Chapter 1086: When the Brave Warrior Becomes the Evil Dragon (Fourth Update!)
Qin Mu carried the lantern and traveled upstream along the Heavenly River. His divine consciousness visualized, transforming into a soaring dragon. The divine dragon carried him across the water's surface at great speed, his robes fluttering in the wind.
These robes were Wei Suifeng's garments. After all, Wei Suifeng was the Cloud Emperor, and this attire was also a treasure. The robes caught the wind, making him appear weightless and exceptionally carefree.
Qin Mu's thoughts drifted, various ideas surging into his mind.
It was now the four hundred thousandth year of the Dragon Han Era, with over a hundred thousand years remaining until the end of this age. By then, Cloud Sovereign would die, Moon Sovereign would retire in obscurity, leaving only Ling Sovereign to struggle on alone.
The Ten Sovereigns would rise, and the brutal history would extend into the Chi Ming Era, the Shang Huang Era, until Ling Sovereign was ambushed and killed in the Heavenly River.
There were so many things he wanted to change.
However, after this time travel, he only had two more chances left.
In this era, there were still many regrettable events happening, and many secrets waiting for him to uncover.
But he could not waste his remaining two opportunities entirely on the Dragon Han Era!
Just as Wei Suifeng had said, he could save those two chances to do something more meaningful!
This would be his last return to Dragon Han.
He very much wanted, before returning to the ghost ship, to meet Cloud Sovereign in person, to have a heart-to-heart talk with him, to call him fellow Daoist, and to discuss each other's aspirations.
He wanted to drink and celebrate with Cloud Sovereign, to revel and drink freely with him.
He also wanted to hear Cloud Sovereign's thoughts on the future and his views on past history.
A true friend is hard to find in life, but this friend lived in the past, while he himself lived in the future.
"In the future, Hao Sovereign, Lang Xuan, Void, Grand Emperor, Ancestral God King, Fire Sovereign, Yuan Mu, Empress, and even the reincarnated ancient god Heavenly Emperor, will gradually gain power, unite, and move against Cloud Sovereign. Cloud Sovereign will die in the Xiao Han Heavenly Court."
He thought silently in his heart: "His bloodline will be cursed by the Grand Emperor, preventing him from living to the moment of becoming a god. His soul will be sealed by the Grand Emperor, eternally imprisoned in the Divine Consciousness Grand Luo Heaven within the ultimate void."
"His corpse will be sent by the Grand Emperor to the Grand Void, sealed within the Grand Emperor's physical body, becoming the Grand Emperor's trophy."
"Fellow Daoist, the suffering that awaits you is truly so heavy."
"And the suffering that awaits the human race is also so heavy!"
"You shouldered the ancient years, while I, in the future, will take up your burden."
Qin Mu cast aside the various thoughts in his mind. The Heavenly Court was still far away, requiring over ten days of travel to reach it.
Qin Mu released the lantern in his hand. Under the control of his primordial energy, the lantern floated automatically, following him as he traveled.
He took out the Primordial Beginning Egg. From within the egg came a low Dao sound, as if an ancient god was whispering. Qin Mu listened to the Dao sound, trying to discern the mysteries within it.
The Dao of Primordial Beginning, where yin and yang were not yet divided, and matter did not exist. To rescue Ling Sovereign, he had to understand the Dao of Primordial Beginning.
The voice within the Primordial Beginning Egg continued, as if the yet-unborn ancient god was conversing with him, but the words were obscure, and Qin Mu could not understand them.
"Unraveling the Dao of Primordial Beginning is no less difficult than creating the Matter Creation Divine Ability from nothing! Since Ling Sovereign could create such an earth-shattering great divine ability, then I can also unlock the secrets of the Dao of Primordial Beginning!"
He stood on the head of the visualized divine dragon, closed his eyes, and actually entered a dream state.
In the dream, thousands of tiny Qin Mus surrounded the Primordial Beginning Egg, listening to the Dao sound coming from within, experiencing the Dao rhythm, trying to record the mysteries contained in the Dao sound in the form of runic Dao.
"Maha..." A tiny Qin Mu rested his chin on his hand, licking his brush, his face smeared black and white with ink.
"Guji!" Another tiny Qin Mu excitedly waved his brush like flying, recording the Dao he had comprehended in the form of runes.
Unknowingly, over ten days passed. Qin Mu woke from the dream, put away the Primordial Beginning Egg. The Heavenly Court was in sight ahead. The Primordial Beginning Egg was of great importance; outsiders must not know that this ancient god egg had fallen into his hands.
