Chapter 1631: The Dao Inquiry at the Chaos Hall
"Mi Luo Dao Burial—could it be a combined attack technique they comprehended from studying the Dao patterns of the Mi Luo Palace, or perhaps the Hongmeng runes?"
Qin Mu walked into the chaos, his mind still replaying the combined strike of those sixty-seven Dao-achievers' phantom figures.
That strike was clearly a terrifying technique designed specifically against him. He could tell that when facing Mi Luo Dao Burial, all his divine powers and Dao techniques were utterly useless, as if completely suppressed, leaving him without any power to resist.
Had this happened anywhere else, Qin Mu might not have died, but severe injury would have been unavoidable—likely taking hundreds or thousands of years to fully recover.
However, their strike had occurred within Qin Mu's divine treasury universe. Here, they didn't even have the qualification to make him bleed.
Of course, this was all thanks to his foresight in planting the Guixu lotus beforehand, allowing his cultivation method to achieve the great unity of birth and destruction.
Otherwise, even within his divine treasury universe, Qin Mu would have suffered severe damage if not death.
"How unwelcome am I in this prehistoric universe?"
Qin Mu frowned slightly: "In the ancestral court's Yujing City, there are only these seventy-two precious halls, and yet all seventy-two hall masters hold a grudge against me, ganging up to put me to death!"
He couldn't help but shake his head.
The esteemed Mu Heavenly Venerate—wherever he went, wasn't he loved by all and adored by everyone?
But now, in this past universe, he was being hunted and vilified by all?
Just then, he arrived before that great Chaos Hall.
He looked up and saw that ahead of him was a vast nothingness, a void like the ultimate void itself.
That Chaos Hall had no stone steps; it stood within the void, and he had no idea how to ascend it.
Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, then took a step forward. The moment his foot extended, a long stone staircase appeared beneath his feet.
The steps seemed forged from Chaos Stone, materializing out of thin air.
The instant Qin Mu's foot landed on the first step, an unimaginable pressure descended, pressing upon him from all directions!
This pressure was extremely powerful—its source seemed to be the hall's own power, yet also seemed to be Qin Mu's own power suppressing himself.
Even stranger, he heard Dao language in his ears, like a Dao inquiry—a thunderous, soul-stirring interrogation that struck deep into his heart!
This Dao language came from within the Chaos Hall, as if someone was questioning him through the Great Dao itself!
What puzzled Qin Mu was that this voice was unmistakably his own!
"What exactly is inside that hall? Another me, or someone else entirely?"
Qin Mu did not answer this Dao inquiry. Instead, he braced himself against the pressure, withdrew his other foot, and took another step forward.
But contrary to his expectations, the second stone step did not appear. Ahead of him remained nothing but void.
The pressure suddenly intensified!
"It must be because I didn't answer the Dao inquiry from within the hall that this change occurred!"
Qin Mu withdrew his foot, and the Dao inquiry came again, repeating the same question.
He pondered this Dao inquiry carefully. A Dao inquiry was difficult to express in ordinary language—whether divine language or demonic language, at best they could only convey a portion of the Dao's meaning, never fully describing it.
Dao inquiries used Dao language, which could be called the most precise language in existence, leaving no room for misunderstanding—or equally, the most universal language.
Of course, this universality applied only to Dao-achievers and those rare beings whose divine arts and Dao techniques had reached extremely high levels.
When they communicated in Dao language, there were no barriers and no misunderstandings—this was also how Qin Mu could communicate with prehistoric Dao-achievers.
Similarly, a Dao inquiry was also a divine technique, a great killing weapon. If the opponent's cultivation was inferior and their Dao heart had flaws, then a single Dao inquiry shout could plunge them into self-doubt and self-denial!
Hao Heavenly Emperor had once used this very technique to harm Qin Mu.
However, the Dao inquiry coming from the Chaos Hall was not so simple. This inquiry not only struck directly at Qin Mu's Dao heart, but the question it posed was precisely a difficult problem he had encountered in his cultivation.
"Who exactly is asking me this?"
