Chapter 1811: The One and Only Sword Prince
The sixteen chaotic rivers formed circles of varying sizes, and Qin Mu stood within them, smiling. "Third Brother, Fourth Brother, come see me off."
Prince Lingxiao let out a long cry, thrusting his Dao spear forward, piercing the chaotic river as he ferociously charged into it, aiming straight for Qin Mu!
Meanwhile, Prince Zixiao circled around Qin Mu, his Dao sword vibrating as he pointed it at the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel!
The two of them had chosen the safest route—Prince Lingxiao would duel Qin Mu to the death, while Prince Zixiao would destroy the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel and lead the forces to wipe out the Yan Kang cultivators who had attained the Dao.
The most critical part was destroying the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel. Once the wheel was destroyed, the Yan Kang cultivators would face a massacre, with no chance whatsoever against the forces of Yujing City.
And after annihilating the Yan Kang cultivators, if Prince Lingxiao still hadn't managed to defeat Qin Mu, then Prince Zixiao could lend him a hand, severely wounding Qin Mu and banishing him to the past!
This battle had absolutely no suspense!
The moment Prince Zixiao stepped toward the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, suddenly the chaos before him surged—chaotic rivers swept in from all directions, pulling him into Qin Mu's battle circle.
On the other side, Prince Lingxiao swept his long spear, trying to lift the chaotic rivers to free Prince Zixiao, but his Dao spear suddenly sank heavily—he couldn't lift the chaotic river at all.
Prince Lingxiao exerted his full strength, the Dao spear bending under the pressure, yet still failing to lift the chaotic river.
He looked out and saw that the sixteen chaotic rivers surrounding Qin Mu had suddenly become incomparably vast, stretching beyond the horizon—like the sixteen rivers that encircled Miluo Palace in Yujing City, with dense fog all around, making it impossible to see the opposite shore!
The chaotic mist completely shrouded the river's surface, obscuring all direction.
He couldn't even see where Prince Zixiao was, nor where Qin Mu was!
Chaos.
The great chaos formed after the destruction of sixteen cosmic epochs.
Prince Lingxiao's heart sank slightly as he withdrew his Dao spear from the river and stood upon its surface.
He didn't know which epoch's cataclysm he was standing on, nor his position.
When he had last fought Qin Mu, Qin Mu's Dao realm had reached the Thirty-Sixth Heaven, and he had used the chaotic river technique—but that was during the Guixu War thirty-five billion years ago.
Back then, he had easily broken that technique.
In the long years that followed, although Qin Mu had clashed with them many times, he had never used that technique again.
Now, thirty-five billion years later, the technique had reappeared—but it had become something he could no longer comprehend.
The Dao of Chaos—even the Master of Miluo Palace had never fully understood it.
"Seventh Brother didn't return to the past, so he couldn't have attained the Dao through chaos. These sixteen rivers aren't his cultivation—they're the true cataclysmic tribulations."
Prince Lingxiao quickly figured this out. He immediately shouldered his Dao spear and raced across the river's surface, the chaotic river exploding with thunderous roars wherever he passed!
Behind him, Dao fruits flew forward one after another from his Dao tree, their Dao light illuminating and dispelling the fog ahead.
"He hasn't appeared, which means he's gone to stop Fourth Brother. I can cross the sixteen chaotic rivers in just one day and find his position! Or I can escape from this river surface and go annihilate the Yan Kang cultivators!"
Although he didn't understand what Qin Mu's Dao of Chaos truly was, cultivation was the true measure of strength.
He couldn't comprehend the divine technique Qin Mu used, but he knew Qin Mu was merely using that strange technique to send him and Fourth Brother onto the chaotic rivers, buying time.
But even if Qin Mu had cultivated for thirty-five billion years, his cultivation was still far inferior to his and Fourth Brother's!
Prince Lingxiao sped across like wind and lightning, quickly reaching the opposite shore of this river. His spirits lifted, and without pause, he raced forward.
He knew he had chosen the right direction. As long as he continued along this path, he would find the opposite shores of the other rivers, until he reached the cataclysm of the First Epoch or the Sixteenth Epoch.
If he reached the First Epoch, he would see Miluo Palace. Turning back from there would take at most two days, and if he walked out of the Sixteenth Epoch's cataclysm, he could immediately break free.
These sixteen rivers couldn't trap him!
