Chapter 1747: The Old Man Wuyá
In the Sixteenth Era's Chaotic Long River, within Yujing City, two streaks of fire suddenly burned along the zither strings. Fourth Young Master Zixiao's expression shifted slightly as he hurriedly shook his hand—but the flames had already reached his fingers!
Fourth Young Master blew out a breath, trying to extinguish the flames on his fingers. However, the fire suddenly became incomparably fierce. When he blew on it, it actually burned his flesh until it split open, and in an instant, two of his fingers were stripped of flesh, revealing white bone.
Crack, crack.
Even the white bone burned away, turning to ash, and the flames spread from those two fingers to ignite his other fingers!
Fourth Young Master raised his hand and severed his right arm. With a flick of his sleeve, the severed hand flew into the Chaotic Long River, where it blazed fiercely before quickly burning to a handful of ashes, ceasing to exist.
Fourth Young Master Zixiao's face darkened. Flicking his sleeve, he said: "That old thing beneath the World Tree actually managed to escape!"
Within the Great Black Mountain, Qin Mu's heart stirred slightly: "It seems this person is an old acquaintance of mine from the past universe. Of course, I haven't returned to the past universe yet—he's an acquaintance from my future..."
For him, meeting the existence beneath the World Tree who could contend with Fourth Young Master was something that would happen in the future. But for that person, it had already happened.
"Still, I'm not entirely useless in the past universe. At least I have friends."
Qin Mu revealed a smile and walked toward the World Tree. Along the way, he saw many Black Mountains that looked like cocoons, already split open. The prehistoric powerhouses parasitizing within the Black Mountains were breaking out of their cocoons.
The forces of the Great Black Mountain were far greater than those of the Five Elders of Fengshu entrenched in the Heavenly Court. Those prehistoric powerhouses emerging from the Black Mountains were still very weak, each one drawing in the spiritual energy and spiritual power of heaven and earth. With each breath, the stars in the sky swayed precariously, and starlight dimmed considerably.
As Qin Mu walked past, he saw two or three stars extinguished because of these prehistoric powerhouses' plundering, turning into dead stars.
"Perhaps it's also possible that he's not a friend..."
His expression gradually darkened. Along this journey, he had felt deep hostility.
The vast majority of the prehistoric powerhouses entrenched in the Great Black Mountain were showing intense hostility toward him!
"If I were close friends with that existence beneath the World Tree, how could these stowaways show me such intense hostility?"
Qin Mu's face was as calm as water, but sweat beaded on the back of his neck. He thought to himself: "This time might not be a visit to an old friend—it might be walking into a trap, delivering myself to my own death..."
The original Great Black Mountain had long since become lush and verdant with the World Tree's revival, turning into an enviable holy land. But now these prehistoric powerhouses had stowed across, devouring the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to replenish what they had consumed during the Cataclysm Tribulation, causing the place to become desolate once more.
Qin Mu frowned slightly.
But the World Tree ahead was even more lush and vigorous, displaying its towering posture of holding up the myriad worlds.
"Far from the ancestral garden tree, one withers and one blooms each year. Chaos cannot burn it all, after tribulation it is born anew."
Beneath the World Tree, that hoarse old voice sang. Suddenly, the song carried a note of resentment, and in an instant, the killing intent surged: "Taiyi felled my tree, Tiandu burned my roots! Fortunately spring came to visit, returning my splendid city!"
Qin Mu ignored the hostility of others and walked forward against the song. Ahead, beneath the tree, there appeared a pond—not large—and a white-haired old man was bathing in it, pulling a white towel back and forth across his back with both hands.
Qin Mu was stunned.
The water in this pond was incredibly rich in spiritual energy. It was actually the Dao dew dripping from Taiyi's Dao tree mixed with Hongmeng primordial liquid, which the old man had combined into his bathwater.
Taiyi's Dao tree should still appear at night, dripping Dao dew used to repair the Black Mountains.
After Xu Shenghua left this place, the remaining Dao dew shouldn't have been enough to create such a large bath pond, but the quantity was still considerable. Such treasures—and this old man was using them to bathe!
Not only was he soaking in Dao dew and Hongmeng primordial liquid, he was even scrubbing himself in it. What a waste of heaven's gifts!
That white-haired old man was in high spirits in the pond water. Catching sight of him, he laughed: "Seventh Young Master of Miluo Palace, come down and wash with me!"
Qin Mu shook his head and said: "I possess the Hongmeng body, free of all filth. I no longer need to rely on such treasures."
"Is the Hongmeng body so impressive? I don't think so!"
The white-haired old man burst into laughter and stood up from the pond. Qin Mu averted his gaze to look at the World Tree, while the old man walked openly to the edge of the pond, picked up his clothes, and dressed himself properly. He said: "Fourth Young Master of Miluo Palace was chased off by me. Even Zixiao had to suffer a loss from my divine ability. Seventh Young Master of Miluo Palace, you owe me a favor."
Qin Mu withdrew his gaze and let it fall upon the old man's face. Smiling, he said: "Dao brother severed Fourth Young Master's zither strings only to save the Three Elders of Fengshu. That favor isn't for me—it's for the Three Elders of Fengshu."
The white-haired old man shook his head disdainfully: "What are the Five Elders of Fengshu? Are they worthy of me granting them a favor? Those five old things can't do anything else—they only know how to dig holes beneath the tree every day, afraid they won't have a chance to survive into the next era. Truly annoying. This era, they still planned to entrench themselves here. I was so irritated by them that I drove them out."
Qin Mu saluted and asked: "May I ask how to address Dao brother? What is your origin?"
