Chapter 996: Eggshell
The Eastern Palace Crown Prince led the way ahead, while Qin Mu, piloting the Heavenly Emperor's physical body, strolled leisurely through the rear palace. Within the harem, countless beauties adorned with powder and paint were everywhere, making one reluctant to leave.
The rear palace was filled with many beautiful consorts, and naturally, there were also many palaces. Winding paths led to secluded spots; one could choose any small path and walk to its end, arriving at the love nest of a tender and affectionate beloved consort. It was truly comfortable.
Qin Mu looked at these paths and couldn't help shaking his head. "The Heavenly Emperor really knew how to enjoy himself. But after he died, it's no longer him who enjoys them, but one of the Ten Celestial Venerables. I wonder if the Heavenly Emperor had any other children over the years? If he did have children, then whose children are they, really?"
His curiosity was strong. Although his current situation was extremely dangerous, like walking on thin ice where the slightest mistake in exposure would mean death without a burial place, he still couldn't help letting his mind wander.
Finally, the Eastern Palace Crown Prince led him to a forbidden zone within the rear palace. The surroundings were deserted, with ancient divine statues guarding the place. As they passed each stone statue, the statue shed its stony exterior, transforming into a flesh-and-blood body, holding various divine artifacts and bowing in salute.
Qin Mu gazed intently. These divine beings were all extremely powerful, their life force abundant to the extreme. Even when awakening from their petrified state, they could instantly rise to their peak.
"These warriors should be one of the ten celestial guards of the Heavenly Court, specifically ordered to guard the forbidden zone," Qin Mu thought with a chill.
The ten celestial guards of the Heavenly Court—Left and Right Yulin, Left and Right Longwu, Left and Right Shenwu, Left and Right Shence, and Left and Right Shenwei—were all selected from the most powerful gods and demons in the world, with a minimum cultivation level of the Jade Capital realm.
The combat power of the divine demon guards stationed in the forbidden zone was likely terrifying!
Moreover, the divine artifacts they held were not ordinary divine weapons. Each of these artifacts contained a kind of ancient god's great dao. It seemed that when the limited number of artifacts were combined, they could form the form of an ancient god, unleashing astonishing power!
One must know that even the Heavenly Duke was merely composed of forty-nine types of Heavenly Dao.
Yet the number of gods and demons here was as many as ten thousand, and the number of divine artifacts also reached ten thousand!
Although the combination of artifacts couldn't compare to a true ancient god, such a large number was still extraordinary.
"The ancient god Heavenly Emperor valued this place greatly. I wonder if the other Celestial Venerables have been here?" Qin Mu walked forward, thinking to himself. "They must have been. Those Celestial Venerables wouldn't let go of the Heavenly Emperor's birthplace. This place has probably been ransacked countless times already."
Ahead, the Eastern Palace Crown Prince stopped and bowed, saying, "Father, the forbidden zone ahead—your son dares not enter without permission."
Qin Mu walked forward and said with a smile, "Your father allows you to enter. What do you have to fear?"
Sounds of music reached his ears—extremely wonderful dao sounds and rhythms, the low hum of the dao itself.
Hearing this sound, Qin Mu suddenly felt that the Heavenly Emperor's great dao runes, which he had previously been unable to understand, were becoming clear one by one. The mysteries contained in various great dao runes flowed into his ears along with the dao sounds and rhythms, transforming into wonderfully profound information!
The number of Heavenly Emperor's great dao runes he had obtained from the Shoucang Pavilion was enormous, but these great dao runes were profound and difficult to comprehend.
Therefore, Qin Mu had focused more on the great dao runes of ancient gods like the Heavenly Duke, Earth Lord, and Earth Mother. He had deciphered the most from the Heavenly Duke's Heavenly Dao runes, using the Taiwei Calculation Method to recalculate them, and had gained the most from them.
He had deciphered very few of the Heavenly Emperor's great dao runes.
As the strongest among the ancient gods, the one who governed all daos, the Heavenly Emperor's great dao runes were the most profound. The Heavenly Court's Dao Sect and the Dao Ancestor had also devoted the most effort to this aspect.
