Chapter 1086: When the Brave Warrior Becomes the Evil Dragon (Fourth Update!)
Qin Mu carried the lantern and traveled upstream along the Heavenly River. Through his divine consciousness visualization, he transformed into a soaring dragon, the divine dragon carrying him swiftly across the water's surface, his robes fluttering elegantly.
These robes belonged to Wei Suifeng. After all, Wei Suifeng was the Cloud Luo Emperor, and this garment was also a treasure. The robes caught the wind, making him appear weightless and utterly carefree.
Qin Mu's thoughts drifted freely, various ideas surging through his mind.
It was now the four hundred thousandth year of the Longhan Era. There were still over a hundred thousand years until the end of this age. By then, Cloud Heavenly Venerable would die, Moon Heavenly Venerable would retreat into seclusion in obscurity, leaving only Ling Heavenly Venerable to carry on alone.
The Ten Heavenly Venerables would rise, and the cruel history would continue into the Chiming Era, the Shanghuang Era, until Ling Heavenly Venerable was assassinated in the Heavenly River.
There were so many things he wished to change.
However, after this time travel, he would only have two chances left to travel through time.
This era still had many regrettable events unfolding, and many secrets waiting for him to uncover.
But he could not spend his remaining two opportunities entirely in the Longhan Era!
As Wei Suifeng had said, he could save those two chances to do something more meaningful!
This would be his final return to Longhan.
Before returning to the ghost ship, he desperately wanted to meet Cloud Heavenly Venerable in person, to sit and talk with him at length, to say "fellow cultivator," and to share their aspirations with one another.
He wanted to drink and celebrate with Cloud Heavenly Venerable, to indulge in uninhibited revelry.
He also wanted to hear Cloud Heavenly Venerable's thoughts on the future and his views on past history.
A true confidant is rare in life—only, this confidant lived in the past, while he himself lived in the future.
"In the days to come, Hao Heavenly Venerable, Langxuan, Xu, the Great Emperor, Ancestral God King, Fire Heavenly Venerable, Yuanmu, the Empress, and even the reincarnated Ancient God Heavenly Emperor will gradually gain power and unite against Cloud Heavenly Venerable. Cloud Heavenly Venerable will die in the Xiaohan Heavenly Court."
He thought silently: "His bloodline will be cursed by the Great Emperor, never living to the moment of achieving godhood. His soul will be sealed by the Great Emperor, eternally imprisoned in the Divine Consciousness Great Luo Heaven within the Ultimate Void."
"His corpse will be sent by the Great Emperor to the Great Void, sealed within the Great Emperor's physical body, becoming the Great Emperor's war trophy."
"Fellow cultivator, the suffering that awaits you is so heavy indeed."
"And what awaits the human race is equally heavy!"
"You shouldered the ancient ages, and in the future, I will take up your burden."
Qin Mu cast aside the various thoughts in his mind. The Heavenly Court was still far away—he would need to travel for over ten days to reach it.
Qin Mu released the lantern in his hand. Under his primordial energy's control, the lantern floated autonomously, following him as he traveled.
He took out the Primordial Beginning Egg. A deep, resonant Dao sound emanated from within the egg, as if an ancient god were whispering. Qin Mu listened to the Dao sound, seemingly discerning the mysteries contained within.
The Dao of Primordial Beginning—yin and yang undivided, matter nonexistent. To rescue Ling Heavenly Venerable, he would have to understand the Dao of Primordial Beginning.
The voice within the Primordial Beginning Egg continued ceaselessly, as if the unborn ancient god were conversing with him, though the words were obscure and Qin Mu could not understand them.
"Unraveling the Dao of Primordial Beginning is no more difficult than creating the Matter Immutability Divine Ability from nothing! Since Ling Heavenly Venerable could create such a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering great divine ability, then I too can unravel the mysteries of the Dao of Primordial Beginning!"
He stood atop the head of the visualized divine dragon, closed his eyes, and actually fell into a dream.
In the dream, countless miniature Qin Mus surrounded the Primordial Beginning Egg, listening to the Dao sound emanating from within, comprehending the Dao resonance, attempting to record the mysteries contained in the Dao sound in the form of runic great Dao.
"Maha..." One miniature Qin Mu rested his chin on his hand, licking his writing brush, his face smeared black and white with ink.
"Guji!" Another miniature Qin Mu on the other side excitedly flourished his brush, recording the great Dao he had comprehended in the form of runes.
Unknowingly, over ten days passed. Qin Mu awoke from his dream, put away the Primordial Beginning Egg. The Heavenly Court was now in sight ahead. The Primordial Beginning Egg was of utmost importance—outsiders must not learn that this ancient god egg had fallen into his hands.
