Chapter 1319: Dying on the Same Year, Same Month, Same Day (Third Update)
Qin Mu paced back and forth, forcibly suppressing the curiosity in his heart, deciding not to think about the matter of the Ancestral Court Jade Capital for now.
The Grand Emperor smiled, knowing that the more one suppressed it, the stronger the curiosity would grow. Eventually, Qin Mu would be unable to resist and would surely scamper off to the Ancestral Court Jade Capital to meet his death!
Throughout history, those who achieved great things all shared a common trait: an insatiable curiosity, a fascination with the unknown, which often led them to overlook the dangers they might face when confronting it.
Those who survived achieved fame and success, but countless others died because of it!
The Grand Emperor chuckled, "Pastoral Celestial Venerable, I've told you the geography of the Jade Capital Sacred City. You can now go to my territory and pass the trial of the Execution Platform!"
Qin Mu shook his head. "My current cultivation level hasn't reached the point where I can ascend the Execution Platform."
The Grand Emperor was stunned. "What level are you at now?"
Qin Mu felt a bit guilty. "Spirit Embryo..."
"Bah!"
A stream of divine consciousness shot out from the Grand Emperor's head in the center of the great seal. He roared angrily, "You're at the Spirit Embryo realm? Why don't you just say you're at the Martial Artist realm? Speak like a normal person!"
Qin Mu hesitated for a moment, then honestly said, "Within the Spirit Embryo realm, I'm at the Heavenly Palace realm. The Heavenly Palace is a minor realm within my Spirit Embryo cultivation. The Heavenly Palace is further divided into seven tiny realms: Revered God, True God, Jasper Terrace, Execution Platform, Jade Capital, Empyrean, and Emperor Throne. Currently, I'm at the peak of True God and about to step into the Jasper Terrace realm..."
The Grand Emperor fell silent for a moment, as if digesting the information contained in his words. After a long while, he shook his head and probed, "In terms of Dao realms, how many layers of the Dao realm are you at?"
"Twenty-four layers of the Dao realm."
Qin Mu said, "But my Dao realm seems a bit different from others'. It seems to be stronger..."
The Grand Emperor's eyelid twitched. Twenty-four layers of the Dao realm should correspond to the Jade Capital realm within the Heavenly Palace. But in this fight with Qin Mu, although he had no primordial spirit, his cultivation had reached the Emperor Throne realm!
With his combat power, even without a primordial spirit, his actual strength shouldn't be much inferior to an existence at the Emperor Throne realm. Yet, in his battle with Qin Mu, he had been thoroughly defeated, and even his most powerful divine ability had been broken by Qin Mu!
He had existed from the Primordial Era to the present, and no one had ever been able to crack his Divine Consciousness Great Luo Heaven divine ability!
This divine ability contained the fruit and flower of the Dao, and Qin Mu was the first to break it!
Even Heavenly Venerable Hao hadn't managed to break his divine ability!
"Your cultivation is a bit strange... strange..."
The Grand Emperor thought hard but still couldn't figure out where Qin Mu's strength came from. He could only attribute it to Qin Mu simultaneously cultivating the Heavenly Palace and Heavenly Court systems alongside the Dao realm.
"Since we've already come to an agreement, then, Pastoral Celestial Venerable, you can now undo the seal and release me."
The Grand Emperor smiled. "Rest assured, as an emperor from the Primordial Era, I wouldn't break my word over such a trivial matter."
Qin Mu hesitated.
The Grand Emperor grew suspicious and sneered, "Are you going back on your word? Don't forget, Pastoral Celestial Venerable, I have another identity—I am also Consort Qiang! Moreover, I can mobilize the Divine Consciousness Great Luo Heaven imprint in the Ultimate Void to blast you to death! Don't force me into a desperate struggle."
Qin Mu quickly smiled and said, "Brother Dao, you worry too much! Have you forgotten, Brother Dao? We are sworn brothers! Back then, we vowed to die on the same year, same month, same day! How could I go back on my word?"
The Grand Emperor's face darkened like iron. Mentioning this matter made him furious. He sneered, "Back then, I swore brotherhood with you as Da Hong. It doesn't count."
"By the way, Big Brother, did you know? Third Brother Luo Xiao has already died. Little Brother has been pondering how to send Big Brother and Second Brother to accompany him."
Qin Mu sighed with regret, his face flushing with excitement as he choked up, "Sending both elder brothers to accompany Third Brother has always been Little Brother's long-cherished wish! Third Brother has been gone for eight hundred thousand years..."
"Stop your nonsense!"
The Grand Emperor was furious and shouted, "Are you releasing me or not?"
