Chapter 1143: Diving into the Void (First Update!)
Qin Mu said with a beaming smile, "I just remembered—I call the Heavenly Duke 'brother,' and he calls me 'fellow Daoist.' So calling you 'nephew' is only fitting."
Ancestral God King was furious beyond measure. The other Heavenly Venerables quickly urged, "Better to address each other as fellow Daoists. We are all Heavenly Venerables; there's no need to make things so tense. Calm down, quell your anger."
Heavenly Venerable Hong also advised, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, say less and stop taking advantage. His temper is explosive—if he truly flies into a rage and tries to kill you, none of us will be able to stop him."
Qin Mu said indignantly, "That day in the Jade Pool, he was the first to jump out and try to kill me! I take a little advantage of him and make him call me uncle—what's wrong with that?"
Ancestral God King had just calmed down, but upon hearing this, he flew into a rage again and shouted, "Don't stop me! I'll chop this bastard to pieces!"
Qin Mu hopped around in fury, pointing at him and cursing, "If you've got the guts, come on! Aim for my head! If I so much as blink, I'll take your surname!"
Everyone hurried to hold them back. Heavenly Venerable Hong grabbed Qin Mu, while Langxuan Divine Emperor embraced Ancestral God King, all saying, "Calm down! Calm down!"
The two of them continued cursing under their breath, each turning their face away to avoid looking at the other.
Taking this opportunity, Qin Mu glanced around and was puzzled. Aside from them, no one else had arrived—not even the Heavenly Duke or Earth Lord had come.
"Where is Madame Yuanmu? That's not right!"
Qin Mu frowned, thinking to himself, "Logically speaking, Madame Yuanmu would never miss this opportunity. She would definitely come. Why hasn't she shown herself?"
He looked around. Qiang Heavenly Venerable was the Grand Emperor—that was certain. So who was Madame Yuanmu?
Could it be Heavenly Venerable Hong?
Qin Mu looked at Great Hong, suspicion creeping into his mind. Madame Yuanmu was a flirtatious little vixen, hardly matching the image of an enlightened senior like Heavenly Venerable Hong.
"Aside from us, the only others present are these heavenly dragons pulling the chariots. Madame Yuanmu couldn't possibly have turned into a heavenly dragon."
Suddenly, Qin Mu's gaze fell on the white cat in Yan Heavenly Venerable's arms. Dragon Qilin coughed, and Qin Mu knew what he meant but pretended not to hear, thinking to himself, "Madame Yuanmu couldn't have turned into the white cat in Yan Heavenly Venerable's arms, could she? That white cat is male, and Yan Heavenly Venerable is suspected to be Empress Dowager—very proper. The white cat seems like her paramour, not quite fitting for Madame Yuanmu..."
His head ached. Compared to the white cat, he was more inclined to believe Heavenly Venerable Hong was Madame Yuanmu.
The other Heavenly Venerables gathered together to discuss and finally reached a decision, saying, "Equal distribution is still feasible. But we must also include Heavenly Venerable Fire and Heavenly Venerable Void—these two. The Ancestral Court will be divided into eleven shares. Counting Heavenly Venerable Mu, each of us gets one share."
"As for the ancient gods like the Heavenly Duke and Earth Lord, their ambitions are lofty, so let's leave them out."
"Once we reach the Ancestral Court, everyone will seek out their own treasure grounds and establish a foothold first. The Ancestral Court is overrun with void beasts—we'll need to clear them out thoroughly."
After the discussion concluded, they turned to Qin Mu and asked, "What does Heavenly Venerable Mu think?"
Qin Mu said with a half-smile, "Can't we just divide the Ancestral Court into eleven shares directly, with each of us taking one?"
Heavenly Venerable Hao said, "There are so many ferocious void beasts in the Ancestral Court. If we divide it into eleven shares directly, who will guard them? Everyone relies on their own abilities, each claiming their own territory, clearing the void beasts on their own land, and leaving the disciples to manage and explore."
Langxuan Divine Emperor laughed, "If Heavenly Venerable Mu doesn't have the ability, hand it to me—I'll help you manage it."
Qiang Heavenly Venerable said, "This idea is good. After all, we are Heavenly Venerables; we cannot stay in the Ancestral Court for long. The Heavenly Court is the real priority. We'll first clear out a portion of territory, ask Heavenly Venerable Mu to send them in, and as for mining precious ores, collecting treasures, and eliminating other void beasts, the disciples will handle it."
