Chapter 1756: Seven Gongzi's "Past"
In the forest of obelisks, there was still no sign of life. When Qin Mu had come here last time, he could still see the sun in the sky—that was the eye of Eldest Gongzi Tai Shang, peering at everything within the stele forest.
Now that he had come here again, only the light of the obelisks remained; the sun was nowhere to be seen.
The place was very oppressive. The obelisks stood like tall towers, suppressing everything.
The steles were refined from Chaos Stones, which could only be found in the Taiyi ore veins and during the cataclysm of destruction. Nowhere else could such treasures be found.
But for Eldest Gongzi Tai Shang, Chaos Stones were merely materials for refining treasures.
Qin Mu hefted one of the obelisks and tossed it onto the Golden Ship of Salvation, then pushed the ship out through the portal. "Treasure ship, oh treasure ship—go to the Ancestral Court!"
Qin Mu gave a heavy push, and the Golden Ship of Salvation immediately departed with the stele aboard.
Qin Mu's gaze flickered uncertainly as he watched until the Golden Ship of Salvation disappeared into the depths of the void's filthy grounds. Only then did he turn around, hoist the Divine Coffin of the Dao Burial onto his shoulder, and stride boldly into the stele forest.
He had already seen through the mystery of the obelisks. By transforming the Hongmeng runes within his body into the runic state of the steles, he could walk into the stele forest without being suppressed.
If he didn't do this—if the number of steles remained complete—then he wouldn't be able to disguise himself as a stele and enter the forest.
"Eldest Gongzi Tai Shang may not allow me to take the paralyzed one away, nor will he permit me to merge Taiyi with the paralyzed one. So I placed one of the steles on the ship, letting the golden ship take it away. With this stele missing, the formation of the stele forest is incomplete. As long as he can't find this stele and can't complete the suppression formation, I'll be safe."
Qin Mu revealed a smile and, with the coffin on his shoulder, strode boldly inside.
At that very moment, in the innermost part of the stele forest, light ripples suddenly flowed across the surfaces of the steles. On one of them, the figure of Zhu Santong surfaced.
The pig-headed, human-bodied Dao Achiever's pig face suddenly protruded from the stele. His two bell-sized eyes rolled around, and he whispered, "Old fiend, old fiend! Did you feel that? The formation of this stele forest is missing another piece!"
From another stele, the image of a little girl emerged, like someone standing before a mirror but unable to find their reflection in it.
The girl extended a leg out from the mirror surface, and said in surprise, "The formation really is incomplete!"
She jumped out from the mirror surface, giggling. "Tai Shang's seal is too old—it's finally breaking down!"
"It's not the seal breaking down."
An old woman emerged from another stele, sensing carefully, and said, "These obelisks are refined from Chaos Stones. Even the cataclysm of destruction cannot damage them in the slightest. Tai Shang could keep us imprisoned for several more cosmic epochs, and this seal wouldn't have the slightest flaw!"
She walked out from the stele, and said in puzzlement, "But the seal really is missing a piece. How strange..."
At this moment, a woman walked out of a stele, sneering coldly, "What trick is Tai Shang playing?"
An old man had already arrived at the village, checking on the paralyzed one inside. Seeing that the paralyzed one was still there, he relaxed and said calmly, "We are no longer Tai Shang's match. No matter what trick he plays..."
He let out a muffled grunt. "We can only be played by him."
The others felt quite helpless. Suddenly, Zhu Santong's ears twitched. "Someone's coming!"
He immediately rolled on the ground, transforming into a fat pig. The girl hung up a rope, and the fair-skinned Zhu Santong stretched his two hind legs straight out, tied up with the rope, and the girl hung him upside down from a tree.
The woman hurried to her Dao tree, drew water from the well, and took out a washing club, pretending to do laundry. The old man quickly went to the village entrance, sat on a rock, lit his water pipe, and the old woman sat down under the eaves, watching the woman wash clothes.
They had just finished all this when they saw Qin Mu striding like a shooting star, carrying a coffin on his shoulder as he walked over.
"What a fine coffin!"
The others all relaxed, and upon seeing the Divine Coffin of the Dao Burial, they cheered in unison. The old woman hastily stood up, chuckling, "Where did Seven Gongzi get such a superior coffin? It's truly wonderful—this old woman would love to lie in it for a while!"
Qin Mu set down the Divine Coffin of the Dao Burial, and said happily, "You can also tell this is a fine coffin? I've had my eye on it for a long time too, but unfortunately, this coffin already has an owner—I've given it to someone else."
He sounded quite regretful.
Zhu Santong slipped off the rope, landed on the ground and transformed into a burly man. He came forward to examine it, praising endlessly, "Truly a fine coffin! I wonder who has the fortune to lie in it."
He was about to open the coffin lid when Qin Mu pressed down on his hand, shaking his head. "There's someone in the coffin."
Zhu Santong was startled, wanting to look but not daring to.
The old man stepped forward, and said tremblingly, "Was it you, gongzi, who broke through Tai Shang's seal just now?"
Qin Mu smiled slightly. "It was a trivial matter. Dao brother, take a guess—who is the person in this coffin?"
The old man's heart shook violently, and he blurted out, "Could it be... that one?"
Qin Mu burst into laughter. The people suppressed in the stele forest couldn't help but feel excited and moved. Among those present, only the old man had ever seen Tiandu in person; the others had only heard of his name but never seen him.