A day later, Prince Lingxiao crossed sixteen chaotic rivers, but his heart suddenly sank—ahead was still the boundless, endless chaotic river.
Prince Lingxiao's eye twitched violently, but he continued charging forward with his head down.
Another day passed, and he crossed another sixteen chaotic rivers, yet the chaotic mist ahead remained thick and impenetrable, with no end in sight.
Prince Lingxiao stopped, pondered for a moment, left a Dao fruit suspended in the mist, then continued racing forward.
This Dao fruit's purpose was to suppress any divine technique Qin Mu might have left on the river!
He realized he might have inadvertently triggered Qin Mu's technique while crossing the chaotic rivers, causing himself to circle endlessly among the sixteen rivers.
Although he couldn't understand or see through Qin Mu's technique, as long as he suppressed it and rendered it useless, he could escape!
He reached the second river and left another Dao fruit.
The third river—another Dao fruit.
When his eight Dao fruits were all used up, he left his Dao tree in the chaotic mist.
At the tenth chaotic river, he left his Dao spear. At the eleventh, his Dao hall. At the twelfth, his Great Luo Heaven.
He continued racing forward. Logically, there should only be four chaotic rivers ahead, but when he reached the thirteenth, he encountered his own Dao fruit.
Prince Lingxiao's eye twitched, but he ignored it and charged on.
When he reached the fourteenth chaotic river, he encountered his Great Luo Heaven—which should have been on the twelfth river.
He continued forward and encountered his Dao spear.
Prince Lingxiao stopped, reached out to grab the Dao spear, and let out a muffled roar. Rolling Dao sounds blasted the river's surface apart with thunderous explosions!
"Seventh Brother!"
Prince Lingxiao was furious beyond measure, his Dao spear thrusting madly in all directions!
He finally understood the principle behind Qin Mu's technique—the sixteen rivers were constantly revolving around Qin Mu, each river's position continuously shifting, and shifting without any pattern!
As long as he stood on the river's surface, he would never walk out!
Just then, he sensed waves of terrifying divine technique fluctuations and felt a stir in his heart.
"Fourth Brother and Seventh Brother are clashing! They're also on the rivers!"
He raised his Dao spear and thrust it heavily into the river's surface. One by one, his Dao fruits came whistling through the chaotic mist, with his Dao tree, Great Luo Heaven, and Lingxiao Treasure Hall arriving behind him almost simultaneously.
Prince Lingxiao followed those terrifying divine technique fluctuations and sprinted forward.
Beneath his feet, the chaotic rivers continued to shift endlessly. The sixteen rivers transformed, sometimes bringing him closer to the source of those fluctuations, sometimes farther away—sometimes he couldn't sense them at all.
Prince Lingxiao's face darkened as his speed increased: "No—they shouldn't be on the chaotic rivers, but at the center of the sixteen rivers, in Miluo Palace! We... we're still in Yujing City, but Seventh Brother's technique has disrupted the positions of the chaotic rivers. I've fallen onto the river's surface, while Fourth Brother Zixiao has fallen into Miluo Palace!"
"As long as I know their positions, Seventh Brother's technique can't trap me!"
In the ancestral land of Yujing City, Miluo Palace sat at the center of the sixteen chaotic rivers. This ancient complex was composed of the Master of Miluo Palace's own palace and the Dao halls of the seven princes.
Grand Prince Taishang's Taishang Hall, Second Prince Wuji's Wuji Hall, Third Prince Lingxiao's Lingxiao Hall, Fourth Prince Zixiao's Zixiao Hall, Fifth Prince Wuzong's Wuzong Hall, Sixth Prince Zhanji's Zhanji Hall, and Seventh Prince Hundun's Hundun Hall.
After the destruction of the Sixteenth Epoch, the Master of Miluo Palace had been utterly despondent. He ordered all the princes, hall masters, and Dao attainers to return to their respective eras, while he himself returned to Miluo Palace in the First Epoch to dissolve into the Dao.
But the seven princes did not follow his command to return to their eras. Taishang went into seclusion, Wuji was suppressed, Third and Fourth Princes plotted to descend upon the Seventeenth Epoch, Fifth and Sixth Princes vanished without a trace, and Seventh Prince Hundun acted in mysterious and unfathomable ways—appearing and disappearing like a dragon.
