Chapter 1802: Return to Zero
The impact of the battle at Return to Void was immense. The Return to Void Abyss was completely destroyed, leaving only the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel forged from Chaos Stone standing above the Chaos Sea in the sky. Elder Wuyai and Young Master Wuji were both severely wounded, and Third Young Master and Fourth Young Master failed to complete their mission and eliminate the two.
Meanwhile, in the battle at the ancestral court of Yujing City, the three factions fought fiercely, suffering heavy casualties.
When Qin Mu traveled to the ancestral court of Yujing City, Zixiao and Lingxiao, who were pursuing Elder Wuyai and Young Master Wuji, were forced to abandon their chase and return to Yujing City.
They had the strength to kill Elder Wuyai and Young Master Wuji, but if they did so, the forces in the ancestral court of Yujing City would inevitably be uprooted by Qin Mu.
To preserve the ancestral court of Yujing City, they had no choice but to give up this golden opportunity.
Qin Mu led the strong practitioners of Yankang to withdraw from Yujing City, while also protecting the forces under Elder Wuyai's command during their retreat, leaving the strong practitioners under Elder Wuyai astonished.
"If you die, you'll only be doing a favor for Third Young Master and Fourth Young Master of Miluo Palace."
Kaihuang and Qin Mu and the others covered the retreat together, explaining to those people: "Although Taishi can dissolve the blood sacrifice, it can only dissolve a portion of the power. If you die, Third Young Master and Fourth Young Master will accumulate more energy, making it easier for them to descend. So you can't die yet. Once Taishi can completely dissolve the blood sacrifice energy, then you can die."
The strong practitioners under Elder Wuyai had initially felt a bit of gratitude, but upon hearing this, the last trace of gratitude vanished as well.
"Old Seven!"
Young Master Lingxiao knew he couldn't keep them here, so he immediately ordered the pursuit to stop and stood at a distance facing Qin Mu, saying coldly: "Second Sister Wuji has still been released. Even if you destroyed the Return to Void Abyss, she will eventually recover to her peak state. At that time, it will be a disaster for all living beings! This evil consequence must be counted on your head!"
Qin Mu summoned the Cosmic Bell back and hung it before the Chaos Hall, facing him from a distance: "Old Three, when Miluo Palace descends, it will destroy the myriad worlds and plunge the Seventeenth Era universe directly into collapse and destruction, killing countless living beings. Whose head should this evil consequence be counted on? The teacher's order was for you all to return to the universes that birthed you, yet you violated the teacher's command. How should this be accounted for?"
Young Master Lingxiao leaned on his spear and snorted coldly: "The teacher abandoned his ideals. As disciples, we should pick up the teacher's ideals and continue forward—that is what makes us his true successors! Among the Seven Young Masters of Miluo Palace, only I and Zixiao are the ones who inherit his ideals. The others, like you, like Wuji, like Taishang, are all traitors!"
Qin Mu laughed heartily and led his forces in retreat.
Young Master Lingxiao watched him leave, then led his forces back to Miluo Palace, but did not see Young Master Zixiao.
"Fourth Young Master has returned to the past."
That cultivator whose body had been controlled by Fourth Young Master had now regained control of his own body, saying: "When he left, I could feel a profound sorrow and longing in his Dao heart."
Young Master Lingxiao fell silent, knowing that Zixiao's killing of Moon Venerable and interrupting her Dao-illumination song had awakened his longing for his deceased wife.
"Daoist Hao, your physical body went through the great battle at Return to Void, was shattered several times, and was later pierced through the brow by Old Seven's sword, yet you were not injured. Quite peculiar."
Young Master Lingxiao returned the body to Hao Venerable, saying: "Old Seven is extremely cunning. It's hard to say whether he hid some trick in that sword strike, but I probed and found no residual divine power. However, this matter cannot be taken lightly. You are a Dao-achiever of my Miluo Palace, and I will not watch you come to harm."
He summoned the many hall masters and Dao-achievers of Miluo Palace and instructed: "Daoist Hao's foundation is shallow. You may teach him the Dao techniques and divine powers of my Miluo Palace. Whether it's the Dao-achievers, the hall masters, or even the Young Masters' techniques, he may freely learn them. As for the sword wound on his brow, you must also carefully study it to see if Old Seven tampered with it. I need to go check on Old Four, lest his Dao heart be damaged."
