Chapter 1754: Entering the Coffin
The branches and leaves of the World Tree withered, its roots rapidly retracting, and the area it covered grew smaller and smaller. This time, Elder Wuya had been too severely wounded and had to go into hiding to recuperate.
In the Ancestral Court, the prehistoric stowaways felt the call and flew toward the World Tree one after another. Even the Three Elders of Fengshu withdrew from outside Yujing City and returned to the World Tree.
Tens of thousands of powerful beings gathered in a tight circle around the World Tree's perimeter, standing guard with utmost vigilance.
The World Tree was their hope of surviving into the next epoch—it absolutely could not be lost.
On the other side, within Miluo Palace, Third Young Master, Fourth Young Master, and the others struggled to their feet, speaking in deep voices: "Advance on the Seventeenth Epoch!"
Doo—
A resounding horn blast echoed through Yujing City. With Elder Wuya and Taiyi both severely wounded, Miluo Palace had finally cleared the obstacles to their blood sacrifice!
Although they had failed to send Qin Mu back to the past this time, Miluo Palace's strategic objective had been achieved!
Previously, Elder Wuya had been secretly stealing the energy of the blood sacrifice to allow stowaways to descend, which had prevented Miluo Palace's grand descent plan from ever being carried out.
Now Elder Wuya could barely save himself, let alone steal the blood sacrifice energy!
As for Taiyi, he was the other person preventing Miluo Palace's descent. He had guarded the Great Black Mountain for six billion years, constantly obstructing the blood sacrifice. With him also severely wounded this time, neither of Miluo Palace's two great enemies could stop them for the time being!
In this battle, although all of Miluo Palace's Dao Achievers had been wounded, the severity varied. The most seriously wounded were the Hall Master and Third and Fourth Young Masters—they could not descend until their wounds healed. But those with lighter injuries could descend now.
Outside Yujing City, Dao light blazed. The energy of the blood sacrifice was being exchanged here, and the bodies of Dao Achievers began to slowly materialize!
"With our two great enemies both severely wounded this time, when Miluo Palace's Dao Achievers descend, if they entrust their Great Dao to the void, it will rapidly heal Elder Wuya's wounds and strengthen his power."
Fourth Young Master Zixiao suppressed his injuries and issued orders: "When we reach the Seventeenth Epoch, do not entrust yourselves to the void!"
In Taiyi's Grand Luotian, Qin Mu had just landed when the giant Taiyi beside him let out a muffled groan and fell backward.
Bang!
The giant Taiyi transformed into a mass of Taiyi qi, scattering chaotically across the Grand Luotian.
"Brother Dao!"
Qin Mu's injuries were not too severe, and he quickly called out in concern, only to see the mass of Taiyi qi gather together. After a moment, a female Taiyi stepped out from the Taiyi qi.
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief and smiled: "Brother Dao's Dao techniques and divine powers are truly strange..."
Before he could finish speaking, the female Taiyi suddenly burst open with bloody holes all over her body, blood gushing forth. She fell backward, her body collapsing and transforming once again into a scattered mass of Taiyi qi.
Qin Mu's heart skipped a beat. After another moment, the Taiyi qi condensed once more, this time forming an elderly Taiyi, whose physical body was also riddled with holes, bleeding from every direction.
The elderly Taiyi's body also could not maintain itself, collapsing once again.
The mass of Taiyi qi then transformed into a young girl Taiyi, but she too could not maintain her form.
Qin Mu watched Taiyi continuously change forms, yet never able to hold any shape. In this battle, Taiyi's Dao wounds were branded into his very origin—his injuries were extremely severe!
In the past, when Taiyi changed forms, he would sever causality, and the wounds on his body would cease to exist. But in this battle, Taiyi had faced Elder Wuya and Miluo Palace!
Elder Wuya's strength went without saying, and Miluo Palace's Third and Fourth Young Masters were even more terrifying. Add to that sixty or seventy Hall Masters each possessing multiple Dao Fruits, plus who knew how many Dao Achievers from Miluo Palace—this force could not be found a second time across seventeen cosmic epochs!
His Dao wounds had injured his very origin, and could no longer be healed simply by changing his form.
Suddenly, the Taiyi qi transformed into a youthful Taiyi. Qin Mu hurriedly examined his injuries and spoke rapidly: "Brother Dao, among your wounds, the Dao wounds left by Miluo Palace are the most severe. The Dao wounds Elder Wuya left you are actually not as frightening. But resolving Miluo Palace's Dao wounds is not too troublesome either. Wait a moment!"
