s laws. It keeps growing stronger. One day, it will surely devour you.”

“That Black Flood Dragon was not the creature’s true form. I discovered long ago that it was merely a clone. The creature’s true body may already have become a demigod. And although it controls the laws of that spirit cavern, it has never come looking for trouble with me.

“To ensure my master could continue sleeping peacefully, I left it alone.

“More importantly, even if I attacked it, I might collapse before I could defeat it. Your Majesty, you saw how badly the core divine restriction was damaged. I have always worried that it might grow powerful enough to devour me. Fortunately, this time it was unlucky enough to encounter you.”

“Do you know where that thing came from?” Qing Hu asked with a frown. The existence of another true body was troublesome.

“No. It fell here by accident several thousand years ago after breaking through the spatial barrier of the Profound Heaven Pagoda. I learned that it had a true body because it once tried to contact it, but I intercepted the message. After that, it became much more obedient.

“I did consider that it might have been pretending, but I no longer had the strength to concern myself with it.”

“What is the story behind that ruined underground palace it occupied?” Qing Hu asked again. Since she was leaving, she wanted answers to all her questions.

“That underground palace was once my master’s secondary residence. She had it specially refined for the person she loved. Later, something happened, and my master personally smashed her own divine palace and residence.”

Spirit Ruins wore an expression of utter indescribable misery.

“She’s sick. After spending so many divine crystals to build it, she smashed it herself?” Qing Hu rolled her eyes.

No wonder her master had fallen into a deep sleep. Either there was something wrong with her heart, or something was wrong with her brain. Why else would anyone take divine crystals so lightly?

Look at Qing Hu. No matter how many divine crystals she possessed, she had never gone out of her way to destroy them.

Spirit Ruins fell silent.

“Judging by the look on your face, I can tell you agree with me,” Qing Hu said in a familiar, conspiratorial tone.

Spirit Ruins thought: I want to peel off my own face. I don’t have an expression.

“Actually, I’ve always been curious. How did your master come here in the first place? What about her Void Well and Eye of the Void? Didn’t she bring either of them with her?” Qing Hu asked curiously.

“What are a Void Well and an Eye of the Void?” Spirit Ruins asked, puzzled.

“A Void Well is a divine artifact capable of extracting and refining divine energy from the depths of space. Once activated, it forms a spring of divine energy. The Eye of the Void is even more powerful. It can draw divine energy from deep space and form a river of divine energy.”

“Spring of divine energy? River of divine energy?” Spirit Ruins stared at her in shock.

“You’ve never seen them? That can’t be right. Aren’t there many legends about ancient gods here? How could you have never seen them?” Qing Hu asked, baffled. Her master even seemed rather similar to a member of the Primordial Source Divine Clan.

“Forget seeing them. I’ve never even heard of them,” Spirit Ruins said.

Qing Hu wore an expression of strange astonishment. “You’ve never even heard of a Void Well or an Eye of the Void? The more I learn, the stranger your master seems.”

“I’ve heard of divine springs. Moonlight Divine Springs, Solar Divine Springs, and so on. I’ve heard all those legends. But weren’t those divine springs formed naturally?”

“The way you put it makes this even more interesting. For divine clans of our lineage, Void Wells and Eyes of the Void are essential equipment for traveling. And we refine them ourselves.”

Before Your Majesty became a divine king, she was already skilled at refining Void Wells and Eyes of the Void.

Although she was merely a god of light, she was exceptionally gifted at using various divine artifacts to refine other divine artifacts. She had already been able to refine Void Wells herself while she was still at the Divine Sovereign realm.

The little silver bottle she had ultimately refined for her younger sister, the one capable of growth, contained the finest Eye of the Void she had ever made. It possessed both offensive and defensive abilities, as well as a complete and powerful function for extracting divine energy. Back then, she had gone to tremendous lengths to force the artifact spirit Silver into it.

