Chapter 1611: The Dao Flower on the Golden Ship
"Even if there are ghosts, they'd be the two of you ghosts!"
Qin Mu boarded the Ferry-World Golden Ship. With a slight thought, the ship shrank many times over from the outside, looking like a small golden skiff. But once aboard, the ship's internal space remained extremely vast.
"Little brother, there really are ghosts on the ship."
Qin Fengqing hesitated for a moment, then said, "I saw Grandfather Ancestor."
Qin Mu was stunned for a moment, then thought of the Kai Emperor and fell silent.
"I really did see him!"
Qin Fengqing, seeing that he didn't believe it, quickly said, "You've been busy these days, and everyone else has been running around too, so I went to find Little Fatty to help me. We searched the ship for a long time, and we really did see him!"
The Little Fatty he spoke of was Taiyi. Compared to a giant like Qin Fengqing, Taishi was just a round little ball of a fatty.
Of course, this little fatty's strength was extremely high. There weren't many who could contend with the Taiji Ancient God, and he was definitely one of them.
Qin Mu's heart stirred. The golden ship slowly accelerated and sailed into the void.
"Where did you encounter him?" he asked.
Taishi said, "In one of the great halls. We saw a figure that looked like him, but when we chased after him, we could never get close. Instead, we passed right through him."
Qin Mu's expression darkened. He murmured, "It should be his imprint. The power of Fourth Young Master's strike completely erased him—even his soul's black sand wouldn't remain..."
"Little brother, do you want to go take a look?" Qin Fengqing showed a look of hope.
Although he always called Qin Mu his "bad little brother," in his heart he always believed that this bad little brother could do anything. He very much hoped that Qin Mu could find the Kai Emperor—perhaps his bad little brother would have a way to save him.
Qin Mu thought for a moment, and for some inexplicable reason, nodded.
Reason told him that the Kai Emperor could never have survived Fourth Young Master's strike, but he preferred to believe in miracles anyway.
Qin Fengqing and Taishi led the way, and Qin Mu followed them to the palace complex of the Ferry-World Golden Ship.
These palaces were built by the Master of Miluo Palace. Each palace was equivalent to a whole heaven, with vast internal space. What was strange was that the number of palaces was not fixed.
The palaces here would increase as the number of people boarding the ship increased. Even if every person in the entire universe boarded this ship, the ship would still have enough space to hold them all!
Even stranger, if you entered a palace and walked out, you would find a new palace had appeared. Even if you kept searching endlessly, you would always find palaces on the ship you had never visited before!
This was the Ferry-World Golden Ship refined by the Master of Miluo Palace!
Despite the Ferry-World Golden Ship being so miraculous, containing boundless space within, when facing the great catastrophe of the universe's destruction, this ship could not protect anyone either.
Qin Mu followed them into a palace. Qin Fengqing quickly spun around once and said, "Not here!"
He opened the palace door and rushed out, then opened another palace door and swiftly moved through: "Not here either!"
One palace door after another was opened, and more golden halls appeared on the Ferry-World Golden Ship. Gradually, Qin Fengqing had already checked several hundred halls, while new halls kept increasing. Qin Mu could only watch him bustle about.
In the distance, the palaces they had already checked were slowly disappearing, while quite a few new palaces appeared out of thin air. Qin Fengqing kept checking, stubborn and tenacious, never losing heart.
Qin Mu followed him. After who knows how long, Qin Fengqing also grew a bit tired. He opened his three eyes in confusion and murmured, "Which hall was it in? We clearly saw him..."
He opened another hall, and a faint sigh came from within. Qin Mu's spirits lifted greatly, and he hurried inside—only to see Qin Fengqing walk out with a face full of disappointment, shaking his head: "It's not him..."
Qin Mu was puzzled and looked into the hall. He saw a figure walking toward him. The two met face to face, but the figure passed right through his body.
Qin Mu was startled and looked at that figure. It was an imprint left by the Master of Miluo Palace. His face was filled with sorrow as he walked out of this palace.
Qin Mu turned to look back and suddenly saw countless living beings in this great hall—cities, walls, and all kinds of buildings.
They were living and multiplying within, happy and harmonious.
Suddenly, everyone turned to white bones in an instant. Then all the cities, walls, and buildings transformed into chaotic qi in a single moment.
Those white bones also collapsed, shattered, and turned into wisps of chaotic qi.
Qin Mu stood in a daze. Just a moment ago, there had been a world in the hall; now there was nothing at all.
He turned around and saw the imprint of the Master of Miluo Palace standing outside the hall, head raised, staring blankly into space.
