Chapter 1524: A Single Finger Breaks the Vast Sky (Please Vote for Monthly Tickets!)
Tần Mục stood at the bow of the ship, his excitement beyond words. This golden ship was still in the process of continuous self-repair. The broken bricks and tiles on the deck floated in the air, reassembling themselves. The collapsed great halls seemed to flow back through time—fallen pillars righted themselves, palace walls rebuilt themselves, and soon, from a state of ruin, bricks and tiles were added layer upon layer until it was restored to pristine condition.
This ship was like a colossal beast awakening from slumber, possessing its own wisdom, its own thoughts. It often felt that its talents went unused, and now was the moment to display its full capabilities.
It sailed into the River of Primordial Chaos, breaking through the waves like a great beast, forcing the chaos to part on all sides.
"This ship is perfect in every way, except its acceleration seems a bit slow..."
Tần Mục was somewhat anxious. The World-Crossing Golden Ship was still leisurely picking up speed, perfecting itself as it accelerated. However, the ship's current speed could not match the speed of the Heavenly Venerables.
He quickly rushed to the stern and looked toward the shore. He saw that even the slowest one, Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng, had now reached the riverbank. Meanwhile, Hỏa Thiên Tôn and the others swiftly returned to their original position, carried the Dao Tree over, placed it in the River of Primordial Chaos, and gave chase toward the golden ship.
At this moment, the golden ship was still leisurely accelerating.
The Dao Tree drew closer and closer to the golden ship. The five great Heavenly Venerables stood atop the tree. Cung Thiên Tôn took the lead, her divine consciousness erupting as she launched an assault toward Tần Mục on the ship!
Tần Mục's divine consciousness exploded outward, manifesting the Divine Consciousness Great Luo Heaven to withstand Cung Thiên Tôn's mental onslaught. Their divine consciousnesses transformed in countless ways, attacking and defending with great skill. Even though Cung Thiên Tôn's divine consciousness was far more profound than Tần Mục's, she could not break through his Divine Consciousness Great Luo Heaven, which he had learned from Thái Đế, in a short time.
However, the Dao Tree was drawing closer and closer to the World-Crossing Golden Ship. Before long, they would be able to board the vessel.
"Mục Thiên Tôn, aren't you supposed to be formidable?"
Suddenly, Tổ Thần Vương soared into the air, leaping toward the golden ship. Behind him, layers of heavenly palaces formed a vast Great Heavenly Court radiating divine light. His primordial spirit sat within the Great Heavenly Court, his body immense. With a single strike, he unleashed overwhelming heavenly might!
With a thunderous boom, his primordial spirit's giant hand shattered Tần Mục's Divine Consciousness Great Luo Heaven. He pressed down toward Tần Mục on the ship, laughing: "Didn't you single-handedly hold your own against seven Heavenly Venerables? A tiger fallen to the plains is bullied by dogs. You took advantage of our aging to humiliate us—did you ever think this day would come?"
Tần Mục smiled slightly and pointed a finger. Tổ Thần Vương's expression changed drastically as he felt the power of this finger was utterly unstoppable. In haste, he hurriedly blocked!
"Ten Thousand Realm Heavenly Seal!"
Although he used this divine ability in a rush, the Heavenly Dao was vast and boundless. In an instant, ten thousand realms of Heavenly Dao resonated and converged before him, forming a great seal!
This divine ability was his masterpiece after becoming the Heavenly Duke—his strongest defense!
Boom!
A terrifying shockwave blasted him, along with his primordial spirit and heavenly court, flying backward. Tổ Thần Vương's body trembled violently. The Ten Thousand Realm Heavenly Seal collapsed and shattered. The overwhelming impact caused excruciating pain throughout his limbs and bones. His skin burst open, evaporating into wisps of primordial chaos energy.
Behind him, his heavenly court rumbled and shook, actually being split apart by the force—from a single entity directly split into thirty-five heavenly palaces and twenty-nine precious halls!
Behind him, Hỏa Thiên Tôn reached out and caught the flying Tổ Thần Vương, letting him land on the Dao Tree.
