Chapter 1441: The Beauty on the River (Fourth Update)
Qin Mu, the Butcher, and the other five departed, leaving behind those Sun Guards and the people of Xuan Du. After a moment, they began to set sail, heading for the Yuan Realm, each heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.
They would settle down in the Yuan Realm, and as for the stories of Qin Mu, the Butcher, Zhe Huali, Luo Wushuang, and Tian Shu, they would likely be passed down from generation to generation.
Zhe Huali let out a long sigh of relief, glanced at Qin Mu, and chuckled: "After cursing them out, I feel much better. Mu Tianzun, you're an honest man..."
He quickly added: "Honest at your core. You're only cunning and deceitful toward your enemies, but when facing your own people, facing ordinary folks, you're too honest. You simply can't bear to hurt your own people or ordinary folks, and you won't even say a single harsh word—you don't want to. I'm not like you."
He was full of vigor and spirit, speaking loudly: "If I have something to say, I say it! If I have grievances, I pour them out! When I do good deeds, I spread the word! I can't let good people suffer injustice, and I can't let bad people get away scot-free! These bastards are just too harsh on good people! A bad person can have ten thousand flaws, but if they have even one good point, they'll be praised to the heavens. A good person can have ten thousand virtues, but one single shortcoming and they'll be cursed to death! I just can't stand that!"
Tian Shu laughed heartily: "Demon Blade Zhe Huali, his thoughts are as clear and unimpeded as his blade is magnificent and peerless!"
Zhe Huali tightened the Demon Blade Dragon Fang on his back and smiled freely: "I just don't want the friends I respect to bear a bad reputation! Qin Jiaozhu, Mu Tianzun, beast, Qin Demolisher, Mu Thief—no matter what he's called, he's my friend, someone I respect. He has all sorts of little flaws, but on matters of right and wrong, of principle, he has never made a mistake!"
Qin Mu's eyes reddened, but he smiled.
Luo Wushuang showed a smile and said: "My disciple..."
He quickly added: "Formerly."
The Butcher glanced at him and said: "He was once your disciple, but he learned to be too proper from you. Later, he spent some time with me before he learned to be good."
Luo Wushuang's face darkened, and he said no more.
Qin Mu smiled as he looked at them. These people were all his friends—one was even his elder—but they were more like good teachers and honest companions. Having friends like these was truly a great blessing!
His cultivation was recovering rapidly. The Yao Chi of the Ancestral Court, as well as the Yao Chi realms in the various great heavenly palaces, allowed his cultivation to recover at an astonishing speed.
Of course, his cultivation was now too profound. Even with such a fast recovery, he would still need several days to return to his peak state.
Qin Mu also took out spiritual medicines gathered from the Ancestral Court and refined pills to quickly restore his primordial energy, using both methods simultaneously, lest Hong Tianzun find them and they be unable to escape.
Hong Tianzun was determined to obtain the Heavenly Compass Dao Soldiers. Of the forty-nine Heavenly Dao Soldiers, even if he obtained forty-eight of them, without the Heavenly Compass Dao Soldier, these Heavenly Dao Soldiers would merely be powerful treasures.
Only by obtaining the Heavenly Compass Dao Soldier could he integrate the power of all these soldiers and transform them into a Heavenly Dao Supreme Treasure of immense power!
A supreme treasure far more powerful than the one Ancestral God King had refined!
"So Hong Tianzun won't go after those people of Xuan Du—he'll come after us."
Qin Mu's eyes flickered, and the five of them flew together in the direction of the Heavenly Duke.
The Heavenly Duke was majestic beyond compare, impossible to see in full. Along the way, they saw more divine cities. Xuan Du had forty-nine larger divine cities, named after the forty-nine Heavenly Dao principles.
In the ancient era, these divine cities were built around the Heavenly River, extremely ancient.
During the Long Han period, the Heavenly Court was established, constraining the Heavenly River to flow past the Southern Heavenly Gate. The river's course didn't change much.
But by the middle and late Long Han era, the Heavenly Court migrated out of the Yuan Realm, causing the Heavenly River to change course. No trace of the Heavenly River remained in Xuan Du, leaving only these forty-nine divine cities and the ancient riverbed behind.
Now the Heavenly River had returned to its original position, and surging waters once again rushed through the ancient riverbed, reflecting the starlight of Xuan Du in a brilliant, enchanting display.
But what this brought this time was deadly intent!