Silver had long since become a mature and powerful artifact spirit with an extremely profound soul force. The total amount of soul force within him was simply too great. At the beginning, he did not need to be so powerful; his strength had to match the growth of Qing Hu’s unfortunate younger sister. Qing Hu had never intended to give her sister an artifact spirit powerful enough to lord it over its master.

Apart from the artifact spirit, the Eye of the Void itself was even harder to fit inside. When refining that little silver bottle, she had burst the artifact embryo five times in succession. It was only on the sixth attempt that she succeeded.

The perfectly refined Eye of the Void had nearly collapsed.

Fortunately, she had prepared sufficient materials.

Speaking of which, she truly hated the cosmic will on that side.

In truth, even if it had not targeted the Primordial Source Divine Clan, they would have left anyway. No one would choose to remain in such a remote, barren little place. Was there some problem with enjoying life in a proper mother universe?

Why had it insisted on driving everyone away so aggressively that they were forced to pack their belongings and leave ahead of schedule?

Before they departed, there were not many members of the Primordial Source Divine Clan left. Some had already begun the journey home, while others were traveling in search of food and supplies.

Most of the divine clans that remained were derivative divine clans rather than pure members of the Primordial Source Divine Clan. Compared with them, their divine power was much weaker, and their control over the laws was far more limited. By rights, they should not have possessed the ability to threaten the cosmic will. No one knew why the Temporal Divine Clan had concluded that their annihilation was inevitable.

Perhaps it simply wanted to erase every trace that the Primordial Source Divine Clan had ever existed.

Was there really a need to be so ruthless?

“We usually refine several Void Wells and Eyes of the Void before leaving home, storing divine energy inside them for use when necessary,” Qing Hu explained after thinking it over. “Otherwise, no matter how many divine crystals we carry, they will eventually run out.”

Spirit Ruins listened in utter shock. “Then, Your Majesty, you actually possess an enormous amount of divine energy?”

“Do I look like I do?” Qing Hu rolled her eyes.

“You do,” Spirit Ruins answered honestly.

“Looking like it is useless. I can’t draw it out.” Qing Hu stared at him resentfully.

Spirit Ruins did not understand at first. Then he suddenly realized. “Your Majesty, you don’t want to damage the little body you worked so hard to raise.”

“At least you’re not completely stupid.” Qing Hu nodded.

“Actually, Your Majesty, you could simply change to a better body. Why would you choose such a frail human body?” Spirit Ruins asked, perplexed.

“What do you know? The best body is the one that suits you.” Qing Hu scolded him. The bloodlines of other races were too mixed and were entirely unsuitable for her.

Spirit Ruins was speechless.

“All right, stop dawdling. Send me out quickly. My brothers are waiting for me,” Qing Hu said.

“But, Your Majesty, when will you be able to bring out the Void Well and the Eye of the Void? After hearing you talk about them, I really want to see what they look like!” Spirit Ruins excitedly thought that the treasures must have been hidden somewhere. He simply did not know where.

“Not for now. Besides, even if I brought them out, I wouldn’t let you use them. Why are you so excited?” Qing Hu said irritably.

Spirit Ruins fell silent.

He had forgotten again that this was someone else’s empress.

He wanted to cry.

In the end, Spirit Ruins still sent Qing Hu out.

Qing Zhen and Qing Jin had been waiting anxiously outside the Profound Heaven Pagoda. In the less than two hours since then, the pagoda had sent out fifty or sixty people, but unfortunately, none of them had been their little sister.

“Who knows what Qing Hu has found in there? Why hasn’t she come out after all this time?” Qing Zhen paced back and forth, looking troubled.

“Let’s wait a little longer.” Qing Jin was anxious too, but outwardly he remained calm.

“If she doesn’t come out soon, I’ll have lost all my joy over obtaining such a wonderful treasure,” Qing Zhen complained.

Qing Jin tried to keep his face stern, but Qing Zhen’s tone still made him laugh.

“Qing Hu has always been lucky. Nothing will happen to her.” Of course, those words were meant partly to comfort Qing Zhen and partly to comfort himself.