Even though Qin Mu had learned the Infinite Kalpa Sutra of the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha, using dream entry into the dao to analyze the Heavenly Emperor's great dao runes was still extremely difficult.
Unexpectedly, upon arriving at the Heavenly Emperor's birthplace, before even entering this forbidden zone, just hearing some dao sounds and rhythms had allowed him to decipher some obscure and difficult great dao runes.
This was truly strange.
He looked ahead and was slightly startled. In front of him, purple light rippled, and mist curled upward. The interplay of light and mist created a ethereal scene.
The purple light seemed substantial, and the dao sounds and rhythms came from within the light.
Strangely, this place appeared small, but as he walked into it, the space gradually expanded. Streams of purple light gently undulated like grand purple waterfalls, drifting around them.
"Is this where the ancient god Heavenly Emperor was born?"
Qin Mu felt the rhythm of the ancient god Heavenly Emperor's great dao, and more great dao runes were deciphered, bringing comfort to his body and mind.
The flow of purple light and mist had a certain pattern. Some parts were like mountains that could be walked upon, others like celestial rivers, drifting and uncertain. Some purple light contained countless starlight, like a river of stars flowing within the purple light, sometimes forming star rings, sometimes forming jade buckles.
Other parts of the light and mist formed continuous continents. As they walked on them, it felt like walking on real land. The light and mist formed various strange trees, flowers, and plants.
The dao sounds and rhythms that entered their ears were equally mysterious and wonderful.
Even more wonderful was that breathing in the light and mist here, Qin Mu felt his own primordial energy becoming purer and more refined.
This place was simply a supreme cultivation holy land, possessing supreme power.
Suddenly, the Eastern Palace Crown Prince groaned. His legs were bloodied without him knowing when, eroded by the light and mist, injuring his feet.
The light and mist contained the purest great dao. Walking within it, he endured the invasion of the Heavenly Emperor's great dao. Being able to reach this point was already remarkable, worthy of being someone who could subdue Red Emperor Qi Xiayu.
"Your cultivation is too weak."
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "Your father originally wanted you to enter this ancestral land, to give you some benefits, to let you cultivate here and improve your strength, so that in the future you could be your father's right hand. Unfortunately, you have disappointed your father too much."
The Eastern Palace Crown Prince was deeply ashamed and lowered his head, saying, "Your son's abilities are meager, unable to share your worries and solve problems for you."
Qin Mu continued forward, saying, "The deeper you go, the greater the pressure on you. Retreat to a safe place and use the spiritual power here to cultivate for a while. Don't disappoint your father's expectations."
The Eastern Palace Crown Prince was overjoyed and quickly retreated. When he reached a safe place, he stopped and began to cultivate peacefully.
Qin Mu's gaze fell on the center of the Heavenly Emperor's birthplace. There, purple qi was dense, and within the purple qi, something was faintly floating, exerting a strong attraction on him.
"Whether the ancient god Heavenly Emperor and other ancient gods were born from heaven and earth, or created by the Creators using divine consciousness, I will know clearly once I reach there!"
He felt the fluctuations of the great dao here. The dao resonance was deep and long, allowing him to perceive more and more of the Heavenly Emperor's great dao mysteries, and decipher more and more great dao runes.
Countless wonderful pieces of information surged toward him, transforming into his own knowledge within his mind.
In the Spirit Realm of the Other Shore World, he had obtained the knowledge of the Creators' spirits there, but the Creators of the Spirit Realm had no memories related to creating ancient gods.
In the ancient barbaric era, most Creators were wiped out by the ancient gods, causing a break in the transmission of their civilization. Coupled with the incident of the Great Emperor invading the Great Void, there were many gaps in the inheritance of the Creator race.
Because Qin Mu had seen the ruins of the Rust Blood Zone, he suspected that the Creator race had created the myriad ancient gods and was then destroyed by them.
However, this was just his speculation. Whether it was true or not, he would need to see the place where the ancient god Heavenly Emperor was born with his own eyes.
As long as he reached the deepest part of the purple light, he should be able to know this secret!
Qin Mu could hardly suppress the excitement in his heart. This secret might only be known by the Ten Celestial Venerables and the ancient god Heavenly Emperor, and now he was about to know it too!
