Chapter 1745: The Duet of Qin and Yue
At this moment, the altar was utter chaos. The Heavenly Emperor Hao was suspended in mid-air, the Joyful Hall Master was attacking the Moon Heavenly Venerable, who was plucking her zither strings to interfere with the Fourth Young Master amidst the destruction tribulation of the Sixteenth Era. Qin Mu was tampering with the Fourth Young Master's zither strings, while the Four Elders were slaughtering everyone in sight.
The altar shattered, and the Heavenly Emperor Hao was immediately freed from the sacrificial state. Before he could even land, he encountered the Third Elder Cangyan Cui, who slapped him flat to the ground with a single palm strike.
At the same time, Qin Mu's fingers landed on the zither string, his two fingers sweeping heavily forward along the string!
The Heavenly Capital Creation Chapter!
A beam of light howled along the zither string, vanishing into the spacetime of the past.
The history of the Seventeenth Era universe had already spanned six billion years. Following this string that connected to the past, Qin Mu's divine ability traced back through six billion years of history in an instant.
In that brief moment, through this divine ability and the Fourth Young Master's zither string, Qin Mu saw his own technique travel from this moment back to the time when the Ancestral Court was first sealed, passing through the battlefield of the Creators and the Ancient Gods, reversing time to let him witness the age when colossal beasts roamed the Ancestral Court, the rise of the Creators, and the birth of one Ancient God after another.
The next instant, his divine ability carried his vision to an even more ancient era—the Five Primordials just beginning to form, Taiyi felling the World Tree, and great fires sweeping the land.
Then his divine ability carried his vision through the Creation Tribulation and into the Destruction Tribulation!
Within the Destruction Tribulation, chaos stretched vast and dim. The magnificent Ancestral Court Jade Capital City stood within the chaos, enduring the baptism of the great destruction tribulation, growing ever more resplendent with time, never breaking.
Qin Mu's divine ability shot rapidly through the zither string, rushing into Jade Capital City.
Within Jade Capital City, beneath the Dao Tree, the Fourth Young Master Zixiao, clad in fine brocade, sat beneath his own Dao Tree strumming the zither, his index finger resting on one of the strings.
Boom!
The power of the Heavenly Capital Creation Chapter surged through the string. With a sharp crack, a small segment of the Fourth Young Master Zixiao's index finger was severed, and surprise flickered across his face!
Losing that finger was hardly a serious wound—he was also proficient in the arts of creation and could restore it quickly—but the fact that this divine ability could travel along his zither string all the way to his very presence without being detected until it arrived was truly remarkable!
"Old Seventh, you've got some skill!"
The Fourth Young Master Zixiao regrew his severed finger, praised him with a note of admiration, then resumed strumming his ancient zither, plucking and brushing lightly, utterly at ease.
On the other side, Qin Mu had just unleashed the Heavenly Capital Creation Chapter to ambush the Fourth Young Master when his two fingers exploded with a crack.
The Fourth Young Master's divine ability traveled through the zither tone and struck his fingers instantly. Even his Primordial Chaos physical body could not withstand that technique.
Qin Mu's blasted fingers immediately transformed into chaotic qi, then reformed into two new fingers. His Dao of Taiyi trembled, condensing into the Taiyi Divine Axe.
The Heavenly Emperor Hao had just climbed to his feet when he saw Qin Mu swing the enormous axe toward the back of his head. The divine axe technique was so exquisite that even he could not comprehend Qin Mu's axe style, much less know how to dodge it.
"Pastoral Heavenly Venerable hates me to the bone—he will surely kill me! My life is over!"
No sooner had he thought this than he saw Qin Mu's axe strike with terrible aim, cleaving into empty space.
The Heavenly Emperor Hao blinked in confusion. Qin Mu's axe had clearly missed, yet it seemed to have struck something. The Taiyi Divine Axe formed from his Dao of Taiyi was shaken apart by the impact, and even Qin Mu's palm was blasted bloody.
The Taiyi Divine Axe shattered, but a new Dao of Taiyi formed, once again condensing into the Taiyi Divine Axe. Qin Mu circled rapidly around the Heavenly Emperor Hao, unleashing one great Taiyi Felling Tree technique after another at the back of his head.
The Heavenly Emperor Hao dared not move a muscle, standing there drenched in sweat: "He's fighting the Fourth Young Master across the void!"
Long ago, the Spirit Official Hall Master had told him that he could not survive ten exchanges with Qin Mu before falling in defeat and death—but that had been over a decade ago.