These past few days, he had used dream-entry cultivation to organize and compile five Primordial Beginning runes. However, the Dao of Primordial Beginning was hazy and obscure, and whether these five runes were correct or not could not be verified.
"I need to find the Ling Heavenly Venerable's handwritten notes that Senior Brother hid away, comprehend Ling Heavenly Venerable's divine abilities, and then cross-reference the two to verify whether the five runes I comprehended have any errors."
Qin Mu's head ached: "Senior Brother isn't a squirrel spirit, so why does he love hiding things so much?"
Verifying the five Primordial Beginning runes was extremely important. Even if only one of them was correct, he could start from that correct rune and slowly deduce more runes.
Everything is hardest at the beginning.
Creating something from nothing, establishing the "one"—that was the most important path to resolution!
With one, there could be two, three, four, five!
The Heavenly Court was close now. Qin Mu changed his appearance, not using Mu Qing's face, but transforming into a demigod's form to blend into the Heavenly Court. The current Heavenly Court had completely lost its early Longhan Era grandeur. Over ten of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces had already departed from the Heavenly Court, flying to various parts of the universe. Many of the Seventy-Two Precious Halls had also left.
The Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces and Seventy-Two Precious Halls together formed the Heavenly Court, which, along with structures like Yujing City, the Heavenly Street, and the Heavenly Market, constituted the main body of the Heavenly Court. Now, with so many palaces and halls gone, the Heavenly Court appeared riddled with holes.
Moreover, the departure of these palaces and halls had taken away many of the Heavenly Court's armies. The Heavenly Court even dispatched troops to stop them, sparking successive divine-demon wars, leaving the Heavenly Court in a state of panic and unrest.
As Qin Mu passed by Yujing City, he saw from afar the Great Sun Star Lord perched like a dazed bird on the city tower of Yujing City, dull and lifeless, devoid of spirit. After a long while, he flapped his wings, yet seemed not to know where he should go.
"The day when the Great Sun Star Lord is struck by an arrow from behind is probably not far off either." Qin Mu thought to himself.
He searched throughout the Heavenly Court but still could not find any trace of Dragon Qilin, Yan'er, and the others. Those two, along with six heavenly dragons, had stolen the Liuli Qingtian Banner and then vanished to who knows where.
"They've probably extinguished their lanterns and returned to the ghost ship by now."
Qin Mu walked out of the Southern Heavenly Gate. A fierce battle must have occurred here—the gate had been broken in half, with many Heavenly Craftsmen repairing it.
He traveled downstream along the Heavenly River. Looking back, he saw that the Heavenly Court had already risen to the vault of the Primordial Realm's sky. It was only a matter of time before it separated from the Primordial Realm.
At that moment, violent tremors came from the Primordial Realm. Qin Mu followed the fluctuations and saw a group of demigods raising their arms high, supporting a grand and magnificent heavenly palace as they flew toward the Heavenly Court.
Those demigods were beaming with joy, extremely excited.
That palace was Langxuan Divine Emperor's heavenly palace, and those demigods were also Langxuan Divine Emperor's subordinates. They were jubilant, planning to relocate Langxuan Divine Palace to the Heavenly Court.
Many ancient gods had left, leaving a power vacuum. Now was the perfect opportunity to seize power.
"No wonder the Great Sun Star Lord is so despondent. The era of the ancient gods has ended; the era of the demigods has arrived."
Qin Mu watched this heavenly palace rise higher and higher, then turned back and continued toward the Xiaohan Heavenly Court, thinking: "In this world, the contradiction between ancient gods and post-heavenly beings is no longer the mainstream. The contradiction between demigods and post-heavenly beings has become the primary contradiction. This is precisely the reason for the rise of the Chiming Era!"
On his way to the Xiaohan Heavenly Court, he saw several more heavenly palaces being lifted up by excited demigods, flying toward the Heavenly Court. He couldn't help but shake his head.
The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was indeed dead, and the era of the ancient gods had ended. But another group of demigods had become the new ancient gods.
Back then, the demigods had also been the leaders of the Longhan Revolution—even more radical than the human Heavenly Venerables. And now, they had replaced the ancient gods to become the new rulers.
Qin Mu lowered his head to look at the calm surface of the Heavenly River. The river reflected his shadow.
He gazed at his reflection in the river, and the reflection gazed back at him.
The joyful laughter of the demigods drifted over. The brave warriors who had slain the dragon had, after killing the evil dragon, finally grown sharp fangs and claws—and become the evil dragon themselves.