Chapter 1276: The Fierce Mine Opens, the Divine Artifact Emerges (Second Update)
In the Celestial Court’s Rear Palace, Consort Yan Tian gently crushed a jade bottle, and that drop of Heavenly Sovereign Hao’s blood hovered silently before her.
Consort Yan Tian parted her vermilion lips slightly, exhaling a breath like orchid fragrance. As this breath emerged, that drop of Heavenly Sovereign blood immediately began to transform, a phantom image of a celestial palace rising from within the blood.
Consort Yan Tian’s gaze flickered as she stared at this celestial palace phantom. After a moment, she murmured softly, “It seems the rumors in the Great Void are true—Heavenly Sovereign Hao was indeed severely wounded, injured badly by the Grand Emperor. Did Shepherd Heavenly Sovereign send this drop of Heavenly Sovereign blood to inform me of Heavenly Sovereign Hao’s injury? Yet it doesn’t seem so…”
The celestial palace phantom gradually faded.
Consort Yan Tian’s eyes brightened, and she whispered, “He’s telling me that within Heavenly Sovereign Hao’s blood lies his techniques and divine abilities. This drop of blood is the essence of Heavenly Sovereign Hao’s blood, containing a phantom of a celestial palace. Could it be that he has obtained other essences of Heavenly Sovereign Hao’s blood and mastered his other celestial palaces?”
She collected this drop of Heavenly Sovereign blood, picked up the white cat, and commanded, “Prepare the phoenix carriage. Ready the procession; we depart for the Ancestral Court.”
Meanwhile, Qin Mu had already arrived at the Great Black Tree. Looking around, he saw that the Great Black Tree had not experienced an old tree’s spring revival. The tree remained scorched black, its layers of annual rings like charcoal, with jagged stumps forming numerous Great Black Mountains.
Shu Jun, Jiang Yunjian, and others had built many palaces here and set up a supervision factory for forging divine weapons.
Several mineral veins had also been excavated. When Qin Mu arrived, the first divine weapon mine he had discovered was already being dug out.
Qin Mu gazed into the distance at the center of the Great Black Tree. Dumb, Blind, and other celestial artisans were within the fourth heaven of the Lapis Lazuli Canopy, re-forging a heavy treasure.
Dumb had built a supervision factory right on that treasure, smelting it on the spot.
The treasures within the various heavens of the Lapis Lazuli Canopy were so massive that only innate sacred beings like Northern Emperor Xuanwu, with their colossal physiques, could forge them without difficulty.
For celestial artisans like Dumb from Eternal Peace, the forging was far more strenuous and required much more manpower.
Just as Qin Mu was about to go meet them, suddenly the divine miners excavating the minerals surged out of the vein, shouting, “We’ve dug up that treasure! The treasure is unleashing its power—everyone beware!”
Qin Mu’s heart stirred. Suddenly, from the mine tunnel, light shimmered, and waves of terrifying might surged forth from the depths, rushing out at incredible speed!
A few divine beings lagging behind were about to be overtaken by the immense ferocious power from deep within the mine. Qin Mu moved, and with a whoosh, he dashed into the mine tunnel, expanding his divine storage domain to meet the oncoming, overwhelming might head-on!
Boom!
His divine storage domain instantly collapsed and shattered. The vast, ferocious power rushed at him, making his heart pound with terror!
“The divine storage domain can’t block it! My divine storage is shattered—though I won’t die, those behind me will surely have their souls scattered and their bodies destroyed!”
Without a second thought, Qin Mu pulled out the Primal Beginning Egg and placed it before him!
Before the being inside the egg could react, that surging, ferocious power struck the Primal Beginning Egg!
An incredibly terrifying tremor spread in all directions, blasting the mineral vein apart. The many divine beings behind Qin Mu suddenly felt an irresistible force sweeping over them, only to be caught up by Qin Mu’s divine storage domain.
Qin Mu himself couldn’t keep his footing. He was sent flying backward by a vicious, immense force, hurtling thousands of miles in an instant. With a thunderous crash, he slammed into the world barrier of the twenty-eighth heaven of the Lapis Lazuli Canopy, shaking that entire heaven violently!
Clang!
The Primal Beginning Egg flew over and smashed down beside Qin Mu, and from within came the furious Dao language of the being inside.