The youthful Taiyi could not wait—his physical body collapsed once more, transforming into Taiyi qi.
Qin Mu pondered for a moment, then opened his vertical eye on his brow, illuminating the Ancestral Court as he searched carefully. After a long while, he breathed a sigh of relief.
In this short time, Taiyi had already changed forms more than ten times, each time unable to maintain his form due to severe injuries.
Just as he transformed into a giant Taiyi, Qin Mu immediately spoke rapidly: "Brother Dao, maintain your current physical state—no need to change again. I have a way to heal your wounds!"
The giant Taiyi's wounds continued to bleed, but he immediately sat in lotus position, suppressing his injuries.
The Golden Ship of Salvation flew over, and the two boarded it. The giant Taiyi sat at the bow, continuing to suppress the Dao wounds on his body to prevent them from worsening.
In this three-way battle, it was not the case that the stronger one suffered lighter injuries. On the contrary, after fusing the Dao Fruits of eleven cosmic epochs, his strength had greatly increased, which made him the primary target of both Miluo Palace and Elder Wuya—he suffered the heaviest injuries.
In a three-way game, one always destroys the side with the greatest advantage.
The Golden Ship changed direction and sailed out of Taiyi's Grand Luotian.
Xing'an sat quietly before the Dao Burial Coffin, eyes fixed straight ahead, waiting patiently. With Taiyi going personally, success was assured.
He was already anticipating the moment when Qin Mu would be bound hand and foot and delivered here, and the look of surprise on Qin Mu's face when he drove the Dao Execution Divine Nails into him.
A smile unconsciously crept to the corner of Xing'an's mouth. He looked up and saw the Golden Ship of Salvation sailing toward him, gradually slowing down.
Xing'an stood up with a smile, only to see Qin Mu carrying the battered and wounded Taiyi, leaping down from the Golden Ship at top speed and rushing forward without a word.
Plop. Taiyi was dumped on the ground.
Xing'an was dumbfounded.
Qin Mu grabbed the Dao Execution Divine Nails and said without looking up: "Daoist Xing'an, aren't you going to help?"
Xing'an still hadn't snapped out of it, but he watched Qin Mu insert the Dao Execution Divine Nails one by one into the giant Taiyi's wounds. Qin Mu urged him again, and only then did Xing'an snap back to reality, hurriedly stepping forward. The two worked together to drive all one hundred divine nails into Taiyi's body.
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief, picked Taiyi up, and placed him in the Dao Burial Coffin, saying: "His injuries are too severe. We'll use the coffin to suppress his wounds first. Once my own injuries heal and I figure out a way to break the Dao wounds, I'll treat him."
Xing'an silently watched him pick up the coffin lid and cover the coffin, unable to say a word.
The box stood at his feet, curiously tilting its body to the side, secretly observing his expression.
Xing'an's face was as dark as water. He very much wanted to push Qin Mu into the coffin as well to suppress him, but he held himself back.
Although Qin Mu was severely wounded, his strength was still above Xing'an's.
After a moment, Qin Mu let out a sigh of relief and carefully examined the Dao wounds on his own body, saying: "Daoist Xing'an, you are truly prescient. I never expected you to have prepared a coffin and divine nails in advance. You knew Taiyi's journey would be extremely perilous and that he would definitely be wounded, didn't you?"
Xing'an opened his mouth but said nothing.
He had originally expected that when Taiyi returned, Qin Mu would be loaded into the coffin. He never imagined that the one loaded into the coffin would be Taiyi!
Fortunately, Qin Mu didn't ask further questions. He focused on examining his own Dao wounds, attempting to unravel the residual divine powers within them.
Xing'an waited quietly. He was always composed and unhurried before anyone else, but only when facing Qin Mu did he feel at a loss, not knowing what he should do.
The bond between him and Qin Mu was a friendship forged through "being beaten."
As long as Qin Mu was present, he dared not stir up trouble.
Suddenly, Xing'an sensed something and looked up toward the direction of Yujing City in the Ancestral Court, a puzzled expression on his face.
"Daoist, you sense it too?"
