Chapter 1817: The Third Young Master's Skull
Young Master Lingxiao panted heavily, dragging his dao spear, his expression gloomy as his heavy footsteps pressed against the sea surface, step by step walking toward Qin Mu.
He was still a step too late.
When Zixiao's sword dao might erupted, he too had sensed that astonishing sword might, and had even heard the zither music of Zixiao's dao-achievement melody.
It was precisely by following that zither sound that he had come here.
Zixiao's sword dao might had both shocked and delighted him, making him feel that Qin Mu absolutely could not block Zixiao's sword, that victory was assured. Yet when he arrived here, he saw Zixiao's figure sinking into the river.
Zixiao, just as he had feared, had suffered a collapse of his dao heart, abandoning everything and returning to the destruction tribulation to accompany his deceased wife.
"Third Senior Brother."
Qin Mu offered his greetings. Although his injuries were extremely severe, he still did not neglect propriety, saying: "Fourth Senior Brother has obtained what he wished for. What wish does Third Senior Brother have? Your foolish junior brother will do his best to fulfill Senior Brother's wish."
The anger in Young Master Lingxiao's heart gradually subsided. He also bore many sword wounds on his body, wounds inflicted by Zixiao's sword, but compared to Qin Mu, his injuries were much lighter. He said indifferently: "Old Seven, I am not like Old Four. His dao heart had flaws, making it easy for you to take advantage. But my dao heart has no weaknesses whatsoever—it is complete and transparent. If you had encountered me from the start, you would have been defeated without question."
Qin Mu smiled slightly, his footsteps retreating bit by bit. His dao blood dripped into the Chaos Long River. The dao wounds that Young Master Zixiao had left him were simply too severe; even he would find it difficult to recover in a short time.
"Against Fourth Senior Brother, I indeed had no chance of victory. When Fourth Senior Brother's strength fully erupted, his brilliance was stunning, leaving me in awe. I imagine Third Senior Brother possesses the same ability. Therefore, I have prepared another kind of duel for Senior Brother."
The Chaos Long River beneath their feet transformed into a massive ring. Qin Mu walked along the inner circumference of the river's surface, while Young Master Lingxiao dragged his long spear, following closely in his footsteps.
Suddenly, with a whoosh, another Chaos Long River cut across. Qin Mu's footsteps landed on that Chaos Long River, and Young Master Lingxiao's footsteps simultaneously landed on that same Chaos Long River, giving him no chance to escape.
Whoosh—
Another long river swept in. Qin Mu shifted his steps, stepping onto that long river, and Young Master Lingxiao still followed him, his battle intent rising higher and higher, his killing intent growing stronger and stronger.
He prepared to use his strongest strike to directly kill Qin Mu, giving him no opportunity whatsoever!
"Even at my peak, I would not dare claim I could defeat Senior Brother, let alone now when I am at the end of my strength?"
Qin Mu shifted his steps, making it difficult for Young Master Lingxiao's qi mechanism to lock onto him, saying: "The seven young masters of Miluo Palace all possess the strength to survive the destruction tribulation, but only three can survive the creation tribulation. First Young Master Taishang, Second Young Master Wuji, and myself."
The moment his words fell, Young Master Lingxiao's expression changed slightly. As he followed Qin Mu's steps, he unconsciously realized that his surroundings were no longer the Chaos Long River, but a vast Chaos Sea.
He looked around and saw that the earlier Chaos Long Rivers had vanished without a trace, with no sign of where they had gone.
He looked up and saw countless Sixteenth Era universes!
Those universes were like countless cross-sections of time, and these cross-sections formed the history of the Sixteenth Era universe!
He looked back and saw countless Seventeenth Era universes, also formed of countless cross-sections. The entire history and future of the Seventeenth Era universe was thus laid bare before his eyes!
Then, everything transformed into chaos. Whether it was the Sixteenth Era universes or the Seventeenth Era universes, all of them vanished completely!
He looked down and could no longer see the Chaos Sea.
At that moment, he saw countless Qin Mus, as well as countless versions of himself!
Before and behind him, there were himself and Qin Mu everywhere. Each version of himself seemed to possess independent consciousness, looking around in all directions, but all their faces wore vigilant expressions.
Young Master Lingxiao reached out his hand to wipe at the version of himself in front, and at that moment, he touched the back of his own head.
The other versions of himself made various movements—some touched another version's face, some looked around in all directions, some stepped on another version's foot soles—each doing something different.
He simply could not count how many versions of himself there were!
"This is the precursor to the creation tribulation about to erupt."
Countless Qin Mus suddenly all looked toward him at once. This scene was extremely bizarre and strange, yet Qin Mu seemed able to control countless versions of himself.
Those Qin Mus walked through strange spaces, but no matter how they walked, they always faced him directly, facing the countless versions of him.
"This is the scene after the complete destruction of the Sixteenth Universe. Chaos gathers at a single point, appearing to be a Chaos Sea, but in reality it is an extremely dense, bizarre point where countless spaces are compressed together."
Qin Mu's voice seemed to come from countless spaces, but no matter where it came from, the sound reached his ears simultaneously.
"The entire Seventeenth Era universe will be born from here. Third Senior Brother, please look."
Young Master Lingxiao followed the direction of his finger and saw Miluo Palace, momentarily stunned.
Miluo Palace had not split into countless versions like himself. Miluo Palace remained only a single one.
"The teacher's Hongmeng rune is One, using One to evolve the ten thousand daos, and can no longer be divided further. Thus, Miluo Palace is also the One within the creation tribulation."
Qin Mu said: "Taishang Senior Brother inherited the teacher's legacy and can also achieve this step. Wuji Senior Sister is a Guixu divine maiden, possessing both world-destroying and world-creating power, and can also achieve this step. They can both become the One within the creation tribulation. Of course, I can also achieve this step."
