Chapter 1057: The Death of Luo Xiao
Qin Mu attempted time and again to sense the altar outside the Ancestral Court, but failed time and again. There was always a force in this void interfering with his divine consciousness.
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. That interference came precisely from within the mineral vein, clearly Da Hong disrupting his reverse summoning.
Suddenly, he felt the interference vanish. His spirits soared, and his divine consciousness finally made contact with the altar outside the Ancestral Court!
Qin Mu was overjoyed and immediately activated the reverse summoning divine ability. His primordial qi and divine consciousness mingled, remotely activating the altar outside the Ancestral Court.
Just then, he seemed to hear a beautiful, melodious yet mournful, sorrowful, and plaintive song. It sounded like an abandoned woman singing by the river, walking into the water as she sang, slowly vanishing into the icy river.
He turned his head and saw a queen in full regalia walking toward him, carrying Da Hong.
Qin Mu's vision blurred. The Ancestral Court before his eyes disappeared, and he heard the sound of flowing water.
The scenery before him shifted. A river appeared in front of him, with faint mist rising from its surface. A sorrowful woman was walking toward the center of the river, her body gradually submerged by the water.
She hummed a mournful ballad, but the lyrics were incomprehensible.
"Illusion!"
Qin Mu suddenly surged his divine consciousness and shouted angrily, "A divine consciousness illusion! How dare you show off in front of me? I am a grandmaster of divine consciousness illusions!"
He heard a woman's voice whisper softly in his ear, "I am the ancestor of divine consciousness illusions."
Qin Mu gritted his teeth, activated the Overlord Body Three Dan Art, mobilized the supreme divine consciousness of the Great Luo, the Limitless Calamity Sutra, and used every divine consciousness divine ability he knew, trying to break through this sudden illusion.
Yet he felt his physical body and primordial spirit become uncontrollable, continuing the reverse summoning divine ability, the connection with the altar outside the Ancestral Court growing tighter and tighter.
Cold sweat dripped from Qin Mu's forehead. Divine King Gong Jun's divine consciousness illusion had already invaded his physical body, making him carry both herself and Da Hong away from here.
He tried to break free, but clearly Divine King Gong Jun's divine consciousness was superior to his, steadily suppressing him.
The reverse summoning activated. The void trembled, and another altar emerged from the depths of the void.
Light blazed!
Qin Mu clenched his teeth, desperately resisting Divine King Gong Jun's divine consciousness illusion. The river and the woman in it would vanish and reappear, alternating between clarity and haziness, again and again.
The mournful song faded into the distance, then gradually drew near, repeatedly breaking down Qin Mu's divine consciousness.
Suddenly, the woman's voice came to Qin Mu's ear: "Are you Mu Qing? The divine consciousness divine abilities of later generations are truly extraordinary. Perhaps we will meet again in the future, if you don't die..."
The voice grew fainter and fainter. All illusions before Qin Mu vanished, and the surroundings were brightly lit. The Heavenly Dragon Carriage appeared on the altar outside the Ancestral Court.
The light came from the lanterns on the warships of the Heavenly River Navy!
Countless warships had this place completely surrounded. Flags fluttered and waved on the ships. Countless heavenly soldiers and generals from the Heavenly Court stood on the altar. Besides the Heavenly River Navy, there was also the army of Nan Luo Shi Men.
After they entered the Ancestral Court, these two armies had pursued them all the way here, guarding outside the altar, trying to catch them like a turtle in a jar!
Luo Xiao, riding the void beast, had already charged toward the encirclement, trying to break out. He shouted loudly, "Brother Mu, follow me and fight our way out!"
Countless heavenly soldiers and generals activated their formations, surrounding him completely. Countless divine weapons and divine abilities flew up from the ships, bombarding him.
In addition, countless heavenly soldiers and generals trapped the altar and charged toward it.
Qin Mu looked around but saw neither Divine King Gong Jun nor Da Hong.
For that ancient divine king, even more troops could not detain her, because even Qin Mu's divine consciousness could not break her divine consciousness illusion.
She moved through the armies of the Heavenly River Navy and Nan Luo Shi Men as if through an empty land.
This female divine king had left with Da Hong. What awaited Da Hong would be endless torture and humiliation.
"Could Gong Jun be the later Gong Tianzun?" Qin Mu wondered.
