Chapter 1739: The Brave Man Severs His Roots
The Joy Hall Master was flying at full speed, only the upper half of her body remaining. Shang Jun's painting had attacked her, causing her to suffer a setback, forcing her to roll up her Dao tree and Dao fruit to flee.
But she had still been severely wounded by Shang Jun, both legs severed by his blade.
She had originally planned to seek out Hall Master Chu Ge nearby, but before she could even reach the place where Chu Ge had descended, Chu Ge was already dead.
So she made a decisive choice and immediately went to see Hall Master Chang Feng.
Suddenly, a beam of Hongmeng Dao light flew toward her. The Joy Hall Master's heart jolted with alarm. Wounded by Shang Jun, she was like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, hastily dodging—only to see that beam of Hongmeng Dao light curve mid-air and actually chase after her!
"Seventh Young Master!"
The Joy Hall Master's hair stood on end. The news that Qin Mu had killed Hall Master Chu Ge had already reached her ears. She had not fully descended into the Seventeenth Era, with part of herself still remaining in the ancestral court's Yujing City of the Sixteenth Era, and thus she knew that Chu Ge had died at the hands of the Seventh Young Master, Qin Mu.
That beam of Hongmeng Dao light from Qin Mu appeared to have little power, but it made her dare not take it head-on. She had no choice but to abandon the idea of meeting with Chang Feng and immediately rush at full speed toward the ancestral court!
"Chang Feng should have also received word that the Seventh Young Master made a move to kill Chu Ge. He probably won't stay either. I don't need to rendezvous with him—I'll head straight for the ancestral court! Once I arrive there, I'll be safe!"
Her speed was extraordinary. As her magical power circulated, space suddenly folded layer upon layer, and she tore through the void and vanished.
And that beam of Hongmeng Dao light from Qin Mu actually disappeared along with her.
The Joy Hall Master left the Yuan Realm far behind, folding the starry sky all the way, her speed growing faster and faster.
The seventy-two Hall Masters each possessed their own divine abilities. The Joy Hall Master had cultivated the Dao of space to perfection—the vast cosmos was easily within her reach. But the ancestral court was simply too far; even with her astonishing abilities, she would need several days to arrive.
However, to her surprise, that beam of light remained constantly behind her. No matter how fast she flew, she could not shake it off.
The Joy Hall Master grew inwardly anxious: "The Seventh Young Master's divine ability is this fast? I'm afraid that before I even reach the ancestral court, his divine ability will catch up to me! What's more critical is—I don't know how many techniques he's launched! If I stop to deal with this one strike, but there are still a hundred more techniques behind it, wouldn't I die?"
Her speed was unmatched in the world—that was precisely why Shang Jun had given up pursuing her.
It was because he had seen her speed and knew he could never catch her that Shang Jun had returned to the Supervisor's Factory to continue working and earning money.
But this beam of Hongmeng Dao light from Qin Mu actually possessed speed not inferior to hers—perhaps even surpassing it—leaving the Joy Hall Master both terrified and bewildered.
"I achieved the Dao through the art of space. If I wish to leave, no one can stop me. The Seventh Young Master's divine ability shouldn't be able to catch me either. Unless..."
Her mind stirred slightly. Her Dao tree appeared, and a single leaf detached itself, flying out. That leaf drifted and floated through the starry sky, then suddenly transformed into the form of the Joy Hall Master, charging to meet that beam of Hongmeng Dao light!
Shhh—
That beam of Hongmeng Dao light passed straight through the body of the Joy Hall Master formed from the leaf, as if it had touched nothing at all!
"It's divine consciousness!"
The Joy Hall Master's mind went blank for a moment, and she immediately halted her body. She saw that beam of Hongmeng Dao light arrive before her with a shhh sound, passing straight through her body.
The Joy Hall Master saw herself shattered to pieces by that strike, her primordial spirit ground to nothing, her Dao tree severed—everything wiped away without a trace!
