Chapter 1731: Thatched Cottage Meets Senior Brother Taishang
The Ferry World Golden Ship sailed into the Ultimate Void. Qin Mu stood at the bow, the golden ship drifting silently, following the direction his heart desired.
"Forty-two years is very close now. You should be appearing soon."
Qin Mu stood at the bow without looking behind him. Behind him, a figure appeared—hazy and indistinct. If anyone's gaze fell upon that person, the figure would vanish.
Qin Mu did not look at the figure but spoke to himself: "The Heavenly Court war is about to end. In this battle, Wuyou Village was destroyed, and only a little over two thousand soldiers of Wuyou Village remain. However, the people of Wuyou Village were preserved. They now live in Yankang and are doing well. They have come into contact with the Yankang reforms and will soon accept them and throw themselves into the reform movement."
He laughed aloud: "I know that if you were still here, you would say without a smile that these sacrifices are all worth it. But seeing old companions leave one by one, you would still be sad—you just wouldn't show it."
Beside him, that figure gazed into the boundless void, standing silently.
"I did not resurrect them. I did not attempt to resurrect anyone."
Qin Mu continued: "Now reincarnation has been established. Within reincarnation, all beings are equal. Lord Tu Bo will reward or punish according to the good and evil deeds done in life. If one has committed too many sins, karmic fire will burn them to ashes. However, after reincarnation, those who are reborn will not remember their past lives."
He smiled slightly and said: "I will promote a new ancestral court Dao realm system. The original systems will all be eliminated. In this way, perhaps we can solve the problem of the Great Destruction Calamity. You might be the last Dao-achiever of the old system."
That person's gaze was deep, saying nothing.
"After Lord Hao Tian's defeat, he will return to the ancestral court."
Qin Mu continued: "Along the way, he has lost soldiers and generals, his vitality greatly damaged, his followers defecting and his kin abandoning him. Whether he can still retain a million troops after fleeing to the ancestral court is unknown. At most, he might only have a few hundred thousand left. He can no longer stir up the world's storms, but he will not be reconciled. The Dao-achievers of Miluo Palace will take advantage to descend. Third Young Master and Fourth Young Master will not give up. Lord Hao Tian will completely surrender to them, and might even join forces with the World Tree stowaways."
He smiled slightly: "After you return, there will still be many things to do. You won't be idle. We will still fight side by side, together against the dangers of the ancestral court. Yet I am very happy about the ancestral court war."
He laughed aloud: "Prehistoric Dao-achievers and stowaways—they steal the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, occupying too much cosmic energy. It's perfect that they come running over. Kill them, return their power to this universe, and let this universe survive longer. Lord Shang killed Taichu, benefiting the Primordial Realm. If these Dao-achievers die in the Seventeenth Era, they will let our universe continue to grow. Perhaps, like the First Era, it will survive for three hundred billion years. Three hundred billion years is a very long time."
His gaze was far-reaching: "This will be the most glorious era of all. You will see all of this."
The Ferry World Golden Ship drifted leisurely, its speed growing faster and faster.
"The reason I am going to see Taiyi is because the first counterattack of Third Young Master and Fourth Young Master will inevitably be extremely fierce, and I may not be able to withstand it. Our situation looks favorable, but it is as precarious as a stack of eggs."
Qin Mu explained to him: "With my current strength, I am far from enough to contend with Third Young Master and Fourth Young Master. Only Taiyi can accomplish this—blocking the two young masters of Miluo Palace and preventing them from descending. I think the ancestral court will be an excellent training ground that can help us grow."
The figure beside him never spoke.
Finally, the thatched cottage in the Ultimate Void arrived.
Qin Mu anchored the ship and walked down from it, arriving before the thatched cottage. The figure on the golden ship let out a faint, deep sigh.
Qin Mu looked back—the figure on the ship had vanished.
Qin Mu sat down, driving all other thoughts from his mind, and quietly gazed at the door of the thatched cottage. After a moment, he said in a deep voice: "Senior Brother Taishang, will you manifest yourself and appear before me?"
The void was silent, without a sound, only the cold, desolate wind blowing continuously.
Qin Mu said calmly: "Over these years, my understanding of Miluo Palace's Dao techniques and divine powers has deepened, and my understanding of your Dao techniques and divine powers is also deeper than before. With my current strength, I am enough to wield the Taiyi Divine Axe and break open your thatched cottage. However, after all, you and I are from the same school. I would very much like to meet you."
The thatched cottage showed no reaction at all.
Qin Mu smiled faintly and said leisurely: "If you don't believe me, I can demonstrate it for you. You probably don't know that Third Young Master has taught me many things during this period."
He stood up, activating the Way of Taiyi. The Way of Taiyi transformed in his hand into the Taiyi Divine Axe. Qin Mu wielded the axe with the wind, executing the axe techniques that Taiyi had passed down.
Qin Mu's expression was grave. The divine axe slowly swept before him. This axe stroke appeared ordinary, but it concealed countless mysteries, displaying Taiyi's Dao techniques and divine powers to their fullest.
Not only that—the six thousand four hundred great Daos contained within this thatched cottage were all broken by his single axe stroke. It truly advanced like splitting bamboo!
The six thousand four hundred straws of the thatched cottage represented Senior Brother Taishang's six thousand four hundred different great Daos. Each great Dao was at the level of a Dao-achiever, and moreover, they were evolved with the aid of Hongmeng runes!
In terms of subtlety and cultivation, Qin Mu had never seen anyone reach the height of Senior Brother Taishang!