Now, he sensed that if Qin Mu truly wished to kill him, he probably could not survive even a single exchange. The moment he struck, he would die!
Fortunately, Qin Mu was now wholly focused on countering the divine abilities the Fourth Young Master sent through the zither string. The two were dueling across sixty billion years, with the battlefield in the present. The Fourth Young Master Zixiao suffered from being unable to see Qin Mu's techniques, and with the influence of the great destruction tribulation, he was at a disadvantage in adaptation and response.
His earlier strike had torn the Heavenly Court apart, slaughtering countless heavy artifacts and prehistoric powerhouses. Even beings like Fenghualian, who had attained the Dao in an older generation, had died beneath his zither strings.
But that strike had been long in the charging. In his duel with Qin Mu, the latter would never give him time to build up power.
Qin Mu's Taiyi Divine Axe chopped at the zither string, trying to sever it and prevent his interference in the Seventeenth Era.
The Fourth Young Master, meanwhile, had to protect the string, shielding it with his divine abilities so Qin Mu could not cut it.
If Qin Mu severed the string, cutting off his connection to the Seventeenth Era, then the next moment Qin Mu could chop down the Heavenly Emperor Hao with a single axe stroke, extinguishing the proxy he had cultivated—body and Dao alike!
The descent of the Miluo Palace would then be postponed indefinitely.
Moreover, he also had to block Qin Mu's divine abilities from traveling through the string to Jade Capital City. That earlier strike that had wounded his finger had caught him off guard and cost him face. If Qin Mu succeeded again, the humiliation would be even greater.
The two fought at lightning speed. The Heavenly Emperor Hao stood there, his hair standing on end. Qin Mu's axe shattered and reformed around his head, dancing up and down, leaving him unable to move.
"If I were to strike Pastoral Heavenly Venerable by surprise right now, could I wound him gravely and let the Fourth Young Master succeed?"
A bold idea suddenly sprouted in the Heavenly Emperor Hao's heart. He itched to act, barely able to restrain himself.
Just then, the Fourth Elder Yan Xiuge arrived, striking murderously at Qin Mu!
Qin Mu frowned. All his strength was devoted to countering the divine abilities the Fourth Young Master Zixiao sent through the zither string. He had no attention to spare for Yan Xiuge's techniques and Dao-attainment treasure.
Yan Xiuge's cultivation was profound. In terms of Dao techniques and divine abilities, she was inferior to him, but her cultivation base far surpassed his.
If they fought head-on, Qin Mu could defeat her with his own Dao techniques—though defeating her would not be easy.
Right now, Qin Mu simply had no spare power to deal with Yan Xiuge's attack.
Suddenly, zither tones rang out. The Moon Heavenly Venerable's Zixiao Dao-Attainment Melody sounded once more, and the Fourth Young Master's string suddenly ceased transmitting divine abilities. Qin Mu let out a long breath, and the Taiyi Divine Axe in his hand turned, slashing toward Yan Xiuge!
The Heavenly Emperor Hao saw his opportunity and immediately activated the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel Seal. Primordial qi erupted from both his hands, condensing into two Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheels that slammed hard into Qin Mu's back!
Boom boom boom boom!
Within his Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheels, the Dao realm reached thirty-two layers of heaven, unleashing sixty-four thunderous detonations in succession. The full power of the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel Seal exploded forth.
Qin Mu's back suddenly arched high, the muscles beneath his skin writhing like great dragons, vibrating sixty-four times in succession. The Heavenly Emperor Hao staggered backward.
At the same time, Qin Mu's felling-tree axe struck down, colliding with Yan Xiuge's Three Fragrances Elegant Pavilion.
The Three Fragrances Elegant Pavilion was Yan Xiuge's Dao-attainment treasure. Within the pavilion was a hall swallow that flew out, rushing straight at his face. Its two sharp claws aimed for Qin Mu's eyes, its beak pecking at the vertical eye on his forehead.
This swallow was the first fragrance of the Three Fragrances Elegant Pavilion—a divine swallow she had raised since childhood, which had accompanied her through tribulation after tribulation of destruction. But the moment it pounced at Qin Mu's face, the three eyes of Qin Mu blazed with brilliant light, directly refining the divine swallow to ash!
Shrrrk!
Qin Mu's great axe fell, splitting open the Three Fragrances Elegant Pavilion. The second fragrance within the pavilion was a mirror. As the pavilion split apart, the mirror faced Qin Mu directly and, with a whoosh, sucked him inside.
