Chapter 1126: May I Eat You? (Fourth Update)
The Northern Heaven was the domain of the Dark Heavenly King, who resided in the Nether Capital. This continent was formed from a horn of the Earth Lord, much like Qin Mu's Qinzi Continent.
However, besides the Earth Lord's horn, there was also the Nether Sea, a treasure refined by the Dark Heavenly King. The vast Nether Sea was no smaller than the Nether Capital continent itself.
Beyond the Nether Capital lay a star domain formed by forty constellations, with various heavenly realms floating in the boundless cosmos.
Now, the Dark Heavenly King had also led his Nether Capital army to the Heavenly Court, preparing to attack the Great Void.
The four great sects of the Great Void had suffered a major defeat, angering the Ten Celestial Venerables. This time, they mobilized the forces of the Dark Heavenly King and the other three Emperors, intending to crush the Great Void in one fell swoop.
As Qin Mu traveled through the Nether Capital, he noticed that the architecture of the Nether Capital Heavenly Palace was dark and eerie. The murals and sculptures on the palace walls depicted not only little ghosts and ghost kings of the Nether Realm but also various demon gods, and even totems of the Great Dark Heaven.
However, the most numerous were the statues and totems of the Earth Lord, along with various reliefs and murals of him.
"Huh?" The little Earth Lord poked his head out from Long Qilin's ear, looking at these reliefs with confusion, wondering why the Dark Heavenly King worshipped him so much.
Yan'er pulled him out, placed him on Long Qilin's head, and gave him a spirit pill as a reward.
After all, he was the one who had discovered the Crown Prince of Qingzong, so he deserved a reward.
Qin Mu looked around. The Dark Heavenly King had taken most of the Nether Capital's military force with him, leaving few threats to Qin Mu.
"The Dark Heavenly King is definitely a fervent worshiper of the Earth Lord!" Qin Mu thought to himself as he looked at the statues of the Earth Lord.
He traveled from the Nether Capital to the Shangli Palace constellation and entered a heavenly realm. There, he observed the lives of the people while studying Lingmu Celestial Venerable's notes.
Looking around, he saw that the common people here were not much better off than those in the Western Heaven.
Although the Dark Heavenly King was a human emperor who controlled souls and stood against the Earth Lord, in his territory, humans still lived at the lowest level, serving as sacrifices to ancient gods and demigods.
These people struggled to survive, constantly facing floods, beasts, exploitation by demigod cultivators, and the whims of demon gods—if they failed to offer sacrifices on time, the demon gods would bring disaster upon them.
Qin Mu saw many temples with thriving incense offerings—or rather, not incense, but livestock, cattle, sheep, or young boys and girls offered by the people of nearby towns to the lofty demon gods.
When the incense was lit, demon gods would descend on demonic energy to partake in the offerings.
As he passed by a great river in this heavenly realm, he saw villagers placing young girls on rafts, letting them drift downstream.
Those were offerings to the river god. If the river god ate the girls on the rafts, he would not send floods to drown the villages along the banks.
He also saw villagers throwing young boys and girls into a volcano, where a mountain god resided.
If they did not offer tribute, the mountain god would become angry, causing the volcano to erupt, scorching thousands of miles and burning countless people to death.
Qin Mu arrived at the most prosperous place in this heavenly realm and saw countless cultivators being used as slaves to mine ores.
Their primordial spirits were pierced by soul-related spells, while high-ranking deities stood above with divine whips, supervising these slaves. At the slightest mistake, the whip would crack down, causing the souls to wail in agony.
The Dark Heavenly King was of the Haotian Celestial Venerable's lineage. Although Haotian Celestial Venerable had half-human blood, he never saw himself as human. Likewise, the Dark Heavenly King, despite being human, did not see himself as one either.
Qin Mu sighed deeply. Sometimes, the cruelest to humans were not necessarily demigods, but other humans.
He could not bear to watch any longer.
He had originally wanted to see the outside world, not limited to the Heavenly Court and the Yuan Realm, but the more he saw, the harder it became to endure.
He wanted to go on a killing spree, but with his strength alone, he could hardly change anything.
"Fire Celestial Venerable, what exactly have you changed?"
He couldn't help but laugh bitterly. Even the current Heavenly Court had many human elites. Forget about Xiao Celestial Venerable for now, but Fire Celestial Venerable was a genuine human Celestial Venerable!