However, no matter how many great Daos there were, their root was always the Hongmeng runes. Now, having experienced the battle with Third Young Master and six years of illness and torment, he had also entered Dao through dreams during those six years, researching seventy or eighty percent of the Miluo Palace Dao techniques hidden within his Dao wounds!
The axe techniques that Taiyi had taught him through the walking stick were originally designed to counter Miluo Palace's Dao techniques and divine powers. Coupled with Qin Mu's ever-deepening understanding of Miluo Palace's Dao techniques, his breakthrough this time was much smoother!
Qin Mu withdrew the axe. The Taiyi Divine Axe transformed back into the Way of Taiyi and sank into his Divine Treasury. His aura was somewhat unstable, and he gasped for breath. He had just recovered from severe injuries, and his cultivation had not yet returned to its peak state.
"Senior Brother Taishang, what do you think?"
Qin Mu steadied his breath, stepped forward, and said in a deep voice: "If you are unwilling to talk, then I will forcibly break your seal and release Taiyi! If you are willing to appear, then we brothers need not tear our faces apart!"
He arrived before the thatched cottage and once again rallied his spirit. Just as he was about to evolve the Taiyi Divine Axe with the Way of Taiyi, suddenly there came a creaking sound, and the door of the thatched cottage opened.
Qin Mu was startled. He saw an old man push the door open from inside, glance up at him, then turn around and carefully lock the door behind him.
Qin Mu studied the old man, who was much shorter than himself. He saw that the old man's Hongmeng purple qi was all concealed within, showing no sign of divine or sacred peculiarity—as if he would be impossible to find again once lost in a crowd.
Senior Brother Taishang was just such an ordinary old man.
Taiyi was a mass of chaotic qi, ever-changing, leaving no trace, able to be male or female, able to transform into all things in heaven and earth, and could even leap into the Chaotic Long River and emerge as other Dao-achievers—utterly unfathomable.
But Senior Brother Taishang was plain and ordinary—the kind of person who left no deep impression on others.
On his body, one could see no fluctuation of any great Dao, as if he had been extinguished. Yet having also cultivated Miluo Palace's Dao techniques and divine powers, Qin Mu could see what terrifying power was contained within this old man's body!
He was even stronger than Taiyi!
Qin Mu sat down, and the old man also sat down, like a withered tree, showing no sign of life.
Qin Mu's gaze flickered, and suddenly he smiled: "Senior Brother Taishang, I once saw the Teacher dissolve into Dao and enter extinction. Your imitation of him is not convincing. When the Teacher dissolved into Dao and entered extinction, it was because all his hopes had turned to ashes—his Dao heart had died, and so he fell into death. But you are merely imitating a dead Dao heart, not truly dissolving into Dao and entering extinction."
The old man across from him opened his mouth, and the moment he spoke, Qin Mu's heart shook violently.
The old man across from him spoke in Hongmeng Dao language. Every syllable contained extremely profound principles. Dao language was already unfathomable, but Hongmeng Dao language contained even more the mysteries of the great Dao—a single word could transform into the most terrifying divine power in the world!
The Dao language that came from Senior Brother Taishang's mouth was obscure and difficult to understand, profoundly mysterious. The moment he spoke, strange phenomena flashed before Qin Mu's eyes, as if he had fallen into a vast world of myriad realms, countless principles transforming into reality, flashing past his vision!
The moment Senior Brother Taishang's first Dao language syllable was uttered, the history of Miluo Palace in the Second Cosmic Era flashed before Qin Mu's eyes, presenting a magnificent and spectacular scene.
In the Dao language, the Master of Miluo Palace, at the beginning of the Second Cosmic Era, entered the world to ferry people across, teaching Dao techniques and divine powers, actively seeking ways to prevent the universe from being destroyed again.
A single brief Dao language syllable contained the entire magnificent history of the Second Cosmic Era within one utterance—truly inconceivable—including even the process of Second Young Master Taishang joining the Master of Miluo Palace as a disciple, studying and striving!
When the signs of the Great Destruction began to appear in the Second Cosmic Era, the Master of Miluo Palace began actively planning to establish Miluo Palace, intending to enter the calamity, attempting to save everyone and bring them to the next universe.
When the sound of the first Dao language syllable fell, the complete history of the Second Cosmic Era was fully presented in Qin Mu's mind, including the failure of the Master of Miluo Palace.
When Senior Brother Taishang uttered the second Dao language syllable, the entire past of the Third Cosmic Era was presented—the Master of Miluo Palace's ideals, ambitions, rules of conduct, and everything he had done for the Great Destruction Calamity, including his failure.
When the third Dao language syllable was uttered, everything of the Fourth Cosmic Era was presented!
...
Soon, the fifteenth syllable of the Dao language was uttered. This syllable was very long. Senior Brother Taishang attempted to use the history experienced by the Master of Miluo Palace to explain why the Master's Dao heart had died, why he had given up the thought of entering the Seventeenth Era, and why all his hopes had turned to ashes.
In this single Dao language syllable, Senior Brother Taishang showed Qin Mu the Master of Miluo Palace's deduction of the future of the Seventeenth Era.
That was a cold, silent desolation—a complete void!
An extremely thin membrane of void with no thickness at all, spread flat and infinitely vast. Within that void membrane, there was nothing—no things, no life!
Senior Brother Taishang closed his mouth and his eyes, speaking no more, leaving only an unparalleled shock to Qin Mu!