Chapter 1064: Yunluo Emperor Tests a Strike on the Ancient God Egg
Qin Mu arrived at the Vermilion Celestial Palace, but the Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird was not there. The divine being guarding the palace gate said, "After the great chaos, the Southern Emperor went out, saying she was going to visit the Northern Emperor, Eastern Emperor, and others."
Qin Mu frowned deeply. He asked the divine being for brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone, wrote a letter, and handed it to the gatekeeper. "When the Southern Emperor returns, give this letter to her. Tell her that her younger brother came here and ask her to follow the instructions in the letter."
The divine being put the letter away.
Not long after, the theft at the Zhaoyang Hall was exposed. The Heavenly Emperor was enraged and ordered the Great Sun Star Lord to lead the gods of the Zhou Tian Star Array to seal off the Heavenly Court and investigate everyone, not even sparing the celestial palaces of the Four Emperors.
The Earth Lord, Heaven Duke, Earth Mother, Heavenly Yin, and the Empress Dowager sisters also had celestial palaces in the Heavenly Court, but they too were ordered to be searched.
The Heavenly Court's net was cast wide open. Dense beams of light floated everywhere in the sky—chains of light formed by the laws of the Great Dao. Under these circumstances, it was almost impossible to leave the Heavenly Court.
"I wonder if it's possible to bring matter from the past into the future?"
Qin Mu pondered. According to the rule of the indestructibility of matter, it was indeed possible to bring past matter into the future, but he wasn't entirely certain.
Just then, heavenly soldiers and generals were about to search this area. Qin Mu made a snap decision and extinguished the lantern.
After the turmoil in the Heavenly Court subsided, some time passed. The Southern Emperor, having visited the other three Ancient God Emperors, returned to the Vermilion Celestial Palace.
The gatekeeper divine being presented the letter, smiling. "Your Majesty, a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes came carrying a lantern. He claimed to be your younger brother. Strange to say, he left a letter for you, but he had no brush or ink—he had to borrow ours from the Vermilion Palace."
"Younger brother? Carrying a lantern?"
The Southern Emperor was puzzled. She took the letter and walked into the palace, thinking to herself: "The two old foxes of the Northern Emperor were right. The Heavenly Emperor originally ordered the Twenty-Eight Mansions to take our places and rule the Four Extremes Heavens. Now that the Twenty-Eight Mansions have died at the hands of the Earth Lord, the Four Extremes Heavens have no gods to govern them. Chaos will inevitably break out sooner or later. When that happens, it will be our chance as the Four Emperors to return to the Four Extremes Heavens!"
She sat down in the bird's nest of the Vermilion Palace. Her red feathered robe spread across the nest, filling it with dazzling vermilion light that flickered like flames, making her skin appear very fair.
The Southern Emperor set the letter aside, thinking: "The Heavenly Emperor built these celestial palaces for us Ancient God Emperors, seemingly for our benefit, but in truth, he has stripped us of all our power and trapped us like prisoners in the Heavenly Court! To leave this place, we need a greater upheaval—one even bigger than the Earth Lord's assault on the Heavenly Court!"
"The sky is high and the emperor is far away. Once I return to the Four Extremes Heavens, I'll be free and unrestrained, no longer confined to the Heavenly Court."
Her face was full of worry. Where would this upheaval, greater than the Earth Lord's rampage through the Heavenly Court, come from?
After a moment, she let out a faint sigh and picked up Qin Mu's letter. She noticed a seal on it—a mark in the shape of a Vermilion Bird.
The Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird was astonished. The mark was incredibly lifelike, and the runes on it were all composed of Vermilion Bird patterns. Even someone who knew her extremely well would not be able to master so many Vermilion Bird Great Dao runes!
Yet the person who left the seal had done it effortlessly, casually setting up a very complete Vermilion Bird seal.
This seal could only be undone by her. If anyone else touched it, the letter would immediately self-ignite and burn to ashes!
"The one who left the letter said he was my younger brother? Could it be...?"
She broke the seal and opened the letter. The words on the paper suddenly leaped up and slowly burned in the air.
The characters turned into flames, and the flames continuously rearranged themselves.
The Southern Emperor Vermilion Bird watched for a long time, finishing the contents of the letter. The paper in her hand had long since turned to ash.
"So it really is younger brother Mu Qing."
The Southern Emperor's narrow eyes blinked. She murmured softly, "His letter means that I will face a deadly calamity in the future, and he wants me to prepare in advance. He gave me two strategies: one is to contact the human Moon Venerable and entrust a feather to her for safekeeping. The other is to split off a soul and reincarnate early to make plans."