Qin Mu said solemnly, "Elder Brother, calm your anger. You say you won't break your word, and I say I won't break mine. Heavenly Emperor Tai Chu also said he wouldn't break his. But all three of us are people who break our word. The four of us once swore to die on the same year, same month, same day. Third Brother has been gone for eight hundred thousand years, yet the three of us are still alive and well, with not a single one going to die with him. So, I can't trust Big Brother."
The Grand Emperor was about to explode, but Qin Mu quickly added, "What I mean is, wait until I reach the Execution Platform, then I'll release you. Let's settle accounts like real brothers..."
"Don't call me Big Brother!" the Grand Emperor snarled.
Qin Mu changed his address and smiled, "Elder Brother..."
"Bah!"
Qin Mu was sprayed with divine consciousness all over his face but didn't mind. The divine consciousness dried on his face as he said, "Brother Dao, calm your anger. Neither of us is trustworthy. How do I know you won't go back on your word? If I release you and you suddenly change your mind, won't I be left with nothing?"
The Grand Emperor's face darkened. After a moment, he sneered, "I can wait until you reach the Execution Platform. But during this time, you cannot use me as a treasure to fight others. The face of the Grand Emperor must not be lost!"
Qin Mu nodded repeatedly and smiled, "I understand Elder Brother's thoughts..."
"Another thing: don't call me Elder Brother, and don't call me Big Brother!"
Qin Mu smiled, "But we did swear brotherhood. We didn't ask to be born on the same year, same month, same day..."
"Don't bring that up again!"
...
Qin Mu thought for a moment, then sent all the treasures stored in his vertical-eye Qin Continent into his Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury before storing the treasure seal into his brow. After all, his Qin Continent still held many treasures, some of which couldn't be seen in the light, such as the divine bow of a powerhouse from the previous era and the physical body of Lady Yuan Mu.
The Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury was also located in his brow but didn't intersect with the Qin Continent. Usually, the Tai Shi Egg was placed in the Tai Shi vein within the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury.
Inside the treasure seal, the Grand Emperor's head looked around. Suddenly, he caught sight of the pupil of Qin Mu's vertical eye—the Tai Chi Rough Stone embedded in the center of the Qin Continent. He immediately exerted his divine consciousness, barely managing to lift the treasure seal and fly, panting as he headed toward the Tai Chi Rough Stone.
Just as he reached it and was about to examine the rough stone closely, Qin Mu sensed something was wrong and immediately grabbed him out of the Qin Continent. With a kind smile, he said, "Brother Dao Grand Emperor, I have a few little secrets here that I'd rather you not know. I'll have to trouble you a bit and carry you on my back." With that, he took out a golden rope and tied the great seal to his back.
The Grand Emperor's head faced outward, looking down, so he could only see Qin Mu's heels. He sneered, "Pastoral Celestial Venerable, even though you acted quickly, I still saw the key point. That stone is a divine stone of the same grade as the Tai Chu Rough Stone, both excavated from ancient veins!"
Qin Mu headed toward the Great Black Tree and said with a faint smile, "The Grand Emperor's insight is indeed remarkable. However, my rough stone is different from your Tai Chu Rough Stone. Mine was given to me by the owner of the mining area, while you stole yours from Tai Chu. You've made a deep enemy of Tai Chu, but the mining area owner and I are kindred spirits!"
The Grand Emperor laughed heartily. "How important is a rough stone to the ancient god in that mining area? Would they just give it to you? It must have been extortion, forcing them to hand it over. Pastoral Celestial Venerable, I'm afraid you have a misunderstanding of the word 'friendship.' That ancient god has no goodwill toward you; instead, they are scheming against you."
Qin Mu hesitated, then shook his head and said sincerely, "I still believe in the inherent goodness of human nature."
The Grand Emperor laughed in anger. "Hearing such words from your mouth—a man with a kind face but a black heart—is truly an irony against the goodness of human nature! Forget that. I sensed the aura of Tai Chu from your pupil, so it was you who stole the Tai Chu eggshell, wasn't it?"
"Don't slander me!"
Qin Mu's face flushed red, and he stammered, "Slander... A gentleman remains steadfast in poverty; a petty man becomes reckless when poor. How could I do such a thing? It's beneath dignity! Slander..."
The Grand Emperor sneered coldly. Just then, a root silently emerged from the ground behind them. The Grand Emperor's heart stirred: "Earth Mother Primordial Lord?"
Earth Mother Primordial Lord's root extended longer and longer, gently touching the treasure seal tied to Qin Mu's back, trying to undo the seal on it.
The Grand Emperor's head's eyes flickered. He thought to himself, "We're both in the same boat. Perhaps Earth Mother Primordial Lord will be the one to release me. She's severely injured and surrounded on all sides, with no friends. She wants to join forces with me... Although there were grudges between us in the past, joining forces isn't impossible..."