Chapter 1406: Beating Up the Empress Dowager
Facing the overwhelming flood of chaotic qi surging toward her, Empress Dowager Niangniang hastily retreated. Qin Mu's One Qi Hunyuan Dao Tong You divine ability was extremely fast, quickly catching up to her!
Empress Dowager Niangniang continued retreating, and suddenly a vertical abyss split open behind her. She retreated into the abyss, which closed shut, and her figure vanished instantly.
The next moment, the might of One Qi Hunyuan crushed forward, and the Guixu Great Abyss deep in space was rolled over. Empress Dowager Niangniang, hiding within her Guixu divine ability, was caught off guard. She watched in horror as Qin Mu's strike actually crushed the Guixu and surged toward her.
"Since I can't dodge it, I'll withstand it head-on! This Empress doesn't believe that your cultivation at the Zhan Shen Platform level can contend with this Empress's ancient god divine power!"
Empress Dowager Niangniang raised her hand to block and counter, her divine power erupting fully. The moment they collided, she felt her divine power and her Great Dao begin to be assimilated upon encountering this divine ability, transforming into the Dao of Primordial Beginning, adding to the power of this strike!
Empress Dowager Niangniang's heart jolted with alarm. She hastily withdrew her palm and took a hairpin from her hair bun. The hairpin was forged from Guixu Abyss iron, and pouring her divine power into it, she flicked it out!
Ssshh—
The hairpin rode the wind and broke through the waves, splitting apart Qin Mu's strike, cutting through its power, and shooting straight toward Qin Mu.
The hairpin was extremely fast, but even the Guixu Abyss iron was continuously worn away by Qin Mu's strike, transforming into chaotic qi. By the time it reached Qin Mu, the abyss iron had been worn down to just a single iron needle, which flashed past Qin Mu's brow and pierced into his brain.
Boom!
A thunderous sound came from within, and the iron needle exploded inside Qin Mu's head, transforming into a Guixu Great Abyss that instantly devoured and refined Qin Mu's skull.
Qin Mu's headless body swayed but did not fall. Instead, his neck shook and grew three heads, and four arms sprouted from his armpits—three heads and six arms.
At this moment, the power of One Qi Hunyuan Dao Tong You was exhausted. Empress Dowager Niangniang walked out from the chaotic qi, her robes tattered and torn, revealing her fair skin, her body faintly visible.
Empress Dowager Niangniang's face was tinged with green qi, murderous intent radiating from her. She strode toward Qin Mu, sneering coldly: "Mu Tianzun, this grand divine ability must have exhausted your cultivation, hasn't it? How much divine power do you have left?"
Divine light shot up from the top of Qin Mu's head, forming a vast Great Heavenly Court. His three heads spoke in unison, laughing: "I have plenty of divine power, Niangniang, please take a look!"
Empress Dowager Niangniang's pupils contracted sharply. She saw that within the various heavenly palaces of the Heavenly Court, Qin Mu's primordial spirit had actually left the Zhan Shen Platform, each stepping forth and crossing into the next realm.
What she couldn't understand was how Qin Mu could cross from the Yao Chi into the Zhan Shen Platform realm in such a short time, and why he could directly leap from the Zhan Shen Platform realm into the next realm!
But even more incomprehensible was Qin Mu's next realm—it wasn't the Yu Jing realm. According to reason, the next realm after the Zhan Shen Platform for deities should be Yu Jing City. Yet in Qin Mu's heavenly palace, between the Zhan Shen Platform and Yu Jing City, there was actually an additional massive Heavenly Prison!
The Heavenly Prison in the Heavenly Court was a place for holding serious criminals, overgrown with thorns. Anyone who entered would find it difficult to escape. Those imprisoned there were death-row convicts guilty of heinous crimes—being beheaded on the Zhan Shen Platform was too merciful for them, so they were locked in the Heavenly Prison to endure endless suffering and torment.
The Heavenly Prison was not considered a realm in the heavenly palace system. When a deity's primordial spirit arrived here, there was no improvement in cultivation or strength whatsoever. Historically, during the Long Han period, after the heavenly palace system was disseminated, countless gods had already experimented with the Heavenly Prison, and it had no effect whatsoever.
But when it came to Qin Mu, after his primordial spirit stepped into the Heavenly Prison, his cultivation and strength immediately began to skyrocket!
Clearly, the Heavenly Prison had been developed by him into a realm.
What made it even harder for her to understand was that even though Qin Mu had nineteen heavenly palaces, even if the Heavenly Prison realm was equivalent to the previous Yu Jing realm, Qin Mu was still an extremely distant gap away from her. Whether in primordial spirit, physical body, or divine power, he was far inferior—a gap that couldn't be described as merely a chasm.
