Chapter 1265: The Weak Align (Third Update!)
The woman's voice came, drifting softly: "Kneel to me, bow to me, speak your thoughts."
Heavenly Lord Hao struggled desperately, prostrating himself before the woman's feet, kowtowing. The moment he spoke his innermost thoughts, he felt his wounds healing at an unimaginable speed! His lost divine blood flowed back, returning to his body. His form quickly became light and agile. Flesh and blood regenerated between his neck and head, soon fusing together, no longer worrying that an excess of vital energy might blow his head off. At the same time, he heard the clear resonance of the Dao. He felt his heavenly palace reassembling within him, and the Dao wounds on his body faded one by one, ceasing to exist! This was too miraculous. It was not medicine, nor a spell, nor the art of creation, nor the art of genesis—it was more like a wondrous Dao healing him according to his will!
"Tai Su?"
Qin Mu's voice reached Heavenly Lord Hao's ears, stirring the kowtowing Hao's heart: "Tai Su? My father is Tai Chu, and this woman is called Tai Su. Could she be... could she be an innate divine being born from the mine veins of the Ancestral Court?" Panic stirred within him. Borrowing Tai Su's power to revive clearly carried immense hidden dangers! Tai Su might use this opportunity to control him! Yet he endured it. Relying on Tai Su's power to recover might be terrible, but not relying on it would only be worse—he might even die!
"Pastoral Celestial Venerable," the woman's voice came, melodious and pleasing, like the most profound divine music.
Qin Mu halted, gazing at the woman standing behind Heavenly Lord Hao. The divine maiden was flawless, standing there as if surrounded by a dreamlike flow of multicolored Dao light. The Dao light spread gently, its range growing ever wider. Qin Mu drifted back gracefully, laughing: "Tai Su, Brother Tai Su, don't forget—without me, you could never have been born. There's no enmity between us; in fact, I have a favor to grant you. If I hadn't freed you from the Lapis Lazuli Azure Canopy, you would still be a treasure within that canopy, manipulated by others!"
Suddenly, the Dao light surged toward Qin Mu, snapping shut with a whoosh. Qin Mu's eyes twitched. Before the Dao light could close, he escaped through the Netherworld of Tai Xu, arriving in the Land of Tai Xu, laughing: "Brother Tai Su, I'll give you face today and spare Heavenly Lord Hao's life. Brother Hao, I leave your life to you for now—I'll come back for it another day!"
He appeared in the Land of Tai Xu, only to find in horror that the Dao light was still all around him! Qin Mu's hair stood on end. The Dao light, manifested from Tai Su's Great Dao, was wondrous beyond compare. In his moment of terror, it had already taken form as a divine object, inverted above his head! It was a great bell. When Qin Mu had probed the Tai Su divine egg before, his consciousness had delved inside, seeing only the vast chaos of Hongmeng, where the Hongmeng energy had formed a great bell—identical to the one before him! The bell's surface bore birds, beasts, insects, fish, sun, moon, stars, galaxies, and all phenomena of heaven and earth, harboring power nearly equal to the creation of the world!
Qin Mu's hairs stood on end. Without hesitation, he took out the Tai Shi egg, uttering obscure and profound Tai Shi Dao words: "Brother Tai Shi, I don't care what dealings you have with Tai Su, but if you help me escape this calamity, I will wholeheartedly search for the Tai Shi divine stone, the Tai Shi primordial stone, reclaim the Tai Shi mine vein, and help you be born!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier?"
A long laugh came from within the Tai Shi egg. The Tai Su divine bell above Qin Mu's head erupted with power—a world-destroying force surged forth. Where the bell's sound passed, space ceased to exist, everything turning to dust! Countless Dao runes surfaced on the Tai Shi egg, as if countless ancient gods and all beings chanted the same name in unison. A grand radiance met the bell's sound, holding it aloft, preventing it from falling. Immediately, the voice of the ancient god within the Tai Shi egg reached Qin Mu's mind: "She has already been born; I have not. I am no match for her. I can't hold her off for long—let's go quickly!"
Qin Mu's face darkened. He had originally believed the Tai Shi egg could withstand Tai Su's attack, which was why he made the promise to retrieve the Tai Shi mine vein and help him be born. He hadn't expected this Tai Shi to be a silver spear with a wax tip—impressive in appearance but useless in practice! Raising both hands, he lifted the Tai Shi egg and bolted away at full speed. The Tai Su divine bell shattered the Dao light of the Tai Shi egg, then transformed into a great tripod. Beneath the tripod, thick earthly energy undulated and churned. The tripod spun, and Qin Mu, in his frantic escape, suddenly felt heaven and earth twisting and warping around him! Despite his desperate flight, he was steadily falling toward the tripod!
"Tai Shi!"
Qin Mu shouted. The surface of the Tai Shi egg revealed even more complex Dao patterns, spinning in reverse. From within the egg came an obscure, profound Dao utterance: "Yin and Yang unite, merging into one; from one, form arises; form exists without substance!" The Tai Su divine tripod, distorting the space-time of heaven and earth, was struck by the Great Dao overflowing from the Tai Shi egg. Suddenly, the distortion of space-time ceased. Qin Mu seized the opportunity to escape.
"Brother Tai Shi!"
Tai Su's voice came from afar: "We once agreed to conspire on great matters! Are you going to break your word?"
Qin Mu sprinted, holding the Tai Shi egg high. A hoarse voice came from within the egg, chuckling: "Brother Tai Su, you were born before me. You are imperfect. I know your intent—to limit me, you will inevitably shatter my egg and force me to be born early. Our former alliance was to oppose Tai Chu, but now it is no longer necessary. I will join forces with him!"
"Joining forces with him means making an enemy of me!" Tai Su roared with fury.
Neither spoke further. Tai Su knew that with Tai Shi's help, it would be difficult to capture Qin Mu, so she ceased her pursuit.
Qin Mu, holding the Tai Shi egg, fled repeatedly, covering tens of thousands of miles in a single escape. He saw that the armies of Carefree Village and the Creator gods and demons had charged into the Heavenly Court's camp. Both sides fought fiercely in a bloody melee—nowhere was safe. Qin Mu kept fleeing. The battlefield was vast, with gods and demons battling everywhere, leaving him no time to stop. After a long while, Qin Mu finally halted, setting down the Tai Shi egg and placing his hand on the divine egg, panting heavily. The area around him had fewer gods and demons, only some battlefield deserters who had fled here, encountering enemy deserters and resuming their slaughter.
"Take your hand off! You're pressing on my head!" a voice came from within the egg.
Qin Mu quickly withdrew his hand, continuing to gasp for breath.
From within the egg, Tai Shi said: "Pastoral Celestial Venerable, allying with you puts me at a disadvantage. I've offended Tai Su for your sake. Now that she is born, I am no match for her, and you are no match for Heavenly Lord Hao. We are both weak. I've taken this loss—you must compensate me!"
Qin Mu was taken aback, then laughed in disbelief: "Are all egg-born ancient gods so worldly?"
Tai Shi within the egg replied: "The only one who can truly transcend is Tai Yi. As for the other ancient gods, which of them was born normally? Tainted by the mortal world, they develop worldly hearts, so I cannot escape it either."
Qin Mu felt a bit uneasy, probing: "I wounded Heavenly Lord Hao so severely—even Tai Su couldn't heal him in such a short time, could she?"
In his view, with injuries that severe, Heavenly Lord Hao would need tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years to recover! After all, Lunar Celestial Venerable's wounds had yet to heal, and Heavenly Lord Hao's were even worse!