Chapter 1011: Looking Back at the Spring Dream Before
"People who cultivate the sword path will feel an insurmountable peak?"
The Blind Man and the Mute exchanged a glance, deciding to keep secret the fact that they had cursed Kai Huang right in front of him. The Blind Man chuckled: "Fortunately, there is no such peak in the art of formations. I have never seen such an existence."
The Mute shook his head: "In the art of forging, I have also never seen such an existence. You sword cultivators are truly pitiful. Strange, why haven't I heard Mu'er mention this before?"
When the Village Chief heard him bring up Qin Mu, he lost his temper: "Mu'er fears nothing in heaven or earth. He simply cannot feel this peak, and with his rough temperament, even if he did feel it, he would climb over it and piss on it! Kai Huang's sword path is simply too strong. I estimate that if his sword path advances one more step, it will be branded into the universe itself, making him the first to use a post-heaven great dao to inversely attest to pre-heaven."
The Mute and the Blind Man's hearts shook violently. Branding the universe and void, inversely attesting to pre-heaven—what realm was this?
"Sword path, blade path, formations, forging—these all belong to great daos created by post-heaven beings, not pre-heaven. And Kai Huang's sword path, cultivated to its extreme, is simply too strong."
The Village Chief said: "Anyone who cultivates the sword path can clearly feel him, cannot ignore his achievements in the sword path. I feel that he is not far from the peak of the sword path either. Perhaps he will be the first to brand a post-heaven great dao into the universe and void. Reaching his step, calling him the Sword Path Supreme would not be an exaggeration."
The Blind Man and the Mute's hearts trembled. The level the Village Chief described was simply too high. Even with their respective talents and achievements, they could not imagine what terrifying enlightenment and creativity would be needed to brand one's own great dao into the universe and void.
The Village Chief sighed: "I wonder how Mu'er is doing in the Heavenly Court. The moment I think of him entering the Heavenly Court and suffering all kinds of humiliation and harassment from the gods there, I..."
His eyes reddened, and he hurriedly stopped mentioning Qin Mu, changing the subject: "Why have you two come here?"
"Mu'er is back!"
The Blind Man laughed: "The Pig Butcher sent word that two days ago Mu'er went to Yongjiang Academy and was chased off by the Pig Butcher! I imagine that before long, Mu'er will come here!"
The Village Chief was overcome with emotion, his eyes reddening again: "Mu'er is back? Good that he's back, good that he's back... Wait, are you saying that as soon as Mu'er returned, he went to see the Pig Butcher and didn't come to see us? He really does favor the Pig Butcher more. We raised him with so much hardship..."
The Mute chuckled: "When he comes back to see us, we'll give him a proper welcome!"
The Village Chief and the Blind Man nodded in agreement.
The Heavenly Dragon Chariot approached the Heavenly Sage Academy. Inside the chariot, Qin Mu, Lang Wan the Divine King, and Shu Jun finally finished refining the Tai Emperor's divine consciousness from the bottle. Each of the three received a share. Lang Wan absorbed the Tai Emperor's divine consciousness into herself, converting it into her own cultivation, greatly increasing her power.
Especially Shu Jun—he had died once before, and after this resurrection, he had been unable to restore his physical body or his divine consciousness. Now, having refined the Tai Emperor's divine consciousness, he immediately reforged his body.
As one of the Three Ancient Kings, Shu Jun was naturally shrewd. He knew that refined divine consciousness was never as good as divine consciousness cultivated by oneself, so he used almost all of it to enhance his newly forged physical body!
He shed his previous frail image, becoming tall and mighty. His pure physical strength now rivaled the great experts of the Lingxiao realm!
Qin Mu envied him greatly.
The Great Luo Supreme Divine Consciousness contained within the Tai Emperor's divine consciousness was also organized and extracted by them. Qin Mu finally filled in the missing parts of the Great Luo Supreme Divine Consciousness he had obtained earlier. However, the Tai Emperor's divine consciousness still lacked the cultivation methods of the Heavenly Court.