Last time Qin Mu came here, they learned that the paralyzed one was the Lord of Tiandu, the one who was equally famous as the Master of Miluo Palace!
Qin Mu had revealed the relationship between the Lord of Tiandu and Taiyi, letting them know that the reason they could escape from the obelisks was because Taiyi had come here.
The old man and Zhu Santong hastily carried the paralyzed one over, looking at Qin Mu with expectation.
Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, then said honestly to everyone, "Taiyi is severely injured, and the paralyzed one was killed by the Master of Miluo Palace using a great divine ability. Although the two are one body, both have suffered very serious injuries. If we open the coffin, they will merge into one. The best-case scenario is that after they merge, their injuries disappear."
The girl blinked her eyes, looked up at him, and probed, "Then what's the worst-case scenario?"
"The worst-case scenario is that their injuries merge together, concentrated in one body, making the injuries even worse."
Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, then spoke the truth: "They might even die directly—the kind that can't be saved."
Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces change drastically, he quickly added, "But not long ago, I also suffered the same injury as the paralyzed one. The difference is that the paralyzed one died, while I was cured. Don't worry—treating this kind of injury, I'm quite experienced. However..."
The woman waved the washing club in her hand, and said angrily, "Seven Gongzi, can you finish what you're saying in one go?"
Qin Mu said, "However, my injury was inflicted by the divine ability used by Third Gongzi Ling Xiao, while the injury on the paralyzed one was inflicted by the divine ability of the Master of Miluo Palace. Although they used the same divine ability, the users are different. Whether I can completely heal the paralyzed one's injury, I don't have full confidence."
"Then treat a dead pig like a live pig!"
Zhu Santong spoke quickly, "Even if we can't cure him, we won't make his injuries worse!"
Qin Mu nodded in agreement and carefully examined the injuries on the paralyzed one. After a while, he fell into a dream. The others' expressions changed slightly, and they hastily retreated.
Qin Mu didn't notice this scene in his dream.
The old man said in a hoarse voice, "Seven Gongzi's dream transforms into a vast world. Be careful not to fall into it, or you'll never escape."
The others were extremely cautious. In the past cosmic epochs, they had all heard more or less about the rumors of Seven Gongzi's dream—it could be said to be the most bizarre and incomprehensible thing in each of the past universes. There were also many terrifying rumors about the legends of Seven Gongzi's dream, so they couldn't afford to be careless.
Many tiny Qin Mus poked their heads out from the dream, then poured out all at once, chattering noisily as they treated the Dao injuries of the paralyzed one.
The others looked carefully and couldn't help but feel doubtful.
The old man breathed a sigh of relief. "He hasn't cultivated to that terrifying level yet. No need to worry too much."
The others each breathed a sigh of relief. Zhu Santong said in a low voice, "Old fiend, are the rumors about Seven Gongzi's dream true? I heard that in the Twelfth Epoch, some Dao Achievers initiated an Extermination Assembly, planning to kill him, and gathered a large number of experts..."
The girl spoke quickly, "I've heard that rumor too! At that time, Seven Gongzi arrived at the scene. Just as the many Dao Achievers were about to make their move, they saw him fall asleep. I heard that the Dao Achievers who participated in the Extermination Assembly—even their corpses couldn't be found. They were directly erased!"
The old man shook his head. "I was suppressed by Tai Shang too early and never heard this rumor. I only know that in my era, someone once fell into Seven Gongzi's dream. Later..."
He fell silent, and after a moment, said, "That person came out alive, but he was no longer himself."
His expression turned strange, and his voice carried a hint of fear: "Whether it was his appearance, his physical body, his primordial spirit, or even his memories—everything had changed. That person originally wanted to kill Seven Gongzi, but after coming out of his dream, he completely didn't recognize Seven Gongzi anymore. Later, they even became friends..."
The others felt their hair stand on end.
The woman said in a low voice, "In the Ninth Epoch, I heard that the place where Seven Gongzi entered his dream was the largest forbidden zone in the universe—the most mysterious and most terrifying forbidden zone. No one was allowed to step into it, or else they would never return!"
"I heard this rumor in the Thirteenth Epoch too!" the girl said quickly.
Zhu Santong was silent for a moment, then said, "I've heard it too."
The old woman nodded. "This old woman has heard it as well."
The old man sighed. "I've heard it too."
The others fell silent. From the Seventh Epoch to the Fifteenth Epoch, there were rumors about that forbidden zone. What made them feel terrified was that this forbidden zone had clearly always existed, surviving even the cataclysms of destruction and creation of each universe!
"We should be grateful that we're not his enemies." Zhu Santong suddenly let out a snorting laugh.
"That's hard to say."
The girl laughed. "When Seven Gongzi first came here, you were chopped into eight pieces, and you still attacked him, and even cursed and insulted him."
Zhu Santong immediately wilted.
Suddenly, the old man's expression changed, and he said in a low voice, "Someone's coming!"
The old woman, the woman, Zhu Santong, and the girl immediately became tense. Suddenly, the sky brightened, and a sun appeared, hanging in the sky.
The old man snorted, looking up. "Tai Shang!"
The sky changed, and another sun appeared. Then the face of Eldest Gongzi Tai Shang gradually became clear. The two suns retreated, becoming the two eyes on his face.