Chapter 1055: The Past of the Great Emperor
La Tieu was puzzled and followed them, saying: "We really can't just barge in. This place is extremely dangerous. Let me lead the way!"
Tần Mục blocked him, smiling: "Dangerous? Where is the danger?"
La Tieu was momentarily stunned. Strange to say, as they walked into the Thái Sơ thần thạch mineral vein, they truly did not encounter the dangers rumored to be there. Instead, it was unusually calm.
"Could it be that the clan leader and the others just said that casually, and there is actually no danger in this vein?" He wondered inwardly.
Cổ Hiểu and Đại Hồng walked side by side, the Thiên Long bảo liễn bringing up the rear. Yên Nhi stood on the carriage, holding a lantern, letting the light shine ahead.
Đại Hồng turned his head and smiled: "Mục brother, La brother, come closer."
Tần Mục steeled himself and stepped forward. La Tieu hesitated, saying: "I still want to see if there are ancestral spirits deep in the void..."
Cổ Hiểu turned back and smiled: "The Nineteenth Void is guarded by the Hư Không Mẫu Thú. Your thần thức cannot surpass the Nineteenth Void, so La brother need not rush."
La Tieu thought about it, and indeed that made sense. The Hư Không Mẫu Thú was so powerful that if his thần thức reached the Nineteenth Void, it would definitely be detected and devoured by the mother beast.
The surrounding glow drifted among the grass and trees. La Tieu looked around, muttering: "Strange, this place matches the descriptions of the clan leader and the others, but why is there no danger? This is the Thái Sơ thần thạch vein. When the thần thức in the vein encounters people's thoughts, it transforms into one real illusion after another. Even the most powerful Tạo Vật Chủ could fall victim..."
Tần Mục's gaze fell on the backs of the two figures ahead, reminding him: "Perhaps there is a powerful existence suppressing this vein."
La Tieu's heart tightened. His gaze fell on the golden coffin ahead, and he said in a deep voice: "You mean to say that the person buried in this golden coffin is so powerful that they suppress this vein? What kind of cultivation does such a person have? Could it be..."
His eyes lit up, and he suddenly clapped his hands: "I know, it's the Thái Đế! The golden coffin must contain the corpse of the Thái Đế!"
He said excitedly: "I heard from the clan leader and the others that the Thái Đế died in the Blood Rust Campaign. It must be that the Cổ Thần Thiên Đế feared he would revive, so he ordered people to suppress his corpse here! The Thái Đế is finally dead!"
Cổ Hiểu's voice came from ahead, faint and distant: "Thái Đế, the most powerful thần thức in history—how could he die? I heard that in the Blood Rust Campaign, only the Thái Sơ nguyên thạch in his brow was shattered, and he did not die. After that, he was like a stray dog, hiding and fleeing, living in constant fear."
Đại Hồng laughed: "I also heard that the Thiên Đế's methods of defeating the Thái Đế were not honorable. The one who shattered the Thái Sơ nguyên thạch was not the Thiên Đế, but the Thái Đế's wife, Cung Quân thần vương. Moreover, the Thiên Đế burned the bridge after crossing the river—after defeating the Thái Đế, he killed Cung Quân thần vương to maintain his glorious and majestic image."
La Tieu blinked his big eyes and smiled: "Both elder brothers, where did you hear these things? Even I, a Tạo Vật Chủ, don't know about these matters, and the clan elders and clan leader have never mentioned them."
The two did not answer and continued forward.
La Tieu was suspicious.
After a long while, they finally arrived beside the eight Cổ Thần corpses.
Their bodies floated up and stood beside the golden coffin.
Cổ Hiểu and Đại Hồng each looked at the golden coffin, their gazes deep and distant, saying nothing.
Tần Mục and La Tieu walked over, Long Kỳ Lân following behind, while Yên Nhi still stood on the carriage holding the lantern.