Still, having obtained the Great Luo Supreme Divine Consciousness at the Imperial Throne level, Qin Mu was more than satisfied.
Among his fifteen heavenly palaces, the Great Luo Divine Consciousness Heavenly Palace had become even more ancient and imposing, pressing down on the other thirteen heavenly palaces. It threatened to match pace with Qin Mu's main heavenly palace!
"Usurping the host's position—this may bring future troubles."
Qin Mu frowned slightly, examining his various heavenly palaces. He felt a vague unease. Eight of his heavenly palaces were incomplete, and the Great Luo Divine Consciousness Heavenly Palace was so strong. If it truly usurped the main position, it would mean that the Tai Emperor's path was superior to his own.
Usurping the host's position was a minor matter; damaging his dao heart was the greater concern!
If the Great Luo Divine Consciousness Heavenly Palace truly surpassed his main heavenly palace, Qin Mu's invincible dao heart would be broken. Even if he built the Heavenly Court with the Great Luo Divine Consciousness Heavenly Palace as the core, he would only become another Tai Emperor in the future, no more brilliant than him.
However, if his dao heart was broken, the more likely outcome was that he might never recover from the setback.
"Blind Grandpa, Granny Si, you really need to work harder and perfect your Imperial Throne techniques as soon as possible..."
Qin Mu sighed inwardly: "If only I could steal all the Imperial Throne techniques the Heavenly Court has collected over the years and give them to Yankang, Granny Si and the others could draw nourishment from these techniques, learn by analogy, and perhaps create their own Imperial Throne techniques. Unfortunately..."
Finally, the Heavenly Dragon Chariot arrived at the Heavenly Sage Academy. Qin Mu stepped down from the chariot. Before he could even enter the gate, he heard the sound of "maha maha" cries. Over a hundred flood dragons called out sweetly and sticky, flooding over him and Long Qilin.
Qin Mu was licked all over by these flood dragons until he was covered in dragon saliva. He barely managed to escape, only to see Long Qilin buried beneath the flood dragons. Yan'er hurriedly took out some spirit pills to lure the flood dragons away.
Qin Mu straightened his clothes, took out a mirror to check himself, ensuring there was no dragon saliva on his face, before walking into the academy.
The Heavenly Sage Academy was now called the Heavenly Sage Sect, but it still maintained the academy's teaching methods, unchanged.
Granny Si, the Deaf Man, and the Pharmacist stayed here to manage the academy, and everything remained in perfect order.
"Mu'er, this girl is beautiful."
Granny Si looked Lang Wan the Divine King up and down, growing happier the more she looked. She secretly gave Qin Mu a thumbs up. Qin Mu's face flushed slightly, and he hurried off to find the Pharmacist. The Deaf Man's eyes lit up. He fetched brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, sat down, and prepared to paint Granny Si and Lang Wan the Divine King into a picture. But after a long while, he still didn't know how to begin.
Lang Wan the Divine King studied Granny Si and praised: "Little sister is truly beautiful."
Granny Si laughed: "Why call me little sister? Call me Granny."
Lang Wan the Divine King was stunned. After a moment's hesitation, she said: "Lang Wan is already one million and fifty thousand years old this year. May I ask how old Granny is?"
Granny Si was startled. She said to the Deaf Man: "You entertain this Lang Wan little sister. I'm going to find Mu'er for a chat!"
The Deaf Man ignored her, still holding his brush and sketching Lang Wan the Divine King in the air, still unable to begin.
This woman was too beautiful. No matter how one painted her on paper, it would be easy to lose her divine charm. After a long time, the Deaf Man sighed, rolled up his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and left.
Lang Wan the Divine King blinked her eyes, thinking: "The Holy Infant's family members are all very strange."
The Deaf Man found Granny Si, only to see her pulling Qin Mu's ear and scolding him.
