Chapter 1699: Calculating Too Cleverly
"Of the Lin Quan ancient god avatars that have died by my hand, there are twenty-one. There's also one I've trapped, and one that Junior Brother Jiang Baigui has trapped. These two Lin Quan ancient god avatars no longer have much power left. That leaves seven more."
Qin Mu charged toward the Kan region of the northern frontier. His running speed had already slowed somewhat compared to when he first set out, and this made his heart sink.
The Western Lands—he feared he wouldn't make it in time.
At his current speed, even if he abandoned Wei Suifeng and the Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird Emperors right now and made straight for the Western Lands, those two ancient god avatars of Lin Quan would likely have already arrived there.
"But these two ancient god avatars must be killed! Otherwise, after they kill Yue Tingge and the White Tiger Western Emperor, they'll turn around and go after the First Ancestor Patriarch and the others! I pray Yue Tingge and the Western Emperor can hold on! Yue Tingge is, after all, the number one Heavenly Master!"
He moved like the wind and lightning. In the Kan region of the northern frontier, there were three ancient gods, respectively dealing with the Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird Emperors and Wei Suifeng.
There were two in the Western Lands, one in the Southern Heaven or the Beast Realm dealing with Dragon Qilin, and the last one was heading to the Ancestral Court.
"Dragon Qilin doesn't need to be rescued—I can use a summoning technique to forcibly pull him from the Southern Heaven or the Beast Realm, making Lin Quan's ancient god avatar grasp at nothing. But that Lin Quan ancient god must also die; he can't be left alive! However, the most critical one is the ancient god avatar heading to the Ancestral Court!"
When Qin Mu arrived at the Kan region of the northern frontier, he saw snow-covered skies and frozen earth. The land was sealed in ice, a vast expanse of white. Huge floating ice cities hung in the sky, with icebergs suspended between the cities. The Black Tortoise Great Marsh appeared in this desolate land, and the Heavenly River had been drawn here by the marsh.
This great marsh was the ancestral land of the Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird Emperors—extremely magnificent and spectacular. Among the Four Ancient God Emperors, the Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird Emperors were the most powerful. These two ancient gods were the most powerful creator races of the primordial era, deities born from the worship of the Juyu clan!
At this moment, within the great marsh, a colossal warship raced along the Heavenly River, causing the waters to surge violently.
Wei Suifeng led the Imperial Guard on this warship, deploying the Great Heavenly Court formation—the newest formation diagram of Yankang. With Yankang's skilled craftsmen, only four formation diagrams had been produced so far. One had been requisitioned by Emperor Yi Yue and used in the battle of Wuyou Village.
Wei Suifeng had one, Jiang Baigui had one, and another was with Yue Tingge.
That warship was a massive vessel Wei Suifeng had designed to break the Heavenly River Navy's Heavenly River Floating Tower—an incomparable heavy weapon.
Even with two heavy weapons backing them, Wei Suifeng and the Imperial Guard soldiers were struggling desperately against the Lin Quan Hall Master's ancient god avatar. The great formation could be broken at any moment!
On the other side, the Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird had merged, revealing their true forms, battling two Lin Quan avatars in the marsh. The couple was one black tortoise and one soaring serpent.
The soaring serpent coiled around the black tortoise, which strode forward on its immensely thick limbs, racing through the marsh like the wind, stepping on the Black Tortoise formation diagram, mobilizing the power of the marsh, using their ancient god bodies to fight the two ancient god avatars. The battle shook heaven and earth, and the marsh itself was nearly shattered!
The Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird Emperors' bodies were battered and broken, but they fought desperately. Their combined attack technique was formidable, yet Lin Quan's ancient god avatars also used a combined attack technique—even more ferocious than theirs. If not for being in their ancestral land, they would have been slain by Lin Quan long ago!
Qin Mu charged in and suddenly cut sideways between the two Lin Quan ancient god avatars. He didn't dodge or evade—he used his own physical body to forcefully withstand the avatars' combined attack, letting the two ancient gods' techniques land on him.
His hands, one left and one right, pressed against the brows of the two ancient gods. The power of the Red Rope Knot exploded!
The two ancient gods let out muffled groans and plummeted from the sky. The moment they hit the ground, the Red Rope Knot's power had already shattered their ancient god primordial spirits.
Qin Mu didn't stop. He tore through the air and vanished.
Wei Suifeng had been overjoyed to see Qin Mu arrive, but then saw that Qin Mu hadn't come toward him at all—he disappeared in the blink of an eye. Wei Suifeng was furious: "I'm the senior brother, after all, and he just leaves me to die!"
The Black Tortoise and Vermilion Bird Emperors were saved. They wasted no time and immediately came to help, jointly killing that Lin Quan ancient god avatar.