Yet she felt that she was still alive and well.
This was divine consciousness at work.
In truth, that beam of Hongmeng Dao light from Qin Mu was not a Hongmeng divine ability of the Miluo Palace—or rather, it could be called a Hongmeng divine ability, but it was a divine consciousness technique formed by condensing Hongmeng runes with divine consciousness!
The moment the Joy Hall Master saw that beam of Hongmeng Dao light, she had already fallen into the trap.
But this technique was not meant to wound or kill her—it was meant to create a terrifying illusion for her, forcing her to retreat and preventing her from rendezvousing with Hall Master Chang Feng!
"The Seventh Young Master doesn't have enough confidence to deal with both me and Chang Feng at the same time, so he used a divine consciousness technique to scare me off. That way, he can kill Chang Feng at the minimal cost!"
Divine consciousness techniques were mere parlor tricks to existences at her level as a Hall Master. She was incredibly ancient—not to mention the Dao of divine consciousness, she had even witnessed the complete Dao of the Five Tais.
She should not have fallen for it so easily. But having been severely wounded by Shang Jun, and having heard that even a powerful existence like Hall Master Chu Ge had died at Qin Mu's hands, she had assumed from the start that Qin Mu had come to kill her and that she absolutely could not withstand him.
The Joy Hall Master understood this now. She immediately sensed her own Dao, then channeled her magical power and shattered Qin Mu's divine consciousness technique!
Boom!
A thunderous sound like the opening of heaven and earth rang through her mind. The divine consciousness technique was broken, and all the illusions before her eyes vanished instantly. Her physical body, primordial spirit, Dao tree, and Dao fruit were all intact, without the slightest damage.
"So then—should I rush back and join Chang Feng in facing the Seventh Young Master together?"
The Joy Hall Master hesitated for a moment. She had already plunged deep into the starry sky, unknowably far from the Yuan Realm. By the time she rushed back now, it would likely be too late.
Although she knew full well that Hall Master Chang Feng most likely was not dead yet, and that if she returned, she could still join forces with Chang Feng to drive back Qin Mu—but what if?
What if Chang Feng had already been killed by Qin Mu? Wouldn't rushing back be walking straight into a trap?
"The three of us Hall Masters were ordered to descend into the Seventeenth Era so that the two Young Masters of the Miluo Palace and the other Hall Masters could descend. This objective is of utmost importance!"
The Joy Hall Master vanished in a flash, silently musing: "Daoist Chang Feng, it's not that I fear death and don't want to save you—it's that saving you is too risky. For the sake of the Miluo Palace's great plan of descent, I'm afraid you'll have to bear this injustice..."
Qin Mu arrived at Feilun Fort. Looking around, he saw devastation everywhere. The World-Crossing Golden Ship had smashed through the ruins left behind by Yan Yunxi and Bai Yuqiong, crushing the third Hall Master as it charged out of the Yuan Realm and into the starry sky beyond.
Qin Mu sensed the aura of the World-Crossing Golden Ship. With a single step, he followed the traces left by the ship out beyond the heavens, thinking to himself: "That Joy Hall Master's abilities just now were indeed extremely high—her speed is unmatched in the world, even faster than mine. Like Yue Tianzun, she also cultivates the Extreme Void, achieving the Dao through space. But in terms of foundation, she is far more powerful than Yue Tianzun. An existence like that is extremely dangerous..."
In the starry sky, the World-Crossing Golden Ship was tightly entangled by countless roots. Those roots were like coiling flood dragons, clinging to the surface of the golden ship. Some roots had even pierced through the palaces and towers on the ship, presenting a bizarre and eerie sight.
Hall Master Chang Feng's power was fully unleashed, transforming him into a colossal giant. Roots danced beneath his feet—some wrapped around the golden ship, while others flew through the starry sky, wrapping around planets and stars, pulling his massive body forward toward the ancestral court.
