Chapter 1501: Living Beings Striving to Cross
Tần Mục walked along the palaces of these cultivators who had attained the Dao, stopping at each palace to contemplate the profound mysteries of the Great Dao contained within these treasured halls, reaping considerable gains.
Comparing with Tiều Phu's method of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces and Seventy-Two Treasured Halls of the Great Heavenly Court, the treasured halls in this ancestral court's Ngọc Kinh Thành did not follow the path of innate Dao guarding the acquired Dao, but rather the path of the innate guarding the innate.
"If Teacher Tiều Phu's method can succeed, perhaps one can break free from the control of the Lord of Di La Cung."
Tần Mục mused. In Tiều Phu's method, the Seventy-Two Treasured Halls represented the innate Dao, while the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces represented the acquired Dao—the innate guarding the acquired—thereby cultivating a true Heavenly Court realm and achieving a solid foundation.
The difference between the two seemed to be only the Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces, but there was a fundamental distinction. Tiều Phu's method was led by the acquired Dao, with the innate Dao merely serving as support.
Tiều Phu himself did not cultivate this method but had passed it on to Giang Bạch Khuê.
Back then, when Thái Hoàng Thiên transmitted the Dao, the former Diên Khang Quốc Sư ascended the altar. Tiều Phu the Sage questioned him, and Giang Bạch Khuê answered, earning Tiều Phu's approval and permission to ascend the altar.
Afterward, Giang Bạch Khuê spent several years selecting the thirty-six most suitable Daos from the three hundred and sixty acquired Great Daos, choosing his own path of cultivation.
Tiều Phu the Sage had only speculated that this method could cultivate a true Heavenly Court, creating a great expert surpassing the Ten Heavenly Venerables. But whether it could actually cultivate the Heavenly Court, he could not help with—it could only rely on Giang Bạch Khuê's own wisdom.
"Third Junior Brother's acquired Heavenly Palaces have already been opened, and his Seventy-Two Treasured Halls have also been cultivated through his own methods. Then he has no need to come to Ngọc Kinh Thành. The Ngọc Kinh realm is no longer a trap for him."
Tần Mục continued forward, sighing inwardly. His own cultivation path had been fraught with difficulties, but Giang Bạch Khuê's path was already smooth sailing.
If Giang Bạch Khuê cultivated to the Đế Tọa realm, then he would be the culmination of the civilization of the past million years—bar none!
"Strange, the Ten Heavenly Venerables have split into two factions."
He stopped before another treasured hall, examining the traces of battle here. He discovered that those who had acted were no longer Hạo Thiên Tôn and the others, but Hiểu Thiên Tôn, Nghiên Thiên Phi, and others.
The Ten Heavenly Venerables had split into two groups, each fighting for themselves. From the footprints they left behind, one group was led by Hạo Thiên Tôn, while the other was led by Hiểu Thiên Tôn.
"The Ten Heavenly Venerables have split. Strange, from the footprints, there are only Nine Heavenly Venerables—Nường Thiên Phi is not among them..."
Tần Mục made his judgment. The Ten Heavenly Venerables were circling around the outer treasured halls, contemplating the Great Dao contained within each hall. Clearly, besides Hạo Thiên Tôn receiving guidance from a "wise man" who understood the function of the Seventy-Two Treasured Halls, Hiểu Thiên Tôn also had a "wise man" guiding him!
What was strange was that Nường Thiên Phi had neither sided with Hạo Thiên Tôn nor with Hiểu Thiên Tôn.
Nường Thiên Phi was the Thái Đế. Logically speaking, the Thái Đế would not submit to anyone. But the Thái Đế was also a fickle person, very good at adapting.
If she excluded herself from both factions, she would be isolated and without support—very disadvantageous.
Therefore, the strangeness lay in the Thái Đế's decision to fight alone!
This did not match her personality.