Đại Hồng smiled slightly: "The Cổ Thần Thiên Đế prides himself on glory and justice, and he used the Thái Đế's wife, Cung Quân. He must have promised her many things—for example, promising that her people could survive. However, to maintain his image, he had no choice but to kill Cung Quân. Not only did he have to kill Cung Quân, but he also had to eliminate the eight Cổ Thần who escorted her corpse into this place."
He raised his head, his gaze falling on Cổ Hiểu's face, revealing a mocking expression: "And the best way to eliminate these eight Cổ Thần was undoubtedly the Thái Sơ mineral vein. The Thiên Đế was originally an egg in this vein. He knew well how terrifying this vein was. Ordering the eight Cổ Thần to bury Cung Quân's corpse here was precisely to use the power of the vein to eliminate these eight witnesses!"
Cổ Hiểu said "Oh" and said calmly: "What I heard is that the Thái Đế was cruel and violent, worried that the Tạo Vật Chủ race would cultivate another Thái Đế, so he wiped out all the Cư Dư clan members in one stroke, also killed the people of Cung Quân thần vương, and even planned to destroy all Tạo Vật Chủ. His wife Cung Quân was heartbroken because of this, had an affair with the Thiên Đế, and even bore him a son."
Đại Hồng's pupils contracted sharply, and he said: "But even though the Thái Đế was betrayed by Cung Quân, even though she shattered the Thái Sơ nguyên thạch in his brow, he never harmed a single hair of hers. Yet the Thiên Đế betrayed Cung Quân and killed her!"
At this moment, the two of them no longer cared about La Tieu, Tần Mục, or the others. Clearly, having arrived here, each had already determined the true identity of the other, and they were about to reveal their cards and fight to the death!
La Tieu was bewildered, shaking his head, and said to Tần Mục: "Are your human and demon races really that ancient? You even know about things that happened in the primordial era."
Tần Mục's brow twitched, and he barely restrained the impulse to punch him a few times to knock some sense into him.
Đại Hồng and Cổ Hiểu each reached out, grabbing the coffin, preparing to open the golden coffin.
Tần Mục took a step back.
The golden coffin was lifted open by the two, but both of their gazes remained fixed on each other's faces, not wanting to miss the other's expression or demeanor.
Tần Mục gritted his teeth, unable to suppress his curiosity. He steeled himself and stepped forward, looking into the golden coffin.
The golden coffin was very large. The woman inside was also a giant. She lay there quietly with her eyes closed, as if she were asleep.
The vertical eye in her brow had already been gouged out, and there was a patch of crimson red on her chest. The fatal wound should have been in the chest. Gouging out her vertical eye was only to greatly reduce the power of her thần thức thần thông.
She had died at the hands of someone close to her. The person who killed her had a very close relationship with her, which was why he could gouge out the vertical eye in her brow while she was off guard, greatly diminishing her strength.
That person had been very good to her. After her death, he had also tidied up her appearance, dressing her in the most beautiful clothes, with a phoenix crown on her head, like a lofty empress.
In her hand, she still held a flower. Even now, the flower had not withered. It was still held against her chest, precisely covering the fatal wound.
Đại Hồng laughed darkly: "Three brothers, the Thiên Đế truly deserves to die, doesn't he?"
Tần Mục's hair stood on end. He stepped back and coughed: "La brother, let's go find the ancestral spirits of your forebears!"
La Tieu was about to step forward, saying: "I haven't seen Cung Quân thần vương yet. Let me take a look first..."
"Don't look!"
Tần Mục was furious and pulled him to walk outside.
La Tieu was startled and laughed: "Mục brother, you're the fourth brother, but you scold me like I'm your son. Fine, I won't look. Why so fierce?"
Just then, Đại Hồng's voice came over: "Thiên Đế, heh heh, or should I call you Thái Sơ? When I dug you out together with the Thái Sơ nguyên thạch, I already sensed that there was an incomparably powerful life in the egg—a life even more ancient than us Tạo Vật Chủ."
La Tieu was stunned. Suddenly he shivered several times, an expression of disbelief appearing on his face.