Yet Qin Mu's physical body, primordial spirit, and divine power were only slightly inferior to hers. She truly couldn't understand where Qin Mu's power came from.
However, she could still discern some clues from Qin Mu. Other divine ability practitioners and deities all cultivated the seven great divine treasures. Even the divine ability practitioners and deities of Yankang cultivated seven divine treasures, only replacing the Divine Bridge divine treasure with the more reasonable Heavenly River divine treasure that better aligned with the Great Dao of the universe.
But on Qin Mu, these divine treasures could not be found.
Although his divine treasure had the name "Spirit Embryo divine treasure," it was completely different from the Spirit Embryo divine treasures of other divine ability practitioners and deities.
Qin Mu had only a single divine treasure, and within this divine treasure there were actually Xuan Du, You Du, Yuan Du, the Four Extremes Heaven, and the ancient gods of all heavens, vast star fields, brilliant star rivers—a grand cosmic layout.
Even the Guixu Great Abyss was there!
Even more crucial was the Ancestral Court—the center of his Spirit Embryo divine treasure was an Ancestral Court.
Even more terrifying was that his Ancestral Court actually had a reverse side!
Compared to other divine ability practitioners and deities, his foundation was like heaven compared to earth!
All the divine treasures of others combined and placed into his Spirit Embryo divine treasure would probably be nothing more than a drop in the ocean, because Qin Mu's heavenly palaces were even built upon the Ancestral Court, occupying only a small corner of it.
"Mu Tianzun is the same kind of person as us. He's kept secrets and hasn't spread his cultivation system to Yankang."
Empress Dowager Niangniang sneered coldly, thinking to herself: "You talk about how glorious and great you are, but in truth, you're just a self-interested person—only more refined about it. Hypocrite!"
But she didn't know that Qin Mu hadn't been unwilling to spread his cultivation system. The reason his cultivation system could succeed was that after he dug out his soul and eyes and gave them to Qin Fengqing, he used the Calamity-Responding Sword to forcibly destroy his own heavenly palaces and divine treasures, transforming them into chaos!
Facing the danger that even his indestructible divine consciousness would be completely destroyed, he seized the opportunity to open up chaos, re-enact his Spirit Embryo divine treasure, and thereby be reborn with a new soul.
His soul and spirit embryo were equivalent to an ancient god within his own body.
Achieving what he did required tremendous fortune and opportunity. Others couldn't imitate it. Forcibly cultivating his cultivation system would only result in death—there was absolutely no possibility of success.
In contrast to his cultivation path was the path Lan Yutian was currently walking—safer and easier to follow. As long as Lan Yutian opened up his path and spread it, others wouldn't need to walk Qin Mu's dangerous road and could still cultivate the Ancestral Court.
Although this cultivation path wasn't as powerful as Qin Mu's, it was still extraordinary. If one could cultivate to the pinnacle, they would surpass even the current Tianzun.
—The only problem was that it required extremely high comprehension, and those who could cultivate to the pinnacle would be few.
Qin Mu's cultivation realm rose to the level of the Nine Hell Platforms, and his cultivation surged again. Empress Dowager Niangniang suddenly felt greatly troubled. Then, she relaxed again.
Because at this moment, she sensed the aura of the Guixu.
The Taiji Ancient God had finally made his move, infinitely drawing space closer, making the distance between the Guixu and the Taiji Star Domain shorter and shorter!
Empress Dowager Niangniang was a Dao-born ancient god, but like the sacrifice-born ancient gods, the closer she was to her place of birth, the stronger her power became. Other Dao-born ancient gods were the same—for example, Tu Bo and Tian Gong, in their respective birthplaces of You Du and Xuan Du, their power was at its strongest.
Now that the Guixu was approaching, Empress Dowager Niangniang's combat power was continuously rising!
At the same time, the Divine Artifact Yu Tianzun's heart stirred slightly. He also sensed the arrival of the Guixu and was overjoyed. He too felt his power increasing!
Within the Divine Artifact Yu Tianzun, Yuan Mu Furen controlled it with her primordial spirit. Her primordial spirit, like the Empress Dowager's, originated from the Guixu, born from the same source.
As the Guixu approached, her power would naturally continue to rise as well!
Qiang Tianfei also sensed the aura of the Guixu at the first moment. Her expression changed slightly, and she hastily looked up. She saw that above the Taiji Star Domain, a narrow, elongated abyss had appeared—dark, black, and unfathomably deep.
At first, the abyss was extremely far away, looking from a distance like a half-open, half-closed eye.
But the abyss was gradually growing larger—not because the abyss itself was expanding, but because the distance was closing!
Around this abyss were mountain ranges formed of Guixu Abyss iron, and floating around it were dead stars. Some stars were battered and broken, pulled by this suddenly appearing abyss, orbiting around it.