His gaze passed over the countless gods and demons charging at him and landed on Luo Xiao, who was fighting desperately. Luo Xiao was already trapped in the encirclement. The Heavenly River Navy and Nan Luo Shi Men had set up an inescapable net. Even Qin Mu would find it difficult to escape from such a heavy siege.
"Luo Xiao!"
Qin Mu's divine consciousness surged, rushing toward him, but his divine consciousness kept shattering under the power of countless divine abilities and divine weapons: "Don't take the void beast back to the Great Void! That void beast wasn't tamed by you; it was tamed by the Great Emperor and deliberately given to you! Don't take it back to the Great Void!"
Countless divine weapons howled through the air, a dark mass completely blocking the altar.
Yan Er hurriedly raised her lantern, her face pale as she watched this scene, urging, "Young master! If we don't leave now, it'll be too late!"
Qin Mu's divine consciousness surged again, but he still couldn't reach Luo Xiao.
"Yan Er."
Qin Mu stopped trying and closed his eyes, saying softly, "Put out the lantern."
Yan Er blew out the lantern, but the light of the divine weapons and divine abilities made the area around the altar as bright as day. They still couldn't leave here and return to the ghost ship.
Yan Er, Dragon Qilin, and the six heavenly dragons looked in despair at the incoming divine weapons and divine abilities, unable to help closing their eyes.
"Where my body is, there is the Netherworld." Qin Mu said softly.
Whoosh.
Infinite darkness spread from him as the origin point, quickly enveloping the altar.
The darkness came and went quickly, then was dispelled by the light of the divine weapons and divine abilities. But the Heavenly Dragon Carriage on the altar, along with Qin Mu, Dragon Qilin, and Yan Er on it, had all vanished.
The waves of the Heavenly River surged, the river water deep and dark, piercing through the heavens and time. A ghost ship suddenly appeared, leaping up from beneath the water and floating on the river's surface.
Flags fluttered, with the characters "Yu Lin" embroidered on them.
Wei Sui Feng stood at the bow, looking ahead at the layers of thick fog. He turned his head and said, "Junior brother, you've been away for so long. What did you encounter?"
Qin Mu walked down from the Heavenly Dragon Carriage, quietly watching the mist on the surface of the Heavenly River. After a long moment of reflection, he spoke: "I encountered history."
"That's what history is."
Wei Sui Feng understood his words, saying leisurely, "It won't change just because you interfere or experience it. All your efforts will only become part of the past history. I know this well."
Qin Mu came to his side. The two of them grabbed the ship's railing and looked outward, as if trying to see through the fog of history.
Wei Sui Feng had experienced more, with a simple sedimentation settling into his Dao heart, making him no longer as unrestrained as before.
"Junior brother, where do you plan to go next?" he asked.
"Next stop?"
Qin Mu's gaze was deep, his expression calm as he said, "I want to go find the Southern Emperor, Zhu Que. I still haven't met her, so I still need to find her. Can this ship go to an even more ancient era? I want to go to the early years of the Dragon Han Era to see her."
"It can't."
Wei Sui Feng said, "The substance is immutable. At the farthest, it can only go to the era when this ship was built. It cannot go to eras before that. Because, before that, this ship didn't exist. The same goes for Ling Tianzun's divine ability. The mist of the Heavenly River can at most take you to the era after Ling Tianzun was born. She is powerless for more ancient times. The ghost ship was built about a thousand years after the early Dragon Han Era. The most ancient era you can reach is the one you went to last time."
Qin Mu nodded slightly and said, "Then let's stay in the Dragon Han Era."
Wei Sui Feng looked at him, puzzled, and said, "I see some melancholy in you, junior brother. Why is that?"
"I made a brother. He was very simple and sincere to others, but I couldn't save him."
Qin Mu said gloomily, "I knew his ending, and I tried again and again to change his fate, but again and again I found that his ending was destined. I'm thinking, where is he now? What dangers will he face? I'm also thinking that perhaps when he meets me again in the future, he will go mad and hate me for deceiving him..."
The ghost ship drifted on the river, about to emerge from the fog.
Wei Sui Feng urged, "You should get moving. Cheer up. You are Mu Tianzun!"
Qin Mu rallied his spirits and stepped onto the Heavenly Dragon Carriage.
Wei Sui Feng stepped forward, took the reins, looked up at him, and said, "You've been traveling hard. I should keep you on the ship to rest, but I can't. I and these soldiers have merged with the ghost ship, becoming immutable substance. The longer you stay on the ghost ship, the more likely you are to be assimilated. By then, you won't be able to leave the ghost ship and will eventually become like us—ghosts of time and space."