"I sensed your power, but your time of birth had not yet come. If you had remained in the Thái Sơ mineral vein, you would eventually have absorbed the power of the vein and become incomparably powerful."
Đại Hồng continued: "At that time, I even thought of borrowing your body to be reborn, but I held back. I obtained the nguyên thạch and became arrogant, believing I had no need to fear you. I would only be stronger than you! So I raised you like a son. To let you be born, I even had my people offer sacrifices to you."
He laughed darkly: "Unfortunately, I still underestimated you."
Cổ Hiểu said calmly: "You had your people sacrifice to me, pulling up seedlings to help them grow, with ill intentions. You wanted to use the power of the sacrifices to restrict me and cultivate me into your weapon. How could I not understand your intentions? While still gestating in the egg, I had already comprehended all kinds of great dao rules, absorbing the power of heaven and earth's great dao, born with divine wisdom. However, you took away the nguyên thạch and interrupted my growth, so I simply borrowed the power of the Tạo Vật Chủ to make myself grow and absorb nourishment."
La Tieu's hair stood on end. He involuntarily quickened his pace, walking toward the outside of the mining area.
Cổ Hiểu continued: "Thái Đế, this time you did not come in your true body. How much pháp lực can you have? You merely borrowed a body to transform into a lowly demon race. Even if you know the history of the past, even if you see Cung Quân, what can you do?"
"Killing you is enough."
Đại Hồng said calmly: "Aren't you also using a reincarnated body? You reincarnated as a human, often borrowing this mortal body to secretly meet with Nguyên Mẫu phu nhân, and thus arranged yourself to become a thiên sư of Nam Lạc sơn môn. How much combat power can this human body of yours have?"
Cổ Hiểu said coldly: "Then what are you waiting for?"
Tần Mục immediately felt two extremely terrifying tremors coming from the mineral vein, making people shudder, making people fear. He quickly shouted: "I can't die! If I die here, who the hell..."
"I know!" The voices of Đại Hồng and Cổ Hiểu came almost simultaneously, both shouting in anger.
Behind, the two terrifying tremors subsided slightly.
Tần Mục breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said: "Long Pang, Yên Nhi, get on the carriage! La brother, you too!"
Everyone boarded the bảo liễn. Long Kỳ Lân cracked the whip, and the Thiên Long bảo liễn sped toward the outside of the mineral vein.
Just as the Thiên Long bảo liễn rushed out of the mineral vein, an extremely violent thần thông upheaval came from within the vein. Tần Mục turned back to look and saw Đại Hồng's hands drawing out from his sleeves!
What he drew from his sleeves was a great spear. Strange to say, the spear was very long, yet his sleeves were only a little over a foot. When the spear was drawn out, it was already over three trượng in length.
This great spear was not straight and neat. Ordinary divine spears had straight shafts, but the shaft of his great spear was curved and winding, like a dragon vein.
The great spear was refined from the ancestral dragon vein of the ancestral court. Gripped in his hand, he thrust it out once, and in the minds of everyone outside the mineral vein, a resounding dragon roar immediately rang out!
At the same time, the file in Cổ Hiểu's hand also changed at this moment. The file was shaped like a sword, but it was covered with dense small dots. When the file revealed its true form, it had already transformed into an imperial sword symbolizing the Thiên Đế pacifying the four directions!
The small dots on both sides of the blade also transformed into marks formed by bird-seal insect script. Both sides of the blade were covered with countless marks—those were great dao steel seals!
When Cổ Hiểu used the file to file his nails, no one could see the true form of this sword, and no one knew that the neatly arranged small dots would actually be great dao steel seals!
There were nearly two thousand steel seals on the sword, representing nearly two thousand Cổ Thần from prehistoric times offering their blessings to the Thiên Đế, their submission to this emperor of the Cổ Thần!
The precious sword met the ancestral dragon divine spear. Sword and spear collided, and the dao sound rang out in an instant, as if thousands of Cổ Thần were singing in unison, using the great dao to empower their most powerful emperor!
