Purple Star (Calamity Supreme) had no choice but to accept Lin Moyu's gifts—and they were the sort one simply couldn't refuse. The Primordial Dawn Qi was already precious enough; the realm-remnant core was something she wouldn't even dare dream of. Years of risking her life in this dangerous world had yielded far less than what Lin Moyu handed her in one stroke. Especially when he added, "This will lay foundations for your future breakthrough to Calamity Supreme." It wasn't an instant breakthrough, but it was the sort of opportunity one cannot beg for.
Having said his piece, Lin Moyu ignored Purple Star. He knew she couldn't decline. He turned to Ning Yiyi and the others. "Let your husband take a look—how are your injuries?"
Their wounds hadn't fully healed; some had sunk deep and would take time to cure. No matter—once they entered his own world, nourished with Primordial Dawn Qi, they'd recover quickly.
From their mouths he learned that, over the years, Purple Star had treated them fairly well. She hadn't thrust them into true mortal danger; when danger arose, she went herself. She had truly treated them as disciples. Whatever private motives she had, she hadn't wronged them. Lin Moyu had already read as much in their eyes: there was respect for Purple Star, not hatred. Otherwise, why bother with "gifts"? He'd have simply used his fists.
Lin Mohan still needed some time to finish absorbing and refining what remained. After chatting with the eight for a bit, Lin Moyu came back to Purple Star.
"Senior Purple Star, after you leave here—what's your plan?"
"As before," she said. "We do what we've always done. We'll act as if he is already dead."
Lin Moyu shook his head. "You've likely not been out in a long while. He may already have revived in another form—but that isn't his true self. The real him still hides behind the scenes."
"If he's revived," she said, "we'll play along and watch his next move, then act as circumstances dictate."
"He had me refine those grand formations. I deliberately left one at the North Extremity unrefined," Lin Moyu said. "I want to ask: what are those arrays really for—and who exactly are you all? He told me some Calamity Supremes oppose him, but so far I've found no enemies."
Purple Star replied, "The Boyang Calamity Supreme is from the Central Domain; this old body hails from the Chaotic Ancient Wilds (don't be surprised; Calamity Supremes can arise there as well). I was born in the Central Domain but attained the Dao in the Wilds. There is also Baizhong Calamity Supreme of the Upper Domain, and Blood Son Calamity Supreme of the Lower Domain. Beyond us four, there are several quasi–Calamity Supremes; the Sword Sovereign is one. In the Central Domain there is the Divine Phoenix Calamity Supreme, but she currently lies in feigned death, awaiting nirvana. The Central Domain also has the quasi–Calamity Supreme Zhengshen; the Upper Domain has quasi–Calamity Supremes Fanquing and Void. The Lower Domain's quasi–Calamity Supremes are mysterious—I don't know them—but they surely exist; after all, the Lower Domain is his base camp."
Lin Moyu blinked. "He's from the Lower Domain?"
Purple Star chuckled. "Yes. He comes from the Lower Domain, but his enlightenment was peculiar—somehow tied to the Ancient Wilds, not purely within chaos. Then there's Star-Authority Calamity Supreme of the West Extremity and two quasi–Calamity Supremes there—neutral, neither participating nor opposing. The North Extremity has Nightcold Calamity Supreme and two quasi–Calamity Supremes; they disapprove of his methods but have not fully opposed him—fence-sitters, with their own ideas. Finally the East Extremity has the sibling pair Jiuyue (September) Calamity Supreme and her brother Jiuri (Ninth-Day) quasi–Calamity Supreme, firm opponents. Besides those two, there are two other quasi–Calamity Supremes in the East who also oppose him. But our faction is stronger; their opposition can't stop us."
Lin Moyu asked, "And Gold Calamity Supreme of the South Extremity?"
"The South Extremity has only Gold Calamity Supreme, no quasi–Calamity Supremes," Purple Star said. "He's trapped in the South Extremity and cannot leave—present or absent, it's the same. Back then he said Gold Calamity Supreme's identity is unusual; we couldn't win him over and shouldn't provoke him. Oh—and the two of them seem to have an agreement."
"That agreement is fulfilled," Lin Moyu said. "Gold Calamity Supreme will soon be free. I don't know what he'll choose."