Within the abyss, two great flowers were slowly emerging from the darkness.
"Damn it, those two little bitches actually summoned the Guixu here!"
Even Qiang Tianfei couldn't help but change expression at this moment, feeling deeply troubled. What she hadn't expected was that it wasn't the Empress Dowager and Yuan Mu who had summoned the Guixu, but the Taiji Ancient God using his own power to pull space closer!
Qin Mu also sensed the aura of the Guixu, and his expression changed as well.
He had forcibly raised his cultivation to verify whether his strength could contend with the Tianzun—not to come and die.
The Guixu Great Abyss was a place that even Tian Gong feared, believing it to be where all Daos were ground to dust. With this great abyss appearing, Empress Dowager Niangniang's power would inevitably surge dramatically, growing stronger the closer it came.
He had to verify his strength before the Empress Dowager's power reached its peak. He didn't seek to kill the Empress Dowager—he didn't have the ability to kill her anyway. He just wanted to test his strength against a Tianzun!
He let out a long cry, and his body surged upward. At this moment, all his power erupted completely!
With his first step, his hands reached toward heaven and earth, each forming a different hand seal, manifesting the First Heaven of the Dao Realm—the Heaven-Earth Four Sovereigns Seal!
The Heaven-Earth Four Sovereigns Seal formed a domain of round heaven and square earth around him, with four divine-demonic faces appearing—joy, anger, sorrow, delight—gazing in all directions.
With his second step, a Heaven-Earth Mystic Gate appeared behind him, its portal connecting heaven and earth, reaching up to Xuan Du above and down to You Du below, borrowing power from both heaven and earth.
This was the Second Heaven of the Dao Realm.
With his third step, the Heavenly River surged forth, vast and mighty. The Four Extremes Heaven manifested, surrounding the Heaven-Earth Mystic Gate and the Heaven-Earth Four Sovereigns Seal.
With his fourth step, the Great Luo Heaven gathered into a circular formation above his head, like a canopy.
With his fifth step, purple flowers flew out, one splitting into two, two into four, four into eight—in an instant, filling the layered heavens.
The sixth step was You Du chasing wandering souls, the seventh step was the Ancient Yao Terrace standing in Xuan Du...
In the blink of an eye, Qin Mu had taken twenty-six consecutive steps, stacking twenty-six layers of the Dao Realm upon each other, making his momentum unparalleled. Moving as fast as lightning and thunder, he raced across the White Sand Desert leaving a trail of thunderous sounds, carrying overwhelming might, and arrived before Empress Dowager Niangniang with crushing momentum!
"Mu Tianzun, you truly don't know when you're beaten!"
Empress Dowager Niangniang was furious. She had already been left with tattered robes barely covering her jade body by Qin Mu's One Qi Hunyuan Dao Tong You. Now Qin Mu, relying on having crossed into some inexplicable realm, actually dared to attack even as the Guixu arrived—he truly didn't know when he was beaten!
"You want to die? This Empress will grant your wish!"
Empress Dowager Niangniang's momentum rose crazily, actually greatly accelerating the Guixu's arrival as she met Qin Mu's strike head-on!
At this moment, Yuan Mu Furen, controlling the Divine Artifact Yu Tianzun, was racing through the Taiji mineral veins. She had already sensed Yan Tianfei's position. Meanwhile, Qiang Tianfei also abandoned watching the battle between Qin Mu and the Empress Dowager, tracking the Divine Artifact Yu Tianzun instead.
Just then, an earth-shaking tremor came, causing even the two Tianzun to turn and look. They saw Empress Dowager Niangniang spitting blood, flying backward, her jade body pressing against the White Sand Desert as she slid rapidly across the surface!
The two Tianzun's gazes froze. They saw Qin Mu leaning forward, sliding diagonally, moving as fast as flowing light. In an instant, twenty-six great divine abilities shot out like a string of arrows, crazily bombarding Empress Dowager Niangniang's body!
In just a short moment, the Empress Dowager slid several hundred li, and Qin Mu's great divine abilities reached their final strike—he clasped his hands and bowed!
Boom—
Empress Dowager Niangniang's jade body lay horizontal, flying through the air. The space around her suddenly exploded, transforming into a mass of chaotic qi. Surging waves of chaotic qi spun and erupted, blasting a massive void in the Taiji Star Domain!
"Damnable little thief!"
Empress Dowager Niangniang's furious voice came through as she charged out from the chaotic waves, her clothes nearly gone. She looked up and saw Qin Mu leaping into the air, a Shore-Crossing Ark appearing beneath his feet as it carried him whistling away—fleeing.
In her rage, Empress Dowager Niangniang gave chase, but how could she still find that little thief?