Chapter 1487: The Stowaway Descends
Everyone left one after another. Wei Suifeng hesitated for a moment, then pulled Shujun and followed the others. His combat power was not inferior to Qin Mu's, but this trip back from the ancestral court's Yujing City had consumed too much of his mana, and he still had not fully recovered.
If he stayed here, he would only distract Qin Mu.
"Junior brother, do not raise your cultivation to the Yujing realm!"
Wei Suifeng looked back: "Yujing is a trap! Cultivating to the Yujing realm means bolstering the strength of the Miluo Palace Master, allowing him to descend faster!"
Youming Crown Prince did not leave with the others. His mana was extremely profound—purely in terms of mana, he even surpassed the King of Yin.
Qin Mu glanced at him and shook his head: "Your Highness, your divine powers are far inferior to mine. Even if your mana can match mine, defeating you would only take me one move."
He moved his mind slightly, unleashing the twenty-third heaven divine power of the Dao realm—the Great Ultimate evolving into yin and yang—and said: "Can you understand it?"
Youming Crown Prince studied it carefully, his face showing shame. He cupped his fists, turned, and left.
Qin Mu dispersed the divine power and said to the Southern Emperor Zhuque, who had not yet left: "Sister, your physical body has not yet recovered, and you have little combat power. There is no need to stay here. Yan'er, take your mother to the Tianyin Realm and ask Lady Tianyin to forge her a new body."
Southern Emperor Zhuque hesitated for a moment, then said: "Take care of yourself."
Qin Mu's gaze then fell on Ming Huang. He raised his hand and took out another physical body refined from World Tree branches, saying: "Ming Huang, go to Yankang and see Emperor Yanxiu. Emperor Yanxiu will arrange for someone to take you to see the Red Emperor. He only has his consciousness left and can move into this body. After you see the Red Emperor, you should also go to the Tianyin Realm. Lady Tianyin will grant this body life."
Ming Huang frowned and said: "In the past, I was the Heavenly Emperor of the Chiming Era. In this battle, I should fight alongside you..."
Qin Mu shook his head: "I am the Pastoral Heavenly Venerable. I tell you to leave—will you not leave?"
Ming Huang hesitated, then turned and left.
The Mute walked over, planted the Liuli Qingtian Banner in front of Qin Mu, then turned and left.
The Blind Man looked at the Mute, then at Qin Mu, hesitating somewhat. Qin Mu revealed a smile: "Blind Grandpa, rest assured, I will activate your formation to its utmost limit, letting that prehistoric being understand your power!"
The Blind Man said in a low voice: "Be careful. If you cannot win, then—then—"
He lowered his voice even further: "Then run! The Lame Man taught you before—if you can't win, run. It's not shameful. Even if you run, no one has the right to blame you for not using your life to protect them. If the sky falls, it shouldn't always be you holding it up alone. And the sky falling isn't something you caused. As long as you survive, there is hope..."
He had much more to tell Qin Mu, but Granny Si's voice came from afar, calling for him. The Blind Man could only hurry to catch up with them.
Qin Mu relaxed, watching the setting sun descend.
He planted Taiyi's walking stick into the ground and took out a willow leaf to stick on his forehead—that was Taiyi's Dao tree leaf.
He sat cross-legged on the ground, his face calm as he faced the split mountain ahead.
The remaining light of the setting sun moved from his chest to his chin, then gradually rose again as darkness slowly covered his face, drowning his eyes.
The afterglow spilled onto the World Tree at the center of the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains. Xu Shenghua bathed in the glow, and at this moment Lan Yutian arrived, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.
"In the past, Taiyi guarded this place. No matter how violent the uprising of the Great Black Mountains was, people's hearts remained at peace."
Xu Shenghua said calmly: "Now that Taiyi is gone, people's hearts are in chaos, confidence is lost. Only now do we realize that Taiyi was the pillar of support."
Lan Yutian said: "Some people—when they are here, you don't feel their presence, nor do you notice their role. It is only when they are gone that you feel the loss of the backbone. And my brother is now becoming that backbone."
Xu Shenghua said softly: "He left me here because he knows my Dao heart is strong enough, without weaknesses, and most reliable. I will not be tempted by the Dao dew. Lan Yutian, why did you also stay?"
Lan Yutian revealed a smile, looking toward Qin Mu's direction, which was already shrouded in darkness: "If my brother cannot win this battle, I will inherit his responsibility and become the backbone of this era!"
His voice gradually lowered but grew firmer: "I will abandon my own path and force myself to become... the Imperial Heavenly Venerable!"
The afterglow passed over them, and darkness engulfed them.
Above their heads, stars emerged one by one, the constellations shining with brilliance.
Layer upon layer of void gradually lowered. Taiyi's Dao tree appeared once more, Dao dew dripping from the leaves.
At the same time, among the Hundred Thousand Black Mountains, a split Great Black Mountain lit up. Divine light surged, transforming into a giant eye between the two halves of the mountain!
In the eye, a tall, thin figure walked step by step closer, his form growing taller and taller, like the vertical pupil of the eye standing upright!
Ahead, Qin Mu took a long breath, activating the Tyrant Body Three Elixirs Technique he had comprehended over these days. One celestial palace after another clanged into existence, emerging behind his head. The stacked celestial palaces together formed a great Heavenly Court!
In the great Heavenly Court built from twenty-three celestial palaces, each of Qin Mu's primordial spirits stepped forward.
Qin Mu reached out and grabbed—the divine bow fell into his hand!
Around him, the Spiritual Fetus Divine Treasury domain expanded. Behind him, a World Tree rose steadily, growing taller and taller, covering the heavens.