In the distance, First Ancestor, Dumb, Blind, and others immediately noticed the anomaly and hurriedly flew over.
Qin Mu landed lightly, setting down the divine miners, feeling intense pain throughout his limbs and bones, his heart filled with shock.
The thing the divine beings of Eternal Peace had dug up was clearly no ordinary object. Even with him and the Primal Beginning Egg joining forces, they had still been blasted away!
“Could it be that divine bow Blind Grandpa once saw buried deep beneath the vein?”
He couldn’t help but feel astonished and uncertain. If that divine bow was formed by this strange land of the Ancestral Court, its power would be far too formidable!
Yet if it was forged by someone, it didn’t seem that way either.
Suddenly, the twenty-eighth heaven reversed its rotation. It must have been Dragon Qilin mobilizing the heavens of the Lapis Lazuli Canopy to help First Ancestor and the others arrive quickly.
Everyone descended, and Qin Mu flew over to the mineral vein. Without time for pleasantries, he hurriedly looked at the vein, only to see that it had completely exploded, forming a vast valley.
The valley was pitch black, with broken mountains and jagged cliffs standing everywhere. The various sentient mineral deposits the divine beings of Eternal Peace had mined were all embedded in these broken cliffs, with clear traces of excavation still visible.
“Mu’er, are you injured?” Pharmacist rode Dragon Qilin and hurried over, calling from afar.
“No!”
Qin Mu shook his head, his eyes fixed on the depths of the valley. There, divine light shimmered and churned, contained yet unreleased, restrained yet unspent, only emitting waves of heart-stopping ferocious might!
“Dumb Grandpa, can treasures born from heaven and earth possess such ferocious power?” Qin Mu asked.
Dumb shook his head and gestured. Blind said, “Speak in human language.”
Dumb said, “Absolutely not! The other treasures in this vein might have been gestated from divine minerals, but that divine bow inside could never have been gestated! It’s more likely that the bow’s ferocious power gave birth to this divine mineral vein, gestating the divine weapons within!”
First Ancestor said solemnly, “Mu’er, Yan’er, you and I have the highest cultivation here. Let’s go in and probe the power of that fierce weapon! Everyone else, stay here!”
Dumb picked up his box and shot him a glance. “What use would you three be? Without celestial artisans, even the three of you combined can’t do a thing to that fierce weapon—you’ll only end up as targets for its arrows!”
First Ancestor raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Blind laughed. “Without my divine eyes and formations, you’d be in trouble if you encountered danger.”
First Ancestor swallowed his anger and said, “You follow behind us. Don’t rush in recklessly.”
“If you get injured, will you need someone to treat you?” Pharmacist stepped forward, smiling.
First Ancestor had no choice but to relent. “Pharmacist, you may come along too. No more than that. Any more, and I won’t be able to protect you all.”
From within the egg, the Primal Beginning Being laughed. “Shepherd Heavenly Sovereign, are all your elders this curious? Don’t they know the danger here?”
He spoke in Primal Beginning Dao language, which only Qin Mu could understand. The others only heard strange, garbled sounds coming from the egg.
Dumb, Blind, and Pharmacist immediately crowded around, studying this talking egg.
“There are some patterns on it. Maybe we can copy them for refining treasures. This eggshell is really hard!” Dumb knocked on the egg, marveling.
“There’s some strange thing inside!” Blind stared intently at the Primal Beginning Egg, trying to see through it, but couldn’t make it out clearly.
“Can it be used as medicine?” Pharmacist mused, stroking his chin.
Qin Mu took out the lantern and handed it to Yan’er, then shoved the Primal Beginning Egg into First Ancestor’s hands. “First Ancestor, take this for self-defense. It’s sturdy.”
First Ancestor was reserved. “I can protect myself.”
Qin Mu forced it on him. First Ancestor had no choice but to lift the Primal Beginning Egg with his primordial energy. From within the egg came more incomprehensible sounds, presumably the being inside cursing Qin Mu.
—Zhai Zhu boarded the high-speed rail to Shanghai. Sigh, just returned from Beijing a few days ago, and now I have to go out again. This time, I’m heading to Shanghai and won’t be back until the 8th. It’s not easy to write on the high-speed rail. Taking advantage of the double monthly tickets, old iron, give me a 666… wrong, fellow Daoists, throw in a monthly ticket!