Chapter 1062: Three Celestial Venerables Steal Treasures from the Zhaoyang Hall
Ahead, Celestial Venerable Hao held a small white banner, slaying gods and demons alike as he advanced, ruthless and merciless.
His cultivation was already extremely high. Although he had not yet reached the Imperial Throne realm, he was, after all, the son of the Heavenly Emperor and Yuan Mu, with a formidable bloodline and astonishing combat power.
The rear palace was in chaos at this moment. The powerful deities had already gone to Jade Capital City to prepare to resist Ugly's invasion, and the remaining gods and demons were no match for him. Often, before they could even see Celestial Venerable Hao's face, they died by his hand, their souls collected into the small white banner refined by the Nether King.
Celestial Venerable Hao charged forward, with Celestial Venerable Yun following behind.
Not long after, Qin Mu, who was trailing the two, suddenly paused, spotting a treasure hall.
The Incense Bearing Hall.
His heart pounded violently. The two ahead sensed this pulse almost simultaneously. Celestial Venerable Yun immediately concealed himself, while Qin Mu seemed to melt, turning into a black shadow that clung to the ground.
Celestial Venerable Hao saw nothing and continued on.
After a moment, Celestial Venerable Yun reappeared, looked around, found nothing, and then set off in the direction Celestial Venerable Hao had gone.
Qin Mu emerged from the shadow, looked at the Incense Bearing Hall, his expression complex.
Within this hall was imprisoned the remnant soul of Celestial Venerable Yu. However, this hall was the one the Heavenly Emperor valued most, covered in countless seals and restrictions, so dense that even the Lame Man couldn't enter. He was powerless.
Qin Mu took a deep breath and continued tracking Celestial Venerables Yun and Hao.
Soon, he encountered the second of the seventy-two treasure halls, the Zhaoyang Hall.
Celestial Venerable Hao arrived before the Zhaoyang Hall. Two ancient Qilin gods guarded its entrance, their expressions fierce and majestic. Celestial Venerable Hao stepped forward, and the two Qilin gods raised their claws, bellowing, "This is a restricted area! Celestial Venerable, halt!"
Celestial Venerable Hao smiled warmly, saying, "I am here on my father's orders to inspect the Zhaoyang Hall. I ask the two seniors to be accommodating."
"On the Emperor's orders? Do you have his written decree?"
Celestial Venerable Hao produced a decree and stepped forward, smiling, "Please take a look."
The two ancient Qilin gods, born from ancient divine mountains, looked at the decree. But at that moment, Celestial Venerable Hao suddenly flipped the decree over. The back was a mirror, from which a burst of light erupted, trapping the primordial spirits of the two Qilin gods.
The two Qilin gods were immobilized. Celestial Venerable Hao struck swiftly, killing them both, then collected their primordial spirits. He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly approached the Zhaoyang Hall, muttering, "Mother said those two treasures must be here. Ugly's attack on the Heavenly Court is the perfect chance to steal them. With those two treasures, I can rule that ancient race..."
Countless seals and restrictions covered the Zhaoyang Hall. Celestial Venerable Hao, clearly guided by Yuan Mu's instructions, knew how to break them. He stepped back, his hands moving swiftly, his primordial energy transforming into swimming dragons and flying phoenixes that pressed forward.
Instantly, countless chains materialized around the Zhaoyang Hall, sealing it.
Celestial Venerable Hao's eyes flickered, his heart tense. He continuously applied various hand seals, and after a moment, he finally unlocked the seal.
The moment the seal broke, his form turned into a streak of light and shot into the hall.
The seal then closed again.
No sooner had he entered than Celestial Venerable Yun stepped forward. He pondered for a moment, then his hands flew, his primordial energy forming various unsealing techniques. He replicated Celestial Venerable Hao's hand seals exactly!
Breaking the seals of the Zhaoyang Hall was extremely complex. Even a genius would find it impossible to learn so many unsealing methods in such a short time.
Yet he learned them perfectly after just one viewing!
He was the first being in the world to reach the Imperial Throne realm. His Purple Sky Azure Nether Art was originally adept at absorbing and imitating other techniques. Later generations of the Yun family, like Yun Jianli, would continuously evolve this art, absorbing the essence of successive reforms, keeping it from falling behind.
Celestial Venerable Yun finished his unsealing. The seals of the Zhaoyang Hall opened, and he too flashed inside.
The moment he entered, the seals closed again.
