Everyone seemed to be waiting.
Yu Ziqing could understand their caution; if they could achieve their goal without doing anything and thus allow Dadui to return and open the Tenth Tier path, then they could also securely reap the benefits.
Now fully prepared, they would be able to be the first to challenge the Tenth Tier as soon as it opened, ahead of everyone else.
Yu Ziqing felt that among the Divine Dynasty, great sects, and major clans, the appearance of people from the First and Second Tribulations was almost all that was currently outward, and Third-Tier cultivators were few and far between, probably for this reason.
Those from the First and Second Tribulations took care of affairs, while those from the Third Tribulation secluded themselves for cultivation, always ready and maintaining their condition.
When the time came, the family that first achieved a Tenth Tier cultivator would not only possess the strongest deterrent but would also hold a different significance.
Yu Ziqing continually organized materials at Jinlan Mountain.
Fu Xiao was also in the Shadow Department's archives, constantly searching for records about Dadui.
Inside the huge library in the Dali palace city, a large number of people were also searching for any records related to Dadui.
These records might have existed before, but as Dadui vanished, a mysterious force prevented them from seeing or finding them, and even if they did find them, they might overlook the key points.
Now, with the actual appearance of a White Jade Building belonging to Dadui and the appearance of its archway, the curtain was lifted, and that terrible shielding dissipated significantly.
Although Dali did nothing overtly, the Crown Prince had already started making preparations in advance.
Records regarding Dadui were accumulating more and more, all organized and summarized.
Previously, only a few books could be found, but now, scattered about, thousands of books containing some records about Dadui had been found.
They were all related to Dadui, and there were already two to three hundred books.
And this number was still increasing.
The Crown Prince looked at one of the books, a travel diary that recorded the experiences of a cultivator from Dali during his travels in Dadui.
It stated that in the year 2600 of the Dingmao Dadui, this nameless cultivator passed through a place.
There, a powerful clan controlled a thousand miles of land, seizing over half of the official positions, including all Prefectural Governor and County Magistrate posts, maintaining troops, and showing no respect for commands, nearly becoming a separate nation within the Divine Dynasty.
There was a Temple of the Earth Deity that acted as if it were an independent court. The City God sat high with the Earth Deities, Mountain Gods, and River Gods all under its control, managing all resources within that range.
What was most frightening was that the City God and Earth Deities were also members of that powerful clan.
This nameless cultivator merely passed through there and hurriedly left.
The Crown Prince looked at the record in the travel diary, frowning slightly.
An Earth Deity could only be formally consecrated by the Emperor writing a talisman personally.
And such consecration of Earth Deities was always very strict, and even if consecrated, that Earth Deity could only act within the bounds of his consecrated land.
Furthermore, the Earth Deity, Mountain God, and River God each managed their own respective areas, especially the River God, who was directly under court jurisdiction.
The real intent behind consecrating Earth Deities was to stabilize the local region; an Earth Deity had very little power and was useless outside his consecrated bounds.
They were meant to constantly monitor and maintain peace in their locales, and in critical moments, they could also be used as scapegoats.
Like the River God, for instance, who was a high-risk Earth Deity.
A series of events like river course changes, dike breaches, and floods, if any occurred, would likely result in that River God being brought out to face the music.
Many years ago, rivers and lakes were under the jurisdiction of the Dragon Clan.
The position of River God was usually consecrated to members or descendants of the Dragon Clan.
But later, if something went wrong, a flood dragon might be dragged out to be skinned and gutted, or the River God might be left out to die under the blazing sun, or even burned alive.
Gradually, the Dragon Clan withdrew to the sea, and they stopped managing the rivers and lakes.
Thus, the targets for consecration as River Gods started to vary, including people, demons, water ghosts, and so on.
Even today, although Daqian has the most consecrations of Earth Deities, it is nowhere near this madness.
A thousand miles of land managed not only by the Mountain God and Earth God but also by a River God and City God.
Now, there was no such thing as a City God.
The Crown Prince of Dali personally went to review these materials, going through them one by one.
After finishing, she pondered for a long time.
"Copy all of these and send them to... the Gu Family."
A few days later, Yu Ziqing received a transmission from Lin Fu, accompanied by several Jade Scrolls.
Upon opening them, all were records related to Dadui, and essentially all were from Dadui's End Period.
After reading them, Yu Ziqing sat there, frowning in contemplation.
During the End Period of Dadui, even the Earth Deities were being consecrated recklessly. What a way to seek death.
That meant that even the Emperor of Dadui during the End Period was messing around.
One could have suspected earlier; knowing that the Dingmao Emperor was no good, a foolish ruler, but it was still unexpected that he would reach such a level of folly.
Yu Ziqing could not help but reconsider the question he had been pondering for a long time.
If Dadui were to return, what use would it serve?
Besides reopening the path to the Tenth Tier, it seemed useless.
And this return of Dadui was right in the south of the Wilderness, right under his very nose. Isn't it just an eyesore?
But the matter had progressed to this point, and no one could stop it.
Yu Ziqing was determined to find out what was inside the archway; he at least needed to know his enemy.
A dozen days passed, and Yu Ziqing received another transmission — from Zhong Shouzheng.
He walked out of Jinlan Mountain, heading towards Dali, and only upon reaching the border of Dali and the Wilderness did he meet Zhong Shouzheng, who was sitting in a pavilion in the wilderness, sipping tea and pretending to be profound.