His main primordial spirit stood beneath the tree, his body standing tall.
Qin Mu drew the bow. At this moment, his main primordial spirit behind him extended a hand, drawing the divine bow together with him. In the other celestial palaces, each primordial spirit simultaneously pulled the bowstring!
Whoosh—
The divine bow was drawn to its limit in an instant. His cuồng bạo mana poured entirely into the bow, while at the same time the great Dao of heaven and earth roared, spiritual power and spiritual energy howled in, transforming into a torrent sweeping across the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains!
Above his head, a massive vortex a thousand li in radius appeared—a vortex formed by the spiritual power and spiritual energy of the ancestral court!
At the center of the vortex, spiritual power and spiritual energy converged madly, forming a pillar of light that crashed down toward the divine bow. The power of this bow grew stronger and stronger, and the fluctuations it emitted became more and more terrifying!
Ahead, the split Great Black Mountain split even wider. In the vertical eye's pupil, the tall, thin strange man grew taller and taller. The single eye on his forehead looked down at Qin Mu below, as if it could see him, revealing a mocking expression.
He was still traversing the destroyed universe, walking toward the future world. Even as the great calamity of annihilation tore at him, his steps remained steady.
Qin Mu's expression did not change. His hands drawing the divine bow remained utterly still.
The tall, thin strange man continued walking forward. With each step he took, the black mountains on both sides trembled continuously, crumbling and softening. The mountain bodies were petrified World Trees, extremely hard, yet now the rocks were shattering, crumbling and falling with a pattering sound!
But before these black stones could hit the ground, they were lifted by some unknown force and floated in the air.
Finally, the tall, thin strange man's face emerged first from the mountain body, revealing the vertical eye at his brow!
Despite having to withstand the grinding of the great calamity of annihilation, his power remained incomparably formidable!
Buzz—
The arrow left the string and flew out. In the next moment, it arrived at the tall, thin strange man's brow!
The strange man's mocking expression deepened. Just as Qin Mu's astonishingly powerful arrow arrived at his brow, light of the Dao flickered in his eye, freezing the arrow in place!
Twang! Twang! Twang!
One after another, bowstrings vibrated. Qin Mu drew and fired again and again, streams of arrow light shooting toward the strange man's brow almost simultaneously!
In an instant, he had drawn the divine bow countless times. The bowstring grew scorching hot, and the ancestral court's spiritual power and spiritual energy gathered from the sky were consumed by more than half in that brief moment. The thousand-li spiritual vortex suddenly became extremely thin!
Qin Mu continued to draw and fire madly. The spiritual vortex shrank rapidly. Finally, with the last arrow he fired, the gathered spiritual power and spiritual energy were completely exhausted!
The moment the spiritual power and spiritual energy were depleted, Qin Mu discarded the divine bow, reached back with his hand, grabbed the Liuli Qingtian Banner, and leaped into the air!
As his body rose into the air, he leaned backward—not standing straight, but arching backward to an astonishing degree!
His hands gripped the Liuli Qingtian Banner. Within the banner's Twenty-Eight Heavens, countless treasures flashed with light like stars in those heavens. The runes and formations imprinted on the treasures all activated, their power rising to the extreme in an instant!
Behind Qin Mu, each primordial spirit also activated its mana. The celestial palaces stood in layered array, the great Dao of the Heavenly Court roared, further elevating the power of the treasures in the Twenty-Eight Heavens—vaguely threatening to exceed what these treasures could bear!
Qin Mu swung the Qingtian Banner, using the Twenty-Eight Heavens as a hammer, and smashed it fiercely toward those arrows!
Those arrows had been frozen before the strange man's eye by the Dao light of his vertical brow. Even though Qin Mu had fired so many arrows in an instant, he had not broken through the limit of his defense.
But at this moment, the Liuli Qingtian Banner smashed down fiercely!
"Get..."
Qin Mu roared. As he swung the hammer down, arms extended from his armpits, gripping the handle of the Qingtian Banner, pushing his strength to the absolute limit!
"...back there!"
The arrows, struck by this blow, finally broke through the defense of the strange man's single eye and pierced into it!
Boom!
The power within the arrows exploded completely. The strange man's head reeled backward, falling back into his own era, about to tumble back into that universe of great annihilation!
As long as he was knocked back, even if he could crawl over again, his vitality would be greatly damaged!
A hint of joy appeared on Qin Mu's face: "Success?"
But at this moment, a palm pierced through the mountain body, gripping the crumbling, collapsing black mountain.
Qin Mu's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly swung the Liuli Qingtian Banner, smashing it fiercely toward that tall, thin, enormous palm!
At the same time, another tall, thin, enormous palm pierced through the mountain body, gripping the other half of the black mountain. The giant strange eye between the mountain halves suddenly became incomparably scorching hot, like flames shooting into the sky!
Just as the Liuli Qingtian Banner was about to smash into one of the palms, suddenly a massive face broke through the mountain body and appeared before Qin Mu in an instant!
The face opened its mouth wide, and as the roar erupted, surging Dao sounds slammed directly into Qin Mu's body, blasting him flying backward. The Liuli Qingtian Banner could not strike down at all!
Qin Mu quickly flipped over in midair, stabbing the Qingtian Banner into the ground. With a slight rotation, the Twenty-Eight Heavens manifested, layer upon layer of heavens blocking the terrifying impact of the Dao sound.
He reached out and grabbed Taiyi's walking stick, looking up. The tall, thin strange man had already stepped one leg out from the mountain body, squeezing out half his form!