Everyone acknowledged.
Hao Venerable was both shocked and delighted. This time, he could be said to have turned misfortune into blessing, finally gaining the recognition of Miluo Palace.
"How powerful are the Dao techniques and divine powers of Miluo Palace? That bastard Shepherd Venerable only began to rise after coming into contact with Miluo Palace's techniques, leaving me far behind in cultivation and strength! If I can obtain all of Miluo Palace's inheritance, my cultivation speed will only be faster than his, not slower! This is fortune turning around, when adversity reaches its limit, good fortune follows!"
He was confident he was not inferior to anyone—all he lacked was an opportunity. Now, the opportunity had finally come before him!
The Dao-achievers and hall masters in Yujing City examined the sword wound on Hao Venerable's brow one by one, but even Young Master Lingxiao had found no residual divine power, so naturally they found nothing either.
They also examined Hao Venerable's body but found no hidden dangers, and each fell into contemplation.
Hao Venerable smiled: "Everyone can rest assured. Although I did not participate in the battle at Return to Void, I watched the entire battle. At that time, Seventh Young Master Qin Mu had exhausted all his abilities to dismantle Return to Void and had no strength left to strike at Young Master Lingxiao. That sword strike of his was merely a bluff."
"Let us hope so."
They set the matter aside and led him into the Dao treasury of Miluo Palace, allowing him to browse freely, saying: "The Dao techniques and divine powers of Miluo Palace can be learned by anyone. Daoist Hao, the texts here are vast as an ocean. Feel free to consult them. If there is anything you don't understand, come ask us."
Hao Venerable was both shocked and delighted, repeatedly expressing his thanks, saying: "Can the texts of the Master of Miluo Palace also be learned?"
Hall Master Huadu smiled: "They can also be learned. Not only can the Dao-achievers of Miluo Palace learn the teacher's techniques, but everyone else can as well. The texts of Miluo Palace have never been a secret."
He looked deeply at Hao Venerable and said meaningfully: "However, how much you can learn and whether you can comprehend the mysteries depends entirely on one's personal aptitude and enlightenment. Daoist Hao's enlightenment is extraordinary, but your foundation is not solid. I suggest you start with the masterworks of the hall masters and Dao-achievers, and first build a solid foundation. Once your foundation is solid, then learn the Young Masters' masterworks, and finally approach the teacher's techniques. That will be easier to grasp. Going directly to the teacher's techniques requires the wisdom and enlightenment of a Young Master."
Hao Venerable said solemnly: "The slow bird must fly early. I am willing to put in extra effort and learn the teacher's techniques first."
The other hall masters chuckled softly, led him to the collection left by the Master of Miluo Palace, left him there, and departed.
Hao Venerable's heart pounded wildly: "My fortune has finally arrived! Shepherd Venerable comprehended a single Hongmeng rune and became the Seventh Young Master. If I obtain the Master of Miluo Palace's masterworks, my achievements will surely far surpass his!"
He opened the first text. The pages were forged from the same divine metal as the World-Crossing Golden Ship, inscribed with words written in Hongmeng runes.
Hao Venerable stared at it with wide eyes, his head spinning. He looked for a long time but could not understand a single word.
To understand the words in this text, one first needed to comprehend all the transformations of the Hongmeng runes, and only then could one comprehend the mysteries within the words!
In this text, the information contained in any single word could rival the information contained in an entire Great Dao!
After a long while, Hao Venerable put down this text and went to look at other texts, but they were all the same!
His wisdom was exhausted, yet he could not understand a single word!
"Since I can't understand the Master of Miluo Palace's texts, then I'll settle for the next best thing and look at the masterworks of the Young Masters!"
He steadied himself and came to the texts left by First Young Master Taishang. He opened one, and his face immediately darkened.
It turned out that First Young Master Taishang wrote his Dao techniques and divine powers using exactly the same script as the Master of Miluo Palace!
Hao Venerable came to the texts of Second Young Master Wuji, and his face darkened again. Second Young Master Wuji's texts had no words at all—only a pile of incomprehensible symbols.
He came to the texts left by Third Young Master Lingxiao and opened one. It contained Lingxiao's annotations on the Master of Miluo Palace's techniques, densely written.
However, even the annotations were impossible to understand!
Only with a profound understanding of the most basic Hongmeng runes could one possibly understand these annotations.