They did not have to wait much longer before Qing Hu was sent out.

“There you are! You’ve nearly frightened your brothers to death.” The instant Qing Zhen saw her, he dashed over, grabbed her arm, and dragged her toward their elder brother.

At that very moment, another beam of light sent out a group of people. As soon as they appeared, seven or eight young men and women from other races began chasing three humans—a pair of men and a woman.

They were precisely Qi Dongxuan, Zhang Lihua, and Shao Kaiyun.

Good heavens, the three of them had actually ended up together. They were in an utterly miserable state, looking as if they might die at any moment. Their bodies were covered in bloody wounds, with fresh blood dripping continuously.

Just then, another pillar of light appeared. Ning Qi and several others from the Ancient Sacred Sect emerged from it.

The two groups ended up between Qing Zhen, Qing Hu, and Qing Jin.

The moment Qi Dongxuan and the other two saw more humans appear, they retreated toward Ning Qi’s group, shouting as they went, “Come help us! These outsiders are trying to kill us and steal our treasures!”

When Qing Hu saw that the three were charging straight toward her and her brothers, she simply tugged on Fourth Brother’s sleeve and vanished into the earth with an earth-escape technique. When they reappeared, they were already standing beside Qing Jin.

Ning Qi had just come out when he saw the two siblings. What upset him even more was that Shen Qinghu had taken her Fourth Brother away with her, yet had not taken him or Senior Sister along.

Why was she treating him like that? He regarded her as his little sister too!

As for Xie Wu, the moment she saw Qi Dongxuan and the others running toward them, she immediately pulled Ning Qi backward. They fled faster than rabbits.

What? You expected them to rescue Qi Dongxuan?

They were members of the Ancient Sacred Sect. Why should they rescue people from the Dao Court?

Once they ran, the other youths from the Ancient Sacred Sect scattered as well, sprinting away without hesitation.

They had no intention of dying for people from the Dao Court.

“Don’t run! We’re all human!” Qi Dongxuan shouted.

The louder he called, the faster the people from the Ancient Sacred Sect fled. In no time, they had vanished without a trace.

Seeing them all gone, Qi Dongxuan turned and shouted toward Qing Jin and the others, “I’m throwing the treasures over! Take them and run!”

With that, he hurled a large bundle toward Qing Jin.

Qing Hu reached out, grabbed her elder brother, and vanished again with a whoosh.

She dragged one brother in each hand and disappeared beneath the earth.

The bundle landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

It burst open, spilling out a great heap of broken odds and ends.

It looked almost like a deliberate mockery of Qi Dongxuan’s clumsy acting.

The young men and women from the other races chasing them immediately burst into laughter, doubling over and clutching their stomachs.

“These humans are more cowardly than the last! Those over there ran away the moment they saw us, while these ones used earth escape the instant they heard someone tell them to take the treasures. Hahaha! Only these few lowborn fools are bold enough to fight us for the loot. They must be tired of living.” One of the alien girls mocked Qi Dongxuan and the other two.

“Run! You’re the fastest among us. Hurry and take the treasure with you!” Zhang Lihua suddenly handed something to Shao Kaiyun and shouted in a low voice.

Shao Kaiyun pressed his lips tightly together. He took a deep look at Zhang Lihua and Qi Dongxuan, then fled without hesitation, carrying the object with him.

The outsiders immediately began cursing and sent most of their forces after Shao Kaiyun.

On the other side, Qi Dongxuan and Zhang Lihua charged furiously at the remaining young men and women from the other races. They had to carve a bloody path through them.

Qing Hu and her brothers used earth escape to return directly to their new home.

Since Uncertain City was already crippled, traveling through the earth was hardly difficult.

After reaching home, the three siblings washed up, settled themselves around the large dining table, ordered a mountain of delicious food, and began to eat.

They had barely started when Ning Qi and Xie Wu arrived together.

At the same time, Le Wen was there as well.