Chapter 1143: Fleeing into the Void (First Update!)
Qin Mu said with a grin, "It suddenly occurred to me that I address the Heavenly Duke as brother, and he calls me Dao friend. So it's only reasonable for me to call you 'nephew.'"
The Ancestral God King was furious beyond measure. The other Heavenly Venerables quickly urged, "Better to address each other as Dao friends. We are all Heavenly Venerables; there's no need to make things so tense. Calm down, restrain your anger."
Heavenly Venerable Hong also advised, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, you should say less and stop trying to gain an advantage. His temper is volatile. If he truly stirs up trouble and tries to kill you, none of us will be able to stop him."
Qin Mu fumed, "That day in the Jade Pool, he was the first to jump out and try to kill me! What's wrong with me taking a little advantage and making him call me uncle?"
The Ancestral God King had just calmed down, but upon hearing this, he erupted in rage again. "Don't hold me back! I'll chop this bastard to pieces!"
Qin Mu leaped up in fury, pointing at him and cursing, "If you've got the guts, come at me! Aim for the head! If I so much as blink, I'll take your surname!"
The crowd scrambled to intervene. Heavenly Venerable Hong grabbed Qin Mu, while Langxuan Divine Emperor held back the Ancestral God King, both pleading, "Calm down, calm down!"
The two men continued cursing under their breaths, turning their faces away from each other.
Taking this opportunity, Qin Mu looked around, puzzled. Aside from them, no one else had arrived—not even the Heavenly Duke or the Earth Lord had come.
"And Madam Yinmu? That's not right!"
Qin Mu frowned, thinking to himself, "Logically, Madam Yinmu would never miss this chance. She would definitely come. Why hasn't she shown up?"
He glanced around. Heavenly Venerable Qiang was the Imperial Emperor—that was certain. So who was Madam Yinmu?
Could it be Heavenly Venerable Hong?
Qin Mu looked at Da Hong, suspicion creeping in. Madam Yinmu was a flirtatious little vixen, hardly matching the image of an enlightened sage like Heavenly Venerable Hong.
"Aside from us, the only others here are these celestial dragons pulling the chariots. Madam Yinmu couldn't possibly turn into a celestial dragon."
Suddenly, Qin Mu's gaze fell on the white cat in Heavenly Venerable Yan's arms. Long Qilin coughed, and Qin Mu understood his meaning but pretended not to hear, thinking, "Madam Yinmu couldn't have turned into the white cat in Heavenly Consort Yan's arms, could she? That cat is male, and Heavenly Consort Yan is suspected to be the Empress Dowager—very proper. The white cat seems like her paramour, not quite like Madam Yinmu..."
His head ached. Compared to the white cat, he was more inclined to believe that Heavenly Venerable Hong was Madam Yinmu.
The other Heavenly Venerables gathered to discuss and finally reached a decision. "Equal distribution is feasible. But we must also include Heavenly Venerable Fire and Heavenly Venerable Void. The ancestral court will be divided into eleven shares. Counting Heavenly Venerable Mu, each of us gets one share."
"As for ancient gods like the Heavenly Duke and the Earth Lord, they have lofty ambitions, so we'll leave them out."
"Once we reach the ancestral court, everyone will seek out their own blessed lands and establish a foothold first. The ancestral court is teeming with void beasts; we'll need to clear them out thoroughly."
After the discussion, they turned to Qin Mu. "What does Heavenly Venerable Mu think?"
Qin Mu gave a wry smile. "Can't we just divide the ancestral court into eleven shares directly and each take one?"
Heavenly Venerable Hao said, "There are so many ferocious void beasts in the ancestral court. If we divide it into eleven shares directly, who will guard them? Everyone relies on their own abilities to claim a territory, clear their own land of void beasts, and leave the rest to their disciples to manage and explore."
Langxuan Divine Emperor laughed. "If Heavenly Venerable Mu lacks the ability, hand it over to me. I'll manage it for you."
Heavenly Consort Qiang added, "That's a good idea. After all, we are Heavenly Venerables and can't stay in the ancestral court long-term. The Heavenly Court is the real priority. Let's first clear out some territory, ask Heavenly Venerable Mu to send people in, and then have the disciples handle mining, treasure collection, and eliminating the remaining void beasts."