Hao Venerable came to the texts of Fourth Young Master Zixiao. Zixiao's texts were also annotations on the Master of Miluo Palace's techniques.
He came to the texts of Fifth Young Master Wuzong and Sixth Young Master Zhanji, and these texts were no different.
Hao Venerable came to the texts of Seventh Young Master Hundun and hesitated for a moment, thinking: "A stone from another mountain can polish jade. Qin Mu is my mortal enemy, but being a mortal enemy doesn't prevent me from understanding his techniques and divine powers!"
He opened the text, and the runes on the golden pages looked like ghost scribbles—completely incomprehensible!
Hao Venerable was completely in the dark. Suddenly, the runes on the golden pages transformed into words he could recognize—a string of numbers, precise down to the infinitesimal position.
Moreover, those numbers kept changing.
Hao Venerable closed Qin Mu's text, puzzled: "Young Master Hundun truly is a chaos—impossible to understand... Eh, strange!"
Even though he had closed the golden book, that string of jumping numbers still appeared before his eyes!
Hao Venerable rubbed his eyes, but that string of numbers seemed to be branded into his eyes, still there, and still constantly changing!
"Could it be that Qin Mu anticipated I would read his text here and now, and planted a divine power in the book to ambush me? Impossible!"
His heart was flustered. That string of constantly changing numbers seemed to be counting time. It should be a time unit—the front was years, followed by months. From months to years was base twelve, then came days, and from days to months was base thirty.
After days came hours, base twelve, and then the base became finer, all the way down to the decimal infinitesimal position.
The jumping of the characters appeared to have no pattern, but in fact, each stage used a different base system for calculation.
"These characters are decreasing. When everything returns to zero, what will happen?" Hao Venerable was somewhat bewildered.
The number for years was ninety-three. That meant that after ninety-three years, the numbers in his eyes would all return to zero.
Hao Venerable set this matter aside for the moment and went to look at the hall masters' masterworks, but they were still obscure and difficult to understand. In the end, he had to go to the Dao-achievers' masterworks and learn their comprehensions of the Master of Miluo Palace's Hongmeng runes.
At this time, Young Master Lingxiao arrived at the Tenth Era, standing before the cataclysm of the Tenth Era's destruction, looking into the Chaos Long River.
In the Chaos Long River, Young Master Zixiao had returned to the time when his wife died. This universe had already shown signs of great collapse. At the moment before the cataclysm was about to erupt, he held his wife tightly in his arms.
Young Master Lingxiao stared blankly at this scene. He knew that Zixiao had repeated this final moment of tenderness countless times.
Every time he missed his deceased wife, he would always return here, enter the cataclysm, return to himself in the Tenth Era, hold his beloved wife, and then struggle desperately, striving with all his might to save everything.
However, everything was futile.
This time was no different.
Young Master Lingxiao did not continue watching. He also abandoned the idea of consoling Zixiao and left directly.
Some wounds were ones he could not heal.
"Zixiao, only by defeating Old Seven, descending to the Seventeenth Era, and continuing the teacher's ideals can you possibly save your wife!"
Young Master Lingxiao thought silently: "Now, no one is disturbing your Dao heart. I hope you can rouse yourself and fight for the future!"
"Where is Moon Venerable?" On the World-Crossing Golden Ship, Lang Wan looked around but could not find Moon Venerable, and asked in confusion.
Her relationship with Moon Venerable was the best, and their connection ran deepest. The two often fought side by side, but this time in the great battle, she had not seen Moon Venerable, and she couldn't help feeling uneasy.
Qin Mu said gently: "Moon Venerable went to the Fourteenth Era universe. In the future, I will return to the past and meet up with her there."
Lang Wan looked at him deeply but did not continue to press the matter.
On the other side, Elder Wuyai and Young Master Wuji gained a chance to catch their breath and hid away to heal. Because Elder Wuyai was the World Tree, anyone knew where he was, but Wuji's whereabouts were unknown to all.
Unknowingly, ninety-three years passed. On this day, the ancestral court of Yujing City attacked the people of Yankang. Hao Venerable's cultivation and strength had grown greatly, and he was full of confidence, challenging Kaihuang Qin Ye alone.
Kaihuang Qin Ye glanced at him, his gaze strange, and shook his head: "Hao, your time of death has arrived."
Before Hao Venerable's eyes, the final numbers kept jumping, and suddenly returned to zero.