The white-haired old man smiled enigmatically: "Seventh Young Master of Miluo Palace, don't you know my origin? When you came to see me back then, you saw through my origin at a glance, treated me with great respect, said you owed me a great favor, and even wrote me an IOU."
Qin Mu opened his vertical eye in the center of his brow to look, but he couldn't see through the old man's origins. He could only see a divine light shrouding his true form, and his brow's vertical eye couldn't penetrate that divine light.
"Back then, the Master of Miluo Palace paid homage to me. Later, Taiyi tried to fell me. Fortunately, to prevent those little ones from stowing across through my roots, he had to come every day to take the path and water my root hairs, keeping me alive by a thread. I took advantage of Miluo Palace's unsealing to revive from death, barely managing to sprout new roots. Then you borrowed Taiyi's axe to chop me down."
The white-haired old man glanced at Qin Mu and said: "After you looked at my sapling, you planted it in your own divine treasury. Who would have thought you'd actually manage to grow it? Truly a strange affair!"
Qin Mu stared wide-eyed at him, unable to speak for a moment.
"It was only at that time that I suddenly understood why you said you owed me a great favor and wanted to give me an IOU."
The white-haired old man shook his head and sighed: "I originally thought I had taken advantage of that slippery, all-conning Seventh Young Master. I didn't expect it wasn't an advantage at all—it was truly a huge pit!"
Qin Mu's mind buzzed. He looked at him, then at the World Tree beside him, then turned his head back to look at him again, repeating this several times.
"Felling me is fine—I can regrow. After all, I accepted your IOU."
The white-haired old man's brows were furrowed with worry, but then he roused his spirits and laughed: "Taiyi also wanted to fell me. Fortunately, you spoke up, and he didn't resort to ruthless measures. I finally had a chance to catch my breath. The earthquakes here every day aren't vibrations from Miluo Palace—they're my root hairs stealing the energy of the Cataclysm Tribulation to make myself grow."
Qin Mu suddenly remembered: when the World Tree had just sprouted as a sapling, the Great Black Mountain frequently experienced earthquakes. After each earthquake, the World Tree sapling would suddenly shoot up a large section, growing at an astonishing rate!
At the time, he had guessed that the World Tree's rapid growth was Miluo Palace's doing—deliberately making the World Tree grow so that the prehistoric powerhouses in its roots could stow across.
He never expected that those earthquakes weren't caused by Miluo Palace at all, but by the World Tree's root hairs stealing chaotic energy to grow rapidly!
"I've been living in constant fear, afraid Taiyi would go mad and try to fell me again. Fortunately, he left."
The white-haired old man said with a beaming smile: "Taiyi left you behind to repair the Black Mountains, but then you left too, leaving that young man Xu Shenghua, who never had a smile on his face every day—truly dull. Later, Xu Shenghua also left, so I came out to move around a bit. Those little ones hiding in my root hairs were all shaken out by me. Now, do you know my origin?"
Qin Mu finally steadied his mind and bowed once more to ask: "May I ask how to address Dao brother?"
The white-haired old man said leisurely: "Names are given by others. I was originally just a fine tree—how could I have a name? However, the Master of Miluo Palace called me the Old Man Wuyá."
Qin Mu nodded silently, then suddenly said: "Life has no bounds, the Dao has no bounds. Dao brother indeed deserves the title of Old Man Wuyá. But I observe that Dao brother doesn't seem like such a man of inaction. Releasing so many prehistoric powerhouses will only endanger the Seventeenth Era and hasten its demise. Since Dao brother has been reborn, why not make the Seventeenth Era last longer?"
The Old Man Wuyá glanced at him and said: "Whether the Seventeenth Era succeeds or not—what does that have to do with me?"
Qin Mu was momentarily stunned, then said: "If the Seventeenth Era lasts long, the Cataclysm Tribulation will come later. Perhaps the living beings of the Seventeenth Era can even resolve the Cataclysm Tribulation..."
"What does that have to do with me?"
The Old Man Wuyá chuckled: "I draw energy from chaos. Every time the Cataclysm Tribulation comes, it is a time of growth for me. Not only do I not wish for the Seventeenth Era to last long, I even hope it ends sooner. Seventh Young Master of Miluo Palace, you've come to the wrong person."
Qin Mu's brow twitched, but suddenly he smiled: "Those with different paths cannot work together. It seems I came here by mistake. Farewell."
"Don't be in such a hurry to leave."
The Old Man Wuyá's sleeves brushed through the air, and the World Tree's branches and leaves fluttered. He laughed: "It's rare for us to reunite—how can you leave without catching up on old times?"
Qin Mu laughed heartily: "For Dao brother, this is catching up on old times, but for me, it isn't. I still have important matters to attend to, so I won't disturb you further. Farewell."
He turned and walked away. Suddenly, the Old Man Wuyá's voice came from behind, leisurely: "Seventh Young Master of Miluo Palace, who exactly sent you back to the past to let us meet? I asked you this question before, but you didn't answer. Now I've figured it out."
Ahead of Qin Mu, the sky suddenly darkened. Beyond the World Tree's canopy was a scene of chaotic apocalypse.
Qin Mu stopped in his tracks.
Behind him, the Old Man Wuyá's laughter came: "It was me—I was the one who sent you back to the past. No wonder you didn't tell me."
Qin Mu wore a smile on his face, lowering his head to look at his own palm. The Dao of Taiyi flowed within it, faintly condensing into a Taiyi divine axe. He laughed: "Dao brother, why did Taiyi want to fell you?"
"This matter is neither big nor small."
The Old Man Wuyá stroked his snow-white beard and laughed: "I had the Master of Miluo Palace kill him, so naturally he wanted revenge. What—do you want to fell me too?"