In these past few days, he had used dream-state enlightenment to organize five Primordial Beginning runes. However, the Dao of Primordial Beginning was chaotic and hazy, so whether these five runes were correct or not could not be verified.
"I need to find the Ling Sovereign's notes that Senior Brother hid, comprehend Ling Sovereign's divine ability, and then cross-verify them. That way, I'll know if the five runes I comprehended are wrong."
Qin Mu had a massive headache: "Senior Brother isn't a squirrel spirit, so why does he like hiding things so much?"
Verifying the five Primordial Beginning runes was extremely important. Even if only one of them was correct, he could start from that correct rune and slowly deduce more runes.
Everything is difficult at the start.
Creating "one" from nothing was the most important solution!
With one, there could be two, three, four, five!
The Heavenly Court was close. Qin Mu changed his appearance, not using the face of Mu Qing, but transforming into a demigod to blend into the Heavenly Court. The current Heavenly Court had completely lost its grand spectacle from the early Dragon Han Era. Over ten of the thirty-six Heavenly Palaces had already left the Heavenly Court, flying to various parts of the universe. Many of the seventy-two Treasure Halls had also departed.
The thirty-six Heavenly Palaces and seventy-two Treasure Halls together formed the Heavenly Court, along with structures like the Jade Capital City, Heavenly Street, and Heavenly Market, constituting the main body of the Heavenly Court. Now, with so many palaces and halls missing, the Heavenly Court appeared riddled with holes.
Moreover, the departure of these palaces and halls had also taken away many of the Heavenly Court's armies. The Heavenly Court even sent troops to stop them, triggering another series of divine and demon wars, causing panic among the people in the Heavenly Court.
As Qin Mu passed by the Jade Capital City, he saw from afar the Great Sun Star Lord, like a silly bird, crouching dully on the city tower of the Jade Capital City, wooden and lifeless. After a long while, he flapped his wings, but didn't know where he should go.
"The day when the Great Sun Star Lord is shot in the back is probably not far off," Qin Mu thought to himself.
He searched everywhere in the Heavenly Court but still couldn't find any trace of Dragon Qilin and Yan'er. Those two, along with six heavenly dragons, had stolen the Lapis Lazuli Sky Canopy and then disappeared, hiding somewhere unknown.
"They've probably extinguished the lamp and returned to the ghost ship."
Qin Mu walked out of the Southern Heavenly Gate. There must have been a fierce battle here; the gate was broken in half, and many heavenly craftsmen were repairing it.
He traveled down the Heavenly River and looked back. He saw that the Heavenly Court had already risen to the sky dome of the Primordial Realm, and it was only a matter of time before it separated from the Primordial Realm.
At that moment, violent tremors came from the Primordial Realm. Qin Mu followed the fluctuations and saw a group of demigods raising their arms high, supporting a grand-scale heavenly palace as it flew toward the Heavenly Court.
Those demigods were beaming with joy, very excited.
That heavenly palace was the Lang Xuan Divine Emperor's palace, and those demigods were also Lang Xuan Divine Emperor's subordinates. They were jubilant, planning to move the Lang Xuan Divine Palace into the Heavenly Court.
Many ancient gods had left, leaving a power vacuum. Now was the perfect opportunity to seize power.
"No wonder the Great Sun Star Lord is so desolate. The era of the ancient gods is over; the era of the demigods has arrived."
Qin Mu watched this heavenly palace rise higher and higher, then turned back and continued on his way to the Xiao Han Heavenly Court, thinking: "In this world, the contradiction between ancient gods and post-natal beings is no longer the mainstream. The contradiction between demigods and post-natal beings has become the main contradiction. This is the reason for the rise of the Chi Ming Era!"
On his way to the Xiao Han Heavenly Court, he saw several more heavenly palaces being lifted by excited demigods, flying toward the Heavenly Court. He couldn't help but shake his head.
The ancient god Heavenly Emperor was dead, the era of the ancient gods was over, but another group of demigods had become the new ancient gods.
Back then, the demigods were also the leaders of the Dragon Han Revolution, even more radical than the human sovereigns. Now, they had replaced the ancient gods and become the new rulers.
Qin Mu lowered his head to look at the calm surface of the Heavenly River. The river reflected his shadow.
He gazed at his shadow in the Heavenly River, and the shadow gazed back at him.
The joyful laughter of the demigods came from afar. The brave warriors who had slain the dragon, after killing the evil dragon, had finally grown sharp claws and fangs and become the evil dragon themselves.