"They are all trying to organize the Dao patterns of the Seventy-Two Treasured Halls before the other side, cultivating the Seventy-Two Treasured Halls."
Tần Mục's eyes flickered, and he said in a low voice: "If it were me, I would, while contemplating, also take away a few treasured halls, preventing the other side from obtaining the Dao patterns of the Seventy-Two Treasured Halls, cutting off their path to the Heavenly Court."
Before long, Tần Mục stood with a grim face outside a ruin. Only broken walls and a huge pit remained of that site.
The Ten Heavenly Venerables, as he had predicted, had taken away this treasured hall!
He just didn't know whether it was Hạo Thiên Tôn or Hiểu Thiên Tôn who had done it.
"It could also be that Nường Thiên Phi took a treasured hall as capital for negotiating with the other Heavenly Venerables. But with only Nường Thiên Phi alone, she shouldn't have that kind of strength... How utterly shameless!"
Tần Mục said indignantly, then continued forward. Before long, he arrived at the ruins of another treasured hall—that hall had also been taken away, no longer here.
Tần Mục's forehead veins bulged. The Ten Heavenly Venerables' actions were understandable. When one side discovered that the other had taken a treasured hall, the intention was obvious. Then, as bargaining chips, they too would take a hall that the other side had not yet had time to contemplate.
In this way, each side held one treasured hall, preventing the other from achieving perfection, so neither side would suffer a loss in the transaction.
Tần Mục steadied himself and sneered: "If I were one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, taking one treasured hall to bargain with the other side—not gaining an advantage would be a loss. So, I might as well take several more treasured halls. This way, my capital would be greater, and the other side would have to bleed with other benefits to exchange!"
Before long, he stood before another ruined treasured hall, his face black as charcoal. Clearly, someone among the Ten Heavenly Venerables had the same idea as him, taking a second treasured hall as capital.
"Utterly shameless! But then again, if I were one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, I would try to take away all the other treasured halls that hadn't been contemplated..."
He walked forward, his face growing darker and darker, veins bulging wildly on his forehead.
Sure enough, one treasured hall after another had vanished without a trace, clearly taken by Hạo Thiên Tôn, Hiểu Thiên Tôn, and the others.
These treasured halls would become capital for mutual coercion and transaction. Such underhanded dealings, the Ten Heavenly Venerables were even more adept at than Tần Mục.
With nothing left to contemplate along the way, Tần Mục could only continue following the path of the Ten Heavenly Venerables. As for the geographical map that Ngụy Tùy Phong had given him, he had cast it to the back of his mind.
This Ngọc Kinh Thành was extremely vast. Walking within this city, one couldn't tell at all where the places marked by Ngụy Tùy Phong were.
Suddenly, the sound of surging water came from ahead—rumbling and roaring. Tần Mục's heart stirred: "Hỗn Độn Hà? If so, I've arrived at the core position of Ngọc Kinh Thành!"
The ancestral court's Ngọc Kinh Thành was extremely dangerous. In the ancient era, the Thái Đế gathered the strongest experts of that time, including powerful ancient gods like the later Thiên Đế Thái Sơ, to explore this place, but they retreated in the face of difficulty.
However, this time Tần Mục had charged all the way here. Although there had been some perilous moments, he had not encountered any fatal danger. This was because the Ten Heavenly Venerables had been scouting ahead of him, clearing away these dangers. His journey had been smooth sailing.
But from this, one could see that the current Ten Heavenly Venerables were far more powerful than the Thái Đế, Thái Sơ, and other beings of that era.
Finally, Tần Mục saw the Hỗn Độn Hà ahead.
He gazed across the river but could not see what was on the other side.
He surveyed the surrounding geography and compared it with the geographical map left by Ngụy Tùy Phong, but could not find any similar location.
"This river must have changed course, no longer at the position marked on the map. The geographical map Senior Brother gave me is completely useless!"
