You don't want your secret to be revealed by others, right?

Sixteen hundred years ago, within the Imperial Mausoleum of Great Yu, something special must have happened.

"Apart from his talent, is there anything special about Xiahou Shou?" Lin Yue inquired.

"Special?"

The Empress glanced at him and spoke, "Nothing much really... If I must say, it's that I feel more at ease when in his presence, and the Divine Powers within me become calmer."

"Divine Powers?" Lin Yue couldn't help but say, "The Divine Powers drawn from the body of the Human Ancestor, they still remain within you to this day?"

He had heard her say so in the memories of Xiahou Shou.

This Ninth Princess of Great Yu possessed both the Taiyin Body and the Innate Water Virtue Body, two constitutions which were naturally adept at assimilation and containment, and she wielded the heaven-defying power of the True Taiyin Water, therefore she could contain the Divine Power from the Human Ancestor's body.

Yet she was unable to wield it, so the Imperial Family of Great Yu planned to pass it down through bloodline inheritance.

The Empress fell silent for a moment, then nodded slightly, saying, "It's still there, but I can only preserve it within my body. Even though it has been extracted and transformed, it's not as terrifying as when it was within the Human Ancestor, I am still unable to use even a trace of it, I don't even dare to touch it."

Lin Yue was thoughtful.

The Divine Power within the Human Ancestor, was most likely that of 'Taichu', the earliest and greatest of the Ancient Gods.

To contain Divine Power, one must wield the corresponding path.

And Taichu Divine Power corresponds to the Ultimate Path of Chaos.

The Empress back then was only able to contain the extracted wisps of Taichu Divine Power within her body due to her unique constitution, yet unable to utilize any of it.

This was to be expected, after all, she didn't comprehend the Ultimate Path.

"If I were able to master the Ultimate Path and achieve Harmonization, I could also contain the power of the Ancient Gods."

Lin Yue formed an idea in his mind, "The Divine Emperor only brought back a wisp of Taichu Divine Power from Eternal Night, turning it into the guiding light for the supreme inheritance of the land of inheritance, indicating that Great Yong did not possess Taichu Divine Power, but... perhaps in the future, I could absorb the Taichu Divine Power within the Empress's body?"

Still, he didn't quite understand.

If the Empress's body contained Taichu Divine Power, why hadn't the Divine Emperor directly used the divine power in her body as the inheritance?

Could it be because the Taichu Divine Power within the Empress was a weakened version?

No matter what, even if it was a weakened version, it was still Taichu Divine Power, no small matter.

"Since you can't use it, why not give it to me?"

Lin Yue held onto the Empress's slender hand, and spoke softly, "One day, if I wish to use the Divine Power within you, would you be willing to give it to me?"

The Empress was startled, and couldn't help but say, "How do you plan to use it? To father children?"

"...No, just to contain." Lin Yue shook his head slightly.

"I can't."

The Empress immediately shook her head, "Even though you're from the Xia Hong bloodline, adept at containing Divine Power, the divine power within my body is truly too terrifying for that. My feelings about it are clear when it's inside me, it is far more dreadful than other Divine Powers, and it seems to be very antagonistic to the Human Clan. There's no hope. I even doubt that those legendary Demon Saints who approached the Ultimate Path could contain this divine power."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yue shook his head and responded, "I'm not talking about now, but when I am certain I can, I will try to absorb it. Would you be willing then?"

"It's meaningless for it to remain inside me."

The Empress shook her head slightly and said, "If you want it, just take it, but..."

She suddenly found herself at a loss for words as if she was feeling a little uncomfortable.

"But what?" Lin Yue asked, puzzled.

"...Why ask so many questions?"

The Empress couldn't help but look at him and spoke, "We'll talk about it when you're certain."

How does she seem a bit shy... Lin Yue murmured to himself, then immediately said, "Alright, I won't ask."

"Is there anything else?" The Empress surveyed him and added, "Did you really find the mausoleum of my Great Yu Imperial Family?"

"It's just a speculation."

Lin Yue shook his head slightly, "Nothing more, you can go back now."

The Empress said no more and turned into a palace maid again, turning to leave.

After she had gone, Lin Yue watched her departing figure and mulled over the details of their recent conversation, frowning slightly.

"Did she become suspicious? Or..."

Lin Yue took a deep breath, stopped dwelling on it, and turned toward Yao Shen Lake.

