Chapter 1010: Looking Back, a Dream Before Spring
"Those who cultivate the way of the sword will sense an insurmountable peak?"
The Blind Man and the Mute exchanged a glance, deciding to conceal the fact that they had cursed Kai Huang right in front of him. The Blind Man chuckled slyly, "Fortunately, there is no such peak in the way of formations. I have never seen such a thing."
The Mute shook his head. "In the way of forging, I have never seen such a thing either. You sword cultivators are truly pitiable. Strange, why haven't I heard Mu'er mention this?"
When the Village Chief heard them mention Qin Mu, he grew irritable. "Mu'er fears nothing in heaven or on earth. He simply cannot sense this peak. And with his rough-and-tumble nature, even if he did sense it, he'd just climb over it and take a piss on it! Kai Huang's sword path is far too strong. I reckon that if his sword path advances one more step, it will imprint itself upon the universe, making him the first to use an acquired great path to inversely prove the primordial."
The Mute and the Blind Man were shaken to their core. Imprinting upon the void of the universe and inversely proving the primordial—what kind of realm was that?
"Sword path, blade path, formations, forging—these all belong to great paths created by acquired beings, not the primordial. Kai Huang's sword path, cultivated to its extreme, is simply too powerful."
The Village Chief continued, "Anyone who cultivates the sword path can clearly sense him; they cannot ignore his achievements in the sword. I feel that he is not far from the peak of the sword path. Perhaps he will be the first to imprint an acquired great path upon the void of the universe. Reaching his level, it would not be an exaggeration to call him the Sword Path Sovereign."
The Blind Man and the Mute were deeply stirred. The level the Village Chief described was far too high. Even with their respective talents and accomplishments, they could not imagine the terrifying enlightenment and creativity required to imprint one's own great path upon the void of the universe.
The Village Chief sighed. "I wonder how Mu'er is doing in the Heavenly Court. Whenever I think of him entering the Heavenly Court and suffering all kinds of humiliation and harassment from the gods there, I..."
His eyes reddened, and he quickly stopped mentioning Qin Mu, changing the subject. "Why have you two come here?"
"Mu'er is back!"
The Blind Man laughed. "The Butcher sent word. A couple of days ago, Mu'er went to the Yongjiang Academy, and the Butcher chased him away! It shouldn't be long before Mu'er comes here!"
The Village Chief was stirred with excitement, his eyes reddening again. "Mu'er is back? Good, good that he's back... Wait, are you saying that as soon as Mu'er returned, he went to see the Butcher and didn't come to see us? So he does favor the Butcher more! We raised him with all our effort, changing his diapers and feeding him..."
The Mute chuckled darkly. "When he comes to see us, we'll give him a proper welcome!"
The Village Chief and the Blind Man nodded in agreement.
The Heavenly Dragon Carriage approached the Heavenly Saint Academy. Inside the carriage, Qin Mu, Langhuan Divine King, and Shu Jun had finally finished refining the Tai Emperor's divine consciousness from the bottle. Each received a share. Langhuan absorbed the Tai Emperor's divine consciousness as her own, converting it into her cultivation base, greatly increasing her power.
Shu Jun, in particular, had died once. This time, upon being reborn, he had been unable to restore his physical body or his divine consciousness. Now, by refining the Tai Emperor's divine consciousness, he immediately rebuilt his flesh.
As one of the Three Ancient Kings, Shu Jun was naturally shrewd. He knew that refined divine consciousness was never as good as self-cultivated divine consciousness, so he used almost all of it to enhance his newly forged physical body!
He shed his previous frail image, becoming tall and imposing. His physical strength alone now rivaled that of a master at the Lingxiao level!
Qin Mu was envious.
The Daluo primordial supreme divine consciousness contained within the Tai Emperor's consciousness was also sorted out by them. Qin Mu finally filled in the missing parts of the Daluo primordial supreme divine consciousness he had obtained earlier. However, the Tai Emperor's consciousness still lacked the cultivation methods for the Heavenly Court.
Still, having obtained the Di Zuo level Daluo primordial supreme divine consciousness, Qin Mu was satisfied.
Among his fifteen divine palaces, the Daluo primordial divine consciousness palace had become even more ancient and imposing, overwhelming the other thirteen palaces and threatening to rival his main divine palace!
"The guest overpowers the host. This could lead to trouble."
Qin Mu frowned slightly, examining his various divine palaces. A vague unease stirred within him. He had eight incomplete divine palaces, and the Daluo primordial divine consciousness palace was so strong. If it truly overshadowed the main palace, it would mean that the Tai Emperor's path was superior to his own.
The guest overpowering the host was a minor issue; the real danger was damaging his Dao heart!
If the Daluo primordial divine consciousness palace truly surpassed his main divine palace, Qin Mu's invincible Dao heart would be broken. Even if he used the Daluo primordial divine consciousness palace as the core to forge the Heavenly Court, he would only become another Tai Emperor in the future, no more brilliant than him.
However, a broken Dao heart would more likely cause him to collapse and never recover.
"Grandma Si, you really need to work harder. Perfect your Di Zuo level techniques as soon as possible..."
Qin Mu sighed inwardly. "If only I could steal all the Di Zuo level techniques the Heavenly Court has collected over the years and bring them back to Eternal Peace. Grandma Si and the others could draw nourishment from them, learn by analogy, and perhaps create their own Di Zuo level techniques. What a pity..."
Finally, the Heavenly Dragon Carriage arrived at the Heavenly Saint Academy. Qin Mu stepped down from the carriage, but before he could even enter the gate, he heard the sound of "Maha! Maha!" as a hundred or so flood dragons swarmed him and Dragon Qilin, covering them in sticky, sweet-smelling saliva.