The eight Cổ Thần corpses carried the golden coffin on their shoulders. Above the golden coffin, two terrifying figures clashed for the first time.
The shockwaves quickly reached Tần Mục and the others. Yên Nhi flashed to the back of the carriage, merging her nguyên thần with her physical body, transforming into Long Tước hàm thiên thức, protecting the bảo liễn.
Boom—
She let out a muffled groan, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. Her physical body and nguyên thần were riddled with holes in an instant, and she was knocked back to her original form—a chubby girl.
The terrifying shockwave pressed this three-to-five-hundred-catty chubby girl flat against the back of the bảo liễn, pushing her and the carriage forward together. The six heavenly dragons desperately tried to brace against the carriage, but they too were crushed by the terrifying force, retreating continuously.
Because they were straining too hard, their skin split open along their sinews, dragon blood flowing everywhere.
Tần Mục reached out and drew a line. Truyền tống thần thông erupted, forming a great ring behind the bảo liễn, deflecting the residual power of Đại Hồng and Cổ Hiểu's thần thông. However, his truyền tống thần thông shattered immediately.
Tần Mục's fingers spun continuously, drawing one great circle after another. Countless truyền tống phù văn flew out from within the circles, forming one truyền tống thần thông after another. As one shattered, another connected, helping Yên Nhi withstand the residual power of the thần thông.
La Tieu immediately controlled the void beast to block behind the bảo liễn, but it too was crushed and forced to retreat continuously.
Finally, after the first wave of impact passed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They looked into the distance and saw that the bảo liễn had already been pushed several hundred lý away.
"Đại Hồng is no match for Cổ Hiểu."
Tần Mục's divine eyes were unmatched, and he immediately saw the scene within the mineral vein. Đại Hồng was already injured. Compared to Cổ Hiểu, he was still a bit weaker. This time, he had come using a demon race's physical body.
Although he was the first demon to split heaven and earth, facing Cổ Hiểu and the imperial sword empowered by the great dao, he suffered a great loss on the very first move.
Cổ Hiểu's sword could not be called a sword—it was a kind of great dao weapon. When the sword moved, nearly two thousand Cổ Thần phantom images stood behind him, large and small, arranged in an orderly fashion. Among them were even phantom images of such majestic existences as Thổ Bá, Thiên Công, and Địa Mẫu!
"All these years, I have been searching for your whereabouts. As long as the Thái Đế does not die, my heart cannot be at ease."
Cổ Hiểu was calm and composed, but his sword light was truly terrifying, forcing Đại Hồng to spread the wings behind his back and take flight, saying calmly: "To lure you out, I could expose the location of the ancestral court, I could chat and laugh with Mục thiên tôn, and I could even restrain myself from searching for the whereabouts of other Tạo Vật Chủ! My purpose is to humiliate you here, in front of Cung Quân, and eliminate you!"
"Do you really think you can defeat me?"
Đại Hồng laughed heartily. The sky suddenly became incomparably bright. An enormous Hư Không Mẫu Thú squeezed out from the layers of void, its eyes as bright as ten thousand suns.
"In later ages, the dao is revered, and quán tưởng has declined—it is outdated. Thiên Đế, I know that this body of mine may not be your match. Even if you casually split off a wisp of đạo hạnh from your main body, I would not be your opponent. However, once you are at the ancestral court, you are no longer my match."
Hồng thiên tôn's voice came from within the mineral vein, and the Hư Không Mẫu Thú in the sky also squeezed out of the void, its body descending lower and lower, charging straight toward the mineral vein!
That incomparably powerful mother beast was shrinking its body. Void beasts could be large or small—large enough to devour the sun and moon, small enough to become a mustard seed.
It was so powerful that it actually ignored the power and might of the Thái Sơ mineral vein, descending into the vein!
"The most powerful Hư Không Mẫu Thú submits to the most powerful Tạo Vật Chủ! The void giant beasts here are also its descendants."
Đại Hồng's voice carried joy and mockery: "Thái Sơ, this is the reason I chose to duel with you here!"