Lu Zhou was studying the Qilins’ life hearts when he sensed the movements from the talisman. He was puzzled when he sensed the signal did not come from the ancient ruins.

‘What happened to the Nihilist Congregation? Did the Cult Master or Cult Leader Yan of the Nihilist Congregation return? Or, do they suddenly suspect I’m not the Unholy One and have dug a trap for me to fall into? Both are possible…’

Since Lu Zhou returned three days ago, he had been studying the life hearts of the Qilins and the Unholy One’s painting. He did not even have time to return the Heaven Suppressing Pestle to Xihe Hall. As soon as he returned, he had shut himself in the Dao hall and did not leave.

Lu Zhou brought out the Unholy One’s painting and extended a strand of his consciousness into it. He had gotten quite familiar with the painting over the past three days. It was quite like the Resurrection Scroll. The difference was that when his consciousness entered the Resurrection Scroll, he would be deeply immersed and lose track of everything. Apart from that, the Resurrection Scroll contained many of the Unholy One’s memories while the painting contained what seemed like unlimited power of the abyss.

“Hm?”

For some reason, the Unholy One’s painting previously activated the four power cores, granting him the Unholy One’s peak power and control over the four power cores. However, after studying for only three days, he knew it could not be that simple.

The sun in the Great Void was very bright. It shone into the Dao hall, illuminating the entire place.

Lu Zhou frowned. When he recalled the events in the ancient ruins, he felt slightly embarrassed. At that time, he assumed there were no restraints when using the painting. Now, he knew there were restrictions. For that reason, he wondered if he should respond to the signal sent by the Nihilist Congregation.

After thinking about it for a while, Lu Zhou shook his head and muttered under his breath, “There’s no rush.”

Lu Zhou continued to study the Unholy One’s painting. He tried to use the power in the painting to activate the four power cores again. He felt a slight familiar pressure that he had felt when he was in the abyss.

‘Is it possible that all of the Unholy One’s power came from the abyss?’

At this time, the Heaven Suppressing Pestles, the Pillars of Destruction, the Great Void Seeds, and the shackles of heaven and earth appeared in Lu Zhou’s mind. One after another, clues appeared in his mind.

“Is it really possible?” Lu Zhou muttered under his breath.

Buzz!

Suddenly, Lu Zhou’s consciousness seemed to enter a place of emptiness before he found himself in front of a mountain.

The light in the sky seemed to be reflected back into the sky while the waterfall flowed backward. A huge rock that should be falling was flying up instead.

One second the sky was clear, and the next, rain was pouring down heavily.

“Everything is reversed?”

Lu Zhou saw several fierce beasts flying backward and hundreds of fierce beasts running backward on the ground.

The river flowed from upstream to downstream as well.

Everything was in reverse; it was unnatural.

At this moment, everything began to spin, and Lu Zhou’s consciousness began to fade. Then, his eyes suddenly opened; his consciousness had left the Unholy One’s painting.

He looked at the sun outside and saw that it was still in the same position. This meant that not much time had passed since he had extended a strand of consciousness into the painting. For a moment, he even suspected that time had stopped outside while he was in the painting.

At this moment, Lu Zhou felt a slight movement in his Dantian’s sea of Qi, and he brought his lotus out.

Among the four power cores, one of them was flashing frantically and brightly. It was clearly brighter than the other three power cores.

Soon enough, two words automatically appeared in his mind.

“Time core?”

Lu Zhou’s heart skipped a beat. He did not have any memory of this. He had been replaying the Unholy One’s memories after he obtained them so he had grown very familiar with them. He was certain the memories he obtained did not contain information about the time core.

‘What’s going on?’

Lu Zhou was still thinking about the matter when he felt a surge of power from the Unholy One’s painting. Then, he heard the familiar voice of the Unholy One.

When Lu Zhou finally put away the painting, the power in the painting had already stopped surging.

“I see.” A satisfied smile could be seen on Lu Zhou’s face at this time.

The Unholy One’s painting held many laws of the Great Dao, which would help one to comprehend them, and it also held the power to transform the power core.

Lu Zhou flashed and left the Dao hall. With his current understanding of the Unholy One’s painting scroll, he could boldly look for those from the Nihilist Congregation. It would be best if he could use this power to recruit more subordinates.

As soon as Lu Zhou left the Dao hall, Zuo Yushu, one of the Evil Sky Pavilion’s four elders, walked over from afar and called out, “Brother!”

“Elder Zuo? What’s the matter?” Lu Zhou asked, puzzled.

“I’ve been waiting for you. Your disciple came over previously, and he waited until he could no longer wait before he left. Since he couldn’t wait for you, he asked me to hand these things over to you,” Zuo Yushu said as she handed a letter and a bag to Lu Zhou.

The bag was the Vast Sky Bag.

After taking both items, Lu Zhou read the letter. After reading the letter, he tossed it to Zuo Yushu and said, “There’s no need to bother with old geezer Chi Biaonu.”

Zuo Yushu asked, “Brother, isn’t it a good thing that the Scarlet Emperor invited you over for a chat?”

“The Four Emperors of the Lost Lands are united, but they’re also divided. They each have their own agendas. Before we determine their objectives, those from the Evil Sky Pavilion aren’t allowed to contact them.”

“As you command,” Zuo Yushu said with a now. Seeing that Lu Zhou was leaving, she asked curiously, “Emperor Xuanyi has been here over the past three days to look for you, but he didn’t dare to disturb you. Where do you plan to go now, brother?”

“Let him wait. I have some important matters to attend to,” Lu Zhou said. Then, he vanished from sight.

Zuo Yushu shook her head helplessly. ‘What kind of important matter is it? We’re staying in Xuanyi Palace after all. To think that the host has to wait in line to see the Pavilion Master…’