The Southern Emperor reclined in the bird's nest, her slender feet slipping out from under her large red feathered robe. She thought to herself, "But the Eastern Emperor warned me to be wary of Mu Venerable and the other human venerables, because Mu Venerable has killed many ancient gods and poses a great threat to them. The Eastern Emperor is right—the Five Luminaries Star Lords died at the hands of younger brother Mu Qing..."
She was torn. She sat up again, paced back and forth, and finally made up her mind: "I'll go see the human Moon Venerable first! If she has bad character and is indeed scheming against me, I'll stay far away. If she has good character, then I might as well befriend her! I do know that little girl Ling Venerable. Yes, Ling girl and Mu Di and the others formed the Heavenly Alliance..."
That same year, Yun Venerable went to the Great Void and handed the Taichu Primordial Stone to the Creators there. "Luo Xiao left a gemstone, saying you should use it to build the Void Bridge and the Other Shore World."
The Creators were very surprised but didn't ask further.
Yun Venerable looked at these guileless Creators and couldn't help shaking his head.
It would be extremely difficult for the Creators to face the impending invasion of the Grand Emperor.
He also saw Lang Wan. This Creator girl had grown even more beautiful and moving. Every time he met her, it stirred strange feelings in him.
A thought arose in his mind, but he couldn't bear to let this girl take risks.
He returned to the Xiao Han Heavenly Court and saw Ling Venerable deducing the Way of Creation, having already created many strange species. His heart stirred slightly, and he said, "Ling, can you create a real human?"
Ling Venerable looked up from countless scrolls, puzzled.
"A perfect young woman."
Yun Venerable's eyes flickered. "I'll take you to see her."
Not long after, Ling Venerable met Lang Wan and was also captivated by the girl's beauty. She praised, "Snow-white face, faint brows like a heavenly maiden; phoenix flute and phoenix wings, about to take flight. Jade mountains and emerald willows, walking without dust; a waist like a willow, not bearing the spring. Such a girl should be called Jue Wu Chen!"
Lang Wan blushed shyly at these words.
Yun Venerable asked, "Can you use the Way of Creation to create a Jue Wu Chen?"
Ling Venerable thought for a moment and said, "I can try, but my Way of Creation is not yet perfect. I need to wait a while. Once I perfect the Way of Creation and create a Creation Divine Artifact, I can bring Jue Wu Chen into being."
"How long will it take?"
"I don't know. Just wait."
Yun Venerable had no choice but to let her be. He thought of Luo Xiao again and wondered, "Was that Luo Xiao really Luo Xiao? Or was Luo Xiao not Luo Xiao, but that person..."
The shadow of Mu Qing appeared before his eyes. He shook his head and murmured, "It can't be him. Ling said he's just a shadow from the future. But I really hope to see that shadow from the future. I have many aspirations I want to share with him..."
He stared blankly at the carefree Creators of the Great Void and silently thought to himself, "I feel he and I are the same kind of person. Why is he only in the future? In this era, I have no Dao companion. The only one is in the future..."
He had an illusion that he and that Dao companion from the future were supporting each other across endless years, moving forward together, yet they were so far apart.
Several hundred years later, Crown Prince Qi led the Ten Guards of the Heavenly Court in rebellion. The Heavenly Court fell into chaos, and many ancient gods also joined the revolt.
This disaster originated in the harem. Crown Prince Qi, the most powerful demigod, possessed the bloodlines of both the Empress Dowager and the Heavenly Emperor. He had already come of age and was the most terrifying existence among the demigods.
His combat power was unfathomable, far surpassing even Lang Xuan Divine Emperor and Ancestral God King.
The chaos he caused was extraordinary, because this rebellion involved not only demigods and the ancient gods who followed him, but also the Empress Dowager behind him.
When Crown Prince Qi unleashed the Guixu divine ability and began to devour the Heavenly Court, even the ancient gods trembled.
Yet Crown Prince Qi still lost. He didn't even last a single move against the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor before being suppressed. The heavens and earth cast him into the deepest part of the Youdu Jade Lock Pass.
A lofty voice reached Youdu, cold and icy: "From today onward, your surname is stripped away, leaving only sin. From today onward, you will sink forever, tormented in karmic fire! From today onward, you are..."
"Xie Wu Qi!"
This war caused heavy casualties in the Heavenly Court, certainly surpassing the Earth Lord's rebellion. Even the Empress Dowager was thrown into the cold palace as a result.
Almost all of the Ten Guards of the Heavenly Court were sent to the newly built Divine Execution Platform. The platform beheaded for a hundred days, cutting off countless heads.