At this moment, only Wuji Hall, Zhanji Hall, and Wuzong Hall remained in Miluo Palace.
Taishang Hall had also been moved away by Prince Taishang, relocated to the Second Epoch.
Just then, two great halls suddenly flew in, crashing down thunderously into Miluo Palace.
Prince Zixiao stood atop his hall, pressing his hand on the hilt of his Dao sword, slowly raising his head.
Across from him, atop Hundun Hall, Qin Mu stood there, his hand pressing the hilt of his Hundun sword.
The two faced each other from a distance.
Whoosh—
From outside Miluo Palace came an earth-shattering roar. The chaotic rivers surrounding Miluo Palace revolved in an eerie manner, highly reminiscent of Qin Mu's Thirty-Sixth Heaven Dao realm technique.
The sixteen chaotic rivers interwove around Miluo Palace, their order constantly shifting, creating a sense of both magnificent beauty and unsettling strangeness!
"Seventh Brother, in thirty-five billion years, your magical power has reached such heights?"
Prince Zixiao pressed his sword, the Dao sword's power almost impossible to contain. Countless purple sword lights formed layers of sword Dao heavens. From his Dao hall, the Zixiao Hall, a torrent of sword Dao erupted with earth-shattering sound—even the cataclysmic tribulations couldn't drown it out.
"But what surprises me even more is your chaotic divine technique."
Prince Zixiao said in a deep voice: "No wonder the teacher said even he couldn't fully understand your Dao of Chaos. It truly transcends the mundane and opens new horizons. However, choosing me as your first opponent is a mistake. Because you also cultivate the sword Dao."
Qin Mu pressed his hand on the Hundun sword, a smile on his face. Behind him, on the World Tree, a Dao fruit blazed with brilliant light—the sword Dao fruit. Although he hadn't attained the Dao through chaos, his sword Dao had attained it first.
The sword Dao fruit resonated with his Hundun sword, causing the Dao sword forged from chaotic stone to grow increasingly powerful.
"The reason I chose Fourth Senior Brother is because Fourth Senior Brother is slightly weaker than Third Senior Brother. Not because your strength is weaker, but because your Dao heart is slightly weaker."
Qin Mu smiled: "Against Third Senior Brother, I have no means to defeat him. But against Fourth Senior Brother, I can win!"
"That's because you've never seen my true strength."
Prince Zixiao drew his sword, the Dao sword piercing through the air. His very first strike was the sword of attaining the Dao.
A single sword light reflected in Qin Mu's pupils. The might of the sword Dao caused his pupils to contract sharply—nothing else remained in his vision.
Sword Style Twenty-Three!
He, Kaihuang, and Jiang Baigui had perfected the sword Dao, advancing it to Sword Style Twenty. Sword Style Twenty was the sword of domains.
After that, the progress of the sword Dao had become slow. Very few in the world could comprehend Sword Style Twenty. Kaihuang Qin Ye, in the years that followed, had further deduced Sword Style Twenty-One, using it to become a hall master-level existence and cultivate his Dao hall.
He had speculated that there was a Sword Style Twenty-Two, and even a Sword Style Twenty-Three.
He even had a startling theory: Sword Style Twenty-Three was the sword of attaining the Dao. Anyone who could master it would directly attain the Dao through the sword with that single strike!
Qin Mu, Jiang Baigui, Kaihuang Qin Ye, Village Chief Su Muzhe, and other of Yan Kang's strongest sword Dao masters had gathered together, planning to complete Sword Style Twenty-Two—but so far, they had only completed most of it.
As for Sword Style Twenty-Three, they hadn't even touched its shadow!
To think that Qin Mu would witness here the Sword Style Twenty-Three that Kaihuang Qin Ye and the others had dreamed of!
No wonder Prince Zixiao had found it so difficult to attain the Dao, needing to rely on the Zixiao Dao-Realization Melody created by his wife to succeed. In his era, he must have been a fanatical sword Dao master, utterly devoted to the sword, advancing the sword Dao to Sword Style Twenty-Two before attempting to create Sword Style Twenty-Three and attain the Dao in one stroke!
What Qin Mu, Kaihuang, and the others had failed to accomplish in thirty-five billion years—he had done it!
Among the seven princes of Miluo Palace, each one was unique!
He had achieved what even the Master of Miluo Palace had never accomplished. He deserved to be called the Sword Prince!