Yan Xiuge raised the third fragrance—a powder compact—and blew it toward the mirror. Dust filled the air as she cried fiercely: "Die!"
Qin Mu, trapped within the mirror, felt his physical body collapse instantly, shattering into countless fine powder, just like the dust from the compact.
Yan Xiuge had landed her strike. She was about to slay the Heavenly Emperor Hao when suddenly the mirror filled with surging chaos. With a crack, the bright mirror split open.
Yan Xiuge turned around and saw Qin Mu walking out from the chaos, swinging his axe down in a single stroke. She hastily summoned her Dao Tree to block, but the tree snapped under the axe!
Alarm flashed through Yan Xiuge's heart. She cried out: "Second Brother!"
Huang Tang was in the midst of delivering a killing blow to the Joyful Hall Master. Hearing this, he abandoned her at once and strode over. His jeweled banner was immensely powerful—he swung it directly in a thrust, the banner spinning as all manner of Dao techniques and divine abilities howled out, revolving along with it.
The Taiyi Divine Axe in Qin Mu's hand dispersed. He used his hand as a sword, slashing levelly. Shrrrk, shrrk, shrrk—a flurry of chaotic rain, and Huang Tang's jeweled banner was reduced to a bare pole.
Huang Tang thrust the bare pole forward. Thud! It struck Qin Mu square in the chest, sending him flying backward. He crashed all the way from the center of the Heavenly Court to the Southern Heaven Gate, shattering the half-ruined gate into dust!
Zheng zheng zheng!
The zither tones swelled. The space of the Heavenly Court suddenly folded and twisted. Within the Moon Heavenly Venerable's melody, the Southern Heaven Gate had barely fallen when it appeared beside the altar. She had sent Qin Mu back with her divine ability.
"Careful!"
The moment Qin Mu landed, his expression drastically changed. He threw himself sideways to shield the Moon Heavenly Venerable. Her zither rhythm had faltered in her effort to save Qin Mu, and the Fourth Young Master, recovering his composure, sent a divine ability through the string across time, striking at her!
Qin Mu was also badly wounded and had not yet caught his breath. He could only roar and raise the Taiyi Coffin to stand before the two of them.
Shrrrk—
An invisible force sliced through, and the coffin lid of the Taiyi Coffin thinned by a massive chunk in an instant!
Qin Mu and the Moon Heavenly Venerable ducked their heads as this invisible divine ability flew past overhead. Even blocked by the Taiyi Coffin, it still sheared off a lock of their hair.
The Joyful Hall Master charged in, her figures filling every direction. This woman was ferociously powerful—she was holding off Li Shu while simultaneously striking murderously at them.
The Moon Heavenly Venerable immediately set her zither across her lap and sat down. She looked up at Qin Mu, who understood her intent. He stood beside her and pointed with one finger.
The power of the Primordial Chaos Finger erupted, like the vision of a universe's first opening with the Five Primordials emerging. The universe at his fingertip expanded outward in the shape of a bell!
Dong.
The great bell tolled, resonating without end, pressing against the Moon Heavenly Venerable's zither tones.
The Moon Heavenly Venerable entered the Dao realm of the Killing Path Melody. The Shangjun Killing Path Melody flowed from her fingertips—first kill, second kill, third kill—rising in an instant to the thirty-seventh kill!
Before the Joyful Hall Master could reach them, her Dao wound suddenly erupted. Below her waist, blood gushed like a river!
She shrieked, and then Li Shu slammed a mu of yellow field over her face, pinning her onto the shattered altar.
A warmth spread through the Moon Heavenly Venerable's heart. Listening to the bell's tolling, she thought: "If I could play a duet with him, bell and zither together, it would be worth it."
At the same time, Huang Tang and Yan Xiuge were locked in a desperate battle around the Heavenly Emperor Hao. The Fourth Young Master's zither tones rang without cease, blocking the divine abilities of the two Dao-attainment powerhouses, shaking their hands bloody. Yet the two fought like madmen, refusing to retreat.
Shrrrk.
A zither string suddenly pierced through Huang Tang's skull, slicing across his Dao Tree.
His head split open. His Dao Tree toppled.
Qin Mu frowned, then his eyes suddenly brightened. He spotted a chest and whispered: "Yue, the one we're looking for has been found. Retreat, quickly!"
—Zhaizhu hasn't been feeling well lately, lacking energy and spirit. Updates these next few days might be late. Just giving you all a heads-up first~~