Qin Mu was submissive, not daring to talk back. Beside them, the Pharmacist, wearing his bronze mask while gathering herbs, watched them cheerfully without intervening.
"I can't paint her."
The Deaf Man said abruptly: "I can paint beauties like Granny Si, and I can paint all things in the world, but I simply cannot paint this Lang Wan the Divine King."
Qin Mu covered his ear, curious: "Deaf Grandpa, Granny's beauty is no less than Lang Wan the Divine King's. You can paint Granny, so why can't you paint Lang Wan the Divine King?"
The Deaf Man took his hand: "Come with me."
The two came before Lang Wan the Divine King, each setting up a desk, laying out brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and each dipping their brushes and saturating them with ink.
Granny Si and the Pharmacist also followed, watching how the two Painting Sages would make their strokes.
Lang Wan the Divine King grew even more curious, sitting quietly and watching them.
Qin Mu and the Deaf Man carefully observed the beauty before them, each lost in thought. Just as Qin Mu was about to make his stroke, he felt that setting brush to paper would defile the beauty. The stroke simply could not fall.
The Deaf Man was the same.
The two Painting Sages held their brushes but could not apply ink, making Granny Si and the Pharmacist marvel.
"Why can you paint Granny Si but not Lang Wan the Divine King? Do you have your answer now?"
The Deaf Man sighed deeply and threw his brush to the ground: "Granny Si is human. Even if she has cultivated to the divine realm, even if her beauty defies words and poetry, her divine charm can still be grasped. But this woman you brought—she is not human. She has not a trace of human nature about her. She only has pure divine nature, only pure divinity and no emotion. Therefore, I cannot capture her divine charm and cannot make my stroke. Pharmacist, take off your mask."
The Pharmacist was startled by these words, but he still removed the bronze mask covering his face.
The Deaf Man looked at Lang Wan the Divine King. Lang Wan the Divine King looked at the Pharmacist. The Deaf Man shook his head: "Even the most famous handsome man in the world cannot stir a single trace of human emotion in this Divine King. I still cannot make my stroke."
Qin Mu put down his brush, looking at Lang Wan the Divine King's incomparably clear eyes, feeling a sense of loss.
Lang Wan the Divine King gave him a serene smile. Qin Mu returned the smile, and suddenly felt a sense of release in his heart.
A woman that even the Painting Sage of the Heavenly Chart could not paint—after all, she was not of the same kind as him. Since meeting Lang Wan the Divine King, he had been captivated by her beauty, but had never considered that such a divine maiden held no worldly emotions in her heart.
He had thought Yun Chu Xiu was a creation of the Great Dao, a beauty crafted in Lang Wan the Divine King's likeness. But with the Deaf Man's reminder, he suddenly realized that Lang Wan the Divine King had no mortal emotions at all, no seven passions or six desires.
In comparison, Yun Chu Xiu, transformed from Lady Yuan Mu, was more like a clever and mischievous person. Though a creation, she had human personality. But Lang Wan the Divine King was a divine maiden who stood aloof, untouched by mortal concerns.
She had only divinity, and no humanity.
He should simply quietly appreciate her beauty.
He set down the love and desire in his heart. Looking at Lang Wan the Divine King again, he could finally treat her with an ordinary heart.
"Hand stroking red apricot, drunk on fragrant bloom, looking back at the spring dream before."
Qin Mu made his stroke, his heart empty and clear, carefully painting the beauty before him.
The Deaf Man was astonished. He watched closely from beside him. The beauty Qin Mu painted on paper was not as beautiful as the real Lang Wan the Divine King, but the girl in the painting seemed like a true person—her eyes carried playfulness, the corners of her mouth held shyness, her gaze like autumn water and full of affection.
The Deaf Man looked up at the one across from him, thinking: "What Mu'er paints is the beloved in his heart, not her."
He felt a resonance in his heart. His mind emptied, and he picked up his own brush to paint as well.
He painted Lang Wan the Divine King's divinity with divinity.