He had hoped to learn more about the previous dynasty's imperial mausoleum from the Empress, but it seemed she didn't know much.

One thing, however, was for sure: the mausoleum beneath Yao Shen Lake was not the Emperor's Mausoleum he had seen in Xiahou Shou's memory, but one rebuilt by someone else.

"A person who defies fate, possessing the Emperor Yu Token can enter?"

Lin Yue looked at the hazy lake waters, and with one step, penetrated the void and entered beneath the lake.

Yao Shen Lake was not very deep; the deepest point was less than three yards.

"Is there a secret underground passage?"

Lin Yue landed on the lakebed and began to search meticulously.

After all, the secret they had obtained back then had not specified the exact location, but merely mentioned that there was a hidden passage.

His Divine Thought had already spread to envelop the entire Yao Shen Lake, but he had not detected that so-called hidden passage, and moreover, his Divine Thought could not penetrate deeper into the bottom of the lake, as though it was obstructed by some kind of Barrier.

Hence, he could only rely on his eyes to search.

"Where could it be?"

Lin Yue walked along the bottom of the lake, with currents swirling around him, silently forming huge whirlpools on the lake bed, probing the conditions at the bottom.

In no time—

"Hmm?"

Lin Yue finally noticed something unusual.

The water currents he controlled kept pounding and probing the lake bed's soil; other soils were normal and could easily be stirred by the water, but a patch of lake bed a hundred yards away was extremely hard, impervious to the water's agitation.

And, his Divine Thought also did not detect anything abnormal.

Lin Yue immediately took a step forward, appearing at the location of that patch of lake bed.

Light burst forth, and the water surged, immediately scattering the soil of the lake bed, and suddenly revealed a large bronze door.

"A bronze door?"

Lin Yue looked carefully and found that, apart from a multitude of relief patterns, there was also a palm-sized recess on this bronze door.

Moreover, there was an invisible Barrier enveloping the surface of this bronze door.

This seemingly invisible Barrier, no matter how Lin Yue's Divine Thought tried to penetrate and probe, he could not sense its existence, as if it didn't exist at all, which was quite extraordinary.

"This Realm... formless and intangible?"

The more Lin Yue observed this Barrier, the more shocked he felt.

Speaking purely of Realm, he was already extremely high, so he could vaguely sense the ingenuity of this Barrier.

Before observing the bronze door, this Barrier was as if non-existent, but when the bronze door was observed, the Barrier would manifest.

Furthermore, this seemingly invisible Barrier emitted a sense of eternity and infinity, resembling the boundless sky.

The existence that had set up this Barrier had an unbelievably high Realm.

"Can I enter?"

Lin Yue slightly furrowed his brows, trying to reach out and touch the invisible Barrier on the surface of the bronze door—

But, the Barrier seemed unaware of his presence and did not obstruct him at all.

"Hmm?"

Lin Yue was astonished, "Could it be... because I am unpredictable by Fate?"

He looked at the recess in the center of the bronze door, flipped his hand, and took out a dark and heavy Token.

It was unmistakably the Emperor Yu Token from the former dynasty.

This Emperor Yu Token, with the same shape as the recess on the bronze door, should be...

A key?

Lin Yue immediately aligned the Emperor Yu Token with the recess on the bronze door and gently inserted it, fitting perfectly.

After a brief silence, the bronze door trembled slightly and started to move slowly to the sides, quickly revealing a dark and profound depth.

"It really opened."

Lin Yue took a deep breath and without hesitation, floated into it.

...

Di Hong Palace.

The vast hall was filled with darkness, an immensely terrifying oppression enveloping the entire hall.

Above the Imperial Platform.

The Crown Prince, attired in a Mysterious Robe and Crown, wearing a five-colored regal coronet, silently watched the Divine Emperor's Throne. Under the lightly swaying nine pendants of the coronet, his indifferent eyes were like the high heavens, his extremely handsome face devoid of any emotional fluctuations, like a lifelike sculpture.

Suddenly—

A peculiar distortion emerged above his head, and pairs of eyes shot toward the direction of the Yao Shen Lake outside the hall.

"The door has opened," he murmured softly.

At the same time, a silhouette seated in a wheelchair appeared within the dim hall.

It was none other than the Second Prince.

The Crown Prince slowly turned his gaze toward him, his brows slightly knitting.

"There's no need to mind."

The Second Prince said with a light smile, "I've simply come to advise you... refrain from doing anything unnecessary."