Tần Mục shook his head, giving up on finding the markers on the map. He opened his vertical eye on his forehead to examine the great river, thinking: "How did the Ten Heavenly Venerables cross the river?"
He looked toward the Hỗn Độn Hà, and his vertical eye immediately saw clearly what was within the river.
Within the river was the scene of a universe being destroyed. Countless living beings struggled amidst the great calamity of destruction, trying to escape, but one by one they were annihilated in the cataclysm, wiped out without a trace!
Even beings like the Ten Heavenly Venerables had no power to resist in the great calamity of destruction—they were directly annihilated, reduced to a pure state of energy, formless, qualityless, and bodiless!
And in the chaos, countless powerful living beings were striving to cross, attempting to pass through the Hỗn Độn Hà and enter this Ngọc Kinh Thành.
Tần Mục's heart stirred. Putting himself in their position, if he were in the midst of this great calamity of destruction, then looking up, he would surely see an extremely spectacular sight.
When the entire universe was collapsing and being destroyed, squeezed, stretched, surrounded by chaos on all sides—all around were worlds in destruction and people struggling helplessly.
At that time, when everyone looked up, they would all see an ancient and powerful divine city standing within the chaos, unmoved no matter how fierce or terrifying the great calamity of destruction was.
And that divine city was the ancestral court's Ngọc Kinh Thành beneath Tần Mục's feet!
Presumably, this was the sight seen by the people in that universe being destroyed!
And from Tần Mục's perspective, these powerful living beings were merely struggling in the Hỗn Độn Hà, trying to reach the shore.
Only this could explain why the powerful beings of that destroyed universe were all striving to swim toward the river's surface.
"The Lord of Di La Cung is remarkable, able to forge such a divine city to survive the great calamity of destruction! But where is the World Tree?"
He scanned the Hỗn Độn Hà. The eye on his forehead used the eggshell of Thái Dịch, capable of penetrating the chaos energy. After a search, Tần Mục finally located the World Tree of the ancestral court.
The World Tree's roots stretched boundlessly, situated in the destroyed universe. Its roots drifted about, looking like a giant octopus with countless tentacles swimming through the chaos.
Many people were also struggling in the calamity of destruction, striving to swim toward the World Tree's roots, trying to grab hold of them.
Many powerful beings had already climbed onto the World Tree's roots. Those powerful beings tried to split open the tree roots, merging themselves into them, thereby avoiding the great calamity of destruction.
They hid within the tree roots, using the World Tree to preserve their lives.
As long as those stowaways could convert mass and energy, stealing the mass and energy of the future universe, they could take the opportunity to escape from the great calamity of destruction and gain new life!
However, from Tần Mục's perspective, the World Tree was currently tottering, barely able to protect itself!
He also saw a towering giant, wielding an axe, chopping at the World Tree!
That giant's body was hazy, like a phantom. It should be Thái Dịch from the future universe, felling this precious tree that had existed for sixteen cosmic epochs, cutting it down to cut off the hopes of those stowaways!
And those prehistoric powerhouses who had already climbed onto the tree roots were wailing and cursing at the giant's phantom. Presumably, Thái Dịch had already gathered all sorts of vicious curses upon himself.
"Thái Dịch is truly fierce!"
Tần Mục praised, then withdrew his gaze.
He didn't have full confidence in crossing this Hỗn Độn Hà. He saw many powerful beings in the river—some reduced to mere bones, some to souls alone, some with only their Dao Fruits remaining—stirring restlessly in the river, trying to grab hold of those crossing, dragging them down into the water so they themselves could reach the shore.
Falling into the river meant certain death!
"So how did the Ten Heavenly Venerables cross the river?"
Tần Mục looked into the river and suddenly, faintly through the chaos energy, saw the figure of Hiểu Thiên Tôn. He was standing on a Dao Tree, using it as a boat, sailing toward the opposite shore!
His gaze swept further into the distance, and his heart leaped—the Ten Heavenly Venerables were all currently in the river!