Qin Mu frowned, enduring the ever-increasing pressure while desperately pondering the answer to this Dao inquiry.
In the past, when he had been comprehending the Dao, he had tried to solve this problem, but at that time there had been too many distractions. He had quickly set the question aside and moved on to solving other Dao techniques.
Someone had once called him a silly roe deer, and that description was quite apt.
A silly roe deer is curious about everything, able to discover many mysteries others cannot see, but it lacks the patience to get to the bottom of anything. Thus, Qin Mu had abandoned many problems along his cultivation path that he could have solved but never did.
In truth, with his current vision and experience, going back to answer these questions was no longer as difficult as it had once been.
He racked his brain, attempting to answer this Dao inquiry. Just then, the stone step beneath his feet emitted faint cracking sounds, and cracks began to appear across its surface.
Suddenly, the step's surface crumbled apart, chunks of Chaos Stone peeling off.
The Chaos Stone fell into the void below and immediately dissolved into nothingness!
Qin Mu held his breath, closed his eyes, ignored all of this, and continued to think deeply.
Just as he was about to lose his footing entirely, Qin Mu suddenly opened his eyes and spoke in Dao language, answering the question with Dao speech!
The stone step beneath his feet immediately stopped collapsing.
By the time Qin Mu finished answering the Dao inquiry, the step beneath him had unknowingly restored itself to completeness.
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief and reached up to wipe cold sweat from his brow—only then remembering that he was in his primordial spirit form and had no cold sweat. If there were any, it would be his physical body sweating profusely.
He was completely absorbed in ascending the Chaos Hall, unaware that outside the Yongjiang Heavenly Palace, his physical body's cold sweat had already flooded past his ankles, forming a small pond.
Having answered the first Dao inquiry, Qin Mu felt a great sense of relief. The omnipresent pressure vanished without a trace.
Not only that, he felt his Dao heart had become a bit more transparent, and his Dao cultivation had unknowingly increased slightly.
He took a step forward, and a second Chaos Stone step automatically materialized beneath his feet.
At the same time, from the lofty Chaos Hall above came Qin Mu's own voice again, posing the second Dao inquiry!
And this inquiry was also a difficult problem Qin Mu had encountered during his cultivation and then cast aside without solving!
"How interesting!"
Qin Mu's primordial spirit eyes gleamed with curiosity about what lay within that Chaos Hall. He thought to himself: "Could there be another me inside? Or is it my Dao heart asking the questions? I want to hurry up and get inside to see..."
His current realm was equivalent to the Lingxiao realm, which came after the Yujing realm.
Lingxiao and Dizuo were two traditional realms, and Qin Mu's understanding of them was not deep.
He had no Lingxiao Precious Hall; instead, his own cultivation method had transformed into a Chaos Hall. What he would encounter when ascending the Chaos Hall, and what lay within it, he had no idea.
He didn't even know whether what he was experiencing at this realm was something others also encountered when cultivating to the Lingxiao realm.
Did everyone who cultivated to a similar realm face the same trials?
When they stood before the Lingxiao Hall, would Dao inquiries also come from within, asking about the problems they had abandoned on their path to the Dao?
Would their Dao inquiries strike directly at their Dao hearts?
However, he couldn't afford to think too much about it.
The Chaos Stone steps beneath his feet were already beginning to crack and collapse, and the pressure he bore was constantly increasing. He had to solve the problems he had once avoided before the steps completely crumbled!
He racked his brain, throwing all his effort into solving this second Dao inquiry.
Finally, just before the steps fully collapsed, he solved the problem and answered in Dao language.
A third stone step appeared, and from the Chaos Hall came Qin Mu's voice again—another Dao inquiry, another problem he had once avoided.
Qin Mu's mind settled. He no longer rushed forward frantically but stood quietly on the steps before the Chaos Hall, solving the various problems he had abandoned during his cultivation.
Some problems he had been too lazy to solve, some he had been unable to solve at the time, and some he had simply forgotten to address.
Now, these problems blocked his path before the Chaos Hall, becoming the greatest obstacles to his entering the hall and ascending the Dizuo throne!