"I've dealt with him near the Insect Stele of the South Extremity," Purple Star said. "His strength is tremendous; even back then the other one held no advantage. Though he's been confined all these years, he never stopped cultivating; who knows how far he's reached now. His insects are everywhere—he may already have found some fateful chance, just waiting to break free. His identity truly is out of the ordinary—once the Golden Sun Lord, one of the very few to survive the previous Great Calamity to the present. I faintly feel that once he breaks free, he may do something astonishing. He seemed like one who has seen through everything, and he bears no attachment to this heaven and earth. Sometimes a mad light flashes in his eyes—that's what's truly terrifying. If a top Calamity Supreme loses all attachment, and has the madness to match—who knows what he'll do to the world. But that's for later."
"So more people stand with him, and their side is stronger," Lin Moyu said.
"Naturally," Purple Star replied. "Otherwise the layout couldn't have lasted countless years."
"You still haven't said what those arrays are for," Lin Moyu pressed.
"If I knew, I'd have told you long ago," she said. "I don't. He and Blood Son Calamity Supreme laid them. Blood Son is his closest ally—obeys his every word—so many matters are known to only those two."
"I've been to the Lower Domain," Lin Moyu said. "I saw my sister seemed to have left a legacy there."
"In those years, the Sword Sovereign's name shook the cosmos," Purple Star said. "When she disassembled herself, her sword-intent scattered through chaos and many obtained fragments. But yes, in the Lower Domain she left a formal legacy—at his suggestion. If her disassembly failed, that legacy might gather her consciousness and fish her from reincarnation. But now it seems otherwise."
Lin Moyu frowned; he heard the subtext. Purple Star would have continued, but Lin Mohan's voice came from the side:
"He had me leave a wisp of soul in the Lower Domain, so that if I failed I might be saved by it. Now it seems not so. After I returned, I went to the Lower Domain—the wisp is gone. No matter—once I break through, that wisp is meaningless. If he thinks he can threaten this aunt with that, impossible."
Lin Moyu laughed softly. "Sis, focus on your breakthrough—don't split your mind."
Privately he thought it through. Even if that wisp mattered little after her breakthrough, if Calamity Sovereign of Disasters still had extra Time Stones, he could use that wisp to trace Lin Mohan's past and launch a past-point attack. But once she breaks through, such attacks will be greatly blunted—of little consequence. He relaxed. In the end, it still comes down to strength. The Calamity Sovereign schemes too deeply—pretending to enter the board himself while calculating everyone, taking the small world, keeping Lin Mohan's soul-wisp—gripping everyone's weak points. The best answer is to raise one's own power. Lin Moyu knew that if he was strong enough, even with the small world in that man's hands, he could take it back. If people in it died, there were ways—he might yet revive them. In a universe like this, nothing is impossible: with sufficient strength, even life and death can be overturned. As for Lin Mohan, even with a soul-wisp in that man's grasp, once she advances, at most he can wound her.
Lin Moyu condensed vast Power of Life, forging a white pill shot with golden light—he named it a Life Pill. Made from utterly pure Power of Life, it would let Lin Mohan recover from injury at the fastest speed—how fast, he wasn't sure, but likely within ten breaths. He refined ten such Life Pills—enough for her.
At last, Lin Mohan completely refined what the Divine Lotus Lord left behind. Her aura had surpassed her former limit—but because she wasn't native to the Divine Lotus World, she couldn't break through here. The moment she returned to the Ancient Wilds, she would surely shatter the Calamity Supreme barrier and step to the next tier.
As the Lord's consciousness dispersed, the lake sank, revealing the core of the Divine Lotus realm remnant. The Calamity Scepter flew over at once, spun up a vortex, and began devouring the core. There was still a great deal of Primordial Dawn Qi within—the very thing Lin Moyu wanted. Different worlds' Primordial Dawn Qi carry different attributes—different world-powers. The World-Burning Flame likewise roared around the core, waiting to refine this remnant to ash.
Watching, Purple Star felt a twinge of heat in her heart. She had never seen a world core, but she could sense the vast power inside. Never mind anything else—those Primordial Dawn currents alone were tempting. Yet she glanced at the siblings—then at the fresh mass of Primordial Dawn Qi in her hand. No need to risk snatching from a tiger's mouth. Besides, Lin Moyu had said he would grant her an opportunity; from what she knew of him, he wouldn't go back on his word.