Fire Celestial Venerable, the Dark Heavenly King, the Dao Ancestor, the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha, and Heavenly Master Bai Yuqiong—their strength was not weak. Outside, there was also Kai Huang, yet humans always lived at the bottom.
Fire Celestial Venerable spoke highly of himself. Qin Mu wanted to go see Fire Celestial Venerable's domain and see how the humans under his rule actually lived.
He left the Northern Heavenly Realm and headed for the Southern Heavenly Realm.
The Southern Heaven was nominally under the rule of the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu, but in reality, the true ruler of the Southern Heaven was Fire Celestial Venerable.
Every generation of the Red Emperor was a puppet propped up by Fire Celestial Venerable. From ancient times to the present, the Red Emperor of the Southern Heaven had changed countless times, but the actual controller remained him.
It was precisely because Fire Celestial Venerable was the de facto ruler of the Southern Heaven that the enmity between him and the Southern Emperor Vermillion Bird arose.
The Southern Emperor Vermillion Bird ruled the Southern Pole Heaven, at the edge of the universe, on the periphery of the Southern Heavenly Realm, and his territory was not very large.
Even so, Fire Celestial Venerable had spent hundreds of thousands of years infiltrating the Southern Pole Heaven, to the point that when Fire Celestial Venerable wielded the divine weapon Yu Celestial Venerable and invaded the Southern Pole Heaven, the Southern Emperor Vermillion Bird had no troops to deploy.
Qin Mu walked out of the spiritual energy teleportation bridge of the Red Emperor's Heavenly Palace and looked around. The Southern Heavenly Realm was dotted with various heavenly realms, centered around the Red Emperor's Heavenly Palace, hanging on the celestial curtain like red stars twinkling brightly.
Qin Mu did not directly enter the Red Emperor's Heavenly Palace. Instead, he traveled around and saw that the people of the Southern Heaven lived in peace and contentment, everything orderly and harmonious.
A colorful phoenix flew gracefully across the sky, letting out a clear cry like a Dao melody.
Qin Mu walked to the water's edge and saw a divine dragon lurking in a mountain stream, coiled at the clear bottom, opening its mouth to spit out a dragon pearl, drawing in the essence of the sun and moon.
Rustling sounds came from the forest. A qilin walked out of the woods, came to the stream to drink, glanced at them from afar, and then lowered its head to continue drinking.
Right next to this mountain stream, there were even a dozen households and a private school, from which the sound of reading aloud could be heard!
Qin Mu was surprised and listened carefully.
"...The ruler is the guide for the minister, the father is the guide for the son, the husband is the guide for the wife—these are the three guides..."
Qin Mu frowned, thinking to himself, "This is teaching people not to rebel."
He was about to leave this small mountain village when he suddenly stopped. Mournful music reached his ears. An elderly man in the village was being buried. The villagers carried a coffin, but the coffin had no lid. An old man sat inside, bowing to the villagers helping with the funeral, laughing, "I am about to ascend to heaven to serve the deities. Do not be sad!"
Qin Mu did not understand the local customs and stopped to watch.
The villagers beat drums and gongs, carried the coffin out of the village, walked more than ten miles to a temple, where a Daoist guard hurriedly opened the temple gate and invited the funeral procession inside.
The deafening music filled the air. The villagers placed the old man and the coffin in front of a deity statue in the main hall, lit a few incense sticks, and then dispersed.
Qin Mu, Long Qilin, and Yan'er stood outside watching. After a moment, a beam of light descended from the sky, landing in front of the statue and transforming into a bird-headed, human-bodied deity.
The old man in the coffin was not afraid. He bowed and said, "A humble villager pays respects to Mount Li Deity!"
The bird-headed deity looked him up and down and asked, "How old are you now?"
"Reporting to Mount Li Deity, this old man is sixty this year."
Mount Li Deity said, "At sixty, one is rare in ancient times. Living to sixty is not easy for an elder."
The old man beamed with joy and said, "When one reaches sixty, they must follow the rules and come to serve the mountain deity. In these sixty years, I have held my grandchildren. I have no regrets."
Mount Li Deity nodded and said politely, "Then, may I eat you?"
"Please," the old man said joyfully.
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Today I had two classes, each three hours long—six hours of class. Oh heavens, I almost collapsed. Zhai Zhu continues to write. It's Monday today, so please vote for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets!