Chapter 1374: Reforging the Dao Heart (First Update)
Although Qin Mu heard his words, he could not gather his divine consciousness, nor could he reforged his dao heart.
As Taishi had said, this Nine Prisons Platform was simply not a place he could come to in his current state. This natural celestial prison was originally meant to be an achievement after the level of the Divine Execution Platform.
But in the early years of the Dragon Han Era, when the gods built the Heavenly Court, they did not forge the celestial prison according to the Nine Prisons Platform.
The Heavenly Court's celestial prison was different from the Nine Prisons Platform; it did not contain the great dao of the Nine Prisons Platform, so everyone was completely ignorant of this level.
For a million years, no one had ever studied the Nine Prisons Platform.
Qin Mu's current cultivation had not yet reached the Jade Pool level. Facing the trial of the Nine Prisons Platform, he had no one's experience to draw upon.
He could only fight the Nine Prisons Platform alone. With his dao heart sealed, he once again became like an infant in a basket drifting on the Surging River.
Darkness surrounded him on all sides. In the basket, only the jade pendant on his chest emitted a faint glow.
In the darkness around the Surging River, starving ghosts and demon gods filled the air. Demonic monsters raced across the river surface, appearing and disappearing, peering at him.
"In the past, you had no dao heart at all! The dao heart is something you cultivate step by step!"
Taishi's voice came from within the egg, sounding incredibly distant: "You need to use your own will to overcome this, to re-cultivate your dao heart! You can survive..."
His voice grew fainter and farther away, until it was finally inaudible.
Excruciating pain enveloped Qin Mu, and fear drowned him.
He was like a lonely infant floating on the Surging River, with nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see.
What if, what if Granny Si hadn't heard his cries from the basket, hadn't walked into the darkness, hadn't picked him up from the basket?
Would he still be who he was now?
Would he still be Celestial Venerable Mu?
The celestial prison's Nine Prisons Platform shattered his dao heart, returning it to its most primitive state, crushing his fighting spirit, turning him into a weak infant.
The darkness would eventually creep in and completely devour him.
Qin Mu's eyes gradually dimmed, and finally, everything was swallowed by darkness.
The Taishi Egg, which had been desperately calling out to Qin Mu, also fell silent.
It was over. Qin Mu's dao heart was locked, his fighting spirit completely gone. He could never awaken his dao heart again, could never become Celestial Venerable Mu again.
Silence reigned in the Nine Prisons Platform.
In truth, there were no wails of billions of living beings that Qin Mu had heard, nor was there any sealing of great dao, divine consciousness, primordial qi, or primordial spirit.
From the moment he stepped into this place, what was locked was his dao heart.
The locking of great dao, physical body, primordial qi, and divine consciousness were all just appearances.
It was precisely because his dao heart believed it was locked that he saw his physical body, primordial qi, primordial spirit, great dao, and divine consciousness all sealed.
The village chief's legend of the Overlord Body was about making people believe they could, that they were capable of anything!
But the Nine Prisons Platform's locking of the dao heart made people believe they could not, that they could achieve nothing.
Qin Mu lay in the center of the Nine Prisons Platform. He hadn't moved for a long time, at most twitching and writhing occasionally.
"The being with the most powerful dao heart in this world couldn't even withstand the Nine Prisons Platform. I should be trapped inside his body until the day he dies."
Taishi thought silently to himself: "Perhaps only when his corpse rots can I break free. Celestial Venerable Mu, can you really not break through the prison-locked dao heart?"
...
Qin Mu curled up weakly, surrounded by utter darkness, not a single glimmer of light.
"Do you hear that? There's a child crying outside!"
"I think Mu'er should be another kind of physique, an Overlord Body that combines the strengths of the four great physiques!"
"As long as there is faith, a mortal body is the Overlord Body!"
"It's hard to break the god in the temple, but it's even harder to break the god in the heart!"
"The way of the sage is no different from the daily use of the common people. Anything that differs is heresy!"
"Act according to your nature, follow what is natural—that is the Way."
"The Emperor and I are pushing for reform to change the situation where sects control the lifeblood of the people and the nation. The Emperor not only wants reform but also revolution—revolution against these sects, revolution against ourselves!"
"The Kaihuang Reformation follows heaven's will and responds to the people's needs."
"What use does Laozi have for this sword? What use? This sword can't even be sharpened anymore!"
"In this world, there is no such thing as a Land of No Sorrow!"
"If we become corrupt in the future, there will be later generations to overthrow us. Don't worry about it too much."
"Take care! The future is also entrusted to you, fellow daoist!"
"Chief, you are right."
...
After a long time, Qin Mu opened his eyes. His dao heart was still locked, and he still felt like a mortal, yet a spark of hope for survival had ignited within him.
"Taiyi was right. I never had a dao heart before; it was forged through hardship. In the past, I wasn't a divine ability cultivator, let alone a god. I cultivated to become one."
"In the past, I wasn't Chief Qin, not Human Sovereign Qin, not Celestial Venerable Mu. I earned it step by step!"
"In the past, I had no soul of my own, no physical body of my own, but I had my own consciousness!"
"In the past, I had no fellow daoists of my own, but I had many friends!"
"In the past, I was an orphan with no family, but I had the Village of the Crippled and the Elderly, I had Eternal Peace!"
"In the past, I had no path of my own! But now—"
He gritted his teeth, resisting the piercing pain, staggering to his feet, and doing his utmost to control his divine consciousness, keeping his mind clear.
"But now, I have my own dao and my own path!"
The pain twisted his consciousness, yet he still desperately stirred his divine consciousness, forcibly activating the Overlord Body Three Dan Technique.
He took steps, as if he had returned to the Village of the Crippled and the Elderly, back to the hard days of running while cultivating.
But this time, his steps were incredibly unsteady, his body twisted and swaying, walking with difficulty in the tiny square space at the lowest level of the celestial prison's Nine Prisons Platform.
His divine consciousness mobilized his already stiff primordial qi, making it follow the flow of his consciousness. He desperately pushed the technique, feeling as if the passage of his divine consciousness and primordial qi was like scraping his bones with pain.
He trembled, every step causing him agonizing pain.
The Taishi Egg remained silent, observing this scene, watching how a humble being, already in a desperate situation, could walk out of that desperation, and what supported him to keep going.
He had always been prejudiced against post-natal beings and had a poor impression of ancient gods. It was post-natal beings, the Creators, who had dug him out of the Taishi vein, and it was the ancient god, the Primordial Heavenly Emperor, who had imprisoned him.
But now, from Qin Mu, he saw the unimaginable vitality possessed by the living beings of this world!
Qin Mu's incredibly tenacious, even stubborn will, earned his admiration.
In a space of two zhang square, it took him nearly half an hour to walk one circuit.
Dragon Qilin and Dragon Xiao stood at a very high place, looking down. All they could see was a tiny square space, with a minuscule figure moving at an agonizingly slow pace.
"Can the Chief walk out of there?" Dragon Qilin couldn't help but worry, glancing at Dragon Xiao.
A giant beast had brought medicinal herbs from outside, but before it could even reach this place, it was already twisting in pain, each step a struggle.
Dragon Qilin quickly stepped forward to take the herbs. His dao heart was far superior to that of these giant beasts.
"If Celestial Venerable Mu really does walk out of the Nine Prisons Platform, should I really join forces with him?" Dragon Xiao looked at that tiny square space and murmured.
Dragon Qilin was momentarily stunned, then said joyfully, "The Chief can walk out of there?"
Dragon Xiao stared at the ninth level platform and said softly, "His speed is gradually increasing. I have never seen anyone who could walk within the ninth level of the Nine Prisons Platform, nor have I ever seen anyone who could reforged their dao heart while it was locked. And yet, he has done it."
—Wishing the book friend, Lonely Like Smoke, a happy birthday!