This was indeed a grand event that captured the attention of all—on many levels.

It had the grandeur of a spectacle, the scale of one, and the anticipation that came with it.

When the Starfall Heaven-and-Earth Instrument was activated, the atmospheric pressure across the entire Eastern Domain suddenly dropped, like the moments before a torrential summer rain.

The clouds churned, and the lower-level cultivators, clueless as to what was happening, looked up at the sky in shock.

“Such dense spiritual energy!”

The presence was overwhelming, like a massive lid pressing down from above, making people feel as if their heads were weighed down.

“Could it be that some powerful cultivator is undergoing a tribulation?”

But no matter how powerful a cultivator, their tribulation couldn’t cause such a disturbance across the entire Eastern Domain!

As they tried to get a closer look, a massive spherical object, like a giant eyeball, suddenly appeared in the sky.

Its eerie lines crisscrossed as it rotated, giving off a distinct sense of being watched.

The crowd erupted in exclamations and commotion.

The “eyeball” ignored the fleeing people, soon closing with a swift motion.

This scene played out across the states and islands of the Eastern Domain.

At the peak of Mount Buzhou, the spiritual energy was thick and volatile due to the gathering of powerful cultivators performing their spells.

Fortunately, two grand elders were controlling the situation, keeping everything within manageable bounds.

Within a kilometer radius of the Heaven-and-Earth Instrument, the upper echelons of the major families were scattered around, some standing on clouds, others seated on various flying artifacts, all focused intently on the instrument, occasionally murmuring quiet discussions.

“It’s already been one incense stick’s worth of time. Hasn’t the Eastern Domain been almost fully searched? Still no results?”

“Tch, you think finding the Sixth Domain is like looking for something in your backyard? It’s only been one incense stick, what do you expect?”

“…Well, one incense stick can be enough time to do quite a lot. You could hold a meeting, get scolded, or scold someone else.”

“Maybe we rushed things. We should have spent more time preparing. Even artifacts like this need a trial run first.”

“Rushed? Oh, I see—you think we should take our sweet time testing it out until the demonic beast armies break in, and then it won’t be too rushed, huh?”

The murmuring voices reached Qin Wenxuan’s ears, filling her with an inexplicable sense of irritation.

Standing beside her was Master Minghua.

Qin Wenxuan asked, “Master, how far has Qingqing progressed in the search?”

This was the question everyone was most curious about.

But aside from Qin Ruqing, Tang Zifeng, and the few grandmasters who had worked on crafting the instrument, no one else could tell.

Master Minghua raised a hand and pointed to a glowing line on the rotating sphere. “See that line? That’s the area Elder Ruqing is currently probing.”

Qin Wenxuan squinted, observing the sphere’s engraved formations.

Surprisingly, if one deliberately glanced over the etched patterns, the remaining lines looked like a map of the Four Realms.

So, the glowing line indicated the area Ruqing had explored?

As the Qin family had access to a detailed map of the Eastern Domain, Qin Wenxuan mentally compared the glowing line to her recollection of the map and drew a conclusion.

“She’s reached the west side of Shangzhou?”

Master Minghua nodded. “From Mount Buzhou as the center, she’s already reached the western side of Shangzhou.”

“That fast.” Qin Wenxuan frowned.

The geography of the Eastern Domain could be likened to a circle, with Mount Buzhou at the center.

Spreading outwards were Buzhou Island, Yingzhou, Shangzhou, Nanpingzhou, and then the surrounding seas, with scattered small islands.

In just one incense stick of time, Ruqing had already explored more than half of the Eastern Domain’s landmass, yet she had found nothing.

It seemed she had come up empty-handed so far.

Qin Wenxuan and Master Minghua’s conversation wasn’t exactly discreet.

Sitting on a flying sword not far away, Feng Qinxue overheard the murmurs and called out in a loud voice:

“Old Ancestor Wenxuan, don’t worry. Secret realms in the Eastern Domain have historically been located more often in the seas. The land is too densely populated; it’s normal to come up empty-handed.”