Tổ Thần Vương let out a muffled groan. Trembling, he raised his arms to see that the skin on them had been completely annihilated, exposing flesh and white bone. Terror filled his heart.
What horrified him was not that he had been injured, but the power of Tần Mục's strike!
Throughout history, Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng's Divine Origin Finger had always been the most powerful divine ability among the Ten Heavenly Venerables—one of the few great primordial abilities. Even though the Divine Origin Finger was no longer Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng's strongest technique, its power still left one with lingering dread.
Yet the power of Tần Mục's strike far surpassed that finger of Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng!
Although it was also a single finger, although Tần Mục's cultivation was far inferior to Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng's, the profound mysteries contained within Tần Mục's finger strike were immeasurably deeper than the Divine Origin Finger and other great primordial abilities!
On the other side, Cung Thiên Tôn blew her horn, strengthening everyone's blood and qi. The horn's sound suppressed Tần Mục's blood and qi, causing his vitality to suddenly decline.
Everyone soared into the air. Even the decrepit Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng felt his blood and qi surge, an aged shout escaping his lips as he leaped toward the golden ship!
Tần Mục's eyes flashed with killing intent. He pointed a finger from afar, and Cung Thiên Tôn's horn flew out of her hands.
Tần Mục pointed repeatedly. Hỏa Thiên Tôn dodged in panic, Hư Thiên Tôn's lips stained with blood, Tổ Thần Vương tumbled and rolled to avoid the strikes. Only Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng managed to jump onto the golden ship, only to be kicked off by Tần Mục with a flying kick!
Cung Thiên Tôn hurriedly unleashed her divine consciousness to catch Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng. The others landed on the Dao Tree, their hearts still pounding with fear.
"What a powerful finger!"
Hư Thiên Tôn praised, then said with some confusion: "But it seems this fellow only has that one move, back and forth. And that finger has absolutely no variation..."
Hỏa Thiên Tôn, Cung Thiên Tôn, and Tổ Thần Vương also wore strange expressions, each glancing toward Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng. Back in the day, Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng also only had that one move, relying on the Divine Origin Finger to get by among the Heavenly Venerables for many years, until he obtained a Dao Fruit and comprehended other primordial abilities.
Now Tần Mục's situation was quite similar to that of Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng back then.
Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng had been kicked in the face by Tần Mục, all his teeth gone. He panted heavily: "If he only knows that one move, then we have nothing to fear from him..."
Tần Mục stood at the stern with his hands on his hips, laughing heartily: "Who said I only have one finger? Just now I used my index finger, called the Thương Dương Finger. I also have the Quan Xung Finger, the Thieu Trạch Finger, the Thieu Xung Finger, and the Thieu Thương Finger! If you don't believe me, come and try!"
However, everyone already knew his secret. Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng sneered, his voice muffled: "He talks a big game, but he's just using different fingers to perform the same move."
Hỏa Thiên Tôn said solemnly: "If he only has that one move, then boarding the ship will be simple!"
The Dao Tree charged forward once more.
Tần Mục was also greatly troubled. Indeed, he only had one move—called the Hồng Mông Finger—which was easily seen through. No matter which finger he used, it was always the same Hồng Mông Finger technique.
This divine ability was something he had comprehended from the Dao patterns on the walls of the Di La Palace. It was indeed powerful, full of might and countless mysteries. But the biggest problem was that he had never truly understood the secrets of the Hồng Mông nguyên khí runes; he could only barely imitate them.
Moreover, his Hồng Mông Finger imitated the Hồng Mông Dao patterns of the Di La Palace Master, but he was imitating the static structure of the Dao patterns. He had roughly copied them, but there was no variation whatsoever.
This resulted in him only having that one move, unable to change tactics.
Compared to treasures, the greatest advantage of divine abilities was their versatility. For example, a dragon-type ability—under the control of the practitioner, the dragon could fly through the sky, twist and turn, grow or shrink, come and go freely.
