Chapter 468: Whereabouts of the Xuantian Origin

Inside a side hall of the Holy Lord's Mansion.

"Captain, the hall is surrounded by guards from the Holy Lord's Mansion. We've been put under house arrest," Chu Ying said, sick with worry.

By now, Chu Ying had washed away the blood and grime and changed into clean clothes. With her fair, delicate features, she wasn't a stunning beauty, but she had a pleasant, girl-next-door charm that was easy on the eyes.

Su Mu lounged in his chair, taking inventory of the transcendent materials inside the Silver Ring.

"House arrest is perfectly normal. After all, this involves the Lord of Dawn's Divine Puzzle," he said. "Before we head to the Divine Ruins, neither of us will be allowed to take a single step outside the Holy Lord's Mansion."

"Captain, are we really going to those Divine Ruins?" A trace of fear surfaced on Chu Ying's face as horrifying memories flashed through her mind.

Su Mu smiled gently. "Relax, everything will be fine."

It was a simple reassurance, yet it seemed to carry a soothing magic. Chu Ying quickly settled down.

Su Mu glanced out the window. The perimeter was heavily guarded. Members of the Holy Lord's Mansion had sealed the area tight, and among them were several Saint Grade experts.

If the real Zhou Qiong were here, leaving would be absolutely impossible. However, they couldn't trap Su Mu.

He could slip through the very seals the gods had placed on Hell. A few mere mortals were nothing to him.

Still, he didn't intend to simply take the treasures and leave. Earlier, during the conversation between the Lord of Dawn and Yan Ming, they had mentioned someone who piqued his interest.

The Lord of Illusory Ashes!

With the word "illusory" in that title, Su Mu instinctively thought of the God of Nightmares. As the progenitor of illusions, every Illusion Technique in this world was tied in some way to the God of Nightmares.

Since Saint Lords were transcendents who had refined fragments of a Divine Corpse, could someone have obtained the scattered Xuantian Origin of the God of Nightmares?

With a sudden thought, Su Mu activated Dreamwalking Mode.

He slipped out of the palace without a sound, strolling brazenly right past the crowd of guards.

Meanwhile, inside the hall, an illusory Su Mu remained seated in his chair, leisurely sipping tea and looking utterly indistinguishable from the real thing.

He drifted through the streets of the Dawn Domain like a phantom. Wherever he passed, his invisible spiritual energy fractured into millions of threads that spread out wildly.

The threads silently connected to the minds of nearby people. Completely unaware, the crowds went about their business.

However, the memories in their minds were now flowing endlessly into Su Mu.

A moment later, Su Mu knew the Dawn Domain like the back of his hand, as if he had truly lived there for decades.

And within the minds of several transcendents, he finally found information on the Lord of Illusory Ashes.

These details weren't exactly secrets. After all, as the master of a domain, his reputation was widespread and had even reached the Dawn Domain.

But Su Mu wasn't looking for common knowledge; he could have just asked Chu Ying for that. He needed more detailed intelligence, specifically from people who had actually visited the Illusion Ash Realm.

By scanning through a massive amount of memories, he located a Gold transcendent who had been to the Illusion Ash Realm. He effortlessly hypnotized the man and extracted his intel.

After acquiring the information, he was almost certain that the Lord of Illusory Ashes possessed a portion of the Xuantian Origin.

The Lord of Illusory Ashes was world-renowned for his Illusion Techniques and flame abilities, but no one knew which god's Divine Corpse he had refined. Some guessed he had fused with the Sovereign of Flame Hell, as his violently aggressive flames strongly resembled the Sovereign's. Yet, the Sovereign of Flame Hell possessed no illusion abilities.

Others argued he had fused with the Void Realm Illusion Lord, but the Void Realm Illusion Lord had no power over flames.

Opinions varied, and no one could say for sure whose Divine Corpse the Lord of Illusory Ashes had assimilated. In the end, they could only assume it was an unknown deity.

Humanity's understanding of the gods was highly limited; it was perfectly normal for some deities to go unrecognized.

Exactly which god the Lord of Illusory Ashes had fused with was likely a secret only he knew.

However, Su Mu deduced a different answer: perhaps the Lord of Illusory Ashes had fused with two different Divine Corpses. One was the Sovereign of Flame Hell, and the other was the God of Nightmares!

Logically speaking, a Saint Lord couldn't fuse with two distinct Divine Corpses. But as a nightmare himself, Su Mu knew very well that the God of Nightmares was unique—a purely spiritual entity.

Take Su Mu for instance: his physical body followed the Giant Demon Pathway, while his soul was a nightmare. His flesh and his soul acted as two independent entities without conflict.

He speculated that the Lord of Illusory Ashes must have fused his body with the Sovereign of Flame Hell and his soul with a portion of the Xuantian Origin. But since the man lacked the Creator's Authority, he couldn't transform into a true nightmare. Thus, he couldn't completely inherit Xuan Tian's power. His foundation was likely still the Sovereign of Flame Hell, supplemented by Xuan Tian.

If my guess is right, then I didn't have to expend any effort to find this at all.

Su Mu originally thought that searching for the Xuantian Origin would be like finding a needle in a haystack. He never expected to get a lead the moment he arrived in Heaven.

The reason he was so certain the Lord of Illusory Ashes possessed the Xuantian Origin was because the man's exploits sounded entirely too similar to his own.

According to the intel, the Lord of Illusory Ashes' Illusion Techniques were unrivaled, feared even by other Saint Lords. He wielded an extraordinary ability called the Phantom Sea Nether Pupils. Once unleashed, his eyes would grow as deep and unpredictable as the ocean. Anyone who met his gaze would plunge hopelessly into his illusions, unable to extricate themselves.

Rumor had it that every person in the Illusion Ash Realm was his puppet, fully under his control.

Crystal blue eyes, controlling an entire domain through illusions...

If Yang Dongqing and the others heard those traits, they would absolutely assume the Lord of Illusory Ashes was Su Mu himself.

With a target in mind, a plan against the Lord of Illusory Ashes instantly took shape in Su Mu's head.

Given his current strength, it was unrealistic to take on a Saint Lord who had supposedly fused two Divine Corpses and controlled an entire domain—especially since the other party was technically a "fellow disciple."

They were taught by the same "Master"; breaking through his techniques would be nearly impossible.

Right now, his only advantage was that the Lord of Illusory Ashes was out in the open, while he was hidden in the shadows.

So, he had to use the element of surprise and outsmart him!

Fortunately, far more than head-on combat, outsmarting people was what Su Mu did best.

Moreover, with the Lord of Illusory Ashes setting a precedent, he could finally act without restraint.

He had kept his nightmare powers hidden before to avoid drawing the gods' attention. But now, it seemed the gods had truly weakened to their lowest point. Not only were they labeled by humanity as the source of all evil, but they were collectively rejected.

Since even the Lord of Illusory Ashes, who inherited a portion of the Xuantian Origin, could run rampant through Heaven for years without consequence, there was no reason for Su Mu to hide.

He only needed to be careful with his Divinity of the Six Gods so that he wouldn't be mistaken for an Evil God Cultist and become public enemy number one.