Chapter 1279: The Pirate Ship (First Update)
Qin Mu quickly stepped forward to examine the burst-open root segment. He saw that the root showed no abnormalities.
"Who did I provoke? I come back and immediately run into this mess—shot with so many arrows, and now someone wants to take my life..."
He couldn't help but shake his head. The world was harsh, and people's hearts were no longer as they once were.
The Primordial Beginning Egg rolled around the root segment, inspecting it, and said, "That person has indeed vanished. Strange, truly strange!"
Qin Mu slung the divine bow onto his back and was about to leave when his heart stirred. He saw a little girl with two horn-like braids bouncing over. She came to the tree root that the divine bow had pierced, examined it, shook her head with an air of exaggerated maturity, and her two braids swung like a rattle-drum.
"You, oh you..."
The little girl with the double braids shook her head and sighed. "You come back and immediately stir up this trouble. What are we going to do now?"
Qin Mu looked at the girl suspiciously and tested, "Primordial Simplicity?"
The Primordial Beginning Egg also recognized the girl and laughed, "Elder Dao brother, why have you taken this form?"
"Just convenient for meeting people."
The little girl, Primordial Simplicity, said, "Pastoral Celestial Venerable, you shot through the root and angered that person, and you also opened a passage for him. That person will be able to crawl out from the tree root tonight. Once he crawls out, he'll take back his divine weapon and shoot you dead!"
She couldn't help but shake her head and sigh. "He's been trying to crawl out since the beginning of the universe, struggling for billions of years, and only managed to get one arm through. But you—you come along and clear the passage for him. Tonight, he'll be able to come up!"
Qin Mu felt a bit guilty and tested, "Is this old brother an existence from the previous universe? He sent his bow over first, and now he wants to squeeze from the past into the present?"
The little girl with braids nodded solemnly.
"How does he squeeze out of the tree?"
Qin Mu didn't understand and sought guidance. "I understand mass-energy conversion, but why must he squeeze into this universe through the roots of the Great Black Tree?"
"Because when the previous universe was destroyed, only this tree was immortal."
The little girl, Primordial Simplicity, sighed. "The matter of this tree is unchanging, whether it's this universe, the previous one, or the one before that. So, a passage was left, allowing creatures from past universes to crawl here through this tree."
Qin Mu understood a bit.
This situation was similar to Celestial Venerable Ling's Divine Ability of Matter Immutability, both using unchanging matter to traverse time.
"Then why did this tree die?" Qin Mu glanced and saw the First Ancestor and others rushing over quickly, and continued asking.
"I cut it down."
The little girl said casually. "After I felled it, I set it on fire."
Qin Mu and the Primordial Beginning in the egg felt a chill run down their spines.
The little girl, Primordial Simplicity, said, "Dao friend Primordial Beginning, back then you were still ignorant, not yet conscious, and the creators hadn't been born either. I realized that as long as this World Tree existed, there would be endless troubles, so I cut it down and burned it. I just didn't expect that this World Tree still didn't die completely."
Qin Mu glanced at the Primordial Beginning Egg, thinking that the Primordial Beginning in the egg was probably looking at him too.
"This time, Pastoral Celestial Venerable shot an arrow, which instead caused the root of the disaster to appear early."
The little girl, Primordial Simplicity, stroked her braids, pondering. "Tonight, that strongman from the past era will crawl up, take back the divine bow, and shoot Pastoral Celestial Venerable dead."
Qin Mu's face turned pale, but then he suddenly laughed heartily. "Dao brother Primordial Simplicity, don't you have that miraculous water? Can't you fetch a bucket of it and patch up the tree root?"
"Do you think that water comes from nowhere?"
The little girl, Primordial Simplicity, gave him a sidelong glance. "That water only produces one small bucket a day. Today's is already used up. There's none left."
Qin Mu's face twisted in bitterness.
The little girl, Primordial Simplicity, turned and left, saying, "Tonight, you stay here with the bow and wait for the prehistoric existence to descend. When the earth shakes and the mountains tremble, that's when he tries to descend. Wait for the shaking, count to ten, then draw the bow and shoot an arrow toward that spot. If he doesn't come out by dawn, he won't be able to."