But Tần Mục's Hồng Mông Finger was straightforward—once fired, it could not change trajectory. Whether it hit depended entirely on whether the opponent dodged and whether they could dodge in time.
"The World-Crossing Golden Ship is still accelerating, and I simply cannot evade these five Heavenly Venerables..."
Hỏa Thiên Tôn and the others adjusted their strategy and attacked again. Tần Mục gritted his teeth and continued using the Hồng Mông Finger. However, this time the five Heavenly Venerables dealt with his straightforward move much more easily—they only needed to borrow force in midair to dodge the strike.
Tần Mục inwardly lamented, thinking: "This ship is too big. If it were smaller, it could accelerate faster..."
The moment this thought crossed his mind, the incomparably massive World-Crossing Golden Ship suddenly shrank rapidly. In no time, it transformed from an immeasurable colossus into a great ship about a hundred trượng long!
Tần Mục was both shocked and delighted, feeling that the World-Crossing Golden Ship's acceleration was now much faster than before.
Seeing this, Hỏa Thiên Tôn and the others urgently channeled all their power into the Dao Tree, lunging toward the golden ship.
They were secretly anxious. Judging by the ship's rate of acceleration, it wouldn't be long before it surpassed their speed and left them far behind!
Tần Mục laughed: "The golden ship forged by the Di La Palace Master to cross the great calamity of destruction is truly extraordinary! But as a World-Crossing Golden Ship, how could it lack means to defend against the ravages of the destruction calamity? If it can withstand the destruction calamity itself, how could it not withstand a few mere Heavenly Venerables?"
The moment his words fell, the runes on the great ship lit up. Layers of Hồng Mông golden light flowed like water, covering the entire ship, then bloomed outward, forming layer upon layer of golden heavens, like golden firmaments imprinted with Hồng Mông runes.
Hỏa Thiên Tôn and the others arrived, unleashing various divine abilities against the Hồng Mông golden light. They caused ripples to tremble across its surface, but they could not even break through the outermost layer of golden light.
The World-Crossing Golden Ship accelerated even more, leaving the Dao Tree and the five Heavenly Venerables far behind as it sped away.
The five Heavenly Venerables chased for a while, but the Dao Tree gradually slowed and finally came to a stop.
On the Dao Tree, the five Heavenly Venerables stood on the branches, looking at each other, unsure whether they should continue the pursuit.
"Let's go back."
Lang Tuyên Thần Hoàng said shakily: "There's no way we can catch up to that fellow. I'm about to die of old age; I can't hold on much longer. I need to wait for Hạo Thiên Tôn to save me..."
The group turned back, each wearing a worried expression.
Tần Mục's escape from their grasp this time made them somewhat uneasy. The current Tần Mục could no longer be ignored.
On the World-Crossing Golden Ship, Tần Mục stood at the mast. The primordial chaos energy rushed toward him, stirring his robes. The wind stirred up by the destruction calamity was unexpectedly refreshing.
"The Heavenly Venerables hold all the power in the world, their influence overwhelming. The young masters of the Di La Palace are locked in open and covert struggles, scheming for the future era!"
Tần Mục gripped the golden rigging of the mast, spreading his arms wide against the wind, laughing heartily: "They are all petty, scheming creatures!"
The World-Crossing Golden Ship rumbled as it surged past the ruins of the Ngọc Kinh City between two great rivers of primordial chaos, charging onto the surface of the second great chaos river and speeding away.
He laughed aloud. Waves rose on the river's surface, as if some infinitely furious demon was stirring up trouble. Suddenly, a massive whirlpool formed ahead, and from within the whirlpool, countless arms reached out, all grabbing toward the golden ship!
The World-Crossing Golden Ship grew faster and faster, passing beneath hands large enough to blot out the sky, riding the wind and breaking through the waves as it sped away!
"A long boat breaks waves for ten billion years—dangerous on the way here, swift on the way out! Once I have leveled the Heavenly Venerables and swept away the demonic miasma, I shall return to the past era, as Young Master Mục, and fight you all to my heart's content!"
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