Burial Ground

The Burial Ground.

Here, there were no birdsong or fragrant flowers, no towering mountain ranges, no misty immortal aura, nor any trace of living beings—not even light.

Only endless darkness and boundless silence remained.

The pitch-black surroundings were so thick that one couldn’t see their own outstretched hand. Within it, faint outlines seemed to writhe, as if one had plunged into the abyss of a ten-thousand-meter-deep ocean, accompanied by eerie, whispering winds.

Why call it a whispering wind? Because the sound resembled the laughter of a young girl—pleasing to the ear at first, but then the tone suddenly sharpened, becoming unbearably shrill.

"This is the Laughing Wind of the Burial Ground. Anyone below the Quasi-Emperor realm will go mad upon hearing it," Old Ghost explained from the side.

Gu Qingfeng said nothing, silently observing... his new home.

Though everything was shrouded in darkness, at his current level of cultivation, he had long since gained the ability to see through illusions. Light was unnecessary—he could perceive everything clearly.

In his eyes, the entire Burial Ground was saturated with an endless, dense aura of ominous energy. The boundless darkness itself was the manifestation of this energy, concealing all within.

And within this terrifying miasma of ill omen drifted countless taboos, swimming like fish in every direction.

Their forms were grotesque—some resembled humanoid figures with a hundred eyes and a thousand limbs, others stitched-together abominations of human and beast corpses.

There were also bubbling masses, like a boiling cauldron of soup, with bubbles continuously forming and bursting. But these bubbles looked like bloodshot eyeballs, densely packed together. Each time one burst, thick fluid would splatter, only for new eyeballs, slick with mucus, to rapidly sprout and squirm with unsettling creaks.

"Are these all taboos?" Gu Qingfeng asked.

Old Ghost nodded. "They aren’t true taboos—just their byproducts. If you want to talk about real taboos, your Sinborn is the undisputed king."

Taboos were existences that defied human ethics and the laws of heaven, forbidden from appearing in the world. Those who came into contact with them would inevitably suffer misfortune.

Even Heavenly Emperors were no exception.

Many Heavenly Emperors encountered ominous fates in their twilight years, all because of taboos—though their declining vitality and waning lifespans also played a role. If an Emperor were at their peak, even taboos would struggle to inflict such calamity upon them.

Some taboos were man-made, like the Sinborn.

Others, however, were born naturally.

Just as the human body constantly divides cells, the Heavenly Dao also operates ceaselessly.

But nothing can remain flawless forever. The more cells divide and replicate, the higher the chance of errors. Those flawed cells that evade the immune system’s correction become cancer.

For the Heavenly Dao, taboos were its cancer—errors in its operation. Such mistakes might not occur even once in hundreds of millions of years. But the Heavenly Dao has existed for so long that even with an infinitesimal probability of 0.0000000000000001%, the sheer scale of time ensures that taboos will inevitably emerge.

Gu Qingfeng now suspected that the Burial Ground might be a naturally formed taboo.

He activated his Golden Eye of Truth and gazed into the Burial Ground, discovering that it existed within a hidden layer of the Cangming Realm, constantly shifting and drifting like a shark lurking in the deep sea.

Moreover, the Burial Ground was continuously growing by devouring souls!

Every second, countless people died in the Cangming Realm. The souls of the deceased were usually drawn into the cycle of reincarnation. But wherever the Burial Ground wandered, it consumed all the souls in that region.

It was essentially stealing authority from the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

A parasite, sucking the blood of the Heavenly Dao itself!

Souls that entered reincarnation could eventually be reborn when the time was right, perpetuating the cycle of life.

But once swallowed by the Burial Ground, they were utterly devoured—equivalent to being erased from existence. Since all living beings were the source of the Heavenly Dao’s power, the Dao’s strength would steadily weaken as the Burial Ground feasted, much like the spread of cancer.

At this moment, Gu Qingfeng understood: even if he hadn’t lured the Heavenly Demons here, Old Ghost would still have been able to slay the Heavenly Dao after countless eons, once its power had withered to nothing.

But the Burial Ground was minuscule compared to the vastness of the Cangming Realm. Relying on this method to weaken the Heavenly Dao would have taken hundreds of millions of years.

The arrival of the Heavenly Demons had given Old Ghost an opportunity—letting them weaken the Heavenly Dao directly, saving an unimaginable amount of time.

Old Ghost observed Gu Qingfeng’s golden eyes, a glint of sharpness flashing in his murky gaze, though he made no move to interfere.

Then, Gu Qingfeng turned his hopeful eyes toward Old Ghost.

Though the old man was unsightly and his laughter grating, to Gu Qingfeng—who had long yearned for familial affection—he sincerely wished for Old Ghost to be part of his family.

But when he looked closer, his brows furrowed slightly.

Through the Golden Eye of Truth, Old Ghost appeared completely ordinary—a frail, aging beggar with no trace of the extraordinary, not even the aura of a cultivator. Just a mortal.

Two possibilities flashed through Gu Qingfeng’s mind.

1. Old Ghost's strength was overwhelming, so immense that even the Truth-Piercing Golden Pupil couldn't discern it—this power undoubtedly surpassed that of the Heavenly Emperor.

2. The Old Ghost before them wasn't his true form at all, merely a puppet.

Adhering to the principle of humbly seeking knowledge, Gu Qingfeng didn't suppress his doubts. Instead, he spoke bluntly: "Old Ghost, what exactly are you? Why is it that when I use my secret arts to observe you, all I see is an ordinary old beggar?"

Old Ghost was momentarily stunned, caught off guard by Gu Qingfeng's directness.

He couldn't fathom why Gu Qingfeng would be so brazen.

Casually probing another's secrets was a major taboo among powerful figures—it was akin to stripping someone naked and scrutinizing them.

Anyone with even a shred of pride would find it unbearable.

Old Ghost had naturally noticed Gu Qingfeng's earlier prying, but he'd chosen to ignore it to avoid conflict.

Yet here was Gu Qingfeng, not only having the audacity to peek but also coming over to ask about what he couldn't see?!

This wasn't just stripping someone bare—it was stripping them bare and then demanding they spread themselves open!

Despite having lived through countless ages and cultivated a heart as still as water, Old Ghost couldn't help but feel a surge of anger.

"Gu Qingfeng! Don't push your luck!"

"Old Ghost, don't mistake my patience for weakness."

"You—!!" Old Ghost bristled, his beard quivering with rage.

"'You' what? You want to cooperate with me, yet you skulk in the shadows, refusing to reveal your true nature. You show no sincerity whatsoever.

Let me make this clear—if you don't come clean today, our partnership ends here."

"Hmph!" Old Ghost's demeanor shifted abruptly as he sneered, "Gu Qingfeng, do you truly believe the Heaven-Shattering Plan can't proceed without you?"

"Keh keh keh..." Gu Qingfeng erupted into wild laughter, his gaze arrogant and unyielding as he stared down Old Ghost, enunciating each word slowly.

"Whether the Heaven-Shattering Plan succeeds or not, I can't say. But one thing I do know—if I decide to interfere, your plan will fail without question."

Old Ghost's expression darkened instantly, disbelief flashing across his face. "You'd sabotage me instead of aiding me?"