Qin Mu felt uneasy and quickly said, "Dao brother, you..."
"Don't worry. I'll come to help tonight." The little girl quickly disappeared from sight.
Qin Mu gripped the divine bow, steadied his nerves, and relaxed: "Primordial Simplicity is, after all, the most ancient of the ancient gods, having achieved great transcendence, unlike Primordial Beginning, who's so watery. With him here, tonight will surely pass safely."
The First Ancestor, Mute, and others arrived. Blind Man asked with concern, "Mu'er, are you hurt? Let the Medicine Master take a look at you!"
Qin Mu gave them a dismissive look and recounted what had just happened. Everyone was horrified.
Qin Mu showed a hopeful expression and asked, "Who will stay here with me tonight?"
Blind Man turned and left, saying, "We have our own business. Mute, let's go. We'll continue refining the treasures in the Glazed Azure Canopy."
Mute followed him, saying, "Exactly. There are too many treasures in the Glazed Azure Canopy; it'll probably take a few more years to fully refine them. Medicine Master, don't you have elixirs to refine?"
Medicine Master hurriedly followed, turning back to say, "Dragon Fatty, Yan'er, come help me start the fire! Yun Jian, you little brat, what are you butting in for? Your godfather is courting death—do you want to die too?"
Dragon Qilin hesitated for a moment, then immediately wagged his tail and followed, leaving Qin Mu behind.
Yan'er shoved the Moon Celestial Venerable's lantern into Qin Mu's hands: "Young master, take care!" Then she scampered off.
Qin Mu looked at the First Ancestor, Yi Shan, Qi Kang, and the other Human Sovereigns, showing a delighted expression, and laughed, "Human Sovereigns take the future of all races as their duty, bearing the future of humanity..."
"We are former Human Sovereigns. We no longer have that responsibility."
Qi Kang, the Human Sovereign, patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly, "You should take on a disciple and throw the burden onto them. That's what all these old fogies did back in the day... Let's go, let's go. Don't disturb Mu'er's cultivation!"
The First Ancestor, the Human Sovereign, walked last. He came to Qin Mu, thought for a moment, sighed, shook his head, and followed the other Human Sovereigns.
Qin Mu stood there woodenly. After a long time, he sighed and muttered softly, "In times of trouble, true friends are revealed. Only Dao friend Primordial Beginning is a true confidant, willing to walk with me."
The Primordial Beginning Egg struggled fiercely, but Qin Mu's hand firmly held it, preventing it from escaping. The egg shouted angrily, "Qin, you caused this disaster! You should bear it yourself—why drag me into it? I haven't even been born yet! I don't have that kind of power!"
"You treat me the best." Qin Mu said with genuine emotion.
The Primordial Beginning Egg couldn't escape, so it resigned itself to fate and said, "I'll stay with you then. It'll be good to see a strongman from the previous universe."
Qin Mu relaxed, looked around, and chose a high spot.
He went to a broken mountain, sat cross-legged, placed the Primordial Beginning Egg beside him, and waited quietly.
The Primordial Beginning in the egg saw what he was up to and guessed that if he couldn't resist, he would push the egg out to take the attack from the strongman of the previous universe.
"It seems I've made the worst choice. I should have teamed up with Primordial Simplicity to take down this little brat. Even if I had to be born early, it wouldn't be as nerve-wracking as this, living in constant fear..."
He felt bitter and resentful: "Now I'm on the pirate ship, and I can't get off."
Time passed bit by bit.
Finally, night fell.
The Great Black Tree's ten thousand mountains were calm, but outside the Great Black Tree, the earth shook and the mountains trembled, with collapses everywhere—a magnificent scene of universal destruction!
Qin Mu tensed up. Suddenly, in this valley, the mountains shook violently!
He shot to his feet, without hesitation unfolded his divine storage domain, his physical body swelled, grabbed the divine bow, took a deep breath, and drew the bowstring!