Chapter 1668: First Visit to the Thatched Cottage
"So this is the Great Luo Heaven? It's so small?"
Qin Mu was taken aback. This Great Luo Heaven was quite different from the ones he had seen before.
Whether it was the Great Luo Heaven of the Great Emperor, or the One Qi Great Luo Heaven of Tai Chu and Heavenly Emperor Hao, they were all extremely vast and expansive, with heavens and earth, sun, moon, and stars—some carved like beautiful jade, others worlds of pure gold.
The essence of the Great Luo Heaven was the Dao's interpretation of the universe, so every Great Luo Heaven was a complete cosmos of myriad worlds.
But the Great Luo Heaven before him was pitifully small.
Though a sparrow may be small, it has all five organs. This Great Luo Heaven was small, yet behind the thatched cottage hung a small sun, and in front sank a small moon—very exquisite and delicate, revolving and cycling around this tiny Great Luo Heaven.
Qin Mu stepped forward. The sun rose from behind the cottage and came to the front, while the moon had already sunk to the back of the Great Luo Heaven.
The sunlight cast his shadow behind him, and the figure of Shang Jun was revealed.
Shang Jun had grown accustomed to lurking in his shadow. Suddenly exposed, standing in the sunlight, he seemed at a loss, frozen in place.
"Shang Jun, you weren't like this back in the village."
Qin Mu said with a gentle smile: "Back then, you were butchering pigs at the village entrance, raising your knife and bringing it down without hesitation. Even when you saw me, you showed no unease. As long as one's heart is open and honest, what does it matter if a thousand fingers point at you, or ten thousand eyes stare?"
Shang Jun remained silent.
Qin Mu approached the thatched cottage and looked it over from top to bottom. He saw that the plaque above the door read "Tai Shang" (Supreme).
"Tai Shang Hall?"
Qin Mu was slightly startled, his expression turning somewhat grave. In the Mi Luo Palace of the ancestral court's Jade Capital City, there was a Tai Shang Hall, refined from the Great Prince's Great Dao, symbolizing his achievements.
But that Tai Shang Hall was majestic, ancient, and solemn—completely different from the thatched cottage before him!
Could this Tai Shang thatched cottage be the Tai Shang Hall of the Great Prince of Mi Luo Palace?
If it were formed from his Great Dao, then where did the Tai Shang Hall in Mi Luo Palace come from? Which one was the true Tai Shang Hall?
If there was a real one, naturally there would be a fake one.
Qin Mu couldn't help but wear a strange expression. If this Tai Shang thatched cottage was the true Tai Shang Hall, wouldn't that mean the one in Mi Luo Palace was fake?
"The Great Prince is also a man of strong character. I thought he was stern and unsmiling, the same kind of person as the Master of Mi Luo Palace."
Qin Mu was full of interest, circling the cottage several times, examining the structure of every single stalk of thatch. Suddenly he burst out laughing: "This thatched cottage is the true Tai Shang Hall! The one in Mi Luo Palace—it really is fake!"
Shang Jun couldn't see it and asked: "How can the Heavenly Venerate tell?"
"Every stalk of thatch in this cottage is condensed from Hongmeng runes. Each stalk of thatch is a complete Great Dao, and they are all different Daos."
Qin Mu explained patiently: "I just counted—there are six thousand four hundred stalks of thatch here, six thousand four hundred kinds of Great Dao, with not a single one repeated. Using Hongmeng runes to evolve these Daos—that is the supreme achievement, hence the name Tai Shang. The Great Prince of Mi Luo Palace's Tai Shang Hall can only be this cottage."
Shang Jun's heart shook violently. He looked at the Dao tree behind the cottage and asked: "Then how many kinds of Great Dao does Tai Shang's Dao tree encompass?"
"It should also be six thousand four hundred kinds."
Qin Mu's gaze fell upon the Dao tree: "His Dao tree is not a real one—it's only a projection. His true body and Dao tree should be in the era of his birth."
Shang Jun was silent for a moment, then said: "It's impossible for anyone to cultivate six thousand four hundred kinds of Great Dao to the Great Luo Heaven realm. The Great Prince Tai Shang cannot possibly be that strong."
"It's possible."
Qin Mu walked toward the cottage door and said: "The greatest characteristic of Hongmeng runes is that they can evolve different Daos. Whether it's Tai Yi or the Five Tais like Tai Chu, or various innate Daos, or acquired Daos—all can be evolved using Hongmeng runes. Different Daos have different foundational runes, and the foundation of those foundational runes is the Hongmeng rune. I actually think the thatch of Tai Shang's cottage is still a bit lacking."
He reached out to push open the cottage door: "If the Master of Mi Luo Palace were to use Hongmeng runes to evolve the Dao, I'm afraid it wouldn't be a thatched cottage, but an entire Mi Luo Palace."
The cottage door shook slightly, but he could not push it open.
Qin Mu frowned, trying to decipher it, but the Hongmeng runes on the door kept changing, evolving into different Daos, making it impossible for him to unlock.
Soon, the moon rose, and the cottage door still had not been opened.
Shang Jun tried to forcefully break through the door with his Killing Dao, but when his blade struck the door, a terrifying burst of power erupted, sending him flying far away.
Qin Mu quickly went to rescue him, barely managing to save him—otherwise, the power unleashed by that door would have been enough to severely wound her!
Qin Mu knocked on the door and said with a smile: "Is anyone home? A guest has arrived!"
There was no sound from behind the door.
Qin Mu had no choice but to sit before the cottage and think. After a moment, the moon and the sun appeared together in the sky of this tiny Great Luo Heaven. A flash of inspiration struck Qin Mu, and he took out the Tai Yi walking stick, using it to knock on the door: "Tai Yi, are you in the cottage? I've followed the map to rescue you!"