Qin Mu opened his eyes and looked toward Yujing City in the Ancestral Court, saying: "Dao Achievers are attempting to descend. Yujing City in the Ancestral Court may appear to be here, but in reality, the Dao Achievers inside have not descended to the Seventeenth Epoch. And this time, the obstacles blocking them have disappeared, so they can descend now. In the future, there will be an unimaginably fierce battle. This battle will likely claim many lives..."
Xing'an fell silent.
Qin Mu's spirits then lifted, and he smiled: "But you need not worry. The Ancestral Court battle will not be like the war between the Primordial Realm and the Heavenly Court. Although there will be casualties, those who die will all be powerful beings—ordinary people will not be harmed. This battle is not one to overturn heaven and earth, but a battle among the strong."
Xing'an thought for a moment, then asked: "Can we hold them off?"
"We must hold them off."
Qin Mu entered a dream, murmuring in his sleep: "If we cannot hold them off, then the Yan Kang Reform is nothing but a joke. The Seventeenth Epoch will fall before long."
His dreamscape spilled out in all directions. Xing'an took a few steps back to avoid it, watching the countless Qin Mus of varying sizes within the dreamscape busily working, treating their Dao wounds.
Although the Dao wounds Elder Wuya had left on Qin Mu were severe, their danger was far less than the Dao wounds left by Third Young Master Lingxiao. Elder Wuya's strength was formidable, but his understanding of Dao techniques and divine powers was far less profound than Third Young Master's. Therefore, healing them was not too troublesome.
But even so, Qin Mu spent more than ten days analyzing the divine powers contained within the Dao wounds before finally healing them.
After waking, he took Taiyi out of the coffin and carefully examined Taiyi's Dao wounds. Xing'an helped from the side. The two first helped Taiyi unravel the Dao wounds left by Elder Wuya, leaving only Miluo Palace's Dao wounds on Taiyi's body—the most difficult to resolve.
Xing'an could still help analyze the Dao wounds left by Miluo Palace's Dao Achievers and Hall Masters, but the wounds left by Third and Fourth Young Masters were beyond his ability.
Qin Mu busied himself back and forth, saying without looking up: "Daoist, I need you to make a trip beyond the heavens. Tell Moon Heavenly Venerable, You Heavenly Venerable, and the others to have all Heavenly Venerable-level existences stay behind to intercept the Dao Achievers of Yujing City attempting to descend. I also need someone to go to Yan Kang and invite Lord Shang to rise and deal with the Joy Hall Master."
Xing'an nodded, rose, and departed, saying: "Leave the Dao Burial Coffin and the divine nails to me."
He drifted away.
Qin Mu devoted himself wholeheartedly to unraveling the other Dao wounds on Taiyi's body, but these wounds could not be resolved in a short time. When Qin Mu had fought Third and Fourth Young Masters before, he had suffered as many as fifty Dao wounds and spent eight years healing them—and that time, it had only been projections of Third and Fourth Young Masters' power, using Emperor Hao and Tai Chu's physical bodies to fight him.
This time, however, Taiyi had faced the true bodies of Third and Fourth Young Masters head-on, and his Dao wounds were far more severe than what Qin Mu had suffered back then!
"If I had a thousand years, I could unravel these Dao wounds. But there's no time. Moon Heavenly Venerable, Lord Shang, and the others cannot hold out for a thousand years. Miluo Palace's Dao Achievers will only grow more numerous..."
If Miluo Palace's Hall Masters descended, Moon Heavenly Venerable, Lord Shang, and the others would definitely not be able to hold the line!
And if Third and Fourth Young Masters descended, then what awaited them would be a catastrophe of annihilation!
He suddenly stood up and moved the coffin onto the Golden Ship of Salvation.
"Brother Dao, perhaps you should return to your original self."
Qin Mu stood at the bow as the Golden Ship set sail, entering the Ultimate Void and heading toward the foul grounds of the Ultimate Void.
There, in a foul ground where First Young Master Taishang imprisoned grave criminals, lay a paralyzed man named Tiandu.
—Qin Mu's birthday celebration has arrived. Qidian Chinese is hosting a birthday celebration event for Qin Mu. Open the Qidian app to see the birthday blessing advertisement for Qin Mu. You can also enter through "Discover" - "Events."
Click "Bless Qin Mu" to receive a badge. We're still short by over ten thousand people—please send your blessings!!
August 2nd and 3rd are the days when the Shepherd God Chronicle comic debuts on Tencent Comics, and that time is almost here too. Zhai Zhu will notify everyone then!