The newly forged divine blade became extremely fierce. Its two killing intents were tempered to be indestructible, severing primordial spirits and destroying physical bodies as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.
The Heavenly Emperor selected new elites from various races to fill the Ten Guards of the Heavenly Court, draining almost all the finest warriors from every race.
The former Ten Guards of the Heavenly Court were all powerful demigods, but now the Ten Guards were all gods from various races who had cultivated to the Jade Capital realm.
Thus, the power of the Heavenly Court quietly transformed.
After experiencing the Earth Lord's rebellion and Xie Wu Qi's rebellion, the old forces of the Heavenly Court had declined to freezing point. A new era had quietly arrived.
The Divine Treasury Heavenly Palace system replaced the bloodline system, becoming the mainstream for all races in the heavens.
Before this, bloodline determined status and power.
After this, cultivation determined status and power.
The ancient gods ruled the world by virtue of their bloodlines, but after these two major events, the Divine Treasury Heavenly Palace system rose completely!
This was the revolution of the Long Han Era, quietly completed under the subtle manipulation of the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor.
The force that restrained the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was precisely the other ancient gods. Now, the Heavenly Emperor used the power of the acquired races and demigods to suppress these meritorious ministers and their descendants.
The ancient gods were weakened, but he was not.
His rule became unshakably stable.
On the ghost ship, Qin Mu took out the round egg he had stolen from the Zhaoyang Hall and studied it together with Wei Suifeng.
Wei Suifeng tapped the round egg. The sound that came out was a Dao tone, as if someone was speaking inside, but the language was obscure and hard to understand.
Wei Suifeng studied it for a while, using various divine eye abilities to look into the egg, but couldn't tell what was inside. He speculated, "If it's an ancient god, theoretically all ancient gods have already been born. There can't be new ancient gods unless it's a natural god born from a dragon vein or mountain spirit. Could the egg contain a demigod?"
He pressed his ear to the egg and listened. The Dao tones inside were very strange, and the heartbeat was also peculiar, sounding extremely distant.
"Can we crack it open?" Wei Suifeng asked.
Qin Mu thought for a moment and said, "I used this round egg to block attacks from Yun Venerable and Hao Venerable, and the egg didn't crack. Yun Venerable's realm was already Emperor Throne, and Hao Venerable, though at Soaring Heaven, had strong bloodline power and was nearly an adult."
"In the era you went to, Yun Venerable and Hao Venerable weren't strong enough. They're nothing compared to me now!"
Wei Suifeng let out a shout. Countless stars shone brightly above his head, spinning wildly like a canopy of heaven!
Qin Mu's heart stirred. His senior brother's combat power was far superior to Woodcutter Saint's!
The canopy of heaven spun, with a heavenly river circling around it, creating the vision of the Great Heavenly River and the Great Dipper!
The Great Heavenly River and the Great Dipper!
This was a vision that couldn't be seen in later ages. Only in the Long Han Era and even more ancient times could one see the true appearance of the Xuan Du.
Clearly, Wei Suifeng, having traveled back to the Long Han Era and become the leader of the Feather Forest Guard, had seen the true Xuan Du and comprehended his own techniques and divine abilities!
Wei Suifeng raised his right hand. The power of the Great Heavenly River and the Great Dipper merged into his palm. He used his hand as a blade and slashed down with force, striking the round egg.
His combat power was indeed much stronger than Yun Venerable and Hao Venerable of that era!
As Wei Suifeng's blade strike came down, the round egg burst with brilliant light. Suddenly, both Qin Mu and Wei Suifeng on the ghost ship, as well as the Feather Forest Guard soldiers, heard a thunderous sound like a great bell or drum, like the sound of the universe being born!
Countless dazzling Dao patterns flew out of the round egg, immersing the ghost ship in a dense radiance of Dao patterns!
In that instant, Qin Mu and Wei Suifeng felt the ghost ship break free from the state of indestructible matter, sinking into a chaotic, formless, and intangible state where yin and yang merged as one!
At the same time, all kinds of complex Dao tones rang out, loud and deafening, as if thousands of ancient gods were chanting Dao words together, or as if all living beings were calling out the same name—eerie and sacred!
Soon, those grand Dao tones disappeared. The Dao patterns rapidly retracted into the round egg, and the ghost ship returned to its state of indestructible matter.
Wei Suifeng's eye twitched. His right hand dropped, trembling uncontrollably.
"Is it cracked?" Qin Mu's gaze fell on the Dao patterns gradually dissipating around the egg. His expression was grave, and he asked without turning his head.
"Yeah."
Wei Suifeng broke out in a cold sweat from the pain. "Three fingers are broken, and the little finger's bone is shattered. This egg is too hard!"