The Tai Yi walking stick knocked on the door with a thumping sound, but still there was no movement from within.
Qin Mu was completely out of ideas. He stuck the Tai Yi walking stick in front of the door and frowned in deep thought.
Suddenly, with a soft pop, the Tai Yi walking stick sprouted a tender leaf!
Qin Mu stared at the leaf. It gradually grew, and after a moment, the leaf's veins changed, the patterns actually forming the shape of an axe.
Qin Mu's heart stirred. He carefully studied the changes in the patterns, his eyes flickering: "Tai Yi is using the World Tree leaf grown from the walking stick to teach me his axe technique for splitting the World Tree? He wants me to use this method to split open this door! This means Tai Yi is indeed inside this Tai Shang thatched cottage!"
His vertical eye on his forehead opened wide, observing the fine structure of the World Tree leaf's patterns. These patterns were constantly changing, extremely complex, but they contained Tai Yi's Dao techniques and divine powers.
Qin Mu already had a profound mastery of Tai Yi's Dao, and unconsciously he became immersed in the changes of the patterns.
The Tai Yi walking stick was refined from a branch of the World Tree, forged into a treasure by Tai Yi. Clearly, Tai Yi was suppressed inside the Tai Shang thatched cottage and could not make a sound, but he used the World Tree characteristics of the walking stick to convey information.
Without realizing it, Qin Mu took out his Calamity Sword, using the sword as an axe, slowly executing the Tai Yi Dao and divine powers displayed on the leaf.
Shang Jun was healing nearby when she saw the sword techniques in Qin Mu's hand were ancient and simple, but their power grew stronger and stronger. Qin Mu used the sword as an axe, like a giant splitting heaven and earth, each axe strike seeming capable of cleaving the Ultimate Void apart, splitting the Great Luo Heaven in two!
After a long while, the patterns on the tender leaf stopped changing. The leaf quickly withered, turning into a falling leaf that decayed and vanished into nothing.
Qin Mu closed his eyes, holding his breath and concentrating.
Shang Jun waited quietly nearby. The sun and moon cycled more than ten times before Qin Mu finally opened his eyes. Divine light flashed brilliantly in them, then slowly receded and disappeared.
He appeared very plain and simple, his aura completely withdrawn, like an ordinary person—nothing about him suggested anything extraordinary.
He came to the cottage door, stood still, gripped the sword with both hands, and slowly began to move the Calamity Sword.
There was no wind in the Ultimate Void—nothing at all—yet at this moment, the sound of wind arose.
As the sword in Qin Mu's hand moved, the wind grew faster and louder. Yet the sword in Qin Mu's hand grew slower and slower, so slow it made one anxious.
The Calamity Sword never stopped moving, but its speed grew ever slower, while the wind grew ever louder. Soon the sound became the roar of waves, and the waves grew louder and louder, emitting rumbling thunder!
Before long, the rumbling became like the sound of bells—the deep, resonant tolling of great bronze bells ringing without end, shaking Shang Jun's ears until only the bell sounds remained!
Finally, the Calamity Sword in Qin Mu's hand moved to the cottage door, and the sword made contact with the door!
At that moment, the sun and moon stopped their cycling. The stalks of thatch on the cottage danced, bursting forth with the light of the Dao. Dao light surged like tides, flowing into the door.
Crack!
From within the door came the sound of something snapping—like a taut bowstring suddenly breaking, letting out a sharp whistle!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Sound after sound came forth. Qin Mu's two arms shook violently, tendons leaping on his arms, muscles standing out in ridges, bulging outward, making his arms grow thicker and thicker!
The Calamity Sword continued to move, cutting into the door, but the speed at which it split the door panels grew slower and slower.
Qin Mu's arms trembled, as if the Calamity Sword were growing heavier and heavier. The snapping sounds grew more and more frequent.
Flames blazed from the top of his head. Behind him, a World Tree and an Abyss of Return to Nothingness appeared. The World Tree grew ever more vigorous, and the Abyss devoured everything!
His Divine Treasury Domain manifested—the Thirty-Three Heavens Palaces hung high, the Five Great Mineral Veins sat in the ancestral court, radiant with colorful glow, the Daos of the Five Tais pushed to their absolute limit!
Within the Heavenly Court, his Primordial Spirit stood before the Chaos Hall, mobilizing the power of the entire Heavenly Court!
That was his Hongmeng Primordial Spirit!
The Hongmeng Primordial Spirit empowered his Hongmeng physical body, pushing his strength to the extreme. The sound of the Great Dao rumbled within his flesh!
He was wreathed in vast, boundless Hongmeng purple qi, and the Chaos Hall behind him grew increasingly clear!
Suddenly, his tiger's mouth split open from the force, and the skin on both arms burst apart. At the same time, his clothes and trousers made tearing sounds—his thighs became enormously thick, bursting through the pant legs, the muscles ridged and bulging, impossible to conceal!
The robe on Qin Mu's upper body also split apart, his sinewy frame fierce and terrifying, muscles bulging high. The torn garments turned into strips of cloth that fluttered away.
The Calamity Sword continued to slash forward, but the sword found it harder and harder to bear his power. Cracks spread across its entire length!
The cracks grew finer and finer, denser and denser!
Bang!
The Calamity Sword suddenly exploded, shattering into countless fine powder!
Qin Mu let out a muffled groan. The sword hilt in his hand also crumbled to dust, mixing with his blood to turn into mist that scattered!
"My sword cannot bear my power. Once I forge a better one, I'll come back to open this door!"
Qin Mu turned around. His clothes were completely shredded, fluttering away like butterflies. The muscles on his body retracted, returning to normal. He strode away from this tiny Great Luo Heaven.
"Shang Jun, let's go!"
Shang Jun entered his shadow, following step by step as he departed.
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