Qin Mu walked to his side and looked up, but he couldn't see what the Master was looking at.
Qin Mu turned his head and saw two trails of tears glimmering at the corners of the Master of Miluo Palace's eyes. His tears were also imprinted into this space, becoming eternal.
Qin Mu stood in a daze, then did not remain there. He followed Qin Fengqing and Taishi to continue searching.
The Ferry-World Golden Ship sailed toward the Southern Heaven according to his will. The golden ship passed through the void and would need about a month or two to reach the Southern Heaven.
Qin Fengqing and Taishi were still searching the ship, and almost every hall on this ship was different. Finding the palace where they had encountered the Kai Emperor was truly too difficult.
They encountered the imprint of the Master of Miluo Palace again. This most powerful being in history had left many imprints on this ship.
Whenever his emotions surged or he felt despondent, his figure would be imprinted on this ship.
As Qin Mu and the others explored more and more palaces, they gradually encountered more Masters of Miluo Palace.
These imprints were either sorrowful, melancholic, spirited, or dejected.
The more places they explored, the more Qin Mu gradually discovered that the places where the Master of Miluo Palace appeared were basically where the beings of the First Universe had died.
"In other words, when the destruction calamity of the First Universe erupted, some palaces actually had no people in them. The number of palaces with people was limited."
He suddenly stopped in his tracks and felt that he had vaguely grasped something.
Qin Fengqing was still searching ahead, and Qin Mu tilted his head in thought: "Palaces with people and palaces without people might appear according to a certain pattern. If there is a pattern, then that means the number of palaces the Ferry-World Golden Ship can manifest is fixed. Because the number of beings in the First Universe is also fixed."
His mind spun faster and faster: "If the number of palaces is fixed, then that means we can search through all the golden halls!"
He suddenly activated his divine consciousness, visualizing the paths he had walked and the palaces he had explored, spreading them out to find their mathematical patterns.
Qin Fengqing stopped and looked back.
Qin Mu slowly caught up with them, then suddenly said, "Brother, do you know the Dark Heavenly Lord's techniques?"
Qin Fengqing was puzzled.
"I mean the Dark Heavenly Lord's method of a hundred million incarnations."
Qin Mu said, "Your mastery of the Netherworld Dao should already be on par with his. What he can do, you can probably do too."
Qin Fengqing's eyes lit up. Suddenly his body shook, and another Qin Fengqing walked out of his body.
The two Qin Fengqings looked at each other. Their cultivation was split exactly in half. Each of their bodies shook once, and each split out another Qin Fengqing.
Qin Fengqing kept splitting, and soon there were tens of thousands of him!
This was the Dark Heavenly Lord's technique.
The Dark Heavenly Lord's strongest primordial spirit was cultivated this way—a hundred million incarnations, each containing a primordial spirit, making the spirit naturally powerful.
But this method also had a weakness: the physical body was weak.
Because the Netherworld Dao rejected living flesh, this cultivation method made it very difficult to train the body to its peak. That was why the Dark Heavenly Lord's achievement in physical cultivation was not high.
Countless Qin Fengqings ran around everywhere, charging into one palace after another, while even more palaces appeared out of thin air.
Those Qin Fengqings ran while shaking their bodies, splitting out more copies of themselves.
Qin Mu's eyes flickered. The palaces he visualized grew more numerous, and the patterns within them gradually became clearer.
Taishi watched with his jaw dropped. He suddenly said, "Qin Fengqing learned the Dark Heavenly Lord's technique?"
Qin Mu shook his head: "He never learned it. The Dark Heavenly Lord is too withdrawn; very few people can actually talk with him. The Netherworld Great Dao is also extremely profound and difficult to understand, and he's too lazy to teach others."
Taishi stammered, "Then how did Qin Fengqing learn it?"
"Brother is, after all, the Earth Count. Besides, Brother and I are ultimately the same person."
Qin Mu said calmly, "He looks silly, but he's actually just as smart as I am."
Taishi thought for a moment, then said, "Then why can't you do it?"
...
Finally, Qin Fengqing finished searching the last palace. No new palaces appeared. He withdrew his incarnations one by one, showing a look of disappointment, and shook his head: "Didn't find the Old Ancestor... Little Fatty, why are your eye sockets swollen?"
Taishi hemmed and hawed, unable to speak.
Qin Mu let out a turbid breath. Looking at the palaces he had visualized and analyzing their mathematical patterns, he shook his head: "There's still one more great hall on the ship that hasn't been revealed. However, I can determine the location of this hall!"