The World-Crossing Golden Ship grew larger and larger, severely slowing his pace.
Yet he could not free his roots from the ship. His battle with Lan Yutian had been utterly frustrating, to say the least. That seemingly honest and simple youth was as slippery as an eel. He killed one Lan Yutian, only to discover it was a human-shaped divine artifact created by a Creation divine artifact. He killed another—still a human-shaped divine artifact!
By the time he had slaughtered all the dozens of Lan Yutians at the bow of the ship, he still hadn't found where the real Lan Yutian was hiding.
It was at that moment that he sensed the death of Hall Master Chu Ge. His mind was thrown into chaos, and he immediately stopped sparring with that slippery character and left at once. But unexpectedly, the World-Crossing Golden Ship accelerated again, crashing into him from behind and sending him reeling!
Chang Feng stopped to fight, but he couldn't find where Lan Yutian was hiding. He had no choice but to abandon the golden ship and resume his journey.
But the golden ship crashed into him from behind once more, crushing him beneath its hull. Once or twice was tolerable, but the key was that this golden ship pursued him relentlessly, and every impact was immensely heavy. It infuriated him, so he sent countless roots flying out, plunging into the palaces on the ship to search for the whereabouts of that grinning little fatty.
He never found the grinning little fatty, but to his horror, he discovered that every time his roots entered a palace, the ship would grow larger by a measure, and another golden palace would appear on the deck.
He kept sending out more roots, plunging them into more golden palaces, only to find that the number of palaces seemed endless, and the golden ship grew larger and larger!
What was even more infuriating was that the grinning little fatty kept appearing and disappearing among the great halls, using bizarre and strange seal techniques to seal his roots within the palaces one by one, preventing him from pulling them back!
He had not brought many roots with him during this descent—only a portion had descended. A tree without roots dies, and these roots were something he absolutely could not abandon. So even though he knew he had fallen into a trap, he was helpless to do anything about it. He could only drag the World-Crossing Golden Ship along as he frantically rushed forward, praying that he could reach the ancestral court before Qin Mu found him.
But dragging such a massive golden ship through the starry sky was truly exhausting, and he couldn't help but inwardly lament his misfortune.
As a Hall Master of the seventy-two halls of Yujing City, he had naturally seen divine objects like the World-Crossing Golden Ship before, and he had heard other Dao-achievers mention its legends.
But the World-Crossing Golden Ship was a treasure of the Miluo Palace Master, and it was badly damaged. No one dared to board it and investigate its secrets, so he knew very little about its mysteries—which was precisely why Lan Yutian had managed to trap him.
"Just where did this little bastard come from? So vicious and venomous, using such a crooked trick to trap me!"
Chang Feng suddenly had a thought: "Earlier, he called the Seventh Young Master 'big brother.' Could he be the Seventh Young Master's own younger brother? No wonder—it runs in the family!"
He strained to drag the ship along, roots extending beneath his feet. One root probed into a sun ahead of him, while other roots anchored themselves into the void, piercing through the thirty-six layers of void, pulling his massive body toward that sun.
A Dao-achiever possessed boundless power. Chang Feng, despite being a divine tree that achieved the Dao, should not have been reduced to such a sorry state. But Lan Yutian was simply too cunning—clearly far from being his match, yet he used such bizarre methods to trap him.
"You should sever your roots like a brave man."
Suddenly, a voice spoke, clearly reaching Chang Feng's ears.
Chang Feng's heart jolted. He hastily looked up and saw the thirty-six layers of void twisting and bending into a ring. Even the sun ahead of him rose along with the layers of void and fell into the ring!
Sunlight shone down, and the ring of thirty-six voids emitted a spectrum of colors, growing smaller and smaller until it stood vertically behind a youth with graying temples.
"Sever your roots like a brave man, and you may yet find a path to survival."
—Well then, tearfully begging for monthly votes!!