The debts incurred for momentary ease back then would have to be repaid sooner or later!
Now was the time of repayment, but it was also a process of filling the gaps.
Making up for the deficiencies left along his cultivation path.
Gradually, Qin Mu answered more and more Dao inquiries. His Dao heart grew increasingly complete, and his Dao cultivation slowly improved. Though each gap filled only increased his cultivation by a small amount, as he walked down step after step, small gains accumulated into something considerable.
He had already traversed over a hundred stone steps, and the Chaos Hall was right before his eyes. Yet every time he took a step forward, new Chaos Stone steps continued to appear!
Moreover, the Dao inquiries from within the Chaos Hall grew ever more profound and abstruse, making them increasingly difficult to answer!
"The Dao inquiries will eventually run out, and I will eventually ascend this hall!"
Qin Mu remained calm, neither arrogant nor impatient, steadily advancing. After who knew how much more time, he still had not managed to ascend the Chaos Hall.
He looked back and saw the Chaos Stone steps stretching over ten li behind him, like a white thread extending into Yujing City. But when he looked up, the Chaos Hall remained at the same distance—neither closer nor farther—yet he could not set foot upon it.
Qin Mu steadied himself. This realm corresponded to the Lingxiao realm, and now he understood why there were many powerful beings at the Lingxiao realm but so few at the Dizuo realm.
Those Lingxiao realm experts probably also faced various Dao inquiries testing their Dao hearts at this stage. The inquiries and pressures they faced might not be as extreme as Qin Mu's, but they were enough to trap them before the Lingxiao Hall!
Just then, the Dao inquiry from within the Chaos Hall posed a difficult question about the Dao of Taiji, concerning the principles of Taiji evolving into Yin and Yang.
Qin Mu frowned, pondering for a long time. The stone steps beneath his feet had already collapsed to the point where only enough room for one foot remained, and he still could not find the answer.
He sighed, took a step back, and landed on the step behind him.
"The Dao inquiry can be answered another day. Perhaps I can slowly ponder this difficult problem. How long have I been here? I wonder how things are outside."
His physical body slowly awakened. He saw an old ox sitting in the shade of a tree not far ahead, chest bared, noisily puffing on a water pipe. Beside him sat several Kui dragons, staring at him eagerly.
The old ox passed the water pipe over, and the ox-headed Kui dragons hurriedly took it, took a couple of puffs, then passed it on to other Kui dragons.
By the distant Tianhe riverbank, there was a pure black tiger using its tail to fish for red kun in the river. Suddenly, with a cracking sound, the black tiger hastily yanked its tail back from the river—only to find its tail shortened by a section, bitten clean off by a red kun!
The black tiger wore a mournful expression, activated its Zaohua Mystic Art, and slowly grew its tail back.
From further away in the mountains came a braying sound, a voice as unpleasant as a donkey's: "Let me have one bite, I won't eat you, just one bite—"
Qin Mu was puzzled and asked: "Senior Brother Sanduo, why are you all here?"
The old ox saw him awake and hastily stood up: "Heavenly Venerate, all Four Great Heavenly Masters have arrived. Seeing that you were cultivating, they didn't disturb you. They're currently waiting in the palace!"
"All Four Great Heavenly Masters are here?"
Qin Mu was taken aback and immediately walked toward the palace. Village Chief and the Pharmacist were drinking tea under the big tree before the palace gates, both reclining in rocking chairs. They lazily glanced at Qin Mu, and the Pharmacist laughed: "Mu'er, you've been cultivating for four months. You've finally woken up."
"Already four months?"
Qin Mu was startled. He hadn't spent much time defeating the seventy-two Dao-achiever phantoms, but answering the Dao inquiries before the Chaos Hall had likely consumed nearly four months!
"Pharmacist Grandpa, have you heard news of the negotiations between the Heavenly Court and Yankang?" Qin Mu asked hurriedly.
"Yuchenzi came looking for you once. Seeing that you wouldn't wake, he left in a hurry."
The Pharmacist thought for a moment, then said: "He seemed to say that the negotiations between the Heavenly Court and Yankang are about to break down."