Qin Mu's gaze fell on his face, and he said calmly, "Then how many more times can I borrow the ghost ship?"
"No more than five times."
Wei Sui Feng said, "The sixth time, you will be assimilated by the ghost ship into immutable substance. By then, we will all be doomed! Junior brother, cherish these five opportunities. After five times, I will send you back to Yan Kang!"
Qin Mu nodded.
The Heavenly Dragon Carriage drove out of the ghost ship and into the mist.
Near the altar outside the Ancestral Court, Luo Xiao, after countless battles, had escaped again and again from the encirclement and suppression of the Heavenly River Navy and Nan Luo Shi Men's divine soldiers and generals.
"How is Brother Mu doing?"
He fled to the Heavenly River, dazed and exhausted, his oil running dry. He could no longer hold on. His physical body was about to die. He fled here on his last shred of faith.
He wanted to return to the Great Void and tell his people there the three prophecies.
He lay on the back of the void beast, feeling death approaching step by step, drawing closer and closer.
"I must return alive. This is the last hope of the Great Void creators..."
His vision was blurry. The death of his physical body was slowly blinding his eyes. He could still rely on the vertical eye on his forehead to observe his surroundings, but everything looked very hazy.
The young creator sensed the enemy pursuing him again. He had to use his last bit of divine consciousness to control the void beast and flee.
Finally, he vaguely saw a ship sailing toward him on the Heavenly River. The void beast had also exhausted its strength and collapsed on the water's surface.
The ship stopped, and a young man walked over from it.
"Who are you?" Luo Xiao heard his own voice ask.
"My name is Yun. Others call me Yun Tianzun."
The young man said, "Your injuries are very severe. I can no longer save you. My friend, do you have any last wishes?"
"Yun Tianzun!"
Luo Xiao felt his cold hand grab this young man's wrist. Two streams of tears slid down from his eye sockets, the tears also icy cold.
His heart had stopped beating. His body was already cold.
But he thought of the first prophecy.
"Yun Tianzun, I will tell you where the Great Void is. Take me to the Great Void to see my people. My divine consciousness is about to fall silent, but it will awaken there!"
Luo Xiao stared wide-eyed, but his pupils had already turned gray-white: "I will gouge out the eye on my forehead and give it to you. It is a divine stone, a token for my people. When they see this stone, they will believe you!"
"Then what about your corpse?" Yun Tianzun asked.
"The Heavenly River Navy and Nan Luo Shi Men are chasing me. They won't stop until they see my corpse."
Luo Xiao struggled to stand up, raised his palm, gathered his last divine consciousness, forcibly gouged out his vertical eye, held it in his palm, told him the geographical location of the Great Void, bowed, and said, "I entrust this to you, Yun Tianzun!"
His breath was completely gone, yet he still stood on the Heavenly River.
Yun Tianzun stared at him blankly, finally accepting the Primordial Beginning Divine Stone: "I promise you, brave one."
Luo Xiao revealed a smile, fell backward, and his corpse was carried downstream by the waters of the Heavenly River.
Yun Tianzun returned to the ship with that divine stone. The void beast also followed him onto the ship and quietly crouched down.
Yun Tianzun glanced at this beast, shook his head, and simply took it as Luo Xiao's mount.
A few years later, Yun Tianzun finally found the Great Void. He entered it and encountered some simple creators.
He took out the Primordial Beginning Divine Stone from Luo Xiao's forehead and handed it to the tribal chief there.
The creators warmly received him. They held a grand ritual, turning Luo Xiao's divine consciousness into an ancestral spirit.
"He is a hero."
Yun Tianzun met a snow-white, adorable girl. She was also a creator, deeply admiring Luo Xiao and also deeply admiring Yun Tianzun.
"Only a hero among creators could tame such a void beast!"
The girl, though young, was taller than Yun Tianzun. She looked at the void beast that had followed Yun Tianzun to the Great Void and said crisply, "When I grow up, I want to become a creator like Ancestral Spirit Luo Xiao."
"What's your name?" Yun Tianzun looked at her delicate face, momentarily lost.
"Lang Wan!"
"You're very beautiful."
"Mm, everyone says so!"
—A monthly ticket for Luo Xiao~