Chapter 1823: The Great Scourge of Prehistory
Qin Mu lifted Qin Lingyun high and placed her on his shoulder. Qin Lingyun was pitifully thin, her skin stretched over bones with barely any flesh on her. She sat on his shoulder somewhat uneasily, her small hands tightly gripping his hair.
She turned her head to look at Qin Mu's profile. The white hair at his temples stirred a familiar feeling within her—it was the face that had been reflected in her hazy vision after she was born.
This face made her feel at ease.
Besides this face, there was another familiar face in her memories.
That was her mother.
Qin Mu looked at the figures in the firelight. They were the Dao Achievers who had hunted Qin Lingyun, the ones who had blocked their family of three on the Chaos Long River all those years ago, forcing him to send Qin Lingyun back to the Chaos Long River of the First Epoch and into the First Epoch universe. From then on, father and daughter were separated.
For Qin Lingyun, this separation lasted five years—five years without father or mother, becoming an orphan, living a lonely and helpless existence.
For Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu, it was a separation lasting three and a half billion years. This separation caused Ling Yuxiu to always harbor some resentment toward Qin Mu. During those three and a half billion years, they never had a second child.
Qin Mu fared better—he merely waited three and a half billion years—but Ling Yuxiu had to continue waiting.
"Seventh Young Master!"
"Chaos!"
Hoarse Dao voices came from the sea of fire, voices filled with shock, fear, excitement, and ridicule.
"You've finally returned, choosing to become the Seventh Young Master, to become Chaos!" They laughed.
Qin Mu's face was as calm as still water. His palm clenched tightly into a fist, then slowly he raised his right hand.
"Gentlemen, do you still remember? On the Chaos Long River, I once said I would stuff all of you into coffins."
His five fingers spread apart: "Today, I've come to fulfill that promise."
Boom!
In the firelight, trees of the Dao suddenly exploded. The angry shouts of those prehistoric Dao Achievers rang out as they fled in all directions. Their Dao Fruits hung high, Dao light piercing through the Chaos fire sea, but a massive reincarnation rose up, encompassing them all within its cycle!
Their Dao trees were sliced neatly apart in the sea of fire, transforming into wooden planks. Strange runes flickered and shifted on the planks.
Those were Chaos runes—Yuan!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Plank after plank made from Dao tree materials assembled within the Chaos fire sea. The branches of the Dao trees became wooden nails, hammered into coffin boards one by one.
One Dao Achiever after another from various cosmic epochs was captured by those coffins, letting out miserable screams as they were dragged into their respective coffins. Massive coffin boards flew up, landed on the coffins, and wooden nails drove down, sealing the boards shut.
Within the Chaos fire sea, the Dao weapons of these Dao Achievers melted one by one, transforming into chains that shuttled through the fire sea, piercing through and locking each coffin.
"I am Chaos."
Qin Mu walked through the sea of fire carrying his daughter Qin Lingyun, the group of coffins trailing behind him, pulled along by the chains as they drifted: "When I returned to the past and arrived at the First Epoch, I was already invincible."
Thumping sounds came from within those coffins—the Dao Achievers of various cosmic epochs struggling, trying to break open their coffins and escape.
Their cultivation and strength were extremely formidable. The Dao Achievers who dared to block Qin Mu and his wife midway were no simple figures. Each of them had strength comparable to the Hall Masters of the Miluo Palace!
But facing Qin Mu, who had become Young Master Chaos, they were still far too inferior.
"You don't need to struggle. I will create a space in this void that even the Destruction Tribulation and Creation Tribulation cannot destroy, to be used as a place to store filth."
Qin Mu raised his hand. A massive region of the Ultimate Void that was in the process of shattering suddenly became stable. Coffin after coffin flew past Qin Mu and his daughter, heading toward that place.
"I'm not protecting you through the Destruction Tribulation and Creation Tribulation. In fact, this space merely reduces the power of the Creation Tribulation by many times, delaying it for who knows how many years."
Qin Mu watched the group of coffins fly away, his voice transforming into Dao tones, steadily transmitted into the ears of the Dao Achievers within those coffins.
"The Creation Tribulation will always chase after you, erasing your futures again and again, letting you slowly watch your own death approach. The power of the Creation Tribulation will cause you to grow together with your coffins, making it impossible for you to ever escape. It will kill you little by little."
"And this process will last for hundreds of billions of years!"
"You tore apart our father and daughter, prevented mother and daughter from seeing each other, and separated husband and wife. This is my punishment to you!"