"Four left! But the Western Lands... it's already too late..."
Qin Mu's heart grew more and more anxious, but no matter how anxious he was, it was useless. Traveling from the Kan region of the northern frontier to the Western Lands was a long journey that would take considerable time.
Lin Quan Hall Master's avatar had started earlier than him and was extremely fast. Add to that the fact that Qin Mu had practically traversed every war zone in Yankang on this trip—by now, Lin Quan had definitely arrived in the Western Lands!
Western Lands.
The flames of war had already reached Shangcang, which was Xu Shenghua's hometown. But it had already been conquered by the White Emperor. When the White Emperor saw the Western Emperor's army approaching, he retreated to Shangcang and refused to fight.
After the White Tiger Western Emperor descended, the Battle of Shangcang began. The White Emperor raised the Ancestral Court's Western Heavenly Gate as Shangcang's gateway, defending it stubbornly while waiting for Heavenly Court reinforcements.
The Western Emperor attacked forcefully but was blocked by this gateway, unable to break into Shangcang. Yue Tingge immediately led the many women of the Western Lands who were skilled in spirit-summoning arts forward, each activating their techniques, planning to summon the Western Heavenly Gate.
At that moment, outside the heavens of Shangcang, a handsome ancient god appeared.
At the same time, the sky suddenly churned violently. The void tore open, and a colossal void mother beast descended from the sky carrying Dragon Qilin, followed by countless primordial beasts, descending upon the Western Lands!
Seeing this, the ancient god said in surprise: "Lord of the Beast Realm! He's not in the Southern Heaven—he's come to the Western Lands! Well, that's fine, I wasn't going to look for him anyway. Since I'm here, I'll deal with him, Yue Tingge, and the Western Emperor all at once."
When Qin Mu arrived at the Western Lands, he saw Lin Quan's ancient god avatar trapped. This avatar was handsome and extremely powerful—one could say he was the pinnacle among the Heavenly Venerables. However, he had been trapped by Yue Tingge's formation.
The fourth complete Great Heavenly Court formation diagram that Blind Man had led Yankang's formation experts to design was indeed in Yue Tingge's hands.
The power of Yue Tingge's trapping formation couldn't refine him to death, so he had invited the White Tiger Western Emperor to personally enter the formation and beat this ancient god beyond recognition.
As for Shangcang, Dragon Qilin had led the beast army to block it at the Western Heavenly Gate, unable to break out and provide reinforcements.
"Why is Dragon Fatty here? And why is there only one of Lin Quan's avatars here?"
Qin Mu stopped, drenched in sweat. His divine consciousness rippled as he made contact with Dragon Qilin.
The two exchanged information in an instant. Indeed, only one of Lin Quan Hall Master's avatars had come. Not long ago, it had arrived here. Yue Tingge had long known the Heavenly Court wouldn't let the Western Lands go, so he had set up his formation early, ready to deal with enemies from the rear at any time.
Lin Quan's avatar had voluntarily walked into the trap he had laid—walking right into the snare, caught red-handed.
As for Dragon Qilin, it was because Bai Yuqiong was in the Southern Heaven and—
"So that means, Lin Quan Hall Master hasn't gone to the Southern Heaven at all. And although two avatars should have come to the Western Lands, he only sent one!"
Qin Mu frowned deeply. Logically speaking, for the sake of safety, Lin Quan Hall Master should have sent two ancient god avatars to kill Yue Tingge and the White Tiger Western Emperor.
The White Tiger Western Emperor was also a Heavenly Venerable-level existence in her own territory. And although Yue Tingge's combat power was only at the Heavenly Master level, his intelligence was extremely high—he was the first to crack the Liuli Qingtian Chuang formation. Someone in the Heavenly Court had once praised him as one man capable of matching the Three Masters!
The Three Masters referred to the Divine Master, Earth Master, and Water Master!
Two of Lin Quan Hall Master's ancient god avatars could easily eliminate the two of them, but sending only one avatar was somewhat arrogant.
"If Lin Quan didn't go to the Southern Heaven, then of the remaining three avatars, one must go to the Ancestral Court World Tree! And the other two avatars should also be heading to the World Tree!"
Although Qin Mu was exhausted, his mind was growing clearer: "Heavenly Emperor Hao invited him to kill the leaders of our Yankang and Wuyou Village armies, but Lin Quan also has his own agenda—going to the Ancestral Court to unseal those seals beneath the World Tree, letting the prehistoric stowaways enter this universe and cause catastrophe!"
"Heavenly Emperor Hao has his calculations, and Lin Quan has his own! To verify my speculation, there's only one way!"