Qin Mu arrived before the hall, thought about their methods, and shook his head. "I didn't memorize it all. But luckily, the mirror I refined with my painting dao helped me remember."
He flipped his hand, producing a mirror. Light shone from it, reflecting the methods the two had used to break the seals.
Where the mirror's light touched, the seals of the Zhaoyang Hall continuously opened, and Qin Mu strode inside.
Inside the Zhaoyang Hall, Qin Mu's foot suddenly met empty air. The hall had no floor, only a vast, open space.
He quickly flew up to avoid falling endlessly.
Only then did he notice that various treasures floated in the air within the Zhaoyang Hall, emitting dazzling lights.
But besides the treasures, there were also palace lanterns.
These lanterns floated in the hall's space, each about man-height, their light overpowering the treasures' glow. Strangely, the lanterns emitted countless rays of light, arranged in a very orderly pattern.
Qin Mu's heart tightened. "These lanterns are the restrictions guarding this treasure vault!"
The treasures floating in the Zhaoyang Hall were all massive, covered in talismans. Nearby, Qin Mu saw a huge sphere, about six zhang high, perfectly smooth and flawless.
"What is this sphere?"
He wanted to approach for a closer look, but heard a strange heartbeat coming from within it. Qin Mu was startled. "This isn't a sphere, it's an egg! There's a living being inside!"
Before he could reach it, one of the man-height lanterns blazed with light. Thousands of rays converged and shot towards him.
Qin Mu's form flickered continuously, dodging the beams. His movements were ever-changing, the footwork the Lame Man had taught him shining brilliantly here.
Qin Mu closed in on the sphere, placing his palm on it. He immediately felt the heartbeat transform into a grand dao sound, as if someone inside was chanting the mysteries of the great way.
"Could it be an ancient god?"
Qin Mu was puzzled. Hadn't the ancient gods already been born in the primordial era? Why was one still unhatched and sealed here?
Just then, ahead, the lanterns blazed brightly. Countless beams shot out in all directions, instantly activating every lantern in the Zhaoyang Hall. Billions of rays illuminated the space, making it nearly impossible to evade!
Whether it was Celestial Venerable Hao or Celestial Venerable Yun who had triggered the lanterns guarding the treasures, the chain reaction plunged all three inside into danger!
Qin Mu shrank his body rapidly, becoming a tiny speck of dust, darting around on the sphere to avoid the beams. Then, a curtain of light shot from his glabella, illuminating the nearby lanterns. One by one, they were absorbed into the Qin Continent.
His glabella blazed, sweeping the surrounding lanterns clean, creating a safe zone.
In the distance, the fluctuations of divine abilities erupted, and one lantern after another went out.
Qin Mu thought, "Celestial Venerable Yun of this era is already at the Imperial Throne realm, and Celestial Venerable Hao is at the Empyrean realm. Their strength is above mine. These lanterns can't harm them."
Soon, all the lanterns in the hall were extinguished, leaving only the glow of the various treasures.
Qin Mu's glabella shone brightly, absorbing the giant egg, suspected to be an ancient god, into his glabella. He then flew towards another treasure.
It was a treasure mountain. Qin Mu's glabella flashed, and before he even reached the mountain, he had already absorbed it.
The mountain was entirely jade-like, but the material was something he had never seen before. However, being in the Heavenly Emperor's treasury, it must be extraordinary.
"Could it be a treasure the Heavenly Emperor, an ancient god, plundered from the Ancestral Court?"
He also absorbed a winding river. The river had been refined to a small size, only five or six zhang long, but it was incredibly heavy. Even after absorbing it into the Qin Continent, Qin Mu felt his glabella sink.
"What river is this?"
Qin Mu felt the pupil of his vertical eye being pulled downward, his heart shaken.
But he had no time to think about it. Soon, the Heavenly Emperor would banish Ugly to the Netherworld. He could only use this time to plunder as many treasures as possible.
Celestial Venerable Yun and Celestial Venerable Hao had the same idea. The treasures in the Zhaoyang Hall were rapidly decreasing. Qin Mu caught a glimpse of Celestial Venerable Hao taking out a snakeskin bag and stuffing treasures into it. The bag was clearly a remarkable artifact.
Celestial Venerable Yun also had a sack, but it didn't seem ordinary. Qin Mu sensed the aura of a Taotie, suggesting it was made from Taotie skin.
Inside the hall, the treasure lights kept disappearing, gradually dimming.