...
The Destruction Tribulation of the First Cosmic Epoch arrived on schedule. The Master of the Miluo Palace used his immense divine power to transform his voice, summoning all the Dao Achievers and divinities of the entire universe, bringing all living beings of all the heavens to the Ancestral Court, boarding the World-Crossing Golden Ship to traverse the great tribulation of destruction.
This was an incomparably magnificent scene. On the World-Crossing Golden Ship, golden halls emerged one after another. The interiors of the halls were like separate heavens, containing all the environments necessary for living beings to survive.
The First Epoch was an incomparably glorious epoch. The height of this universe's development was such that even Yankang could not compare. The golden ship that the Master of the Miluo Palace built with the wealth of this entire universe was naturally extraordinary.
When the Destruction Tribulation descended and the massive golden ship passed through the thick Chaos Long River, resisting the Heat Death Wind and Cold Death Wind as it broke through the river's surface and sailed upon the Chaos Long River, the Master of the Miluo Palace could hardly contain his excitement.
The golden ship had not been destroyed in the Destruction Tribulation!
His voice hoarse, he laughed long and loud. In his laughter, the Dao trees of the Dao Achievers on the World-Crossing Golden Ship turned to ashes one by one, their Dao Fruits dissipating. Only then did he notice that his Dao companions had long since turned into skeletons when the golden ship passed through the Destruction Tribulation.
The Master of the Miluo Palace was stunned. He stood at the bow of the ship, watching the skeletons of his Dao companions crumbling and collapsing.
Suddenly, he let out a great cry and charged toward the great halls on the golden ship.
The first hall—empty. Everything within had been destroyed, transformed into Chaos Qi!
The second hall—empty!
The third hall—empty!
The Master of the Miluo Palace went mad, charging into hall after hall, bursting out of hall after hall. He screamed like a madman, his cries containing no syllables, no Dao, only hoarse wailing after wailing.
He seemed to have suffered an incomparably severe Dao wound, charging into those golden halls again and again, even though he had already entered some of them more than once.
"Father, what is he doing?" Beside Qin Mu in the Chaos Long River, the little girl Qin Lingyun looked up to ask her father.
"He is searching for his Dao heart, searching for his ideals."
Qin Mu watched this scene from afar, then lowered his head to say to Qin Lingyun: "His Dao heart has collapsed, his ideals have crumbled. He wants to find them again. Perhaps in the future, I too will be like him, searching for my ideals, searching for my Dao heart."
The Master of the Miluo Palace searched again and again, but the entire golden ship now held only him alone. In the end, he sat down dejectedly, staring blankly at the Chaos Long River.
The World-Crossing Golden Ship drifted along with the Chaos Long River. The Destruction Tribulation was at its peak, yet it could not shake this ship in the slightest, nor could it shake him in the slightest.
The Master of the Miluo Palace's Dao heart withered, as if he were about to enter nirvana and merge with the Dao.
At that moment, a man with graying temples holding a little girl's hand came aboard the golden ship.
The Master of the Miluo Palace looked at him with lifeless eyes. Suddenly, his eyeballs moved. The man with graying temples offered him the salute of a disciple.
"A visitor from the future?"
The Master of the Miluo Palace returned the salute, saying: "I can see something on you that does not belong to this universe. You seem to have traveled far through time. Are you from the future?"
"Teacher, I am your seventh disciple, Chaos."
Qin Mu said: "I have returned here to see you."
The Master of the Miluo Palace stared at them blankly, then suddenly said: "Is the future well?"
"The future is well." Qin Mu smiled.
The Master of the Miluo Palace fell silent. His dead Dao heart seemed to slowly recover, his ideals returning. He staggered into the golden halls, mourning for past friends, past living beings, and past years in hall after hall.
After a long while, he walked out of the halls. His seventh disciple and the little girl were already gone.
The Master of the Miluo Palace felt a sense of loss.
After the Destruction Tribulation came the Creation Tribulation.
When the Creation Tribulation erupted, the Five Great Primitives evolved. When the Great Dao of Taiji evolved into the myriad Daos of heaven and earth, a new universe was born.
Old Man Wuya sat in the Jade Pool beneath the World Tree, bored as he scooped up Primordial Chaos Liquid to scrub the dirt from his body. The Destruction Tribulation and Creation Tribulation were indeed grand and spectacular, but they always left him covered in dust.
"Dao Brother Wuya."