Suddenly, his body moved, charging into the Great Heavenly Court formation that Yue Tingge had laid down. Seeing this, the White Tiger Western Emperor stopped attacking, while Yue Tingge continued maintaining the formation to prevent Lin Quan's avatar from escaping.
The pressure on Lin Quan's avatar lightened. Then he saw Qin Mu standing before him. His expression changed slightly, but then he laughed heartily: "Seventh Young Master, your speed is unmatched in the world, but I'm not slow either. After all, you haven't yet achieved the Dao—you're not yet the Seventh Young Master of Miluo Palace. You've already lost this battle. Third Young Master and Fourth Young Master will surely descend, sending you to the prehistoric universe to make you the Seventh Young Master! When that time comes, Seventh Young Master will have to thank me!"
Qin Mu pointed a finger at him. Lin Quan hurriedly defended, but he blocked nothing. His ancient god avatar also had a primordial spirit, and it was knocked out of his body by Qin Mu's finger, floating in the air.
His primordial spirit tried to flee, but was horrified to find it couldn't move at all.
Qin Mu spread his five fingers, and Lin Quan's avatar's primordial spirit immediately split apart—Heaven, Earth, and Human souls separating with a clang, divided into three parts.
Qin Mu extended two fingers, pinching his human soul. His left hand drew a circle in the air, then he flicked his finger, sending the soul into that circular wheel.
The soul contained memories. The wheel was like a mirror, instantly replaying the memories of this Lin Quan avatar's human soul!
It showed Lin Quan Hall Master's other three avatars—two carrying Dao Fruits, one carrying a Dao Flower—frantically racing toward the Ancestral Court!
The fastest avatar had already caught sight of the Ancestral Court in the distance!
Qin Mu's sleeve shook, and Lin Quan's avatar's three souls shattered completely!
He rose to his full height and tore through the air, vanishing!
The White Tiger Western Emperor could see his exhaustion. She immediately raised her horn and blew it with all her might.
Toot toot—
In the sound of the horn, Qin Mu's qi and blood suddenly surged several times over. Yue Tingge, Dragon Qilin, and the White Tiger Western Emperor looked up and saw a massive purple teleportation formation appear in the sky, tens of thousands of li across, incredibly complex. The formation suddenly activated, and with a thunderous boom, the teleportation formation vanished along with Qin Mu!
"Mu Heavenly Venerable seems extremely exhausted. I wonder if he can catch up to those three avatars?"
Yue Tingge's face was full of worry. Two of Lin Quan Hall Master's avatars carried his Dao Fruits, and the other carried a Dao Flower—their strength was far beyond that of the other avatars.
Qin Mu had clearly been on a long-distance sprint. Both his physical body and his magical power had been consumed enormously. Even if he caught up to Lin Quan Hall Master's three major avatars in his exhausted state, they would likely defeat him while fresh!
"With his speed, from here to the Ancestral Court—even with folding space, teleportation formations, and full-speed running—it would probably take five or six days."
Yue Tingge calculated for a moment and said quietly: "And in five or six days, Lin Quan's first avatar would have already reached the Ancestral Court World Tree! He simply can't make it..."
Four days later, the night at the Ancestral Court was hazy.
Dawn had not yet arrived, but the east was already showing white. Xu Shenghua looked up, watching Taiyi's Dao Tree disappear into the ultimate void. Then he picked up his iron bucket and walked down the World Tree, preparing to repair the cracked peaks on the outskirts of the Great Black Mountain.
Even though the Primordial Realm was already fighting fiercely, heaven and earth turned upside down, beneath the Ancestral Court World Tree it remained peaceful.
Xu Shenghua was as tranquil as the morning at the World Tree. Carrying his iron bucket, he unhurriedly walked to the outskirts of the Great Black Mountain. Last night, outside the Great Black Mountain, it had been dark and chaotic—a terrifying scene of universal destruction.
He was used to it and paid it no mind, simply waiting for the sun to rise.
When sunrise came, everything would return to normal.
Finally, the sun rose. The first rays of light fell upon the World Tree, and in his vision, the Great Black Mountains gradually became clear.
Xu Shenghua carried his iron bucket, standing atop a cracked cliff. He saw an ancient god walking from beyond the Black Mountain, a Dao Fruit hovering above his head, spinning rapidly.
—Wishing Yu Yong a happy birthday! Zhai Zhu wrote the character Wei Yong (slightly chubby) in The Shepherd God Chronicle, and the inspiration came from classmate Yu Yong!
PS: Recommending Yin Weizhe's new book, "Old Hutong"—in 1936 Beijing, about to face the great upheaval of war. Behind the prosperity, the alleys hide treachery. Chu Mufeng, a young detective, yet with great ambitions!