He continued forward, getting closer and closer to the cluster of purple qi that gathered countless rays of light. Suddenly, Qin Mu stopped, frowned, and looked at the feet of the Heavenly Emperor's physical body.
At some point, the legs of this extremely powerful body had been cut by the light and mist!
The muscles on the legs were compressed and thinned by the terrifying pressure!
"After all, this is not the true physical body of the ancient god Heavenly Emperor, but a replica created by the Creation Divine Artifact of the Zaofu Palace. It cannot compare to the real Heavenly Emperor's body."
Qin Mu frowned. The Heavenly Emperor's physical body was created using the Heavenly Emperor's great dao, but the great dao runes researched by the Heavenly Court's Dao Sect were based on macroscopic numerology, without microscopic numerology.
Such a created Heavenly Emperor's physical body was far inferior to the real one in both strength and power.
Having reached this point, this replica could hardly hold on any longer.
Qin Mu tried to mobilize the nearly two thousand power sources within the Heavenly Emperor's body, and the pressure of the great dao in the birthplace lessened somewhat. However, whether he could reach that place, he wasn't sure.
He looked around and was slightly startled.
From where he stood, he could actually see the Xuan Capital and the Nether Capital, and even the Yuan Realm was in full view!
Not only that, but the four poles of the universe and the myriad worlds were also clearly visible, as if they were very close, within arm's reach.
Qin Mu pondered for a moment and looked toward the distant purple light mass. The thing floating within the light mass gradually became clearer in outline, like a cracked chicken egg. However, there was something below it, obscured by the purple light.
The Eastern Palace Crown Prince sat at the edge of the Heavenly Emperor's birthplace, drawing in the light and mist, slowly cultivating. Feeling his stagnant cultivation slowly improving, joy filled his heart.
He watched Qin Mu, who had ventured deep into the forbidden zone, and his heart was filled with fervor: "Father neglected me and the other princes for forty thousand years. Only today do I understand Father's troubles. He has endured a lot of pressure over the years, also to protect us..."
Suddenly, a look of confusion appeared on his face. "Why has Father stopped?"
He stared blankly at the figure walking deep into the forbidden zone, and the expression on his face gradually turned to terror.
He saw that the Heavenly Emperor's legs were also injured by the light of the birthplace, just like his own!
A chilling sensation ran down his spine. The true ancient god Heavenly Emperor, coming to his own birthplace, would never be injured by the light here.
"He is not Father!" A terrifying thought arose in his heart.
Under his gaze, Qin Mu continued forward, getting closer and closer to that mass of purple light and qi. His legs were already bloody and mangled. The Heavenly Emperor's majestic body began to twist under the terrifying pressure of the great dao, muscles contracting, body shrinking.
Even Qin Mu, hiding within the Heavenly Emperor's body's brow, gradually felt the dao pressure seeping into the body, pressing down on him. The pressure was so strong that if he were exposed, he would likely turn to ashes in an instant, ceasing to exist!
"I can't go any further!"
Qin Mu stopped and, using the Heavenly Emperor's eyes, looked toward that mass of purple light. But it was still hazy, unable to see clearly what was beneath the eggshell.
"The Heavenly Emperor's physical body's eyes are useless. My own eyes are better! Open!"
Qin Mu shouted softly, mobilizing all the power within the Heavenly Emperor's body to protect his brow. The brow split open, and his true body appeared. He opened his third eye on his brow and looked toward the thing within the purple light.
His mind shook violently. Beneath the cracked eggshell, submerged and surrounded by layers of purple light, was an extremely ancient altar!
That altar seemed to possess a strange power, drawing the great dao of heaven and earth continuously toward the center of the altar. The cracked eggshell was densely imprinted with complex runic marks by the light and mist!
The runes on the eggshell were extremely mysterious and complex, even more so than the jade slip runes he had seen in the Shoucang Pavilion, and greater in number!
However, the eggshell was already empty, with nothing inside, leaving only those infinitely mysterious runes still flickering, occasionally bursting with illusory, flickering mysterious light!
"It seems there's still some egg white inside..."
— The National Day holiday is over. Time to start work and school, right? The holiday is over, so work and study diligently~