Qin Mu was deeply displeased. These Heavenly Venerables were clearly bullying him for lacking his own power base. Even if he could carve out a territory, he couldn't hold it.
Another benefit of not directly dividing the territory was to trap Qin Mu in the ancestral court, effectively exiling him there.
If Qin Mu stayed in the ancestral court and didn't leave, it would be like suppressing the brat, sparing them the headache of him constantly causing trouble.
But if Qin Mu left the ancestral court, he would abandon his territory, and the other Heavenly Venerables would gladly gobble up his share.
If they had divided it equally into eleven parts, they could have seized his portion, but the kid would likely kick up a fuss and make a mess.
Qin Mu snorted, knowing these old-timers were taking advantage of his youth and weakness to scheme against him. He said flatly, "Then let's do it this way."
The other Heavenly Venerables felt a surge of satisfaction seeing him cornered.
Qin Mu immediately began setting up the altar. The eight Heavenly Venerables watched from the side, memorizing everything. Qin Mu sneered, building the altar right in front of them, even inscribing the required runes perfectly, without a single mistake.
This reverse-summoning altar—even if Heavenly Venerables Hao and Xiao saw it, it didn't matter, because reverse summoning required two steps. The first was designing the altar without any errors.
This step was crucial.
But the second step was equally important: activating the reverse-summoning divine ability!
Qin Mu's reverse-summoning ability came from the creator Luo Xiao, but Luo Xiao used divine consciousness abilities, unique to the creator race.
Qin Mu's improved version incorporated the later rune system. Back then, to save his life, Qin Mu hadn't taught it to Luo Xiao, and Da Hong and Gu Xiao didn't know it either.
Even if the eight Heavenly Venerables learned the runes on the reverse-summoning altar, it would be hard for them to deduce the reverse-summoning ability from the runes alone.
This was Qin Mu's trump card.
"Everyone, please step onto the altar."
Qin Mu built two altars, keeping one for the return trip. He climbed onto one and stood in the center, smiling. "During the reverse summoning, I need to establish a divine consciousness connection with the void beasts in the ancestral court. So if you suddenly see eyes appearing above your heads, don't panic—those are the void beasts. I'll use them to pinpoint the spatial coordinates of the ancestral court and pull us over."
"Such a remarkable ability!" The Heavenly Venerables praised in unison.
Qin Mu laughed. "This is the power of reform! It's because of reform that we have the Spirit Energy Transfer Bridge for easy travel, and also because of reform that we have the reverse-summoning ability."
Heavenly Venerable Xiao coughed, reminding him, "Heavenly Venerable Mu, stop saying such rebellious things and activate the ability quickly."
Qin Mu chuckled and activated the ability.
Last time, bringing Luo Xiao, Gu Xiao, and Da Hong into the ancestral court hadn't been too difficult. But this time, bringing eight Heavenly Venerables was many times harder. Fortunately, Qin Mu was much stronger now. As he fully activated the reverse-summoning ability, a massive eyeball appeared in the sky.
The Heavenly Venerables praised in unison, "Excellent ability!"
Before the words faded, popping sounds echoed from the sky above them, and in an instant, hundreds of large eyes appeared!
These were the eyes of void beasts—not just one, but hundreds!
Qin Mu, afraid that a single void beast couldn't pull them into the void, had taken control of several hundred void beasts at once, initiating a collective reverse summoning!
Even seeing so many void beast eyes, the eight Heavenly Venerables remained calm and unflustered.
Their strength was too great; so many beasts couldn't threaten them.
Boom—
The altar rose and fled into the void!
The next moment, the altar appeared in the ancestral court, floating before several hundred void beasts.
The Heavenly Venerables burst into laughter, each soaring into the air and vanishing, heading off to find their own strongholds in the ancestral court, leaving Qin Mu alone on the altar, surrounded by the void beasts.
Hundreds of void beasts stared menacingly at Qin Mu in the center of the altar.
Qin Mu sighed and smiled at Heavenly Venerable Hong. "Dao friend Hong, why haven't you left?"
"I promised you we could be neighbors, relying on each other."
Heavenly Venerable Hong said with a grin, "Besides, you can owe me another favor. That way, I'll have two IOUs."