"Immortal Monarch Yuan Lian, Immortal Monarch Le Tu, and Demon Venerable Kuang Man?" Fang Yuan's mind stirred.
Based on the descriptions given by these humanoid cloud-dwelling natives, Fang Yuan quickly matched the three Saints to three Venerables from history.
Various thoughts flashed through Fang Yuan's mind like lightning: "All three of these Venerables have been here? Then back on the seventh layer, I also saw the Dao tracks left behind by Ghost Venerable, Immortal Monarch Le Tu, and Immortal Monarch Ju Yang… In that case, at least five Venerables have been here."
Fang Yuan felt a sudden clarity, but also deeper confusion.
When he had been on the seventh layer and seen the paths left by three Venerables, he had already harbored doubts: were these really the only three who had come here? If other Venerables had also visited, why had they left no roads behind?
"Now it seems that other Venerables did come here as well — Kuang Man, Yuan Lian, and so on — but even if they had left paths at the time, so much time has passed that they were ground away and destroyed."
Venerable Wuji belonged to the Ancient Era, a million years ago. After him came Kuang Man and Red Lotus.
Then came the Middle Era, three hundred thousand years ago. Yuan Lian, Dao Tian, and Ju Yang appeared in succession. Also during this era emerged Ancestor Chang Mao. Being a Hair Clan member, he enjoyed an exceptionally long lifespan and had collaborated with both Dao Tian and Ju Yang.
After the Middle Era came the Recent Ancient Era, one hundred thousand years ago, with Ghost Venerable and Immortal Monarch Le Tu.
And then came the present age. According to the prophecy the three Venerables spoke of, an Immortal Monarch of Great Dreams would appear — a Venerable unlike any before, destined to surpass all ten great Venerables of the past.
Ju Yang, Ghost Venerable, and Le Tu had left their roads on the seventh layer — traces of their journey through.
They were the three most recent Venerables, which was why their Dao tracks still survived.
As for the earlier Venerables, even if they had left Dao track roads, too much time had elapsed, and everything had been obliterated.
Fang Yuan's earlier confusion was now resolved, but even more questions arose.
"Why did these Venerables come here one after another?"
"The Mad Demon Den must be extraordinarily alluring to such people."
"Did these Venerables who reached this place ever make it to the ninth layer?"
"The grand formation on the ninth layer should still be operational. So if these Venerables had gone to the ninth layer, why didn't they destroy the formation and take the Ninth Transformation Evolution Gu inside?"
"If they never made it and stopped at the eighth layer, why did they establish dao arenas and create entire worlds?"
Fang Yuan pondered for a moment, then decided he would go and see these Venerables' worlds for himself.
He had absolutely no way to find the path to the ninth layer.
On the seventh layer, he had never anticipated that the eighth layer would be so magnificent in scope.
Perhaps within these Venerables' dao arenas and worlds, he could find relevant clues?
Even if there were no clues — even if none of these later Venerables had entered the ninth layer — these worlds might very well contain their legacies!
Even without any true inheritances, even if something had been left behind by accident, even the smallest fragment from a Venerable would be of tremendous benefit to Fang Yuan.
"Now this gets interesting. Do you know where these dao arenas and worlds are located?" Fang Yuan asked.
Every last one of the humanoid cloud creatures shook their head, saying they did not know — they had merely heard of them.
"Saint, we live within this world and have no ability to venture beyond it. The outside is far too dangerous and deadly for the likes of us."
Fang Yuan frowned. "Then how did you come by this information?"
The humanoid clouds replied: "From time to time, disciples and apprentices of the Saints traverse the void between worlds, coming and going for trade or plunder. We obtained all of this information from them."
Fang Yuan's eyes narrowed. "These disciples and apprentices — they all come from the various Venerables. What is their combat strength like? If they can traverse the void and travel between worlds, their power must be considerable!"
But almost immediately, Fang Yuan sensed something amiss and asked again: "Since there are so many of these disciples and apprentices, why was it that the very first thing you did upon seeing me was call me a Saint?"
The humanoid clouds answered: "That is because all Saints look just like you, whereas their disciples and apprentices come in all manner of shapes and forms."
Understanding dawned in Fang Yuan's mind: "It seems there are no humans living here. These so-called Saints' disciples and apprentices are probably all non-human beings? Like these humanoid clouds before me?"
Come to think of it, this was his first time encountering these humanoid cloud creatures. They were not beasts, not plants, and not some variant of the human race, yet they bore a vague humanoid shape.
"Please, Saint, save us!"
"Saint, please spread your Dao and save this world!"
Several of the humanoid clouds once again prostrated themselves in deep reverence.
"Very well, very well," Fang Yuan said with a smile, then struck without hesitation.
"Saint!"
"What are you doing?"
"Aaah—!"
Cries of shock and screams of agony echoed through Fang Yuan's ears.
In the span of just two breaths, Fang Yuan had seized all of the humanoid cloud creatures. He regarded them, his eyes flickering with an icy, piercing light.
Relying solely on questioning — how could such intelligence be trustworthy?
If these humanoid clouds wanted to deceive Fang Yuan, it would be far too easy to accomplish.
Throughout the conversation, Fang Yuan had already covertly scouted the surroundings and his captives, and now he moved decisively to secure them all.
Then he activated a soul-searching technique. He would see for himself.
The result was somewhat awkward.
These humanoid cloud creatures had no souls!
Could something without a soul even be considered a living being?
Even plants had their own souls.
Fang Yuan froze for a moment before realization struck: "It appears this small world contains no Dao tracks of the Soul Path. That would explain why the living beings here have no souls."
That was quite a novel discovery.