He walked forward to an empty space, raised his hand and lightly tapped his brow. The vertical eye on his forehead opened wide.
Brilliant light like countless colored crystal shards shot out from this divine eye of his, refracting in all directions. The Moon Heavenly Lord's Scripture of Carrying the Extreme Void was pushed to its limit by him.
The crystal-like light from his eye refracted countless spatial planes. Within those strange spaces were palaces upon palaces—the internal spaces of the Ferry-World Golden Ship!
Suddenly, Qin Mu's gaze converged and shone upon one palace. The crystal in his gaze slowly rotated, turning from front to back. A strange thing happened: when the crystal turned to the back, behind the crystal, a precious hall appeared out of thin air before them!
The golden hall that had vanished from the Ferry-World Golden Ship now appeared!
"As long as you understand the mathematics, all mysteries will no longer be secrets." Taishi said meaningfully to Qin Fengqing, whose jaw was hanging open.
Qin Fengqing stared blankly at the golden hall and murmured, "If you weren't such a little fatty, I'd definitely think what you said made a lot of sense..."
Qin Mu shook out his robes, pushed open the palace doors, and stepped inside.
Before his eyes, a dao flower seemed to be composed of countless sword blades, slowly rotating.
Qin Mu stood there, neither crying nor laughing, neither smiling nor frowning, and did not move for a long time.
---
In the Heavenly Court, after the enthronement ceremony of the Hao Heavenly Emperor, things were lively for a while longer. The Hao Heavenly Emperor enfeoffed those who had rendered meritorious service, and the most eye-catching was the conferral of new Heavenly Lords.
The Dark Son of Heaven was enfeoffed as the Reincarnation Great Sage, the Dark Heavenly Lord. The Taiji Ancient God was enfeoffed as the Sun Heavenly Lord and the Moon Heavenly Lord. The Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon was enfeoffed as the Azure Dragon Heavenly Lord.
The most unexpected thing was that Long Xiao also came and was enfeoffed by the Hao Heavenly Lord as the Tenth Heavenly Lord, Lord Long Xiao, in charge of the Beast Realm.
The other Heavenly Lords, such as Fire, Void, and Ancestor, also received their own rewards, their statuses even more exalted.
After the grand occasion, the Hao Heavenly Lord ordered a campaign against the disobedient, preparing to use troops against the Western Extreme Heaven and the Northern Extreme Heaven.
The rulers of the myriad heavens returned to their own realms, and the various Heavenly Lords also returned to their territories to recruit soldiers and buy horses, preparing for the campaign.
The Fire Heavenly Lord rode in his Heavenly Lord's chariot, sitting inside with his eyes closed in meditation. The chariot traveled through the starry sky, its light blazing, leaving a long trail behind it in the stars.
Wealth without returning home is like walking in fine clothes at night.
He did not take the Spirit Energy Bridge but instead rode his chariot back to the Southern Heaven—this was the reasoning.
A Heavenly Lord must have the bearing of a Heavenly Lord.
The journey was peaceful and uneventful.
When the chariot arrived at the Southern Heaven, its speed gradually slowed. The chariot passed over the various heavens of the Southern Heaven, with commoners below kneeling and worshipping.
The Fire Heavenly Lord inspected along the way. He saw that the Southern Heaven was orderly, but also faintly showing signs of chaos, and couldn't help frowning.
The rebels were not the human race, but the demigods, burning, killing, and looting everywhere. The humans, on the other hand, remained as submissive as ever, not resisting at all.
The Fire Heavenly Lord seized a demigod and questioned him. The demigod craned his neck stubbornly and said, "We're out of money! The Southern Heaven is all farmers, silkworm raisers, and weavers. Who knows how to build a supervisory factory? Who knows how to make civilian spirit weapons? We buy everything from Yankang. Now even us masters have no money left, so we have no choice but to rebel!"
The Fire Heavenly Lord set him down and waved his hand to let him go, then fell into deep thought.
"If we don't plunder Yankang, the Southern Heaven will be very hard to maintain. The Southern Heaven is a small state with few people, a pastoral life—how can it compete with Yankang's large-scale manufacturing..."
Just as he thought this, he suddenly heard a voice laughing: "The Fire Heavenly Lord is truly a talent! To have trained the humans here so well—docile, obedient, without the slightest will to resist, and without the slightest power to resist. These people live to sixty and then get eaten by the demigods? Too late—the taste isn't good anymore. From now on, let's lower it to forty. At forty, the taste is just right."