Qin Mu was deeply displeased. These Heavenly Venerables were clearly bullying him for lacking his own power base. Even if Qin Mu could carve out a territory, he couldn't hold it.
The other benefit of not directly dividing the territory was to keep Qin Mu trapped in the Ancestral Court—effectively exiling him there.
If Qin Mu stayed in the Ancestral Court and didn't leave, it was equivalent to suppressing the brat, no longer worrying about him constantly causing trouble and giving them headaches.
But if Qin Mu left the Ancestral Court, then he would be abandoning his territory, and these Heavenly Venerables would naturally be happy to swallow up Qin Mu's share.
If the territory were evenly divided into eleven shares and they seized Qin Mu's portion, the brat would likely make a fuss, leaving them covered in trouble.
Qin Mu snorted, knowing these old-timers were taking advantage of his youth and weakness, scheming against him. He said flatly, "Then let's do it that way."
The various Heavenly Venerables felt a surge of satisfaction seeing him stifled.
Qin Mu immediately set up the altar. The eight Heavenly Venerables around him watched from the sidelines, memorizing everything. Qin Mu sneered and built the altar right in front of them, even inscribing the runes needed for the altar neatly and precisely, without the slightest error.
This reverse-summoning altar—even if Heavenly Venerable Hao, Heavenly Venerable Xiao, and others saw it, it didn't matter, because reverse summoning had to be done in two steps. The first step was designing the altar, which could not afford the slightest mistake.
This step was extremely important.
But the second step was equally important—activating the reverse-summoning divine ability!
Qin Mu's reverse-summoning divine ability came from the Creator Luo Xiao. However, Luo Xiao used divine-consciousness abilities, a unique art of the Creator race.
Qin Mu's improved reverse-summoning divine ability incorporated the later rune system. Because he had needed to save his life back then, Qin Mu had not taught it to Luo Xiao, and Great Hong and Ancient Xiao also didn't know it.
Even if the eight Heavenly Venerables learned the runes on the reverse-summoning altar, it would be very difficult for them to deduce the reverse-summoning divine ability from the altar's runes alone.
This was Qin Mu's capital.
"Everyone, please step onto the altar."
Qin Mu built two altars, keeping one for the return trip. He climbed onto one of them, stood at the center, and said with a smile, "During the reverse summoning, I need to establish a divine-consciousness connection with the void beasts in the Ancestral Court. So if you see eyes suddenly appear above your heads, don't be alarmed—those are void beasts. I'll use them to determine the spatial coordinates of the Ancestral Court and pull us over."
"Such a divine ability exists?" The various Heavenly Venerables praised in admiration.
Qin Mu laughed, "This is the effect of the reform! It's because of the reform that we have the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge, making travel convenient. It's also because of the reform that we have the reverse-summoning divine ability."
Heavenly Venerable Xiao coughed, reminding him, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, stop saying such treasonous words. Hurry up and activate the divine ability."
Qin Mu laughed heartily and activated the divine ability.
Last time, when he brought Luo Xiao, Ancient Xiao, and Great Hong into the Ancestral Court, it wasn't too difficult. But this time, he was bringing eight Heavenly Venerables, which was many times harder. Fortunately, Qin Mu was much stronger than before. He poured all his power into the reverse-summoning divine ability, and a huge eyeball suddenly appeared in the sky.
The various Heavenly Venerables praised in unison, "Excellent divine ability!"
Before the words even faded, suddenly a series of popping sounds came from the sky above their heads, and in an instant, hundreds of large eyes appeared!
Those were the eyes of void beasts—and not just one, but hundreds!
Qin Mu was afraid that a single void beast wouldn't be able to pull them into the Great Void, so he went all out, controlling several hundred void beasts and reverse-summoning them all at once!
Even the eight Heavenly Venerables, seeing so many void beast eyes, remained calm and unflustered.
Their strength was too great; so many strange beasts were not enough to threaten them.
Boom—
The altar flew up and dove into the void!
The next moment, the altar appeared in the Ancestral Court, floating before several hundred void beasts.
The various Heavenly Venerables burst into laughter, each soaring into the air and flashing away to find their own strongholds in the Ancestral Court, leaving Qin Mu on the altar, surrounded by the void beasts.
Hundreds of void beasts stared hungrily at Qin Mu at the center of the altar.
Qin Mu sighed and said to Heavenly Venerable Hong with a smile, "Fellow Daoist Hong, why haven't you left?"
"I promised you—we can be neighbors, relying on each other."
Heavenly Venerable Hong said with a beaming smile, "And you can owe me one more favor. That way, I'll have two IOUs in hand."