“Mm.” Qin Wenxuan responded gravely, understanding that Feng Qinxue was trying to reassure everyone.

But she couldn’t help casting another glance at Qin Ruqing.

As the Qin Clan’s Ancestor, even if she didn’t participate in this event, Qin Ruqing would inevitably carry some burdens.

But what about Qingqing?

As the core force in exploring the Sixth Domain, how much pressure did Qingqing bear on her shoulders?

If Qin Ruqing could respond, she would say she felt no pressure at all.

Not because she had strong coping skills, but because she was in a very mysterious state.

To describe it, it felt as though her “eyes,” “mind,” and “hands” were separately divided from each other.

After merging her mind with Tang Zifeng’s, Qin Ruqing was indirectly connected to the divine artifact.

The artifact became her eyes.

Thus, her “eyes” separated and became the probe she used to explore the Sixth Domain.

Her “mind” was also not right.

One half was busy giving instructions to Tang Zifeng, who was responsible for controlling the artifact since Qin Ruqing had no understanding of it.

The other half was engaged in thinking, adjusting her Dao Physique, carefully sensing the location of the Sixth Domain, and analyzing and providing feedback on the images her “eyes” transmitted.

Once her mind had processed the information, she would transmit the instructions to Xiao Tang, who would then manipulate the artifact, moving the probe to the corresponding location on the map displayed by the artifact.

This was the job of the “hands.” But these hands weren’t Qin Ruqing’s own.

Three components that required precise operation were entirely independent yet inseparable from Qin Ruqing.

It was thanks to her habit of using her mind efficiently that she managed to coordinate these aspects without losing her sanity.

But as for diverting her mental focus to consider the pressure?

That would have been too much for Qin Ruqing.

In fact, to ensure precision and accuracy, she deliberately discarded her emotions, transforming herself into a cold and detached entity with observational knowledge, executing operations like an instrument.

Qin Ruqing mechanically and indifferently surveyed the Four Domains, attempting to sense the fluctuations of alternate spaces through laws and her Dao Physique.

Through these operations, she even detected several small, undiscovered secret realms, but the Sixth Domain was nowhere to be found.

The Eastern Domain ended, and Qin Ruqing, without any emotional fluctuation or even a pause, shifted her “vision” downward to the Southern Domain, the region she was most familiar with.

Finding nothing in the Southern Domain, she moved her “eye” clockwise towards the Western Domain and finally to the Northern Domain.

By nightfall, she had scanned the entire Four Domains.

Nothing.

Qin Ruqing couldn’t sense time.

She didn’t realize that night had already fallen on Mount Buzhou, and due to the mountain’s height, the stars seemed to be suspended right above their heads.

Everyone was exhausted.

For the great powers supplying energy to the Celestial Astrolabe, led by the two Grand Elder, fatigue was only natural.

After all, scanning the Four Domains once meant each of them had injected at least two weeks’ worth of energy into the Astrolabe, and the Grand Elder, who were directing the operation, had contributed even more.

Their fatigue was a rational kind caused by spiritual energy depletion.

Even those not involved in operating the artifact or supplying it with energy felt exhausted, including those not participating in the rotation.

It was the buildup of overwhelming anticipation, forced to pour out, only to rise again, and then pour out once more.

Their spirits were pulled back and forth, causing a soul-deep exhaustion.

From the faint morning light on Mount Buzhou’s peak to the point where they stared blankly at the stars, they had spent an entire day understanding the Celestial Astrolabe’s operating mechanism.

The mysterious lines on the Astrolabe were maps of the Four Domains—how else could it be called the Celestial Astrolabe?

When a particular line lit up, it represented the location Qin Ruqing was exploring.

From initial hopefulness to watching helplessly as the lines traced a full circle from the Eastern Domain and back again, the crowd’s expectations dwindled.

Qin Ruqing didn’t stop, which meant there was no harvest.