Qin Mu was drenched in dragon drool. It took him a while to break free, only to see Dragon Qilin buried beneath the pile of dragons. Yan'er quickly took out some spirit pills to lure the flood dragons away.
Qin Mu straightened his clothes, took out a mirror to check his reflection, and made sure there was no dragon drool on his face before entering the academy.
The Heavenly Saint Academy was now called the Heavenly Saint Sect, but its teaching methods remained unchanged.
Grandma Si, Deaf, and Medicine Master were here managing the academy, keeping everything in order.
"Mu'er, this girl is lovely."
Grandma Si sized up Langhuan Divine King, growing happier the more she looked. She secretly gave Qin Mu a thumbs up. Qin Mu's face flushed slightly, and he hurried off to find Medicine Master. Deaf's eyes lit up. He fetched his brush, ink, and paper, sat down, and prepared to paint Grandma Si and Langhuan Divine King. But after a long while, he still didn't know where to begin.
Langhuan Divine King studied Grandma Si and praised her, "Sister, you are truly beautiful."
Grandma Si laughed. "Why call me sister? Call me grandma."
Langhuan Divine King was taken aback. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "Langhuan is already one hundred and fifty thousand years old. May I ask how old you are, grandma?"
Grandma Si was startled. She turned to Deaf and said, "You entertain this sister Langhuan. I'm going to talk to Mu'er!"
Deaf pretended not to hear, still holding his brush and tracing imaginary lines over Langhuan Divine King, still unable to begin.
This woman was too beautiful. If he painted her on paper, no matter how he did it, he would lose her divine essence. After a long time, Deaf sighed, rolled up his brush, ink, and paper, and left.
Langhuan Divine King blinked, thinking to herself, "The Holy Infant's family is all very strange."
Deaf found Grandma Si, who was currently scolding Qin Mu while pulling his ear.
Qin Mu stammered and dared not talk back. Nearby, Medicine Master, wearing his bronze mask and gathering herbs, watched them cheerfully without intervening.
"I can't paint her."
Deaf said abruptly, "I can paint a beauty like Grandma Si, and I can paint all things in the world. But I simply cannot paint this Langhuan Divine King."
Qin Mu, covering his ear, asked curiously, "Grandpa Deaf, Grandma's beauty is no less than Langhuan Divine King's. You can paint Grandma, so why can't you paint Langhuan Divine King?"
Deaf took his hand. "Come with me."
The two went before Langhuan Divine King. Each set up a desk, laid out brush, ink, and paper, and dipped their brushes, saturating them with ink.
Grandma Si and Medicine Master followed, watching the two painting saints begin their work.
Langhuan Divine King grew even more curious, sitting quietly and watching them.
Qin Mu and Deaf carefully observed the beauty before them, each lost in thought. Just as Qin Mu was about to put brush to paper, he felt that setting the brush down would defile the beauty. His hand simply could not move.
Deaf was the same.
The two painting saints held their brushes but could not apply a single stroke, which amazed Grandma Si and Medicine Master.
"Why can you paint Grandma Si but not Langhuan Divine King? Do you have your answer now?"
Deaf sighed deeply and threw his brush to the ground. "Grandma Si is human. Even though she has cultivated to the divine realm, even though her beauty is beyond words or poetry, her divine essence can still be grasped. But this woman you have brought—she is not human. There is not a trace of human flavor about her. She only has pure divine flavor, pure divinity without any emotion. That is why I cannot capture her divine essence and cannot begin to paint. Medicine Master, take off your mask."
Medicine Master was startled by the request, but he still removed the bronze mask covering his face.
Deaf looked at Langhuan Divine King, and Langhuan Divine King looked at Medicine Master. Deaf shook his head. "Even the most handsome man in the world cannot stir a single human emotion in this Divine King. I still cannot paint."
Qin Mu put down his brush and looked into Langhuan Divine King's clear, limpid eyes, feeling a sense of loss.
Langhuan Divine King smiled serenely at him. Qin Mu smiled back, and suddenly a feeling of release washed over him.
This woman, whom even the painting saint of Heavenly Saint could not paint, was ultimately not the same kind of being as him. Ever since he met Langhuan Divine King, he had been captivated by her beauty, but he had never considered that such a divine maiden had no worldly emotions in her heart.
He had thought that Yun Chuxiu was a creation, a beauty modeled after Langhuan Divine King's appearance. But Deaf's words made him suddenly realize that Langhuan Divine King had no mortal emotions at all—no seven passions or six desires.
In comparison, Yun Chuxiu, transformed from the Yuanmu Consort, was more like a clever, mischievous person. Though a creation, she had a human personality. But Langhuan Divine King was a divine maiden high above, untouched by mortal thoughts.
She had only divinity, not humanity.
He could simply admire her beauty from a distance.
He let go of the love and desire in his heart. Looking at Langhuan Divine King again, he could finally treat her with an ordinary heart.
"Hand plucking red apricots, drunk on thick fragrance, looking back, a dream before spring."
Qin Mu set his brush to paper, his mind clear and empty, carefully painting the beauty before him.
Deaf was surprised. He watched closely from beside him. The beauty Qin Mu painted on the paper was not as beautiful as the real Langhuan Divine King, but the girl in the painting seemed like a real person—her eyes mischievous, a shy smile on her lips, her gaze as deep as autumn water and full of emotion.
Deaf looked up at the woman across from him and thought to himself, "Mu'er is painting the beloved in his heart, not her."
He felt a stirring in his heart. Letting his mind go blank, he picked up his own brush and began to paint as well.
He painted Langhuan Divine King's divinity with his own sense of the divine.