Suddenly, the countless Qin Mus within the countless infinitesimal spaces vanished, replaced by a single Qin Mu, appearing before all the Young Master Lingxiaos, walking back and forth before them.
"The other young masters possess the strength to survive the destruction tribulation, but cannot survive the creation tribulation, because at the moment the creation tribulation erupts, the countless versions of themselves are destroyed by the countless creation tribulations."
Qin Mu's gaze fell upon Young Master Lingxiao's face, meeting the eyes of the countless versions of him: "And these countless versions of yourself are actually the countless time cross-sections of your future self within the Seventeenth Era. Your body contains countless material particles. No matter which of these particles undergoes a subtle change, it will create a possibility in the future. Each material particle has countless variations throughout the long Seventeenth Era, and countless material particles have even more countless possibilities in the future. But all of this is encompassed within the creation tribulation."
Young Master Lingxiao's mind exploded with a bang. He saw that among the countless versions of himself, some were asking questions, some were shocked, some were terrified.
Those versions of himself—they were himself, but versions of his future self, countless versions of himself after his material composition had changed.
The moment before the creation tribulation erupted, its strangeness was beyond his imagination!
"Third Senior Brother, if you cannot withstand the creation tribulation, then your countless futures will all be destroyed by the creation tribulation, and naturally you will cease to exist. The creation tribulation will completely erase you!"
Qin Mu said unhurriedly: "Your countless futures will all become nourishment for the Seventeenth Era universe. This is the reason why even dao-achievers cannot survive the creation tribulation. However, you have a thread of survival—that is to gather all your countless futures into one body, like the teacher, like Taishang. Only in this way can you preserve your life within the creation tribulation."
Young Master Lingxiao heard countless versions of himself shouting in anger, asking questions, saw countless versions of himself attacking, but they could never harm Qin Mu in the slightest.
"Is this the scene the teacher encountered in the First Era when he refined the World-Crossing Golden Ship to ferry all living beings?" He raised this question amidst the clamor.
Qin Mu, however, seemed to clearly capture this question from the countless questions of his versions, saying: "At that time, the teacher could only survive the destruction tribulation. He should not have led all living beings to encounter the creation tribulation. Within the destruction tribulation, the living beings of the First Era had already been reduced to ashes. Had he encountered the creation tribulation, he would have been even more despairing. However, I believe that after the destruction of all living beings, the teacher still encountered the creation tribulation, but he survived. In that brief moment, he should have been able to see the future."
Young Master Lingxiao let out a long breath. The Miluo Palace Master's strength at that time, though formidable, was still inferior to his current self.
Since the teacher at that time could survive the creation tribulation, then he certainly could too!
"Whether one can survive the creation tribulation does not depend on strength, but on whether you can gather the future into a single body."
Qin Mu seemed to hear his inner thoughts, saying: "Senior Brother, if you were me, you could even leap out of the creation tribulation and directly arrive after the tribulation. This is the way of chaos. If my guess is correct, the reason the teacher's dao heart died and he returned to the First Era to dissolve into the dao is because before the Sixteenth Era's destruction and the Seventeenth Era's creation tribulation arrived, he saw the entire future of the Seventeenth Era. A future that made him utterly despair."
Young Master Lingxiao's pupils contracted sharply.
Just now, he had caught a fleeting glimpse of all the future cross-sections of the Seventeenth Era, but there were simply too many future cross-sections, and he could not see through to the end of the Seventeenth Era!
However, the Miluo Palace Master should have been able to do so.
"This is my first time entering the creation tribulation, and also my first time encountering such a strange scene. I did not have time to clearly see the future of the Seventeenth Era within the creation tribulation."
Qin Mu said gloomily: "But the teacher said that the future of the Seventeenth Era is ultimate cold stillness—after eight hundred billion years, it will become a completely frozen void, with no life of any kind, and no next universe. Presumably, he saw the future of the Seventeenth Era and therefore despaired."
"Are you not despairing?" Young Master Lingxiao asked.
Qin Mu shook his head: "I am not. I do not believe that the future of the Seventeenth Era is already fated. Even if it is fated, I will change it! Senior Brother, the teacher's path was wrong. Will you continue walking along his path?"
Young Master Lingxiao fell silent, gripping the dao spear in his hand tighter and tighter.
"Junior Brother, you say my only path to survival is to gather all futures into one body like First Senior Brother and the teacher. I do not agree with this."
He pursed his lips and revealed a faint smile: "Besides that, there is another thread of survival—the refuse grounds of the Ultimate Void, that abandoned land!"
Qin Mu's expression darkened, his pupils sharply contracting.
The creation tribulation erupted!
Suddenly, countless Young Master Lingxiaos rose to their feet, their dao spears thrusting forward simultaneously, charging toward the abandoned land that had not been destroyed by the destruction tribulation!
Qin Mu's sleeve flicked, and at the moment the creation tribulation erupted, he vanished from within it!
Whoosh—
Above the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City, Qin Mu's figure appeared. His wide robe and large sleeves shook violently as he charged into the Ultimate Void!
In the refuse grounds of the Ultimate Void, a massive skull was blown by the cold stillness wind, crashing against a broken ship, its head caught by a tattered, broken long spear.
That strange head was the very one Qin Mu had encountered when he first entered the refuse grounds in his early years. The skull had gained a trace of flesh and blood, and over the years, more flesh had begun to grow on its surface.
It had grown eyes, and one could vaguely discern its features.
Third Young Master Lingxiao, who had escaped from the creation tribulation and had been in a dazed, confused state all this time!
At this moment, Third Young Master Lingxiao vanished from Jade Capital City, finally remembering his name and identity. All kinds of divine abilities and dao techniques came flooding back into his mind.