Under Primal Chaos Gem's control, while the Calamity Scepter devoured the core, it also condensed a special crystal, as Lin Moyu had requested—refining a portion of the core's world-origin power into a crystal, roughly one-tenth of the total. Lin Moyu drew it over and presented it to Purple Star.
"This crystal holds the purest world-origin. Refine it after you return; it will lay foundations for your next step. Whether you can truly step further—depends on your fate."
Purple Star felt the world-origin within and knew it would help her greatly. After two such gifts, she understood that her accounts with Lin Moyu were square. She put the crystal away and bowed slightly. "My thanks, Dao-friend Lin." In that moment she regarded him as a peer. She genuinely couldn't fathom how someone who had lived so few years could wield such power—and where he'd gotten so much knowledge. Many of these things even an old creature like her didn't know. She wouldn't ask; and if she did, he wouldn't say.
Half a day later, the Calamity Scepter finished refining the core and flew back. Lin Moyu even thought he heard it burp. The core was now an empty shell; the whole world trembled, ready to collapse. Anyone could see its fate was sealed. The World-Burning Flame surged, carrying out the final refinement.
"We should go," Lin Moyu said. He produced the Dute Boat, ushered everyone aboard.
Purple Star's eyes shone with surprise. "You repaired the Dute Boat?"
"Mhm. Found a piece of Ancient Wilds Gold and fixed it," Lin Moyu said.
"Your luck is really something," she sighed. "Even Ancient Wilds Gold."
"Luck? Perhaps," Lin Moyu thought, but without strength even that gold couldn't have been taken. Strength first.
The Dute Boat crossed tens of millions of li. Before they entered the space-time channel, the Divine Lotus realm remnant had already begun to crumble. The boat paused, and they watched a world collapse with their own eyes. After so many years fighting here, Ning Yiyi and the rest couldn't help but feel a little wistful. At the final instant, Lin Moyu recalled the World-Burning Flame, and the Dute Boat slipped into the channel.
With another world remnant refined, the World-Burning Flame grew stronger again. It had undergone a small molt in the Ancient Wilds' deepest place; now it could burn even a peak Chaotic-realm expert to death, and even threaten a Calamity Supreme. When it scorched the Divine Lotus Lord, it hurt him so badly he couldn't focus his will against Lin Mohan. Now it was stronger still. Lin Moyu judged it might still be difficult to kill a Calamity Supreme outright, but enough to make them shy away. This trump card kept evolving, as if it had no ceiling.
They flew out of the space-time channel back into the Ancient Wilds. Because the Divine Lotus World had utterly perished, the independent pocket it was tied to also collapsed, dropping them straight into the Wilds. Heaven-earth rules swept across; Lin Mohan's aura surged uncontrollably—her breakthrough was starting.
Purple Star paled. "Not good—he will notice."
"No matter," Lin Moyu smiled. He activated the Hidden Spirit Pearl; its aura spread and completely masked Lin Mohan's presence. At the same time the Balance Gem flashed, sweeping a billion-li radius and balancing her spilled aura against the void—erasing all traces.
Purple Star's feelings were complicated. Her instant of panic contrasted sharply with his composure. Freak, she cursed inwardly.
"With the Sword Sovereign guarded by Dao-friend Lin, this old body will take her leave," she said.
Lin Moyu nodded. "Safe travels, Senior. I believe we'll meet again soon—may you be further along by then."
Purple Star's gaze swept over Ning Yiyi and the others. She sighed softly. "You've suffered these years."
"Thank you for your teaching, Master. Please take care," they said, bowing. There was some reluctance, but only a little. The years had been grueling and sometimes dangerous, and they'd been injured many times—but their strength had indeed grown. Fair is fair; overall they felt gratitude toward Purple Star.
Purple Star left crisply and vanished in a blink.
Lin Moyu flicked out Power of Life. In the Ancient Wilds, its effect was even better. "Keep healing. When your sister finishes her breakthrough, we'll go home."
Joy lit their faces. "We'll do as Husband says." They didn't know where "home" was—but where Lin Moyu is, there is home. Their injuries continued to mend; by the time Lin Mohan completed her breakthrough, theirs would be healed entirely.