Old Man Wuya heard this voice and poked his head out from the Jade Pool to look. He saw a man with graying temples holding a little girl's hand walking toward him. He quickly jumped out of the pool, hastily put on his clothes, and chuckled: "I recognize you! You're not from this universe. I saw you leap out of the Chaos."
"I am the seventh disciple of the Master of the Miluo Palace, Chaos. In the future, I will benefit from your assistance, Dao Brother. I have come specifically to thank you for your aid."
The young man smiled: "Dao Brother will help me in the future, and I have nothing to repay you with. I owe you a favor, so I had to return to the past to write you an IOU."
Old Man Wuya laughed: "So you're Miluo's disciple. What status do I hold? In terms of seniority, even Miluo has to call me senior. Would I need your IOU? How improper! Enough, enough, no need for an IOU."
Qin Mu's expression was kind: "Dao Brother, you should still accept it. Who knows, it might be useful in the future, no?"
He wrote out the IOU, and Old Man Wuya casually accepted it. Seeing this, Qin Mu kindly reminded him: "Dao Brother, this IOU cannot survive the Destruction Tribulation and Creation Tribulation. It would be best to place it in the roots of the tree."
Old Man Wuya did as suggested, laughing: "You're an interesting person."
He looked at the little girl beside Qin Mu, finding her adorable and pure as ice and snow. He asked curiously: "I saw a little girl beside you in the Destruction Tribulation of the First Epoch. Is this her? Why hasn't she grown up yet?"
Qin Mu smiled: "She was born in the future and survives by absorbing the Destruction Tribulation. She has already absorbed the power of several subsequent Destruction Tribulations. Only the power of the First Epoch's Destruction Tribulation is something she began absorbing after her birth, so she can only grow during the First Epoch."
"There's such a strange thing?"
Old Man Wuya was astonished. Finding his conversation refined, he became interested and sat with him to discuss the Dao. The longer they talked, the more he felt this person was extraordinary.
Qin Mu looked around. This vast Ancestral Court had no signs of human habitation, only the Five Great Primitives gathering and brewing, the Five Great Primitive deities waiting to be born.
"Don't look, there's no share for you."
Old Man Wuya laughed: "Miluo has long been waiting there. The first living being born from the first mineral vein was taken by him. By the way, you're also his disciple, from the future, so you must know what happens to me in the future, right?"
Qin Mu said solemnly: "Ancestor Wuya's divine power is boundless, his might piercing through cosmic epoch after cosmic epoch. Countless Dao Achievers submit and guard the Ancestor!"
Old Man Wuya laughed heartily: "You speak so pleasantly! Worthy of being Miluo's seventh! I really like you!"
...
In the Second Epoch, the Master of the Miluo Palace entered the world to guide people, teaching divine powers and Dao techniques. The number of living beings in the world gradually increased, with many ancient gods and beings of various races following him to study and ask about the Dao.
The Master of the Miluo Palace's eldest disciple was still a young lad, but he had already received the true transmission from the Master of the Miluo Palace. Sometimes he would teach the Dao on behalf of his teacher.
One day, he encountered a strange father and daughter. He curiously examined them but could not discern their origins.
Taiyi felt a chill in his heart. He stood up to inquire, saying: "Where do you two Dao Brothers come from?"
Qin Mu quickly said: "Senior Brother Taiyi, I am your seventh junior brother, Chaos. I joined the sect later than you, so I don't deserve the title of Dao Brother!"
Taiyi was bewildered.
Qin Mu said: "Senior Brother, what is your origin?"
Taiyi said: "I was born from the Taiyi mineral vein, originally an egg. The teacher enlightened me and let me cultivate with him."
Qin Mu suddenly understood and laughed heartily.
"No wonder Taiyi can never defeat Young Master Taiyi, always suffering defeats at his hands. So that's how it is, so that's how it is!"
He had finally figured out the key to the problem. Taiyi was the primordial spirit of the Lord of Tiandu, who had possessed the Taiyi of the Seventeenth Epoch. Because it was possession, his comprehension and application of the Taiyi Dao always fell slightly short, repeatedly being restrained by Taiyi, and ultimately being captured and sealed in the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin!
"Senior Brother, has the teacher ever taken you to see the Guixu?" Qin Mu asked with a beaming smile.
Taiyi felt that his smile carried ill intentions, but since he was a junior brother, he presumably wouldn't harm him. He shook his head: "No."
"Why not go take a look?" Qin Mu said, guiding him step by step.