Qin Mu intensified his looting. Suddenly, he saw a dazzling jade pillar in the distance. He froze, almost crying out.
That jade pillar was the same one from the Dao Ancestor's Library, capable of imprinting various ancient god marks and even creating the form of Celestial Venerable Yu!
"Could that jade pillar also be a remarkable treasure?"
He rushed forward, but saw Celestial Venerable Hao reach the pillar first and stuff it into his snakeskin bag.
Their eyes met. Qin Mu flipped his hand, and Celestial Venerable Hao rose higher and higher, his body growing larger—this was Qin Mu's dao-achieving technique, Gathering Perfection in the Great Luo Heaven!
At the same time, Celestial Venerable Hao shook his white banner. Qin Mu's body trembled slightly, but the banner was completely useless.
Celestial Venerable Hao's primordial energy exploded, and a heavenly palace materialized, forcibly breaking Qin Mu's technique.
Qin Mu silently lamented. At this time, Celestial Venerable Hao's techniques were far inferior to his, but his cultivation depth and physical strength far surpassed him. He was likely nearing adulthood.
One went east, the other west. They didn't continue fighting, instead focusing on finding more treasures.
Time was too tight. Celestial Venerable Hao felt it wouldn't be easy to take down Qin Mu, and Qin Mu felt he couldn't defeat the current Celestial Venerable Hao, so they stopped bothering with each other.
The Zhaoyang Hall grew darker, with only a few scattered lights remaining.
Just then, Qin Mu's eyes lit up, and he almost wept with joy.
He saw several fragments of Primordial Origin Stones!
Primordial Origin Stones!
The treasures of the Primordial Emperor! He never expected the Heavenly Emperor to have collected them here!
Qin Mu immediately dashed at full speed, turning into a divine light. At the same time, he saw two other divine lights racing towards the same spot—Celestial Venerable Hao and Celestial Venerable Yun!
However, Qin Mu then noticed that their targets were different from his.
He looked in their direction, his heart shaking. Celestial Venerable Yun's target was a small-looking altar, while Celestial Venerable Hao's target was a large seal!
"The Primordial Emperor's Seal and the Primordial Emperor's Altar!"
Qin Mu's divine sense flew out, wrapping around the Primordial Origin Stones. As soon as he had them, his divine sense split in two, reaching for the Primordial Emperor's Seal and the Primordial Emperor's Altar.
At the same time, the divine abilities of Celestial Venerable Yun and Celestial Venerable Hao struck him almost simultaneously.
Qin Mu's scalp tingled. Without thinking, he took out the suspected ancient god egg and held it in front of him. The two divine abilities exploded, blasting Qin Mu and the egg flying.
At that moment, Celestial Venerable Yun noticed Qin Mu's face and was suddenly thrown into chaos. "Luo Xiao! Aren't you dead?"
His heart shook violently, and he was caught off guard, blasted away by Celestial Venerable Hao. Celestial Venerable Hao laughed heartily, reaching for the Primordial Emperor's Seal. Once he had it, he rushed towards the Primordial Emperor's Altar.
Celestial Venerable Yun arrived, a step slower but faster. Their hands almost simultaneously grabbed the Primordial Emperor's Altar.
Suddenly, the Primordial Emperor's Altar vanished!
Both were shocked. Then Celestial Venerable Hao cried out in alarm—the Primordial Emperor's Seal in his hand had also disappeared!
"Are we haunted?" The same thought arose in both their minds.
At that moment, a terrifying tremor came from outside the Zhaoyang Hall. The Heavenly Emperor had made his move against Ugly.
Celestial Venerable Yun and Celestial Venerable Hao acted decisively, immediately turning and rushing out of the hall.
They had to leave now, or it would be too late. Earth Lord's reincarnation, Ugly, was no match for the Heavenly Emperor. He would be subdued in one blow. If they were trapped in the Zhaoyang Hall, they would surely die without a burial place.
Both had great ambitions and couldn't afford to be caught here.
The moment they rushed towards the entrance, Qin Mu also steadied himself and flew towards where the Primordial Emperor's Seal and Altar had disappeared. In his hand were one Primordial Emperor's Seal and one Primordial Emperor's Altar.
As soon as he absorbed the seal and altar into his glabella, the Primordial Emperor's Seal and Altar in the Zhaoyang Hall suddenly reappeared.
Qin Mu grabbed these two treasures and immediately turned to rush out of the hall.