Chapter 1087: Ah, This Is the Mortal Realm (First Update!)
Qin Mu once again transformed into Mu Qing's face, walking along the Heavenly River, his steps growing faster and faster.
The Dragon Han Era, at its most magnificent, had begun its decline.
He looked down and saw countless divine kingdoms in the Primordial Realm below. Powerful demigods were toppling the statues of the ancient gods.
Those colossal statues were symbols of the ancient gods' authority and power—tall, majestic, some carved directly from entire divine mountains, others extravagantly crafted from divine gold and divine iron.
In years past, countless mortal races would come to offer sacrifices and worship, presenting jewels and their own children, praying to the high and mighty ancient gods who held power, begging for favorable weather and for heaven to withhold disasters.
Now that the ancient gods had departed, leaving the Heavenly Court's power vacant, the demigods seized the opportunity to rise and usurp authority. The ancient gods became obsolete deities, their statues naturally toppled, their altars shattered.
But Qin Mu also saw that after the powerful demigods destroyed the statues and altars of the ancient gods, they enslaved the mortal races to toil bitterly, building new altars in their place.
On these new altars, statues of the powerful demigods were erected.
Unknowingly, Qin Mu stepped down from the Heavenly River, drawing closer to the mortal realm. As far as his eyes could see, everywhere was the scene of tearing down old gods and erecting new ones. The mortal races remained enslaved, their lives still worse than death.
Those newly risen deities, now holding power, rejoiced and celebrated their victory and ascension, enjoying the beauties and delicacies offered by the common people, surrounded by mountains of treasure.
They drank and feasted in forests of wine and flesh, laughing heartily, utterly joyful.
Beneath their towering forms, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of mortals prostrated themselves, trembling, heads buried low, kowtowing like pounding garlic.
"Ah, this is the mortal realm."
Qin Mu only then came to his senses. He had been walking too high on the Heavenly River, seeing too far, and had not witnessed the suffering of the beings in the Primordial Realm.
Ah, this is the mortal realm.
He had just realized this. Yes, this was the mortal realm. The people had not only failed to break the gods in their hearts, but they had also failed to break the gods in their temples, nor had they broken the new and old gods who sat high above.
Power had been released from its cage, and it was difficult to lock it back in.
Servility had been summoned forth; it was hard for spines and knees to straighten again.
Why, after eliminating the Heavenly Emperor and overthrowing the rule of the ancient gods, had the people's lives not changed? Why were they still as numb as before?
Why, after the old gods had left this world, had a new batch of gods emerged?
Shouldn't all this have changed?
Was this Dragon Han Revolution unrelated to mortals?
"Yes, this Dragon Han Revolution is far from successful. It has only removed the Heavenly Emperor and the ancient gods, only replaced the original ruling class with a new set of rulers. The Dragon Han Revolution is false, hypocritical."
He felt a sense of confusion and murmured, "Cloud Sovereign, did you see this? Don't dwell too high or too far. Too high and too far, and you won't see the suffering of the masses. Too high and too far, and you'll lose the drive to move forward. Too high and too far, and you'll forget your original heart and your first intention."
He walked among the towering divine mountains of the Primordial Realm, watching the ancient gods celebrate fervently, watching the masses suffer as before.
From the Dragon Han to the Chi Ming, from the Supreme Emperor to the Kai Huang, and then to the Yan Kang—the goal that generations of benevolent people had striven for was not personal power or status, not personal desires or wealth, but the purest conviction: to break the gods in the heart, to break the gods in the temple.
Night fell, the curtain of darkness shrouding the Primordial Realm.
His heart surged with emotion. He walked through the night with a lantern, a strange feeling in his heart rising and falling like the waters of the Heavenly River.
He was like a traveler stepping into the ancient darkness of history with a lantern, searching in the darkness for the footprints left by predecessors and sages, searching for their spirit, like candle flames in the dark night.
That was a spirit imprinted in the blood of ordinary people—simple yet stirring, bringing tears to the eyes and blood to a boil when encountered.
Their pure and simple spirit was deeply etched into the dark sky of history.
When future travelers came with lanterns into the dark history, the light illuminating the darkness, their spirit would shine like a cluster of stars, inspiring those who came after.
Qin Mu did not stop. In the darkness came the long roars of ancient gods and demons. The distant divine mountains crouched like enormous beasts in the dark.
In the darkness, a demigod deity spotted him and called out, "Pastoral Sovereign—"
Qin Mu was startled, only then remembering that he still wore the face of Mu Qing.
He avoided the demigods who tried to hunt him down, changing his form to look like a demigod himself.
He walked from night into dawn, then from day into night, gradually approaching the territory of the human race.
One morning, he arrived at the human territory of the Dragon Han Era. Sunlight poured down, illuminating his travel-worn face.
He smiled, seeing people tilling the fields, seeing a village not far away, and some cultivators teaching children how to open their divine repositories and become martial artists.
In the distance, there was a human city. A diligent merchant caravan was already setting out, planning to travel to the cities of other post-natal races to trade goods.
Everything was peaceful here. Wisps of cooking smoke rose from the village, and people lived and worked in contentment.
Qin Mu put away his lantern and walked forward with a smile, facing the rising sun.
Suddenly, the sky shook violently. People looked up in panic, staring blankly at the sky.
Qin Mu looked up and saw the tilted Heavenly River, like an impossibly huge white python hanging in the sky, trembling violently, about to fall into the Primordial Realm!
"The geographical course of the Heavenly River has changed..."
Qin Mu's mind went blank. The Heavenly River originally flowed from the Mystic Capital to the Four Polar Heavens, then from the Eastern Polar Heaven to the Primordial Realm. After passing through the Heavenly Court, it entered the sky of the Primordial Realm.
Many of the river's tributaries ran through the various heavens of the Primordial Realm, then flowed out from those heavens and converged again.
This great river, spanning the universe, passed through the sky of the Primordial Realm, cut into the Nether Realm as the River Styx, and finally poured into the Return to Ruin.
But now, the Heavenly Court had risen, changing the course of the Heavenly River!
The Heavenly River was falling from the sky, about to crash down to the earth.
And the Heavenly River flowing on the ground would become the Surging River of later ages!
But the fall of the Heavenly River would bring catastrophic destruction to the people living here!
A flood sweeping across the land would wash away everything here!
Without a second thought, Qin Mu let out a roar. His physical body grew larger and larger, suddenly transforming into a three-headed, six-armed giant with a ten-thousand-zhang divine frame. He leaped into the air, charging toward the falling Heavenly River!
Boom!
The Heavenly River landed on him, its boundless weight pressing down on his shoulders. Qin Mu's primordial energy burst forth, enveloping thousands of miles of the river as he desperately tried to stop this section from falling.
But the river, now unbound from the heavens, bore down with all its weight, crushing his bones with cracking sounds, bending his spine, forcing his body steadily toward the ground.
Qin Mu roared with all his might. Beneath his skin, muscles bulged, tendons tightened to their limit. His six arms held up the Heavenly River, making him look like a giant supporting the sky, his skin splitting open bit by bit.
Suddenly, from the human territory, one divine human after another shot into the sky, each supporting a section of the Heavenly River, their rising figures like streaks of light.
Qin Mu's burden was greatly reduced. But even with the divine humans joining in, they could barely hold up the river's weight. The great river continued to press them down toward the earth of the Primordial Realm.
Finally, Qin Mu's feet landed on the ground, sinking deep into the soil. He shouted at the stunned onlookers, "Run—"