The most magnificent Tian Fang City had already been destroyed, for it was the gateway that held back the Heavenly Court's army. The Heavenly River flowed into Xuan Du from there, making Tian Fang City equivalent to Xuan Du's front door.
Emperor Qing had led his forces to block the Heavenly Court's army there, precisely because Tian Fang City was of utmost importance.
Tian Fang City had gathered Xuan Du's most powerful forces, leaving the other divine cities much weaker. The Heavenly Court's army had already arrived here. Along the way, Qin Mu and the others saw city after city destroyed, shattered into pieces.
These divine cities had far fewer troops gathered, nowhere near Tian Fang City's strength, so they were easily broken without even requiring a Tianzun to act.
Along the way, they saw many Xuan Du divine beings captured, imprisoned in cages—these divine beings were the spoils of war for the various Heavenly Court military lords.
As for the countless corpses floating in the starry sky, the dead included gods and demons, but more numerous were the living beings of Xuan Du.
They were demigods, but among demigods there were also ordinary beings who couldn't cultivate, or could barely reach the realm of deities.
The captured Xuan Du beings were also countless in number, herded into the holds of tower ships. These people and the captured Xuan Du divine beings would all become slaves of the various military lords, sent to different places or sold to the mines of the various heavens.
"The Xuan Du that once stood so high above—who would have thought it would come to this?" Tian Shu sighed with deep emotion.
They sped up, avoiding the Heavenly Court's army, heading toward the Heavenly Duke of Xuan Du.
The Heavenly Dao baleful aura grew thicker and more intense. The Heavenly baleful energy was so powerful that the Execution Platform in Qin Mu and the others' heavenly palaces grew stronger as well. The baleful energy formed blades, howling and raging across the Execution Platform.
Although their cultivation was improving, the five of them felt heavy-hearted.
The stronger the Heavenly baleful energy, the greater the number of sacred beings and living creatures who had died in Xuan Du.
"Will the baleful energy condense to form the fiftieth Heavenly Dao Dao Soldier?" the Butcher murmured.
"No. Qiang Tianfei will bring the Execution Platform from the Ancestral Court's sacred ground and sweep away all the Heavenly Dao baleful energy."
Qin Mu's eyes flickered as he said: "The Great Emperor won't miss this chance to let the God-Slaying Mystic Blade mature!"
Suddenly, the sound of a zither came, and space leaped rapidly. Qin Mu's heart stirred. He followed the sound and saw the figure of a beautiful woman flash past the bank of the Heavenly River, with Fire Tianzun's figure behind her.
Fire Tianzun held the Dao Fire Ancestral Land in one hand, the massive nine-tier Dao Fire altar balanced atop his head as he strode forward, his figure imposing, chasing after Moon Tianzun.
"I wonder if there's a chance to ambush Fire Tianzun?"
Just as this thought crossed his mind, he suddenly sensed something and quickly turned around. He saw Hong Tianzun arriving through the air, his sleeves billowing.
"Let's go!"
Qin Mu's figure rose, and he was about to use spatial techniques to take the four of them and evade Hong Tianzun, when suddenly a stretch of starry sky appeared in Xuan Du.
At first, the starry sky was just a small galaxy, but then it spun and expanded. Vast divine consciousness manifested in Xuan Du, turning illusion into reality, causing stars to swell and stand between Hong Tianzun and Qin Mu and the others.
"Lang Wan God King!"
Hong Tianzun chuckled lightly and flew across that stretch of starry sky, but then he saw one of the stars suddenly evolve into a heavenly realm, catching him off guard and sending him stumbling into that realm.
"A minor trick."
Hong Tianzun sneered, leaped up, and jumped out of that heavenly realm, passing through layer upon layer of stars. But just as he leaped out of that realm, he found himself in another heavenly realm.
Layer upon layer of heavenly realms were like paintings within paintings, flowers within flowers—one layer stacked on another, one layer covering another.
Seeing Hong Tianzun trapped, Qin Mu relaxed and looked toward the source of the divine consciousness. He saw Lang Wan God King walking on the Heavenly River, cold and serene, starlight flowing like flowing water beneath her feet.
Where she passed, the Heavenly Court's army silenced their war drums, lowered their weapons, and stared at her in a daze. Only after she had gone did they seem to wake from a dream, and the slaughter resumed.
Qin Mu gazed from afar at the beauty on the river. She looked back at him and waved from a distance.